FacebookInstagramTwitterFlickrGoogle+Rss

Captain Greybeard

Captain Greybeard/

Aurora is going nowhere fast

More on the problems afflicting P&O's Aurora, now forced to make an extended stay in Auckland, New Zealand, for emergency repairs. The ship, on a 93-night world voyage which left the UK on January 11, has cancelled planned visits to the Pacific islands of Tahiti and Moorea. Passengers have already missed out on calls to Wellington and Napier in New Zealand, because problems with the ship's propulsion system had reduced her speed. P&O say that "maintenance work on a thrust bearing is being carried out by a team of technical experts." The work is expected to continue at least throughout [...]

By | 2017-06-15T16:00:47+00:00 9 March 2009|Cruise Destinations, Cruise News|3 Comments
Read More

While I’ve been away at sea . . .

Looks like there's been plenty going on in the cruise world while I've been relaxing in the Caribbean on board Eurodam. Maybe there's time to catch up with a few headlines while I sit in Miami Airport waiting for my flight home. So what's been happening? Fred Olsen's Balmoral has had a close encounter with pirates off the coast of Somalia, but beat them off by "aggressive manouevring," sending up flares, and waving imitation guns - weapons carved from wood. The 1,200 passengers, mostly British, were moved to safe havens on the ship until a US naval vessel arrived to [...]

By | 2009-03-07T23:13:13+00:00 7 March 2009|Cruise Gossip, Cruise News|0 Comments
Read More

Eurodam: All you can eat, all day

There are many cruise passengers for whom food is an obsession, and Holland America's Eurodam caters for them all with impressive ease. The quality and the variety of the cusine on offer is among the best I have experienced at sea, probably surpassed only by Cunard's Grills Class restaurants. Take breakfast, for example, in the Lido buffet restaurant. Orange juice is freshly squeezed, a rarity these days when volume caterers seek to cut costs by offering reconstituted concentrate. You can order fried eggs any way you want, or any sort of omelette imaginable, freshly-made; There's a whole station devoted to [...]

By | 2009-03-05T21:38:14+00:00 5 March 2009|Cruise News|1 Comment
Read More

Eurodam: Adventure under the sea

There are snorkeling and SCUBA-diving tours at most Caribbean ports of call, and plenty of marine life to view. In St Thomas yesterday, we went one better, and explored beneath the waves in a submarine. Reef sharks, stingrays and countless colourful fish swam bay as we travelled 90 metres down to the sea bed off Buck Island, a 20-minute boat ride from the island's capital, Charlotte Amalie. It was like visiting an aquarium, only 10 times better, because we were travelling through a living coral reef, never knowing what would appear next in the porthole viewing windows. Atlantis submarines operate [...]

By | 2009-03-05T15:09:23+00:00 5 March 2009|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments
Read More

Eurodam: Open the door for Internet

There's a lavishly equipped library on the Eurodam, in the Explorations Café, which also contains the ship's public-access internet terminals. Unlike the cyber cafes on many cruise ships, it is in a prime position, high up at the bow, and adjoining the Crow's Nest bar, rather than being tucked away below decks. There are times, though, when it is more convenient to use my lap-top, and being the newest ship in the Holland America fleet, Eurodam has wi-fi throughout every cabin. Up to a point, that is. There's no signal at the writing desk by the window, and I can [...]

By | 2017-06-15T16:00:47+00:00 3 March 2009|Cruise Gossip|2 Comments
Read More

Eurodam: A taste of the East

Dinner last night was in the Eurodam's Tamarind restaurant, and an excellent evening it was. For a modest premium of $15 a head, we ate a delicious Asian fusion meal, served by attentive waitresses. The restaurant is at the top of the ship, on Deck 11, next door to the Silk Den bar, another haven of tranquility, overlooking the Lido pool area. Soup was described as Jewels of the Sea, a fragrant lemongrass and sesame broth containing prawn-filled won ton. That was followed by a satay sampler, of lamb, pork, beef, chicken, and prawn, and then a spicy and sweet [...]

By | 2017-06-15T16:00:47+00:00 3 March 2009|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments
Read More

Eurodam: Where is everybody?

There are more than 2,100 passengers aboard Holland America's Eurodam for this week-long Caribbean cruise. Plus another 900 or more members of crew. Yet the ship never feels the slightest bit crowded. There were sunbeds to spare yesterday as we spent a day at sea en route to Grand Turk. Mrs Greybeard and I don't have a fixed seating assignment for dinner, but so far we have had no problems getting a table when we turn up at the Rembrandt restaurant. It's been easy to find a seat in any of the 11 bars, and there's always a waiter ready [...]

By | 2017-06-15T16:00:47+00:00 2 March 2009|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments
Read More

Eurodam: Ready for departure

Here we are on the Eurodam, after a painless flight from Heathrow to Miami, and a much-needed night’s sleep at the Hollywood Beach Marriott in Fort Lauderdale. The Eurodam is one of a host of cruise ships in Port Everglades today. I can see the Emerald Princess and the Ruby Princess, MSC Orchestra, the noisy Carnival Freedom blasting reggae music across the harbour, and Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas. I haven’t got my Berlitz guide to cruise ships with me, so perhaps someone could work out how many passengers that is embarking here today. The sun is beating down [...]

By | 2009-02-28T22:51:17+00:00 28 February 2009|Cruise Destinations, Cruise Ships|0 Comments
Read More

BBC2 bids farewell to QE2

There’s a treat for fans of Cunard’s QE2 on television on Saturday, with an hour-long TV documentary about the classic liner in BBC2's Timewatch series. QE2: The Final Voyage, joins the ship when she left her home port ofSouthampton for the final time last November, and follows her to Dubai, where she is to be converted into a floating hotel. There is archive footage of the ship’s construction and launch on the Clyde, and an interview with Tony Benn, who as Minister for Technology in the ‘60s, played a major part in ensuring construction went ahead. Look out too for [...]

By | 2009-02-26T16:40:41+00:00 26 February 2009|Cruise News|1 Comment
Read More