The 4,000-passenger Disney Fantasy, Disney Cruise Line’s newest cruise ship and sister to Disney Dream, floated out of the enclosed building dock at the Meyer Werft shipyard on Sunday as fireworks filled the sky. The event symbolizes one of the final stages of the ship’s construction and leads upto the March 31, 2012 maiden voyage.

The Disney Fantasy features many of the innovations found on her sister ship, Disney Dream, with several new things that will be exclusive to the ship. New experiences found on the Disney Fantasy include two Broadway-style musical spectaculars for the Walt Disney Theatre, a new dining experience at Animator’s Palate where guests can have their own drawings “come to life,” an interactive adventure featuring the Muppets, a new water play area called AquaLab, and a new nighttime entertainment area for adults inspired by European travel.

Disney Fantasy also will sail longer seven-night alternating eastern and western Caribbean itineraries (Disney Dream sails on three-, four- and five-night cruise to the Bahamas). All cruises will depart from Port Canaveral, Fla., and include a stop at Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay.

Celebrity Cruises has launched an Exit to Enter digital sweepstakes. The line is inviting consumers to express what they’d like to exit in their day-to-day lives in order to enter what Celebrity call modern luxury via its Facebook page. There, consumers can create a complimentary e-card and upload a photo to share what they want to exit from and the destination they want to experience most.

They also can register for the sweepstakes, which runs through March 30. The grand prize, valued at approximately $10,000, is the winner’s choice of a cruise for two from among a select group of sailings on Celebrity. The prize includes roundtrip airfare for the winner and a guest.

Celebrity is complementing the sweepstakes with print, online and outdoor communications in various markets across North America, as well as on in-flight tray tables on commuter flights from Boston, New York and Washington, D.C. In addition, the line is offering a savings of up to $300 per stateroom for consumers who book an ocean view or above stateroom on a select sailing in Alaska, Australia/New Zealand, Canada, Caribbean, Europe, Hawaii or Panama Canal through Feb. 5.

arnival Cruise Lines has launched the 5D Challenge: Trivial Pursuit Edition, a Facebook promotion designed to highlight the new Thrill 5D Theater, which is set to debut on the Carnival Breeze in June. The contest can be found on Carnival’s Facebook page under the Carnival Breeze tab.

Contest participants answer movie-themed trivia questions from Hasbro’s Trivial Pursuit brand. One prize will be given away daily through Jan. 13, with contestants required to correctly answer three daily trivia questions to enter into a prize drawing. Prizes include a 50-inch, 3D Plasma HDTV, a 3D phone, HD camcorder, and a $250 movie theater gift card. Also, Hasbro Video and Board Game Prize Packs, including an Xbox 360 gaming console, will be given away throughout the contest period.

The contest aims to draw attention to Carnival Breeze’s Thrill 5D Theater, a multi-dimensional experience designed to make passengers feel like they are actually in the movie. The theater combines a high-definition, 3D projection system with 4D elements such as squirting water and bubbles and original special effects that will tickle guests’ legs, blow air on their necks and poke them in their seats. Seats within the theater will shift back and forth, move from side to side and vibrate, creating a fifth-dimensional element.

The theater is one of several Fun Ship 2.0 entertainment features being implemented on the Carnival Breeze. Among the other features are Hasbro, The Game Show, a series of larger-than-life productions and entertainment activities based on the Family Game Night television series produced by Hasbro Studios and seen on The Hub, a network for children and their families, and Playlist Productions, which will combine live performances with high-tech LED staging and special effects and set the revues to music.

Crystal Cruises’ Crystal Serenity has introduced “Chinese comfort food” as a casual dinner option in the ship's Tastes café. The menu features traditional Chinese food, such as steamed dumplings, noodles, soups, fried rice and vegetables. Under the direction of Malaysian Chef Jennifer Pei Vun Lee, the program will debut on the ship’s 2012 World Cruise this month.

Broward County’s Port Everglades reports it had a banner year for cruise travel in fiscal year 2011, which ran from Oct. 1, 2010, through Sept. 30, 2011, according to recently released year-end statistics for the South Florida seaport.

Multi-day cruise passengers -- those sailing on cruise ships that go out for more than one night -- reached a record 3.7 million in FY2011, a 10.6 percent increase from 3.3 million the prior year. The total number of passengers, including single-day and multi-day, was 3.9 million in FY2011, up 7.6 percent.

Cruise traffic generated a record $56.7 million in revenue for FY2011, which is 24.1 percent higher than in FY2010. Contributing significantly to the increase in multi-day passengers was Royal Caribbean International’s introduction of its second year-round, 5,400-passenger Oasis-class ship, Allure of the Seas, in December 2010.

Thirteen cruise lines offered services at the port via a 55-ship fleet, including Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruise Lines, Cunard Line, Discovery Cruise Line, Holland America Line, MSC Cruises, P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Royal Caribbean International, Seabourn and Silversea Cruises.

Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Sky on Jan. 1 rang in the New Year and the 100th birthday of passenger Zara Holtz, a Fort Lauderdale resident originally from Queens, N.Y. Holtz was sailing on board Norwegian Sky with her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren.

To commemorate her 100th birthday, Norwegian Sky’s more than 2,000 guests were invited to the pool deck for a special sail-away party. There, they witnessed Master Ice Carver Ronaldo carve an enormous block of ice into a huge “100.” Then, Holtz was brought on stage, presented with a birthday cake and saluted by her fellow guests, officers and crew who sang “Happy Birthday” in her honor.

The celebration came as a complete surprise to Holtz and her family. When asked to say a few words to the crowd, she said she never expected to live to 100 and wished everyone the same. A former travel agent, Holtz has traveled a great deal, and she closed her speech by saying she wished everyone could sail on their birthday. Following her pool deck celebration, Holtz and her family were invited by the captain, officers and crew to a birthday dinner in Cagney’s Steakhouse.

Princess Cruises is offering 10 itineraries to Hawaii, Tahiti and the South Pacific between fall 2012 and spring 2013. Princess will offer four ships sailing roundtrip to the Hawaii islands from Los Angeles and San Francisco. In addition, the renovated Grand Princess will make debut voyages to Hawaii as part of its first West Coast season.

In total, eight ships will sail on 56 voyages throughout the Pacific, including itineraries such as the 10-day “Tahiti & Polynesia” route that sails roundtrip from Papeete, Tahiti. An 11-day “Hawaii & Tahiti” itinerary offers the Hawaiian Islands and French Polynesia. And the 28-day “Hawaii, Tahiti and Samoa” itinerary that debuted last season returns with two roundtrips from Los Angeles to American Samoa, visiting Hawaii and Tahiti along the way.