Carnival Cruise Lines´ 2,642-passenger Carnival Destiny will launch a new seven-day southern Caribbean schedule from Puerto Rico´s San Juan featuring port calls to five different tropical destinations beginning in January 7, 2007. The island-intensive itinerary features extended day-long visits to a variety of magnificent southern Caribbean ports, including St. Lucia, Antigua, Dominica, Barbados, and St. Thomas/St. John, along with a fun-filled day at sea.

Discovery World Cruises, specialized in exploring faraway places in comfort and style, unveiled 26 cruise vacations that showcase the kaleidoscope of vibrant history, cultures, architecture and shopping found throughout Europe and the Mediterranean for Summer 2007. Guest can choose from 10- to 33-night itineraries, calling at ports as diverse as Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen, and Tartous, Syria, with rates beginning at $1,995 per person, double occupancy.

Discovery World Cruises´ Discovery has completed its maiden visit to the Galapagos Islands. Passengers on this first five-day sojourn were limited to 500 under a special license for ship operators. Discovery World Cruises says it opted to make the stay be slightly briefer than the norm so that it could be part of a longer voyage. The line´s inaugural cruise to the Galapagos sailed from Papeete, Tahiti and it included visits to Easter Island, Chile and Peru.

Carnival Cruise Lines´ will launch a new five-port, seven-day southern Caribbean itinerary from San Juan on the Carnival Destiny beginning in January 2007. The Destiny will now stop in St. Lucia, Antigua, Dominica, Barbados, and St. Thomas/St. John. It formerly operated a four-port, seven-day cruise to St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados and Aruba.

The world´s largest and most innovative cruise ship, Royal Caribbean International´s famed Freedom of the Seas, left Southampton, England last week to make her transatlantic voyage to New York where she will make her U.S. debut on Wednesday, May 10. Having already caused quite a stir in Europe, Freedom of the Seas was reported to be the second most popular search term on yahoo.com last week.

Aker Shipyards of Finland delivered the Freedom of the Seas, the world´s largest cruise ship, to Royal Caribbean International April 24 at a ceremony in Hamburg, Germany. The 160,00-ton ship was delivered after a weekend of successful sea trials in the North Sea. The 3,600-passenger ship sailed immediately to Oslo, Norway, on April 26, then headed to Southampton, England, April 29. On May 3, it will begin its transatlantic voyage to Royal Caribbean´s port in Bayonne, N.J., for its U.S. debut.