Cruise News

Not sure whether it was the chance of a cuddle with Pineapple Dance Studios' outrageous Louie Spence, or the suntan she acquired on a Mediterranean cruise earlier this month, but Jo Rzymowska (centre) is positively glowing. It could also be thanks to completing a hat-trick of prizes at the TTG Travel Awards. As general manager and associate vice president for the UK and Ireland operations of Royal Caribbean she collected the trophy for the Cruise Line of the Year (over 75,000 passengers) for the third successive year. Celebrity Cruises - on whose ship, Equinox, she travelled a couple of weeks [...]

Emergency crews and salvage teams have been pumping thousands of gallons of water out of the stricken Hurtigruten ship Nordlys to prevent it capsizing. The ship has been listing at an angle of almost 22 degrees. An engine room explosion on the vessel killed two crew members and caused the hull to leak. Six Britons were among the 207 passengers taken off the ship. Hurtigruten has brought in a support team to the town of Ålesund to assist and counsel those affected, and to provide practical support in the form of medicines, clothes and cash. Powerful pumps have been brought [...]

Two crewmen were killed and four seriously injured in an engine room explosion on board the Hurtigruten ship Nordlys. All 207 passengers were safely evacuated after fire broke out on the vessel this morning off the coast of Norway. It is believed 106 were rescued by lifeboat, while the remainder were able to walk ashore when the vessel went alongside at the port of Ålesund. Fire broke out at 9.17 am as the ship was about to make a scheduled call at Ålesund during a north-bound sailing from Bergen to Kirkenes. Huge clouds of black smoke billowed from the ship [...]

RED SUNS IN THE SAIL SET: The best cruise picture of the year The first cruise I ever sailed on was not an unmitigated success. A faulty propeller shaft left the ship with only half power and we were almost marooned in Marmaris until a pair of Turkish tourist ferries acted as tugs and eventually hauled us off the quay. The next day a Mediterranean storm blew up out of nowhere and battered us about a bit, leaving the ship with a pronounced list to port - so much so that the water in my bath would not drain away [...]