Cruise Ships

/Cruise Ships

One-year milestone for Silver Muse

Silversea is celebrating the one year-to-go milestone until the christening of its new flagship Silver Muse with commemorative events on board all eight of its ships around the world – from the Amalfi Coast, where Silver Wind inaugurates her Mediterranean season, to Jaco Island in Timor Leste, where Silver Discoverer explores the natural wonders of Northern Australia. Guests will be invited to a special dinner showcasing culinary specialties that will be on board Silver Muse, including specially created dishes from all regions of the world. Due for completion in April 2017, Silver Muse will showcase world-class locations to those who [...]

By | 2017-06-15T15:59:23+00:00 19 April 2016|Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Its panda-monium on Ovation of the Seas

The secret was out on Monday evening. The animal sculpture which will be a feature on Ovation of the Seas – rivalling the pink polar bear on Quantum and the swim-suited giraffe on Anthem – was to be a mother panda and her baby. By Tuesday morning, the adult panda was being lifted on board by crane and bolted onto the roof of the Deck 15 SeaPlex. The 33-foot sculpture, weighing six-and-a-half tons, was created by British artist Jo Smith. Crew members, who christened the bear Felicia, and named the giraffe as Gigi, will be asked to come up with [...]

By | 2017-06-15T15:59:24+00:00 13 April 2016|Cruise Ships|0 Comments

What makes Ovation of the Seas a knock-out

The excitement on board Ovation of the Seas is palpable. The temperature began to rise yesterday when Captain Henrik Loy picked up the Southampton pilot at Nab Tower. It grew as the ship sailed sedately up Southampton Water, past a hardy group of ship enthusiasts braving the wind on Calshot Spit. The NorthStar observation capsule, looking like an escapee from the London Eye and almost as high above the waves as Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower, was raised in time to salute P&O Cruises’ Britannia and then Ovation passed another crowd of well-wishers in Mayflower Park before tying up at the City [...]

By | 2016-04-12T16:51:37+00:00 11 April 2016|Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Ovation is almost ready for her first guests

Ovation of the Seas has left Germany behind, and is heading for Southampton. Crowds gathered at Bremerhaven cruise terminal to send the 168,666-ton ship on its way and a selection of music - from Enya’s Sail Away to a version of Wild Rover in German - blasted out across the water, silenced only when Captain Henrik Loy blew three blasts on the ship’s whistle. Work continues at a feverish pace to prepare the ship for the arrival of the first guests, from the media and travel trade, who step aboard for a one-off event on Monday. All weekend a team [...]

By | 2017-06-15T15:59:24+00:00 9 April 2016|Cruise Ships|1 Comment

Musical spectaculars for Ovation of the Seas

Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas is breaking with the series of West End musicals that have featured on Royal Caribbean's recent launches. Chicago, We Will Rock You, and Mamma Mia! Are among the shows booked for the theatres on ships such as Anthem of the Seas, Quantum, Oasis, and Allure. Ovation - which is the company’s first ship designed with a Chinese audience in mind - will present home-grown spectaculars in its 1,300-seat theatre, and in the multi-function entertainment space Two70. Spectra’s Cabaret (above), already a hit on sister ship Anthem of the Seas, will be reproduced in Two70 [...]

By | 2016-03-23T12:26:36+00:00 23 March 2016|Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Watch as Norwegian Escape leaves shipyard and heads to the sea for the first time

https://youtu.be/u4kJ6qfe9UQ It looks an impossible feat. A 164,600-ton cruise ship in the middle of the countryside, surrounded by green fields filled with cows and sheep, and acres of greenhouses growing tomatoes. Topped by an outdoor movie screen, a double-deck ropes course, and a handful of frightening waterslides, the 4,200-passenger Norwegian Escape inches delicately through a lock to leave the basin at Meyer-Werft’s shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, and begins a 26-mile journey down the River Ems to reach the North Sea. Just to make it possible, the river’s waters have been raised by a barrage until it almost bursts its banks; bridges [...]

By | 2017-06-15T15:59:24+00:00 19 September 2015|Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Fred’s fabulous four line up in Bergen

Fred Olsen Cruise Lines celebrated a historic gathering of its fleet this week with the Four Bs in Bergen. Balmoral, Braemar, Boudicca and Black Watch sailed into Norway’s second city for a day of celebration and festivities. It was the first time the quartet – from a company proud of its Norwegian heritage - had been together anywhere in the world. The ships arrived in convoy in the early morning sunshine and formed up into diamond formation for their evening departure. Passengers were welcomed by a marching band and locals in Norwegian national costume. During the day they were entertained [...]

By | 2015-07-31T16:50:09+00:00 31 July 2015|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

What makes Queen Mary 2 the centre of attention everywhere?

Once in a generation, perhaps a little more often, a means of transport gains iconic status, attracting public affection and admiring crowds wherever it goes. In the steam age, there was the Flying Scotsman, and speed record-holder Mallard. In the jet age, it was Concorde in the air, and Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth 2 at sea. Both are now gone. A few surviving examples of Concorde remain on display in museums around the world, and QE2 languishes in Dubai unsure as to whether its future will be as a floating hotel or on the scrapheap. Today’s transport icon is its [...]

By | 2015-05-23T13:51:42+00:00 23 May 2015|Cruise Ships|0 Comments

On board QM2 for Cunard’s Salute to Liverpool

“Welcome to the world’s only true ocean liner” – came the announcement over Queen Mary 2’s public address. Not, surprisingly, from Captain Christopher Wells but from Entertainment Director Joanna Haley. I boarded the ship in Southampton yesterday (Sunday) for a 10-day voyage whose highlight comes next Bank Holiday weekend when all three Cunard Queens will be together in the Mersey to pay tribute to the city that was originally the company’s home. On the way there, QM2 will be visiting Cobh – the last port of call for Titanic – Dublin, and Greenock on the Clyde – where many of [...]

By | 2017-06-15T15:59:26+00:00 18 May 2015|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|0 Comments

Tor Hagen “in a hurry” to build a fleet of 10 Viking Oceans cruise ships

Viking Star, the first ocean-going ship to sail under the Viking Cruises flag, will not be officially christened until next weekend, but already the company’s president, Tor Hagen, is looking forward to operating a fleet of 10 identical vessels. That’s despite a setback that means he will be launching only one new ship next year instead of the two originally planned. Speaking during a tour of Viking Star in the Mediterranean, he blamed construction delays affecting Holland America’s Koningsdam at a Fincantieri shipyard in Italy for the postponement of Viking Sky. “We will have to accept that because Koningsdam has [...]

By | 2015-05-08T18:15:04+00:00 9 May 2015|Cruise Ships|0 Comments