John Honeywell, Author at Captain Greybeard

Princess in search of a godmother

Princess Cruises have announced more details of events surrounding the naming of its newest ship, Royal Princess, in Southampton in June - and there will be more than a week of hard partying. Fingers crossed the weather allows maximum use of the ship's spectacular open top deck (above). The ship, in the final stages of construction at the Fincantieri yard in Monfalcone, north-east Italy - where I will be seeing her in a few days time - will arrive at the Ocean Cruise Terminal on Friday June 7. There will be a flurry of events on board before she sails [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:37+00:00 15 March 2013|Cruise Ships|3 Comments

Breakaway is the perfect picture

Picture of the year . . . so far. Norwegian Breakaway on her 27-mile journey from the shipyard in Papenburg, along the flooded River Ems to the North Sea. Click on the picture for a bigger version. The skies were threatening as the ship, travelling backwards, squeezed through locks with inches to spare, past road bridges which lifted to give just enough clearance, and through the tidal barrier at Gandersum. Spectacular!

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:37+00:00 14 March 2013|Cruise Ships|1 Comment

Power problems bring another Carnival cruise to an early end

UPDATE, FRIDAY MARCH 15: Carnival Legend is experiencing propulsion problems with one of its azipod propeller motors. The ship, on the last leg of a seven-day Caribbean cruise, has abandoned a planned call at Grand Cayman and is returning to Tampa, Florida, at reduced speed. Yet more problems for Carnival Cruises. Barely a month after passengers on Carnival Triumph spent an uncomfortable five days being towed back to the mainland, Carnival Dream has cut short a cruise because of power failures. At least this time the ship was in port - at Phillipsburg on the Caribbean island of St Maarten [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:37+00:00 14 March 2013|Cruise News|0 Comments

Which of these will be my favourite new thing on Royal Princess?

Princess Cruises have already told us about the innovative SeaWalk (above), the poolside cabanas and the Chef's Table restaurant which will all feature on their newest ship, Royal Princess, when it debuts in Southampton in June. Now they have come up with 20 more features to whet our appetites. I will be getting a chance to see some of them when I take a look at the ship in an Italian shipyard on a few days' time, and I know which I will be looking forward to with most enthusiasm. I would probably have listed them in a different order [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:37+00:00 13 March 2013|Cruise Ships|1 Comment

When Mary met Lizzie

There was much blowing of ships' whistles in downtown Long Beach, California, last night as - for the first time since 1967 - a Cunard Queen Elizabeth met the long-retired Queen Mary. The obligatory fireworks also marked the event as the young Elizabeth, nearing the end of a three-month world voyage, set off for the Panama Canal, leaving her venerable ancestor to continue her role as a floating hotel and museum. A narrative of the two ships by maritime historian Everett Hoard, who also works as retail manager on Mary, was broadcast from the bridge of Elizabeth. The last meeting [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:37+00:00 13 March 2013|Cruise Ships|0 Comments

SeaWalk pier for Geiranger

Take a good look at the picture above - it will soon be a thing of the past Geiranger, the second-busiest cruise destination in Norway, is to remove the need for passengers to be taken ashore by tender boats, with the construction of an innovative floating pier. Expected to be ready for use by June, the SeaWalk will save passengers' time and reduce pollution at the UNESCO World Heritage-listed destination, which attracts more than 300,000 visitors arriving by ship each year. Using lifeboats to carry passengers to the village's pier could take a large ships, such as Cunard's Queen Victoria [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:37+00:00 12 March 2013|Cruise Destinations|2 Comments

Cruise ship hits seabed off Norway

Snow covers the aft deck of cruise ship Marco Polo, in Northen Norway last week UPDATE: Cruise & Maritime Voyages announced today (Wednesday) that Marco Polo is heading for dry dock in Antwerp for a thorough inspection to ascertain what damage was caused by the grounding off Sortland. Company statement reads: Marco Polo will be terminating her current Land of the Northern Lights cruise in Antwerp on Thursday 14 March on the scheduled arrival day. The ship will undergo a dry docking inspection for minor repairs to her hull after the vessel struck an uncharted object under the command of [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:37+00:00 11 March 2013|Cruise News|25 Comments

River cruises flowing stronger

While the number of Brits taking ocean cruises was virtually at a standstill in 2012, the popularity of river cruises continues to grow. There was a 12 per cent increase in the number of holidaymakers on European rivers alone, the 90,000 UK passengers travelling on the Rhine and Danube representing 60 per cent of the worldwide destinations. Even the Nile grew in popularity last year, with a 12 per cent increase from 25,200 to 28,300, although the numbers are less than half those in 2010. The overall increase in demand for river holidays was fed by new capacity on European [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:37+00:00 7 March 2013|Cruise News|0 Comments

Transatlantic party to celebrate 10th birthday of Cunard’s Queen Mary 2

With the dream - or should I say nightmare? - of Titanic II grabbing the headlines over the past few days, it should perhaps come as no surprise that Transatlantic crossings will feature strongly in next year's celebrations to mark the 10th birthday of Cunard flagship Queen Mary 2. There will be a total of 18 crossings between Southampton and New York during 2014. Two eight-night voyages will travel via Halifax, Nova Scotia - birthplace of Samuel Cunard, who founded the company. Cunard's three Queens will be together in Southampton on May 9 to initiate the birthday celebrations; QM2's following [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:37+00:00 7 March 2013|Cruise Destinations, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Cruise the Northwest Passage … before it’s open to everyone

Scientists predicted this week that sailing over the North Pole will be possible by the middle of this century thanks to melting ice, and travel through the Northwest Passage could become almost commonplace. Time to get there before it becomes a superhighway clogged with tankers, bulk carriers and container ships taking a short cut from China and Japan to northern Europe. What better way than in style and comfort on board the luxury expedition ship Silver Explorer. The vessel plans to take 130 intrepid passengers on a 23-day voyage from Greenland to Alaska for the first time in August next [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:37+00:00 6 March 2013|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments