Cruise Safety, Mega-Ships, and Ship Upgrades

Austrian authorities are investigating after the river cruise ship MS Anna Katharina struck a quay wall and lock gate at Vienna's Freudenau lock on the Danube on July 24, injuring 14 of the roughly 200 passengers and crew aboard; six people were taken to hospital with back, neck and chest pain and were discharged within hours, and police say a possible technical defect is among the lines of inquiry. In Finland, Meyer Turku completed hull assembly on Royal Caribbean's Hero of the Seas, the 250,800-GT Icon-class ship due to enter service in August 2027 from PortMiami carrying about 5,610 guests at double occupancy, with nine pools and a 50-meter-wide AquaDome. And Holland America Line's Zuiderdam has sailed from Boston on the 35-night Voyage of the Vikings, a 20-destination run through Canada, New England, Greenland, Iceland, the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and the Netherlands that returns to Boston on August 20, ahead of the ship's turn in the line's $500 million-plus Evolution refit program.