After six years of design and construction, the 225,282 gross ton and 5,408-passenger Oasis of the Seas welcomed its first guests in Port Everglades, Florida, at the end of November. Cruise Business Review Editor and Publisher Teijo Niemela sailed onboard to review the ship for our December issue.

But before this, we would like to invite you to join us for two special voyages. Together with the team from Cruise Critic, we spent our first hours on Oasis creating Cruise Critic's first-ever Live Stream Video introducing the ship's spectacular highlights. The video, which was directed by Teijo Niemela, can be accessed through the following link:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1051

Secondly, during the last few weeks, we have prepared extensive coverage of the launch of Oasis of the Seas in the form of a slide show. The most recent shots from various public rooms, sun-deck areas, Central Park and the Boardwalk were added as recently as this past weekend, the result of a two-night preview cruise.

Continue to watch this site in the upcoming weeks, as our comprehensive Oasis of the Seas report will appear here in a downloadable PDF format.

Costa Cruises has taken delivery of Costa Luminosa from Fincantieri’s Venice Marghera shipyard. At 92,600 gross tons, Costa Luminosa represents the smaller Panamax size, rather than post-Panamax size the Italian cruise line has concentrated on introducing to its fleet during the last few years.  This offers more flexibility for deployment, which is necessary, due to Costa’s increased presence in various markets around the globe.