Cruise Diary page 18 of 30
Video Playing Now: Cruise News: 29th October 2009
Thursday 29th October 2009
EXCLUSIVE by Steve Read
OASIS of the Seas will be visiting Southampton on Monday afternoon – but she won't be stopping.
The 225,000-ton ship will merely slow down in the Solent to let construction workers disembark onto a tender, before turning around and heading to her home port of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Royal Caribbean didn’t want anyone to know about the visit – although I can't figure out why or how they expected to keep it a secret.
After all, Oasis of the Seas is the biggest and most talked-about passenger ship ever built and this will be the only time she visits the UK.
And even if she isn’t stopping, it’s still a unique opportunity for British cruise fans to see her.
A spokesman told me today: “On Monday November 2, Royal Caribbean International’s most recent ship will sail into Southampton Solent to make a brief technical stop to debark approximately 300 workers who do not need to be onboard for the full transatlantic crossing.
“This short stop is normal practice for a new ship and there will be no onboard access provided for the duration of her stay in the Solent.”
Tickets for the naming ceremony in Fort Lauderdale on November 30 are £450 – all money will go to the Make A Wish children’s charity – and attendees can then go on a four-night cruise calling at Labadee, Haiti, from £400.
There are still berths available from £861 (per person, cruise-only) for her first “normal” sailing on December 5, a seven-night cruise calling at St Thomas, St Maarten and Nassau in the Bahamas.
→ Book a cruise with Royal Caribbean International
Keep Out!
BARBED wire has been coiled around sides of Ocean Village 2 as she heads through “pirate alley” and the Gulf of Aden.
The ship is on her farewell cruise, sailing from Crete to Singapore where she will become P&O Australia’s Pacific Jewel.
After sailing through the Suez Canal the ship has been preparing for the run past Somalia, where cruise ships as well as cargo vessels have been attacked.
Exterior lighting is being reduced at night, and passengers have been told to ensure their curtains are drawn. Access to some outside areas is being restricted.
Prince delayed
THE former Fred Olsen ship Black Prince is almost a week late sailing to her new home in Venezuela.
She should have left last Friday but has remained alongside in Southampton, with her departure date postponed several times.
The ship is currently scheduled to sail on Saturday.
Under her new name Ola Esmerelda she is due to begin three and four-night round-trip cruises out
of La Guairá, calling at Los Roques, La Tortuga and Isla Margarita, from November 20.
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