Captain Greybeard

When the Duchess of Cornwall christened Cunard's Queen Victoria almost six years ago, she didn't only launch a cruise ship, she also set in train a fund-raising effort that has raised £1 million for her husband's charity. The achievement will be celebrated in style at a £100-a-head lunch for The Prince's Trust on board the ship in Southampton tomorrow (Friday). Charles accompanied Camilla to the naming and there were gasps from the audience when the bottled failed to smash against the ship's side - traditionally seen as a sign of bad luck. Fortunes have clearly changed ... The Trust works [...]

It's official: Anthem of the Seas, Royal Caribbean's second Quantum-class cruise ship, will make its home in Southampton when it is launched in spring 2015. After weeks of speculation, which began in early September when I first reported that European ports of call had been booked for the 4,180-passenger vessel, the company made the official announcement in London this evening. Radio personalities Stuart Maconie and Lauren Laverne, together with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, were the appropriate musical connection joining Royal Caribbean president and CEO Adam Goldstein. Anthem will replace the 3,600-passenger Independence of the Seas, which has been sailing from [...]

There's no doubting the increasing popularity of river cruising. While the growth in numbers of UK passengers taking to the seas has slowed in the past couple of years, more and more are choosing to take a boat trip inland. They were up 12 per cent last year, according to figures being quoted at the CLIA-UK River Cruise Convention in Cologne at the weekend. Of the total of 130,000, the majority - 90,000 - cruise on European waters, while a further 40,000 head further afield, to the Yangtze, Mekong, Mississippi and elsewhere. It should come as no surprise then, that [...]

It's been a while . . . More than three weeks since I disappeared to the remote South Atlantic island of St Helena. Strange to think that in order to spend eight days there, I had a total of 14 days of travel. An overnight flight to Cape Town was followed by a night in the Commodore Hotel, just a few minutes' walk from the bustling Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. Then there were five nights on board the RMS St Helena before arrival in Jamestown. It was the same process in reverse to get back to the UK. Well worth [...]