Captain Greybeard - Page 132 of 209 - Your expert guide to cruise ships and cruise holidays

Saga’s new ship is a bargain buy

Official confirmation came today that - as I reported last week - Saga Cruises will be extending their fleet with the purchase of Bleu de France. A spokesman said this afternoon: "The Bleu de France has been acquired and will enter service with Saga in 2012. After completing her published itineraries for current operators, the ship will undergo a multi-million pound refit starting in November 2011, before joining the Saga fleet in her new livery in March 2012. "The acquisition is in response to the continued and growing popularity of the Saga cruise experience," he added. There was no official [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:15+00:00 18 November 2010|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

£100k target for QM2 charity cruise

Friday night on BBC will see the annual charity extravaganza that is Children In Need, and more than £80,000 of the millions that will flow into Terry Wogan's coffers was raised by passengers on board Cunard's Queen Victoria when he joined a Mediterranean cruise earlier this year. And this week, Pudsey Bear joined Cunard president Peter Shanks for the announcement that Queen Mary 2 will host another charity cruise, this time a round-Britain voyage, in September 2011, with a fund-raising target of £100,000. Commodore Bernard Warner and entertainment director Paul O'Loughlin, also taking part in this video preview, are hoping [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:15+00:00 18 November 2010|Cruise Entertainment|0 Comments

Going Dutch on a Transatlantic run

Cunard's Queen Mary 2 will have competition on the Transatlantic run next summer. Holland America's Rotterdam is to make two sailings which ironically will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the transition from operating line voyages to becoming a cruise company. The 60,000-ton ship, capable of travelling at 25 knots, will be throttled back during the nine-day voyage leaving its home port of Rotterdam on July 3 and sailing to New York via Southampton. On the return crossing the ship will stop at Cobh in southern Ireland - known as Queenstown when Titanic made its final call there in 1912. Anouncing [...]

By John Honeywell| 2010-11-17T23:16:23+00:00 17 November 2010|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

New star on the cruise horizon

As I reported exclusively last week, French cruise line CDF Croisieres de France has sold its only ship to Saga, who will take possession of it in about 12 months' time. The company is not about to disappear, however. It is to take over Pacific Dream, currently being operated by parent company Pullmantur. The ship, originally built as Horizon for Celebrity, was also briefly Island Star (shown above in Bridgetown, Barbados) for Island Cruises, which was a joint-venture operation between Royal Caribbean and First Choice. With 721 cabins accommodating up to 1,875 passengers, the ship - built in 1990 - [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:15+00:00 17 November 2010|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Battle of the beards?

Captain Greybeard is obviously proud of his facial hair, but he can't compete with eco-warrior David Bellamy (left), who will be escorting a group of UK passengers on a week-long cruise to Costa Rica and Nicaragua in December 2011. The cruise, on the 170-passenger tall ship Star Flyer, will visit some of the world's most pristine rainforest and beautiful beaches. The week-long voyage from Puerto Caldera along the Pacific costs of Nicaragua and Costa Rica calls at the surf resort of San Juan del Sur; the half-moon bay of Playas del Coco, with spectacular wildlife; National Park Santa Rosa, famed [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:15+00:00 17 November 2010|Cruise Deals, Cruise Destinations, Cruise Entertainment|0 Comments

Robbery forces cruise switch

The attack on cruise passengers in St Kitts at the weekend must have been scary. Armed raiders blocked a road with a fallen tree and ambushed a tour bus carrying 16 adults and a child from the Celebrity Mercury. They boarded the bus and forced the tourists at gunpoint to hand over money, jewellery, cameras and mobile phones. No-one was hurt, and within hours police arrested four suspects in pre-dawn raids after a tip-off from other islanders. A police statement said the robbery was unprecedented. "Last year, over 500,000 cruise passengers safely disembarked in St. Kitts to enjoy the many [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:15+00:00 17 November 2010|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

Mighty challenge for the Captain

The excitement is mounting - one week from today I will be stepping aboard Allure of the Seas in Fort Lauderdale, ready for a three-night cruise. Last time I was on board, in the shipyard at Turku, Finland, there were workmen crawling all over the vessel and I had to wear a hard hat and protective boots. Now the ship is complete. US media, who don't want to work over the Thanksgiving holiday, will be sailing this weekend, and it is being used as the location for scenes from Adam Sandler's new movie Jack and Jill, also starring Katie Holmes [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:16+00:00 16 November 2010|Cruise Entertainment, Cruise Food & Drink|18 Comments

Splendor passengers back Carnival

An unexpected message from American attorney Jim Walker, who specialises in taking up the cudgels on behalf of passengers who claim to have been victims of crime or injury while on cruise holidays. On his website CruiseLaw, he takes a pot-shot at other lawyers touting for business as a result of the fire on board Carnival Splendor. "Any time there is a cruise disaster, the issue of lawsuits arises," he writes. "Sometimes there is a basis to file a lawsuit, and sometimes - like this time - there is clearly not. Many passengers from the Carnival Splendor have contacted our office seeking [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:16+00:00 15 November 2010|Cruise News|1 Comment

Celebrity rings the changes

Now that Celebrity Eclipse has finished its first European season, and crossed the Atlantic to spend the winter sailing from Miami, American journalists have had their first chance to see the ship,. They expected to be in Southampton for the launch - performed by breast cancer survivor Emma Pontin - in April. But the Icelandic ash cloud which grounded flights kept them at home, and the ship was sent on a rescue mission to Spain to ferry home trapped British holidaymakers. Eclipse is the third of five planned Solstice-class ships being built for Celebrity. The next one, Silhouette, followed Disney [...]

By John Honeywell| 2010-11-15T21:54:55+00:00 15 November 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments

Tense moments on the bridge

Back home in Essex, John Heald is continuing his dramatic account of last week's Carnival Splendor saga. The cruise ship was left drifting off the coast of Mexico last week after an engine room fire left it without power and cruise director John was the man responsible for keeping passengers informed throughout the ordeal. In the latest episode he describes how a visit to the bathroom in his cabin, four hours after the lights went out, brought home to him how serious the ship's plight had become. "The lack of lighting started the worry bells ringing in my head and [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:16+00:00 15 November 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments