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,

Boudicca takes on the north

Cruise lines frequently boast about the convenience of sailing from UK ports, and it cannot be denied that a departure from Southampton or Dover makes life a lot easier – no airport hassles, no luggage restrictions; just drive up to the terminal and your holiday begins. That’s fine of you are within easy reach of the south coast, but it’s not so simple if you live further afield. Scots and northerners are faced with either a long drive, an inconvenient rail journey, or an interminable trek by coach. Which is why it’s good news that Fred Olsen’s Boudicca will be [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:47+00:00 17 February 2009|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

What’s in a name?

When the Royal Yacht Britannia was retired, she found a new home at Leith, in Scotland, where thousands visit the ship every year. Soon the Britannia could find herself in Edinburgh Harbour and with a cruise terminal for a neighbour – without moving an inch. The multi-million pound development and proposed name change by Forth Ports is intended to make it clear to visitors from around the world that Leith is the gateway to Scotland’s capital city. American tourists are not known for their grasp of geography, and have been known to demand they be taken to Edinburgh rather than [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-02-16T12:38:35+00:00 16 February 2009|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments

Lady Steel is left all at sea

Captain Philip Rentell is not the only person on board the Saga Ruby writing a regular blog. Judy Steel, wife of Scottish politician Lord Steel, is sending back weekly reports to her local paper, the Selkirk Advertiser. This week, she reports that not everything has been going to plan. After leaving South Africa, the Steels were looking forward to visiting the islands of Reunion and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, and they were disappointed that a forecast of cyclones meant the ship would have to divert. An alternative plan to arrive in Madagascar a week earlier than originally scheduled was [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:47+00:00 13 February 2009|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|1 Comment

Falklands break passenger record

You know what it’s like. You wait all year for a cruise ship, then three come along all at once. That’s what happened in Stanley, in the Falkland Islands, last week. The Celebrity Infinity, the Norwegian Sun, and Spirit of Adventure were all in port on Friday, bringing more than 4,000 passengers to a town with a population of just over 2,000. The previous record number of visitors in a day was 3,779 in December 2007. Spirit of Adventure is small enough to enter the harbour, but the other two ships had to anchor off-shore. Spirit also hosted a very [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-02-11T17:04:57+00:00 11 February 2009|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments

Shadowing the Test cricket

Well-heeled cricket fans using the luxury cruise ship Silver Shadow as their base for the first test in the West Indies may not have anticipated England’s humiliating second innings collapse, but they were prepared for an early end to the match, They left Miami on February 2 on the 16-night cruise for which fares ranged from £6,995 to £13,995 and watched the first day’s play on television while sailing to Jamaica. Their programme included transfers to Sabina Park for the second, third and fourth day, and with the proviso that “if the final day of the first test promises to [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-02-10T12:17:08+00:00 10 February 2009|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments

A new Mediterranean Adventure

Yet another option for European cruise passengers opens up next year, with the announcement that Royal Caribbean will be basing Adventure of the Seas in Malaga for five months from June 2010. The 138,000-ton ship, which carries 3,100 passengers, has been sailing week-long Caribbean voyages from San Juan, Puerto Rico since it was launched in 2001. When it arrives in Malaga – a convenient flight away from the UK, it will offer seven night cruises to Sardinia, Rome, Corsica and Majorca, and a choice of five-night voyages to Tenerife and Funchal, or to Corsica and Villefranche. Adventure will join seven [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:48+00:00 9 February 2009|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Royal Caribbean frozen out

There’s a chill wind blowing round Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines this week. On Tuesday it emerged that one of their three ships sailing Alaska itineraries during the summer will be pulled out in 2010 and moved elsewhere. Serenade of the Seas, which carries 2,100 passengers, will sail 20 Alaskan cruises this summer from Vancouver to Anchorage, so that could be 42,000 fewer people visiting America’s frozen north-west next year. Rhapsody of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas – on which I had a spectacular Alaska cruise in 2003 – will continue to operate from Seattle and Vancouver. The company [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-01-29T12:45:31+00:00 29 January 2009|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

Green fingers on the Blue Danube

You might think that gardeners are, by definition, landlubbers. But Alan Titchmarsh is a big supporter of the Cowes inshore lifeboat, and a Trustee of the National Maritime Museum. He has been dispensing his expertise to cruise passengers for several years, and enjoys the opportunity to travel and mingle with enthusiastic amateur gardeners at the same time. This spring, for the first time, he is hosting a river cruise along the Danube on board the MV Mozart, complete with his own cocktail party to rival the captain’s welcome gala. Alan writes: “We will see and visit captivating cities, ancient castles [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-01-26T16:10:25+00:00 26 January 2009|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments

Passengers flock to St Kitts

We didn’t need Coleen Rooney and Amy Winehouse to show us that the Caribbean is THE place to be in January – away from the freezing cold, the rain, the wind and the snow. Of all the islands in the Caribbean, St Kitts is the centre of attention this week, and not just because the England cricket team are playing a warm-up match there.. No fewer than 36,000 passengers will be delivered to Basseterre, the capital, on board 16 cruise ships, and many of them are Brits. Yesterday, 1,444 arrived on Thomson Destiny, en route from Martinique to Tortola. Today, [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:49+00:00 24 January 2009|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments

Lifestyles of the rich and famous

For the benefit of blog readers who followed some of my earlier posts, here is a report on my cruise on Ventura last December, as published in the Daily Mirror. Immaculate yachts rocked gently in the marina, their rigging clanging rhythmically against the masts. A frigate bird soared in the clear blue sky, and out of the 80F heat, a pelican crash-dived into the sea. As a succession of dinghy tenders brought the yacht owners ashore for provisions or a stroll around Road Town – the tiny capital of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands – a couple of tourists [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:49+00:00 24 January 2009|Cruise Destinations|1 Comment