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Hurricane Irene caused havoc over the past week with cruise lines needing to change itineraries and skip past their gorgeous private islands in the Caribbean that seemed to bear the brunt of Irene’s fury.

Perhaps the most inconvenienced were the 450 passengers stranded in San Juan after port authorities ordered the departure of Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas and Carnival Victory earlier than anticipated.

Both lines handled the situation very differently but  spokesperson for Royal Caribbean, Cynthia Martinez, told our friends at Cruise Radio,  “We are in the process of contacting those guests who were not able to sail with us at all to inform them of their compensation, and would prefer that the impacted guests learn of the amount directly from the line before it is disclosed publicly.”

Once again it seems that the power of social media has prevailed with Facebook, Twitter and cruise forums ablaze with comments regarding the incident.

On the topic of Cruise Radio, you can listen to my entire interview with CEO and president of Celebrity Cruises, Dan Hanrahan in this week’s episode. Find out what to expect from the Celebrity vessels hitting our shores in the next year and find out just how tipping will work onboard.

Yours in cruising,
Natalie

	Hurricane Irene cruise line update With 4.5 million people currently without power across the east coast of America, e-Travel Blackboard examines the affect Hurricane Irene has had across the cruise industry.
	A call for transparency at Cruise Down Under David Voss, vice president destination and enrichment programs for The World, called for transparency in pricing within the travel industry at the Cruise Down Under conference in Newcastle last week.
	Hurricane Irene leaves cruisers stranded in San Juan Carnival and Royal Caribbean were forced to leave nearly 450 passengers in San Juan last Sunday 21 August when the local port authority ordered the vessels’ departure to avoid Hurricane Irene.
	Princess Cruises says kia ora New Zealand Sea Princess is set to embark on three 13-night circumnavigations of New Zealand departing from Auckland later this year.
	Fukuoka welcomes Costa Classica Costa Cruises celebrated the arrival of Costa Classica to the port of Fukuoka last Sunday with a ceremony onboard the 1,680-passenger vessel.
	Port Canaveral constructs new cruise terminal The largest cruise ships sailing the seven seas will be accommodated by a new USD$60 million terminal in Port Canaveral, Florida.
ANMM Collection. Reproduced courtesy of the Australian National Maritime Museum