Cruise Diary

Wednesday 1st July 2009

Steve is in transit today, but watch this space for his new videos tomorrow.

In the meantime be sure to watch his latest videos below.

Tuesday 30th June 2009
By Steve Read

In Steve's latest video you can find out what it's like to sail on the world's largest sailing passenger ship.

Monday 29th June 2009


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Monday 29th June 2009
From Steve Read at Valetta, Malta

THERE'S a ghost on the INSIGNIA - at least, that's what a techie from the communications firm MTN reckons.

Those golf ball looking domes you see on ships contain receivers - a bit like your Sky dish - mounted on gimbals which keep them pointing at their satellite up in space.

The ones on Oceania's Insignia have been missing their target, knocking out the ship's data and phone systems ... and more importantly for me, the internet.

That's why there has been a delay in getting the video diaries to you from this excellent cruise.

Catch up with last week's videos:

Thursday 25th June 2009

Friday 26th June 2009

After leaving Piraeus we called at Santorini - I came down from the town, perched 535 steps up a cliff face, on a donkey, and felt every bruisingly intimate step of the way.

Yesterday was a day at sea, and today we arrived in Valletta, Malta, where I'll be catching a plane to Rome to join the ROYAL CLIPPER for a quick cruise ... back to Malta!

Settle down and watch the videos from the Insignia and you'll see what a great trip this has been.

If you're looking for a gentle introduction into small-ship cruising, you won't go far wrong on here.

Inside, the ship feels like an English country mansion. On the outside decks it's a lively cruise ship but without the annoyances of constant announcements and banal "hairy legs" contests.

But it's the food where this ship has scored the highest. Every meal has been sensational.

Six or seven choices of main course in the Grand Dining Room, more in the two speciality - but no extra charge - restaurants, andeverything done to perfection.

Oh, I do love my job!

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Steve is out of signal on his cruise at the monment, be sure to keep checking back for updates soon [Ed]

Thursday 25th June 2009
By Steve Read

Food, Glorious Food

FIRST impressions are the most important, and the welcome received by every passenger boarding the MV INSIGNIA got our brief trip on this ship to a lovely start.

Even the security officer smiled as he swiped our ID cards through his scanner. That's a rare thing!

It's a 45 minute drive from Athens airport to the cruise terminal at Piraeus, where the Insignia - one of three ships run by Oceania Cruises - was waiting for us.

While the luggage was being delivered to the cabin, lunch was top of the agenda - and what a spread!

The Terrace Café at the stern of the ship had two enormous roasts, a counter packed with delicious snacks, and a pizzeria with a man ready to create anything.

He didn't know what a Sloppy Giuseppe was, but once explained he came up with the goods.

This is my first cruise on an Oceania ship, and the line's reputation for fabulous food is one of the things I'll be putting to the test. If the lunchtime buffet and last night's dinner is anything to go by, they should pass with flying colours!

The title of Best Steak At Sea now goes to Insignia, bumping CARNIVAL SPLENDOR into a close-run second place. It was fabulous!

Today we're in Santorini, along with five other cruise ships.

I'll tell you all about it in the next video diary - there might be a day's delay because we're at sea tomorrow and the internet signal's a bit ropey.

So far, though, this is looking like being a great trip!

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Wednesday 24th June 2009
By Steve Read

Grab your Bras for the Godmother of the Equinox

JUST before I set off to Greece, I learned great news about the godmother of the CELEBRITY EQUINOX.

The ship will be named by Nina Barough, founder of the Walk The Walk breast cancer charity which has raised more than £48 million in the last 12 years.

She helped organise the first event in which fund-raisers - not necessarily women - walk in their bras, now a worldwide phenomenon.

A year later Nina discovered that she had breast cancer herself.

She will name the 122,000-ton Celebrity Equinox in Southampton on July 29.

● I HAVE some footage of the ship's backwards "conveyance" down the River Ems in Germany at the weekend, which I've tagged onto the end of today's video diary.

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Will the QE2 Sail Again?

THERE was also a story flying around yesterday that the QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 might sail again, less than a year after she was sold for £50 million to become a luxury floating hotel in Dubai.

The ship has been languishing in Port Rashid for the last eight months, with new owners Nakheel making no progress with their hotel plan.

Reports suggest that the Port of Southampton has been approached with a view to the ship coming back to the city which was her home for 40 years.

BUT ... and there are some big buts ...

Nakheel deny it, the Port of Southampton won't comment on it, and if this was such a good idea Cunard would have thought of it already.

If anything, the ship could be moved to South Africa where SOLAS 2010 (Safety Of Life At Sea) regulations, which forced the QE2 to retire, don't apply.

