Cruise Ships

Reports that cruise ship Seabourn Legend was about to be sold have been strenuously denied by the owners, part of Carnival Corporation. The 20-year-old ship was the star - with Sandra Bullock - of the 1997 film Speed 2: Cruise Control, surviving to carry on cruising after a collision with a giant tanker (above) and a head-on crash into a pier on the island of St Martin. Seabourn is Carnival's most luxurious and intimate brand; Legend carries just 212 passengers and carries its own kayaks, windsurfers and jet-skis deployed from a marina which opens up from the stern. Rumours of [...]

With its 175th anniversary celebrations now consigned to history, P&O can start to look to the future and a new ship which will be joining the fleet in March 2015. Carrying 3,600 passengers and more, the 141,000-ton vessel will share the same basic hull design as the two Princess ships also on order from Italian builders Fincantieri. The first real clues to what the newcomer is going to look like will be gleaned when Royal Princess makes its debut in Southampton in June next year. Computer-generated simulations have already shown a vast atrium at the centre of the ship - [...]

Saga Ruby's final voyage will be a 31-night Christmas cruise to the Caribbean, leaving the UK in December next year. After that, who knows what will happen to the much-loved ship? The official company statement and the letter sent to customers by chief executive Robin Shaw both say "it is time for this grand old lady to retire gracefully." But what does that mean? There was speculation that sister ship Saga Rose, withdrawn from service in 2009, could be converted into a floating hotel at Southampton's Town Quay, following the example set by historic liner Queen Mary in Long Beach, [...]

The "increasing challenge" of keeping a 40-year-old cruise ship in tip-top condition - acceptable both to maritime safety officials and the standards expected by demanding passengers - may have driven Saga to announce the retirement of Saga Ruby. But there are plenty of other operators who find it worthwhile to keep older ships at sea, and enough passengers to fill them. My first-ever cruise was in 1997, on Fred Olsen's Black Watch (above), which even then was beginning to show her age. My own maiden voyage was cut short when, instead of sailing back to Dover, the ship limped into [...]

One of the traditions of cruise travel is that every time a ship visits a port for the first time, local dignitaries will come on board and present the captain with a plaque to mark the event. Observant passengers will have noted the collections of souvenirs , plates and other memorabilia on display - usually in a public stairwell or a corridor near the bridge. Fred Olsen's Balmoral has excelled herself this week, making two maiden calls in two days - not bad going for a ship that's been on the go for 24 years. On Monday, when the ship [...]

The curse of the British summer put paid to the Red Arrows display for P&O's Grand Event - as it did a month earlier for Cunard's Jubilee tribute. The rain also made it impossible to take any decent photographs of the flotilla of seven ships in procession down Southampton Water, so here's a selection of pictures from the drier part of the day. Princess Anne, at a reception on board Oriana, cuts an elaborate cake made by celebrity patissier Eric Lanlard. Picture by Ben Fitzpatrick Earlier, she was welcomed to the proceedings by P&O life president Lord Sterling. Picture by [...]