Your guide to news from cruise destinations around the world

Your guide to the latest news and updates from cruise destinations and ports of call around the world. Mediterranean, Europe, Caribbean, Alaska, South America, south-east Asia, Australasia, Arctic, Antarctica, Middle East. Southampton, Barcelona, Rome, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Barbados, Panama, Norway, Dubai, Bahamas, Abu Dhabi, Sydney, Auckland, Wellington, Baltic, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Marseille, Athens, Greece, Venice, Dubrovnik, Corfu, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Naples, Santorini, Mykonos, Le Havre, Amsterdam, Bruges, Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Kirkwall, Bergen, Svalbard, Iceland, Reykjavik, Costa Rica, Dominica, Puerto Rico, New York, Vancouver, Seattle, Skagway, Juneau, China, Shanghai, Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand,

Time for some Splendour in the Med

The last time I saw Splendour of the Seas, the ship was out of the water in dry dock at Cadiz, having millions spent on bringing the vessel up-to-date with new restaurants and bars, added cabin balconies, and a spectacular aerial show in the Centrum. Every square foot of carpet was ripped up and replaced, cabins were getting new furnishings, and the ship even received a substantial addition to its stern - a ducktail - to improve stability. The crew weren't ignored either. They were provided with a new restaurant, upgraded accommodation, and wi-fi so they can keep in touch [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:50+00:00 28 April 2012|Cruise Destinations, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Troll tales from the Foreign Office over cruising in Arctic waters

Regardless of the disturbing evidence being heard at the trial of mass murderer Anders Breivik and the gruesome fiction of writers such as Jo Nesbø, Norway is among the safest countries on earth for the visitor. The biggest risk is running out of money in a place where nothing less than a mortgage is required to purchase even the most modest of sandwiches washed down with a small glass of lager. Yet prudent tourists checking the Foreign Office website for travel advice might think they had stumbled accidentally into an anarchic third-world state. Despite being assured that the Norwegian crime [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:50+00:00 26 April 2012|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

Expedition ship goes green

Cruise ships visiting the Antarctic already have to abide by strict regulations governing the number of passengers they can take ashore, and the fuel they must burn to avoid polluting the wilderness region. Now a cruise line has declared for the first time that one of its ships will effectively be carbon neutral. Passengers travelling on Ocean Diamond (above) in search of penguins, seals and whales can do so with a clear conscience because operator Quark Expeditions will be offsetting their carbon dioxide emissions by supporting reforestation and hydro and wind-power projects in Turkey, Kenya, China and India. Diamond, carrying [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:50+00:00 19 April 2012|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Escape to be an all-inclusive ship

Cheap-and-cheerful cruise ship Island Escape will be even more affordable next year - from March all food, drinks, tips and service will be included in the fare. Sailing from Palma, Majorca, and Limassol in Cyprus, Island Escape will be introducing 10 new ports of call into her itineraries, visiting Kusadasi in Turkey, Cagliari in Sardinia, Piraeus (for Athens), Corfu, Katakolon and Mykonos in Greece, Calvi in Corsica, Ibiza in Spain, Nice and St Raphael in France. The majority of the new ports will be visited on the new 13-night Temples and Tavernas itinerary, while the remainder will be part of [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:50+00:00 18 April 2012|Cruise Destinations, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Fog on the Tyne greets Lirica

And speaking of MSC Lirica, which we were in my last item, about Abu Dhabi, the ship arrived on the Tyne today, with 1,700 passengers -97 per cent of them from Germany - setting out to spend the day exploring local attractions such as Alnwick Castle, Hadrian's Wall, Durham Cathedral, and the shops of Newcastle city centre. The port is looking forward to welcoming a record 37 cruise ships in 2012, Port of Tyne Chief Operating Officer Steven Harrison said: "The Tyne is a new destination for MSC and the Lirica, but other new cruise operators we will welcome this [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:50+00:00 12 April 2012|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments

MSC Cruises pulls out of the Gulf

The Sex and the City girls may have had an exciting time when they visited Abu Dhabi for their second outing on film, but the experience is not proving as rewarding for cruise line MSC, who have announced they are withdrawing from the port - and the Arabian Gulf - after just one season. Definitely not a case of Carrie On Cruising, then. The company cited the limited facilities and range of destinations in the area when they disclosed that MSC Opera - the ship they planned to have in the Gulf next winter as a replacement for MSC Lirica [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:51+00:00 12 April 2012|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|1 Comment

To see Capri, passengers must go ashore or keep a safe distance

At the weekend, I took an all-too-brief trip to Capri. Minerva was at anchor in calm waters off Sorrento, and passengers were taken ashore by the ship's brand new tenders to board a catamaran for the 35-minute journey to the island. After taking a ride up the funicular railway we arrived in the crowded Piazetta, packed not just with visitors, but with locals emerging from a Palm Sunday service, dressed in their finest and clutching wreaths of leaves. There was barely time for a quick stroll past the designer boutiques to take in the view of the island's spectacular cliffs, [...]

By John Honeywell| 2012-04-03T15:01:53+00:00 3 April 2012|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments

The forecast on Minerva is Cloudy – and I couldn’t be more delighted

"Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go," and while Snow White's Seven Dwarfs needed a shovel and a pick to help in their labours, I am rather more fortunate. Not sure "a camera, a laptop, and a boarding pass" would fit the rhyme, but that's more or less what I take everywhere. And so it was that within 24 hours of arriving home on Friday from the final pre-inaugural cruise of Disney Fantasy, I was heading back to Gatwick, this time to fly to Italy to join the newly-refurbished Minerva of Swan Hellenic. There wasn't a moment [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:51+00:00 1 April 2012|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments

Ventura gets single cabins, but misses out on Olly’s wine bar

P&O cruise ship Ventura is to have 18 single cabins added during a refit next March. The new accommodation will be identical to the extra rooms for solo passengers on sister ship Azura, alongside the main Exchange Bar, and reducing the amount of space for the casino. The cabins are revealed in the deckplans in the 2013 brochure, published for the first time this week. Accommodation for singles, with no supplement to the fare, will be available on three of the fleet's seven ships - Oriana also had some added during last year's refit - and they are promised on [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:52+00:00 27 March 2012|Cruise Deals, Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|1 Comment

Slow it down with Cunard

With fuel costs spiralling out of control, cruise lines are being forced to take steps to cut down on consumption in order to reduce costs. And anyone who has limped away from a petrol station with an overloaded credit card after filling up the family car will feel nothing but sympathy for the accountants who have to foot the bill for a tanker top-up that is counted in thousands of tons rather than a few dozen litres. Ships are taking longer to reach their destinations and spending longer in port in order to economise. It's become a fact of life [...]