I first saw the Costa Concordia glinting in the winter sun from 20,000 feet as my flight from London made a slow descent on its way to Rome's Fiumicino airport.
Still reeling from the Costa Concordia accident in January that left at least 30 passengers dead, two of the largest cruise ship industry organizations have announced new safety policies aimed at helping both passengers and rescuers during an emergency at sea.
CNN's Brian Todd reports on the plan to salvage the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship from off the coast of Italy.
Gloria Allred is now the attorney for one man accusing John Travolta of sexual harassment.
A cruise ship attendant claimed in a federal lawsuit that John Travolta sexually assaulted him during a Caribbean cruise in 2009, according to court documents filed last week.
A Disney cruise liner stopped to rescue four men signaling for help near Key West, Florida, a spokeswoman for the company said Tuesday.
An 18-year-old Panamanian fisherman who survived 28 days adrift at sea is suing Princess Cruise Lines, arguing that one of its cruise ship should have stopped and saved him.
Two Seattle women who were on board the cruise ship that ran aground and sank in Italy are speaking out. KOMO reports.
In the wake of the deadly Costa Concordia cruise ship accident off the coast of Italy in January, the cruise industry is implementing new safety standards.
An American cruise line has said it "deeply regrets" the deaths of two Panamanian fishermen amid claims that one of its cruise ships failed to help their stranded boat.
CNN's Rob Marciano looks at the safety drills and incentives cruise lines hope will bring passengers back on board.
Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas cruise ship has rescued 23 Cubans found floating in a boat, the cruise line said. The cruise ship was on a seven-night voyage from Port Everglades, Florida, to Cozumel, Mexico.
Engineers have restored propulsion power to a cruise ship carrying about 1,000 people after it was left adrift off Indonesia by an engine fire, cruise company Azamara Club Cruises said.
The bodies of five more people killed when the Costa Concordia cruise ship sank were found Thursday, bringing to 30 the number of bodies located, Italian officials said.
A luxury cruise ship collided in deep fog with a container ship off Vietnam, punching a hole in the container ship and knocking passengers off their feet, a passenger told CNN Monday.
Cruise ship passengers describe the terrifying moment the vessel collided with a container ship off the coast of Vietnam.
The chief executive of Royal Caribbean Cruises has defended the use of big ships, claiming that they are safer and more popular with holidaymakers than the smaller older vessels.
A judge on Saturday barred environmental and consumer groups from participating in a criminal court investigation into the wreck of cruise liner Costa Concordia that killed at least 25 people, attorneys said.
Survivors of the Costa Concordia cruise ship accident off the coast of Italy recounted in riveting testimony before Congress on Wednesday that they feared for their lives after the ship hit a reef last month.
A couple testifies about their dramatic escape from the Costa Concordia accident before a House subcommittee.
Twenty-two Carnival Cruise Lines passengers were robbed of valuables and their passports during a shore excursion in the Mexico seaside resort of Puerto Vallarta, cruise officials said late Saturday.
Cruise lines are now required to conduct passenger safety drills before leaving port, under a rule announced by three cruise industry associations.
Passengers on the Crown Princess are coming home early from a Caribbean cruise, thanks to a second nasty outbreak of gastrointestinal illness.
Nearly 500 cases of Norovirus have been reported on two Florida-based Princess Cruises ships, the cruise line said Sunday.
A woman's body was found Saturday in the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship, Italian officials said, taking the number of people confirmed dead to 17.
A handful of surviving passengers of the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship filed a lawsuit against the cruise line on Friday, the same day the company offered each of the hundreds who'd been aboard the vessel a lump sum of 11,000 euros ($14,400).
An Italian couple who filmed the chaos on the Costa Concordia describe what it was like getting off the sinking ship.
Less than two weeks after the Costa Concordia cruise disaster, customers are still booking cruises for 2012 -- even as they ask more questions about safety at sea. The cruise industry is in the middle of its "wave season," the first three months of the year when the majority of customers book their cruises.
Costa Cruises is on the defensive again. The cruise line issued a statement Tuesday denying that it offered discounts on future cruises to passengers who were aboard Concordia when it ran aground.
Thrust from obscurity to notoriety overnight, Capt. Francesco Schettino is the man at the center of the questions and recriminations over the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster.
The possibility of sinking is the last thing you want to think about when booking a carefree vacation at sea.
Getting a killer price on a cruise in the first quarter of the year used to be as common as seeing chocolates dominate store shelves before Valentine's Day, but these days, the rules may be changing.
