US passengers have arrived in Havana on board a cruise ship from Miami. It is the first cruise ship in decades to depart from a US port for the communist island nation, following the thaw in diplomatic relations.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/R. Espinosa
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Carnival's cruise ship Adonia arrived in Havana with than 700 passengers on board Monday. The arrival of the ship restarts commercial travel on waters that have witnessed only hostility since the end of the 1970s between the US and its Caribbean neighbor across the Florida Straits.
In grand style: Fabulous new cruise ships
Europe's ship-building industry is under pressure from Asian competitors. But when it comes to building cruise ships, Europe still reigns supreme, as these pictures show.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/I. Wagner
A high-growth industry
More than 25 million people will book time on the world's cruise ships this year, according to the Cruise Lines International Association. That's a million more than in 2016. More passengers require more ships, and so 26 new cruise ships will join the existing 448-ship global fleet in 2017, including high-seas giants, smaller river cruisers, and specialist boats.
Image: cmm-marketing.com by Bianca Berger, Eus Straver and Marc Hansen
There are more on the way
In this year alone, 2017, twelve new high-seas cruise ships will be joining the global fleet. In aggregate, they'll be capable of carrying more than 28,000 passengers. One of every four ships due to be completed in 2017 will be built by a German shipyard or a subsidiary, according to CLIA, the industry association.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Marks
The spectacular Ovation of the Seas on its maiden run
Europe's shipbuilders have decades of experience building very large, complex systems, and have attained a remarkable proficiency. The supply chain includes top-quality specialised companies and highly skilled, experienced personnel. Industry association IG Metall extols European shipbuilders' visionary design engineers - and the technicians capable of building the engineers' grand dreams.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/I. Wagner
Three European shipyards dominate the cruise ship building trade
Three companies dominate cruise ship construction: Italy's Fincantieri, STX France, and Germany's Meyer Werft in Papenburg. As of early 2016, Fincantieri had contracts to build 24 ships on its books, including the MSC Seaside. Meyer Werft (pictured) has contracts to build 21 ships, and STX France 12.
Image: Meyer Werft
The Japanese competition founders
The only non-European cruise ship builder, Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, had only a single contract on its books as of the beginning of 2016. Mitsubishi decided to stop building cruise ships. That was fine by Germany's Meyer Werft, which by 2013 had built seven ships for cruise operator AIDA - yet in 2011, AIDA had given Mitsubishi two shipbuilding contracts. That's all over now, baby blue.
Image: AP
AIDA's comeback
In 2015, AIDA made a comeback. It announced that it had contracted for two new ships to be built by Meyer Werft. One is to be launched in autumn 2018, the other in Spring 2021. Each will have more than 2,500 cabins, and both will be powered by liquid natural gas, which will greatly reduce particulate emissions from the smokestack compared to conventional ship engines powered by heavy fuel oils.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/I. Wagner
Newest ships are designed for reduced environmental impact
The new ships will be powered by liquid natural gas, LNG, instead of heavy fuel oils, dramatically reducing particulate emissions. New features include: Electric motors, high-efficiency LED lamps, heat recovery systems, and new friction-reducing coatings for hulls. Lighter-weight materials will further improve energy efficiency.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/I. Wagner
The biggest of the biggy bigs
"Harmony of the Seas" is currently the world's largest cruise ship. It's 66 meters wide, over 362 meters long, and has 16 decks, 20 dining rooms, 23 swimming pools, and even a park with more than 12,000 plants. There's room for up to 5,480 passengers and more than 2,000 crew. Royal Caribbean Cruises paid more than a billion euros to shipbuilder STX France to have this floating town built.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F.Dubray
April 15, 1912, was not a good day in the history of cruising
The "Titanic" was 269 meters long, had nine decks, and was able to carry up to 2687 pasengers and 860 crew. It had 2200 passengers and crew aboard on its maiden - and final - voyage. 1500 died. All of them could have been saved - the Cunard liner Carpathia arrived on the scene just an hour and twenty minutes after the Titanic went down. But there weren't enough lifeboats on board for everyone.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
A slice of cruiser cake for China?
China could soon become a serious competitor to Europe's cruise ship building industry. About a million Chinese booked a cruise last year. By 2030, it could be as many as eight million. Chinese shipbuilders have taken note. In July 2015, Italy's Fincantieri set up a joint venture with China Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) to build cruisers for the Chinese market.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
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The Straits were blocked by the US during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and tens of thousands of Cubans attempted perilous voyages in small craft over the following years, many of them dying in the process of trying to reach the US.
"Times of change often bring out emotions and clearly the histories here are very emotional for a number of people," Carnival CEO Arnold Donald told reporters.
The ship will visit three Cuban ports over the seven-day voyage. Carnival said the Adonia will cruise every other week from Miami to Cuba. The Adonia is one of Carnival's smaller ships - roughly half the size of some larger European vessels that already dock in Havana.
US President Barack Obama and Raul Castro began the process of restoring relations in late 2014, but the full embargo must still be lifted by the US CongressImage: Reuters/C. Barria
US embargo still in place
Uncertainty over whether the cruise would be allowed to happen was resolved last week when the Cuban government lifted restrictions for seaborne visits of Cuban nationals to and from the United States, opening the door for Cuban-Americans to board the ship.
The cruise company initially refused to accept reservations from such people, because of Cuban restrictions first imposed when the island's Communist regime feared landings by anti-Castro militants.
That prompted charges of discrimination amid a firestorm of criticism.
But the world's leading tour ship operator eventually relented and began to allow reservations from Cuban-born customers.
Among them was 61-year-old Isabel Buznego who as a youngster emigrated with her family from Cuba and was returning to the island for the first time.
"My dad wanted to come because he had never been able to come, but he passed away," she told the AFP news agency. "So I'm coming in his name. That is why I have so many different emotions, but I am mostly happy."
The Miami Herald newspaper reported that a boat carrying activists protesting the trip to Cuba was nearby in Florida waters before the ship's departure on Sunday. But the paper said the boat pulled away before the Adonia set sail.
