Cruise Lines

Strange to see MSC Cruises' UK managing director Claudia Baino is being replaced by the newly appointed Giulio Libutti, said to have a wealth of travel expertise, and in particular commercial airline experience.

Remind me what business MSC Cruises is in?

Baino, who is moving to MSC Corporate rather than leaving the company altogether, has only been at the helm in the UK for 16 months, but has done a lot to raise MSC's voice in the UK, both among the trade and consumers.

But it's still not enough - I have met plenty of regular cruisers who have never even heard of the cruiseline. Let's hope when Libutti takes over at the end of July he is not too distracted by the aviation stuff to build on Baino's success.

Sad to hear Cunard president and managing director Carol Marlow is stepping down as chairman of the Passenger Shipping Association after a two-year reign during which we have all come to know and love that red jacket and her upbeat words of wisdom about the cruise and ferry industries - and all spoken without a note in sight.

And so it was at the PSA's 50th anniversary dinner last night, fittingly held on P&O Cruises' new ship Ventura, which has been in Southampton for more than a week now so agents and past and potential passengers can have a look at Carnival UK's newest baby. More on that to come.

Marlow is handing over the PSA reins to Stena Line's general manager travel UK Lars Olsen this summer - it being the ferries' turn to head the association. You can't get fairer than that.

A new report out this week by cruise guru Tony Peisley concludes there is little evidence of a slowdown in fleet expansion despite the weak dollar, which has made ship building an even more expensive business than it already was.

In an analysis in Travel Weekly this week, I list the new builds on order between now and 2011 - 32 in all, and that excludes ships being built for the US or German markets that are unlikely ever to see a Brit on board. I agree. That certainly doesn't smack of a slowdown.

As the euro gathers strength, cruiselines might be cursing the money markets but new ships for new cruisers - 20 million worldwide by 2010, Peisley predicts - is what this industry is all about.

It has taken a lot of courage and hard work for the cruiselines to get where they are today, with cruising now an accepted holiday for people of all ages from all walks of life. They are not going to let a little financial fluctuation rock the boat.

Cunard is to ease the strain for single travellers in 2009, cutting the single supplement on Queen Mary 2 from 100% to 75% and even 50% on some voyages during April and on May 2 and 8 for those who get in quick.

It's about time. We hear so often - from the cruiselines themselves - what a wonderful holiday a cruise is for people on their own. And as one who regularly cruises on my own I agree. Except for those swingeing supplements.

Could this new-for-2009 decision have anything to do with Carnival UK chief commercial officer Peter Shanks' prediction in his company's 2008 cruise report that by 2020 we will have waved goodbye to single supplements?

I didn't realise at the time that actually he was hinting about what was to come rather than playing soothsayer, but now I look back at those words of wisdom, I see he also predicted that we would have (hopefully) figured out a foolproof way of smashing champagne bottles on the side of new ships.

Enter the Royal Marines, who will be guaranteeing a smashing time this week when P&O Cruises' Ventura is named in Southampton by Dame Helen Mirren.

I know I for one am going to listen more closely to Shanks' crystal-ball gazing. His obviously works better than Mystic Meg's.

Great to see that Princess Cruises is adding a Sanctuary area to all its ships over the next couple of years.

The Sanctuary is an area on the top deck of Crown and Emerald Princess (it will also be on Ruby Princess when that launches in November) where only adults are allowed.

There's a canopy over the top to keep out the harsh rays of the sun, bushes that look real enough and rustle in the gentle breeze, cushioned sunbeds (including a few where couples can snuggle up), MP3 players to borrow and private cabanas where you can have a massage. It's all very indulgent and wonderfully exclusive because numbers are controlled and - isn't there always a catch - you have to pay for your piece of pampering.

To me, the Sanctuary is close to heaven, but I have to confess I didn't think it would catch on - cruisers are notorious for not wanting to pay for anything once they have splashed out on their cruise, especially things they reckon they have already paid for in the price.

Just this time, I'm truly happy to have been proved wrong.

What a coup for Cunard.

The Queen is journeying down to Southampton on June 2 to bid farewell to the QE2, the ship she named at Clydebank on September 20 1967.

Since then the vessel, which has to be the best known ship in the world, has sailed into the record books by travelling more than 5.6 million nautical miles. It has carried 2.5 million guests, completed 25 world cruises and crossed the Atlantic 802 times.

QE2 leaves Cunard and the UK forever in November, when it sets sail from Southampton for Dubai to take up its new duty as a luxury floating hotel.

If I had a stall selling handkerchiefs, I know where I would be that day...

The phones have been going mad at MSC towers in London ever since the no-expense-spared launch of MSC Poesia in Dover earlier this month, I hear. Lunches are off and even MSC Cruises managing director Claudia Baino and UK chairman Peter Pate have had to step in to help answer the phones.

