All the latest cruise news from the man in the know

P&O’s magnificent seven line up

The P&O fleet lines up (from left) Ventura, Arcadia, Aurora, Oriana, Adonia, Oceana and Azura. Picture by Mike O'Dwyer/Newscast. CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE It was a murky old morning as P&O's seven ships arrived in Southampton for their big day. As Carnival UK chief executive David Dingle remarked to me as we stood in the rain, waiting to be interviewed for the BBC1 Breakfast Show, it was a very British event, being celebrated under very British weather. As luck would have it, Bob Diamond's resignation from Barclays Bank scuppered my TV appearance. If it had been announced just 10 [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:46+00:00 3 July 2012|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|1 Comment

Voyager work goes to UK shipyard

Following my report yesterday, Voyages of Discovery have now formally announced that work on upgrading their new ship will begin at Portland in Dorset on November 1. The vessel will arrive at Queens Pier as Alexander von Humboldt and leave a month later as Voyager, ready to take 540 passengers on a maiden voyage to the Caribbean and South America. Northern Ireland-based contracting company, Mivan - who last year worked on the upgrade to cabins on board P&O's Adonia - will be completing the project which marks the final stage in a multi-million investment. Key new additions to Voyager will [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:46+00:00 2 July 2012|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Dubai unveils new QE2 hotel plan

It's taken a while - almost four years in fact - but the owners of former Cunard flagship Queen Elizabeth 2 announced today they have finally settled on plans to convert the vessel into a 300-room luxury hotel. The ship will be the centrepiece of the cruise terminal at Dubai's Port Rashid, and the development will include the construction of a maritime museum. QE2 devotees will be delighted to learn that elaborate plans to built penthouse apartments in the ship's funnel have been abandoned. Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman of owners Istithmar World, has acknowledged that visitors will want to [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:46+00:00 2 July 2012|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

Everything you need to know about P&O’s 175th birthday Grand Event

On Tuesday, all seven of P&O's ships will assemble in Southampton for a day of celebration to mark the company's 175th anniversary. It's the biggest gathering of ships in years, and it will culminate in a Royal send-off for more than 15,000 passengers setting out on extra special cruise holidays. Many of them have been living in a state of anticipation since snapping up places on their favourite ships months ago when the event was first announced. Princess Anne, who has named two of the ships - Aurora in 2000 and Oceana in 2003 - will be visiting a third, [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:46+00:00 1 July 2012|Cruise News|0 Comments

Saga and Voyages count the cost of their cruise ship dry-dock refits

It's an expensive business keeping cruise ships up to date. Just ask Saga, who ran over budget on the refits to their newest ship Saga Sapphire (above) and its predecessor Saga Pearl II, which has since become Quest for Adventure. And ask Voyages of Discovery, who are currently in the final stages of planning the conversion of Voyager while simultaneously calculating what they can afford to do to improve mv Discovery. Sapphire was originally built in 1982 as Europa for the German cruise line Hapag-Lloyd and was given a £27 million refit in 2009 while it was being operated by [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:46+00:00 1 July 2012|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Cruise ship Ocean Countess fulfils Brunel’s dream in the Bristol Channel

Cruise & Maritime Voyages, who operate the classic ships Marco Polo and Ocean Countess, are blazing a trail when it comes to finding new departure ports in the UK. No sooner have they made history by becoming the first line to use Liverpool's new turnaround facilities - and taking the biggest passenger ship ever to visit Scottish port of Fort William - than the company is announcing a series of voyages departing next year from Avonmouth (above), in the Bristol Channel. The 780-passenger Ocean Countess will become the first cruise ship to operate from the port since 1992. It will [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:46+00:00 30 June 2012|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

Sapphire gets the blues again

Captain Philip Rentell has been telling readers of his blog about the latest misfortunes to affect cruise ship Saga Sapphire. A generator problem led to an extended stay in the port of Tromsø - two days instead of half a day -while an expert was flown in to diagnose the fault and make repairs. Once fixed, departure was further delayed by the Norwegian celebrations for the summer solstice - all taking place in permanent daylight as the city is well inside the Arctic Circle. I'll let Captain Rentell take up the story: "We've had a few problems that have meant [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:46+00:00 27 June 2012|Cruise News|2 Comments

Vote now to win a holiday

Voting has opened for the second annual Cruise Awards organised by Cruise International magazine. Choose your favourite cruise line or destination and you could win a holiday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Fred Olsen won the Cruise Line of the Year title in 2011, with Seabourn taking the luxury category, while P&O was voted best for value. Sydney took the prize for best destination, and this year the category has been split into two contests - one for Europe, and one for the Rest of the World. Blogger of the Year was Carnival's John Heald, and I'm looking to my regular [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:47+00:00 26 June 2012|Cruise News|1 Comment

Numbers look good for cruises

Proof that cruise holidays are a big earner for the UK economy comes in the latest set of statistics issued by the European Cruise Council. The industry generated direct expenditure of £2.28 billion in Britain last year, an increase of 10.2 per cent on 2010. The European total was £12.1 billion, up 3.3 per cent. The UK spend is second to Italy, and only in France is cruise business growing faster. The number of UK holidaymakers who took a cruise in 2011 increased by almost 11 per cent to 1.7 million; total European numbers rose by nine per cent to [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:47+00:00 26 June 2012|Cruise News|0 Comments

End of the world for Saga?

I don't usually get excited when the postman delivers another bundle of mail or catalogues from Saga - they arrive with such frequency I'd be in a permanent state of agitation. But today's package stopped me in my tracks. Over a picture of the grand old cruise ship Saga Ruby in front of the Sydney Opera House a headline proclaims "LAST EVER WORLD CRUISE." The voyage in question - or "ultimate journey" in Saga speak - will leave Southampton on January 7, 2013, and will return on April 27 after travelling 33,467 nautical miles. It's a true circumnavigation, sailing west [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:47+00:00 25 June 2012|Cruise News|0 Comments