All the latest cruise news from the man in the know

Victoria comes out of the water

While I was sailing to the Canaries on board Cunard's Queen Elizabeth during the last few days, sister ship Queen Victoria was in drydock in Hamburg, having a quick wash and brush-up. The ship is three years old and has travelled more than 343,000 nautical miles, so it's time to spruce up some of the interior furnishings and scrape the accumulated debris from her hull. Standing in for entertainment director Alastair Greener, deputy captain Andrew Hall has been blogging from the yard, and describes how preparations got under way as soon as the ship arrived in Southampton last week. " [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:14+00:00 9 December 2010|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|1 Comment

EXCLUSIVE: Inger takes command of Victoria as Cunard’s first woman driver

Never let it be said that Cunard rush into things. It has taken 170 years for the shipping line to appoint its first woman captain. And even when she took command of Queen Victoria for the first time, there were no passengers on board, and she was only taking the ship from Southampton to Hamburg for a two-week refit in dry dock. But next Wednesday, Inger Olsen will set sail with a full complement of passengers for a five-night mini-cruise to Amsterdam, Zeebrugge and Le Havre, and for her second voyage in command will be taking the ship on a [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:14+00:00 8 December 2010|Cruise News|1 Comment

Top marks for Queen Elizabeth

There may be feet of snow and lingering travel chaos back home in the UK, but the sun is beating down relentlessly from a hazy blue sky here in Vigo, where Cunard's Queen Elizabeth is spending the day. Appearances can be deceptive, however, and even at 11.00 am when I went ashore there was frost on the pavement in the shade cast by palm trees. Not what I was expecting. Many passengers had left much earlier, boarding a battalion of coaches for the 60 mile drive to Santiago de Compostela and the shrine of St James. Those of us who [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:14+00:00 3 December 2010|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Danger in Dingle’s message?

Carnival UK boss David Dingle runs the risk of getting a reputation for being a moaning Minnie. Not from his colleagues in the cruise industry, who he has been addressing today at the SeaTrade Med conference in Cannes - he is speaking up on their behalf. But I fear that other observers may take exception to his appeals against moves to legislate for cleaner fuel in ships and higher pay for crew. With an apparent disregard for green considerations, Dingle said that new regulations from the International Maritime Organisation which will prevent ships using so-called bunker oils, and require them [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:15+00:00 30 November 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments

Man charged with dropping anchor

Don't ever believe it if your travelling companion tells you that whatever happens at sea stays at sea. It's certainly not the case for 44-year-old Californian Rick Ehlert, who has been charged with attempting to damage a cruise ship and endangering its safe navigation. The man is alleged to have released the anchor on Holland America's Ryndam, which was en route from Costa Maya in Mexico to Tampa, Florida at the time of the incident in the early hours of Saturday morning. Ehlert, who is said to have entered a restricted area and put on work gloves to deploy the [...]

By John Honeywell| 2010-11-30T01:17:08+00:00 30 November 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments

Royal Caribbean looks forward to seeing the Dominic effect

If you wanted to know which UK travel agents had travelled to Florida to sail on Allure of the Seas, the quickest way would have been tomake a late-night visit to the karaoke bar on the Royal Promenade to see who was behind the microphone. To be fair, some of them can actually put on an impressive show; others would be well advised to confine their singing to the shower. You know who you are, guys. They did manage to drag their hangovers to a series of working sessions on the ship, at one of which, they were advised to [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:15+00:00 29 November 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments

Dream double a winner for shipyard

No, you're not seeing double: there were two cruise ships called Dream in the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg. And in case you're concerned, the hull of Thomson Dream (above) has not been painted black - it's sitting in a giant floating dry-dock. The Thomson ship, formerly Costa Europa and Westerdam, is undergoing a six-week refit before beginning a winter season of cruises in the Caribbean. The main work involves the fitting of new thrusters to improve the vessel's manoeuvrability. Inside, part of the casino is being converted into a children's club, and the shopping arcade is being spruced [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:15+00:00 29 November 2010|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|3 Comments

Allure named by a Princess

It's an indication of the commercial importance of the collaboration between cruise line Royal Caribbean and Hollywood movie giant DreamWorks Animation that a fictional film character was chosen as the godmother for Allure of the Seas. It took seven godmothers to name sister ship Oasis of the Seas 12 months ago; from Gloria Estefan to Olympic athletes to uber-cool British Bond-girl actress Jane Seymour. Celebrity Cruises, a branch of RCCL, has established a tradition of inviting worthy champions of charitable causes to perform the naming ceremony on their ships - the godmothers of their last three Solstice-class vessels have all [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:15+00:00 29 November 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments

Place your bets on a new ship

The idea of having a Press conference during the inaugural voyage of a cruise ship has always seemed rather a futile exercise. The senior executives feel obliged to attend but are determined to give nothing away, and the assembled hacks from around the world have such disparate interests that their questions would be more profitably put in more intimate surroundings. Nevertheless, Richard Fain gathered his top team in the Studio B ice rink on board Allure of the Seas and immediately threw carefully-laid plans into chaos by picking up his stool to bring it nearer the audience, but out of [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:15+00:00 26 November 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments

Captain Sarah is ready to perform Royal weddings in mid-Atlantic

There's an opportunity for three couples to share a wedding date with Prince William and Kate Middleton by getting married at sea - they could be saying "I do" in the middle of the Atlantic instead of at the altar in Westminster Abbey. And the wedding would be even more special because it would be carried out by the only female captain in charge of a British cruise ship. Captain Sarah Breton will be at the helm of P&O's Aurora, sailing between Barbados and Madeira on April 29. She is legally able to perform wedding ceremonies at sea, and there [...]

By John Honeywell| 2010-11-25T18:44:11+00:00 25 November 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments