Captain Greybeard

It's a special honour for any woman to name a ship, and Princess Cruises were themselves deeply honoured that Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, should agree to christen their newest vessel. It was made to sound like an even greater privilege when the Master of Royal Princess, Captain Tony Draper, addressed her with the words: "Your Royal Highness, would you do us the great honour of naming MY ship." Kate stepped forward, wearing a striking black and white Dalmatian-print coat, her hat firmly in place despite the near gale-force winds buffeting the Southampton quayside. She accepted a ceremonial pair of [...]

Repairs to MV Voyager, which has remained in the Irish port of Killybegs since two of its generators failed at the end of last month, are to be carried out in dry dock at Bremerhaven, Germany. Three cruises have now been cancelled because of the problem, but it is expected the ship will be back in service for a summer charter with Always of Belgium from June 25. Passengers who were on board during the May 25 Celtic Treasures cruise were brought back to Portsmouth from Ireland when trouble first struck on May 28. The June 2 Heritage of the [...]

The 120 British tourists who spent a week stranded on a river cruise boat in Vienna were finally flown home today. They had hoped to spend seven days seeing the sights along the Danube; instead, record levels of floodwater forced them to spend almost all the time unable to travel anywhere and not even to leave the boat. The 110-metre long ship Filia Rheni had been chartered exclusively by Titan Travel for a "Danube Waltz" cruise, and after embarking passengers last Friday should have travelled gently to Passau, Bratislava, and Budapest. High water levels - the result of record rainfall [...]

With ultra-luxury cruise ship Europa 2 still fresh out of the box, operator Hapag-Lloyd has denied a claim that it has put its older sister ship, Europa, up for sale. A listing for the vessel appeared on a brokerage website, citing a sale price of €185 million and a delivery date of either September 2013 or April 2014. A footnote added: "Only serious interested parties please." According to the listing, the seller was CA_Marine Co. Ltd, a shipbroker registered in Syria. The Europa, built in 1999, with capacity for 408 passengers and 280 crew, has consistently been rated the best [...]