Cruise Ships

Roger Allard, executive chairman of All Leisure Holidays, must have been cursing accountants Grant Thornton this morning. Nothing to do with money, but they deprived him of one of the best views in London. Roger, whose company is the biggest British-owned cruise operator with Voyages of Discovery, Swan Hellenic and Hebridean Island Cruises under its wing, had booked a 12th-floor room overlooking Tower Bridge for a press conference. He proudly showed pictures of luxury cruise ship Hebridean Princess, and new acquisition Alexander von Humboldt both passing under the raised bascules of the bridge, but the view we had out of [...]

Expedition cruise line Noble Caledonia announced today that it has acquired a new ship . From next May Caledonian Sky will join sister vessel Island Sky and will spend much of 2012 in the waters around Britain - and north to the Arctic - before heading for South America, Australasia and the Pacific Rim. Both ships once sailed together in the 1990s as Renaissance VI and Renaissance VIII. Six later became Hebridean Spirit (above), but was sold in 2009, reportedly for £4 million, to be converted into a private yacht. Island Sky carries 116 passengers and 66 crew; as Hebridean [...]

Life is not over for plucky little cruise ship Spirit of Adventure. After the 350-passenger vessel finishes her winter season in the Far East and sails her farewell cruise next April from Cyprus to Rome, she will reappear in a new guise - or more accurately, an old one. For the 9,570-ton ship, which has been operated by an arm of Saga Cruising since 2006, is going back to being called MS Berlin, and will sail a series of Mediterranean voyages for Germany's fifth-largest travel company. Some details of the new operation have appeared on an FTI website, together with [...]

Only weeks after disclosing multi-million pound losses, one of the UK's leading cruise lines is preparing for a major announcement. Far from being news about cutbacks or savings, it looks like All Leisure Holidays is planning to expand. The company operates three brands: Voyages of Discovery and its 710-passenger ship Discovery (above); Swan Hellenic, with the 352-passenger Minerva, and Hebridean Island Cruises and the 49-passenger Hebridean Princess. It has scheduled a briefing on September 1 when it is likely plans will be announced for the introduction of another vessel, the 500-passenger Alexander von Humboldt. All Leisure bought the vessel in [...]