All the latest cruise news from the man in the know

Swine flu scare keeps cruise ship at sea

Just as the World Health Organisation declares a swine flu pandemic, Royal Caribbean cruise ship Adventure of the Seas has been turned away from two islands. Two members of the ship's crew, and one passenger - among 3,100 aboard - are reported to have been showing flu-like symptoms, so the vessel was not allowed to berth at Castries, St Lucia yesterday. Antigua also said it would not let the ship come into port at St Johns today. Adventure of the Seas left San Juan, Puerto Rico on Sunday, and has made one call, at Bridgetown, Barbados. It is not yet [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-06-11T11:24:38+00:00 11 June 2009|Cruise News|1 Comment

Balloon goes up for Oasis of the Seas

The first pictures of the largest cruise ship afloat undergoing her initial sea trials have been released by Royal Caribbean. The 220,000-ton Oasis of the Seas has left the shipyard at Turku in Finland and will undergo three days of stringent tests. And yes, that is a blimp tethered to the ship's stern. Whether it will still be there when the vessel enters service in December is another matter. RCI chairman Richard Fain says it is an experiment which has a less than 50 per cent chance of succeeding. He says: "If we don't use it on the ship, I [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:42+00:00 8 June 2009|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Peace cruise plan is a Noa-goer

Israeli singer Noa (left) , who was the madrina - or godmother - at the christening of cruise ship Costa Pacifica on Friday, is a campaigner for peace in the Middle East. She announced her own peace plan at a Press conference on the ship, prior to the twin celebrations with sister ship Costa Luminosa. "Costa Pacifica is the ship of peace," she said, and went on to suggest it would be wonderful if the leaders of the Middle East's feuding nations could take a cruise on board, with the proviso that they could disembark only after they had reached [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:42+00:00 8 June 2009|Cruise Gossip, Cruise News|0 Comments

Blown away by Costa spectacular

I don't think the VIPs attending the double-naming ceremony of the Costa Pacifica and the Costa Luminosa in Genoa on Friday night expected to be quite so blown away by the spectacle. But a chill wind off the Ligurian Sea had the audience fleeing for the comfort of the cabins before the show was half way through, and there were acres of empty seats by the time Israeli singer Noa and Italy's world fencing champion, Valentina Vezzali, cut the ribbons which sent two bottles of Aneri Prosecco crashing simultaneously on the ships' bows. Low cloud and high winds had earlier [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:42+00:00 7 June 2009|Cruise News|0 Comments

Celebrations that Costa packet

I'm in Genoa, Italy, today for the double christening ceremony of the two newest ships in the Italian cruise line's growing fleet. Thousands of fellow guests will assemble in the specially-constructed theatre on the Andrea Doria pier this evening, flanked by the Costa Pacifica and the Costa Luminosa. Workmen have been labouring throughout the night to lay acres of carpet and set up the arena and stage. If the rehearsals I watched yesterday from my cabin balcony on Pacifica are anything to go by it will be a truly spectacular - and undoubtedly no-expense-spared - event. The Pacifica's theme is [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:42+00:00 5 June 2009|Cruise News|0 Comments

Quarantine passengers free of flu

Quarantined cruise ship Pacific Dawn arrived back in Sydney today after cutting short its voyage to Australia's Barrier Reef when three members of the crew tested positive for swine flu. A team of 25 nurses joined the ship at Brisbane on Saturday and carried out tests on all 2,500 passengers and crew. The number of people found to have contracted the virus? None. Despite missing several ports of call, passengers seemed happy with the compensation offered by P&O Australia. They get will 75 per cent of the cost of this cruise back, and can claim a 25 per cent discount [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-06-01T15:05:24+00:00 1 June 2009|Cruise News|0 Comments

Last Titanic survivor dies at 97

By EUAN STRETCH She was the youngest passenger on board the Titanic when it sank . . . and yesterday the last direct link with the disaster was broken when Millvina Dean died at 97. Millvina was just nine weeks old when the liner went down on its maiden voyage in 1912, with the loss of 1,523 lives. Her death - after a bout of pneumonia - comes just a month after Titanic movie stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio and director James Cameron stepped in to pay her private nursing home fees. Back in 1912 her parents had planned [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:42+00:00 1 June 2009|Cruise News|0 Comments

Gem of a cruise with a silver lining

"The organisation was superb, which was welcome in my case as I was the only adult with two youngsters (both of whom were trying not to miss their mum too much). The kids' club did a great job in occupying their minds." My colleague Mark Silver writes about cruising the Mediterranean with his two daughters to get over the pain of divorce. His girls made new friends on board the Norwegian Gem, and he was able to relax in the spa without being nagged about spending too much money.

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:43+00:00 30 May 2009|Cruise News|0 Comments

Currying favour in the galley

Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar has been getting his sea legs this week during a cruise to the Norwegian fjords on board P&O's Ventura. He had a good look round the galley as well, in preparation for the opening of his speciality Indian restaurant, Sindhu, which will be operating on on sister ship Azura when the vessel launches next April. Kochhar, who runs the Benares restaurant in Mayfair, joins fellow Michelin star winners Marco Pierre White and Gary Rhodes in the pantheon of celebrity chefs masterminding menus on P&O ships. While on Ventura, he cooked some sample recipes in the ship's [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:43+00:00 29 May 2009|Cruise News|0 Comments

OV prepares for final season’s cruising

Casual cruise line Ocean Village may be about to disappear at the end of 2010, but it's not going to go quietly. Although one of the line's two ships will be transferred to new ownership in Australia later this year, the original Ocean Village will continue to provide "cruises for people who don't do cruises" for another year. A TV advertising campaign featuring the voice of Sarah Parish (right), star of BBC series Mistresses, launches next week to push the ship's winter season in the Caribbean, with fares starting at £599 a week for two-week cruises from Barbados. And next [...]