Cruise Ships - Page 16 of 57 - Captain Greybeard

Happy birthday, QE – we’ll be seeing quite a bit of each other next week

Thank you to Cunard's Peter Shanks for reminding me it was exactly two years ago, on a glorious day in Southampton, that Queen Elizabeth was christened by Her Majesty. The video above shows what a grand occasion it was. We'll pass quickly over the fact that Jimmy Savile was one of the other guests, and caused a bit of a stir with port security when he refused to remove the jewellery round his neck and bangles round his wrists before passing through the scanner. He was setting off alarms even then. As it happens, I'll be seeing quite a bit [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:42+00:00 11 October 2012|Cruise Destinations, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Celebrity gets its Reflection

Celebrity Cruises took possession of their newest ship today. Captain Nicholas Pagonis (far left, above) and company president Michael Bayley (far right) looked on as Richard Fain, boss of parent company Royal Caribbean exchanged signatures with shipbuilder Bernard Meyer to seal the deal for Celebrity Reflection. Bayley, who recently took over from Dan Hanrahan, was squeezed out of the photo-opportunity on one of the ship's over-sized Adirondack chairs (below). Fifth and last of the Solstice-class ships - they represent a $3.7 billion (£2.3 billion) investment which has seen one vessel a year constructed and delivered since 2008 - Reflection has [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:42+00:00 9 October 2012|Cruise Ships|1 Comment

Work starts on P&O’s newest ship

Construction work has started on P&O's newest cruise ship. Managing director Carol Marlow (above) took part in a ceremony to mark the first steel-cutting at the Monfalcone yard of Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri. The 141,000-ton ship, designed to carry 3,611 passengers, will be launched in spring 2015. The next production milestone will come in May when the first hull block is laid in dry dock, and the vessel should be floated out in summer 2014. Marlow said today: " The cutting of the steel marks the moment the ship goes into production so for us it is a very exciting time [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:42+00:00 8 October 2012|Cruise Ships|2 Comments

New ship off to an early Getaway

Norwegian Getaway, second of the two new ships being built in Germany for Norwegian Cruise Line, will be completed and delivered three months earlier than originally scheduled. The 4,000-passenger vessel is now expected to enter service in January 2014, sailing seven-day cruises to the eastern Caribbean from Miami. Sister ship Norwegian Breakaway, also being built at the Meyer-Werft yard in Papenberg, will visit Southampton at the end of April next year before crossing to New York, from where it will operate throughout the year. Getaway is also expected to call at Southampton in January 2014 before embarking on its first [...]

By John Honeywell| 2012-10-03T11:03:29+00:00 3 October 2012|Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Disney’s cowboy hat is just Magic

Disney does things differently - as I discovered last week on a trip to sample some of the shore excursions planned for passengers sailing on Disney Magic in the Mediterranean next summer. More on that to come soon, but meanwhile, after a season of cruises out of New York, Magic arrived in the Texan port of Galveston for the first time yesterday. The ship was dressed up for the occasion - with the addition of a huge cowboy hat on one of its two funnels. At 19-feet high and 14-feet wide, it was big enough for a cowboy 43-feet tall. [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:42+00:00 23 September 2012|Cruise Destinations, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Rockettes to christen Breakaway

Most cruise ships have one godmother. The new Norwegian Breakaway will have a whole high-kicking line of them. The Radio City Music Hall's Rockettes will take part in a ceremony in New York on May 8 next year as the 4,000-passenger vessel arrives in the city. British cruise enthusiasts will get their chance to see the 144,000-ton ship first, though. Breakaway will visit Southampton at the end of April, en route from the German shipyard where it is currently under construction. Its maiden voyage with fare-paying passengers will be a Transatlantic crossing departing April 30. The ship will then take [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:43+00:00 18 September 2012|Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Cunard cruise cancelled for repairs

Urgent repairs to a propeller are forcing cruise ship Queen Victoria into dry dock and will result in the cancellation of a cruise to the Adriatic. Cunard have informed about 2,000 passengers booked on the voyage scheduled to depart from Southampton on October 3 that their holidays cannot go ahead. They have been offered alternative sailings or a full refund - in both cases with an additional 15 per cent credit based on the fare they have paid. The ship, built in Italy at a cost of about £270 million, was launched less than five years ago, in December 2007. [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:44+00:00 10 September 2012|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|2 Comments

Blue future for Azamara ships

The two Azamara Club Cruises ships are next in line for a makeover. They will emerge from their dry-dock refits with freshly-painted dark blue hulls to go with the improvements and updates inside. Twelve-year-old Azamara Quest will spend eight days at the Navantia shipyard in Cadiz, Spain, from November 7. Sister ship Azamara Journey, which also entered service in 2000 will get the same treatment in Singapore next January. Both ships were originally built in France for Renaissance Cruises. Six other vessels of the same design - each carrying fewer than 700 passengers - are sailing in the colours of [...]

By John Honeywell| 2012-09-09T07:08:48+00:00 9 September 2012|Cruise Ships|0 Comments

New livery for Discovery

It's not quite a paint job on the scale of the one which Norwegian Breakaway is about to receive, but cruise ship Discovery will receive a makeover before being transferred to Cruise & Maritime Voyages' management. The ship will be spending time in dry dock before the handover, and will emerge with the livery shown above, including the CMV logo on her funnel. Voyages of Discovery will continue to sell cruises on Discovery as well as their new vessel, Voyager, which is scheduled to depart from Portsmouth on her inaugural voyage in early December. VoD's new brochure comes with a [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:44+00:00 5 September 2012|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Breakaway design to the Max

CLICK ON IMAGE TO SEE LARGER VERSION Norwegian Cruise Line have issued the official pictures of the Peter Max design for the hull artwork for their newest ship - and it is indeed exactly as I predicted on Monday. The only pictures released show the starboard side of Norwegian Breakaway, and an NCL spokesperson has confirmed that the port side will be identical - no chance of destination views of the Caribbean to match the embarkation views of home-port New York. Describing his design, which will cover about 40,000 square feet of the ship, Peter Max said: ""The artwork is [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T15:59:44+00:00 5 September 2012|Cruise Ships|0 Comments