Cruise News

The captain of Costa Concordia, the cruise ship which ran aground with the loss of 32 lives in January last year, is finally to face trial. A judge has decided there is enough evidence to try Captain Francesco Schettino on charges of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, and abandoning ship before all 4,200 passengers and crew had been evacuated. The trial will begin on July 9 in Grosseto, the Tuscan city close to the site of the wreck. Schettino faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, according to his lawyer, Francesco Pepe. Schettino denies the charges, and claims that [...]

While one river cruise line was launching its newest vessel in Bordeaux last week, another was announcing plans to take to the high seas. Viking River Cruises - familiar to ITV viewers for their sponsorship of drama programmes - is ready to branch out into Viking Ocean and will have its first ship, Viking Star, sailing from May 2015. Like its historical predecessors, the Vikings could be about to conquer the world all over again. Viking River has seen unprecedented expansion in the last couple of years - 10 new longships were christened a few weeks ago in Amsterdam and [...]

Divers will today examine the hull of a cruise ship which ran aground in Oban Bay, on the west coast of Scotland. MS Serenissima, carrying 61 passengers and 51 crew, was successfully refloated in the early hours of this morning after being stuck on a sand and shingle bank known as the Corran Ledge. There were no reports of injuries and no signs of pollution or serious damage to the vessel. The RNLI lifeboat tried to help pull Serenissima free, but early attempts yesterday evening were hampered by strong winds. RNLI spokesman Iain Fulton said: "The vessel was aground at [...]

The couple who went overboard from a cruise ship off the coast of Australia had been arguing shortly before they disappeared, according to the latest reports. Paul Rossington, 30, and his girlfriend Kristen Schroder, 27, were seen having a "short but heated argument" in the casino on board Carnival Spirit, a senior police source has said. As a result of the incident, the couple skipped dinner with Ms Schroder's family. But they were seen "mucking around" in a corridor on their way to a lift, giving the impression they were no longer quarrelling, according to the Herald Sun. The couple [...]

UPDATE: The search for the missing couple has been called off. Police say examination of the CCTV footage shows they went overboard one after the other, and the incident is not being treated as suspicious. Australia's Herald Sun reports that the security video shows the woman jumped first and was followed by her boyfriend about 20 seconds later. An air and sea search is under way off the coast of New South Wales, Australia, after two passengers were reported to have gone overboard from cruise ship Carnival Spirit. The couple were discovered to be missing when the ship docked in [...]