Serena Melani has just been made captain

Posted on 03/11/2016

Serena Melani has just been made captain.  The 42 year old native of Tuscany has been appointed the first female captain of Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Melani started her maritime career in 1998 serving on ships carrying cars and general cargo and after four years switched to the cruise industry.

SKY VIEW

Sky & Telescope/Insight Cruises group were on the bow of Holland America’s ms Volendam, sailing northward in the Makassar Strait between the islands of Borneo and Sulawesi (formerly known as The Celebes). With some clever manoeuvring by Captain James Russell-Dunford, the passengers were able to view the total solar eclipse.

INJURY

The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue was called to transfer a cruise passenger from Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas to a hospital last week after suffering an injury from a champagne cork. The passenger was taken to the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.According to Cynthia Martinez, cruise line spokesperson, the 33 year old woman “was immediately treated in our medical facility but required additional and urgent medical attention that could only be provided in a hospital. We wish our guest a speedy recovery.”

INFECTION

A norovirus outbreak on the Carnival Sunshine put the number of cases at 178 (passengers and crew) by the time the ship docked in Port Canaveral on the weekend. Since the start of the year five cruise ships voyages have been investigated by the Center for Disease Control Vessel Sanitation Programme, three were confirmed norovirus, two were of an unknown cause.

TEST DRIVE

Harmony of the Seas set out on a test cruise to check out the power of the largest ocean cruise ship.  There were no guests; just five hundred crew members on-board and if there are no set backs the ship would be returning on Sunday to the western port of St Nazaire before its first itinerary in May. Measuring in at 269 metres, it is just less than half the length of the CN Tower.

LOOKING FOR NESSIE

Privately owned cruise line Cruise Loch Ness the build of a new catamaran, designed to accommodate 220 passengers cruising the famous Loch Ness. The vessel will start sailing in April 2017, in pursuit of Nessie.

Managing director Ronald Mackenzie said, “We’ve been experiencing year on year improved consumer trends, and 2015 was phenomenal for us. The Chinese market proved very lucrative in 2015 and we hope to see that continue.“The idea of the catamaran has been floating about for a couple of years, but the time just feels right to take a leap. We felt if we didn’t do it now, we might have to turn away business in the future, and we certainly don’t want to do that.”