Starting October 15, 2017, to February 3, 2018, the Carnival cruise ship Carnival Fascination, will serve as the new home for hurricane relief workers in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.

The Italian cruise company Costa Cruises, started a pilot program enabling their employees to work one day per week from their homes. The program named “Sm @ rt Working Costa - Moving Forward" will allow all 1300 office employees in Italy, and abroad opportunity to choose one day a week to work from home or at another suitable place of their choice.

Thomson Cruises, the third largest cruise company in the United Kingdom, announced it will change its name to Marella Cruises. The company wanted a name that reflected the spirit of exploration and discovery through the seas, therefore it has chosen Marella, which in Celtic language, means "shining sea".

The internet is an increasingly popular place for scamming people. Recently we received an email from a man who contacted a person advertising cruise ship jobs for Princess Cruises on Facebook. The person, Mark John Smith, claiming to be Princess Cruises recruiting partner to send him numerous documents and pictures presented bellow and asked for $300 in fees.

Celebrity Cruises plans to invest $400m into modernizing its entire fleet by the end of 2023. The largest investment project the brand has ever made is named the 'Celebrity Revolution.' All 9 cruise ships currently in the fleet will be getting some features inspired by the newbuild Celebrity Edge, coming by the end of 2018.

Royal Caribbean human resources representatives led by RCCL Crew Management Inc. Manager Ronald De Guzman are in the Philippines for recruiting of a significant number of cruise ship employees.

Following the recent developments in Catalonia, two cruise ships canceled their arrival in Barcelona. Last Sunday, October 1, on the day of the referendum, the cruise ship Mein Schiff 3 divert its route to avoid Barcelona. Instead, the 293 meters vessel with more than 2,000 passengers arrived in Valencia.

Leading the way in hurricane relief efforts in the Caribbean, Royal Caribbean released the official numbers of delivered aid and evacuation of people on their cruise ships.In total Royal Caribbean evacuated 5,507 people and 122 pets on cruise ships from the affected islands.

Costa Cruises and the superstar Shakira presented the official start of the donation project “Building Happiness” for construction of a school in Colombia. The project by the Pies Descalzos Foundation aims to help disadvantaged families and children in Colombia by providing access to quality education.

Smithsonian Chanel released an interesting video showing how risky is to do a docking maneuver at the port of Ocho Rios, Jamaica. In the video captain of the cruise ship MSC Divina Pier Paolo Scala, explains what the challenges are during the docking of a large vessel. “It is very, very quick maneuver there, and we need to watch for the stern when we turn, that we are completely clear as we enter the starboard side.” Says Captain Scala.