2009
- January 2
- MSC Cruises' MSC Orchestra cruise ship arrives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to begin the Caribbean season. [110.45]
- January 26
- In Germany, the keel is laid for Celebrity Cruises' 122,000-gross ton passenger cruise ship Celebrity Eclipse for Celebrity Cruises. [339]
- January
- Grand Circle's Paul Gauguin ship begins a US$6 million renovation in Brisbane, Australia. [292.7]
- January 28
- Norwegian Cruise Line announces the name for its new F3 cruise ship: Norwegian Epic (4200 passengers). [339]
- January 29
- Pullmantur Cruises renames the Sky Wonder cruise ship (1200 passengers) as the Atlantic Star. [339]
- February 25
- MSC Cruises sells the 764-passenger Rhapsody cruise ship (formerly Cunard Line's Princess) to Israel's Mano Maritime. [339]
- March 2
- Disney Cruise Line begins construction on two new ships, with a steel cutting ceremony at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. [1240]
- March 11
- At the 2009 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of The Walt Disney Company, Disney announces the names of the company's two new cruise ships: Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy. Each ship will have 1,250 staterooms and will each be 128,000 tons. [1240]
- March
- Lloyd Shipyards in Bremerhaven, Germany, begins a 53 million euro refit of Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Galaxy (77,713 gross tons), to be renamed and become the first ship of TUI Cruises. [292.8]
- March 24
- Keel laid for Holland America Line's ms Nieuw Amsterdam cruise ship (2106 passengers), at the Fincantieri Marghera shipyard in Italy. [339]
- April 2
- Cunard opens worldwide sales of the October 2010 Maiden Voyage for new ocean liner Queen Elizabeth, and sells out in a record 29 minutes. [339]
- April 25
- Italy's MSC Cruises' cruise ship MSC Melody fends off a pirate attack near the coast of Somalia. Six people in a small boat fire about 200 shots at the ship, before being repelled by water cannons and shots fired by Israeli security guards. [57] [359.24]
- April 27
- Norwegian Cruise Line announces it has redeployed the Norwegian Sun cruise ship (1936 passengers) for the summer of 2010, moving the ship from Alaska to Europe. [339]
- April 29
- Carnival Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Royal Caribbean Cruises announce they have temporarily canceled all calls at Mexican ports during the H1N1 virus scare. [339]
- April 30
- Fincantieri Shipyard in Venice, Italy delivers the Costa Luminosa cruise ship (92,700 gross tons, 2,828 passengers) to Costa Cruises. [339]
- May
- Irving Shipbuilding of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, delivers the Pearl Mist cruise ship (210-passenger capacity) to the Pearl Seas Cruises company. [292.7]
- Costa Cruises' Costa Luminosa cruise ship begins offering "PlayStation World" area on ship dedicated exclusively to PlayStation 3, plus PlayStation 2 and 3 in cabins, on big screens, and in children's and teens' clubs, and "PlayStation On Demand" service in cabins. The program, in partnership with Sony CE Italia, will be extended to Costa's other 12 cruise ships. [366.16]
- May 29
- At the Genova-Sestri Ponente shipyard in Italy, Fincantieri delivers the Costa Pacifica cruise ship (114,500 gross tons, 3780 passengers) to Costa Cruises. Cost of building the ship was about 500 million euros. [339]
- June 6
- Costa Cruises enters the Guinness World Records for the joint christening in Genoa of its 13th and 14th additions to the fleet - the Costa Luminosa (92,600 gross tons, 2260 passengers) and the Costa Pacifica (114,500 gross tons, 3008 passengers) cruise ships. [292.7,13] [339] [359.42]
- Maiden voyage of Costa Cruises' Costa Pacifica cruise ship, leaving Palacrociere in Savona, Italy, on an eight-day cruise of the Western Mediterranean. [292.13] [339]
- June 19
- An engine fire breaks out aboard Princess Cruises' Royal Princess cruise ship, as the ship departs Port Said, Egypt. The fire is quickly extinguished. [339]
- June 26
- At the Fincantieri Monfalcone shipyard near Trieste, Italy, P&O Cruises' Azura cruise ship (115,000 gross tons) is first floated out. [339]
- June 29
- T.Mariotti shipyard of Italy delivers to Seabourn Cruise Line the new luxury cruise ship Seabourn Odyssey (32,000 gross tons, 225 suites). [339]
- July 6
- The keel is laid of Cunard Line's new Queen Elizabeth cruise ship at the Monfalcone shipyard of Fincantieri near Trieste, Italy. [339]
- July 14
- Aboard cruise ship Carnival Elation on the last leg of a Baja Mexico cruise, a dispute occurs between a husband and wife in their cabin, resulting in the wife's death. [339]
- July 17
- At a ceremony in Emshaven, Netherlands, Celebrity Cruises takes delivery of Celebrity Equinox cruise ship (2,850 passengers) from shipbuilder Meyer Werft. [339]
- July 30
- Ian the port of Southampton, England, Celebrity Cruises' newest ship Celebrity Equinox is officially named. [339]
- July 31
- Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Equinox enters service from Southampton, England on an eight-night Norwegian Fjords cruise. [339]
- August 3
- Malta issues a set of four postage stamps to mark the maiden call of MSC Cruises' MSC Splendida, and celebrate the 10th anniversary of MSC Cruises' calling at Malta on a regular basis. [339]
- August 26
- Disney Cruise Line celebrates the keel laying of the Disney Dream cruise ship (1250 staterooms, 128,000 gross tons), scheduled to join the current fleet in 2011. [339]
- August 31
- The Walt Disney Company announces enhancements to its Castaway Cay private island in the Bahamas, extending the Castaway Family Beach by more than 700 feet, with a new family lunch buffet location, new beverage bar, new beach rental location, new merchandise location, new 2400 square-foot water feature called Pelican Plunge, new 2400 square-foot water play area on land called Spring-a-Leak, new 1200 square-foot soft wet deck for youngsters, 20 new private beach cabanas, new Hide Out area for teens, new In Da Shade Game Pavilion, and three new massage cabanas at Serenity Bay Beach. [339]
- September 11
- Disney Cruise Line announces it will offer Alaskan cruises during a four-month season of seven-night sailings aboard the Disney Wonder in summer 2011, departing out of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. [339]
- September 18
- At the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy, Carnival Cruise Lines officially takes delivery of its newest and largest ship, the 130,000-ton Carnival Dream (3646 passengers). The ship then departs for its inaugural cruise, a 12-day Grand Mediterranean voyage. [292.13] [339]
- October
- Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines' Black Prince makes its final cruise in the Canary Islands before retirement. [360.54]
|
