All the latest cruise news from Captain Greybeard, the man in the know. Recipient of the CLIA Contribution to Cruise Media Award in 2017, John Honeywell is the leading cruise expert in the UK with the ear of the industry’s most important leaders and innovators
Maybe it's just me, but if you screw your eyes up, this view of the wake from Diamond Princess in Alaska looks a bit like a blue (and very wet) Christmas tree. A very Merry Christmas to all my readers.
Reports of the bankruptcy of a Dutch river cruise operator sent a bit of a shiver up my spine - not so much because of the cruises which have been cancelled as a result, but because the company operates the luxury boat which Hebridean Island Cruises has chartered for its maiden river programme next year. Passengers booked on Select Voyages' Serenade 1 and Serenity Christmas cruises have had their holiday plans ruined at the last minute, thanks to the financial problems of parent company Euro Shipping Voyages BV, whose line of credit was cancelled by the ABN Amro bank. Fortunately [...]
After three years sitting idly in port at Dubai, the former Cunard liner QE2 will soon be welcoming guests aboard once again. Still no nearer to being converted to a luxury hotel - which was the original plan when it was bought for $100 million - the ship is to host a VIP party on New Year's Eve. An Emirates company, Global Event Management, has hired the ship for an invitation-only, black-tie event. In decidedly over-the-top Dubai style, they claim it will be one of the most exclusive New Year celebrations in the world and that among the guests will [...]
A New Year's cruise on P&O's newest ship, Adonia, has been cancelled at short notice in order to carry out what the company has described as "essential maintenance." The 30,000-ton ship, which has been sailing in the Mediterranean since the autumn, was due to have set out from Naples on January 3 for a 10-night voyage to Southampton. Instead it will now go into dry-dock in Falmouth, Cornwall, prior to setting out on January 13 for a marathon 87-night South American Adventure which will take it around Cape Horn and through the Panama Canal. Hundreds of passengers have been contacted [...]
Two men attempting to row across the Atlantic have been rescued by the cruise ship Crystal Serenity after their eight-metre craft was hit by an enormous wave and capsized in the middle of the ocean. Tom Fancett, from London, and Tom Sauer, a Dutchman who lives in Russia, were picked up early this morning 500 miles south-west of the Canary Islands after spending the night in a life-raft. The pair, both aged 23, were taking part in the Atlantic Challenge race as TeamTom and left la Gomera a week ago, headed for Barbados. The emergency locator beacon on their boat [...]
The 12 days of Christmas are beginning today for the new Titanic Belfast exhibition, as tickets go on sale to the public for the first time. Between now and Christmas Eve, everyone buying tickets online will receive a five per cent discount on admission and will also be entered into a prize draw to win tickets for an MTV concert taking place on the Titanic slipway next spring. Also up for grabs are VIP tickets to special previews before the official opening on March 31. Marketing manager Claire Bradshaw said: " This is the world's largest Titanic attraction and will [...]
Packing for my next cruise, which starts tomorrow, is creating a bit of a dilemma. Because I don't know where I'm going. Don't worry, it's not that I'm in the throes of a bout of amnesia, or -whatever you might think - suffering from dementia. No, I'll be one of about 600 passengers travelling on a mystery cruise aboard Saga Ruby (above) and we are all completely in the dark about our destination. All we know is the ship leaves Southampton on Friday afternoon, and will return in the morning of December 18. We have been told that during the [...]
P&O Cruises has announced that it will automatically add £3.10 per day in tips to passenger accounts from next April. It says the new policy on gratuities will make the "often confusing and sometimes awkward subject" of tipping clearer and easier for passengers. The move has taken some by surprise, especially in view of the fact that just 12 months ago, managing director Carol Marlow was promoting P&O's value-for-money by pointing out that unlike some of its competitors, the company did not automatically add tips. Today she says: "Tipping has always been an integral part of the cruise experience but [...]
As the new ducktail on Splendour of the Seas enters the water for the first time today, here are pictures of the similar extension which has been added to P&O's Oriana. Seems like having a rear end like Beyoncé or J-Lo is the new fashion for cruise ships. The work is taking place at the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg, where the 16-year-old Oriana is being updated and adapted for adult-only use. Out goes the kids clubs and in come some new cabins and restaurants. As with Splendour the additions, and advancing age, have added weight to the vessel [...]
The generosity of passengers cruising on Fred.Olsen ships - who have raised thousands of pounds for the RNLI - is to be recognised in the name of a new inshore lifeboat. An Atlantic-class inshore rescue boat at the Kyle of Lochalsh station in north-west Scotland is to be called Spirit of Fred. Olsen. The boat, like the ones in the video above, will go into service next month, and a naming ceremony is being planned for early in 2012. Emma Martin, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's corporate partnerships manager, said: "We are incredibly proud of the RNLI and Fred Olsen [...]