Brooklyn cruise ships to plug in, finally

by Chris Owen on

When cruise ships come in to the Brooklyn Cruise Ship Terminal they bring a lot of business, tourism dollars and people to town. They also brings some 1,500 tons of carbon dioxide, 95 tons of nitrous oxide, and 6.5 tons of particulate matter annually when they park and burn their diesel engines. That is about to change as Brooklyn becomes the first east coast cruise operation with the capability to let ships “plug in” to clean shoreside electrical power instead.

By 2012, cruise ships at will be plugged in with shoreside electrical power rather than running on diesel gas while docked.

“It will be the equivalent of removing 5,000 cars per year from the road annually,” Seth W. Pinsky, the president of the city’s Economic Development Corporation told the New York Times.

Its been a long time coming on that too. As Gadling revealed in January, it has been two years since Carnival Corp, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Brooklyn cruise terminal port authority agreed to enable cruise ships to plug in to green shore-side power. West coast ports were doing it already with San Diego going online last December.

It seems while all were in agreement, nobody wanted to pay for it.

In an agreement made this week, the $15 million project will be funded with $12 million from the Port Authority and nearly $3 million from a US Environmental Protection Agency grant. Carnival Corporation will spend $4 million to retrofit their Princess Cruises and Cunard Line ship that dock in Brooklyn.

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Flickr photo by greenbk

Photo of the Day – Canyon hiking

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Nature is all around us, but we don’t often stop to admire it. A sudden rainstorm is more of an inconvenience than a wondrous thing when you’re on your way to work and your clothes get soaked. That said, a hiking trip is a great way for travelers to rediscover that sense of wonder about the natural world. Today’s photo, courtesy of Flickr user AlphaTangoBravo / Adam Baker, reminds me of that feeling of awe you get once you’re out in the elements. The tiny hiker in the bottom left seems to be caught in a moment of contemplation, his body frozen in a moment of wonder at the sights around him.

Have any great travel shots you’d like to share with the world? Why not add them to our Gadling group on Flickr? We might just pick one of yours as our Photo of the Day.

Malibu Rum contest launches search for traveling radio correspondent

by Laurel Miller on

Tune in, Radio Maliboom Boom.

Malibu, the coconutty rum that’s like summer in a bottle, is looking for one outgoing, creative, beach-bum-lifestyle-loving man or woman for their nationwide radio correspondent search.
The chosen one will travel across the country attending concerts, reporting from the road, interviewing celebrities, and “celebrating the season of the sun.”

The Correspondent position was developed to find the emcee for the Station Invasion Concert Tour–a 10-city musical series–which will “bring the spirit of the Caribbean from coast to coast.“
As the Radio Maliboom Boom Correspondent, you’ll introduce the tour and musical acts, do video and blog posts, Facebook updates, and tweets. You’ll also represent Malibu by conducting and participating in video, radio, and media interviews across the nation.

Applications are being accepted online through May 15, 2011. You must be 25 and over, fill out an application, and submit a video “reel” that creatively showcases why you should be chosen, incorporating three key messages about Malibu (the rum, not the city). Three finalists will attend training in Malibu’s homeland of Barbados from June 20-23. The summer stipend for the Correspondent will be $15,000-and all the dancing (and, presumably, rum, sunscreen, and hair of the dog) you can handle. Cheers to summer!

Video: Mississippi tornado rips through power lines

by Elizabeth Seward on

A powerful storm system that produced damaging tornadoes tore through several states over the course of the last few days. Beginning in Oklahoma and Arkansas on Thursday, the storm moved through Mississippi on Friday and Alabama and Georgia. Eventually wreaking havoc on North Carolina and Virginia, this storm has claimed at least 35 lives in six states. With flash floods, softball-sized hail, and vicious tornadoes, homes have been demolished throughout the affected areas. The death toll is expected to rise today as the dust settles and the search for the missing continues.

This video was captured in Jackson, Mississippi–an area that was hit hard by the storm. Check out the flashes of color that erupt when the twister rips through power lines.

Cruise ship makeover: come along for the ride

by Chris Owen on

There are new cruise ships and there are old cruise ships. The new ones have all the latest features, the old ones not so much. Well, at least not until they go in for scheduled maintenance. At that time, the cruise line has an opportunity to take care of routine repairs. Sometimes they add new features to those old ships, making them much more attractive to would-be cruise travelers looking for new features. Princess Cruises announced an extreme makeover for Grand Princess in February. Now, the line wants us to come along for the ride with a new series of video reports.

Grand Princess is going through the most significant transformation ever attempted by Princess Cruises. The ship will take on a new look with the addition of seven new suites, a remodeled casino, boutiques and art gallery, enhancements to the Horizon Court buffet area, Lotus Spa, and wedding chapel plus the addition of Crooner’s Martini Lounge.

The line will also remove Skywalkers nightclub, the race car spoiler-looking venue perched high above the aft end of the ship. Apparently the place did nothing for fuel economy and/or did not get enough “Wow, that’s cool” comments at the ship wash.


Through May 4th, viewers can follow along with daily updates to a new video journal chronicling the 24-day drydock.

“Our passengers really loved following the photo journals we offered during previous drydocks,” said Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises executive vice president. “So for this, our most extensive transformation, we wanted to take it to the next level and enable viewers to follow along with daily videos.”

Hosted by Grand Princess Cruise Director Martyn Moss, in the first installment audiences we see the beginning of the ship’s transformation as it sails to the Grand Bahama Shipyard in Freeport, Bahamas.

We’re thinking Skywalkers would make a great place to visit while ashore in Freeport. A couple welders and a big crane could probably pop that baby off the ship and set it on the beach. At least there would be something worth seeing in Freeport.