Getting her shipshape to resume cruising without the massive refit required by SOLAS would be financially viable.

I'll let you know if I hear anything more.

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Tuesday 23rd June 2009

By Steve Read

→ Video Version Available

Tick Tock, Tick Tock...

THE run-up to tomorrow's launch of SEABOURN ODYSSEY in Venice isn't going exactly according to plan.

It's always a rush to get ships finished on time, but they're taking it right to the wire.

Some suites aren't finished, the spa's pool isn't open ... and there are, ahem, "plumbing issues" with some of the cabins.

And "technical challenges" meant a run out to sea yesterday, which would have let Seabourn open the ship's shops and casino, had to be cancelled.

I'm almost glad I wasn't invited!

My friend Fran Golden, one of America's top travel journalists, is on the ship and says the luxury shines through despite the problems.

She says: "What we can see in the mostly completed ship is that the Odyssey is a contemporary stunner."

You can see Fran's film of the 32,000-ton, 450-passenger ship in today's video diary.

The ship will be sailing the eastern Mediterranean until autumn, when she moves to the Caribbean.

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Celebrity Dining

CELEBRITY Cruises are introducing the option of open dining across the fleet this autumn.

They are one of the last major cruise lines to bring in open seating.

But it seems they have learned from the mistakes of others, who rushed in "just turn up" systems and had huge problems making it work when lots turned up at once demanding a table.

Celebrity will have a reservations system, with tables bookable even before the cruise starts.

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Living the Life of Luxury

I'M off to Athens now, for a look at two other luxury cruise ships that couldn't be more different.

First I'll be joining Oceania's INSIGNIA for a little run across to Valletta, Malta.

Oceania's three 30,277-ton ships - the others are identical sisters NAUTICA and REGATTA - are described as being like "faux English country clubs".

They carry only 680 passengers, the dress code is "flexible smart casual" (I'll let you know what that means!) and I'm looking forward to the entertainment which features a classical quartet and a 12-piece orchestra.

Then I'll be hopping across to Civitavecchia, the port for Rome, to board Star Clippers' ROYAL CLIPPER - the world's largest fully-rigged sailing ship.

I'll be brushing up on my nautical words (what's the difference between a mizzen and a topgallant?) as I join the other 97 passengers for a few days, heading back to Malta via Capri.

Stay tuned for daily video diaries from both ships - there won't be one tomorrow, the first will be on Thursday from the Insignia.

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Monday 22nd June 2009

By Steve Read

→ Video Version Available

Oprah Sets Sail

OPRAH WINFREY has chartered the NORWEGIAN GEM to treat her staff to a holiday - all 1,723 of them!

They all boarded the ship in Barcelona today for a two-week cruise to Rome, Messina in Sicily, Santorini, Izmir and Istanbul in Turkey, Athens and Valletta, Malta.

It is costing the star - one of the world's richest women - more than $9 million to charter the ship.

She could hardly have chosen a better ship, the Norwegian Gem is one of my favourites.

It must be nice to have a generous, caring boss like that. One who looks after the staff, rewards their hard work and apprecia...

(Stop moaning and get on with your work! Ed.)

A Right Royal Fire

THE engine room fire on the ROYAL PRINCESS was worse than originally thought - her current and next cruises have been cancelled.

Passengers have been flown home with a full refund - even though the first five days of the 12-day cruise were fine - and 25 per cent off what they paid as credit towards a future cruise.

The fire broke out while the ship was leaving Port Said, Egypt. The 633 passengers were flown home from Cairo over the weekend.

Passengers slept out on the open decks because the fire knocked out the air conditioning.

The ship will have to go into a dockyard to be repaired.

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See the World in Luxury

A WORLD cruise on a Cunard liner is the ultimate in luxury - and yet the cost per day can be cheaper than a trip around the Med.

In 2011 you could sail on all three ships, all around the world, for less than £10,000 - that's under £100 a day.

You would cross from Southampton to Sydney on the QUEEN ELIZABETH, then switch to the QUEEN MARY 2 for the voyage home.

The Queen Elizabeth, still under construction, will sail from Southampton on January 5, 2011, heading west on a 103-day round-the-world cruise calling at 38 ports in 23 countries and passing through both the Panama  and Suez canals.

A week later, on January 13, the Queen Mary 2 will leave New York, first going to South America before turning east towards Australia, then heading back via the Suez Canal.

Fares start at £9,618 and go up to £120,000 for the top suites. Bookings open on July 1 - my friends over at the Sky Travel cruise desk have all the tricky details.

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Friday 19th June 2009

By Steve Read

The grass is greener...

