Following my report earlier this week about Thomson Cruises abandoning Liverpool, the local council has had second thoughts about their new cruise terminal. According to the Liverpool Daily Post, they are now looking to spend another half a million pounds - on top of the £20 million already spent - on adding baggage handling and customs facilities. Why couldn't they have thought about it earlier?
The most famous ship in the world, Cunard’s QE2, sails out of her home port of Southampton for the final time on Tuesday November 11, and she’s not going quietly. She will cast off from her berth at the Queen Elizabeth II terminal at 7.15 pm and will then proceed astern to Mayflower Park for a firework display before she heads off down the Solent at 8.00 pm, whistle blowing loudly, and accompanied by a flotilla of small boats. There will be a day of events, on board and ashore, to mark her departure for Dubai, where she will begin [...]
There are all sorts of romantic festivities planned to mark the launch of Princess Cruises’ newest ship in Fort Lauderdale tomorrow. The Ruby Princess will be named by American reality TV lovebirds Trista and Ryan Sutter, who are celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary. Another couple will be married on board, and the bride will be given away by Gavin MacLeod, the actor who played Captain Merrill Stubing in the TV series Love Boat during the ‘70s and ‘80s. A ruby red tie gala kicks off a two-day cruise for invited guests and celebrities, and on Friday there will be a [...]
Liverpool is a city with a long and distinguished maritime history – for many years it was the port of departure for emigrants leaving the UK for America and southern Africa. There was a great fanfare last year when a shiny new £20 million cruise terminal was opened in the shadow of the former Cunard Building and the famous Liver Birds. The planners overlooked one small point – to be any use for cruise ships setting out on voyages, a terminal has to have extensive baggage handling and customs facilities. The new terminal is little more than a glorified landing [...]
Ocean Village is the cruise line that boasts it is “for people who don’t do cruises.
It’s too late now to book a berth on Cunard’s QE2, which will sail on November 11 to her retirement berth in Dubai. There’s still time, though, to grab one of the final voyages on two other popular ships which will soon be pensioned off. New safety regulations which come into force in 2010 will put veterans Saga Rose and Black Prince out of action. Both ships are tiny by today’s standards. The Rose, which sailed its maiden voyage in 1965, carries about 600 passengers; the Prince, which started life as a freight and passenger ferry in 1966, and was [...]
Cash-strapped Americans have forced Carnival Cruise Lines to cancel plans to sail Carnival Liberty out of Dover next year. The ship will spend 2009 sailing Caribbean cruises from Miami instead. A schedule of 12 and 13-night cruises from the UK to northern and western Europe had been planned on the 3,000-passenger vessel. Lynn Narraway, Carnival’s UK managing director, said “We are focusing on our Miami and Port Canaveral cruises, which continue to be popular for the UK market, and which also remain perennially popular with US passengers, especially in the current economic climate. "We are very sorry that we are [...]
P & O Cruises’ best-kept secret is out today. Their new ship, a sister for Ventura, is to be called Azura. The first 650-ton sections of the 3,100-passenger vessel are being laid in dry-dock at the Monfalcone shipyard in north-east Italy, and the ship should be sailing on its maiden voyage in spring 2010. Although the same size as Ventura, the Azura will not be as family-focussed as its sister. P & O managing director Nigel Esdale says it will be “a haven of tranquility.
CRUISE fares will be coming down rapidly in the next few weeks, and it’s got nothing to do with the credit crunch. In fact, although the advertised fares will fall like a stone, what the passenger actually pays won’t change a great deal. It’s all because of a ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority, who investigated a complaint that one of the big agencies specialising in selling cruises had been advertising misleading prices. For years, most of the cruise lines have been offering two fares – the standard brochure price, and a heavily reduced price, which they disguise either as [...]
WELCOME to Captain Greybeard’s Blog, which I hope you will come to rely on as an invaluable source of updates on cruise holidays and cruise ships. Whether you are a cruise veteran or a cruise virgin, there will be something here for you – news and views on cruise lines and their vessels, and gossip about ships, their crews and passengers. More British holidaymakers now sail on cruise ships each year than go on ski-ing holidays, but newcomers are faced with a bewildering choice of vessels and destinations. I’ll be glad to help out with the experience gained in almost [...]