Costa Pacifica Becomes First Ship to Watch Santos’ Firework Display

Costa Pacifica Becomes First Ship to Watch Santos’ Firework Display

The Costa Pacifica became the first cruise ship to watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks display in Santos, Brazil.

The Costa Cruises ship reached the town as part of an eight-night cruise to Brazil.

Before anchoring in Santos Bay for the 14-minute firework display, the Pacifica embarked guests in Santos and Rio de Janeiro.

In addition to its two homeports, the itinerary also included visits to Búzios, Angra dos Reis, Ilhabela, and Balneário Camboriú.

According to Santos Mayor Rogério Santos, the operation highlights the town’s status as a major cruise hub.

“It is an extremely important action to promote Santos not only during New Year’s Eve but throughout the season, in all seasons of the year,” he said.

Continuing its deployment in South America, the Costa Pacifica is set to offer a series of three- to seven-night cruises from Santos and Rio through late March.

Costa’s 2024-25 season in the region also includes the Costa Diadema and the Costa Favolosa, with itineraries departing from different homeports.

A traditional destination for cruise ships during New Year’s Eve, Rio de Janeiro received six ships to ring in 2025.

The lineup included two vessels from Costa Cruises, the Costa Favolosa and the Costa Deliziosa, as well as four ships from MSC Cruises, including the MSC Grandiosa, which is currently the largest vessel sailing in Brazil.

The 4,888-guest ship joined the MSC Seaview, the MSC Orchestra and the MSC Poesia for the 12-minute firework display.

In Portugal’s Madeira Island, 11 cruise ships gathered in Funchal for the port city’s New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Nine different companies were represented, including AIDA, Cunard, and Fred. Olsen, Hapag-Lloyd, Marella, Phoenix Reisen, Saga and TUI.

The largest ship on the scene was the 3,000-guest Queen Anne, which entered service for Cunard in April 2024.

 

Piraeus Welcomes First Ship of the Year, Costa Deliziosa

Piraeus Welcomes First Ship of the Year, Costa Deliziosa

The Port of Piraeus has welcomed its first cruise ship call of the new year with the arrival of the Costa Deliziosa on Tuesday, January 2, according to a press release.

To mark the occasion, the Management of Piraeus Port Authority hosted a special ceremony with the exchange of plaques and Christmas treats for all passengers.

The Costa Deliziosa arrived from Izmir, Turkey during its 14-night Mediterranean voyage sailing roundtrip from Trieste, Italy.

The ship then continued its trip to Dubrovnik, Croatia and will also call in Bari, Italy, before returning to Trieste on Saturday, January 6.

The port also reported historical records for cruise passengers in 2023, with approximately 1.5 million passengers, compared to 880,000 in 2022. Additionally, the total number of cruise ships that visited the port was 760.

The port expects record arrivals in 2024.

Cruise Ships Celebrate New Year in Funchal

Cruise Ships Celebrate New Year in Funchal

Various cruise ships were welcomed in 2023 in Funchal as guests were onboard dockside and in the harbour for the city’s spectacular fireworks display.

Ship Line Up

• Marella Cruises: Marella Explorer
• Nicko Cruises: Vasco Da Gama
• AIDA: AIDAsella
• Fred. Olsen: Borealis
• TUI: Mein Schiff Herz
• Cunard: Queen Victoria

The city’s New Years' eve celebration has quickly become a cruise tradition for European brands, which often time their itineraries with an overnight call to Funchal on New Year's Eve. It’s among a handful of ports around the world already in a key cruise region at the right time of the year where guests can stay on the ship and have a front-row seat to a fireworks show.

Cruise Ships Ready for New Years' Eve in Funchal

Cruise Ships Ready for New Years' Eve in Funchal

In what has become a key cruise industry tradition, seven ships are ready to ring in 2023 in Funchal as the vessels will sit in the harbour and nearby anchorages for a firework display at midnight.

By morning on Dec. 31, five ships were already in port getting ready for the festivities, including:

• Nicko Cruises: Vasco Da Gama
• AIDA: AIDAsella
• Fred. Olsen: Borealis
• TUI: Mein Schiff Herz
• Cunard: Queen Victoria

Image from Last Year's Fireworks.

Costa Forced to Cancel Christmas and New Years Cruises

Costa Diadema.

Costa has cancelled its holiday cruise program, citing a request from the Italian government. 

