Cruise News

Five crew members have been killed and three are in hospital after an accident during a routine lifeboat drill on cruise ship Thomson Majesty. The boat plunged into the water and capsized during a safety exercise while the ship was in harbour at Santa Cruz de la Palma in the Canary Islands. The ship, owned and managed by Louis Cruises, is chartered to Thomson, and is one of five ships in their fleet. Majesty has been sailing seven-night cruises to the Canary Islands, Madeira and Agadir throughout the winter season. None of the 1,500 passengers on the ship was involved [...]

The opportunity for Cruise & Maritime Voyages to launch cruises from Europe to Australia was partly made possible by the demise of Classic International Cruises, which collapsed in September when its ships were arrested over a growing pile of unpaid bills. So it's ironic that within hours of CMV's announcement, news emerged from Portugal that CIC is on the verge of a revival. Luis Miguel Correia reports on his Ships and the Sea blog that four of the line's five vessels have been sold to 44-year-old entrepreneur Rui Alegre who plans to put them back in service. The ships are [...]

Cruise & Maritime Voyages, the UK-based company which operates Marco Polo, and this year takes over the running of mv Discovery, is going Down Under. The cruise line is to charter the 600-passenger Astor to operate twice-yearly voyages ocean voyages between Britain and Australia, and a season of cruises based in Fremantle, Western Australia. Astor, currently catering for the German market and managed by the Munich-based Premicon, will be chartered to join the CMV fleet from November this year. Built in 1987, the ship was originally sold in Britain as a five-star "soft adventure" product. Since then the vessel has [...]

What's happening to Carnival's cruise ships? No fewer than three of them have suffered propulsion problems in the past two weeks, causing delays and disruptions to schedules. Carnival Triumph has been slowed by an unexplained problem which affected the ship during a four-night cruise from Galveston, Texas, to Cozumel, Mexico. Its return to Galveston was delayed, and one of the two stops on its current cruise will be cancelled. The ship was built in 1999 and carries 2,800 passengers Passengers were told: " On her current cruise, the Carnival Triumph experienced a technical problem with the ship's propulsion system that [...]

SAFE: Yachtsman Delord (centre) with rescuer Don McIntyre and his wife, Margie It's all rescues this week . . . French yachtsman Alain Delord, snatched from the southern ocean after spending three days in a liferaft, has been landed safely ashore in Hobart, Tasmania. He had the good fortune to be plucked to safety by the Orion, ranked the second-most luxurious expedition cruise ship in the world by the Berlitz Guide. It's a good job he wasn't waiting for the most luxurious expedition ship - Silver Explorer was undergoing repairs after itself being hit by a giant wave. Once safely [...]

Don't be surprised if relations between Norway's Hurtigruten and our Royal Navy are a little frosty today. There's a minor war of words taking place over claims that ice patrol ship HMS Protector had to rescue expedition ship Fram, carrying 202 passengers in Antarctic waters. The story began when the Navy announced yesterday, under a headline proclaiming ICE PATROL SHIP FREES TRAPPED CRUISE LINER, that MS Fram had been surrounded by densely packed ice up to four metres thick. The story was quickly picked up by the BBC and several news outlets - including Captain Greybeard. Protector, described as the [...]

The Royal Navy's claims in this report have been disputed by Hurtigruten. For an updated version, go to WAR OF WORDS A Royal Navy icebreaker has come to the rescue of a cruise ship trapped in Antarctica. HMS Protector broke through densely-packed ice up to four metres thick surrounding the bow of Hurtigruten expedition ship Fram, The vessel, which carries about 250 passengers, was led to safety in an operation that lasted about two hours. Protector is an ice patrol ship, described as the Royal Navy's Swiss Army knife because she is "red, versatile, and always there when you need [...]