Captain Greybeard

Grandeur of the Seas, the Royal Caribbean cruise ship damaged by fire on Monday, will be out of action until mid-July. All passengers who were on board when the blaze broke out, and who spent four hours at their muster stations during the emergency, have now left Freeport in the Bahamas. Most returned to Baltimore on 11 chartered planes, while 25 chose to travel by ferry to Fort Lauderdale and onward by bus or train. The ship has moved from the Freeport Cruise Terminal to a berth at the Grand Bahama Shipyard, where repairs will be carried out. Investigators have [...]

UPDATE: With the generators still out of action, Voyages of Discovery has cancelled the remainder o Voyager's 9-day Celtic Treasures cruise. All 487 passengers will be returned to Portsmouth, where they embarked the ship, tomorrow [Friday]. Additional excursions have been arranged to keep them entertained on their third day in Killybegs, Co Donegal. A team of specialist engineers joined the ship to try to restore power to the affected generators yesterday [Wednesday]. They have not yet been able to rectify the faults in time for the cruise to continue as planned. Voyages of Discovery has also announced the ship's next [...]

They're a funny lot, cruise directors. Faced with a constantly-changing roster of passengers, they must maintain a smiling face while passing on the same information every voyage. They have to keep their guests entertained and informed, all the while watching over an unruly bunch of entertainers and guest speakers. Some can perform the role with consummate ease. Some get too full of their own importance; others collapse under the burden. For three years, Alison Lewin (above left) has been a constant saviour on Voyages to Antiquity's Aegean Odyssey around the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and last winter during the ship's [...]

Human error - mostly on the part of the captain - was to blame for the Costa Concordia tragedy, according to the official report from the Italian Maritime authorities released this week. A footnote to the 176-page report says it "is not written for the purposes of litigation and will not be eligible for use in any judicial proceedings." Nevertheless, it will make uncomfortable reading for Captain Francesco Schettino, who will stand trial in July on charges of manslaughter and abandoning his ship. He is blamed not only for causing the accident, but also for his mismanagement of the emergency [...]

UPDATE: The next scheduled sailing of Grandeur of the Seas, due to lave Baltimore, Maryland on Friday, May 31, has been cancelled to allow for repairs to be carried out in Freeport, Bahamas. Guests booked on the May 31 sailing will be provided a full refund of the cruise fare paid. Royal Caribbean also will provide these guests with the opportunity to sail in the future by providing a future cruise certificate for 50 per cent of the cruise fare paid. Guests who booked flights through Royal Caribbean International will receive a full refund for air costs. If they did [...]

Passengers on board Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas were called to muster stations in the early hours of this morning when fire broke out on board. The blaze was discovered at 2.50 a.m.in the aft mooring area of Deck 3, which otherwise consists mostly of passenger cabins, and spread to the Deck 4 crew lounge. It was extinguished about two hours later and guests were allowed to return to their accommodation at about 7.00 a.m. No injuries were reported, although medical staff treated two passengers who fainted. Unlike the incident earlier this year which crippled Carnival Triumph, Grandeur's propulsion [...]

It looks like the first paying passengers to board Quantum of the Seas will walk up the gangway from British soil, embarking for a Transatlantic crossing, The official announcement from Royal Caribbean giving details of the innovative ship's inaugural season itineraries referred only to voyages from home base in Bayonne, New Jersey to the Bahamas and the Caribbean. But the ship, to be built in Germany, will call into Southampton in November 2014 according to a sales brochure found elsewhere on a Royal Caribbean website by cruise enthusiast Patricia Dempsey (@linerlovers). The seven-night Transatlantic is scheduled to depart on November [...]