Rebecca Gibson

Luxury ocean travel brand Explora Journeys has marked two construction milestones at Fincantieri’s Sestri Ponente shipyard in Genoa, Italy: the float-out of Explora V and the coin ceremony for Explora VI. Explora V was floated out of dry dock for the first time, with Consuelo Brunelli, production planner at Fincantieri, serving as godmother for the preceding ribbon-cutting ceremony. The ship will now undergo interior outfitting at another dock before entering service towards the end of 2027....

Since becoming chief executive of Wightlink in 2024, Katy Taylor has made transforming the company’s culture one of her defining priorities. Over the past two years, she has focused on creating a more open organisation by strengthening relationships with employees, customers and the communities the ferry operator serves between the Isle of Wight and the English mainland. “We now do quarterly customer drop-ins,” says Taylor. “We’re really listening to what our customers are asking for, and...

Microsoft Security Solutions partner Condatis is to host a joint ‘Securing and Governing the Agentic Enterprise' event with Microsoft at 116 Pall Mall in London, UK, on 11 November 2026.

The City of Raleigh in North Carolina is one of the USA's fastest growing cities. Over the past three decades, its population has doubled to more than half a million residents, and it welcomes 19 million visitors annually. When manual processes made it too difficult to manage increased traffic, the city turned to AI. It now uses an interactive digital twin built on Microsoft Azure, combining geospatial software from Esri and video analytics from Nvidia to analyse traffic patterns and deliver real time insights.

Senior leaders from the retail, finance and critical infrastructure industries will gather in London, UK, this November to explore how they can move beyond AI experimentation and scale adoption across their businesses.

The next phase of enterprise AI adoption will depend less on the raw capabilities of AI models and more on organisations' ability to govern, secure and control increasingly autonomous agents, according to Microsoft.

Global business communications platform provider 8x8 has earned Microsoft certification for its session border controller (SBC) technology, which enables organisations to make Microsoft Teams calls in 57 countries via both Direct Routing and Operator Connect.

Finland-based turnkey interior outfitter MAKINEN has started refurbishment work on AIDAmar, which is one of six Selection-class ships being upgraded as part of AIDA Cruises’ AIDA Evolution programme. Evolution is the brand’s largest-ever fleet modernisation project and is being carried out in two phases at the Chantier Naval shipyard in Marseille, France. During the first phase, AIDA upgraded the guest accommodation, public areas, dining venues and bars, family and leisure spaces, and...

Japan aims to strengthen its position in the international cruise market by attracting more ships to regional ports and showcasing the country’s diverse culture, heritage and natural attractions through new shore experiences. The Japanese government has set ambitious targets for 2030, aiming to attract 2.5 million international cruise guests annually, increase calls by international cruise ships to 3,000 across 150 ports, and grow the domestic cruise market to one million passengers. This...

Retired US Air Force General Lori J. Robinson officially christened Royal Caribbean International’s Legend of the Seas at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Veterans Day (11 November 2026). In keeping with maritime tradition, Robinson blessed the Icon-class ship, its crew and future passengers in an ceremony that also paid tribute to US veterans, active-duty service members and military families. “Being named godmother of Legend of the Seas and taking part in the naming...