Virgin Voyages unveiled the name of its first cruise ship set to be delivered in 2020. The first cruise vessel setting sail under the Virgin banner will be named Scarlet Lady.

This year three cruise ship bartenders will progress in one of the biggest bartending competitions in the world, the Diageo World Class Bartender of the Year 2018.

The Spanish cruise line Pullmantur Cruceros has announced the opening of two exclusive Victoria's Secret stores onboard their ships Sovereign and Monarch. Now guest can find on board some of the most popular products of the sexiest brand in the world.

Norwegian Coast Guard started testing drones in order to detect sulfur emission levels from cruise ships arriving in the Norwegian fjords. The new method of monitoring the sulfur level is conducted by state of the art Lockheed Martin Indago drone with a price tag of $123.000.The specially made sensor, developed by the Danish company Explicit, provides detailed measurements of sulfur content in the exhaust. Everything is transferred wirelessly to the controller in real time.

FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 is currently in full swing, and fans from all across the world have come in to support their national teams. Most of them have spent hours on multiple planes just to get to eleven host cities. However, Russia biggest port city Saint Petersburg, is unique, with fans also arriving on cruise ships to see the FIFA World Cup matches at Krestovsky Stadium.

Holland America Line celebrated the International Sushi Day, by creating the Largest Sushi Roll at Sea made by Culinary Council Member Andy Matsuda while he sailed aboard the cruise ship MS Koningsdam on a special Food & Beverage Aficionado Cruise in Norway. Dubbed the "World Mega Roll," the sushi roll measured 49 feet long (15 meters) before getting rolled, 3.3 feet (100 centimeters) wide and used 70 pounds of sushi rice.

The expansion in the cruise global market has led passengers to find new destinations by choosing to travel to unexplored marine areas. However, in some regions, there are no suitable points of supply for ships with the necessary equipment for their uninterrupted operation.

Malaga is going to be the first city in Europe that will offer visitors a fully operational driverless bus service. The project named AutoMOST which started in 2017 aims to provide a smart public transport system for the tourists visiting Malaga. This experimental 9 million euro project is in the final stage.

When it comes to new technology cruise lines are quite creative by implementing impressive robot bartenders on Royal Caribbean ships, magic carpet on Celebrity Edge, the friendly Pepper Robot on Costa and AIDA cruise ship to name a few. 

This year at the 6th annual DC Web Fest the Gold Award went to the Virtual Reality 360-degree short film entitled “The Crew”.