The Top Cruise News Stories of June 2024

The summer travel season is in full swing—and that includes cruises. This month's highlights include new ships, shore power, passenger caps and the shuttering of a major cruise brand.

Disney Cruise Line’s new private island destination, Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point, is now officially open to guests. TravelPulse’s Eric Bowman traveled to the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas for the occasion and offered a comprehensive look at all the destination has to offer.

 

It’s the kind of nightmare scenario no one wants to imagine: being sick on a plane. But that’s exactly what happened on a recent United Airlines flight, with many of the ill passengers having just disembarked from a cruise ship in Vancouver.

You’re likely familiar with the concept of cruise lines selecting individual celebrities or influential people to serve as godmothers (or “icons”) when they launch new ships. But what about an entire city? Cunard selected Liverpool, home to the company’s headquarters, to be the godparent of its newest ship, Queen Anne.

Crystal Cruises, the luxury line resurrected by A&K Travel Group in 2022, has ordered two new ships from Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri. Each vessel will be able to accommodate up to 690 passengers. Once finished, they’ll join Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity in the fleet.

Carnival Corporation & plc announced this month that it will sunset its P&O Australia Cruises brand in March 2025. The ships Pacific Encounter and Pacific Adventure will be rebranded and begin sailing under the Carnival Cruise Line flag.

Lindblad Expeditions has long been a major player in the Galápagos—since 1967, to be precise, when Lars-Eric Lindblad led the first non-scientific international civilian expedition in the region. Now, the company is preparing to expand its footprint in the region: It announced this month that it’s buying two ships from Celebrity Cruises—Celebrity Xpedition and Celebrity Xploration—which it will rename and refurbish.

 

Panache Cruises has unveiled one of the most expensive vacations in the world: a $2.2 million trip that includes a 140-day world cruise in a 4,443-square-foot suite aboard Regent Seven Seas Splendor, followed by six days at the most expensive New York City hotel.   

When MSC World America debuts in April 2025, the 6,762-guest ship will have a slew of family-friendly amenities on board, ranging from a Lego master builder area to a high ropes course. The cruise line shared these and other details about the forthcoming ship this month.

 

City leaders in Juneau and cruise lines sailing to Alaska have agreed to cap daily cruise ship passengers starting in 2026. Under the new agreement, daily passengers will be limited to 16,000 on Sundays through Fridays and 12,000 on Saturdays.

 

After successfully completing sea trials, Explora II’s maiden voyage was delayed from August to September. The altered timeline resulted in the cancellation of five voyages.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises unveiled its first new ship class in a decade, as well as the name of its newest vessel: Seven Seas Prestige. The 850-guest ship will launch in 2026.

 

Windstar Cruises is adding two new ships to its fleet, one at the end of 2025 and the other at the end of 2026. This month, the company announced that the first of those vessels, Star Seeker, will bring back the line’s popular Alaska cruises before heading off to Japan.

 

Cruise ships can now reduce their engine emissions while docked at PortMiami, thanks to the addition of shore power hookups. Carnival Conquest was the first ship to plug in earlier this month.

 

Greece’s prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an interview that he plans to limit the number of cruise ships that can visit Mykonos and Santorini sometime next year.

 

Fresh off the success of Icon of the Seas, Royal Caribbean International is gearing up to make another big splash with Utopia of the Seas. The company took delivery of the ship this month, and it’s scheduled to set sail on its maiden voyage from Port Canaveral on July 19.

 

The newest ship to join the Margaritavilla at Sea fleet has officially made its debut. Margaritaville at Sea Islander, the line’s second ship, departed from Tampa on a 4-night maiden voyage to Cozumel, Mexico, earlier this month.

 

American Cruise Lines announced that it's building three new ships, which are all slated for delivery by the end of 2026. The company also revealed that it plans to offer more summer sailings on the Hudson River next year.