Following on from my article on cruising and the environment in Travel Weekly this week, I see Costa Cruises and Steiner Leisure, the company that operates Costa's on-board spas, are marking International Earth Day today by planting a tree for every spa treatment taken.

It's not quite a wellies and spade job for the environmentally-friendly duo because they are actually donating $1 to the Arbour Day Foundation, which does all the digging.

However, they are hoping enough people will be rubbed, wrapped and oiled in just one day to plant 10,000 trees. As they say, from small acorns...

What's this I read?

That the two Royal Marines we saw on camera smashing two bottles of bubbly against the side of P&O Cruises' Ventura during the naming ceremony were a pre-recorded con.

Rumour is that anyone watching on the quay would have seen that on the day, one didn't actually break. What we saw was a film made to cover up in case of just such an eventuality.

If it is true, it's a real shame and raises all sorts of questions about decency and honesty. More to the point, isn't it just a little worrying that our trained combat troops are not up to smashing a bottle of Champagne against such a hard object as a ship's hull?

Paddington Bear is having another go at this cruising lark 50 years after his last trip to sea. The bear, you will remember, arrived in this country on a ship from Peru. Now he's off again, joining Ocean Village's two ships - the original Ocean Village and Ocean Village Two - as they sail the Med this summer.

He'll find things have changed a bit - there's none of that fixed dining business with OV and there'll be lots of kids to play with in the Base Camp children's club during school holidays. Packing, of course, will be easy as casual all the way is the order of the OV day. A hat to keep off the sun and jacket in case it rains will do just fine.

I trust marmalade sandwiches will be added on Ocean Village's menus.

The April conveyor belt of new ship launches continues with news that Aker Yards in Turku, Finland, handed over the keys for Royal Caribbean International's new ship Independence of the Seas yesterday.

Indie is now on its way to Oslo, so the Norwegians can get a look-see, and then it will be coming to Southampton for more festivities and fun.

It will be named on April 30 - not by a celeb, but by Elizabeth Hill from Chesterfield in Derbyshire, an ordinary Brit (which is a first for Royal Caribbean) who has been picked for her extraordinary work with children and young people.

Independence will sail its maiden summer season from the south coast port.

With the Royal Marines lined up to abseil down the side of the ship and smash the bubbly (after Queen Victoria's naming, when the Champagne bottle failed to smash, P&O Cruises wasn't taking any chances!), Ventura's naming ceremony was always going to be different.

But wow, never did I dream they would put on such a fun show for the 1,500 or so agents, celebrities (Rowan Atkinson, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Celia Imrie, Stephen Tompkinson and Cherie Lunghi to name but a few) and hacks who had travelled to Southampton for the big day.

For about 20 minutes, I actually forgot just how cold I was in my evening finery, standing open to the April elements on the top deck of the ship.

Picture it if you will. P&O Cruises' managing director Nigel Esdale appears on stage, a female agent from TV show Spooks starts dashing around, yelling into a wrist mic and and then M – aka acress Patricia Hodges - appears on a big screen with a "smashing" mission that only one man was deemed capable of completing.

The latest 007 blockbuster movie had started.

We saw Samantha Bond as Moneypenny, cameo rolls for Roger Moore, Bond villain Jonathan Pryce and news reader Selina Scott (not quite sure of the 007 link there; any suggestions welcome), before the camera turned on Dame Helen Mirren, the godmother to be, being escorted through the ship by the Royal Marines.

Cheers erupted as she appeared on stage, laughing and smiling. I'm sure she was enjoying it as much as we were. The all-important words uttered, two marines went over the side and smashed the bubbly. As we were showered by streamers, fireworks lit up the night sky.

I feel rather sorry for Royal Caribbean International, which is next on April's cruise ship naming conveyor belt. How can you beat that with just two weeks to go?

I think it's time for a proverbial pat on the back as first news of what's on Royal Caribbean International's new 220,000 monster ship, code-named Genesis, comes out.

Here's what I predicted in my cruise column on the Telegraph website in December last year.

I’m betting on inside balcony cabins, overlooking the Royal Promenade – a “street” that cuts through the centre of the ship and is a trademark of its new vessels...

The picture shows what we can actually expect. This is Central Park, on deck 8, open to the elements, with trees and shrubs and look - inside balcony cabins.

It will have a cafe and Vintages wine bar (both in the Royal Promenade), Chops Grille, which is on the other big ships but by the self-service, and a swanky new-to-Royal Caribbean restaurant called 150 Central Park.

And look what else I wrote:

...and restaurants fore and aft, breaking design tradition, so passengers at the front don’t have to walk all the way to the back every time they want to eat.

OK, so I was talking more about the self-service and main dining rooms, but guess what? Central Park is in the centre of the ship; likewise its restaurants. Not quite fore and aft but on the right track.

I admit I've not been over excited by the idea of a ship that holds 5,400 people - which makes it twice the size of my village - but having seen this first picture, I am starting to get a bit of a tingle...

