Several British news outlets are reporting that Britain’s Fred Olsen Cruise Lines has ordered an early end to a Mediterranean cruise this week after a massive outbreak of what is believed to be norovirus.

The UK’s Daily Mail reports as many as 600 of 900 people on Fred Olsen’s Boudicca have been struck down by the illness, which is marked by sometimes severe diarrhea and vomiting — an unprecedented level. Even the worst outbreaks of norovirus on ships rarely spread beyond 10% of passengers. 

The outbreak, moreover, is the fourth in just a few months for the ship. At least 180 of 800 passengers on the Boudicca’s Dec. 6 cruise to the Canary Islands were hit by norovirus and around 50 more came down with the illness on the ship’s Dec. 18 voyage. The ship’s Dec. 22 also was affected, with at least 289 of 795 passengers falling ill. Fred Olsen ended that voyage early, too.

Another Fred Olsen vessel, the Balmoral, also has struggled with several major outbreaks of norovirus-like illness over the past year.

The Daily Mail reports the Boudicca currently is on its way to Liverpool, England, to off-load passengers, and then will undergo extensive, multi-day cleaning. The news outlet says port calls in Malta and Lisbon have been canceled.

UPDATE, 1:03 PM ET: A spokesperson for Fred Olsen Cruise Lines says the number of passengers who have become ill on the current voyage of the Boudicca is only about half as high as some news outlets are reporting.

Jill Channing, a public relations representative for the line based in the UK, tells USA TODAY that there have been 305 cases of a norovirus-like illness on the vessel in recent days. She cites a shipboard doctor for the number.

Royal Caribbean today announced plans to redeploy the Mariner of the Seas from the Mexican Riviera to Europe, effective in early 2011.

The line says the 3,114-passenger ship, which has been sailing to the Mexican Riviera year-round out of Los Angeles since early 2009, will set sail for a new home at the port of Rome (Civitavecchia) in January. 

Mariner is the largest ship ever to regularly sail out of a West Coast port, and it’s arrival in Los Angeles last year was heralded as a major development for the city. It’s removal is just the latest sign that the market is not living up to expectations. Another line sailing in the region, Carnival, is pulling a ship out of nearby San Diego later this month, and Norwegian Cruise Line recently announced it would end seasonal cruising out of Los Angeles in 2011.

With Mariner’s withdrawal, Royal Caribbean no longer will have a presence in Southern California or the West Coast of Mexico — destinations it has served for many years.

Too big to fit through the Panama Canal, Mariner will have to spend weeks sailing around South America to reach Europe. Royal Caribbean says it will sell a series of repositioning cruises around the continent as it does so.

The redeployment means Royal Caribbean will have 11 of its 22 ships in Europe in 2011 — an unprecedented number. Just last month the line said it planned to have 10 ships in Europe for 2011, up from eight this year.

Mariner will be replacing Splendour of the Seas in Rome.  Splendour, in turn, will head to Venice for the summer and fall of 2011 to sail 10- and 11-night Greek Isles and Turkey itineraries for the season.

Royal Caribbean says Mariner will return to North America for the 2011-12 winter season to replace the Voyager of the Seas in offering seven-night Western Caribbean itineraries from Galveston, Texas. Voyager, in turn, will head to New Orleans, marking the line’s return to the city. 

Mariner’s final round-trip Mexican Riviera itinerary from Los Angeles will take place on Jan. 9, 2011.

Photo courtesy Royal Caribbean

Several dozen passengers on a Carnival cruise ship Wednesday were injured when the vessel made a sudden turn to avoid an object in the water.

Carnival says the incident occurred Wednesday afternoon as the 2,052-passenger ship, the Carnival Ecstasy, was sailing in the Gulf of Mexico. The Ecstasy was on the final leg of a five-day cruise out of Galveston, Texas.

Carnival says the Ecstasy was forced to perform an unusually sharp maneuver to avoid a large buoy that was adrift and mostly submerged, preventing it from being detected by the ship’s radar. The maneuver resulted in the ship listing notably to port.

None of the injuries were serious, the line says.

“The movement of the vessel resulted in minor injuries to 60 guests who were treated at the ship’s infirmary as well as some minor damage to merchandise and unsecured objects,” Carnival says in a statement.

Carnival says the vessel docked this morning in Galveston, as scheduled.  All proper authorities, including the U.S. Coast Guard have been notified, the line adds.

“Carnival sincerely apologizes for the distress and discomfort this occurrence has caused our guests,” the line says.  “The safety, comfort and care of our guests and crew is our top priority.”

Photo courtesy Carnival Cruise Lines

Jane Sutton – Reuters

ROYAL Caribbean’s new Oasis of the Seas is the largest, widest, tallest, most expensive cruise ship afloat, a cornucopia of amusements aimed at quashing the notion that cruising is a sedentary vacation, chief executive Richard Fain said.

Then he donned swim trunks, jumped on a boogie board and challenged fellow executives to a contest in one of the Oasis‘ two FlowRider pools that simulate surfing.

“I’ve never been a believer in building it big just for size’s sake. We build large because we’ve had so many ideas they simply don’t fit in a smaller hull,” Fain said.

The $US1.4 ($1.5) billion Oasis of the Seas, the world’s biggest cruise ship, enters service during the industry’s worst year in decades but is so exuberantly excessive that Fain predicts it will be profitable from day one.

Oasis is a floating resort that eclipses the condo towers it sails past at its new home, Port Everglades in southeast Florida. The 225,282-gross-ton ship has 16 passenger decks and can carry 6292 passengers plus 2165 crew.

It has rock-climbing walls, a basketball court, an ice skating rink, a carousel with hand-carved wooden animals, a shopping promenade lined with cafes and bars, cantilevered whirlpools overlooking the sea and a Central Park with 12,000 live plants and trees.

Zip line

An amphitheatre surrounds a deep-diving pool on the stern, where high-divers and synchronised swimmers perform. Passengers can harness themselves onto the “zip line” and soar across the ship above an open-air atrium nine decks high and lined with balconied cabins.

One of its many bars, the Rising Tide, floats up and down between three decks, while a touring company performs the Broadway musical “Hairspray” in the 1380-seat theatre.

The Oasis, which starts its inaugural voyage on December 5, was six years in the making and arrives at a time when cruise lines are cutting rates to fill berths.

Net yields, a measure of revenue generated per bed per day, were down 16 percent during the first nine months of 2009 for the major companies, Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line, Rod McLeod, a vacation management consultant who has held senior management posts at all three lines, said.

“Over the last 20 years, that’s the steepest level of year-over-year declines in yields, which is understandable given what’s happened in the worldwide economy,” McLeod, now with McLeod/Applebaum Partners in Miami, said.

The cruise lines are cautiously predicting 2010 will be less awful, with yields down by only 7 or 8 percent.

Generally the farther ahead passengers book cruises, the more the lines can charge. The window has begun to widen, with passengers now booking an average of three months ahead, compared with just six weeks in early 2009, McLeod said.

Wave of new ships

But a wave of new ships ordered during the boom times are now coming on line and that will put pressure on rates, a boon for bargain-hunting passengers but not so much for cruise line earnings.

No. 1 cruise line Carnival’s newest and biggest ship, the 3652-passenger Carnival Dream, starts regular cruises to the Caribbean in December out of Florida’s Port Canaveral.

Royal Caribbean will launch the Oasis‘ twin, Allure of the Seas, next December, one of eight new ships due out in 2010 industry-wide. Capacity is expected to rise by 7 percent next year, and a little less than that in 2011, before settling.

“No new ships have been ordered for now 20 months and that hasn’t occurred in the last 25 years,” McLeod said.

New ships tend to attract passengers at the expense of the older ones. Cruise lines are compensating by moving their older ships away from weakening markets like Hawaii and Alaska and into growing ones like Europe and China, “like a giant chess game, playing with boats,” he said.