"This is a temporary stop that, as stated by the Government itself, has never questioned the reliability of the health protocols adopted in collaboration with the Italian authorities," the company said, in a press release. "Those protocols represent a unique model in the tourism sector at an international level, and have proven their full effectiveness in the last 4 months of operation in Italy."

Costa said that during the holiday period, its ships would be in various ports and it would offer a special food donation program. 

Costa also said, in a prepared statement: "The cruise suspension does not only affect the Company but the entire ecosystem that depends on cruises, such as travel agencies, shipyards, ports and local activities of destinations visited by ships the ports and local activities of the destinations visited by the ships, that the Company helped to restart in the second half of the year.

"The cancellation of Christmas and New Year's Eve cruises, among the most popular of the year, therefore represents a further economic sacrifice for Costa Cruises and the entire industry, in a period that was already very difficult for the entire sector, that relied on these operations."

Costa said it will resume service with the Costa Smeralda on January 7, 2021, with the one-week itinerary, dedicated exclusively to Italy, that can be divided into two short cruises of three and four days each, departing from Civitavecchia. The four-day mini-cruise sails to Central and Southern Italy, with stops in Naples, Messina and Cagliari. The three-day cruise voyages to Central and Northern Italy, and includes visits to Civitavecchia, La Spezia and Savona.

Cruise Ships Dock and Anchor in Funchal for New Year's Fireworks

Cruise ships are stacked in Funchal (Madeira) for the city's landmark midnight fireworks display to mark the start of a new decade.

At Anchor:

• CMV Columbus
• CMV Marco Polo
• Saga Sapphire
• Pullmantur Zenith
• TUI Mein Schiff 3
• Fred. Olsen Balmoral
• Marella Explorer
• Phoenix Reisen Amera

Docked:

• Cunard Queen Victoria
• Ocean Majesty
• AIDAstella
• P&O Aurora

To all Friends and Future Followers

To all Friends and Future Followers

Happy Cruising and Fair Seas to All

Resolutions

Sure, you're going to lose a few pounds, join a book group, spend a little more time on the treadmill and a little less time online and maybe even clean out that old file cabinet, but these are boring resolutions.

The best resolutions are the ones we make for other people. In that spirit, we'd like to hear the fates make promises that:

•  will drop its proposal to regulate agents and require them to disclose their commission and override arrangements.

• Nobody will make phone calls in flight, even if it's permitted.

• The Statue of Liberty, up to and including the crown, will stay open, forever.

• Ryanair's   doesn't say anything at all, all year.

• No hotel company will introduce or acquire more than six new brands this year.

• Somebody will invent a way to incorporate a lie detector into computer keyboards and touchscreens so we can start to believe those user reviews.

• Somebody will figure out what to do with the S.S. United States.

• Namibia will figure out a way to save its endangered rhino population without the revenue it gains from issuing rhino hunting permits.

• North Korea opens its borders, declares itself a democracy, holds free elections and welcomes tourists.

• Southwest completes its integration with AirTran before AirTran's employees all reach retirement age.

• ASTA has a convention and just calls it "The ASTA Convention."

• The Visa Waiver Program spreads to the Known Universe.

• The pope takes a vacation and packs light; both become fads.

• The average age of retail travel agents, and their clients, drops to 35.

• The airlines wake up and realize that most adults are not 5-foot-2 and 120 pounds and start adjusting their seat pitch accordingly.

• The terms "sequester," "mixed use," "accretive" and "remediate" mysteriously leave the language.

• All members of Congress take a cruise and then shut up about the cruise industry.

• WiFi becomes free, everywhere.

• The U.S. and Cuba decide to hug and make up.

• Defying the antitrust laws, cruise line CEOs agree to eliminate noncommisionable fees, and the Justice Department's antitrust division looks the other way.

• IATA rewrites its NDC resolution so that everybody understands it -- and then everybody likes it.

• The federal government will ease its restrictions on meetings so that government employees can have professional encounters in conference centers and hotels rather than school cafeterias.

• Travelers demand travel insurance without being reminded.

• Some genius invents a solar cell that can power a cruise ship.

• Britain will restructure its exorbitant Air Passenger Duty and bring it in line with the departure taxes of other civilized countries.

• Journalists and bloggers won't put "travel agents" on their top 10 list of "dead-end careers" or "jobs that will soon be extinct."

• The Sharing Economy produces world peace.