Over 3,000 gay cruisers are expected to converge on Grand Cayman tomorrow in what has been billed as “The Largest Gay Cruise in History II” by the specialist gay tour operator, Atlantis Events. The Navigator of the Seas cruise begins in Miami on Saturday, 28 January with 3,200 out of the ship´s 3,840 passengers, reported to be gay men and women. The seven-day journey took guests to Cozumel in Mexico yesterday and is sailing on to Grand Cayman (January 31), Labadee in Hispaniola (February 2) and Miami (February 4).

The Queen Mary II, the world´s largest cruise ship, set sail again Thursday two days after being forced to return to port near Miami when one of its motors hit an underwater channel, resulting in the cancellation of scheduled calls at Barbados and St Kitts. “Queen Mary 2 departed Port Everglades at 6:00am (1100 GMT) this morning and is now underway following technical work to decommission one of the ship´s four propulsion pods,” Cunard Lines, which operates the ship, said in a statement.

Norwegian Pearl and Norwegian Gem are the names of two new ships due to be delivered to Norwegian Cruise Line next year. The vessels are expected to enter service in February 2007 and October 2007 respectively. They will complete the delivery of seven new ships in seven years. Norwegian Pearl and Norwegian Gem are both in the same class as Norwegian Jewel, launched in Dover last summer, and which returns to Europe in May to offer Mediterranean cruises.

Following the official closing of its purchase by Britain´s First Choice, Clipper Cruise Line sold two of its ships –half its fleet- to Cruise West, the small-ship cruise line based in Seattle, state of Washington. The acquisition brings Cruise West´s fleet to ten. As Cruise West vessels, the 138-passenger Yorktown Clipper and the 102-passenger Nantucket Clipper will sail their previously announced 2006 Clipper itineraries, which includes voyages along the eastern seaboard, the Great Lakes, the Caribbean, Alaska, Mexico and Central America.

Silversea Cruises is extending its Mediterranean season by one month and adding calls in Lebanon, Libya and Syria –more than doubling the number of calls to the destinations previously served by the line. In addition, rates for the extended season, with departures from March through mid-November, will be discounted by up to 50 percent on select dates. David Morris, senior vice president of sales in North America, cited a “growing segment” of guests who plan fall and spring trips to avoid crowds as reason for the extended Med season, which will take place on three ships (the Silver Cloud, the Silver Whisper and the Silver Wind), visiting 90 destinations in 20 countries through 2006.

Celebrity Cruises launched a new ad campaign representing the line´s first foray into network TV advertising in several years, according to the company. The campaign´s concept centers on how the line´s cruise experience makes guests feel like celebrities, and is dubbed “the Celebrity Treatment,” the line said.