Cruise Ships

Work has started on MSC Cruises' €200 million (£160 million) project to stretch four of the line's ships. The first, MSC Armonia, was cut in two in a dry dock in Palermo, Sicily, today; over the next few weeks a pre-fabricated 24 metre mid-section will be welded in place, adding extra cabins, public rooms, and crew space. The Renaissance Project will then repeat the procedure on sister ships MSC Sinfonia, MSC Opera, and MSC Lirica, all built between 2003 and 2005. They are each 251 metres long, measuring 60,000 gross tons, and carrying 2,199 passengers. After the lengthening, they will [...]

An enforced itinerary change has brought an unexpected bonus - in the shape of a one-off round-Britain cruise - for Cruise & Maritime Voyages' Astor. The ship, which CMV take to Australia during the winter, usually spends the summer on charter to German operator Transocean Toursand is not available on European cruises to British guests. Next year's return voyage from Fremantle has been cut from 46 nights to 38 as the ship will no longer be calling at ports in West Africa because of the current outbreak of Ebola fever. The 600-passenger vessel will now arrive at Tilbury Docks, on [...]

Two cruises on Cunard Line's Queen Victoria have been cancelled so that a bearing can be replaced on one of the vessel's Azipod propulsion units. The cruise ship's scheduled maintenance dry-dock has been brought forward from December 2015 to January so the work can be carried out before its next world voyage, embarking on January 20. The affected cruises are a 12-night trip to the Canaries from January 3 to 15, and a five-nighter to Amsterdam and Cherbourg on January 15-20. Passengers who had hoped to travel on the cancelled dates will be given a £100 on-board credit if they [...]

Cruise & Maritime Voyages have found a replacement ship to take over from Discovery next year. The company, which also operates Marco Polo and Astor, is to charter Azores from Portuguese operator Portuscale. The ship's first cruise in its new colours will leave Bristol's Avonmouth docks on January 26 - a 30-night voyage to the Caribbean. During the course of 2015 the ship will also be sailing from London's Tilbury docks and Hull. The details of itineraries to destinations including the Northern Lights, Mediterranean and a Scottish-themed Edinburgh Festival cruise, will be announced next week. Azores, which first entered service [...]