Lindblad Expeditions, which has long been at the forefront of introducing sustainable cuisine to the cruise world, announced this week the introduction of a new onboard dining program for its Pacific Northwest cruises on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Created in collaboration with Portland, Oregon's Food Alliance non-profit, the program focuses on local and sustainable foods in addition to a selection of extraordinary regional wines and craft beers.

Through independent inspections, the Food Alliance ensures that food is produced by well-treated workers; meat products come from humanely raised animals; and that the entire process is done in a way that protects regional soil, water, and wildlife habitat are protected and enhanced. A majority of the food served on board will be sourced from a variety of local producers, including Tillamook Cheese, a cooperative of 110 dairy farms committed to animal welfare and dating back to 1909; Draper Valley Farms, a pioneer of Washington- and Oregon-raised fresh chicken that dates back to 1935; Country Natural Beef, a cooperative of 120 family ranches in 13 Western states; and many more.

Guests sailing the line's fall cruises on the Columbia and Snake Rivers will get a hint of the new program, which has been created to enhance a new itinerary debuting in 2012, titled Columbia & Snake Rivers Journey: Harvests, History and Landscapes. Sailing weekly from Portland between September 14 and October 27, 2012, the new cruises will highlight a number of included off-vessel experiences that, the line says, "celebrate the land as well as the spectacular harvests it yields." Highlights will include:

• A trip to The Gorge White House, a 102-year-old working family farm that offers panoramic views of snow-capped Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams. Guests will be hosted by the farm’s owners, Jerry and Camille, who grow heritage pears, apples, berries, and greens using environmentally sound techniques. The visit includes a meal prepared from farm-raised ingredients, served on the property’s garden patio.
• Tours and tastings at regional wineries, as well as an onboard selection of regional wines selected by Lindblad Executive Chef Gary Jenanyan, former executive chef at Robert Mondavi Winery.
• A visit to Fort Clatsop, a re-creation of the fort Lewis and Clark's expedition built for shelter in the winter of 1805–1806.
• Outdoor options, options ranging from hiking and kayaking adventures to Zodiac cruises in the Lewis and Clark Wildlife Refuge or Palouse River.
• A visit to the Maryhill Museum, perched on a basalt cliff above the Columbia River and offering an eclectic collection that includes works by Rodin and a collection of Native American baskets and bead work.

Rates for the 2012 voyages begin at $3,990 per person, double occupancy.

As noted here last month, American Safari Cruises has acquired the former Spirit of Endeavour of defunct Cruise West, and as of this week we have some idea what they’re going to do with her.

Starting in November 2012, the newly renamed, 86-guest Safari Endeavour will sail a new weeklong coastal itinerary in the Sea of Cortés, departing round-trip from La Paz and exploring Baja, Mexico’s historic colonial towns and UNESCO World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve.

"The Sea of Cortés remains a secret oasis perfect for small group exploration by boat," said Tim Jacox, American Safari’s executive VP of sales and marketing, in a media statement. "The intimate size of the Safari Endeavour allows us privileged access to small bays and coves, and combined with our philosophy to be guided by nature, it’s an ideal way to explore the area."

Damn straight. Like southeast Alaska, Baja California Sur is a region made for small-ship cruising. With a little planning, your ship can almost go off the grid, sticking to natural areas and having almost no contact with the outside world. It's like being Charlie Darwin on the Beagle.

Endeavour's cruises will explore the basically uninhabited islands of Isla Espíritu Santo, Isla Partida, Isla San Francisco, Loreto, Isla Coyote, and Isla San José, with excursions focused on wildlife-watching. Included excursions by inflatable launch transport guests to ashore for guided hikes and beachcombing walks led by onboard expedition leaders. In Loreto, founded by Jesuit missionaries in 1697, guests can explore the town's shady plazas and historic buildings. On Isla Coyote, you pay a call to the 20 members of the Cuevas family, who make their living as fishermen.

