Cruise Ships

The next time you take a cruise, take a good look around at your fellow passengers in the ship dining room. Chances are the pair of well-dressed, middle-age men (or women) sitting at the nearby table for two aren't just old college chums on an alumni cruise. If you see them wearing matching silver rings (or canoodling in any manner), that's a dead giveaway. They aren't reliving their wild frat-boy antics; they're just another couple enjoying fine dining on their cruise vacation, as other cruise guests are doing.

A $200 million lawsuit has been filed in New York federal court on behalf of four Hungarian musicians and dancers aboard the Costa Concordia cruise ship that capsized off the coast of Italy in January. The lawsuit filed May 3 said the ensemble included violinist Sandor Feher, who drowned after trying to help children put on life jackets. He was among 32 people who died when the ship capsized off the coast of Italy. The lawsuit names Panama-based Carnival Corp. & plc among the defendants.

PORTLAND, Maine - A new pier that can accommodate the world's largest cruise ships will allow the port of Portland to increase the number of ships that visit each year, city officials said yesterday. The 1,200-foot Ocean Gateway Pier II will enable two large cruise ships to berth in the harbor at the same time, making the city more competitive in attracting cruise ships, Mayor Nicholas Mavodones said as he stood on the structure beside the 960-foot Celebrity Summit. It is the largest ship's berth in Maine.

An Australian billionaire said Monday he'll build a high-tech replica of the Titanic at a Chinese shipyard and its maiden voyage in late 2016 will be from England to New York, just like its namesake planned. Weeks after the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the original Titanic, Clive Palmer announced Monday he has signed a memorandum of understanding with state-owned Chinese company CSC Jinling Shipyard to build the Titanic II. "It will be every bit as luxurious as the original Titanic, but … will have state-of-the-art 21st-century technology and the latest navigation and...

VENICE - It is a matter of perspective. From aboard a 12-deck cruise liner, the sight of St. Mark's Square, the Doge's Palace, and Bridge of Sighs gliding past from a cabin balcony is a breathtaking thrill. But against the backdrop of Venice's storied canals and Byzantine architecture, these floating condominiums present a jarring sight, out of scale and sync with the surroundings. The deadly grounding of the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast has sharpened the focus on the largely unchecked boom of these ever-larger luxury liners, and nowhere more so than in Venice, a fragile...

Cruise lines are striving to become more creative, offering innovative opportunities for travelers. Princess Cruises says it is the only big North American line to offer wedding ceremonies at sea performed by the ship's captain. Other lines offer wedding packages, but Princess ships are registered in Bermuda, which grants captains the authority to perform marriages on the high seas. Norwegian Cruise Line boasts the first full-size bowling alley, aboard the Norwegian Pearl.

At the appointed hour, Captain Joe Mancino walked the dozen steps from his bar stool at Tickles Dockside Pub to the ferry at D dock, ushering aboard workmen, schoolchildren, grocery-toting moms, and me. Within minutes, St. Thomas’s clamoring harbor of leviathan cruise ships receded, and we had entered the sanctuary of Water Island, the smallest of the four main US Virgin Islands. The afternoon sea twinkled like diamonds. Palm trees waved from shore. Soon friends were lifting each others’ provisions into waiting golf carts, and I was offered a ride up the steep hillside to...

OFFSHORE NEAR THE BAHAMAS TO MAKE car travel safer, wear a seat belt. To survive in a hurricane-prone area, store at least three days of emergency provisions. To live in a neighborhood prone to violence, walk only on lighted streets. To avoid shark attacks, don't swim in shark-infested waters. Public safety is often the art of the obvious; the hard part is educating the public on how to protect themselves from catastrophe. So it should be an almost ideal situation to find yourself with your family at a place where there is little to protect from and almost...

NEW YORK - The grounding and capsizing of the Costa Concordia has raised questions about the safety of the ever-increasing size of cruise ships. But experts say that these new megaships have the latest safety and navigation technology and pose little risk to passengers despite their gargantuan bulk. The Concordia - a ship more than two-and-a-half football fields long - was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew Friday night when it hit a reef off the Italian coast, flooded with water, and listed to one side.

BERLIN - A German cruise ship plans to evacuate passengers in Yemen and fly them to the next port of call today to avoid any possible encounters with pirates off the coast of lawless Somalia. Several other cruise operators said yesterday they were also shifting or canceling tours that would have taken clients past Somalia, as nations and companies around the world debated how to confront the piracy dominating the Gulf of Aden. The European Union said its antipiracy mission would station armed guards on vulnerable cargo ships - the first such...

A Coast Guard cutter will depart from Boston to spread 1.5 million dried rose petals over the resting place of the Titanic, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking, the Coast Guard said today. Crewmembers from the Coast Guard cutter Juniper will spread the petals atop the ship's watery grave on Saturday. Members of the Coast Guard-led International Ice Patrol will also cast five wreaths from an HC-130J Hercules aircraft based out of Elizabeth City, N.J., the Coast Guard said in a statement.

NEW YORK - Gastrointestinal infections are killing more and more people in the United States and have become a particular threat to the elderly, according to new federal data. Deaths from the infections more than doubled from 1999 to 2007, from 7,000 a year to more than 17,000 a year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Of those who died, 83 percent were over 65. Two-thirds of the deaths were caused by a bacterium, Clostridium difficile, which people often contract in hospitals and nursing homes, particularly when they have been taking antibiotics.

Italian prosecutors have opened an investigation into the disappearance of the bell from the capsized cruise ship Costa Concordia. Franco Gabrielli, Italy's national official for search and salvage efforts, told reporters Thursday when he visited Giglio island the bell disappeared several days ago. He said a search was on to find the bell, which hung off one end of the ship and was inscribed with the vessel's name. The bell hung off the half of the wreck under the sea. The Concordia struck a reef on Jan. 13 and capsized near Giglio's port.

VICTORIA, Seychelles - The worst moments for Gordon and Eleanor Bradwell came immediately after the alarm sounded. Eleanor rushed to their cabin to get a life vest. Gordon was pushed in another direction. The scent of smoke grew stronger aboard the disabled cruise ship. Then the lifeboats dropped. The Athens, Ga., couple - married 50 years last June - could not find one another. "Those were the worst moments," said Bradwell, a former alumni director at the University of Georgia.

NAIROBI — Helicopters ferried food, phones, and flashlights yesterday to more than 1,000 passengers and crew stuck aboard a disabled cruise ship that was being towed to the Seychelles Islands through waters prowled by pirates. Those aboard the Costa Allegra, a sister ship of the cruise liner that capsized off Italy last month, face more stifling days and nights before the vessel docks in the tropical paradise. The stricken liner was expected to reach the main Seychelles island of Mahe tomorrow, the Italian cruise operator said.

NAIROBI - An Italian cruise liner carrying more than 1,000 people was being towed toward an island in the Indian Ocean today after it had lost power and was drifting because of damage from a fire in its generator room. The Seychelles Coast Guard said authorities were arranging to evacuate the 636 passengers and 413 crew from the Costa Allegra, a ship of the Costa Crociere line, onto the nearest island, Desroches. Other tugboats steaming to the ship, which was stricken yesterday, were not expected to reach the area until this afternoon.

The deaths of two passengers aboard a cruise ship that docked yesterday morning at Boston's Black Falcon Terminal were unrelated and are not considered suspicious, authorities said. A 67-year-old woman from Tiverton, R.I., died Thursday afternoon after "succumbing to a chronic illness," Norwegian Cruise Line said. A 23-year-old man from Littleton, N.H., also died that evening from undetermined causes. Investigators said there was no evidence of criminal activity. Both passengers died in the ship's medical center.

GIGLIO, Italy - Tossing bouquets of red roses into the sea, the relatives of people still missing one month after the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster mourned in a private tribute yesterday. The family members boarded a small boat that took them 50 yards from the stricken cruise ship, which struck a reef Jan. 13 off the Tuscan coast when its captain made an unauthorized maneuver. Seventeen people died while trying to flee and 15 remain missing and are presumed dead. The search for the missing was called off after authorities determined it was too risky for the rescue divers.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A cruise ship that returned early to port after a stomach virus outbreak has departed again after an extensive sanitization. The Crown Princess departed Saturday from Fort Lauderdale en route to the Caribbean after a two-day cleaning. Crews sanitized all public spaces and surfaces, including carpets, door handles, and railings. Staterooms were also sanitized and stocked with fresh linens. Hundreds of people became sick with a gastrointestinal illness the last two times the ship departed.