Cruise Ships

A dream came true for Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck yesterday when they took control of their new cruise ship - Disney Dream. Of course it could only happen once Karl Holz, president of Disney Cruise Line, had signed the cheque and handed it over to Bernard Meyer, of the Meyer-Werft shipyard in Germany, and both of them were keeping the numbers covered up (below) in case anyone was watching. The 128,000-ton ship was floated out of Meyer's Papenburg yard just over five weeks ago. It will remain in Bremerhaven for another week while additional crew members board, and supplies [...]

AS PROMISED, here's the full account of my adventures aboard Allure of the Seas, from today's Sunday Mirror. It was a simple task. All I had to do to start making smoked sweet potato soup to Molly Brandt's recipe was to dice half an onion, which had already been peeled and was waiting by the chopping board amid a sea of stainless steel.   I am a master of the kitchen at home. I've made soup. I've diced onions.  So I didn't wait to be shown how to do it by the star chef who has been given control of [...]

So apart from driving the ship, what else have I been getting up to while on board Allure of the Seas? My feet have hardly touched the ground, it's been so hectic. But you're going to have to wait to see me in action. In the mean time, here's a few teasers to show you some of the people I met on the biggest cruise ship in the world. Genevieve Nicole (top) is almost as busy as me; she plays Velma Kelly in the ship's Broadway production of Chicago, and she is Mother Nature in the spectacular Blue Planet show. [...]

Before boarding Allure of the Seas this week, I had wondered what life at sea was going to be like staying in a cabin which had no view of the sea. Not an inside cabin with no windows, but a balcony cabin overlooking the ship's Central Park, a peaceful area the length of a football pitch and the width of a three-lane road, home to three restaurants, a cafe, wine bar, and a couple of shops. The main concern was not that I would be deprived of a restful view of the ocean, but that what replaced it would be [...]

Apologies to anyone on Allure of the Seas who felt a bit of a jolt this morning, but I have been up on the bridge, driving the ship. Whatever led the top men at Royal Caribbean to think I could be trusted with control of their $1.5 billion baby I don't know. Surely they can't have been taken in by my self-appointed title? Captain Hernan Zini was on hand to make sure I didn't do anything too drastic with his 225,000-ton ship, which is 1,187 feet long and 208 feet wide. If it was possible to take it out of [...]