Cruise Ships

Two rainy days, two cruise ships at the opposite ends of their lives, and two contrasting pictures. In a shipyard Italy yesterday a traditional ceremony marked the keel-laying of Royal Princess; thousands of miles away in a Chinese breakers' yard, Saga Rose nears the end of her life. The first 500-ton construction block for the new 3,600-passenger Royal Princess was blessed by a priest before being lowered into drydock at Fincantieri'e Monfalcone yard near Trieste (above). The first in a new class of ships - a similar vessel will be built for P&O - Royal Princess will be floated out [...]

Saga will take possession of their newest ship, eventually to become Saga Sapphire, on November 1, and it was announced today that the multi-million pound refit work will be carried out by Fincantieri at their Palermo yard in Sicily. Currently the Bleu de France, and originally Europa, the 37,000-ton vessel is to have all its cabins and public areas refurbished and an entire deck fitted with balcony cabins. Other work to be carried out during the ship's stay in Palermo will include the overhauling of main machinery and equipment along with some steel and pipework replacement. The ship will be [...]

What's going on here, then? With that big red button, it could be the EuroMillions lottery draw - but the hard hats would be out of place. There are millions of euros involved though, because the picture shows today's ceremony marking the cutting of the first piece of steel for the construction of Norwegian Cruise Line's next ship, Breakaway. Kevin Sheehan, NCL's chief executive (in the white hat) got things under way, watched by shipyard managing director Bernard Meyer. S678 is the yard construction number allocated to the project, and every single piece of metal - from nuts and bolts [...]

Before bringing you up-to-date with this week's activities, I ought to return to Adonia briefly. Having written about some of the destinations on the visit to Norway, it's time to talk about the ship itself. My own opinions are best summed up by the Captain, David Perkins. A generously-built man, he is a Carnival UK veteran and has commanded Cunard's QE2 and the largest ships in P&O's fleet before taking over at the help of it's smallest. As far as he is concerned - and I agree wholeheartedly - it's pretty much the perfect sized cruise ship. Big enough to [...]

The turmoil in Libya has already had a significant effect on the cruise industry, as ships have had to change itineraries and cancel calls at ports in the troubled north African country. There's now a chance that an astute entrepreneur could take advantage of the fall of Gaddafi's regime, which had its own cruise ship under construction in a French shipyard. Workers at the STX yard in St Nazaire began constructing the 139,400-ton vessel in December last year, but the contract with GNMTC, Libya's state-owned shipping company, was cancelled in June because of missed payments. Gaddafi's fourth son, Hannibal, was [...]