Captain Greybeard

Queen Victoria has become the biggest passenger ship to dock at the port of Manaus, 900 miles up the River Amazon. Cunard's 2,000-passenger vessel is on a 120-night World Voyage round-trip from Southampton, calling at a total of 32 ports in 17 countries. Captain Peter Philpott was at the helm as the ship arrived in the Brazilian port. Passengers disembarked for excursions including a city tour to see sights including the Teatro Amazonas opera house and the municipal market. Others took a boat trip to the Meeting of the Waters, where the Rio Negro joins the Amazon. He said:  "I feel immensely proud [...]

Design guru Nate Berkus – America’s answer to Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen except he’s Jewish, gay, and cool – is to be a major influence on the look of Celebrity Cruises’ newest ships. Berkus, who was the host of two series of home makeover shows on network TV in the US, has been appointed Design Ambassador for Celebrity’s Edge class. Alongside Celebrity’s president and CEO, Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, he will be at the helm of a series of events revealing details of the ships from March onwards. Until now, Celebrity has disclosed little about the four planned vessels – scheduled for launch between [...]

Carnival Corporation has today added two more cruise ships to its order book and now has 19 vessels scheduled for delivery between 2017 and 2022. The latest orders are for Princess Cruises and Holland America Line. Britain’s P&O Cruises takes delivery of a new ship in 2020, but there are still no plans for Cunard Line to add to its fleet of three Queens. The Carnival announcement in full: Carnival Corporation & plc, the world's largest leisure travel company, today announced that it has signed a memorandum of agreement with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri S.p.A. to build two new cruise ships with final [...]

I’m on my way home after 10 days on board Viking Star during her maiden season of cruises in the Caribbean. And today, Viking Ocean Cruises has announced more new itineraries for its expanding fleet – two more ships will be launched in 2017. The new vessels, Viking Sky and Viking Sun, will be joined in 2018 by Viking Spirit and a sixth, as-yet-unnamed sister, debuts in 2019. Chairman Torstein Hagen said: Viking will mark major milestones in 2017. We celebrate our 20th anniversary; we will welcome two new Longships on the rivers in Europe; and we will double our ocean [...]

© John Honeywell 2017 If the prospect of missing Danny Dyer mouthing off in the latest episode of EastEnders is enough to put you off booking a cruise holiday, then worry no more. The BBC has launched a global entertainment channel – BBC HD – exclusively for cruise ships and the rest of the maritime market. The first customers to be signed up are P&O Cruises and Cunard Line and it will be available to other cruise lines soon. The new channel complements BBC World News, which launched in 2010 for broadcast on in-cabin TVs around the globe. Content on [...]

You thought cruise holidays were about visiting sun-kissed beaches or sights from antiquity, eating the finest food and watching a West End musical in a world-class theatre? Think again. Princess Cruises want to to think it’s all about a high-tech disc the size of a 10p coin that can track your every move, anticipate your every thought – especially if it involves ordering a cocktail – and open doors as if by magic. Arnold Donald, the boss of Princess parent company Carnival, introduced the Ocean Medallion to a spellbound audience at the mega Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas – an annual [...]

© John Honeywell 2017 The cruise plans of 7,000 holidaymakers were sunk today when it was confirmed that All Leisure Group – owner of Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery – had gone bust. About 400 passengers on Minerva (above) and Voyager were coming home at the end of their Christmas cruises on scheduled flights that had already been paid for. Those with future bookings will receive financial compensation. The CAA, through its ATOL scheme, will take care of claims for holidays that included a flight element to get to or from the ships. Cruise-only passengers will be dealt with by [...]

© John Honeywell 2017 As the business world rubbed the sleep from its eyes and returned to work today after the extended Christmas and New Year break, more details began to emerge about the future of the All Leisure Group – owners of Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery. It was disclosed that Hebridean Island Cruises was sold last month to a company headed by All Leisure chairman Roger Allard. Also involved in the new venture are Hebridean managing director Ken Charleson, and a number of executives from elsewhere in the travel industry. The Hebridean Princess has a Royal Warrant, [...]

© John Honeywell 2017 The news that Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery have cancelled the first cruises of 2017 on their ships Minerva and Voyager has been seen by many as a precursor to the closure or sale of the two famous names. Executives at All Leisure Group (ALG), which owns both companies, have not responded to calls or emails over the New Year holiday weekend and will not – officially at least – be back at their desks until Tuesday (January 3). One leading cruise travel agent has described the news as “grim”, while another I spoke to [...]

The first New Year voyages of two of Britain’s best-known cruise lines have been cancelled at short notice “due to operational reasons.” A one-line message on the website of Voyages of Discovery announces with regret that Voyager’s “Riches of the Orient cruise due to start in Malaysia on 4th January 2017 has been cancelled. Voyages of Discovery apologises to all of its passengers who were due to sail on this cruise.” An almost identical message on the Swan Hellenic website announces the cancellation of Minerva’s “Gateway to the Atlantic Isles” cruise scheduled to leave Marseille on January 3. Unconfirmed reports [...]