Cruise News

Cruise line Royal Caribbean has confirmed it has begun negotiations to build a third Oasis-class ship, capable of carrying more than 6,000 passengers and 2,100 crew. The announcement - following rumours which started circulating earlier this month - was made during its latest earnings statement today. Richard Fain, chairman and CEO, said: "The Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas have proven themselves to be exceptionally attractive ships by generating the highest guest satisfaction ratings in the fleet coupled with very compelling financial returns." His cautious statement continued: "Ordering another such ship for delivery in 2016, at a [...]

An Australian billionaire is pressing ahead with plans to build a replica of doomed liner Titanic despite the scepticism and derision which have greeted the project. This week, Clive Palmer announced he will host a black-tie gala dinner at London's Natural History Museum on December 1 to publicise his scheme. It will be followed three days later by a similar event on board the USS Intrepid in New York. With questionable taste, the menu at both events will feature the food served on board Titanic on April 14, 1912 - the night the ship hit an iceberg before sinking with [...]

The people at online travel agent bonvoyage.co.uk have been out with their clipboard and pens again, trying to discover more about why Brits choose cruise holidays - or, as it happens, why they don't. Of almost 2,150 people questioned in their latest survey, 78 per cent had never taken a cruise. Some of them said they could not take enough time off work to fully enjoy the cruise they dearly wanted. Others said they were waiting until retirement before going to sea, while 12 per cent had just never considered the possibility. Someone needs to talk to the 39 per [...]

After a quicker-than-usual turnaround, Cunard cruise ship Queen Victoria slipped away from Southampton's Ocean Terminal shortly after 10.00 this morning. There were no passengers on board, however. Instead of setting out on its scheduled 16-night voyage to Venice and the Adriatic, the ship is heading for dry dock where repairs will be carried out to one of its propulsion pods. Problems with a bearing in one of the pods - which contain huge electric motors to drive the propellers - had restricted the ship's speed for the last two cruises. The work is being carried out in the Lloyd Werft [...]

Celebrity Cruises put its PR machine into overdrive when they got wind of Cruises Undercover, a Channel 4 documentary which threatened to expose "the reality of life below deck for the multi-national workforce who toil behind the scenes of glamorous ocean-going holidays." Ironically, the move probably excited more interest in the programme than there might otherwise have been. One recent episode of the Dispatches series had, after all, revealed the startling news that not every item on sale in Poundland stores is actually a bargain. For their cruise ship exposé, presenter Tazeen Ahmed travelled on board Celebrity Eclipse to the [...]