Captain Greybeard - Page 167 of 209 - Your expert guide to cruise ships and cruise holidays

New Queen afloat for first time

It's a mere six months since the first blocks for the construction of Cunard's newest ship were laid in the dry-dock at a shipyard in Italy. Today, that dock is being flooded, and Queen Elizabeth floats for the first time. Unlike her famous predecessor the QE2, which slid down a slipway on the Clyde in 1967 and splashed into the sea in a cloud of dust and smoke, the new vessel sat serenely in dock while lock valves were opened and the water level slowly began to rise. It will be another couple of days before the ship is gently [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:33+00:00 5 January 2010|Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Take a look round 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| 2017-06-15T16:00:34+00:00 5 January 2010|Cruise Deals, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Jo is looking forward to Allure and Eclipse bringing light to 2010

Jo Rzymowska, Associate Vice President and General Manager UK and Ireland for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, looks back on 2009 and predicts what will be setting 2010 alight. What was your highlight of 2009? It has to be the launch of Oasis of the Seas. Who'd have thought you could be at sea and find a real park longer than a football pitch with over 12,000 real trees, shrubs and plants? Or that nearby there's an ice rink, rock climbing walls and surf simulators. This is a ship that really has to be seen and experienced to be believed. Watching [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:34+00:00 4 January 2010|Cruise News|0 Comments

Cruise deals of the week

The New Year hangover is wearing off at last, Christmas memories are fading fast, and within a few days it will be time to take down the tree and consign the cards to the recycling bin. Time to start planning the next holiday, and today's selection of cruises will take you to Africa, South America, and several of the fascinating islands in between. Fly to Salvador de Bahia in Brazil to join the MSC Melody on March 13 for a 14-day cruise calling at the Cape Verde Islands, Tenerife, Casablanca in Morocco, Gibraltar, Malaga and Genoa, for the flight back [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:34+00:00 2 January 2010|Cruise Deals|0 Comments

The Damon Identity – on a cruise ship or watching ice hockey?

This could be the best publicity stunt ever for a cruise ship - the media down under is agog with reports that Matt Damon is celebrating New Year sailing on board The World. The ship will be in Sydney Harbour today for the spectacular firework display. Earlier in the week, Damon is reported to have been dolphin watching in Jervis Bay. On Tuesday he went ashore with his daughter in Batemans Bay where he not only signed autographs for staff and customers at the local fish shop, but also endorsed their speciality, vodka dipping sauce. "He came in and we [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:34+00:00 31 December 2009|Cruise Gossip|0 Comments

Nigel and Bill relax at sea

Two more leading lights of the UK cruise industry give me their highlights of 2009 and reveal what they are looking forward to in 2010. Nigel Lingard, Marketing Director of Fred Olsen Cruises What was your highlight of 2009? Managing to fill the ships despite early fears of a doomsday scenario! What do you expect to be the highlight of 2010? Hopefully a successful enough year to give us optimism for long-term plans.... Where did you take your main holiday in 2009? A Quark Expeditions cruise around the Svalbard Islands, spotting lots of polar bears. Where are you planning to [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:34+00:00 31 December 2009|Cruise News|0 Comments

Two Epic years for Stephen

For the second of my look at the highlights of 2009 and forecasts for 2010, we turn to Stephen Park, UK general manager of Norwegian Cruise Lines. What was your highlight of 2009? It had to be witnessing Norwegian EPIC float out from her dry dock for final preparations prior to her delivery to the NCL fleet in 2010. Her sheer scale made this a truly amazing sight and gave us an early glimpse of the impact she will have on the world of cruising. What do you expect to be the highlight of 2010? Definitely Norwegian Epic's inaugural celebrations [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:34+00:00 30 December 2009|Cruise News|0 Comments

Carol and Lynn are both sailing on the crest of a cruising wave

It's the time for looking back on the highlights of last year and for looking forward to what to expect from 2010. I have asked some of the leading figures of the UK cruise industry for their memories and predictions. We're not manning the lifeboats, but we'll still have women first, thank you. So here are the responses from Carol Marlow, managing director of P&O Cruises, and Lynn Narraway, UK managing director for Carnival Cruise Lines and Holland America Cruises. CAROL MARLOW What was your highlight of 2009? Well, there have been a few. Sailing into Sydney on Queen Mary [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:34+00:00 29 December 2009|Cruise News|0 Comments

Cruise deals of the week

Happy Boxing Day to all those who have friends and family who spent yesterday at sea on a cruise ship. Today they could be recovering from too much turkey by toasting their toes in Tortola, or maybe they are stocking up on Port and Madeira in Oporto and, er, Madeira. Want to follow in their wake? The January sales start here, with some great deals for cruises next month. Fly out to Orlando on January 7 for a three-night stay at Universal Studios before setting off from Port Canaveral on a seven-night Caribbean cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:34+00:00 26 December 2009|Cruise Deals|1 Comment

Christmas on Christmas Island

What more appropriate port of call for a Christmas cruise than Christmas Island? Well Bethlehem, I suppose, but very few cruise lines or passengers risk excursions to the Church of the Nativity these days, so the tiny territory 1,600 miles from Western Australia makes the most appropriate alternative. This week 1,700 passengers from P&O Australia's Pacific Sun stepped ashore, easily outnumbering the island's 1,400 permanent residents, and receiving a warmer welcome than the refugees and asylum-seekers held in a detention centre there. Apart from its name, the Indian Ocean island is possibly most famous for its population of red crabs, [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-12-24T09:36:51+00:00 24 December 2009|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|1 Comment