(8:52 AM ET) -- Hurricane Rina could end up impacting the itineraries of more than a dozen cruise ships this week as it barrels toward Cozumel, one of the world's most visited cruise ports.

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Launched in the early 2010, Voyages to Antiquity is a new line that offers port-intensive itineraries in the Mediterranean and Asia focused on history, art and culture. Its single ship, the 378-passenger Aegean Odyssey, is an older vessel that was extensively renovated before the company's debut. What's the ship like on the inside? Click HERE to see our new comprehensive photo tour of the Aegean Odyssey by veteran cruise writer and ship photographer Peter Knego.

Designed as a research tool for vacationers considering a voyage on the ship, the Aegean Odyssey photo tour is the 42nd in our ongoing series of ship galleries.

For previous photo tours, click on the links below:

Azamara Club Cruises: Azamara Journey
Avalon Waterways: Avalon Panorama
Celebrity Cruises: Celebrity Eclipse; Celebrity Constellation; Celebrity Century; Celebrity Silhouette
Carnival Cruise Lines: Carnival Magic; Carnival Ecstasy; Carnival Splendor; Carnival Dream
Compagnie du Ponant: Le Boreal
Costa Cruises: Costa Favolosa
Crystal Cruises: Crystal Symphony
Cunard Line: Queen Mary 2; Queen Elizabeth; Queen Victoria
Disney Cruise Line: Disney Wonder; Disney Dream
Hapag-Lloyd: Europa
Holland America Line: Nieuw Amsterdam; Eurodam; Oosterdam; Statendam
InnerSea Discoveries: Wilderness Discoverer
Louis Cruises: Louis Majesty
MSC Cruises: MSC Fantasia
Norwegian Cruise Line: Norwegian Jade; Norwegian Epic; Norwegian Gem
Oceania Cruises: Marina
Princess Cruises: Ruby Princess; Crown Princess; Sapphire Princess
Regent Seven Seas Cruises: Seven Seas Mariner
Royal Caribbean International: Oasis of the Seas; Allure of the Seas
Seabourn: Seabourn Sojourn and Seabourn Odyssey; Seabourn Quest
Voyages of Discovery: Discovery
Windstar Cruises: Wind Surf; Wind Spirit

This item was written by Fran Golden, a cruise expert and Trip Coach for Budget Travel magazine. Golden is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

Silversea Cruises is expanding its enrichment program geared towards bridge-playing passengers to 56 cruises in 2012, its largest number ever.

The Bridge Sailings include a formal program of contract and duplicate bridge, supervised by instructors who are certified as Life Masters by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL).

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This item was written by Fran Golden, a cruise expert and Trip Coach for Budget Travel magazine. Golden is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

UPDATE, 12:25 p.m. ET: Norwegian Cruise Line says in a statement, "Depending on the speed and path of the storm, we may have to alter some itineraries."

Meanwhile, Celebrity Cruises modified the itinerary of the Celebrity Millennium to skip Grand Cayman today and spend the day at sea, with an added call at Nassau tomorrow, says a spokeswoman.

ORIGINAL POST: Hurricane Rina, now a Category 2 storm heading towards Mexico, is wreaking havoc with cruise ship itineraries.

Carnival Cruise Lines alone changed eight itineraries due to the late-season hurricane.

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This item was written by Fran Golden, a cruise expert and Trip Coach for Budget Travel magazine. Golden is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

The Carnival Liberty returned to service this weekend after a two-week dry dock, debuting a bunch of new features including an eatery serving burgers and fries created by Food Network star Guy Fieri.

The ship is the first to get a redo as part of Carnival Cruise Lines' ambitious $500 million Fun Ship 2.0 enhancement initiative, which will add a host of new dining, bar and entertainment offerings to 16 ships by 2015.

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This item was written by Fran Golden, a cruise expert and Trip Coach for Budget Travel magazine. Golden is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

Rodolfo Lopez Negrete, chief operating officer of the Mexico Tourism Board, says tourism officials are "obviously very happy" that Princess Cruises is returning to Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan on sailings from California in 2012. But he questions why the line pulled out of the ports in the first place.

READ MORE:  Princess Cruises to return to Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta

In an interview with USA TODAY, Lopez Negrete, a Mazatlan native, says he doesn't buy the cruise line's oft-repeated comments that "safety and security" were behind the move to drop the ports earlier this year.

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This item was written by Fran Golden, a cruise expert and Trip Coach for Budget Travel magazine. Golden is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

Some cruise lines had to reconfigure itineraries this week as city workers in Athens went on strike, with a threat of further protests next week. Meanwhile, stormy weather in the Caribbean caused lines to miss calls in Grand Cayman and elsewhere.