Rates for the weeklong "Baja’s Bounty" cruises start at $2,995 per person, double occupancy, and include all from-the-ship activities and equipment, transfers, alcoholic beverages, a massage, and all port charges/taxes/fees. Oh, and by the time she sets sail, Endeavour should be looking spiffy following an extensive renovation that will break down existing cabin walls to create larger accommodations and new "step out" cabin balconies, and add two massage rooms, two hot tubs, a sauna, exercise equipment, a wine bar, and a library.

Late last week, a plasma torch at the Meyer Werft Shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, fired up and sliced out the first steel plate for NCL's newest ship, the 144,017-ton, 4,000-passenger Norwegian Breakaway. The cutting took about four minutes to complete, and looked something like this:

The plate will eventually form a supporting part of the ship's double bottom, at midships.

The shipyard's managing directors, Bernard Meyer and Lambert Kruse, attended the steel-cutting ceremony. Meyer later commented in a media statement, "We are very happy to build these innovative ships for Norwegian and to continue our long lasting relationship. We can guarantee to deliver a cruise vessel with an exceptional interior design, extremely comfortable staterooms and the highest technical standards."

To date, NCL has made a couple of different reveals about the look and feel of Norwegian Breakaway and her sister-ship, Norwegian Getaway (see here and here). Looks good so far. But now we've gotta wait until April 2013 and April 2014 to see 'em in the flesh.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately-funded nonprofit that's pledged to  preserve, protect, and defend America's historic places (architectural and otherwise), has a cruise coming up — something that appeals right down to the bones of a history-minded, art- and architecture-loving egghead like me.

• Ever Rest, the home and studio of Hudson River School painter Jasper F. Cropsey
• Boscobel, a neoclassical-style mansion that dates to 1804
• The Captain David Crawford House, home to collections of early Hudson River Valley artwork and archival regional photography
• The Karpeles Manuscript Museum
• The Federal-style Goldsmith Denniston House
• The United States Military Academy at West Point
• The Roosevelt National Historic Site, which includes the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and his birthplace
• Eleanor Roosevelt’s onetime home, Val Kill
• Vassar College's Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, which showcases works by numerous Hudson River School artists
• The Fred J. Johnston Museum, an 1812 home preserved with 18th- and early 19th-century furniture, paintings, china, and decorative arts
• The 1676 Senate House in Kingston, NY, the oldest public building in America
• The Richard B. Fisher Center for Performing Arts at Bard College, designed by Frank Gehry
• Edgewater, an 1820 home  known for its collection of Duncan Phyfe furniture and Federal-era decorative arts
• Kykuit, a palatial estate once owned by the Rockefeller family
• Lyndhurst, an 1838 Gothic Revival mansion that sits on 67-acres overlooking the Hudson
• Union Church of Pocantico Hills, built in 13th-century English Gothic style

Like I said, for eggheads. And the timing couldn't be better for leaf-peeping, too. That part of upstate New York is just gorgeous in late October.

The trip will take place aboard American Cruise Lines' 49-passenger American Glory, a comfortable small ship with some of the largest staterooms in the small-ship business. Rates start at $3,545 per person. More info here.

Is it morbid that I'm so interested in where ships end up after a cruise line goes out of business? Or is it the opposite, that I'm interested in seeing where those ships come back to life? The latter, I think.

So, in the continuing saga of Cruise West, which went out of business exactly one year ago this week after a couple of decades as the largest US small-ship line, there's this: Travel Dynamics International, a New York–based travel company specializing in enrichment-focused small-ship cruises, has purchased the 138-passenger Spirit of Yorktown from banking firm GE Capital, which has controlled the ship since CW's demise.

