Cruise Ships

The wait is finally over Disney's newest cruise ship, the Disney Fantasy, sets out on her maiden voyage today, a full month after she was named in New York by singer Mariah Carey. First, though, the crew were treated to a day out at Walt Disney World, Orlando, as a thank you for their hard work over the past few weeks. Many of them, from more than 60 countries around the world, had sailed across the Atlantic as the ship was delivered from the German shipyard where it was built. It may be several weeks or even months before their [...]

That was confusing for a moment. My trusty friends at Google informed me that the ship Alexander von Humboldt had arrived, to a warm welcome, at its new home in Grand Bahama. The only vessel I was aware of with that name was, I thought, at anchor near Istanbul. It is awaiting a multi-million pound refit later this year, from which it will emerge under the new name of Voyager (pictured below), and will join Discovery sailing under the flag of niche cruise line Voyages of Discovery. The last I heard was that the dry-dock work would be carried out [...]

Double the number of seats, a dedicated Pastry Chef section, and "action stations" where chefs will give cookery displays - the buffet restaurant on the new Royal Princess cruise ship is going to be a big attraction. More details of the restaurants on the 3,600-passenger vessel have just been revealed, and Rai Caluori, executive vice-president in charge of fleet operations, shows off some of them in the video above.. Horizon Court will accommodate 900 passengers indoors, with seating for another 350 on the open deck outside. The larger space will not only offer more seating but more tables for two [...]

Singer Mariah Carey may have been godmother, and uttered the time-honoured words "May God bless this ship and all who sail on it," but it was her husband Nick Cannon, helped by Minnie Mouse, who got to smash a Champagne bottle against the side of Disney Fantasy. The cruise ship was christened yesterday in Manhattan and Carey led an audience of VIP guests in the countdown in its three-deck atrium as a six-foot tall bottle erupted in a shower of confetti. On stage in the ship's theatre she had earlier sung "I'm a Native New Yorker," and told the audience [...]