Bookings aboard Oasis have been strong because it offers so much of everything, Royal Caribbean’s Fain said.

“We’re getting much higher rates than I certainly would have expected even a year ago. The reception has just been overwhelming. I’m feeling pretty good right now,” Fain said.

Lonely Planet has picked the brains of its authors, staff and travellers and come up with the top 10 countries to visit in 2010. Photo: Andrew Marshall and Leanne Walk

EL SALVADOR

Travellers tend to skip El Salvador, wooed by marquee destinations such as Guatemala and Costa Rica, and unnerved by stories of civil war and gang violence. But the war ended almost 20 years ago, and crime, while serious, is almost exclusively played out between rival gangs; tourists are virtually never involved. And though El Salvador has fewer protected areas than its neighbours, you get them practically to yourself. The only place you might find a crowd is on Punta Roca, El Salvador’s most famous surfing spot. And when it comes to cities, none in Central America is smarter or cooler than San Salvador, with first-rate universities, museums and galleries.

GERMANY

Some countries are simply allowed to be, but Germany has had to reinvent itself more times than Madonna. And it has done so again since 1990, when reunification brought an end to nearly three decades of division. In year 20 after its latest rebirth, Germany is still a country where you can witness history in the making. Head to Hamburg, where an entire new quarter is being wrested from the detritus of a 19th-century harbour. Or to Dresden, where the domed Frauenkirche church is once again the diamond in the city’s famous skyline. And to Berlin whose climate of openness spawns more creative experimentation than a Petri dish on Viagra.

GREECE

Seldom does a travel destination satisfy the blurbs that shout ‘has something for everyone’ but Greece truly does. Whether you’re there to poke around ancient ruins, soak in the sun on idyllic beaches, or party till you drop, Greece will leave you clambering for more. It’s guilt-free travel – a slice of history served alongside a healthy slice of hedonism – and everyone seems happy. You get to marvel at the dazzling clarity of the light and the waters, the floral aromas that permeate the air, the pervading sense of spirit – and then sit down to contemplate it all while consuming that great Greek combination of ouzo and octopus!

MALAYSIA

Diversity is what Malaysia is all about. From chaotic and modern Kuala Lumpur to the near mystical wilds of Borneo, there are mountains to tackle, beaches to bake on, coral reefs to dive and malls to shop. And wait till you meet the people. Malays live in rhythm to the mosque’s call to prayer, while just around the corner garlands of marigolds are sold in front of towering Hindu temples and the sweet smells of incense emanate from ornate Chinese Buddhist clan houses. Top off a multicultural day with an Indian curry, Chinese noodles, Malay rice dishes with spicy sambal or the region’s most famous fusion dish, coconut-curry noodle laksa.

MOROCCO

Life-changing experiences:

- Feel the pure joy of freestyle Gnawa rhythms and backflips expressing the exhilaration of freedom from slavery in the Djemaa el-Fna.

- Enjoy hot mint tea in a remote village in the Ait Bou Gomez ‘Happy Valley’, where the warm welcome makes the trip on foot or donkey worthwhile.

- Bask in the glow of ancient auspicious Berber symbols given new life at gallery openings and streetside art stalls in Assilah and Essaouira.

- Get lost and find new friends – and carpets – in the souk mazes of Fez and Marrakesh.

NEPAL

2008 was a watershed year for Nepal – the rebels became the government, the kingdom became a republic and the king became a civilian. With the end of the Maoist uprising, trekkers are once again pitting might and muscle against some of the most challenging trails on the planet. Trekking in Nepal is one of those travel benchmarks, like seeing the Taj Mahal, or diving the Great Barrier Reef, or the first time you eat fried locusts. By the end of your trek, you may vow never to climb anything higher than the stairs around your home town, but the experience of the Himalaya will stay with you for a lifetime.

NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand’s checklist of essential experiences remains as strong as ever. Spectacular landscapes abound, from sea-level rainforests to plunging glaciers, geothermal springs and barren volcanic plains. Add a hearty pinch of lens-friendly wildlife, proud Maori culture, and fine food and drink, and it’s easy to see why the natives are so chilled.

NZ is spearheading the ecotravel revolution, winning international accolades for its ethos towards responsible travel, from minimising visitor impact to involving locals in sustainable tourism practices. When you’re gawping at the spine-tingling vistas it’s good to know they’ll still be there for future generations.

PORTUGAL

Skirting along the southwestern edge of the Iberian Peninsula, the once-great seafaring nation of Portugal today straddles two very different worlds. For purists, this is a land of great tradition, of saints-day festivals where ox-drawn carts still lumber through flower-strewn streets, and ancient vineyards bring sleepy medieval villages to life during the annual harvest. Meanwhile, in other parts of the country, something decidedly more modern is transpiring. Old city centres are slowly being revitalised. A new wave of boutiques, art galleries and cafes are finding new homes in once crumbling old buildings, and locals are beginning to rediscover the allure of vibrant downtown areas.

SURINAME

South America’s smallest country, both in area and population, is easily one of its most diverse; and is known for its peacefully coexisting cultures. Suriname’s natural riches range from Africa-like savannahs to beaches raided by endangered sea turtles, to some of the world’s largest protected stands of tropical rainforest. Quickly emerging as a prime ecotourism and sport-fishing destination, Suriname has everything you could hope for in a wildlife adventure, including the biggest fish in the world, more than 700 bird species and such fascinating mammals as puma, manatee, tapir and primates.

USA

Suddenly the US is cool again! Be it from Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday, or just tightened budgets during the recession, but more Americans are looking backwards – and foreigners too – and taking in traditional American historical sites, beginning with Washington, DC’s freebie zone of museums and heroic monuments.

Trains are a great way to see the country. Unlike the highways, trains don’t pass constant billboards and fast-food chains, and – while a point-to-point ticket is often cheaper on a plane – good-value passes let travellers make looping trips to five or more stops and curb their carbon imprint at the same time.

This is an edited extract from Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2010 – the best trends, destinations, journeys and experiences for the upcoming year. Out now. © Lonely Planet Publications, 2009. $24.99

Duck! … the ship came within half a meter of the Great Belt Fixed Link bridge in Denmark / AP Source: AP

ONLOOKERS gasped as the world’s largest cruise ship came within half a meter of a bridge in Denmark.

Standing sixteen decks high and rising 20 stories, the Oasis of the Seas passed below the Great Belt Fixed Link on its maiden voyage to Florida.

Crowds turned out in their hundreds and camped along the bridge for hours to get their first glimpse of the $1.47 billion ship.

Delivered to the Royal Caribbean cruiseline in Turku, Finland, the ship is making its way to its home port of Fort Lauderdale in the US, where it will arrive in about two weeks.

The Oasis of the Seas can accommodate 6360 passengers, 2160 crew and offers a world of luxuries, including: 21 swimming pools, an ice rink, an aqua park, a casino, a zip line and real trees.

With six levels of staterooms, a turf-covered chip and putt golf course, the world’s first open-air amphitheatre at the stern, two surfing simulators and a boardwalk surrounded by restaurants, it is more like a giant ritzy resort than a cruise ship.

Oasis of the Seas will make its four-night maiden voyage from Fort Lauderdale to Labadee in Haiti on December 1.

The world’s biggest and most expensive cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas, was handed over to the Royal Caribbean cruiseline in the Finnish port of Turku by shipbuilder STX on Wednesday. “The handover took place at 9:20 am (0720 GMT) and the papers were signed then by both companies,” STX Europe’s spokeswoman Tanja Sabell said. The vessel, worth 900 million euros (A$1.47 billion), can accomodate up to 6360 passengers and 2160 crew members and features a variety of traditional and new activities including swimming pools, a casino, pool surfing and a zip line above the boardwalk.

