All the latest cruise news from the man in the know

That’s the Spirit! Thomson cruise ship comes top in passenger poll

A ship built 28 years ago has triumphed over newer, shinier vessels packed with modern facilities, in a poll to find Britain's most popular cruise ship. Thomson Spirit came top in the mid-sized category of the first Cruisers' Choice Awards organised by the Cruise Critic website, which has 700,000 members and contains 70,000 ship reviews. The 1,250-passenger ship, launched in July 1983, beat the likes of Fred Olsen's Balmoral and P&O's Oriana in the votes cast by UK cruise passengers for ships carrying between 1,000 and 2,000 passengers. It was voted best overall and best for dining, entertainment, service, shore [...]

By John Honeywell| 2011-06-10T23:45:34+00:00 10 June 2011|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|2 Comments

Give generously for QM2 lunch

Want to have lunch on board the luxurious liner Queen Mary 2 and raise funds for a good cause at the same time? Then check ebay for a handful of auctions organised by Cunard in aid of The Princes' Trust. Bidding for the QM2 lunch - for two people - currently stands at £250. There's another lunch on board sister ship Queen Elizabeth for which the bids have reached £200. Other items on offer include two tickets to see Shakespeare's Richard III at London's Old Vic theatre and a reception to meet the cast, yet to receive a bid at [...]

By John Honeywell| 2011-06-09T10:38:42+00:00 9 June 2011|Cruise News|2 Comments

Cruise passengers face seven-hour ordeal at hands of US immigration

You don't mess with US immigration officials. That was the painful lesson learned by passengers on a P&O cruise ship recently as they travelled through the Land of the Free. On a 10-week Alaska Adventure - a rare round-trip voyage from Southampton - the ship had already called at 10 American ports before it arrived in Los Angeles on May 26. But the one-day visit turned into a nightmare when rigorous security checks took seven hours to complete. Every passenger was fingerprinted on both hands, retina scans were taken, and they were subjected to detailed passport examinations and questioned about [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:05+00:00 7 June 2011|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

P&O’s Oriana bashes into pier

They'll be taking a close look at Oriana when she arrives back home in Southampton this morning. The P&O cruise ship has a sizeable dent in the stern after bashing into a solid stone quay at her last port of call, Kristiansand in Norway The vessel was leaving harbour at about 5.30 on Wednesday evening when the incident happened. Port Authority operations manager Thomas Granfeldt told news outlet FVN that Oriana was pulling away from the quay when it made contact with a corner of the pier. A water pipe and an optical cable on the quay were damaged and [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:06+00:00 3 June 2011|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Coastguards say major safety concerns led to cruise ship detention

Serious breaches of international safety regulations led to the detention of cruise ship MSC Opera in Southampton last week, according to further details released today by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Spokeswoman Rosie Tapping told USA Today's Gene Sloan there were a number of issues which together "led to the conclusion of a major non-conformity." There were concerns that the ship was overloaded and, as a result, fears for its stability. Tapping told me: "Overloading means that the vessel is floating at a deeper draft than it has been approved for in terms of structural strength and stability. Most people [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:06+00:00 1 June 2011|Cruise News|0 Comments

Skye-high fares for a foodie treat

Food is, without doubt, one of the highlights of almost every cruise, and there are few ships which don't strive to make mealtimes one of the highlights of the day. Now I discover that, not satisfied with the feasts from its own galley, Hebridean Cruises are planning a gastronomic tour of Skye which will feature meals at some of the island's finest restaurants. The five-night voyage on Hebridean Princess will bring a new culinary experience each day, including a visit to the Isle of Skye oyster farm at Loch Harport and a tasting session at the Talisker whisky distillery. Lunches [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:06+00:00 1 June 2011|Cruise News|0 Comments

Passengers injured as cruise ship is rocked by blast in Gibraltar fuel tank

Picture: PANORAMA UPDATE: Twelve passengers on board one of the biggest cruise ships in the world were injured when an explosion in a fuel storage tank rocked the port of Gibraltar. Independence of the Seas, carrying more than 4,000 passengers, felt the full force of the explosion, according to reports on Gibraltar Radio. The ship made an emergency departure, pulling up its gangways and moving further out at sea. The cruise terminal on the North Mole was immediately evacuated and two passengers were left behind. Dense black smoke billowed from the blazing oil tank after the blast, which was felt [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:06+00:00 31 May 2011|Cruise News|13 Comments

Titanic’s launch remembered

It has always struck me as odd that Titanic has been responsible for attracting thousands of passengers to the glamour of cruising - never more so than the day I spent in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where many of the victims are buried, with Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet's love affair playing on a ship's outdoor cinema screen. But there is no denying the lasting appeal of the ship and the story of its doomed maiden voyage. And it remains true that many cruise ships still strive to recreate the grandeur of its bygone era. RMS Titanic was launched down [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:06+00:00 31 May 2011|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Olympic Dream is shattered

When luxury cruise ship SeaDream I was berthed alongside HMS Belfast at Tower Bridge a few weeks ago, there were hopes that its sister, SeaDream II, would be in the Thames next year for the London Olympics. A yacht broker I spoke to was confident he would be able to agree a charter on behalf of a wealthy fashion magnate who planned to use the 112-passenger vessel to provide accommodation for friends and business associates during the Games. The deal appears to have fallen through, because Travel Weekly reports today that SeaDream's planned visits to the UK and the Norwegian [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:06+00:00 31 May 2011|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News, Cruise Ships|1 Comment

RNLI rescue woman from cruise ship

One passenger's planned week-long cruise to the Norwegian fjords lasted no more than a few hours before she had to be rescued by lifeboat after falling and breaking a leg. The 79-year-old woman had sailed from Southampton on Cunard's Queen Victoria on Sunday afternoon. At 8.25 pm the RNLI at Newhaven lauched their Severn-class vessel to make a rendezvous with the 90,000-ton ship in the English Channel. The doctor on board and coastguards believed the woman was too frail to be airlifted ashore so she was transferred from the ship with her 85-year-old husband and taken to the Royal Sussex [...]

By John Honeywell| 2011-05-30T15:03:11+00:00 30 May 2011|Cruise News|0 Comments