Captain Greybeard

Keen river cruisers will be sitting back tonight to watch Jane McDonald journey along the Danube on board the luxury vessel SS Maria Theresa. Operators Uniworld Boutique River Cruises are keeping their fingers crossed that viewer reaction will be as popular as the singer’s Hebridean cruise on The Majestic Line’s Glen Tarsan, broadcast last week. Jane joined the mini-cruise ship last May for a six-night voyage around Mull, and her enthusiasm for both the boat and the destination proved infectious. Sales manager Marie McGhee said, “The effect of the broadcast has been immense.  Within the first 10 minutes of the [...]

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has won an order from Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. for the construction of four new generation cruise ships, plus an option for additional two, for the Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) brand.  The value of each ship is approximately €800 million (£680 million)  with one delivery per year from 2022 to 2025, stretching to 2027 if the option is confirmed The ships will form the backbone of the future Norwegian fleet, being about 140,000-tons, almost 300 meters long, and accommodating 3,300 guests - somewhat smaller than the 4,000-passenger Breakaway class (above). The order is based on a prototype [...]

Add Carnival Cruise Line to the growing list of American operators sailing to Cuba. Carnival brand Fathom pioneered cruises to the island last year using the P&O Cruises ship Adonia. Although British and international passengers have been able to visit the Communist state without restriction, Americans were prevented by a long-standing trade embargo. The Obama administration began to loosen restrictions and a number of US lines have already beaten Carnival to the punch – including Norwegian and Royal Caribbean. Non-US-registered companies such as MSC, Fred Olsen and Thomson, have been taking passengers to the island for some time. From June [...]

Set the PVRs to record – or the phasers to stun, take your pick. Jane McDonald is returning to her cruising roots in a four-part TV documentary series starting this week. The singer rose to fame 19 years ago in the early TV reality show The Cruise (accept no imitations) and has more recently been one of ITV’s Loose Women presenters. Cruising With Jane McDonald launches on Channel 5 at 9.00pm on Friday with a voyage on board MSC Cruises’ Divina for seven nights in the Caribbean. Subsequent episodes will see Jane downsizing from the 3,500-passenger Divina to the Majestic [...]

MSC Cruises now has two ships under construction at Fincantieri’s Monfalcone yard near Trieste in north-east Italy. Tied up alongside the berth is MSC Seaside, the first-of-class built to an interesting new design, due to be christened in Miami in December. A few hundred yards away, in dry dock, twin sister MSC Seaview is beginning to take shape. A traditional coin ceremony for Seaview was held last week, with two madrinas – one from the cruise line and one from the shipyard – chosen to place the coins in a tube which was then welded in place in a section of [...]

Expedition holiday specialist G Adventures has bought the Swan Hellenic cruise brand and plans to relaunch it in 2018. Swan was founded in the 1950s and counted renowned TV archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler among its early advisers. Together with sister company Voyages of Discovery it went bust at the beginning of January following the collapse of parent company All Leisure Group. Liquidators Grant Thornton blamed the cruise lines' losses, made worse by the turmoil in Egypt, the Black Sea and Turkey, plus currency losses after Brexit, for the failure of the whole business. Toronto-based G Adventures bought tour operators Travelsphere and Just [...]