Oasis of the Seas is 16 decks high, or 65 metres above the waterline, and measures 360 metres long and 47 metres wide.

Richard Fain, the chief executive of Royal Caribbean, told reporters the new ship had attracted strong pre-bookings despite the global financial crisis and said the aim was to lure new customers who have not cruised before.

There are however still spots left for the ship’s maiden voyage in December.

“We like to deliver the vow and I think it’s fair to say that this ship delivers the vow,” he said.

“Part of the thought process of the ship is to overcome the old myths people have about cruising. It’s very hard to look at a vessel like this and think that cruising is secondary when you can choose rock-climbing, surfing or zip-lining,” Fain explained.

He added that the company was targetting international clients, not just American or European cruisers, with Oasis of the Seas, which will be sailing mainly in the sunny Caribbean.

It’s also catering to younger, more active passengers with children, and therefore offering a wider selection of activities, including 21 swimming pools, an aqua park, a carousel and a science lab.

“This is a very important day for us. We are extremely happy and proud,” Martin Landtman, the head of STX’s Finnish shipyards said.

Hundreds of builders and cleaners were still putting the final touches on the ship on Wednesday, installing carpets and cleaning the surfaces of the ship, docked at the Turku shipyard some 165 kilometres northwest of Helsinki.

Although the shipyard employees are still busy working on Oasis of the Seas and its sister ship Allure of the Seas, which is to be ready in autumn 2010, Fain and Landtman admitted the global downturn had drained cruising companies’ willingness to order new vessels.

Some 75 per cent of STX’s 3600 employees in Finland will face temporary layoffs in the near future as no new ship orders have been placed.

“The play-off game between the shipyards has started. We here at STX Finland plan to be on the pole position once the market returns,” Landtman said.

“We are having a dialogue with the shipyards. These are more difficult times and one has to be more cautious than one would normally be,” Fain noted, but added the cruising business was expected to continue growing in the long term.

On Wednesday evening, some 1000 VIP guests will be dining and partying on board the Oasis of the Seas, but details about the guest list have not been disclosed.

The vessel is scheduled to leave Finland on Friday when it will set sail for its home port of Fort Lauderdale in the United States, where it will arrive in about two weeks.

Oasis of the Seas will make its four-night maiden voyage from Fort Lauderdale to Labadee in Haiti on December 1.

World’s biggest cruise ship: the facts

- The ship is worth some 900 million euros (A$1.47 billion) and offers passengers a world of luxury and a slew of on-board activities.

- It can accommodate a staggering 6360 passengers and 2160 crew members, and has 2700 staterooms, including 28 loft suites.

- The biggest suite is 156 square metres and features a large 78.3-square-metre balcony with a jacuzzi.

- Oasis of the Seas is 16 decks high, or 65 metres above the waterline, and measures 360 metres long and 47 metres wide.

- There are 21 swimming pools on board and drinks are guaranteed to stay cool as there is equipment that can make 50 tonnes of ice cubes a day.

- On board facilities include a casino, spa, shops and restaurants, but those looking for more excitement can choose between pool surfing, rock-climbing and a whiz above the boardwalk on a zip line.

- Children can spend time at the aqua park, ride a carousel or learn new things at the science lab.

- Some 12000 plants, including real trees, will bring some nature on board, while 7000 pieces of art, Broadway musicals and ice shows meet passengers’ cultural needs. The plants will be installed later, when the ship arrives in the United States.

- There are 90,000 square metres of carpeting on board and 5000 kilometres of electric wiring.

- The ship is made of 525,000 square metres of steel, a surface area equivalent to 72 soccer pitches.

- It has a gross tonnage of 225,000 and sails at a speed of 20.2 knots (37.4 kilometres per hour).

- Thousands of workers have worked on the ship’s construction for the past two years.

- The world’s biggest cruise vessel will leave Turku on Friday, setting sail for its US home port Fort Lauderdale.

- Oasis of the Seas will then make its four-night maiden voyage from Fort Lauderdale to Labadee in Haiti on December 1.