Cruise Ships

There were hundreds of photographers, amateur and professional, taking pictures to record the historic arrival of Cunard's three Queens in Southampton this morning. Some, like me, were afloat on Southampton Water. A lucky few were aloft in helicopters. There were hundreds in the flotilla of small craft escorting the giants into port. And there were thousands more on land. Here's a selection of Cunard's official images of the event, beginning with Steve Dunlop's beautiful shot of Queen Elizabeth (top) with the Red Ensign of the Blue Funnel vessel Ashleigh R, which was in the welcoming party. I know how long [...]

CLICK TO ENLARGE As final preparations were being made for the Diamond Jubilee service of thanksgiving in St Paul's Cathedral and the Queen's return to Buckingham Palace by stately procession, three rather different queens were making their own way in procession into port. The three ships of the Cunard fleet arrived in Southampton soon after dawn this morning and lined up to pay their own special tribute to the monarch. The Queen herself had named Queen Mary 2 in 2004 and Queen Elizabeth in 2010; sister ship Queen Victoria was christened by the Duchess of Cornwall in 2007. Dozens of [...]

There was limited time on board MSC Divina on Saturday to explore every nook and cranny of the 140,000-ton ship, which has 114 more cabins than sister ship Fantasia, and can carry 3,502 passengers compared with her predecessor's 3,274. I cannot, I'm afraid, report on the lavish Sophia Loren suite in the MSC Yacht Club, which the diva herself designed. She has also recommended a selection of 20 books which will be available to Yacht Club passengers - from Dickens' Oliver Twist, through Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea and Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago, to Dante's Divine Comedy and Tolstoy's [...]

The first of 73 giant construction blocks which will eventually make up Norwegian's new cruise ship, Breakaway, was laid in the bottom of a dry dock in a German shipyard at the weekend. Remarkably, it will take less than 12 months for construction of the 144,000-ton ship to be completed - a new record for a vessel of this size. Procedures at the Meyer-Werft yard in Papenburg have been streamlined to improve efficiency, with the introduction of high-tech systems learned from the Porsche car factory. Some of the ship sections have been under construction for months, beginning in the giant [...]

Saga Sapphire crew waiting to welcome passengers on board and escort them to their cabins. The Drawing Room (above and below) on Deck 11 is a comfortable bar and observation lounge packed with quirky decorative features and also serves as library and snack bar. The Grill (both pictures, above) on Deck 9 seats 100 and has an open show-kitchen. There's room for another 100 passengers on the adjacent Verandah (below). Asian specialty restaurant East To West, also on Deck 9, seats 64. Pole to Pole is the main dining room, seating 620. It is broken up into separate, intimate sections, [...]