One of the most awarded and prestigious brands in the luxury travel and hospitality Crystal Cruises, will shut down its US-based office by the end of this week. All office employees have already received their termination letters yesterday and tomorrow will be the last day at work for most of them, while some will stay until Friday. The banks that hold mortgages on the Crystal Cruises ships have appointed V.Ships to be the new management company.

After the temporary pause, MSC Magnifica is back to cruising. The ship departed yesterday from the port of Hamburg, Germany on a 7-night Northern Europe itinerary with scheduled stops in Southampton, UK; Le Havre, France; Zeebrugge (Bruges) and IJmuiden, Netherlands.

Two Crystal Cruises ships, Crystal Symphony and Serenity, have been arrested yesterday evening by the authorities after their arrival in Freeport. The ships anchored alongside near Freeport yesterday morning and the local authorities boarded last night at around 8 p.m. to arrest the ships, said one crew member.

The new Disney Cruise Line ship Disney Wish, is expected to be undocked at Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany this week, reports Schiffe-und-kreuzfahrten. The construction is well underway for Disney Wish, the first of three Triton-class cruise ships commissioned by Disney.

Costa Cruises newest flagship is hosting this years 72nd edition of the popular Sanremo Festival. The ship will be at anchor off the coast of Sanremo until February 6, and is the first floating stage in the Festivals’ history.

MSC Cruises announced extension of the cruise season in the Arabian Gulf through June 25 with the cruise ship MSC Bellissima. The cruise line will offer additional 7-night cruises with stops in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sir Bani Yas in the United Arab Emirates and Doha in Qatar.

The sixth and final Royal-Class ship in the Princess Cruises fleet – Discovery Princess – was delivered in an official handover ceremony at the Fincantieri Shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy. The 3,660-guest Discovery Princess handover was attended by John Padgett, President of Princess Cruises, Captain Gennaro Arma, and Luigi Matarazzo, General Manager Merchant Ships Division of Fincantieri.

The US Coast Guard is conducting an investigation after a Royal Caribbean cruise ship ventured near the hazard area of the rocket trajectory on Sunday, causing the SpaceX launch from Cape Canaveral to be aborted at the last moment.

Brazil cruise season is once again facing an extension of the voluntary cruise pause after CLIA Brazil moved the date of return to cruise activities from February 4, to February 18.

Elon Musk's SpaceX launch of the rocket Falcon 9 was aborted at the last moment from Cape Canaveral after a cruise ship ventured under the planned flight trajectory near the hazard area. SpaceX was set to fire a Falcon 9 rocket into orbit on Sunday at 6:11 p.m, but the US Coast Guard could not clear a cruise ship in time out of the rocket’s downrange hazard area.