Spirit of Yorktown was built in 1988 as Yorktown Clipper for similarly defunct Clipper Cruise Line, in which incarnation I sailed aboard her in February 2000. She's a pleasant vessel, with four decks, the usual minimum of public rooms (just a main lounge and dining room), and 69 small but comfortable outside cabins. Cruise West renovated her in 2007, and now Travel Dynamics plans to do so again before relaunching her under the shortened name Yorktown and setting her on a series of Great Lakes and river/coastal cruises. The first of those cruises, a 12-night voyage from Gloucester, Massachusetts, to Montreal, is set to depart on Thursday, May 24, 2012, with rates starting at $5,395 per person.

A complete list of Yorktown's 2012 itineraries can be found here.

Newly cozied under the corporate umbrella of Xanterra Parks & Resorts, Windstar Cruises has just announced plans to spend $18 million on upgrades to its three-ship fleet, scheduled to be completed in multiple phases beginning this November and ending in early to mid-2012.

"This is a significant investment in our luxurious sailing yachts and will enable us to provide an unparalleled guest experience," said Hans Birkholz, President and CEO of Windstar Cruises. "Our new owners, Xanterra Parks & Resorts, are committed to Windstar's growth for the long term. Previously, there have been enhancements and refurbishment projects throughout the years to keep our yachts beautiful; however this is the most extensive fleet-wide refurbishment project in Windstar's history."

According to a Windstar press release, "The vision for the refurbishment is classic, stylish yacht luxury. . . . The yachts will receive new furniture, upholstery, art, lighting, wall coverings, carpeting, ceiling finishes, window treatments, and floor coverings. New furnishings will complete the look in keeping with the chic, private yacht scheme. The design palette combines sand and marine colors contrasting elegantly with the warmth of wood finishes, elevating the look and feel to ultimate luxury at sea."

The fleet's largest ship, the 312-passenger Wind Surf, will get the first phase of her renovation this November, with a second phase focusing on public rooms happening in fall 2012. The smaller, 148-passenger twins Wind Star and Wind Spirit will undergo their renovations in April 2012.

Staterooms and suites on all three ships will be redone with new leather headboards, arm chairs, linen wall coverings, new lighting features, new window coverings, wool carpeting, new artwork, and new bedding.

An artist's rendering of the new stateroom design (courtesy Windstar Cruises)

An artist's rendering of the new suite design (courtesy Windstar Cruises)

Changes to Wind Surf''s public rooms will be as follows:

• The main restaurant will get a new seating layout, all new soft goods, and new wine display and storage.
• The specialty Degrees Restaurant will be transformed into a Mediterranean bistro, anchored by a central wine bar for counter dining. Wine tastings and cooking demonstrations will also be conducted here.
• The aft-facing Compass Rose bar will be reconfigured to "open up expansively to the adjoining outdoor deck," and its interior will be renovated to reflect "the sophisticated elegance of a private club."
• The buffet-style Veranda restaurant's outdoor seating will be expanded, and the interior will include a new buffet, new lighting, and new display counters.
• In the main lounge, wall-to-wall carpeting will be replaced with hard flooring accented with inset rugs, plus more contemporary furniture, a lighter color palette, and improved sound insulation around the casino.
• The Pool Bar will get new awnings for additional shade, plus new deck furniture and an improved outdoor dining layout for Candles Grill.
• Corridors will get new wall coverings, carpeting, ceiling finishes, lighting, and artwork.

Renovations planned for Wind Star and Wind Spirit follow in a similar vein.

"Our focus was to provide Windstar with something completely different from what currently exists in the luxury cruise market," said Alan McVitty, lead designer and director of MCVITTY Interior Consultants, the company hired to create the ships' new interiors. "Every corner of our design was carefully confectioned with details and solutions to make guests find themselves not on another commercial cruise but experience a stylish, floating boutique yacht created with a vision to offer a uniquely different, cruise experience."

Sounds nice. Let's see how it comes out.

Following a major engine room fire that broke out yesterday, Hurtigruten's MS Nordlys is barely hanging onto her dock after taking on a substantial amount of water. As of this morning, she was listing a reported 22 degrees to port and in grave danger of tipping over. Click here for an image.

Salvage teams are on site, and latest reports say they've managed to bring the ship up to 17 degrees — still not good, but a lot better than she was.

As noted here yesterday, the Nordlys fire was deadly, taking the lives of two crewmembers, chief engineer Geir Terje Isaksen, 57, and apprentice Steffen Ulvatne, age 18. Nine other crewmembers were injured.

Two crewmen were killed and nine others injured when a fire broke out in the engine room of Hurtigruten's MS Nordlys early this morning as it approached the port of Ålesund in western Norway.

According to reports, the fire began around 9am Norway time, possibly due to an explosion in the engine room. An evacuation began immediately, with more than 100 passengers offloaded into lifeboats and the rest, plus most of the crew, quickly evacuated onto the dock once the ship reached Ålesund.

In a statement, Hurtigruten said that Nordlys was carrying 207 guests of varying nationalities when the fire broke out, plus 55 crew.

Guests quoted in various news reports stated that the evacuation went smoothly and quickly. The Hurtigruten statement reports that "All guests have been safely evacuated to the Rica Parken Hotel in Ålesund."

The fire was reportedly so intense that parts of Ålesund were sealed off by police as smoke engulfed nearby buildings. The fire is now said to be under control, but the ship is taking on water and listing significantly to port.

AND THIS IS THAT METAL THING!

That there is the first structural block — 500 tons of it, measuring 66 by 118 feet — of what will one day become Celebrity Cruises' newest ship, Celebrity Reflection, the fifth and final member of the Solstice-class family along with Celebrity Solstice, Celebrity Equinox, Celebrity Eclipse, and Celebrity Silhouette. Yesterday, that big block of steel and etc., which will form part of Reflection's lower hull, was hoisted into the building dock at Germany's Meyer Werft shipyard via an 800-ton crane, marking the ceremonial start of the vessel's construction. The press release Celebrity sent out to mark the occasion noted that:

Celebrity Reflection is the 10th ship to be built for Celebrity Cruises by Meyer Werft. The two organizations' collaboration began in 1988, with the building of the former Celebrity Horizon. And in a unique twist, Celebrity Reflection shares the same trio of numbers as designated by Meyer Werft to the first Celebrity ship built at the yard: The former Celebrity Horizon's shipyard number was S-619; Celebrity Reflection's is S-691.

Kinda cool, huh?

Reflection will be the most different of the mostly similar (and uniformly beautiful) Solstice-class ships, with a wider hull and an entire extra deck holding 72 new staterooms, including 32 large AquaClass Suites. She'll also have all the innovations debuted earlier this year aboard Celebrity Silhouette, including new relaxation and dining options at the grassy outdoor Lawn Club, a gourmet beer bar, and a calm Hideaway "tree house" lounge.

Reflection is due to debut in fall 2012.

As has become fashionable, NCL recently ran a contest to solicit naming ideas for its newest ships, a pair of 144,017-ton, 4,000-passenger twins due in April 2013 and April 2014. And the winners are:

Norwegian Breakaway

and

Norwegian Getaway

Huh. Not exactly romantic names, nor grandiose, but I guess they serve the purpose, which is to evoke "a break at sea from the stress of everyday life."

An artist's rendering of Norwegian Breakaway (courtesy NCL)

"We felt Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Getaway epitomized both our Freestyle Cruising philosophy and our belief that these ships will offer a true respite, whisking our guests away from their everyday routines and delivering the ultimate cruise vacation," said NCL CEO Kevin Sheehan in a media statement.

The contest winners are Kimberly Powell of Lafayette, Louisiana, who first submitted the name Norwegian Breakaway, and Dennis Hultman of Vienna, Virginia, who first submitted Norwegian Getaway. Both will get a trip for two to Norwegian Breakaway’s christening ceremony and inaugural festivities, whose location has not yet been determined.

For some recent info on the Breakaway ships, click here, here, and here.