Here's a Halloween special - Captain Greybeard becomes Captain Redbeard. I was dressed up for dinner on board Sea Princess a couple of years ago during a cruise down the eastern seaboard of north America. Strangely enough, everyone ran away screaming when I took the mask off. The outfit was a bargain buy from a shop in Sydney, Nova Scotia and I wish I still had it now, but I gave it to a waitress so she could wear it at the crew party.
Book a Caribbean cruise with Ocean Village this weekend and receive £150 per couple on-board credit to spend on excursions, spa treatments, or just to top up the bar tab. Between November and March the original Ocean Village ship will sail from Barbados to a mix of classic and off the beaten track islands including St Lucia, Antigua and the British Virgin islands. Prices for two week sailings start from just £1,249pp including flights, transfers, on-board dining and evening entertainment. OV - billed as the cruise line for people who don't do cruises - has a new Caribbean Action Ashore [...]
Want to catch a glimpse of the biggest cruise ship in the world as it travels from Europe to its new home in Miami? Oasis of the Seas will be making a brief stop in Southampton on Monday November 2 - despite repeated assurances that there was no chance the 220,000-ton vessel would be visiting the UK. The huge ship (seen above leaving the shipyard) cost £800 million to build and will carry as many as 6,300 passengers at full capacity - or just 5,408 with only two people per cabin - plus 2,165 crew. It will dwarf every other [...]
Tomorrow is the big day - the shipbuilders hand over Oasis of the Seas to Royal Caribbean Cruises, and chairman Richard Fain finally gets to say that the $1.4 billion behemoth is his. But as if he has not been busy enough over the past few days checking that everything is as perfect as can be, Richard has still found time to keep followers up-to-date through his blog. And there have been some surprising revelations. Like, for example, the fact that the biggest cruise ship in the world has gained four extra cabins. We'll have to re-calculate its capacity from [...]
It came as little surprise to me that - for the third time - the Norwegian fjords have been voted the world's best travel destination, in a survey organised by National Geographic Traveller magazine. When I was there on board Cunard's Queen Victoria in July, I was just as as impressed as when I visited a few years ago during the maiden season of P&O's Arcadia. The scenery is stunning, and there's an endless variety of mountains and views, waterfalls and glaciers, from Hardangerfjord to Sognefjord, from Alesund to Trondheim, Tromso and beyond. This survey is no popularity contest. The [...]
The best cruise deals aren’t always the last-minute offers – plan ahead for these great deals. * Explore the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea on a 17-day trip with Voyages of Discovery, starting with a flight to Mombasa in Kenya on March 30. Board the MV Discovery and sail to the Seychelles. Then it’s on to Yemen, before a final call at Safaga in Egypt, where there’s time for an excursion to Luxor before the flight back to the UK on April 15. Fares start at £1,295. Details at www.voyagesofdiscovery.co.uk or telephone 0845 017 1814. * Fred Olsen’s Balmoral [...]
There's been a flurry of announcements and press releases from P&O this week - recently-appointed boss Carol Marlow must be cracking the whip. The latest is to let the world know the cruise line is looking for - and I quote - "Britain's most twinkled-toed passengers," who will be chosen to dance at the naming ceremony for the line's newest ship, Azura, next April. Throughout the winter, couples aboard Arcadia, Artemis, Aurora, Oceana, Oriana and Ventura will be able to enter a Strictly Come Dancing competition and the 12 best will then compete for the final six places on April [...]
Passengers heading for home after leaving a cruise or arriving at a ship to start their holiday might wonder what's involved in turning round a giant liner in the space of a few hours, but never get a chance to look behind the scenes. Anyone wanting an insight into the hectic activities that occur between a ship entering port at dawn and setting out again before dusk should read the fascinating blog entry by Nigel Travis, currently standing in as Cruise Director on P&O's Oriana. The ship arrived in Southampton on Wednesday after a Transatlantic crossing from the Caribbean, and [...]
Azura will be the newest ship in P&O's fleet when she sails on her maiden voyage next April, but the cruise line want to make sure she carries on the traditions of the company's 172-year history. They have appealed for travelers and collectors to find souvenirs, keepsakes and mementoes of past voyages so they can be put on display on Azura during her maiden season, and then exhibited as part of a traveling heritage display on the line's fleet of seven ships. Managing director Carol Marlow said: "P&O Cruises began in 1837 and is proud of its long and illustrious [...]
In a matter of days Oasis of the Seas, the biggest cruise ship in the world, will be handed over to Royal Caribbean by the STX yard in Finland which has built the giant vessel. It will then cross the Atlantic for a spectacular inaugural celebration in Fort Lauderdale over Thanksgiving weekend, raising millions of dollars for the Make A Wish Foundation, a charity which makes dreams come true for children with life-threatening illnesses. Crew for the ship have been flying into Turku by the planeload this week - 95 per cent of those joining Oasis are transferring from other [...]