Carnival Cruise Lines’ 2,642-passenger Carnival Destiny will begin a new schedule of four- and five-day cruises from Miami on Sept. 27. Carnival said the Destiny’s deployment will also further solidify Carnival’s position as a leader in the short-cruise market, with 29 such options from 12 U.S. homeports.

Aruba Cruise Tourism (ACT) is offering a birthday gift to all cruise passengers celebrating their special day on the island. The birthday gift promotion is valid starting this month, while supplies last.

Clients who visit a Walt Disney World Resort or Disneyland Resort theme park on their birthday in 2009 can get in free, as Disney Parks embraces a new trend in family travel called “celebration vacations.”

Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas will feature a nightclub district called Entertainment Place, the line revealed last week. Venues will include Blaze, Jazz on 4, Comedy Live and Dazzles. Dazzles, a two-deck dance club, will host musically themed evenings, dance lessons and competitions.

The curtain has been raised on another neighborhood aboard Oasis of the Seas, Royal Caribbean International’s newest and highly anticipated ship set to launch in November 2009. Entertainment Place, a complex of diverse entertainment venues, is one of seven neighborhoods on the world’s largest and most revolutionary cruise ship –a unique concept providing vacationers with the opportunity to seek out relevant experiences based on their personal style, preference or mood.

Cruise West will travel to Europe for the first time in 2009 with 11- and 12-day Danube River cruises. The new Vienna-to-Bucharest route provides touring in Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and cruising in the Danube Delta onboard the new 148-guest Amadeus Diamond, which is launching in 2009.