Cruise News

A couple of months ago, I was invited to take the controls of a cruise ship and steer it into port in Singapore or through Glacier Bay, Alaska. It was a fantastic opportunity, the fulfilment of a dream, even though it would not actually have been on the bridge of a real ship. My moment of glory would have taken place on a high-tech simulator at CSMART - the Centre for Simulator Maritime Training - in Carnival UK's training centre at Almere in the Netherlands. According to Carnival, the centre "features state of the art equipment and instructional tools to [...]

It's going to be pretty crowded in the Mediterranean next year. Hot on the heels of announcements that Norwegian Epic and Carnival Magic will be based there next summer comes the news that Royal Caribbean will be basing the 2,446-passenger Grandeur of the Seas in Palma de Mallorca from next May. Details of the itineraries will not be revealed until next month, but they are expected to be alternating seven-night voyages departing each Sunday to ports in Italy, France and Spain, giving passengers the option of taking a back-to-back two-week cruise. A delighted Jo Rzymowska, associate vice president and general [...]

That's the trouble with going away on a cruise . . . I've been so busy visiting the impressive sights on my Red Sea cruise and enjoying the delights of Thomson Celebration, that I haven't had time to keep up with breaking news from the cruise ship world. But I'm back in the UK (after enduring the nightmare that is Sharm el Sheikh international airport - but more of that later) so here's a quick round-up. The biggest news in many ways is that Norwegian Epic, to be launched in July and which will be sailing Caribbean cruises for 10 [...]

Wondering where to go on your next cruise? Looking for advice from the experts on which ship to choose? Then put a date in your diary for the Cruise Travel Show on March 27 and 28 at London's Olympia. The organisers seem to have learned from the mistakes made at last year's event at the difficult-to-reach ExCel Centre, where exhibitors had little on offer aside from brochures and interactive TV screens. This time around, Royal Caribbean are erecting a rock climbing wall just like the ones on their bigger ships. Fred Olsen are bringing along a golf simulator, and there [...]

When Celebrity Eclipse is launched in Southampton in April, UK passengers - who will make up 76 per cent of the total during the summer - will find a number of tweaks have been made to the facilities to accommodate British tastes. The Sky Lounge, an elegant bar at the bow, will become the Sky Pub, with appropriate beers on draught and in bottles - but only on two or three nights a week. There will be a dartboard, too, despite health and safety concerns about sharp points - which have never been a worry for Cunard and P&O. In [...]

The Queen must be regretting the day she ever agreed to relinquish the Royal Yacht Britannia. When she wanted to celebrate her 80th birthday in style she chartered the tiny cruise ship Hebridean Princess for a voyage through the western isles. And she must have enjoyed the experience in 2006, because she is taking over the ship again for two weeks this summer. Passengers who had booked cruises departing on July 22 and 29 aboard the 49-passenger ship have been offered alternative sailings - and generous compensation - to accommodate the royal party. Owners All Leisure Group will not confirm [...]

Cruise ship Independence of the Seas, which is based in the UK during the summer, arrived in Haiti today carrying much-needed relief supplies for victims of Tuesday's earthquake. Two more ships from the Royal Caribbean fleet - Liberty of the Seas and Navigator of the Seas - will deliver more food next week. The company operates a private beach resort at Labadee in the north of the island, a valuable source of revenue for Haiti - much of which is pretty much off-limits to tourists at the best of times. While tens of thousands were killed and even more made [...]