Cruise Ships

I thought I was dreaming when I heard the familiar strains of "When You Wish Upon A Star" blasting across the harbour in Charlotte Amalie, on the island of St Thomas last week. Then I realised it was the sound of the whistle on the Disney Magic cruise ship (above), leaving its berth at Havensight. There are currently two classically-proportioned twin-funnelled Disney cruise ships, the Magic and the Wonder, each carrying 1,750 passengers - and a host of Disney's favourite characters. They will soon be joined by two more, which will be 50 per cent bigger, and carrying 2,500 passengers [...]

My dictionary gives one definition of the word "epic" as meaning "of heroic or impressive proportions." Whether that applies to Norwegian Epic, the giant of a cruise ship now being built in France for Norwegian Cruise Lines, I'll leave for you to decide. Anyway, here she is, in all her glory. I can't help feeling they naval architects have gone over the top on this one. She promises to be different inside as well. Here's an artist's impression of one of the luxury cabins, complete with wavy walls. The 150,000-ton Epic will carry 4,200 passengers and NCL claims the new [...]

There's a beautiful gallery of pictures of P&O's Arcadia in Sydney Harbour on the P&O website. After a hectic day of comings and goings, with some passengers disembarking, others boarding, the £10 Poms lunch, and visits from local dignitaries, Press and travel agents, Arcadia is now en route to Brisbane.

The Costa cruise line were not thinking of the credit crunch when, a couple of years ago, they named a new ship Costa Fortuna – it might sound silly to our ears, but not to the Italians. In fact it can actually be ridiculously cheap. I have found a spectacular bargain for families looking to take a half-term break How about seven nights sailing from Florida to the Mexican Riviera, taking in Key West, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel? Yours for just £299 per adult, and £89 per child, sharing an inside cabin, departing Fort Lauderdale on February 15. OK, flights [...]