It was enough to bring a tear to even the most hardened cynic - well almost - as Elizabeth Hill admitted being chosen as godmother of Royal Caribbean International's new ship, Independence of the Seas, was like a dream.

"Ordinary people like me don't do this sort of thing," she told the packed 1,320-seat theatre. "I am sure I'm going to wake up any minute."

Of course, that was the whole point of her being there. Royal Caribbean wanted an ordinary woman who has done extraordinary things ... and that's what they got. A farmer's wife from Derbyshire, Elizabeth works tirelessly to help young people and adults with physical and learning disabilities through a centre on the farm where they can learn horticulture, art, pottery, how to work with animals and a host of other skills.

"I'd like to thank my husband, because it's his farm. And my family. And my daughter. This is starting to sound like an Oscar's speech, isn't it?" Well yes, but carry on Liz, because there's not a dry eye in the house, especially after we learned that daughter Alicia, coincidentally celebrating her 13th birthday as mum was doing her godmother bit, nominated her mother and said she hoped if she won she might get to go on a cruise and have a holiday.

Unlike other recent namings this was not all about celebrities. We had Scottish pipers, Irish dancing and God save the Queen to mark the fact the ship is sailing out of Southampton. And that oh so American cruise director Ken Rush, who has this way of referring to England as if it is one of the colonies. Forgive me, but I'm sure it used to be the other way around?

Sadly, the Champagne bottle didn't break - and this time there wasn't a back-up film (look back at previous blogs to read of P&O Cruises' con trick). What bad luck - literally. But a word of advice for Elizabeth: Next time you name a ship, don't put your hands to your face in agony when the bottle bounces. We were almost fooled by the loud explosion as the bottle hit the hull!

Bad news this week for cruisers and agents trying to sell cruises. Hot on the heels of Royal Caribbean's decision to hike its surcharges, there's news of a similar move by deluxe line Oceania Cruises.

Anyone booking Oceania from May 1 will pay an extra $10 per person per day, which as anyone with basic maths will know is $70 a week and $100 for a 10-night cruise. Not an insignificant extra when you consider that passengers will also be forking out a similar amount at the end of their cruise in gratuities, not to mention what they have to pay for drinks, shore excursions, spa treatments and all the other extras that make cruising so enjoyable.

Clients booking with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises or Azamara Cruises are now paying £4 per person per day, but no more than £56 per cruise.

In the Telegraph this week, I note that senior management is amazingly calm about the amount of new tonnage being launched against a credit-crunching background of rising prices.

But I wonder how much higher these supplements can go before clients start to feel enough is enough. And what then happens to all this extra capacity? Discounting?

Lower prices might be great for clients and help fill the ships, but at what price? It's a dangerous one-way street road where none but the very skilled can manage a u-turn.

Foodies will have a field day this October, when Crystal Cruises sets sail with a wine and food festival. They might not have lined up top TV celebs, but if the executive chef of the Dorchester Hotel and owner of Michy's in Miami can't cook up a cruise to remember, then no one can.

Onboard there'll be cookery demonstrations and tastings; on port days Crystal has lined up cooking lessons in Sorrento and wine-tasting in Sicily among other gourmet delights.

Luckily both Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony have big gyms where passengers will be able to run off all that food.

Congratulations to Cunard and Queen Victoria, which has just appeared on Conde Nast Traveller's Hot List of top hotels and spas around the world. Not bad going for a ship that launched less than five months ago.

The magazine's editors noted:

"she is a grand ship that harks back to the romantic era of cruising"

and refers to its sober yet elegant design. Couldn't have put it better myself.

If only all cruiseship entertainment could be like this. Imagine: a warm spring day, another new ship in Southampton, 1,500 consumers on board waiting to be impressed - and out comes Scouting for Girls to give a live concert by the pool.

The ship, in case you've lost track, is Royal Caribbean International's Independence of the Seas. It arrived in Southampton on Friday and is playing host to visiting trade and those consumers (all competition winners, on for Saturday night only) before it is named on Wednesday.

So there we all were around the pool, waiting for the band to come on and music from Goldfinger strikes up. What is it with 007? P&O Cruises chose a Bond theme for the naming of Ventura and here he was again. All to do with the song "James Bond", which I trust fans will already have guessed (I knew the song, had heard of the band - well only just, to be honest! - but hadn't put the two together).

It was a good gig, short and sweet, ending with the band jumping in the pool, much to the delight of the audience.

Will they be back on board? Sadly no. They were there because Virgin Radio stumped up the cash to celebrate its 15th anniversary. If you cruise with Indie, you'll be back to the likes of that evening's show, Under the Big Top, which is a terrific cure for insomniacs, and the ice show, which had good costumes and accomplished skating, but all was overshadowed for my money by the violinist.

Aker Yards shipyard in St Nazaire, France, is an awfully long way to go to see a piece of steel lowered to the ground, but there is something rather special about being there at the start of a new ship build.

This time it was for the birth of F3, Norwegian Cruise Line's next new ship - 150,000 tons, 4,200 passengers. Two of these giants are due to launch within months of each other in 2010.

Before going to the shipyard we dropped in on the place where they are developing the cabins, where NCL president and chief executive office Colin Veitch gave us a taste of just how different this ship promises to be (look out for details in Travel Weekly next week).

We also each struck a coin bearing the F3 name (I trust they will come up with a snappier one soon, as also for the next biggie, which currently goes under the moniker F3 - 2).

Then it was to the shipyard, a few more words from Veitch and the first piece of the keel - number 5006, weighing 322 tons - was lowered into place. Once it had landed, beside an unflinching mistress of ceremonies, we all placed our coins in a box that was welded shut and will be forever part of the first F3.

Good news for river cruise companies from cruise.co.uk this week. It reckons river cruising is where ocean was 10 years ago and poised to grow, so it has made its first foray into the market. River cruises are now featured on the web site along with news, deals and more

Apparently clients aged 55-plus with large disposable incomes are driving the demand, which I don't doubt. But if it really is where ocean cruising was a decade ago, then surely it's time river cruise companies took another leaf out of the ocean book and tried to widen the appeal by developing the product to appeal to 30 or 40-somethings and families?

Families? Well why not? River cruising is a terrific way to see some of Europe's great cities and it's very educational for children, but none of the operators do anything to keep youngsters entertained as the boats cruise from one place to another.

I'm not talking big kids' clubs - these are small boats after all - but why not a room where they can paint or draw, play on computers, or where teens could hang out away from prying parents. Maybe the river cruise companies could even try family cruises, less formal but still desirable, so kids won't irritate the blue-rinse brigade, and vice-versa.

As more agents move in on the river market, maybe this is the time to take a giant step into the 21st century.

Interesting to see that Cyprus-based Louis Cruise Lines has acquired the Norwegian Dream and Norwegian Majesty from Star Cruises, the Malaysian-based cruise company that owns half of Norwegian Cruise Line.

And interesting that Thomson Cruises has decided not to renew the charter for Louis Cruises' ancient but much-loved Emerald from October this year.

See where I'm going with this?

Director of cruising for Tui Travel mainstream division David Selby is being typically non-commital about Thomson's plans, saying only:

When the right opportunity comes along, which we are sure it will, we will announce it.

Could this be a classic case of London bus syndrome? One minute you are hoping for one opportunity, then two come along at once.

Louis Cruise Lines' Aquamarine had to make an emergency stop in Milos after a five-foot breach in the ship's hull was discovered. That's a hole to you and me.

According to Cruise Critic, the ship safely docked carrying 872 passengers and 407 crew, all of whom are expected to stay on board while emergency repair work is carried out. Cruise Critic reports:

A spokesman for Louis Cruise Lines blamed the ship's contact with the pier [while departing from Iraklion, Crete] on high winds and the pier's lack of protective rubber fenders, and said that the damage never posed any danger to passengers.

Nevertheless, it must have brought back chilling memories for Louis and the passengers. Last year, its ship Sea Diamond struck a reef in Santorini and sank, losing two French passengers, presumed dead. Aquamarine was due to go to Santorini before changing course to Milos.

Just back from a meeting with Bernard Carter, sales and marketing director UK and Europe for Oceania Cruises, and I'm pleased to report all is well in its upper premium world.

Except for August 12, that is. Oceania has wait lists for wait lists on all its ships for much of the rest of the year - what's that about a credit crunch? - but Nautica's August 12 12-night sailing in the Med is proving about as popular as the proverbial ham sandwich at a Jewish wedding.

OK, so that's an exaggeration, but there's enough space left for Oceania to have been inspired to come up with some incredible offers - £818 per person for an inside cabin. It is cruise-only and it is an inside room, but you can have a balcony for £1,126 per person, which is a real bargain.

Don't blink or you'll miss them...

I was amazed to read this week that Louis Cruise Lines has sold the 42-year-old Princesa Marissa. Not because it has been sold; more that Louis still had the ship in the first place.

I had the misfortune to sail on it once, thankfully for just two nights, and have to say it was a perfect example of how not to do it - a dingy cabin. iffy food and cheesy entertainment.

Worst of all, when we boarded in Limassol, Cyprus, the ship was listing, which made me doubly alert on the lifeboat drill.

Thankfully I survived the experience and even carried on cruising (there is surely a film there somewhere?) despite their best efforts to put me off.

Incidentally, Louis has also sold the Serenade, which unbelievably was even older (it has another 10 years on Marissa), as part of a fleet upgrade programme. You may remember it has just bought Norwegian Dream and Norwegian Majesty from Norwegian Cruise Line.

Now we know why.

Another ship is leaving Norwegian Cruise Line's NCL America, the US-flagged company with mostly American crew set up to cruise within Hawaii (others can cruise to the islands but there are strict cabotage laws that the NCL America operation was designed to circumvent).

According to Cruise Critic, Pride of Aloha will revert to being Norwegian Sky, go into dry dock for the casino to be put back (no gambling allowed in waters around the 50th state) and Freestyle 2.0 upgrades to be added, and will start sailing three and four-night cruises between Miami and the Bahamas in July.

The ship was originally going to join the Star Cruises' fleet - Star being the parent of NCL - having previously been deemed unsuitable for the investment needed on the upgraded amenities.

This is the second ship to leave NCL America - Pride of Hawaii has been reflagged and renamed Norwegian Jade and is now sailing in Europe - leaving just one vessel, Pride of America, whose future must also now be in serious doubt.

It's a shame but not a great surprise. NCL America has been dogged with problems since it started, not least because the Americans proved less then enthusiastic about spending months away from home on a cruise ship - and wanted proper wages to boot.

It's been a costly lesson but NCL deserves marks for trying.

The number of Europeans - including the British - taking a cruise has hit the four million mark two years earlier than expected.

According to the European Cruise Council, numbers leaped 17% last year to hit the new record, which is up from 2.6 million five years ago. The ECC had predicted four million in 2010.

The UK is way ahead of the rest with 1.3 million passengers. Germany comes second with 763,000, up 8% on 2006, followed by Italy at number three with 640,000 passengers, up 24% on the previous year.

Good to see that Ocean Village's ship Ocean Village the original (how I wish they could come up with something simpler - how about Ocean Village One given there is now an Ocean Village Two?) now has a Club Lounge.

Ocean Village Two, launched in April 2007, had a Club Lounge when I cruised on it last summer and it proved a fantastic place to get away from the masses and enjoy a much more personal service.

Of course there is a catch. It is only available to passengers staying in top-grade AA or BB suites and it costs £70 per person. But for that you get unlimited access to the lounge, continental breakfast, afternoon tea, unlimited soft drinks, free alcohol served between 5pm and 8pm and free access to the Internet, so it is a bit of a bargain. Even more so given children of lounge-paying passengers can go in for free and still get the free soft drinks.

Nice move OV. Now how about that name?

This month's prize for the most contrived cruising link has to go Trips Worldwide for the following:

She weighs more than 80,000 family cars or 32,000 adult elephants and at 1,112 ft. is longer than 37 double-decker buses… If you don’t fancy rubbing shoulders with 3,999 other passengers, a holiday aboard the new 160,000-ton Independence of the Seas may not be for you…

Tailor-made specialist, Trips Worldwide, has opted for more bijou vessels, Coral I & II (both around 108 ft. long) for its four-night Galapagos wildlife cruise, part of a longer two-week itinerary that includes a stay at Huaorani Ecolodge in Amazonian Ecuador. Departures from London by air are available daily.

The words bandwagon and jumping spring to mind. Any other entries gratefully received...

I've come across the sad story of Bill Burr on the TW Blog, a regular cruiser who has just discovered that all is not as it seems when cruiselines recommend certain shops in ports around the world.

Recently I was quite dismayed to learn that one of my favourite shops [in Gibraltar] is not one of the 'recommended' shops promoted by the shopping lecturers aboard ship. When I questioned the owner, I was shocked to learn that he had been asked, not only for a large sum of money for advertising, but also for hefty percentages of whatever the shop sells to 'recommended passengers'.

I can't believe it! Or maybe I'm just a little gullible, but I always thought that Shopping Lecturers were working for the benefit of the passengers. Now I find that all they are doing is lining their pockets by pushing hapless shoppers into shops that are, in all likelihood, more expensive than their competitors (after all, they have to pay thousands of dollars for the privilege!).

Maybe I'm just a little cynical, but I assumed cruiselines were doing this for money from the moment I took my first cruise and have therefore always steered clear of shops brandishing cruiseline stickers.

In fact I can't believe Mr Burr really thought cruiselines were expending time and energy on port talks to get nothing in return. They want you to buy what are often very expensive excursions and spend money in shops that will give them a kick back.

After all, they are not charities and if they want to keep the headline costs of cruises as low as possible, they have to make their money elsewhere.

I wrote a piece for my Telegraph column recently on cruising in a "bubble" that included the following:

Go on a cruise to the Caribbean and the ships’ daily newsletters will even have a map of “approved” shops where it is safe to buy.

Safe to buy? Whatever happened to caveat emptor? If the price seems too good to be true, chances are it is, but if it shines and you like it, do you really need cruise ship approval before you buy?

The same can equally be said on Gibraltar or anywhere else around the world you end up on a cruise.

