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WELCOME to Brooklyn, passengers. It seems fitting that the Queen Mary 2 - the massive snob-mover that insists on segregating first-class passengers from lowly steerage types - made its inaugural landing in Red Hook, Brooklyn, on the 94th anniversary of the day the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic. This time, the Queen made it across the ocean without incident. I think a few folks on board might have preferred the excitement of a close encounter with an iceberg. The ship was welcomed to our shores before 5 a.m., not with champagne or fireworks - but with a...

As state and national pressures build to reduce diesel pollution at sea ports, the Port of San Diego has started exploring ways to slash emissions from cruise liners and other ships that call on the city. No one tracks how much air pollution the Port of San Diego creates, but it's widely agreed that having massive diesel engines from cruise liners and other ships idling for hours at the pier isn't good for air quality. The effort centers on providing dockside power so vessels can plug in and turn off their diesel engines, a process called cold ironing. A growing...

Carnival Cruise Lines announced Saturday that the U.S. government has chartered three luxury cruise liners - Ecstacy, Sensation and Holiday - for the next half year, to provide temporary housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Two of the ships, the Ecstasy and Sensation, have a maximum capacity of 2,606 people each and will be based in Galveston, Texas. The third, the Holiday, has a maximum capacity of 1,800, and will likely be docked in Mobile, Ala. Carnival Cruise Lines would not reveal how much FEMA was paying to charter the ships. Carnival crews will operate the ships, which will be...

The idea came up this a.m. that maybe since there is going to be a huge problem involving rescue and temporary housing of the homeless from the Katrina hurricane in the Gulf that maybe cruise ships could be used. And the S.S. Hope might be used for those who undoubtedly will need medical care.

Scrapping looms for veteran linerTime seems to be running out for the venerable SS Norway. The former liner that helped launch Norwegian shipowners' venture into the cruise industry will reportedly be scrapped if no buyer steps forward by next week.The vessel continues to be owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL), but hasn't sailed since an explosion in its boiler room in 2003. The explosion and fire killed several crew members.Vastly in need of expensive renovation, the vessel has since been berthed at Bremerhaven in Germany. NCL initially announced plans to repair the vessel, but the Associated Press reported Friday that...

MIAMI -- Carnival Corp. & PLC, the world's largest cruise company, reported today that higher ticket prices and onboard sales propelled third-quarter earnings up 40 percent to its best three-month results ever. The Miami-based company reported net income of $1.03 billion, or $1.23 a share, in the June-to-August period, compared with $734 million, or 90 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier. The results beat the $1.20 a share average estimate of Wall Street analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call. Revenues were $3.25 billion, up from $2.52 billion a year ago. This quarter was the first when...

I am presently on a cruise in Alaska. On the local AM Skagway station this AM it was broadcast that there is an ongoing investigation as to possible terriorist approaching cruise ship employees to buy their identification cards and board the ships. The U.S. Coast Guard is continuing an investigation. Skagway is a small port about 60 miles from Juneau, AK. Very scary, especially with sharing a boarder with Canada where their is a very large Muslim population. Anyone in Alaska aware of this investigation? We had the Coast Guard make an unannounced boarding of our ship. Could have been...

A water-squirting tugboat salutes the Queen Mary 2, the largest luxury ocean liner ever constructed, as it arrives at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday, Jan. 26, 2004, following its first trans-Atlantic voyage from Southampton, England. The ship is to begin a series of Caribbean cruises from Fort Lauderdale Jan. 31. (AP Photo/Cunard Line, Andy Newman) http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040126/480/flan10201261320   Queen Mary 2 berths at Port Everglades after maiden voyage By JOHN PAIN Associated Press Posted January 26 2004, 7:44 AM EST PORT EVERGLADES -- The Queen Mary 2, the world's largest and most expensive cruise ship, completed its maiden trans-Atlantic...

<p>Al Qaeda (search) has turned its terror sights to the sea, targeting luxury cruise liners in a major expansion of its "jihad (search)" against Western interests.</p> <p>And top of the terrornetwork's list of ocean-bound targets is the new $1.3 billion British ship Queen Mary 2 (search).</p>

Al-qaeda blueprint exposedBy Ben English, Ian Gallagher and Jef Sommerfield December 29, 2003AL-QAEDA has turned its terror sights to the sea, targeting luxury cruise liners in an expansion of its "jihad" against the West. Liners like the Queen Mary 2 are under threat Owners of the recently launched $1.3 billion Queen Mary 2 yesterday confirmed threats of terror hang over its maiden voyage early next year. The Osama bin-Laden terrorist group is also adopting new tactics to destroy commercial aircraft. British MP Patrick Mercer has revealed Saudi authorities arrested two Islamic suicide pilots. He said the pilots were preparing to...