Cruise Ships

It was Hannibal Gaddafi's plan to establish Libya's own cruise line that led to the construction of the ship which yesterday became MSC Preziosa. Little remains of the designs which would have ended up as Phoenicia if his father's regime had not been overthrown in 2010. Certainly not the aquarium which was planned to hold 120 tons of seawater and six live sharks. When MSC paid €550 million to pick up the part-completed vessel - being built to the same hull design as their ships Fantasia, Splendida and Divina - they did so in time for builders STX Europe to [...]

A small selection from the naming ceremony of MSC Preziosa and my two nights on board in Genoa. Sophia Loren, flanked by Ennio Morricone and Capt Giuliano Bossi On the big screen, the Champagne bottle smashes against the ship's hull Firework finale: a shower of dazzling crystals over Genoa Great view: the ship's Garden Pool, with the city of Genoa behind It's a mug's game: But we couldn't buy these because the ship was in port Time for tea . . . in the exclusive Yacht Club lounge No takers . . . too cloudy for the sunloungers to attract [...]

Screen goddess comes nowhere near to describing the appeal of Sophia Loren to her fellow Italians, and it is no surprise that MSC invites her back time after time when they launch a new cruise ship. MSC Preziosa, christened on Saturday, is the 12th ship for which she has been called upon to act as godmother. There is no doubt she does it with style and grace. But it is also clear that, at the age of 78, she remains very much a diva. And I would be prepared to bet that not everything was going her way as the [...]

Cunard flagship Queen Mary 2 made history today as the largest vessel to enter New Zealand's spectacular Milford Sound in the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Fjordland National Park. In the south-west corner of South Island, the sound - named after Milford Haven in Wales - is a 10-mile-lomg inlet hemmed in by granite cliffs rising to 4,000 ft. Mitre Peak, immediately astern of QM2 in the picture, reaches to 5,560 ft The ship continued to nearby Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound during its maiden 12-day circumnavigation of New Zealand. PHOTO BY JAMES MORGAN/CUNARD

Princess Cruises have announced more details of events surrounding the naming of its newest ship, Royal Princess, in Southampton in June - and there will be more than a week of hard partying. Fingers crossed the weather allows maximum use of the ship's spectacular open top deck (above). The ship, in the final stages of construction at the Fincantieri yard in Monfalcone, north-east Italy - where I will be seeing her in a few days time - will arrive at the Ocean Cruise Terminal on Friday June 7. There will be a flurry of events on board before she sails [...]

Picture of the year . . . so far. Norwegian Breakaway on her 27-mile journey from the shipyard in Papenburg, along the flooded River Ems to the North Sea. Click on the picture for a bigger version. The skies were threatening as the ship, travelling backwards, squeezed through locks with inches to spare, past road bridges which lifted to give just enough clearance, and through the tidal barrier at Gandersum. Spectacular!

Princess Cruises have already told us about the innovative SeaWalk (above), the poolside cabanas and the Chef's Table restaurant which will all feature on their newest ship, Royal Princess, when it debuts in Southampton in June. Now they have come up with 20 more features to whet our appetites. I will be getting a chance to see some of them when I take a look at the ship in an Italian shipyard on a few days' time, and I know which I will be looking forward to with most enthusiasm. I would probably have listed them in a different order [...]

There was much blowing of ships' whistles in downtown Long Beach, California, last night as - for the first time since 1967 - a Cunard Queen Elizabeth met the long-retired Queen Mary. The obligatory fireworks also marked the event as the young Elizabeth, nearing the end of a three-month world voyage, set off for the Panama Canal, leaving her venerable ancestor to continue her role as a floating hotel and museum. A narrative of the two ships by maritime historian Everett Hoard, who also works as retail manager on Mary, was broadcast from the bridge of Elizabeth. The last meeting [...]