I note that Mr Burr cruises a lot with Royal Caribbean. He may be interested to know that on a trip to the Baltic with Princess Cruises, I was given very detailed information on how to get into the cities where it was not obvious, even in Gdynia, where they explained how to get to the train station (taxi), buy a ticket (not so easy in small town Poland where they don't speak English and my attempts at Russian were not appreciated!) and catch the train to Gdansk.

Princess is not faultless, if indeed recommending shops for a percentage payback is a fault, because they also have their recommended lists at various ports. But I really appreciated the fact they were doing something for passengers that did not make them a penny, but saved me plenty.

Interesting letter in Travel Weekly this week about gratuities, which always manage to raise a few heckles among the British cruising fraternity. Why? Well as the letter says, a tip is supposed to a reward for good service. Ah yes. But not where cruising is concerned.

On a cruise, the gratuity is an extra cost dressed up as a tip to save cruise lines having to pay crew higher wages, which they don't want to do as it would mean having to charge more for the cruise itself.

How else can you explain the fact that Royal Caribbean International allows passengers to pre-pay their gratuity? So you are rewarding service before you have even stepped onto a ship. Make sense of that. Or that Costa Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line have replaced gratuities with compulsory service charges?

Other lines automatically add the gratuity to your on-board account and you can ask for it to be taken off or for the amount to be reduced, but it takes a hard person to dare look so mean.

Cruise lines argue that putting the tip on the bill is for passengers own good. Saves them having to find lots of extra cash at the end of a holiday - and it is a lot. From about £30 per person per week, which is £120 if you are travelling with the family. So they have a point.

But it would be a stronger point if they asked when passengers check in,"would you like us to add the £5 a day gratuity to your cruise account?" - and then explain the reasons. I suspect there is the likelihood too many would say no, which is not what the cruise lines want.

I have heard a prominent cruise line CEO say he would love to remove gratuities and pay crew more (OK, not his exact words, but it's what he meant) if other lines did the same, but he wasn't going to put himself at a competitive disadvantage. Understandable.

The big question is why the Brits - and the Spanish also, I am told - dislike tipping so much. Cruise lines say we are mean, embarrassed, not sure how much to tip (which is why they tell us).

I think it's more that we dislike being told what to do. Get the Brits on a package holiday and they will follow their tour leader over a cliff, but when it comes to money they want to think for themselves, tip because they want to, because they feel have had good service.

There is also something not quite fair - or British! - about going up to a bar to get a drink and having to tip for the pleasure.

There are ways to escape tipping. It's not the done thing on a luxury line - affluent cruisers don't want to be troubled by anything so common as money! - but then you pay a lot for the privilege.

At the other end of the scale, cruise lines like Island Cruises, Ocean Village and Thomson Cruises, aimed squarely at the Brits, have got it right by taking tipping out the equation.But I bet many passengers also leave something for their cabin steward/ess or favourite barman as a genuine thank you. It would be interesting to find out.

Agents who attended the first day of the Association of Cruise Experts' cruise convention in Southampton yesterday had a great opportunity not just to see Crown Princess, which was on its way to Copenhagen to start a summer season of sailings in the Baltic, but also pick up some really practical and helpful hints and tips on how to profit from selling cruising from Princess Cruises head of brand marketing Pieter van der Schee (there is a repeat presentation on Monday so don't panic if you missed it).

This was the event ACE business development director Andy Harmer didn't think could happen. With the three-day convention proper starting Monday, he reckoned maybe 50 agents would turn out for the Friday Premiere.

In the event, there were 150 or so (and many of them are so keen to learn more they will be back in Southampton on Monday for the rest of the convention) which means a total 850 agents will be attending the convention over the four days.

That's an incredible result considering the American equivalent of ACE only manages to attract 1,000 agents. Just think how many more agents there are in the US!

If you are one of the many who was too late to secure a place at the convention, keep an eye on Travel Weekly, which will be reporting all the news and views from the event.

And remember to follow the advice you give your customers next year and book early! 

Cruising fans of Carrie and the girls will be in seventh heaven with Princess Cruises' decision to show the entire first series of Sex and the City on Sea Princess' Movies under the Stars big screen as the ship cruises out of Southampton this summer.

A reason to book? For some, maybe. I remember trying to watch this once on TV, but went back to watching paint dry as it was more exciting. Just what was the point?

At last, only four months after I was due to get a first glimpse of Balmoral, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines' new ship, I am on board.

Formerly Norwegian Crown, the vessel was acquired from Norwegian Cruise Line last year and has been stretched - literally it was cut in half and a new bit inserted - so it takes around 400 more passengers.

It was due to set out on its maiden voyage under Fred Olsen colours in January but the work overran and the first cruise was delayed until February.

Is it Fred still? Actually yes. Despite being bigger, it does have that oh so British Fred feel that ageing Olsen groupies know and love. Not quite so intimate though, and there are more lost souls aged over 60 wandering around, still not sure where everything is.

