All the latest cruise news from the man in the know

At sea with an author: The fall and rise of a regular cruise passenger

PART ONE OF A MINI-SERIES He didn't get where he is today by travelling steerage. David Nobbs, creator of Reginald Perrin and a host of other memorable comedy characters, is a big fan of cruising - though I wouldn't have guessed it from the first message from him that I spotted on Twitter. "On the cruise we saw some amazing ruins. In fact I helped two of them in to dinner," he wrote during a trip to the Mediterranean with P&O. And not everything went according to plan when travelling, if another message was to be believed. "Manana still rules [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:13+00:00 22 December 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments

A world of difference for P&O

There's a subtle change of tack in the next advertising campaign from P&O, hitting UK television screens two days after Christmas. Targeting customers who may well be heading for the shops and the January sales, a 40-second commercial will urge them to "discover a different world" instead of pushing the line "There's a world out there." Philip Price, head of brand marketing, says: "We can trace our roots back to 1837, and our passengers are the latest in a long line of explorers who have discovered a different world with P&O Cruises, so we felt it fitting to create our [...]

By John Honeywell| 2010-12-22T06:35:34+00:00 22 December 2010|Cruise Deals, Cruise News|0 Comments

Too hot for a Brazilian cruise

Transport links throughout the UK and much of Europe are crippled by the big freeze. Heathrow and Gatwick struggle to clear their runways, and queues snake round the streets of London as passengers hope to stake their claim to a seat on a Eurostar train to Paris. (I'd love to hear John Heald's take on that, by the way, but I digress). Spare a thought, then, for the unfortunate people who had hoped to be spending their Christmas cruising the South American coast on board MSC Musica. The seven-day voyage, which was due to depart from Rio de Janeiro on [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:13+00:00 21 December 2010|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News, Cruise Ships|1 Comment

Cheers! All-in drinks for just £49

Christmas really is a magical time of year, isn't it? How else can you explain the generous offers cruise lines are desperate to make in order to get us to book holidays with them next summer? Royal Caribbean has been giving away free flights to whisk you to their ships in the Mediterranean, and although I might have my reservations about the reference to tips in P&O's promotion, there's no doubting the bargain fares on offer. Other lines all have their different tricks to distract us from the Christmas shopping and peeling the sprouts and to think instead about lazy [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:13+00:00 21 December 2010|Cruise Deals, Cruise News|1 Comment

UK’s best cruise port plans expansion

Southampton is not the only British cruise port with expansion plans. Just a day after the announcement of its new £30 million terminal comes an announcement of planned development several hundred miles further north. Kirkwall, capital of the Orkney islands, is hoping to build on its selection as the UK's best port of call in this year's Cruise Critic Editor's Pick Awards and plans to spend £8 million improving its facilities for visiting ships. The town's Hatston Pier is to be extended from 250 yards to 415 yards, allowing some of the biggest ships in the world to tie up [...]

By John Honeywell| 2010-12-16T11:09:51+00:00 16 December 2010|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

New cruise terminal for Southampton

Contrasting fortunes today for two British ports. While Liverpool businessmen are campaigning to restore the glory days when ocean-going liners moored in the centre of the city, Southampton announced it is to build a fifth cruise terminal (above), capable of handling some of the biggest ships in the world. The £30 million facility, expected to be operational by 2013, will welcome up to 4,000 passengers at a time during the summer, and will be used for importing tomatoes from the Canary Islands during the winter. It will be constructed between the City Terminal and the Mayflower Terminal, in the area [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:14+00:00 15 December 2010|Cruise News|4 Comments

Splendor not back until Februray

Repairs to Carnival Splendor, crippled by an engine room fire early last month, are taking longer than anticipated and some replacement parts are having to be manufactured from scratch. Five more voyages - the January 6, 23 and 30 and February 6 and 13 departures - have been cancelled and the ship is now scheduled to return to service on February 20. "We sincerely apologize to our guests for having to cancel these additional cruises," said Gerry Cahill, Carnival's president and CEO. "We know this is extremely disappointing for our guests and particularly disheartening for those who already had their [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:14+00:00 15 December 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments

Full refund for Brilliance passengers

I hope passengers thrown out of bed during the storm which hit Brilliance of the Seas were quick to grab their camcorders and iPhones to capture the events for posterity, because it is beginning to sound like it was even more dramatic than we first thought. Certainly enough for Royal Caribbean to pre-empt any claims for compensation by offering a full refund of the fare even though the 12-night cruise was more than half over by the time disaster struck at the weekend. After issuing a brief statement this morning referring to passengers suffering "minor injuries" and the ship sustaining [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:14+00:00 14 December 2010|Cruise News|3 Comments

Calm down dear, it’s only a cruise

A week-long cruise in the Western Isles of Scotland, on a converted fishing boat carrying just 11 passengers and four crew, was one of the highlights of my year. The scenery was superb and the food was fantastic; The Majestic Line, who operate two similar boats - Glen Tarsan (above) and Glen Massan - are clearly onto a winner. Next April a Winner will be onto them. Film director, restaurant critic, insurance salesman and all-round irritant Michael Winner has chartered one of the boats for a cruise with fiancee Geraldine Edwards. He says he saw an ad in Country Life [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:14+00:00 13 December 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments

30 hurt as storm batters Brilliance

Passengers were thrown from their beds when cruise ship Brilliance of the Seas ran into heavy weather in the Eastern Mediterranean yesterday. The ship was approaching Alexandria, in northern Egypt, when a violent storm forced it to roll several times. About 30 of the 2,100 passengers on board suffered minor injuries, some by treading on broken glass, after the incident at about 2.45 in the morning. Furniture was thrown around in cabins and throughout the ship, and the Christmas tree (above) in the ship's Centrum was toppled. Fitness equipment in the gym, tables in the casino, and displays in the [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:14+00:00 13 December 2010|Cruise News|3 Comments