All the latest cruise news from the man in the know

Name change for peerless Prince

It was a sad sight. Even as guests were arriving for a farewell lunch on board the cruise ship Black Prince in Southampton today, workmen were busy painting over the Fred Olsen name on the superstructure. Earlier in the day her last passengers had gone ashore after an emotional final cruise to the Canaries. Within minutes of their departure, crew began to strip the vessel of its artwork, which belongs to the Olsen family, and many of the other fixtures and fittings. Within a week, the ship will set off for its new life sailing cruises in Venezuelan waters, as [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:36+00:00 16 October 2009|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Top chefs on the cruise menu

As any passenger knows, food is a central part of the experience of a cruise, and P&O have clearly recognised that by signing up three Michelin-starred chefs to oversee restaurants on board their ships. Spiky-haired superstar Gary Rhodes has restaurants on Arcadia and Oriana; Hell's Kitchen hero Marco Pierre White has his White Room on the Ventura, and his dishes are on the menu in Oceana's Café Jardin and Aurora's Café Bordeaux. Next year, curry king Atul Kochhar will unveil the Sindhu restaurant, offering modern Indian cuisine with a British twist, celebrating Britain's love of food from the sub-continent, and [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:36+00:00 16 October 2009|Cruise News|1 Comment

Black Prince takes a final bow

Much-loved cruise ship Black Prince is on her way back to Britain for the very last time. The old girls farewell cruise to the Canaries ends tomorrow when she arrives at Southampton. Within a few hours, the last passengers will be disembarked, amid a flood of tears I've no doubt, and the ship will be prepared to sail to a new life, under a new name, Ola Esmeralda, in Venezuelan waters. The ship, built for Fred Olsen in 1996, started life as a passenger and cargo ship carrying tomatoes from the Canary islands and sailing as a car ferry to [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-10-15T00:29:01+00:00 15 October 2009|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|1 Comment

QM2 on birthday lap of honour

Here in the office, we have an unofficial group called The Society for Unsustainable Facts, to which members get "elected" when they start telling tales which are dubious at best, and quite often, downright nonsense. I'm thinking of nominating Cunard for membership, for their claim that the round-Britain cruise which Queen Mary 2 sets out on tomorrow from Southampton marks the ship's fifth birthday. The Cunard flagship is said to be celebrating the anniversary with a maiden call at Liverpool next Tuesday, October 20. Strange, that, when you consider the ship made its maiden voyage in January 2004. There will [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-10-14T12:15:49+00:00 14 October 2009|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News, Cruise Ships|1 Comment

Watch Saga Ruby leave Manhattan

After her bumpy entrance to Pier 88 in Manhattan, the cruise ship Saga Ruby left New York yesterday evening for the short journey to Bayonne in New Jersey for emergency repairs. Watch this video of her stately passage across the Hudson River - it looks spectacular. If you look closely you can see the dent in the bow. Thanks to my friend Scott, who gets some great pictures and videos from the balcony of his apartment in New Jersey, although this one was shot from the river's edge. To see more of his superb videos, take a look at his [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:36+00:00 12 October 2009|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

New York bash delays Saga Ruby

An elegant old lady got a punch in the nose at the weekend - cruise ship Saga Ruby hit a concrete bollard while berthing in New York, and had to have emergency repairs to a hole in the bow before setting off back to the UK. The ship, which carries 660 passengers, was returning to Manhattan's Pier 88 after a two-week New World Adventure cruise to the north-eastern states of the US when the incident happened, with a pilot on the bridge. Sailing up the Hudson past the historic aircraft carrier USS Intrepid and the pensioned-off Concorde at Pier 86, [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:36+00:00 12 October 2009|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|1 Comment

Thomson Dream heads for Cuba

President Obama has been hinting that he may be about to bring an end to America's long-standing trade embargo with Cuba, but there's no sign yet that US-based cruise lines are about to be allowed to add the island to their Caribbean itineraries. So hats off to Britain's Thomson Cruises, who have announced that their new ship, Thomson Dream, will be paying regular visits to Havana from December 2010. The 1,500-passenger vessel, currently sailing as Costa Europa, joins the Thomson fleet in April and will be sailing in the Mediterranean during the summer. A dry-dock refit will precede the ship's [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-10-09T00:28:36+00:00 9 October 2009|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News, Cruise Ships|5 Comments

New lease of life for Black Watch

One of my favourite cruise ships, Fred Olsen's Black Watch, is about to be spruced up. The ship will go into dry-dock on December 2, when she returns from a trip to the Canary islands, and will be back at sea in time to sail on a five-day Christmas markets cruise leaving Southampton on December 14. Soft furnishings will be replaced in the Neptune Lounge theatre and adjoining Pipers Bar, the splendid Observatory bar, and in the main Glentanar restaurant. A number of cabins will have their bathrooms re-fitted. The biggest change will be the creation of a new casual [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:37+00:00 8 October 2009|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|1 Comment

Carnival’s Micky could get some tips from Royal Caribbean’s Robin

There was lots of excitement at this week's ABTA convention of travel agents in Barcelona in anticipation of what Micky Arison, the billionaire boss of the world's biggest cruise company, would reveal when he addressed the delegates. In the event, it turned out he had little new to say. His company, Carnival, has no plans to try to out-do rivals Royal Caribbean in the "my ship is bigger than yours" contest. No surprise there; he's said it before, and if he was ever going to indicate a change of mind, it's unlikely he would announce it in front of a [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:37+00:00 8 October 2009|Cruise News|0 Comments

Clinton shows he is the frog prince

If you have just spent millions of dollars on new facilities at your private resort on the Caribbean island of Haiti, then it's only natural that you want to show it off. Royal Caribbean bosses Richard Fain and Adam Goldstein were particularly pleased that the guest of honour they showed round Labadee at the weekend was former US president Bill Clinton, now a UN envoy to Haiti. So delighted in fact, that they both wrote about the visit on their blogs. The company has recently upgraded the popular resort - which caters exclusively for cruise ship passengers - with new [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:37+00:00 6 October 2009|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments