Fantasy cruising with Captain Jack

If you could include Venice, New York and Barcelona on the same itinerary, with a detour to the Arctic Circle to see the Northern Lights and a whale or two, you would have the recipe for the perfect cruise. Especially if Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean was at the controls.
That’s the result of a survey commissioned by the Passenger Shipping Association to mark National Cruise Week, which starts on Sunday.
Venice topped the list of favourite cruise ports for the second consecutive year. Also high on the list were Luxor – which is a good three hours’ drive from the Red Sea, although it’s the base for many Nile river cruises – and Singapore.
Joanna Lumley’s breathless TV documentary on the Northern Lights may have helped raise their profile, as 57 per cent of those surveyed said they were the sight they most wanted to see from a cruise ship. Astonishingly, 11 per cent voted for icebergs; how can they not have seen what happened to Leo and Kate in Titanic?
When it comes to wildlife, whales beat dolphins and polar bears – hairy chests and knobbly knees came nowhere.
Joanna lost out to a predictable list of celebrities that passengers would like to share a cabin with, but most people would prefer to travel with their partner or a friend rather than Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Diaz, George Clooney or Robbie Williams.
The sequins and feathers extravaganzas which fill cruise ship theatres came out top of the entertainment poll with 47 per cent of the vote. Dancing (8 per cent) and guest lecturers (7 per cent) were next.
And the real-life captains and commodores in command of cruise ships will be disappointed to discover that passengers would prefer to receive an invitation to the Captain’s Table from Jack Sparrow, who doesn’t exist, or explorer Captain Cook, who has been dead for more than 200 years.
Bill Gibbons, director of the PSA, said: “The research illustrates the amazing value and variety passengers believe modern cruising offers. More and more people – 1.65 million in the UK this year, up from 1.5m last year, are taking a cruise as their favourite holiday choice.”
Other figures released this week emphasise the point. The UK provides the largest number of cruise passengers within Europe, and the number of European residents booking a cruise has increased by 50 per cent between 2004 and 2009.
The European Cruise Council, meeting in Brussels, announced that 4.8 million passengers joined their cruise at a European port last year, sailing on 152 ships operating in the Mediterranean, and 95 in Northern Europe.
The industry generated more than €34 billion (£29.5 billion) of goods and services, and accounts for a total of 296,288 jobs. Greece and Italy are the most popular destinations, with Spain in third place.