It's been an interesting week.
From the world's largest cruise corporation being hacked.
To guests being thrown off the first MSC ship to sail in five months.
Plus stay tuned to the end.
Where we take a look at the first ever run of the Mardi Gras roller coaster.
Yes, a roller coaster at sea!
Well ahoy there cruisers.
We're Cruise with Ben and David.
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First let's take a look at the story of the passengers been thrown off a cruise ship.
Yes, an absolutely crazy story
As you know this week MSC took back to the seas for the first cruise.
On their ship the MSC Grandiosa.
It's the first major cruise line to resume sailing since all the way back in March.
Those on board included the company's CEO Gianni Onorato
and it was an emotional departure as the first ship to sail in over five months.
Before boarding each passenger had to undergo a swab test
and after the test was returned negative
they were then allowed to board.
So the ship set sail this week on a western mediterranean cruise from northern Italy - Genoa.
Visiting ports including Rome and Naples.
But a group of passengers have already broken the rules.
We brought you all of the new protocols MSC have set out in our video last week.
As you may remember one of the rules was that you could only leave the ship
at ports as part of an official MSC excursion.
This was done to keep passengers safe when off the ship.
Creating ship bubbles as they say.
With no contact with locals.
But it also kept crew and other passengers safe on the ship.
Protocols included - sanitizing of buses and coaches used by the excursions,
social distancing, as well as checks and ppe for all drivers and guides.
Well, a group of very naughty passengers ignored the rules
and have been kicked off the ship for violating the protocols.
This happened in the port of Naples in Italy.
So first of all the family concerned did originally take part in an MSC organized tour.
But decided to leave the organized excursion midway.
MSC then denied boarding for the family and they were not permitted to join the ship again.
First of all we have to say a big well done to MSC for sticking to those protocols they had set up.
Yeah exactly, these rules were set out
and the family would have been made aware of these rules before they got on the ship.
So breaking these rules is not an excuse.
Yeah and the family well how selfish can you be?
Not only putting others at risk and breaking the very simple rules.
They deserve to be thrown off in our opinion.
I really hope they're happy now.
MSC made it super clear that in order to disembark at any port
you would have to be booked on an MSC booked short excursion.
Yeah it's just -
How silly is it that they've done this.
They've now ruined their holiday, their vacation time.
If they didn't want to stick to this rule.
They should have cancelled their cruise and they could have as well.
Yeah but how silly.
The ship luckily still managed to depart on time and headed to Sicily - to the port of Palmeiro.
She's actually in Rome today.
Only Schengen zone EU residents can currently cruise with MSC.
Meaning that us in the UK -
You guys in the USA, Australia and Canada are not yet permitted.
Can we please get on a cruise soon!
Yep fingers, toes, arms, everything crossed!
So what do you think about this.
Let us know about this whole debacle in the comments section below.
We'd love to hear from you.
In other MSC news.
The third Seaside class ship has touched water for the very first time.
The MSC Seashore which is actually a bigger variant of the two ships the Seaview and the Seaside.
With 10,000 square meters of additional deck space.
More than 65% of the ship has been enhanced
and will feature additional restaurants, lounge space and whirlpools.
MSC has said that they will have the highest ratio of outdoor space per guest
in any of the MSC fleet.
So the Seashore was due to sail her maiden voyage on the 13th June next year.
But because of the shipyard delays.
She is now due to sale for the first time on the 1st August 2021.
The float out took place yesterday at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone in Italy.
Yeah we got to see the float out of the MSC Bellissima.
And it was a wonderful experience wasn't it.
Yeah it is.
Just to be that close to the ships as well they are gigantic when you get next to them.
It's a really special moment.
In summer 2021 -
all three Seaside class ships will be deployed together in the Western Mediterranean.
Oh how wonderful!.
Next up news from the Carnival Corporation.
It's revealed that personal information of some customers may have been accessed
as a result of their systems being infiltrated by a ransomware attack.
The incident took place earlier this month and a carnival statement said:
"Carnival Corporation detected a ransomware attack that accessed and encrypted a portion of one brand's
"information technology."
They don't know which one of the brands was attacked.
Carnival Corporation includes brands such as Princess, Carnival, Holland America, Cunard, P&O and more.
A specialist in security information said the Carnival incident looks set to be proved a particularly nasty one.
So if you have booked a cruise with one of these brands it might be worthwhile changing passwords
and keeping an eye on your bank accounts for any suspicious activity.
It's a really horrible thing to happen.
Especially at this time when cruising is undergoing the worst time in its history.
It's like hitting a dog when it's already down.
Very sad.
It's awful they just can't seem to catch a brick at the moment.
But some positive news now from Carnival.
Let's have a look at the Carnival Mardi Gras.
Carnival gave the Bolt roller coaster its first test run.
So this is a roller coaster that will feature on the brand new ship the Mardi Gras.
Carnival made a video offering up a preview of the first ever roller coaster on a ship
and it looks fab.
How crazy is that a roller coaster at sea.
I cannot wait to ride it can you?
No, it sounds crazy but i honestly i'd love to do it.
The video features Carnival Cruise Director - Matt Mitcham
Giving a good look at the coaster in Munich, Germany.
The German-built coaster was set up there before being transferred to the ship.
The mega ship, which has suffered a few delays, is expected to enter service from Port Canaveral
on February 6th 2021.
The ship will sail seven night Caribbean itineraries.
So, we're definitely gonna try it.
Are you gonna try it?
The first roller coaster at sea.
It looks like so much fun
and how crazy are things getting.
We've now got roller coasters at sea, we've got go-kart racing, laser quest, ice rinks, water theaters...
Legitimately what next?
What can they do next?
Let us know if you've got any ideas in the comments below.
Cruise ships - cruise lines may steal them from you.
So in other news.
Grand Cayman is remaining closed to cruise ships.
The government made it very clear that ships would not be welcomed back until at least next year.
Cruise ships are currently unable to sail from the USA - as you know.
Because of the no sail order being enforced by the CDC.
But it's really important the opening of ports, especially those in the Caribbean,
for cruise lines to be able to create itineraries and start sailing again.
We're really starting to think we're going to see the same thing we saw in Europe.
With cruisers just compromised of sea days or calling it cruise lines private islands.
And the problem i'm thinking with the Caribbean is that you have
a lot of smaller countries.
So that's more governments that they have to be in contact with
and they have to liaise with.
Rather than Europe where they can visit multiple places in one country.
Yeah it's pretty much a minefield over in the Caribbean.
Just with the hundreds of different ports and destinations.
Oh we can't wait for this to be over!
i don't know about you.
Next up cruise line operator Genting in Hong Kong has halted all payments on debts to creditors.
It's another blow for the industry
as the Malaysian controlled company seeks debt restructuring.
The company has debts of almost $3.4 billion USD.
Genting cruises is controlled by Malaysian billionaire Lim Goh Tong.
Good pronunciation.
Thanks, I did get a bit nervous on that one.
The company said it would temporarily suspend all payments to the group's financial creditors
and seek to restructure its debt.
And finally this week we were given a very small peak into Norwegians brand new class of ship.
So this is going to be a smaller class of ship.
In a leaked picture we can see the atrium area on its new Project Leonardo class.
It looks really futuristic and very different to Norwegians normal look.
Some have even said it looks like the spaceship from the film Passengers.
And we have to agree!
Yeah it really does.
It does we only watched that film the other day
and as soon as I saw that picture I thought it was a still from the movie/
Well we think it looks really cool.
How about you?
Let us know in the comment section below.
As you know we really love to hear from you.
That's it for this episode.
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The cruise captain of the week of this week is Matthew.
So Ahoy!
Until next time.
Happy cruising.