If you thought cruising was just about the food, think again. If you thought Carnival Cruises was all about bellyflops and burgers, think again. There's a lot more going on aboard a cruise ship. Or there's nothing at all. Just depends what you want from your holiday. That's the video for British consumption. The US side of Carnival takes a different approach, with emphasis on creating abiding memories.
Some interesting insights from Carnival's senior cruise director, John Heald, who is on board Carnival Legend. The ship left Dover today at the end of its summer season in Europe and there will be no Carnival cruise ships here next year. "Fun ship" Legend is now heading for New York on a 14-night sailing via Dublin, Glasgow, Belfast, Reykjavik, Qaqortoq (that's in Greenland) and St John's, Newfoundland. There are 2,147 passengers on board, just over the ship's dual-occupancy capacity of 2,124. Four of them are over the age of 90 and there are 14 children. The average age of guests [...]
OFFICIAL STATEMENT BELOW, MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW LATER P&O Cruises has announced that its new £500 million cruise ship, scheduled to enter service in spring 2015, will be named Britannia - just as I hinted 18 days ago. Speaking today in London, P&O Cruises & Carnival UK chief executive officer David Dingle said: "Britannia is a most fitting name for the newest addition to P&O Cruises, which, with its long and famous heritage, remains Britain's favourite cruise line. Britannia will capture both the contemporary spirit of P&O Cruises and the spirit of Britain today. "Today's Britain is a place of [...]
Royal Princess finally reached the Italian port of Naples this evening, more than 12 hours behind schedule as its current voyage was cut short for emergency repairs to be carried out. The ship, launched in June by Kate Middleton, suffered a major power failure on Sunday. An emergency generator kept essential services such as toilets operating for three-and-a-half hours. Royal Princess was seven days into a 12-day cruise which started in Venice on September 15 and had been at the Greek island of Mykonos on Saturday. There are 3,594 passengers and 1,336 crew members on board. Calls at Rome, Livorno [...]
The building of what will become the world's largest cruise ship got under way this morning. Royal Caribbean chairman and CEO Richard Fain pressed a button to cut the first piece of steel for what he is calling Oasis 3 and what the STX Europe shipyard in France has branded A34. The ship will be a near-identical sister to Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas. Keel-laying will take place in April next year and the 227,700 GRT vessel will be delivered in spring 2016. Vangelis's theme music for the film 1492: Conquest of Paradise rang through the [...]
Florida sailing - Royal Princess sails a 7nt round trip from Fort Lauderdale on Dec 1, calling at Princess Cays (Bahamas), St Thomas (US Virgin Islands) and St. Maarten. From £499pp f/b inc entertainment. Flights extra, from £603pp. princess.com, 0845 075 0031. Hawaii - 11nt Hawaii Stay and Cruise, sailing on the freshly refurbished Pride of America. Virgin Holidays Cruises has four nights at the Outrigger Waikiki on room only before joining Norwegian's ship for seven nights from Honolulu around the islands to Kahului, Hilo, Kona and Nawiliwili. Fares start at £1,099pp with a free $50 onboard spend and flights [...]
How are you thinking ahead for your next holiday? Britain's cruise lines and travel agents are hoping that more people are looking at taking to the high seas. On the eve of National Cruise Week, 400 of the industry's leaders gathered in Liverpool to try to find the formula for continued success, with "Think Ahead" as their slogan. As it turned out there was more talk about soggy bottoms than keels and cabins. The Great British Bake Off was a favourite topic among the presentations and 2011 winner Jo Wheatley was among the guest speakers at the event organised by [...]
Cruising is the best-value family holiday around. It's a point that has been made so often it surprises me it needs to be made again. But the start of National Cruise Week is as good a time as any to issue a reminder. Step forward, Carnival Cruise Lines, who have compared the cost of a land-based holiday in the Caribbean with a five-day cruise. And guess what, a family of four would pay £2,902 for the cruise compared with £6,905 for a hotel resort. In working out the figures, Carnival has included transfers to the ship and an itinerary which [...]
The sea route to Australia will be revived in a couple of months' time when Astor sets out on a 36-night voyage to Perth - arriving in plenty of time for the first Test Match of the winter series. The 600-passenger ship has been chartered by Cruise & Maritime Voyages for the journey. It will undertake a season of cruises from Fremantle before leaving in April to return to Harwich. It is visiting Dover today, giving CMV - who also operate Marco Polo and Discovery - an opportunity to show it off to UK media and travel agents. Fares for [...]