Captain Greybeard - Page 193 of 209 - Your expert guide to cruise ships and cruise holidays

A day at sea, a night at the opera

There’s more to cruise ship entertainment than the Merseybeats and even New Kids on the Block. If you know where to look there’s plenty of classical action at sea as well, particularly for opera fans. P&O will be celebrating the 25 years of its Music Festivals at Sea by providing special concerts on seven cruise holidays on Oriana, Artemis and Aurora between April and November. They feature internationally-renowned artists including pianist John Lill and opera soprano Dame Felicity Lott, as well as music quizzes, and specialist shore excursions. Fares start at £1,367 for 14 nights to the Baltic on adults-only [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:45+00:00 7 April 2009|Cruise Entertainment, Cruise News|0 Comments

Muddy waters ahead for Oasis?

The new Genesis-class cruise ships being built by Royal Caribbean are so big - and so much bigger than anything before - that special facilities have to be built for them wherever they go. A vast new terminal is under construction at Fort Lauderdale, where Oasis of the Seas will turn round every Saturday when it enters service later this year, and which sister ship Allure of the Seas will be using every Sunday from 2010. Each time the ships arrive at their Florida base, 5,400 passengers will start their vacation, just as soon as the previous 5,400 have disembarked. [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-04-07T11:04:20+00:00 7 April 2009|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments

Time running out for Antarctic cruises

Adventure cruises to Antarctica have increased by 500 per cent in the last 15 years - presumably because we want to see the icy wildernesses before they disappear as a result of global warming. But it's time for the growth to be halted, or reversed, according to delegates at the 32nd meeting of the Antarctic Treaty organization, meeting in Baltimore this week. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, no less, has urged tighter control over cruise ships visiting both Polar regions, north and south. "We have submitted a resolution that would place limits on landings from ships carrying large number [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-04-06T22:55:01+00:00 6 April 2009|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|0 Comments

Fun chance to experience Azura

It was Azura Experience day yesterday, and P&O took over the Belvedere restaurant in London's Holland Park for the event. Last time I was there was way back in the Seventies, when Island Records introduced me to Jim Capaldi over lunch before whisking us off to the BBC's Top of the Pops studios. Fellow cruise writer and music journalist Barry Cain had even more reason to remember the Belvedere - he proposed to his wife there, with the help of an engagement ring cunningly concealed by a co-operative waiter, a story also remembered in his entertaining book, 77 Sulphate Strip. [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-04-05T15:11:15+00:00 5 April 2009|Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Splashdown for Epic water park

Imitation is, as we all know, the sincerest form of flattery. Norwegian Cruise Lines have just been paid the compliment of having their freestyle dining concept copied by Carnival, and they are now returning the favour by announcing that there will be a huge water park at the top of their new super-liner, Epic. The gentlest of the Aqua Park's water slides will plunge through the ship's rock climbing wall. A second will twist and turn through three decks and the biggest, the Epic Plunge, is claimed to be the only tube slide at sea. Passengers will ride inner tubes [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:45+00:00 3 April 2009|Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Name the ships to win a free cruise

They have given us Costa Romantica, Costa Mediterranea and even Costa Fortuna. In the summer they'll be launching Costa Luminosa and Costa Pacifica, and next year along will come Costa Deliziosa - quite a mouthful. But it seems that Costa Cruises has run out of imagination when it comes to naming their ships, because they have launched a competition to find names for two sister ships to be launched in 2011 and 2012 It's aimed at travel agents, who can win a trip to the christening ceremony, a free cruise, and a Costa workstation for their office. But there's no [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:45+00:00 2 April 2009|Cruise News|2 Comments

Voyager: The Seven Seas awry

Things are going from bad to worse - and good again - for the passengers who paid anything from $100,000 to $380,000 for their world cruise on the ultra-luxury Regent Seven Seas Voyager. One of the ship's two propulsion pods was damaged when it tangled in fishing lines on leaving Singapore, and the ship has been limping along ever since, missing out a number of scheduled ports of call. First it was hoped that repairs could be carried out at Cochin, in India, and when that proved impossible, the plan was for engineers to do the work in Dubai. Now [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:45+00:00 2 April 2009|Cruise News|2 Comments

Wanted: More cruise ships for summit

The Italian government has already booked MSC's cruise ship Fantasia to put up the world leaders attending the G8 summit in July, and now they are looking for more ships to accommodate some of the 25,000 mandarins, aides and media attending the event. Anxious to avoid the demonstrations and civil unrest which broke out in London today ahead of the G20 meeting, they had arranged to hold their summit on the sparsely populated islands of La Maddalena, off the coast of Sardinia. Organisers have set a deadline of April 7 for ship operators to come forward, but a similar request [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:45+00:00 1 April 2009|Cruise News|1 Comment

Maiden’s over in just 29 minutes

There were mixed fortunes for P&O and Cunard this week when they put cruises on their two new ships on sale for the first time. The October 2010 maiden voyage of Queen Elizabeth sold out in just 29 minutes and 14 seconds, making it the fastest-selling in Cunard's history. Fares for the 13-night cruise to the Canary Islands range from £1,489 to £15,799 per person. Within 90 minutes of going on sale at 1.00 pm today, half of the cabins available on the six-voyage maiden season had been snapped up - that's more than 6,000 passengers putting down their deposits. [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:45+00:00 1 April 2009|Cruise Deals, Cruise News|0 Comments

Holiday reps take to the seas

Thomas Cook have announced they are to take the holiday rep concept to the seas after research into what people want from a cruise. It has teamed up with Norwegian Cruise Lines to offer holidaymakers what they claim is a new package holiday experience at sea. On selected 2009 European departures, Thomas Cook reps will be onboard the Norwegian Gem, Jewel and Jade to greet customers, book excursions, and even - they say - to source emergency suntan. All flights and transfers will be booked by Thomas Cook and customers will check-in through a dedicated area. Describing it as a [...]

By John Honeywell| 2009-03-31T21:00:38+00:00 31 March 2009|Cruise News|0 Comments