Royal Caribbean International cut the first piece of steel for its third Oasis-class ship, which is currently under construction at the STX shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. Royal Caribbean Cruises' chairman and CEO, Richard D. Fain and Royal Caribbean International president and CEO Adam Goldstein together with Laurent Castaing, CEO, STX France, attended the event. This new ship, Oasis 3, is the line's third Oasis-class ship following Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, which were introduced in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Oasis 3 has 16 decks with 2,700 staterooms and is expected to be delivered in mid-2016.
Last week, salvagers will successful in their attempts to right the Costa Concordia, parbuckling the ship onto an underground platform where it was pulled into a vertical position for the first time since its accident in January 2012. Several indentations were visible in the ship's submerged starboard side as it can into view, caused by the ship's contact with a seabed perch during the accident that claimed the lives of 32 people.
Franco Porcellacchia, head of Costa Cruises' technical team, described the parbuckling project result as "perfect."
Carnival Corporation & plc named Josh Leibowitz as the company's EVP of group strategy and corporate operations, effective Oct. 1, 2013. Leibowitz, 42, comes to Carnival from the consulting firm McKinsey, where he served as its managing partner of the Miami office and the leader of the company's work in big data and channel management.
Leibowitz succeeds Richard Ames, SVP of corporate business services, who is retiring after 24 years of service.