→ Video Version Available

CELEBRITY EQUINOX, the second Solstice-class ship with real grass on the roof, makes her first journey to the sea tonight – backwards.

She will travel along the River Ems from the shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, with only feet to spare on either side.

I was on the original CELEBRITY SOLSTICE last year when she made the same journey – called “the conveyance” by the Meyer Werft shipbuilders.

For a cruise nerd like me it was a great experience, wandering around areas of the ship which later become “crew only”, seeing miles of cables hanging out of walls in what looked like unfathomable tangles – and marvelling at their confidence that she’d be ready on time.

Celebrity Equinox takes her first cruise from Southampton on July 31, eight nights up to the Norwegian fjords. I’ll be getting on the ship a few days earlier to bring you some video of what she’s like.

Three things that I know already:

After various experiments with the grass on Celebrity Solstice – which originally began to fade too quickly – they’ve now got the mix just right.

The main restaurant, mostly white and silver on Celebrity Solstice, is apparently mostly decorated in black.

And the ship’s godmother will be British, and not from the world of showbiz. Celebrity won’t say who it is until nearer the time.

The ship will do a few Mediterranean cruises before moving over to the States where she will remain, sailing around the Caribbean.

Next year CELEBRITY ECLIPSE, third in the series, launches ... and she will be based in the UK.

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Playing with fire...

MANY passengers grumble when, before their cruise sets sail, they have to take part in a compulsory safety drill - go their cabins, put on their lifejackets and go to their muster station.

It’s usually the only time you see your lifejacket, and I bet most can’t remember their muster station’s location the next day.  

There was an emergency for real this week on the ROYAL PRINCESS, when a fire broke out in the engine room.

Passengers were kept at their muster stations - on Princess they keep you in lounges inside the ship, not lined up outside by the lifeboats - for several hours.

The ship is now spending two extra days at Port Said, while technicians are flown in to assess the damage and decide what happens next.

She was on a Holy Land cruise from Rome to Athens via Ashdod, the port for Jerusalem, and Haifa.

While the ship is being examined, passengers are being offered excursions to the pyramids and Cairo.

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By Steve Read

Wind farms instead of a new port terminal for Falmouth

→ Video Version Available

SOMETIMES I wonder whether I'm in the wrong job.

The town of Falmouth, in Cornwall, has just been told it won't be getting the millions it needs to dredge the harbour and build a port terminal capable of taking big cruise liners.

But that decision only came after an exhaustive survey on whether the dredging would affect the fishes.

The answer? No - they'll swim somewhere else.

The survey's cost?  £410,000.

Nice work if you can get it.

A new terminal would bring about £2.7 million a year into the local economy, enabling ships up to 150,000 tons - that's like NORWEGIAN EPIC (see below) - to tie up alongside.

But the South West Regional Development Agency, which had given "conditional support" to the plan, has now said it won't be helping pay for it to be built.

Instead it is concentrating on building wave machines and wind farms.

The Epic is ready for the water

THE last bit of the NORWEGIAN EPIC has been put into place - a 563-ton block containing the ship's exclusive Garden Villa suites.

It means she's now ready to be put into the water for the first time.

That will happen next month, when the dry dock at the STX Europe shipyard at St Nazaire, France, is flooded.

It took an hour for the block - which NCL helpfully say is the weight of 64 elephants - to be guided into position.

The 153,000-ton ship will go into service next May, carrying 4,200 passengers.

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Wednesday 17th June 2009

By Steve Read

PLENTY has been going on while I've been away on the COSTA PACIFICA, so here's a catch-up of the latest cruise news...

Over the side...

→ Video Version Available

TWO passengers on Carnival cruise ships went overboard in a single day - one lived, one is still missing.

The survivor was a man who climbed onto the rail to get a better look at the pilot boat approaching the CARNIVAL IMAGINATION near Tampa, Florida.

He was found clinging to a marker buoy and rescued by the US Coast Guard.

I've said it before, but if you're worried about the dangers of travelling on a cruise ship, I want to assure you that falling off the side of the ship simply isn't possible unless you were trying something dangerous.

Blown away...

OASIS OF THE SEAS passed her sea trials - but a balloon fastened to the ship spectacularly didn't.

The blimp was an experiment which may have led to passengers getting aerial rides while the ship is at sea.

But it became untethered and drifted away across the Baltic Sea. It was unmanned and picked up later.

With zip lines, climbing walls, an ice rink, carousel and a park, maybe balloon rides are a step too far?

Chairman Richard Fain says: "If we don't use it on the ship, I will consider it just another of the many ideas our people develop that didn't work.

"On the other hand, if it is successful and we do decide to use it on the ship, I will consider it another of my better ideas."