More interesting still... yes, you can see the join.

With its yacht-style cruising and fares that take your breath away (yes, I know, they are all-inclusive but even so!), there are some who would say Yachts of Seabourn is already in with the in-crowd.

However, it gets even more "in" for 2010, when the ships will be making more calls at that jet-set heaven otherwise known as the France Riviera. St Raphael, Bandol and Antibes are all slated for visits, as are a few other millionaire playgrounds - Portofino in Italy, St Barts in the Caribbean, the Isles of Scilly. Where? Don't worry I do know - have actually been there a few times - and while it might not quite be up there with the rest, it's a beautiful place nonetheless.

2010 also marks Seabourn's first world cruise, on Seabourn Odyssey, which launches in June 2009, expanding the ultra luxury segment of the cruise industry for the first time in six years, according to president and CEO Pamela Conover.

As it's the first of three Seabourn ships on order, each for 450 passengers, and Silversea is building too, could it be that luxury is not longer a luxury, it's a necessity?

It's been a busy time at the Aker Yard in St Nazaire, France. Norwegian Cruise Lines' F3 keel-laying last month, a coin-laying ceremony for MSC Cruises' Magnifica this.

Like smashing Champagne, coin laying is all about good luck. MSC laid a specially-minted gold coin bearing the City of Venice coat of arms on one side and the cruiseline's logo on the other, Aker Yards laid a 1978 50 French francs silver coin.

Magnifica will be a sister to the newly-launched MSC Poesia, have 1,259 cabins and carry a maximum 3,779 passengers. It will join the fleet in spring 2010.

All this talk of holes and breaches has not gone down well at Louis Cruise Lines.

They reckon Aquamarine's hull suffered "cosmetic damage" that was above the water line so there was never any danger to passengers.

The ship docked at Milos for a sticking plaster repair and is being fixed in Piraeus today. It is due to leave the port this evening on its next sailing.

Passengers are being compensated for missing Santorini, which was the last port. There were no Brits on board.

Forty-one years after smashing a bottle of bubbly against Cunard's QE2, the Queen will be in Southampton on Monday to bid the ship a fond farewell.

The ship, for anyone who has been on Mars, has been sold to the Dubai government to become a floating hotel, and sets off for its new home in November after a series of sell-out farewell voyages.

The Queen will tour of the ship, meet some of the crew and then settle down to lunch with former prime minister Baroness Thatcher.

On a signal from the Queen, Cadet Jennifer Haynes will sound QE2's whistle to salute Queen Mary 2, which will also be in port. Being very polite, Queen Mary 2 will respond with a whistle.

There won't be a dry eye in the house.

Want to know what luxury looks like?

Here's the hull of Yachts of Seabourn's new ship Seabourn Odyssey, on its way from the Gulf of Venice, where it was built, to the T Mariotti shipyard in Genoa, where the rest of the ship is being put together in time for its June 2009 launch.

It's Seabourn's first new ship for six years and will mark a big step forward for the ultra-lux line - or at least so we are told. Hard to picture from this giant lump of steel.

Passengers on Azamara Cruises, the better-than-Celebrity brand from the Royal Caribbean stable, had a real treat as their ship popped into London this week on the way from Barcelona to Copenhagen - namely what passes for a port in one of Europe's leading capital cities.

Port? Actually, it's a pontoon just down river from Tower Bridge that has been covered with portacabins that you weave through in order to get to the ship - and that's after enduring a tortuous tender transfer from the other side of the bridge.

No matter. There was a fabulous view of Tower Bridge from the aft end of the ship and it must have been fun squeezing through the Thames Barrier - for passengers at least. Captain Carl admitted he pulled his stomach in as he manoevered through with just 15 metres to spare on either side.

Thames boatmen notwithstanding, I finally managed to get on board with some of the top people from Royal Caribbean for what was a first glimpse of an Azamara ship for all.

Except it was a bit like deja-vu for anyone who has been on Princess Cruises' Royal Princess (Swan Hellenic's Minerva II as was) or any of the Oceania Cruises' ships.

Obviously Azamara Journey been tweaked here and there - actually there have been $19 million of tweaks to add 32 bigger suites, a cafe, bar and change the carpets. Sadly the money didn't stretch to real teak on the pool deck so there's a plastic faux alternative but the wooden sun loungers with comfy mattresses helps to make up for that.

They have also put in new alternative restaurants, which come with no charge (that's one of the better-than-Celebrity bits) and look lovely. But so does the eat-when-you-like main dining room. Again, so much more advanced than its X-rated big sister with its fixed dining.

And at the moment, as the brand is not yet well known, it doesn't cost any more, and sometimes even less. That's got to be well worth a second look.

The Brits have really caught on to Far East cruising Italian-style, a beaming Marco Rosa, UK managing director of Costa Cruises, tells me.