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This item was written by Fran Golden, a cruise expert and Trip Coach for Budget Travel magazine. Golden is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

Construction of the much-anticipated, 3,600-passenger Royal Princess, due to debut in spring 2013, has reached the significant keel-laying stage.

The bottom-most part of the 141,000-ton ship, the 500-ton keel, was lowered into place by a huge crane in the building dock at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy, this week.

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This item was written by Fran Golden, a cruise expert and Trip Coach for Budget Travel magazine. Golden is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

It may seem a long way away, but Crystal Cruises is out already with details of its late 2013 schedule and details of a 2014 World Cruise on Crystal Serenity. Officials say it's the earliest they've ever made the announcements.

The Crystal Serenity will operate an 89-day, five-segment World Cruise from Los Angeles to Southampton via Asia and Africa, embarking Jan. 18, 2014. The cruise includes several overnights in ports, rare calls in the Mariana Islands and Guam, three calls each in Vietnam and South Africa, and a maiden visit to Luanda, Angola.

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This item was written by Fran Golden, a cruise expert and Trip Coach for Budget Travel magazine. Golden is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

For the first time in its 171-year history, Cunard Line will be offering passengers an opportunity to get married at sea, including on popular transatlantic routes.

The cruise line says its new shipboard "Weddings" program will begin next spring on all three of its ships – Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth.

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This item was written by Fran Golden, a cruise expert and Trip Coach for Budget Travel magazine. Golden is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

The newest river ship of Scenic Cruises (scenictours.com), the 165-passenger Scenic Crystal, will debut in Europe next April with a new feature: balconies that become enclosed with the push of a button.

Eighty-five percent of the staterooms and suites on the 135-meter ship will have "Sun Lounge" balconies that guests can convert from an outdoor sunning area to a fully-enclosed, all-weather room extension – the way it works is you push a button and a hidden panel of glass rises up.

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This item was written by Fran Golden, a cruise expert and Trip Coach for Budget Travel magazine. Golden is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

Passengers on the 5,400-passenger Allure of the Seas this week got a special treat, a sneak peek at Dreamworks Animation's Puss in Boots in 3-D. A lucky few even caught glimpses of the animated movie's voiceover stars, Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek, aboard the world's largest cruise ship.

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An American who arrived in Bermuda this week on Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Dawn is facing an unusually hefty fine of $10,000 after allegedly being caught with marijuana in his cabin, according to several local news outlets.

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Would you take a cruise to view a solar eclipse? Holland America is betting on it.

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Luxury line Silversea on Monday announced plans for another globe-circling voyage in 2013.

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Norwegian Cruise Line launched its first sailings out of Tampa this week, aboard the 2,348-passenger Norwegian Star.

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An FBI agent is on the way to St. Maarten today as part of an investigation into the death of a newborn baby on a Carnival cruise ship.

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Add upscale Oceania to the list of cruise lines offering voyages with a theme.

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Celebrity Cruises today is rolling out an offer for a free, two-night cruise from Amsterdam to Southampton, England, to take place Sept. 5-7, 2012 on the Celebrity Constellation.

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Norwegian Cruise Line's next ship, the Norwegian Breakaway, goes on sale to the general public today for the first time.

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The nation's largest cruise franchise, CruiseOne, today is rolling out exclusive deals with three lines: Carnival, Celebrity and Crystal.

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ABOARD THE ALLURE OF THE SEAS -- Thinking about booking a cruise for the coming year? The head of the nation's largest cruise-selling franchise says you'll want to do it sooner rather than later.

"Pricing definitely has stabilized and is moving up," says Dwain Wall, senior vice president and general manager for CruiseOne, a chain of travel agencies with more than 700 locations nationwide.

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When USA TODAY started up the Cruise Log nearly four years ago, it was a bit of an experiment for the company. Long known as the traveler's newspaper, we already had a strong reputation for our print and online coverage of the travel industry. But could we succeed in building a leading online website devoted to a niche as small as cruising? The answer, it turns out, was a resounding yes. Since it began in early 2008, the Cruise Log has grown rapidly and now draws nearly half a million unique visitors a month, making it one of the top two cruise news and information sites on the Web.

Today, I'm excited to announce the next phase of our move into the cruise space: a new, standalone cruise ship review website called VacationCruisesInfo.com. To visit our new site, go to VacationCruisesInfo.com.

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This item was written by Larry Bleiberg, former travel editor of The Dallas Morning News. Bleiberg is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

Celebrity Cruises has modified several 2012 "Holy Land" cruises, shifting itineraries from the Middle East to European ports.

The new voyages will focus on fall wine vacations in France, Spain and Portugal. Other routings will visit Italy, Greece, and ports in the Adriatic.

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This item was written by Larry Bleiberg, former travel editor of The Dallas Morning News. Bleiberg is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

Princess Cruises, which pulled ships from Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan due to security fears earlier this year, will return to the Mexican coastal cities in 2012.

"We put back Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta on our schedule for the fall 2012-spring 2013 schedule as we would very much like to return to these ports, which have long been a part of our Mexico cruises," said Julie Benson, Princess' vice-president for public relations. "These cruises are still a long way out and as the cruises approach we will be evaluating the situation and will make any changes if necessary."

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This item was written by Larry Bleiberg, former travel editor of The Dallas Morning News. Bleiberg is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

The new Disney Fantasy is now guaranteed to be splashy.

Disney Cruise Line today revealed an elaborate water play area for families on its new ship, along with an additional adults-only area.

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This item was written by Larry Bleiberg, former travel editor of The Dallas Morning News. Bleiberg is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

Princess Cruises has expanded its West Coast offerings with new California coastal sailings on the Sapphire Princess next fall and in spring 2013.

The ship will visit Catalina Island and overnight in San Francisco. Additional calls include Santa Barbara, San Diego and Ensenada, Mexico. Seven sailings of the week-long Los Angeles-based itinerary are planned. Departures are in October 2012 and March, April and May 2013.

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This item was written by Larry Bleiberg, former travel editor of The Dallas Morning News. Bleiberg is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

Nearly every day, it seems, one cruise line or another launches a sale. Next week they all will.

Twenty-five cruise lines will be offering bargains on more than 200 ships during National Cruise Vacation Week, Oct. 17 to 23. The sale's sponsored by the industry group Cruise Lines International Association. Members represent more than 95 percent of the North American cruise market and offer sailings around the world.

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This item was written by Larry Bleiberg, former travel editor of The Dallas Morning News. Bleiberg is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

While Viking River Cruises have been taking Western Europe's waterways by storm recently, the line's roots lie to the East, and the company is upgrading its Russian offerings.

Next year will mark the complete refurbishment of the line's four original Russian ships, making them the most updated vessels cruising in Russia, and the only fleet there entirely owned and operated by a Western company, says the line. The company started nearly 15 years ago, basing its first operations in Russia.

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This item was written by Larry Bleiberg, former travel editor of The Dallas Morning News. Bleiberg is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

We're learning more about what happened on Freedom of the Seas Sunday night when the ship left Port Canaveral, Fla., and sailed into stormy weather.

Royal Caribbean International spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said that 13 passengers sought medical treatment after the ship began rocking in the storm. The injuries were primarily bruises, cuts and scrapes, and not serious, the line said.

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This item was written by Larry Bleiberg, former travel editor of The Dallas Morning News. Bleiberg is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

Hurricane Jova continues its march on Mexico, nearing Manzanillo and disrupting more cruise ship itineraries.

The Category 3 storm was about 130 miles southwest of Manzanillo at 5 a.m. PT, the National Hurricane Center reported. It continues to move north-northeast at 6 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph, and is expected to make landfall this afternoon or evening. The storm may bring rainfall of up to 20 inches. The areas threatened by flash floods and mudslides include the Mexican states of Michoacan, Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit. It has closed the nation's largest container port at Manzanillo.

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Windstar Cruises' 312-passenger, 14,475-gross-ton Wind Surf is a yacht-like, diesel-powered sailing ship with a few unique bells and whistles, including multiple dining venues and an unfolding water sports marina. Click HERE to see our new comprehensive photo tour of the Wind Surf by veteran cruise writer and ship photographer Peter Knego.

Designed as a research tool for vacationers considering a voyage on the ship, the Wind Surf photo tour is the 41st in our ongoing series of ship galleries.

For previous photo tours, click on the links below:

Azamara Club Cruises: Azamara Journey
Avalon Waterways: Avalon Panorama
Celebrity Cruises: Celebrity Eclipse; Celebrity Constellation; Celebrity Century; Celebrity Silhouette
Carnival Cruise Lines: Carnival Magic; Carnival Ecstasy; Carnival Splendor; Carnival Dream
Compagnie du Ponant: Le Boreal
Costa Cruises: Costa Favolosa
Crystal Cruises: Crystal Symphony
Cunard Line: Queen Mary 2; Queen Elizabeth; Queen Victoria
Disney Cruise Line: Disney Wonder; Disney Dream
Hapag-Lloyd: Europa
Holland America Line: Nieuw Amsterdam; Eurodam; Oosterdam; Statendam
InnerSea Discoveries: Wilderness Discoverer
Louis Cruises: Louis Majesty
MSC Cruises: MSC Fantasia
Norwegian Cruise Line: Norwegian Jade; Norwegian Epic; Norwegian Gem
Oceania Cruises: Marina
Princess Cruises: Ruby Princess; Crown Princess; Sapphire Princess
Regent Seven Seas Cruises: Seven Seas Mariner
Royal Caribbean International: Oasis of the Seas; Allure of the Seas
Seabourn: Seabourn Sojourn and Seabourn Odyssey; Seabourn Quest
Voyages of Discovery: Discovery
Windstar Cruises: Wind Spirit

