John Honeywell, Author at Captain Greybeard

Your best picture can win tickets to the cruise awards presentation gala

Swimming with dolphins, ziplining over the treetops and riding camels to the pyramids; dressing up for dinner or relaxing on the beach - all feature in the pictures entered for the Cruise Photo of the Year contest. The winner will receive a pair of tickets to attend the presentation of the first Cruise International Awards, to be held at the Soho Hotel in London on September 14, and almost 200 photographs have so far been put on display on the magazine's Facebook page. It's fascinating to see what people consider to be the "wow moment" that encapsulates all that is [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:02+00:00 12 August 2011|Cruise News|0 Comments

Strike puts paid to Palma’s Magic

No sooner has a Greek taxi drivers' strike ended, than new industrial action is making life difficult for cruise passengers in the Mediterranean. Striking coach drivers at Palma (above), on the island of Mallorca, have forced at least two ships, carrying about 7,000 passengers between them, to cancel visits to the island tomorrow. The industrial action, over a three per cent pay claim, is expected to continue until Sunday. Carnival Magic, on a nine-night cruise which began in Barcelona last Friday (August 5) has changed course for Marseille, where it had originally been expected on a day later. It will [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:03+00:00 11 August 2011|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

Flirting with the motion of the ocean

Want to know what people enjoy most about their days on board cruise ships? P&O did, so they set up a questionnaire on Facebook - and got some unexpected answers. To no-one's surprise, relaxing was the favourite activity, followed by sunbathing which I would have thought was pretty much the same thing; or does it require lots of concentration to ensure an even, all-over tan? Given that their ships are in port on more days than they are at sea, perhaps we might have expected "seeing a new place" and taking excursions to have secured more votes, unless their relatively [...]

By John Honeywell| 2011-08-09T14:09:05+00:00 9 August 2011|Cruise Entertainment|0 Comments

When glaciers attack . . .

It's a hazardous business sightseeing in Alaska, as this video of a small tourist boat almost being swamped as it came too close for comfort to a calving glacier demonstrates. The shrieks and howls of excitement from passengers as a wall of of ice falls into the sea turn to panic as a mini-tsunami rocks the boat, causing one woman to fall and break her leg. The boat was carrying sightseers in Alaska's Tracy Arm Fjord where the twin Sawyer Glacier's reach the sea. ►Elsewhere in Alaska, the body of a 67-year-old passenger from cruise ship Disney Wonder has been [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:03+00:00 9 August 2011|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

Captain Hamish hangs up his hat

Popular P&O captain Hamish Reid retired at the weekend, after almost 40 years working on cruise ships. Capt Reid, who joined P&O as a deck cadet in 1972, spent his final cruise at the helm of Oriana, where he has been master since May. The 16-night voyage took 1,800 passengers to Venice, Dubrovnik and Spain before returning to Southampton. During his 39-year career, he has also served on board Arcadia, Aurora, Oceana, Ventura, Artemis, Canberra, Grand Princess, Crown Princess, Golden Princess, Diamond Princess, Pacific Princess, Sun Princess, Regal Princess, Ocean Village II, Ocean Village I and Queen Victoria. Having worked [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:03+00:00 9 August 2011|Cruise Entertainment|0 Comments

New cruise confirmed – and new coffee bar rumoured – for QM2

Cunard flagship Queen Mary 2 will be going into dry dock in November for a bit of a freshen up, but the bean counters in head office must have been twisting some arms at the shipyard because they are now expecting to complete the work in little over a week. Which means there's now time to squeeze in an extra four-night cruise at the beginning of December. Leaving Southampton on December 8, the ship will visit Le Havre in France and Zeebrugge in Belgium - perfect for some continental Christmas shopping. Entertainment will be provided during the voyage by Brit [...]

By John Honeywell| 2015-04-12T21:13:32+00:00 5 August 2011|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|2 Comments

Azura’s Al (and celebrity pals) are taking Herbie back to Monte Carlo

Today is a special day for Al Clinton. After months at sea - he works as wine host and sommelier in the Glass House wine bar on board P&O cruise ship Azura - he is going on leave, and as soon as he could get off the ship when it docked in Southampton, he was off like a rocket to his home and family on Merseyside. "You won't see me for dust," he wrote on Facebook. Al is a man with an obsession, and today is his first chance to see his new baby in all its shining glory. The [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:03+00:00 5 August 2011|Cruise News|1 Comment

Cruise terminal battle turns nasty

Competition from Liverpool is being blamed for the decision to put plans for a £30 million fifth cruise terminal at Southampton on hold for at least a year. The Government's decision to open up consultation on Liverpool's plans to expand its own terminal - built with help from public money - has brought cries of "foul" from the south coast city, one of the busiest cruise ports in Europe. Southampton port director Doug Morrison told his local paper, the Daily Echo: "When the competition is not fair you have to ask why you would invest another £30 million. If the [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:03+00:00 4 August 2011|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

£1.25bn order for 3 new cruise ships

Carnival Corporation, the biggest cruise operator in the world with 101 ships sailing for its different brands, ordered three new vessels today at a total cost of about one and a quarter billion pounds. A 132,500-ton adaptation of the Concordia class will be built at Fincantieri's Marghera yard near Venice for Costa line, which is Europe's biggest cruise company, and whose latest vessel, Fascinosa, was floated out in the same yard only days ago. The new order will accommodate a maximum 4,928 passengers (3,700 at double occupancy). It is the 10th ship ordered by Costa from Fincantieri in the last [...]

By John Honeywell| 2011-08-03T18:39:53+00:00 3 August 2011|Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Titanic voyages selling out

TV success story Downton Abbey, about to return to our screens for a second series, began with the heir to the estate being lost with RMS Titanic. So it's appropriate that writer Julian Fellowes should have turned to the liner's sinking for his next drama. To be screened next April, the centenary of the disaster, and with a cast including Celia Imrie, Linus Roache and Sophia Winkleman, it will concentrate on the third class steerage passengers and crew rather than the rich and famous among the 1,500 who lost their lives.. The four-part mini-series is unlikely to lean on the [...]