Captain Greybeard

Who says lightning never strikes twice? Not the Falmouth Coastguard, that's for sure. They despatched a rescue helicopter from RNAS Culdrose to the cruise ship Braemar, docked at St Mary's on the Isles of Scilly, to rush a passenger to hospital. The 79-year-old woman, who had a fractured hip, was winched from the ship and flown to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro. The helicopter had been back at base for no more than a few minutes before another emergency call came through, this time for an 80-year-old passenger on the Braemar who had suffered a heart attack. He too [...]

When Celebrity Cruises decided to base their newest ship, Eclipse, in the UK for the summer, they added a few tweaks to the menu to appeal to British passengers, and took the bold step (for an American cruise company) of providing kettles in the cabins. Readers with long memories may recall that when I was on board for the naming ceremony in April, I was disappointed to discover that, although teabags and milk cartons were provided, there was no coffee available. Acting UK managing director Jo Rzymowska told me that coffee was available from room service - although as it [...]

Luxury cruise ship MS Deutschland, crippled yesterday after fire broke out in the engine room, is now being towed to Bergen, where engineers will assess the damage. A spokesman for Peter Deilmann, the ship's owner, said that the blaze was quickly brought under control, and that bulkhead doors prevented it from spreading to other parts of the ship. Passengers evacuated from the vessel spent last night in the Quality Hotel, Eidfjord, just yards from where the ship was moored. Now, instead of sailing to Hamburg, they are being taken to Bergen and Oslo for flights home. The ship's next cruise, [...]

An engine room fire has forced the evacuation of more than 600 passengers and crew from the cruise ship Deutschland. The luxury 22,500-ton ship was in port at Eidfjord, Norway, when the blaze broke out today. Per Fjeld, spokesman for the Norwegian rescue services, said there were no reports of injuries among the 364 passengers and 241 crew. He added that although it had not spread from the engine room, the fire was not yet under control. "It is still too hot. We first must get the temperatures in the surrounding areas down. "We are using pumps and hoses to [...]