Imagine sitting at a conference roundtable and being able to look out on the turquoise sea for inspiration. At lunch, you steal away to sunbathe on deck. That night, after a featured speaker presentation, you'll watch a cabaret. Tomorrow, you'll spend a few hours on Grand Cayman.
The FBI was investigating after a dead newborn baby was found onboard a Carnival cruise ship, authorities said Sunday.
The Caribbean doesn't seem like the ideal place for a vacation during hurricane season, yet many travelers take the gamble and book a cruise to the region anyway.
A fuel tank exploded on a pier in Gibraltar injuring 12 passengers on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship docked nearby, according to the cruise line.
The U.S. Coast Guard said it was searching early Wednesday for a woman who was reported missing from a cruise ship as it sailed from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to San Diego.
Friends and family are anxious to connect with cruise passengers in the Pacific as tsunamis spawned by Japan's massive earthquake roll through the ocean.
The cruising industry has changed rapidly in the past decade. And even if you're an experienced cruiser, you may be in for a few surprises on your next sail (for example, you can now ignore the gratuities line on checks guilt-free!).
If the human jawbone that washed up on a beach in Aruba late last year wasn't Natalee Holloway's, whose was it?
Carnival Cruise Lines announced five more cancelled sailings Wednesday on the Carnival Splendor to allow more time to repair the ship damaged by fire last month.
A violent storm over the weekend lashed a Royal Caribbean ship trying to get to port in Alexandria, Egypt, injuring nearly 30 passengers, shattering glass and overturning furniture.
You might want to budget a little bit more for your next Royal Caribbean vacation.
No matter if it's your first cruise or your 40th, these money-saving pointers and insider tips will have you acting like an old salt in no time. Budget Travel magazine's Trip Coach answers readers' top questions.
The disabled Carnival cruise ship that lost power at sea docks in San Diego, California, aided by several tugboats. (NO AUDIO)
Happy to be back on land, passengers stranded aboard a broken-down Carnival cruise ship talk about their experiences.
Even though they were stuck without air conditioning, hot showers and decent meals, some of the passengers who made it off a crippled Carnival Cruise Lines ship said Friday that they would go on a cruise again.
Passengers who disembarked from a Carnival Cruise Lines ship that was towed to port after losing power earlier this week gave mixed reviews on the experience, with several declaring it "an adventure."
Panama officials will lead the investigation into what caused a fire in a Carnival Cruise Lines ship, the National Transportation and Safety Board said Thursday.
Thousands of passengers on a crippled cruise ship being towed to San Diego, California, will disembark Thursday with personal tales from a three-day ordeal that left them without air conditioning and hot showers.
A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier resupplied a crippled cruise ship that is slowly being towed to San Diego, California, officials said Tuesday evening.
It's been a good month for Royal Caribbean.
It was a tight squeeze for a giant new cruise ship sailing from Europe to its home port in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, over the weekend.
Stepping on the scale is the last thing you want to do when you get home from a cruise. It ain't gonna be pretty. All those late-night meals, desserts, fruity drinks -- they add up, and they add pounds.
A bill that requires cruise ships to tighten security measures and report alleged crimes is awaiting President Obama's approval.
A former Royal Caribbean Cruise Line employee has been arrested and charged with burglarizing the homes of 24 vacationers who were spending time at sea.
When Jeff Allen falls and breaks his tibial plateau just before a Carnival cruise, the company offers him a 50 percent cruise credit. But he thinks the company should let him redo the cruise after his surgery. Who's right? And is there anything he could have done to avoid losing his vacation?
Think family vacation -- on steroids.
Sixty passengers on a Carnival Cruise ship were treated for injuries after the boat listed to avoid a submerged buoy.
The Celebrity Mercury cruise ship is returning to port a day early and delaying its next sailing to address an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness that sickened 350 passengers. The outbreak is the third consecutive outbreak on the ship in a month.
The Centers for Disease Control is making a no-sail recommendation for at least four full days for the Celebrity Mercury cruise ship to investigate recurring outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness, a CDC spokesman said Monday.
The terrifying moments on board the Louis Majesty, a cruise ship hit by 26-foot waves off northeast Spain, may be prompting second thoughts among travelers considering a vacation at sea.
CNN's Al Goodman reports the latest details on a cruise ship struck by giant waves that left two passengers dead.
Two passengers aboard a cruise ship were killed when 26-foot waves crashed into the vessel Wednesday off northeast Spain, officials said. Fourteen others were injured.
The Louis Majesty Cruise ship returns to Barcelona after being hit by a deadly wave. (No audio)
Suffering a bout of gastrointestinal illness in a cramped cruise ship cabin ranks pretty high on the scale of vacation nightmares. And given the bug going around this year, illness at sea is likely to spike.
