Captain Greybeard - Page 154 of 209 - Your expert guide to cruise ships and cruise holidays

‘Overloaded’ cruise ship held

The irregularity of internet access while on board ship in the Norwegian fjords can be frustrating at times. Especially when, as happened yesterday, I was unable to react to an early tip-off about a rare event in cruising. A friend at CruiseBite.com alerted me to the news that the Silverseas expedition ship, Prince Albert II, had been impounded in Portsmouth by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Remarkably for such an up-market operation, there were concerns that the vessel was overloaded, and that senior officers were over-worked and not getting the amount of rest required by law. Prince Albert II was [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:28+00:00 12 May 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments

Welcome to the Saga Juniors

Cruising among the Norwegian fjords on board Saga Pearl II in early May has two great advantages over visiting at peak season on one of today's mega-ships. For a start, the 400 passengers on board have not had to fight through crowds to get to the major sights and attractions ashore. We have been the only ship in port at each day's stop. And at just 18,500-tons Pearl is small enough to visit destinations which are off-limits to some of the bigger vessels, and we have been able to go alongside at each port, rather than having to tender ashore. [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:28+00:00 11 May 2010|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Away from it all in Eidfjord

There's only one better way to see the Norwegian fjords than from a cruise ship gliding serenely past vertiginous cliffs and spectacular waterfalls, and that's from the air. Yesterday I enjoyed the best of both worlds, sailing on Saga Pearl II through Hardangerfjord to the village of Eidfjord, and then clambering aboard a helicopter to look down on the snow-covered mountains of Hardangerjokulen from above. It was worth waking early to throw open the door to my cabin balcony, take in the morning air, and enjoy the final approach to Eidfjord while catching up with the latest election results on [...]

By John Honeywell| 2010-05-08T08:04:31+00:00 8 May 2010|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments

World Cup takes to the sea

Cruise ships have become a popular choice for providing accommodation at major sporting events. There were two in Vancouver during this year's winter Olympics and two companies have this week announced charters for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand next October. TUI Travel, the company which owns Thomson and First Choice in the UK, will be taking over P&O Australia's Pacific Dawn, and Adventure World have agreed to charter MS Volendam for the event. A plan to move the venerable QE2 from her retirement home in Dubai to South Africa for this year's football World Cup fell through, [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:28+00:00 8 May 2010|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

Stars lighting up the North Sea

They scrub up well, the Saganauts. Yesterday was a relaxing introduction to the Spring Time in Norway cruise on Saga Pearl II, a calm day spent threading our way through the oil and gas rigs of the North Sea en route to our first port of call, Stavanger. Putting any concerns about the general election and the airport closures behind them, passengers had all the time in the world to explore the newly-refurbished ship; to select something to read from the extensive new library, or to listen to lectures about the destinations ahead, and an amusing talk on the quirks [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:28+00:00 6 May 2010|Cruise Destinations, Cruise Gossip|0 Comments

Fire is latest Epic mishap

I'm beginning to wonder whether there's a hex over construction the the Norwegian Epic, NCL's biggest cruise ship which is due to be completed in June. Latest news from the STX yard in St Nazaire, France, where the 153,000-ton vessel is nearing completion, is that fire broke out in a provisioning area on Deck 4 late on Monday evening. It is reported that damage was confined to wiring and the blaze was prevented from spreading. The handover date of June 15 has not been affected. The fire is the latest in a series of mishaps, and I reported last month [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:28+00:00 5 May 2010|Cruise News|2 Comments

Follow me to the fjords

This afternoon I will be boarding Saga Pearl II in Southampton for a 10-night cruise to the Norwegian fjords. It's a bit early in the season for Norway, so fingers crossed the weather holds, and that snow-bound roads have opened up, otherwise our excursions will be restricted. Ports of call include Stavanger, Eidfjord - from where I'll be checking up on the election result on Friday morning - Kristiansund, Alesund (pictured above when I visited last year aboard Queen Victoria), Olden and Bergen. We return to Dover on May 14. I will be updating this blog daily from the ship [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:28+00:00 4 May 2010|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|1 Comment

Legendary shows on Epic

If Celebrity Eclipse has one of the most exciting restaurants at sea, then another new ship launching this year promises to provide some of the most spectacular entertainment. The line-up of shows on board Norwegian Epic will be stellar - including a number of shows which are big crowd-pullers in Vegas and Orlando. Legends in Concert features some of the best tribute acts in the world. Take a look at Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and Marilyn Monroe in the video below. Cirque Dreams is a restaurant and circus cabaret combined. There's a sneak preview in this video. The show I [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:28+00:00 3 May 2010|Cruise Entertainment|0 Comments

Look inside Thomson’s newest cruise ship – it’s a Dream

The arrival of the 1,500-passenger Thomson Dream in the Thomson Cruises fleet this week will help to boost the company's total capacity to 254,000 passengers a year. Dream joins Celebration, Destiny, Spirit and Island Escape in providing home-from-home cruises for the British market, packaged with flights from regional airports around the country. The ship, formerly the Costa Europa, came straight from dry-dock in Sicily to rescue 2,800 holidaymakers stranded in Majorca before embarking on its first proper cruise - with some crew members left behind because they were stranded by the ash cloud chaos. But operations swung into top gear [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:28+00:00 1 May 2010|Cruise Deals, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Cruise ship is home to the world’s most extraordinary restaurant

Here and there on Celebrity Eclipse there are little touches which set it apart from its older sisters, Solstice and Equinox. The living tree in the central atrium, for example, grows in a giant pearl, suspended on elegantly curving tubes rather than the rather brutish girders which support the plant pot - albeit a Svarowski Crystal plant pot - on Equinox, and the entrance to the lavish spa area has been re-modelled and improved. But what really sets Eclipse apart is the Qsine restaurant - it's like nothing else on earth, or at sea. You might think the food sounds [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:28+00:00 29 April 2010|Cruise Entertainment|1 Comment