All the latest cruise news from the man in the know

New ships to meet ever-growing demand for cruise travel

In little over a month, Celebrity Eclipse, the third of a planned five Solstice-class cruise ships, will arrive in Southampton for a spectacular naming ceremony, and to start a summer of voyages departing from the UK. This weekend, the nearly-completed vessel was floated out of the giant construction shed at the Meyer-Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany (above), and in a few days' time - wind and tides permitting - will sail backwards down the River Ems, for final construction work and fitting out to be completed at Emshaven. Also at the weekend, Oceania Cruises celebrated the float-out of their newest [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:32+00:00 3 March 2010|Cruise News|2 Comments

Back from the end of the world

The earthquake devastation in Chile made it impossible for me to travel home via Santiago and I'm back in Buenos Aires rather sooner than expected. Time now to catch up on what's been happening in the cruise world while I was sailing round Cape Horn on the expedition cruise ship Via Australis, which will also feature in some of the forthcoming blog entries. Down in the southern ocean, and around the islands off Tierra del Fuego, access to the internet and mobile phones is impossible, so there's plenty to tell you about. Keep watching.

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:32+00:00 3 March 2010|Cruise Gossip, Cruise News|0 Comments

Costa Deliziosa ready to set sail

It's an Italian ship sailing out of an Arabian port but British passengers are expected to book the majority of cabins on board Costa Deliziosa's cruises from Dubai this spring. Dubai's Crown Prince, Sheikh Hamdan, was the most important of the VIPs at a spectacular ceremony on Tuesday, when the ship was officially named by having a glass of non-alcoholic sparkling date juice smashed against its hull. Along with 3,000 other guests - most of them passengers on the inaugural voyage - he watched parachutists drop into an arena on the quayside at Port Rashid as a prelude to a [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:32+00:00 27 February 2010|Cruise News|1 Comment

Balloons go up for Costa in Dubai

Panic over. I've found my passport so I'm on track to fly to Dubai tomorrow for the naming ceremony of Costa Deliziosa. It's the first time the Emirate has seen an event like this, and it looks like they are pulling out all the stops. The cruise ship arrives at Dubai's Port Rashid on its Grand Inaugural Cruise, and 2,000 passengers will be among the 3,000 guests at the celebrations on Tuesday, which promise a melange of Italian and Arabic culture. It's all due to start before dusk with hot air balloons and parachutes filling the skies - rather slower [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:32+00:00 20 February 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments

Back in the iLife with Celebrity

As the Twitterati wait breathlessly to discover who has won a competition to win an unforgettable trip on board Celebrity Eclipse on its first journey to the sea, details are beginning to emerge of a few tweaks which will distinguish the ship from her sisters, Equinox and Solstice. First to be announced is that the ship will have possibly the most sophisticated internet centre afloat. More than just an internet cafe, the Celebrity iLounge, in partnership with Apple, will have iPods and MacBooks for sale, and a learning centre for passengers to brush up their computing skills and learn about [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:32+00:00 18 February 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments

New Princess ships on the way

It's taken a while to agree, but a deal was sealed today which will see two new ships built for Princess Cruises, sister line to the UK's P&O and Cunard. Owners Carnival Corporation have announced it has signed a memorandum of agreement - that's a deal to you and me - with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the construction of two 3,600-passenger ships which will be the biggest in the Princess fleet. The financial details have not been directly announced, but Carnival say the ships will cost 155,000 euros per lower berth. My calculator tells me that adds up to 558 [...]

By John Honeywell| 2010-02-17T14:51:25+00:00 17 February 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments

The battle of Barcelona

Barcelona has been the scene of many a battle over the years. Spanish warships were routed by the French during the Catalan Revolt in 1642, and the city was the scene of a major conflict in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War. Oh, and there's been the occasional ding-dong at the Nou Camp stadium as well. Next year the battle will be played out at sea again, as the world's biggest cruise companies compete head to head with some of their largest ships. Royal Caribbean have announced they will be basing the 154,407-ton Liberty of the Seas in Barcelona, sailing [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:33+00:00 11 February 2010|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

Going walkies in mid-Atlantic

Let me start with an apology: The list of "Useful Links" on the right of this screen has been pretty useless for a few weeks as many of the links need updating. That process is in hand, and should be sorted soon. One of the links that does still work is to Alastair Greener's We Are Cunard blog about life on board Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria, as well as updates on the progress of the line's newest ship, Queen Elizabeth. Alastair's latest entry reveals a unique feature of the QM2 - the kennels. Yes, cats and dogs can [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:33+00:00 11 February 2010|Cruise News|1 Comment

NCL and Costa miss out UK ports

Well, we've had the good news from Norwegian Cruise Lines, with the announcement that their new mega-ship, Norwegian Epic, will be sailing in the Mediterranean next summer. Now comes the bad news - the company is pulling out of Dover. Norwegian Sun will be sailing from from the port for its 13-night Baltic cruises from May until September this year, but in 2011 the ship will be based in Copenhagen instead. For the first time in many years, the company will have no ships operating from a British port, but UK general manager Stephen Park tells me their fly-cruises - [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:33+00:00 10 February 2010|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

TV makes life on board Costa Serena look far from serene

According to cruise director Federica Giammarioli - in five different languages - Costa Serena is one of the most beautiful ships in the world. According to the narrator of a new TV series, it's one of the world's most spectacular cruise ships. And if you can stand the tension over the next six weeks it will be the most watched cruise ship in the world, as the star of Cruise Ship Diaries - in glorious HD (that's high drama as well as high definition). The series promises to take us behind the scenes among the 1,000 crew who look after [...]