Porthole Cruise News Briefs – Feb. 26, 2015

Porthole Cruise News Briefs – Feb. 26, 2016

• Actor, singer, and cruiser Carlos PenaVega is celebrating the opening of the hit Broadway musical Grease on Harmony of the Seas when the ship launches in May 2016. PenaVega will lead a number of Grease-inspired activities such as teaching the hand jive, presiding over a dance competition, giving an exclusive performance of “Greased Lightnin’,” and more.

• Regent Seven Seas Cruises has selected a seasoned captain and crew for the ultra-luxurious Seven Seas Explorer when she launches on July 20, 2016. In his more than 20 years of seafaring experience, Captain Stanislas Gerard Jean Mercier De Lacombe has captained both Seven Seas Mariner and Seven Seas Navigator, and will lead a team that includes Franck Galzy, General Manager; Aurelien Dumeylet, Executive Chef; Luca Griggi, Chief Engineer; and Ray Solaire, Cruise Director, as well as nearly 550 highly trained staff providing service for only 750 guests.

• Ultra-luxury line Seabourn celebrated a traditional coin ceremony for its newest vessel, Seabourn Encore, at the Fincantieri shipyard in Marghera, Italy. Cruise line president, Richard Meadows, welded two commemorative gold coins to the 40,350-grt ship’s mast. The traditional “madrina” presiding over the ceremony was Marnie Tihany, the director of business development for Tihany Design and the wife of ship’s hospitality designer Adam D. Tihany. Seabourn Encore is set to begin sailing in December 2016.

• Norwegian expedition line Hurtigruten has launched a program for children traveling to Antarctica. The Young Explorers Program will be available on voyages aboard MS Midnatsol between November 2016 and March 2017. Kids between 7 and 13 can engage in age-appropriate field research, games, re-enactments, and lectures. They’ll also be able to assist the Expedition Team, learning about the rigors of polar exploration in a hands-on way. On one Antarctica landing during the voyage, the kids are invited to help the staff set up the landing site before passengers go ashore, which may involve digging snow steps, carrying emergency equipment from the boat, placing flags for path making, or standing post by a penguin colony — accompanied by a staff member, of course.

^{Photos: Carlos PenaVega, Seabourn}

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