Captain Greybeard - Page 186 of 209 - Your expert guide to cruise ships and cruise holidays

Frights and diets take to the sea

Tormenting his audiences' minds night after night, Derren Brown has been filling theatres up and down the country on his latest tour. And in September the illusionist once described as the scariest man in Britain will be taking his show to sea, for two performances during a three-night mini-cruise aboard P&O's Aurora. The cruise, which leaves Southampton on September 23 and visits Zeebrugge and Le Havre, goes on sale at travel agents today with fares starting at £189 per person. Brown is not the only TV celebrity taking a cruise. Almost as scary is fitness freak Mr Motivator. Next week [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:42+00:00 12 June 2009|Cruise Entertainment|0 Comments

Swine flu scare keeps cruise ship at sea

Just as the World Health Organisation declares a swine flu pandemic, Royal Caribbean cruise ship Adventure of the Seas has been turned away from two islands. Two members of the ship's crew, and one passenger - among 3,100 aboard - are reported to have been showing flu-like symptoms, so the vessel was not allowed to berth at Castries, St Lucia yesterday. Antigua also said it would not let the ship come into port at St Johns today. Adventure of the Seas left San Juan, Puerto Rico on Sunday, and has made one call, at Bridgetown, Barbados. It is not yet [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-06-11T11:24:38+00:00 11 June 2009|Cruise News|1 Comment

Is this the first picture of P&O’s Azura?

On his way to the Costa naming ceremony where I met him last week, cruise director and blogger John Heald had been visiting his new ship, the Carnival Dream, in Fincantieri's Monfalcone shipyard near Trieste, Italy. He posted some pictures of his pride and joy - he's almost as proud of her as he is of his new baby daughter, Kye - on his latest blog. But the picture that caught my eye was of P&O's new 3,100-passenger cruise ship, Azura, under construction in the same yard. Looks like work has been proceeding at a rapid pace since the keel-laying [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:42+00:00 9 June 2009|Cruise Ships|5 Comments

Balloon goes up for Oasis of the Seas

The first pictures of the largest cruise ship afloat undergoing her initial sea trials have been released by Royal Caribbean. The 220,000-ton Oasis of the Seas has left the shipyard at Turku in Finland and will undergo three days of stringent tests. And yes, that is a blimp tethered to the ship's stern. Whether it will still be there when the vessel enters service in December is another matter. RCI chairman Richard Fain says it is an experiment which has a less than 50 per cent chance of succeeding. He says: "If we don't use it on the ship, I [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:42+00:00 8 June 2009|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Peace cruise plan is a Noa-goer

Israeli singer Noa (left) , who was the madrina - or godmother - at the christening of cruise ship Costa Pacifica on Friday, is a campaigner for peace in the Middle East. She announced her own peace plan at a Press conference on the ship, prior to the twin celebrations with sister ship Costa Luminosa. "Costa Pacifica is the ship of peace," she said, and went on to suggest it would be wonderful if the leaders of the Middle East's feuding nations could take a cruise on board, with the proviso that they could disembark only after they had reached [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:42+00:00 8 June 2009|Cruise Gossip, Cruise News|0 Comments

Blown away by Costa spectacular

I don't think the VIPs attending the double-naming ceremony of the Costa Pacifica and the Costa Luminosa in Genoa on Friday night expected to be quite so blown away by the spectacle. But a chill wind off the Ligurian Sea had the audience fleeing for the comfort of the cabins before the show was half way through, and there were acres of empty seats by the time Israeli singer Noa and Italy's world fencing champion, Valentina Vezzali, cut the ribbons which sent two bottles of Aneri Prosecco crashing simultaneously on the ships' bows. Low cloud and high winds had earlier [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:42+00:00 7 June 2009|Cruise News|0 Comments

Celebrations that Costa packet

I'm in Genoa, Italy, today for the double christening ceremony of the two newest ships in the Italian cruise line's growing fleet. Thousands of fellow guests will assemble in the specially-constructed theatre on the Andrea Doria pier this evening, flanked by the Costa Pacifica and the Costa Luminosa. Workmen have been labouring throughout the night to lay acres of carpet and set up the arena and stage. If the rehearsals I watched yesterday from my cabin balcony on Pacifica are anything to go by it will be a truly spectacular - and undoubtedly no-expense-spared - event. The Pacifica's theme is [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:42+00:00 5 June 2009|Cruise News|0 Comments

Could Carnival go for Diversity?

There is speculation among some cruise experts that Britain's Got Talent runner-up Susan Boyle might be the godmother for the launch of Carnival Dream in September. Myleene Klass was Carnival's choice for the launch of Carnival Splendor at Dover last year, and SuBo is thought to be an appropriate choice because of her success with the song I Dreamed A Dream. But I've got another suggestion. The 3,646-passenger Dream - Carnival's biggest-ever ship - is still four months away from completion at the Fincantieri shipyard near Venice (above), so maybe there is still time to change its name to Carnival [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:42+00:00 3 June 2009|Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Double celebration for Costa Cruises

Friday will be a big day for Costa Cruises - they are launching not one, but two new ships simultaneously at a spectacular ceremony in Genoa. Costa Pacifica and Costa Luminosa are the ships waiting for the bottles of Prosecco to be smashed on their bows. And two ships obviously need two godmothers. Israeli singer Noa, who sang Ave Maria for Pope John Paul in 1994, will name Pacifica. Appropriately enough, the 114,500-ton, 3,780-passenger ship is musically themed throughout, and even has an on-board recording studio. Fencing champion Valentina Vezzali, who has won five Olympic gold medals for Italy, will [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:42+00:00 3 June 2009|Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Quarantine passengers free of flu

Quarantined cruise ship Pacific Dawn arrived back in Sydney today after cutting short its voyage to Australia's Barrier Reef when three members of the crew tested positive for swine flu. A team of 25 nurses joined the ship at Brisbane on Saturday and carried out tests on all 2,500 passengers and crew. The number of people found to have contracted the virus? None. Despite missing several ports of call, passengers seemed happy with the compensation offered by P&O Australia. They get will 75 per cent of the cost of this cruise back, and can claim a 25 per cent discount [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-06-01T15:05:24+00:00 1 June 2009|Cruise News|0 Comments