Continuing to build momentum in a quickly changing world of alternative-fueled ships, Carnival Cruise Line has signed another in a series of agreements today with Shell to be their supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for North America's first fully LNG powered cruise ships. The ships will be largest for the cruise line, at 180,000 gross tons, and due to sail in 2020 and 2022.  They'll be fueled through Shell's LNG Bunker Barge (LBB).  The LBB was recently announced as part of a plan to develop a global LNG bunkering network (bunkering is a nautical term referring to fueling-up ships) to support the growing number of LNG-powered ships being constructed, allowing them to refuel along the south-eastern US coast...

In an industry-first move, Carnival Cruise Lines has launched a program which allows guests to pay for their cruise in three monthly installments.  Traditionally, guests have had to make a deposit and then pay the balance before final payment day.  This new program allows guests to not only spread out these payments, but do so automatically so they can both budget easily and avoid a missed opportunity to sail because of forgotten payments.  Here's how it works...

Today at a ceremony in Freeport, officials with Carnival Cruise Line and the Bahamian government signed an agreement to build a record-breaking cruise port on Grand Bahama Island.  This port will be the largest purpose-built cruise facility ever built in The Bahamas and will be funded and operated by Carnival Cruise Line.  While the exact location has not yet been announced, it will include a one-mile stretch of beach, food, beverage and shopping outlets, an array of water-based amenities and other recreational facilities.  Importantly, the port will also feature a pier capable of accommodating two of Carnival’s largest cruise ships simultaneously and can expect to see up to 1 million guests a year...

This weekend we were lucky enough to enjoy several hours on Carnival Vista, Carnival's newest ship.  There will be lots to digest here, but I'll tell you this much - we are truly impressed.  In last week's post we pointed to seven things we were looking forward to on the Vista, and they all delivered.  This 133.5K gross ton cruise ship offers up many great options not found on other Carnival ships and it's hard to try and take it all in on a three hour visit but we sure tried.  In this review, which we're guessing will take us three rounds, we'll share some of what we saw, experienced, and tasted.  Just typing this made us hungry, so we're going to start off talking about dining on the Carnival Vista...

There are few things as exciting as exploring a new cruise ship, especially one that breaks the mold and brings new ideas to sea.  Getting to share that exploration with you on the site and via social media makes our upcoming visit to the Carnival Vista all the more exciting.  Be sure you're following us on Periscope, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and reach out if there is something you'd like to see onboard.  As we prepare for this visit, let's take a quick look at seven things we look forward to seeing on the Carnival Vista...

Carnival Cruise Line announced this week that they're testing updated dining policies on the Carnival Glory and Carnival Conquest.  On those vessels, dining times which had previously been 6:00pm and 8:15pm have been updated to 6:00pm and 8:00pm. saying that the change will enhance the dining experience for all guests.  Makes sense yet?  This will help: Carnival also announced that persons arriving more than 30 minutes late for dinner will not be seated in the main dining room, and be referred to the buffet dining area.  Presumably, the fifteen minute-shorter gap between first and second seating will be easy to accommodate as they can now guarantee that no meal service will begin more than 30 minutes after the scheduled time, and the final meals should end a bit earlier.

Starting October 1st Carnival will debut new Saturday morning original content aimed to educate 13-16 year old viewers on new travel destinations and experiences, while of course keeping cruising in mind.