All the latest cruise news from the man in the know

Ships and jobs on merry-go-round

I'm back from Cunard's Queen Victoria; there's plenty of cruise news to catch up on, and a bit of rumour as well. Let's get the rumour out of the way first. Ever since QE2, the most famous liner in the world, arrived in Dubai last November, after being sold by Cunard for £50 million to a company which planned to convert it into a floating hotel, there have been reports that all was not well with the project. Nothing definite has ever been confirmed about exactly what the new owners, Nakheel, planned to do with the ship, although there have [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:41+00:00 21 July 2009|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|3 Comments

Geiranger oil spill cleaned up

Before arriving at Geiranger I had been concerned at

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:41+00:00 13 July 2009|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Dream future for cruise ship Europa

The 1,506-passenger cruise ship Costa Europa is going to a new home - and getting a new name - from April next year, when the vessel will be chartered to Thomson Cruises. It will be re-named the Thomson Dream, and as the largest ship in the Thomson fleet, will sail seven-night Mediterranean cruises from Palma de Mallorca to Barcelona, Rome, Florence, and Tunis. The ship, originally built in 1986 as Homeric, was later stretched and became the Holland America Westerdam before being transferred to Italian line Costa in 2002. It will be sailing its final season for Costa this winter [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:41+00:00 6 July 2009|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|11 Comments

Cruise sales set new world record

Recession? What recession? Bookings for the 2011 world cruises with P&O and Cunard opened this week with record numbers putting their deposits down. On Wednesday, 2,044 people booked voyages from the two programmes, an increase of almost 50 per cent on the business done on the same day last year for the 2010 world voyages. P&O has its biggest-ever world voyage programme on offer, with Arcadia, Artemis, Aurora setting off from Southampton in January, and Oriana offering a rare opportunity to go round the world in the autumn. Arcadia will be heading west to the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal, [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-07-04T14:09:15+00:00 4 July 2009|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Fanfare for the new Queen Elizabeth

After months of steel-cutting, welding and fabrication, the first block of Cunard's new liner, Queen Elizabeth, was lowered into dry-dock at the Monfalcone shipyard in north-east Italy this afternoon. Over the next few months, as the remaining sections of the hull are assembled, the 92,000-ton ship will take shape, ready to hit to the water for the first time when she is floated out in just six months' time. It will be October 2010 before the vessel, slightly larger than sister ship Queen Victoria, makes her maiden voyage - which sold out all 2,092 berths in a record 29 minutes. [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:41+00:00 2 July 2009|Cruise News|1 Comment

30 cruise passengers hurt in bus crash

Thirty passengers from the cruise ship Freedom of the Seas were injured when their amphibious tour bus ran off the road on the US Virgin Island of St Thomas yesterday. Most of the injuries were minor, but one person was detained overnight at the Schneider Regional Medical Centre with a suspected broken ankle. The passengers were among 47 tourists on £40-a-head Pirate Duck Adventure visiting Charlotte Amalie by road with and a water-borne tour of the harbour, Hassel Island and Water Island. The vehicle is adapted from a second world war DUKW amphibious truck. Similar vehicles run tourist excursions at [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:41+00:00 2 July 2009|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|1 Comment

Shipyards fear drought of cruise orders

As Cunard prepare for the keel-laying ceremony for their new liner, Queen Elizabeth, in Italy tomorrow shipyard boss Paolo Capobianco is warning that a drought of orders for new cruise ships after 2012 is causing concern in the industry. Cruise lines have been ordering new vessels at record rates over the past few years, and according to the Passenger Shipping Association, 39 are scheduled for delivery in the next three years. But the global economic situation has already caused giants such as Carnival Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian Cruise Lines to pause and take stock. NCL, for example, had intended [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:41+00:00 1 July 2009|Cruise News|0 Comments

Princess sails record-breaking cruise

Belfast might be the city which built the Titanic, but for years it has not had a berth suitable for today's giant modern cruise ships. That changed on Tuesday when the Crown Princess became the first vessel to tie up at the £10 million extension to Stormont Wharf at the head of Belfast Lough. She is the first of 40 cruise ships expected to bring more than 60,000 passengers to Northern Ireland this year. NI Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy unveiled a commemorative plaque on what is now the longest deep-water berth in Ireland, as 3,100 passengers flocked ashore, many [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:42+00:00 1 July 2009|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News, Cruise Ships|4 Comments

Azura afloat for the first time

Seawater is lapping round the hull of P&O's new super ship Azura for the first time tonight as the dry-dock where it has been under construction at the Monfalcone shipyard in Venice begins to fill. Before the end of the weekend, the 115,000-ton vessel, a sister for Ventura, will be towed to another part of the yard and the dock will be drained ready for the first blocks of Cunard's Queen Elizabeth to be lifted in o place next week. Amanda Dowds, wife of Azura captain Keith Dowds, was the madrina or godmother, and welded a newly-minted £2 coin and [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-06-26T21:58:38+00:00 26 June 2009|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Ready, Freddy, Go for 2010 cruises

To the plush Institute of Directors in Pall Mall this evening for chilled white wine, tasty canapés, and a chat with the friendly people from Fred Olsen, who are launching their 2010-11 cruise brochure. After a steady programme of expansion, buying new ships and stretching them, managing director Nigel Lingard was - for the first time in several years - not able to announce that Olsen will be growing again in 2010. In fact with the retirement of the venerable Black Prince before the end of this year, capacity will be down by 10 per cent. But the four remaining [...]