Captain Greybeard

The weekend's visit to Papenburg, Germany, for the float-out of Disney Dream has been fascinating and frustrating in equal measure. It was exciting to be among the crowd of 10,000 who stood in the rain to witness Saturday's event, and thrilling to be one of the first people on board for an extensive tour today - I was one of only two British journalists invited - but the hectic schedule and an almost non-existent internet connection at our hotel left me unable to file proper updates. I can't bring you any new pictures - Disney allowed only their official photographer [...]

Today is going to be exciting. After watching Disney Dream being floated out from the shipyard on Saturday evening, and spending Sunday morning with Bruce Vaughn, the man who led the team which designed most of it, I will finally get the chance to go on board and have a look around. The cruise ship is the biggest ever built in Germany, and at 128,000 tons and with a capacity of 4,000 passengers, dwarfs Magic and Wonder, the two ships which make up the current Disney fleet. It will be the first ship at sea with a water-coaster, the 765-ft [...]

What a day it has been for new cruise ships. The biggest in the world squeezed under a giant suspension bridge in Denmark, while the biggest ship ever built in Germany emerged from a huge construction shed into the open air for the first time. Allure of the Seas (above) is on its way from Finland to Florida, but first had to negotiate the Great Belt Bridge - with inches to spare. As my picture shows, Capt Hernan Zini guided it through safely. A few hundred miles south, thousands gathered in the rain to watch Disney Dream inch slowly out [...]

This will be the sight tomorrow when giant cruise ship Allure of the Seas scrapes under the Great Belt Bridge on her way from Finland to Florida. The picture actually shows sister ship Oasis of the Seas on the same journey last year. If you believe the statistics, there is 65 metres (213 feet) clearance between the sea and the highest point of the roadway on the 18km-long bridge between the Danish islands of Zealand and Flynn. And Allure's air draft, or the height from waterline to the top of the funnel, is, er, 65 metres. Being Denmark, this could [...]

Here's a splendid picture - the crew of Cunard's Queen Elizabeth assembled an the aft decks when the ship was sailing from Italy a week before her naming ceremony in Southampton. Everyone is there, from Captain Chris Wells, to the waiters, cabin stewards, laundrymen and engine room grease monkeys. My cut-down version hardly does it justice - you can see a bigger image at Entertainment Director Alastair Greener's blog - scroll down to the bottom of the page. I'm sure it will be a popular souvenir for passengers to take home, but I have just one question (apart from asking [...]