This Week in Cruise: Carnival Destiny Receives $155 million Makeover and Name Change

Carnival Cruise Line's Carnival Destiny is receiving a $155-million makeover during a 49-day drydock in 2013. An additional 182 cabins will be added to the ship, on top of a series of Fun Ship 2.0 dining, bar and entertainment features. Due to the substantial changes being made to the ship, a reconfigured layout, a new partial deck and the expansion of two other decks within the ship's forward section with be accompanied by the ship's change of name to the Carnival Sunshine. The drydock will take place between February and April 2013. The refit work will be done by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises is accepting reservations for voyages sailing between April 2013 and December 2013. The line's Summer Collection includes over 50 itineraries in the Mediterranean, Northern Europe and Alaska, plus fall cruises to New England and Canada and an Amazon River itinerary. Guests are offered bonus savings of up to $13,000 per suite and Business Class air for $999 each way when booked by June 30, 2012. Also available are two-for-one fares and extended voyages lasting up to 43-nights.

SeaDream Yacht Club released their 2013 European schedule. From May through Oct. 2013, SeaDream I and SeaDream II will sail to Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Montenegro, Malta and Portugal. New routes and destinations include Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Russia.

Louis Cruises' Thomson Destiny replaced the Louis Majesty operating three and four-day cruises out of Piraeus and Kusadasi as of May 11th 2012. The Thomson Destiny was recently refurbished and features 725 staterooms, 419 of which with window views and 21 suites, nine of which with balconies. Thomson Destiny also features a show lounge, the casino Royale and five bars, and is also equipped for badminton, basketball and table tennis.

Crystal Cruises is welcoming American astronaut Mark Kelly and former U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords aboard the Crystal Serenity for a voyage sailing from Lisbon to Rome on July 25. Kelly and his wife, Giffords, are scheduled to be guest speakers regarding their experience in January 2011 when Giffords was the victim of an assassination attempt months before Kelly’s scheduled command of the final Space Shuttle Endeavour flight. The 12-day, all-inclusive cruise overnights in Lisbon before sailing to Gibralter, Barcelona, Palamós, Cannes, Monte Carlo (overnight), Florence/Livorno, Porto Venere and Rome.

Royal Caribbean is deploying Adventure of the Seas to the Southampton in the U.K. during May 2013. The Adventure will be joined by Independence of the Seas, which is deploying to Southampton for its fifth season. Adventure of the Seas will offer a series of seven-, 12-, 13-, 14- and 16-night cruises. This is the first time Royal Caribbean will have stationed two ships based in Southampton, and this dual-deployment sees Royal Caribbean offering more Mediterranean, Northern Europe, Iceland, Baltics and Canary Island cruises to the U.K. than ever before.