Rocco Forte Hotels completed 124 million hotel and golf resort on the southern coast of Sicily in a small village called Verdura, near Sciacca, just over an hour's drive from the international airport in Palermo and 30 kilometres from Agrigento and the Temple Valley. The development, involving the restoration of several existing buildings on the site together with new construction, which will reflect the history and character of Sicily and the region, consist of a 200-room ocean-view hotel, two championship golf courses, a hydrotherapy spa, sports facilities and a relatively large real estate development. The Verdura Golf and Spa Resort offers a total of 200 bedrooms, including 50 suites, set into the contours of the landscape to minimise visual impact and provide stunning views of the Mediterranean,and all rooms will be at least 40 square metres and will offer the very latest facilities. In addition to the spa, there are two 18-hole championship golf courses, plus a nine-hole course. The golf club will include a restaurant, cafe-bar and retailing in addition to the normal golfing facilities. Guests will also be invited to use the private beach at the hotel. The conference centre ( eight meeting rooms) at The Verdura Golf & Spa Resort can accommodate up to 250 people in the main room.

US cruise operator Carnival sold the QE2 for about 50 million pounds (67 million euros, 99 million dollars) in November last year to Istithmar, the investment arm of state-owned tourism company Dubai World. The Queen Elizabeth 2 will be refurbished and turned into a five-star hotel at a specially-constructed pier on the world's largest man-made island, The Palm Jumeirah. The Queen Elizabeth 2 travelled 5.5 million nautical miles -- the equivalent of travelling to the moon and back 13 times -- undertaken 25 world cruises, crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times, and carried more than two million passengers.

At 294 metres long with a gross tonnage of approximately 90,000 tonnes, the Queen Victoria is one of the largest panamax ships (i.e. able to pass through the Panama Canal) built to date. The ship is a natural evolution of the concept of ocean liner following the tradition which has always been characteristic of the style of Cunard, whose fleet, with its distinctive black hull, white superstructures and red funnel, has been a key player in the history of shipping. The Queen Victoria has a maximum passenger capacity of 2,000 with a crew of approximately 900. There are 1,007 cabins (a high number of luxury suites and mini suites), 864 with a sea view and the majority with a balcony. The ship has a theatre which, extending over three decks, can accommodate an audience of 830 and includes luxurious boxes. Fincantieri and Cunard Line have recently reached an agreement to build a new super luxury cruise ship of 92,000 gross tonnes, worth around 500 million euros, which, with the approval of Her Majesty will be called the Queen Elizabeth. Since 1990, Fincantieri, which is world leader in the sector, has built 42 cruise ships. A further 19 (including two options) are currently on order, thereby extending the shipyards’ workload through to 2012; these 59 ships have brought the company revenues of over 25 billion dollars.

The cruise industry has finally entered the meetings market. Long a favorite of vacation travelers, cruising is now becoming a popular meeting venue. Most cruise lines have included complete meeting facilities on their newest ships. They have even established onboard meeting managers and have equipped their conference rooms with the latest audio-visual equipment. And of course, once the day’s meetings are over, your attendees will have time to enjoy all the meals and activities onboard ship. They will even get to visit exciting ports of call and experience their varied cultures. +++++ www.adtrav.com ++++++

Costa Crociere, the leading cruise line in Italy and Europe, has announced an order for two new 114,200-ton ships to be delivered in 2013 and 2014. Costa Crociere S.p.A, the Italian subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE CUK), signed an agreement with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the construction of the two new vessels at an all-in cost of approximately €1 billion (€510 million per ship). The two new ships will be built at Fincantieri's Marghera shipyard and be sister ships to the Costa Concordia, Costa Serena and Costa Pacifica, the latter of which is currently being built at Fincantieri’s Sestri Ponente shipyard. The new ships will each be able to accommodate 3,780 passengers in total (including all upper berths) or 3,012 guests based on double occupancy.

Fort Lauderdale (Ft. Lauderdale) is used by several cruise lines as an embarkation and disembarkation point for Caribbean cruises. The actual port in Ft. Lauderdale is known as Port Everglades, and it is the third-busiest cruise port in the world, drawing almost 3 million cruise passengers in its 11 cruise terminals. If you were to look at a topographical map of the eastern seaboard of the United States, you will see that Port Everglades is the deepest harbor south of Norfolk. Speaking at the Seatrade Cruise Shipping convention, port director Phillip Allen said that the extensive renovation of Terminal 18 will allow the world's largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas to debark and embark the 5,400-passenger ship simultaneously. The new Terminal 18 will be the largest single-ship cruise terminal in the world, Allen said, growing from 67,500 square feet of interior space to 240,000 square feet on two floors.

Costa Cruises was the first cruise line to offer regularly scheduled Caribbean cruises from Port Everglades in 1959 with the elegant Franca C, setting the stage for the modern day cruise vacation that so many travelers from South Florida enjoy today. All in one class accomodations with bathrooms and air conditioning, heralding a new era of pleasure cruises. Actually, Costa Cruises is still cruising from South Florida. The Costa Fortuna is beginning her third season from Port Everglades, offering seven-night cruises on rotating Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries through March. The 105,000-ton Costa Fortuna has a double capacity of 2,720, with 1,359 cabins—857 ocean view and 458 with large verandas. The ship offers guests a stunning array of facilities including 11 bars, 4 restaurants, a theater extending over three decks, three swimming pools, a casino, disco, ballroom and a gym.

Royal Caribbean announced they would transfer Monarch of the Seas out of their fleet and into sister company Pullmantur Cruises in April next year . Now it is official that Monarch of the Seas will be home based year round in Curacao when that transfer is complete. Monarch of the Seas will offer 7 night Southern Caribbean itineraries to ports in Venezuela, Panama, Colombia and Aruba. The decision wraps up two months of negotiations between the cruise line and the Minister of Tourism.

MSC Cruises are proposing their cruise ship Divina on Caribbean cruises out of Miami from Nov. 20, 2013 to April 12, 2014 – the 1st time a Fantasia-class (largest vessels from the fleet of MSC Cruises) vessel is departing from a North American port. MSC Divina is a large cruise ship with a gross tonnage (GT) of 139,000 tons, 1,751 staterooms, 30,000 square meters of public space, four swimming pools, a Spa, a casino, twenty bars and lounges, a bowling alley, a gym and Spa, a casino, twenty bars and lounges, a bowling alley, a gym and 7 restaurants. In MSC Yacht Club you will find 69 butler serviced superior suites, 24/7 concierge service, the lovely restaurant Le Muse, a swimming pool not available to external people plus the One Bar, private decks, private lift access to MSC Aurea Spa, nice wines and spirits and sweeping sea views from its private Top Sail Lounge. Transfer cruise November 2, 2013 from Venice for a trip for 19 days through the Atlantic ocean. Port calls: Valletta, Malaga, Funchal, St. Maarten, San Juan and Nassau and finally in Miami.

The 3,600-cruisers Royal Princess is a new-generation vessel currently under construction for one of the biggest cruise companies - Princess Cruises. Amidst the new features found on the board of the cruise liner is going to be a 50 % larger atrium that is the social hub of the vessel; a dramatic over-water SeaWalk, a top-deck glass-bottomed walkway covering more than twenty-eight feet beyond the edge of the cruise and balconies on all outside rooms. The cruise liner's 2014 maiden season is going to include cruises on the line’s signature Grand Mediterranean route throughout the summer, which are going to be followed by Eastern Caribbean cruises starting in the fall.