This item was written by Larry Bleiberg, former travel editor of The Dallas Morning News. Bleiberg is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas sustained minor damage Sunday night when the ship was departing Port Canaveral, Fla., the cruise line says.

There were also some injuries, although the line says they were not serious.

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This item was written by Larry Bleiberg, former travel editor of The Dallas Morning News. Bleiberg is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

How exactly do Norwegians cruise?

You'll soon find out in TV advertisements, Facebook activities and even shipboard programming on Norwegian Cruise Line.

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This item was written by Larry Bleiberg, former travel editor of The Dallas Morning News. Bleiberg is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

Hurricane season lasts through November, which we're reminded this morning as Jova threatens to thrash the west coast of Mexico.

The Category 3 storm has altered two cruise itineraries and may affect several other ships sailing the Mexican Riviera.

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This item was written by Larry Bleiberg, former travel editor of The Dallas Morning News. Bleiberg is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

Shore excursions can be the highlight of any cruise, but in Alaska where the attraction is primarily nature and wilderness, passengers are particularly dependent on packaged outings.

In addition, Alaska excursions can be pricey, running hundreds of dollars per person if they involve helicopter trips or flightseeing. You don't want to shell out that kind of money on a ho-hum tour. That's why it's worth paying attention to Princess Cruises' annual awards honoring the top local tour operators in the Last Frontier. The 12th annual C.R.U.I.S.E. Service Awards recognize top tours as rated by passengers.

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This item was written by Larry Bleiberg, former travel editor of The Dallas Morning News. Bleiberg is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

Mexican authorities closed all ports in Cozumel Wednesday night as they searched for suspects who had robbed a duty-free jewelry store in the heart of the tourist district.

The early evening robbery at the Diamonds International in downtown Cozumel led authorities to take the rare step of halting all maritime traffic around the island and ceasing port operations for 14 hours, reports La Verdad newspaper. Three cruise ships, Carnival Imagination, Carnival Elation and Disney Magic, which had visited that day, left before the ports closed.

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This item was written by Larry Bleiberg, former travel editor of The Dallas Morning News. Bleiberg is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

The mayor of Charleston, S.C., says the World Monuments Fund got it all wrong when it listed the city this week as an endangered historic site because of cruise ships.

Mayor Joe Riley says concerns about the city are unfounded, and the Fund did not analyze or review the nature of the city's cruise business.

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This item was written by Larry Bleiberg, former travel editor of The Dallas Morning News. Bleiberg is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.

A small blaze broke out on the Queen Mary 2 Wednesday night while the ocean liner was en route from Quebec City, Canada, to New York.

The fire, which was limited to one of the ship's engine rooms, was quickly extinguished and had no impact on guests, crews or the structural integrity of the vessel, Cunard spokeswoman Jackie Chase said.

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NEW YORK -- Add cruise ships to the list of things decorated by pop artist Peter Max.

Norwegian Cruise Line CEO Kevin Sheehan on Thursday announced the company had commissioned Max to design the hull art for its next ship, the Norwegian Breakaway.

Speaking at a press conference at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, Sheehan noted it was the first time the line had asked a well-known artist to create one of the designs that adorn the outside of its vessel.

"I am a huge fan of his work and know that the art he creates for Norwegian Breakaway will make the ship instantly recognizable," Sheehan said.

RELATED:  Norwegian reveals more details of next ship
RELATED:  Norwegian to base next ship year-round in New York

Max, a prolific illustrator who has painted everything from a Boeing 777 flying for Continental to a giant mural at the 2002 Winter Olympics, is preparing four options for the Norwegian Breakaway's exterior.

Norwegian on Thursday also announced that the 4,000-passenger Norwegian Breakaway would be based year-round in New York, becoming the largest cruise ship ever home ported in the city. Read more about Norwegian's announcement.

Currently under construction at a shipyard in Germany, the Norwegian Breakaway is scheduled to debut in May 2013. The ship was named by a USA TODAY reader in a contest held here at the Cruise Log this year.

Cruise Loggers, share your thoughts below.