Captain Greybeard - Page 161 of 209 - Your expert guide to cruise ships and cruise holidays

Glacier ice is twice as nice

If passengers on board the expedition ship Via Australis were wondering why the ice in their drinks came in large irregular lumps, rather than uniform cubes, then they discovered the reason on an excursion to the Piloto glacier (above). As the Zodiac inflatables picked their way carefully though the substantial chunks of ice floating in the fjord at Chico Sound, members of crew were picking manageable-sized mini icebergs from the water and taking them on board. So there were two good things about my gin and tonic that night - and each night. Firstly, like every drink at the bar [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:32+00:00 5 March 2010|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments

Quotes that float . . .

Some more snippets and quotable quotes from Carnival UK's The Cruise Report, issued this week. "By adding £100 or £150 per person on board credit, cruises became effectively all-inclusive for some passengers. This kind of certainty about their overall holiday bill was clearly exactly what they wanted." Nigel Esdale, Commercial Director, Carnival UK "We did see a trend [in 2009] towards taking shorter cruises, with 16-night Mediterranean cruises something of a harder sell. The transatlantic voyages are mainly bought as seven-night holidays so they did well." Peter Shanks, President and Managing Director, Cunard Line "We are lowering our energy consumption [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:32+00:00 3 March 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments

Two die as waves hit cruise ship

It's pretty hot and steamy here in Buenos Aires, in every sense of the words. The streets are humid after a thunderstorm last night, and I've just seen police investigating a stick-up at an electronics store a block away from my hotel - there was a pistol and the five bullets unloaded from its chamber lying on the pavement as I walked past. Might be a bit of a shock for the passengers being bussed around on city tours from the cruise ships MSC Opera and Costa Magica which are in port today. But they can console themselves that it's [...]

By John Honeywell| 2010-03-03T19:20:14+00:00 3 March 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments

New ships to meet ever-growing demand for cruise travel

In little over a month, Celebrity Eclipse, the third of a planned five Solstice-class cruise ships, will arrive in Southampton for a spectacular naming ceremony, and to start a summer of voyages departing from the UK. This weekend, the nearly-completed vessel was floated out of the giant construction shed at the Meyer-Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany (above), and in a few days' time - wind and tides permitting - will sail backwards down the River Ems, for final construction work and fitting out to be completed at Emshaven. Also at the weekend, Oceania Cruises celebrated the float-out of their newest [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:32+00:00 3 March 2010|Cruise News|2 Comments

Taking the rough with the smooth

Looking at the picture which accompanies my last entry about failing to go ashore at Cape Horn, you might wonder what all the fuss was about. The sea looks reasonably calm, doesn't it? Proof, if it were needed, of how still photographs can be deceptive. To give you an indication of what conditions were like, here are a couple of short videos showing the sea conditions as we headed back towards Ushuaia and the shelter of the Beagle Channel. Be warned: you'll need a strong stomach or - like me - be dosed up on Stugeron to watch without uncomfortable [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:32+00:00 3 March 2010|Cruise Destinations|2 Comments

Windy welcome at Cape Horn

Braving the winds off Cape Horn - and this as close as I could get to it _ Ever had that feeling of despair when you have expended lots of effort to get somewhere, only to find it was closed? Well, imagine travelling 8,500 miles, taking three flights and half a day's journey by sea, only to find you cannot reach your ultimate destination. That's what happened to me when I got to Cape Horn. OK, so my destination was more than a little off the beaten track, and has been ever since the opening of the Panama Canal saved [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:32+00:00 3 March 2010|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments

Back from the end of the world

The earthquake devastation in Chile made it impossible for me to travel home via Santiago and I'm back in Buenos Aires rather sooner than expected. Time now to catch up on what's been happening in the cruise world while I was sailing round Cape Horn on the expedition cruise ship Via Australis, which will also feature in some of the forthcoming blog entries. Down in the southern ocean, and around the islands off Tierra del Fuego, access to the internet and mobile phones is impossible, so there's plenty to tell you about. Keep watching.

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:32+00:00 3 March 2010|Cruise Gossip, Cruise News|0 Comments

Costa Deliziosa ready to set sail

It's an Italian ship sailing out of an Arabian port but British passengers are expected to book the majority of cabins on board Costa Deliziosa's cruises from Dubai this spring. Dubai's Crown Prince, Sheikh Hamdan, was the most important of the VIPs at a spectacular ceremony on Tuesday, when the ship was officially named by having a glass of non-alcoholic sparkling date juice smashed against its hull. Along with 3,000 other guests - most of them passengers on the inaugural voyage - he watched parachutists drop into an arena on the quayside at Port Rashid as a prelude to a [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:32+00:00 27 February 2010|Cruise News|1 Comment

Hasta luego, Buenos Aires

So, after just two days, I'm about to say adios to the tango city of Buenos Aires. In less than 12 hours I will be flying south to Ushuaia. If the weather and sea conditions allow, I'll be going ashore at Cape Horn, and I expect to see lots of glaciers and penguins. I'm looking forward to the adventure - and I've got the Stugeron tablets ready in case it gets rough. If you don't see any updates for the next few days it won't be because I'm confined to my cabin by seasickness, it's because where I'm going is [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:32+00:00 27 February 2010|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments

Why I cried for Argentina

Just in case any of my regular readers are wondering whether I would make it safely to Argentina - you can relax. I was delivered from Paris to Buenos Aires by a bumpy 13-1/2 hour flight, and I have spent the afternoon strolling along its graceful tree-lined boulevards and the teeming pedestrian shopping street that is Florida. The most moving moment of the day came as I watched the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo slowly processing round the square in remembrance of their children, who disappeared during Argentina's "dirty war" - the military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983. They [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:32+00:00 25 February 2010|Cruise Destinations|1 Comment