Maybe he should send for former Concorde pilot Capt Tim Orchard, whose hot-air balloon went up from the SAGA RUBY the other week with no problems at all.

Bowled over...

BOWLING alleys are being installed on MSC SPLENDIDA, which is being launched next month in Barcelona.

They are scaled-down versions, with shorter lanes and smaller balls than the full-size ones featured on NORWEGIAN GEM and NORWEGIAN PEARL.

They'll be located in the ship's sports bar, which will be open to passengers of all ages.

Red alert...

AT the naming of COSTA PACIFICA and COSTA LUMINOSA, a display by the Italian air display team Frecce Triccolori wowed thousands of guests and on television.

Meanwhile back in Britain, the SAGA RUBY had a own private display by the RAF Red Arrows - watched by just 650 passengers!

The exclusive display, while the ship was near Holy Island at the Forth estuary, was a surprise organised by Capt Philip Rentell when he visited the Red Arrows in Cyprus earlier this year.

He writes: "As the ship proceeded at ten knots they criss-crossed behind us just a few hundreds yards away, seemingly only feet apart, and then came back time after time, completing all the displays in their repertoire, lights on, smoke on, adrenaline on.

 "Twenty-four minutes just went in a second, or so it seemed, and the passengers were overjoyed. What a surprise and what a performance, and it was a British performance. We can do some things right!"

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Tuesday 16th June 2009

By Steve Read, reflecting on "Rome Alone" from the Costa Pacifica

→ Video Version Available

ROME is about 90 minutes away from the nearest cruise port, Civitavecchia, so the biggest question is how to get there.

You could get the ships transfer coach (about €45 return), take one of the official guided tours (about €100), or you can do it yourself for €4.50 each way.

That's what I did on Sunday when the COSTA PACIFICA called there for the last stop of the cruise.

Civitavecchia's railway station is a 20 minute walk from the dock gates.

The train to Rome took just over an hour, whizzing through beautiful countryside before arriving at the mayhem of Termini station.

(If you want to see the Vatican, use San Pietro station instead of Termini and follow the signs.)

Take the first exit from the station (trains arrive on Platform 28) and bear right through the park opposite, and you'll be on your way to the Colosseum - Rome's biggest must-see sight - and the imposing Arch of Constantine.

Guides outside charge around €10 for a guided tour and they're well worth it.

Walk up the road - closed to traffic on Sundays, and populated with gladiators who'll pose for a couple of euros - and you'll see signs for the Trevi Fountain, where you should throw a coin over your shoulder to guarantee that you'll be back.

It's not far from there to the Spanish Steps, for another perfect Kodak moment.

Just make sure you allow enough time to get back to the station, the train journey back to Civitavecchia, and - easiest of all to forget - the walk back to the ship.

That's the only risk with doing 'Roma Alone'. If you're on a ship excursion, they won't sail without you. If you're doing your own thing and you're late, the ship won't wait.

Sunday night, as we sailed to the disembarkation port of Savona, was time to pack for the journey back to Britain - and for a bit of a shock.

Costa, like many cruise ships, check your onboard spending every night against your credit card, to make sure you've enough to pay for it. Although the don't actually take the money until the last night, it puts a "shadow" on the funds.

The effect is that you need at least twice as much money available on your credit card as your bill.

If not, you could be among the names broadcast over the PA the next morning, being urged to do the walk of shame: "Mr Fred Bloggs of Cabin 1234 please contact the purser's desk."  In five languages.

I caught the train from Savona to Nice for the flight home, a beautiful ride along the Riviera through places like Monte Carlo and Villefranche.

The Costa Pacifica - "the ship of music" - is beautiful, the itinerary was great and for couples or families it's excellent.

I'm back on land for a few days now, so in the daily video diaries I'll be bringing you up to date with everything that's been happening while I've been away.

Well, nearly everything.

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Monday 14th June 2009

From Steve Read, on his way home from the Costa Pacifica

Staff say goodbye for a life at sea

→ Video Version Available

WAITERS, cabin stewards and barmen on cruise ships can be away from home for ten months a year.

As I stepped ashore from the Costa Pacifica in Palermo, Sicily, a group of Filipino crew was waiting to board.

One, a waitress, told me: "My husband is at home, which means we won't see each other for the rest of year."

Ten months! That takes an awful lot of trust.

Cruise ship work means big money by Filipino standards, which is why so many do it.

It was blisteringly hot in Palermo on Saturday - as you'll see from my bedraggled appearance in today's video.

Yesterday we were in Rome, and tomorrow I'll show you how I saw the main sights for €10.

And I'll be delivering my verdict on the brand new Costa Pacifica.

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