Captain Greybeard

Lower fuel prices - down 45 per cent - and cost-cutting on the operations side helped the Carnival Corporation, biggest cruise company in the world, to a 10 per cent increase in profits in the first quarter. Income from cruise fares and on-board spending were $2.9 billion, compared to $3.1 billion in 2008. Costs, which include wages, fuel and food, were $2.5 billion, compared with $2.8 billion. Chairman Micky Arison confirmed that prices were being cut to attract customers when he said: "Considering the economic climate, achieving higher quarterly net income is quite remarkable. Our brands have responded with a [...]

Leaders of the world's most powerful countries will be boarding a cruise ship this summer. The Italian government, hosting the G8 summit at La Maddalena off the coast of Sardinia, has hired the MSC ship Fantasia to provide accommodation. And it's not just because of the luxurious suites in the ship's VIP Yacht Club, where Gordon Brown could be rubbing shoulders with President Obama. Use of the Fantasia is part of a G8 commitment to a zero environmental impact summit. Security will be another factor, as the annual get-togethers invariably attract protests, sometimes violent. An idea of the likely problems [...]

Captain Ian McNaught (that's him on the left) is back at the controls. He has been on leave since taking Cunard's QE2 to Dubai last November, and this week he took charge of Queen Victoria. I hope he's learned to love his new charge. When I sailed with him on the QE2 to New York in January 2007, his broadcasts to the passengers every day at noon were peppered with jokily disparaging references to Victoria, which was crossing the Atlantic for the first time, and was always in sight about half a mile away. Capt McNaught joined Victoria in Singapore, [...]