All the latest cruise news from the man in the know

Marooned passengers leave Danube

The 120 British tourists who spent a week stranded on a river cruise boat in Vienna were finally flown home today. They had hoped to spend seven days seeing the sights along the Danube; instead, record levels of floodwater forced them to spend almost all the time unable to travel anywhere and not even to leave the boat. The 110-metre long ship Filia Rheni had been chartered exclusively by Titan Travel for a "Danube Waltz" cruise, and after embarking passengers last Friday should have travelled gently to Passau, Bratislava, and Budapest. High water levels - the result of record rainfall [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:31+00:00 7 June 2013|Cruise News|0 Comments

Europa ‘for sale’ listing removed

With ultra-luxury cruise ship Europa 2 still fresh out of the box, operator Hapag-Lloyd has denied a claim that it has put its older sister ship, Europa, up for sale. A listing for the vessel appeared on a brokerage website, citing a sale price of €185 million and a delivery date of either September 2013 or April 2014. A footnote added: "Only serious interested parties please." According to the listing, the seller was CA_Marine Co. Ltd, a shipbroker registered in Syria. The Europa, built in 1999, with capacity for 408 passengers and 280 crew, has consistently been rated the best [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:31+00:00 6 June 2013|Cruise News|0 Comments

Britain cruises to new record

The number of cruise ship departures form UK ports is expected to increase by three per cent this year, with regional destinations gaining business as well as familiar ports such as Southampton and Dover. Figures compiled by CruiseBritain also show a rapid growth in the popularity of round-Britain cruises - the number will rise by 12 per cent to 120 departures this year, and is up a remarkable 70 per cent since 2010. The total number of cruises departing from British shores will be 868, and they include voyages to New England and South America, as well as the more [...]

By John Honeywell| 2013-06-06T10:55:15+00:00 6 June 2013|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

Fare deal for dinner, or a fee too far?

The denizens of LinersList, a members-only community of ship enthusiasts on Yahoo!, usually concern themselves with recalling memories of vessels which sailed into the history books years ago, or with lamenting the fact that today's cruise ships all look the same - like office blocks turned on one side. Most of them would normally look quite kindly on Fred Olsen Cruise Lines because the company operates ships - especially Boudicca and Black Watch (above) - that have elegant profiles and some heritage about them. But this week they are getting their collective lines in a twist over a new charge [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:31+00:00 5 June 2013|Cruise Deals, Cruise News|2 Comments

Dingle rings changes at the top on Carnival UK jobs merry-go-round

OUT GO: Giles Hawke, Cunard's Shanks and P&O's Marlow When you board a cruise ship for your best holiday of the year, you will get to know your cabin attendant and your waiters at the dinner table. You may find a favourite barman who makes a cocktail exactly the way you like them, or who knows that look on your face means it's just the time for a G&T or a glass of lager. You may get acquainted with a few of the entertainment staff, especially if there's a run-in over the correct answer to that awkward question in the [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:31+00:00 5 June 2013|Cruise News|12 Comments

Flooding disrupts river cruises

Severe flooding is disrupting river cruising in central Europe. The picturesque Bavarian town of Passau where the rivers Danube, Inn and Ilz meet, is one of the worst affected with water levels at their highest for 500 years. Viking River Cruises have cancelled departures from Passau to Budapest and from Budapest to Nuremburg, and another 16 itineraries have had to be amended. Avalon Waterways have cancelled three departures and other operators are assessing the problems faced as the rivers rise to record levels and in some cases burst their banks. Other operators have moved guests to hotels, or transferred them [...]

By John Honeywell| 2013-06-04T10:09:09+00:00 4 June 2013|Cruise News|0 Comments

Lobsters force cruise cancellation

There can't be many places on the planet where travel is more strictly regulated than the Galapágos Islands. Even so, it comes as a surprise to discover that a ship has been forced to cancel two cruises as punishment for carrying frozen lobster tails on board. Celebrity Xpedition fell foul of the national park authority's strict rules during a regular inspection. Park wardens who came on board in March found 12 kilograms of lobster tails and some octopus stored on the ship at a time when the fishing season for these species was closed. Celebrity says the lobsters "were purchased [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:31+00:00 1 June 2013|Cruise Destinations, Cruise Food & Drink, Cruise News|0 Comments

Plan now to take a cruise to follow the sun, and then watch it disappear

Unless you happen to be one of the 49,000 residents of the Faroe Islands, your best chance of getting a good view of the solar eclipse in March 2015 will be from the decks of a cruise ship. The event, on March 20, will be the last total eclipse visible in Europe until August 2026 - but only a small part of Europe will get to see it. Cruise lines have been quick to schedule voyages to take passengers to view the eclipse - it could get quite crowded in that small patch of the north Atlantic. At that time [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:31+00:00 1 June 2013|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

QM2 marks a maiden anniversary

Cunard's Queen Mary 2 arrives in New York tomorrow, 77 years to the day that the original Queen Mary made her maiden visit to the Big Apple in 1936. Many things have changed in the intervening years, not least the fare for a crossing from Southampton. Passengers travelling in third-class accommodation on Queen Mary paid £8 10 shillings (£18.50) for the privilege. An inside cabin on QM2 this week was £1,199. A Main Deck suite in 1936 would have cost £102 per passenger; the Balmoral duplex suite on QM2 was a mere £9,016 - but did come with its own [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:32+00:00 31 May 2013|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News, Cruise Ships|3 Comments

Third Quantum-class ship confirmed

Royal Caribbean has confirmed today that it has signed a contract for a third Quantum-class ship, to be built by Meyer-Werft in Germany. Details of the first ship's innovative features, such as a sky-diving simulator, an observation capsule and dodgem cars - all firsts at sea - were announced only last month. Quantum of the Seas will launch in November next year and its maiden voyage, which went on sale this week, is a Transatlantic crossing from Southampton to New York. The second ship, Anthem of the Seas, is due to be completed in 2015 and the third will now [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:32+00:00 30 May 2013|Cruise News|0 Comments