A cruise ship returned to Charleston, South Carolina, on Friday after more than 400 passengers got sick during a trip to the Caribbean.
Some people sickened by an outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness on a U.S. cruise ship have recovered, but hundreds remain ill, the cruise company said Wednesday.
The outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness has spread to more passengers on a U.S. cruise ship, with nearly 450 falling sick while at sea, the cruise company said Tuesday.
The jaw-dropping cruise deals of 2009 have all but dried up. This year travelers will have to work harder to find a way to save on floating escapes.
CNN's Becky Anderson speaks to Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Chairman and CEO, Adam Goldstein.
When Catherine Jones recently booked a Royal Caribbean cruise that included a stop in Haiti, she never expected that her vacation would lead to deep soul searching and an emergency family meeting.
An American cruise ship returning from a nine-day cruise around the Caribbean unexpectedly docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico, early Saturday after temporarily losing power earlier, a spokeswoman for Norwegian Cruise Line said.
It's the midst of peak cruising season, and millions of travelers are eagerly embarking on exotic vacations without thinking they could ever fall victim to a crime at sea.
A cruise ship resumed its voyage to Cozumel, Mexico, on Tuesday after the Coast Guard released it from the search for a 50-year-old woman believed to have fallen overboard late Monday.
Cruising isn't what it used to be. Just ask Steve Roberts, who recently sailed from Costa Maya, Mexico, to Nassau, Bahamas on the Carnival Glory.
Todd Hawkins never figured himself for a cruising kind of guy. He grew up camping and still loves long road trips. But he got married to someone whose family vacation style couldn't have been more different.
If you're thinking about an affordable vacation, Pauline Frommer has tips on some great cruise packages.
The cruise industry's traditional peak season for promotions and bookings may be drawing to a close, but travelers ready to set sail are still in a good position for savings.
Up on the Lido Deck there is a rockin' band playing another love song.
Our ship hadn't quite left port when I handed my teenager a present: a lovely leather-bound notebook with lined pages and a variety of colorful pens. His mission was to keep a cruise journal, a tell-all, remember-the-moments account of his days (and nights) on the high seas.
The Coast Guard is searching for a cruise ship employee who fell overboard off Florida's east coast.
The Coast Guard is searching for a cruise ship employee who fell overboard early Thursday off Florida's east coast.
A 30,000-ton luxury cruise ship outran pirates off the coast of Yemen this weekend, the ship's owner said Monday.
While cruise lines have drawn criticism from eco-watchdogs for years, addressing environmental issues has become one of the industry's top priorities.
Hurricane Ike roared across the Turks and Caicos Islands as a ferocious Category 4 storm.
Vacation season is nearly over, and kids are returning to school with the telltale tans and smiles that mean they had a wonderful and relaxing holiday.
Violence in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince is holding back the nation's dreams of building a viable tourism industry, despite its success in neighboring Caribbean nations
When Jerry Leonard and his wife transfer from their cruise ship to a train, they give Princess their luggage, which includes a bottle of Cognac. The luggage is lost and later found, but the cruise line confiscates the Cognac. Should it replace the bottle -- or is he out of luck?
What's not to like -- from a kid's perspective anyway.
There are more than 160 ships in the fleets of the 24 major cruise lines and more than 7,500 itineraries, from Alaska to Zanzibar. So how do you decide which one most suits your style? Follow these 10 steps to ensure smooth sailing:
Thinking of taking a cruise? Then you picked the right time -- and you're reading the right story.
Happy family cruises are all alike because they allow parents and kids to each be happy in his or her own way. A parent of a toddler, for instance, might be happiest with a cruise that provides trustworthy child-care services at flexible hours. Children, of course, have their own priorities. A teen, say, will probably want lots of activities for socializing after 10 P.M.
It's increasingly popular--and surprisingly affordable--to set sail with the kids in tow. Find out ways to save when planning, booking, and cruising.
Survivors talk about their escape from the Explorer, which sank in waters off Antarctica. CNN's Emily Chang reports.
His mother is scheduled to fly to Hawaii with his aunt and cousin, where they plan to board a cruise. But hours before they leave, Lawrence Dean Parrish finds out that their flight schedules have been changed. Now his mother, who is 74 and suffers from glaucoma, is flying solo and his aunt and cousin are on another flight. Neither the travel agency nor the cruise line will help. Is her vacation sunk?
Tropical Storm Noel, which has killed at least 48 people, was moving away from the Cuban coast late Wednesday and strengthening over warm waters, prompting tropical storm watches to be issued for South Florida.
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