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,

Determined to defy Italian strikers and Greek demonstrators

If the news reports are to be believed, there could be demonstrators on the streets and police firing tear gas grenades when mv Discovery and its passengers arrive in Athens on Saturday. They had better be warned - the intrepid Discoverers won't stand for any nonsense, especially if it threatens to affect either the euro in their pockets or their planned excursions to the Acropolis, the Corinth Canal, or Mycenae and Epidaurus. My fellow passengers on Aegean Odyssey last month showed similar determination to triumph over adversity on a visit to Pompeii and Herculaneum, two towns devastated by the eruption [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:00+00:00 7 October 2011|Cruise Destinations|1 Comment

Time for a subversive column

Having inadvertently succeeded in confusing one of my dinner table companions on board mv Discovery this week by writing about Sicily while cruising from Croatia, I have to apologise to him and issue a quick reminder that I am also trying to catch up with my journey last month on board Voyage to Antiquity's Aegean Odyssey. In a couple of days we 650 intrepid Discoverers will be arriving at Kalamata, in the south-west Peloponnese; we'll see for ourselves exactly what sort of pickle the Greeks have got themselves into, and whether there will actually be anyone available to take us [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:00+00:00 5 October 2011|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments

Strikers give the day added sparkle

So, following last night's post, and a day in the delightful Croatian town of Zadar . . . it's time to take you to Palermo, the capital of Sicily. Cruise ship Aegean Odyssey was staying overnight in port and when I boarded most of the passengers were on excursions to the magnificent Norman cathedral at Monreale, and to the Palazzo Gangi - one of Palermo's secret palaces and location for the memorable ballroom scene in Visconti's 1963 film, The Leopard. A general strike was threatened for the next day, but Voyages to Antiquity guests weren't going to allow a trivial [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:00+00:00 3 October 2011|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments

Voyages to discover antiquity

If you're travelling with Captain Greybeard, the next few days could get rather confusing. Let me explain. On Friday, I flew to Dubrovnik and I am now on a cruise which is taking me to Split and Zadar in Croatia, Venice for a couple of days, and then on to Greece, where we will visit Kalamata, Athens, Volos and Myrina before entering Turkish waters and overnighting in Istanbul. My reports en route will be interspersed with some from another recent voyage which I took from Palermo, in Sicily, to Rome - memorably visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum on the way, in [...]

By John Honeywell| 2011-10-02T21:46:13+00:00 2 October 2011|Cruise Destinations, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Tell them Captain Greybeard sent you and claim a 10% cruise discount

Still time to take advantage of my 10 per cent discount deal with Virgin Holidays Cruises and save money on your next holiday at sea. It couldn't be simpler - choose your cruise from Virgin's website or glossy brochure and then mention my name when making your booking, in order to claim the saving. There are dozens of different ships and hundreds of possible cruises - Virgin offer deals with everyone from Azamara to Windstar, Thomson to Carnival and Costa to Fred. Olsen. If you're still not sure where to go, here are some suggestions: There are last-minute vacancies throughout [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:00+00:00 30 September 2011|Cruise Deals, Cruise Destinations|0 Comments

Canary cruises on volcano alert

We might be enjoying an Indian summer in the UK, but many people who wanted to guarantee a sunshine break in October will have booked cruises to the Canaries. They will be keeping their fingers crossed that warnings of a potential volcanic eruption will not disrupt their plans. Reacting to an increased level of persistent seismic activity - described as an "earthquake swarm" - Spanish officials have issued a yellow alert for the island of El Hierro, to the west of Tenerife and Gran Canaria. More than 4,000 tremors have been recorded since July and landslides, at least, are expected [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:00+00:00 29 September 2011|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|3 Comments

A Liverpool home for historic liner QE2? Don’t tell the Dubai owners

A bold plan to provide a final resting place on Merseyside for ocean liner QE2 has been the subject of secret talks with Liverpool Vision, the economic development company responsible for the city's regeneration. The company has been involved in confidential discussions with Out of Time Concepts, a company headed by a former Chief Engineer on the ship, who recently advised its current owners on plans to turn it into a luxury hotel in Dubai. During the discussions, it was suggested that the project could create 450 jobs and would be worth an estimated £178 million by 2018. Out of [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:00+00:00 28 September 2011|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|2 Comments

Only on a cruise … the food can be just as spectacular as the views

From the Sunday Mirror Homes & Holidays supplement, published September 25 "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome on stage, all the way from England, celebrity chef . . . Valentine Warner." Rather an unusual introduction for the very British TV cook who recently featured in Alan Titchmarsh's Love Your Garden, and whose latest book, The Good Table, has just been released. Unusual because unlike most of his fellow passengers on board a cruise ship crossing the North Sea to Scandinavia, he hadn't actually travelled a long way. The 39-year-old chef, once described imaginatively by a Mirror colleague as "the Russell Brand [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:01+00:00 25 September 2011|Cruise Destinations, Cruise Food & Drink|0 Comments

Peep inside the deserted QE2 … and fear for the future of this classic liner

In a city of amazing modern architecture, where hotel standards are measured in more stars than you can count on the fingers of one hand, the latest development is newsworthy partly because of its design, and partly because it does not live up to expectations of quality. The Grand Excelsior Hotel (above) in Dubai is a striking building; it looks like the stern of a modern cruise ship stranded on dry land. It claims to be uber hip, and boasts pan-Asian restaurants and a "classical" English pub among its facilities. The hotel cost about £70 million and is on a [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:01+00:00 20 September 2011|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News, Cruise Ships|2 Comments

Mission Possible: Take a cruise to four Gulf cities and unpack only once

From the Daily Mirror Cruise Special, published September 17 MAKING A SPLASH: Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas in Muscat, Oman Come Christmas, we'll be watching in amazement as Tom Cruise swings Tarzan-like from the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa in Dubai in the next Mission Impossible film, Ghost Protocol. No such antics for me when I spent 30 minutes at the 2,717ft-high tower's observation platform on the 124th floor. I kept my feet firmly on the ground, so to speak. Wisps of cloud hung in the still air above the desert city; I could almost reach out and touch [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:01+00:00 17 September 2011|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments