Costa Cruises took delivery of its 15th cruiseship, the $625 million Costa Deliziosa in Venice on Saturday. Sister ship to the Costa Luminosa the 92,600-ton Costa Deliziosa carries 2,826 guests in 1,130 staterooms – including 52 Samsara, 718 veranda cabins, 50 suites and four Samsara suites inside the 11,000 square foot Samsara Spa. There are a host of leading-edge innovations on board including a 20-seat 4D cinema that takes guests on a wild sensory ride, a golf and Grand Prix simulator, Playstation World.

Deliziosa It will sail from Savona, Italy with paying passengers on February 5, on a 20-night inaugural cruise to Dubai where it will be based for the winter season along with the Costa Luminosa and Costa Europa. ExpertCruiser will be in Dubai on February 23 to cover the Deliziosa’s extravagant christening. Stay tuned for more details.

Star Clippers announced today that it will not operate in the Far East next winter due to concerns about piracy. The cruise line has had a ship based in the Far East for over a decade. Instead the tall ship Star Clipper will ply the waters of the Caribbean starting in November where it will sail 7-day, round-trip cruises from St. Maarten.

“Geopolitical conditions not related directly to the destinations themselves’ dictated the decision”, said Star Clippers owner Mikael Krafft. He stated that the company hopes to return to Thailand and Malaysia when the piracy situation in the Strait of Malacca, Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean is resolved.

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ Balmoral took evasive action last night in the Gulf of Aden to avoid suspicious activity by two small boats, observed on radar to be closing at high speed. According to a company statement, passengers were assembled in ‘safe havens’ of the ship as part of a pre-planned safety procedure.

The company said ‘aggressive maneuvering’ was implemented and contact was made with the EU Coalition Task Force. The suspicious boats were detected at 7:45 p.m and by 8:45 p.m. an EU warship confirmed the area around Balmoral was clear and the piracy alert was called off at 9:23 p.m.
Fred. Olsen said Balmoral is proceeding on schedule to Salalah, Oman, for Thursday arrival.

Interestingly, the company has taken the Balmoral off its Web site ship position display.

The Balmoral, formerly the Norwegian Crown, has started off 2009 in dubious fashion. In early January the vessel had a norovirus outbreak and a few weeks later sailed through a force twelve gale storm in the Bay of Biscay off Northern Spain and France. Video showing the ship sailing in those rough seas became a YouTube sensation.

The pirate attack on Oceania’s Nautica has the cruise industry re-thinking it’s Middle Eastern cruise schedule.

German cruise operator Hapag-Lloyd is so concerned about a pirate attack on one of its ships that it is unloading passengers in Hodeidah, Yemen. Instead of sailing onboard the MS Columbus passengers will now spend three days in Yemen and then fly to Salalah, Oman to reconnect with the MS. Columbus and finish their journey into Dubai. The report comes from the son of a passenger onboard the MS Columbus who posted the account on iReport.com.

MS Columbus was on a scheduled 19-day voyage from Genoa, Italy to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In the past week the vessel had transited the Suez Canal and stopped a various ports of call along the Red Sea. The 15,000-ton MS Columbus carries 420 passengers and 190 crew. The vessel is now transiting the Gulf of Aden with 50 crew. Good luck to them!

Stay tuned for more info.