For the first time ever, he was able to report to HQ that his office has booked more Brits on a Costa cruise than his Italian-based counterpart has booked Italians.

OK, so it was only for the line's new cruises from Hong Kong, but that's still quite an achievement given the Brits are usually number five source market for the line, behind the Italians, French, Germans and Spanish. No wonder Rosa was so happy.

He also reports an unexpected surge in bookings from the UK for summer 2008, despite credit crunches, rising prices and falling house values - and the fact one would have thought most people would already have booked this year's summer holiday by now.

"We have already reached our 2008 target, which was 34% higher than for 2007, so anything else is an unexpected bonus," he says, adding that forward bookings for 2009 are ahead of this time last year for 2008.

Rosa reckons it's all down to better brand awareness among agents. "We don't get asked what we do any more or how many ships we have. Thet are all amazed when they come on board. I don't know what they expect."

Project Genesis is dead, long live Oasis of the Seas. Oasis? As in a fertile spot on the desert? Well, yes. But also a place of refuge, relief or pleasant contrast, according to Royal Caribbean International.

Apparently Royal Caribbean received 91,000 entries in a Name that ship competition run with USA Today to find a name for the giant 220,000-ton, 5,400-passenger ship launching late next year.

Interesting to see how quickly the name catches on, given it has been known as Genesis for so long. Royal only had to add "of the Seas" at the end and they would have saved a lot of time and effort.

To be in with a chance of winning, entrants had to suggest two names, so we now also know that the second Genesis - sorry, Oasis - ship, launching in 2010, will be named Allure of the Seas.

Interesting story on the Cruise Critic website about an American couple who have been banned from cruising with Royal Caribbean International.

Apparently they were regular cruisers with the brand, but managed to find faults with every cruise they took. These were vocalised to the world through travel websites and when Royal acted to rectify the problems with financial sweeteners - on-board credits, money off future cruises - they told the world of that too.

Cleverly they always praised Royal and rebooked with them so it never looked like they were after money. Of course they weren't. But now the game is over. Let's face it, cruiselines can't afford to allow others to learn the rules.

Somehow I'm finding it hard to feel sorry for these guys, who have been pouring their hearts out on US TV, but I do have sympathy for Norwegian Cruise Line. Apparently they have discovered - and love - NCL's Freestyle cruising!

Congratulations again to Andy Harmer and the team from the Association of Cruise Experts - and that includes everyone in the accounts and training departments (sorry Andy, couldn't help perpetuating the myth) - for a great cruise convention in Southampton this week.

There might have been one or two hiccups, but it was brilliantly attended by the people it was aimed at - the agents - and there were some very good speakers imparting a lot of useful information.

We touched on the US elections courtsey of Terry Dale from Cruise Lines International Association, the American version of ACE, and had mighty mice and nudity courtesy of Royal Caribbean International UK and Ireland MD Jo Rzymowska.

If none of this makes sense, by the way, book early and make sure you are at the conference next year, wherever that might be.

I am also intrigued by the speaker who vanished so completely from day two. Poor Mario Martini, from God knows where, who was going to give what promised to be an intriguing talk entitled "how cruise destinations are fundamental". Who'd have thought it? The ultimate ignominy surely was that no one even seemed to notice when he didn't take to the stage.

Sadly, the one thing that let it all down was Southampton, that great cruise capital of the Europe (so we were told), which can only field a rather grim football stadium for conferences of any size.

We either melted or froze during the exhibition and sessions, starved or gave in and dined on what must have been the leftover sandwiches when British Rail catering closed down.

In fairness, the food at the Speakers' Dinner - also in the football stadium - last evening was fine and there was plenty of wine to help it down so by the dessert it didn't really matter anyway.

And I suppose at least I can now tell anyone who is in the slightest bit interested that I have been inside a football stadium and even seen the pitch - just!

Airline cutbacks in response to the soaring price of fuel is causing major headaches for US cruisers, a USA Today Cruise Log Blog reports.

The soaring price of oil has forced airlines to make some drastic moves in recent weeks, including cutting back service, raising fares and adding new baggage fees. And that's causing major headaches for cruisers who rely on airplanes to get to ships.

Be interesting to hear if agents over here are finding similar problems. Another good reason to cruise from the UK, I think.

As the website Cruise Critic so rightly says, once one starts, they all start. Yes, it's fuel supplement hike time again.

For bookings made from June 20, Norwegian Cruise Line's daily charge rises to $11 per person, with no maximum, while Carnival UK, which encompasses P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Ocean Village and Cunard, has put its fuel supplement up to £4.50 per person per day, with a maximum £63 for cruises up to 14 nights.

Fred Olsen's supplement, meanwhile, hits £5 per person per day to a maximum £70 from June 10.

As I wrote recently in a news story for the Telegraph, cruisers now not only have to fork out for gratuities, but also have to pay at least the same amount again for the fuel supplement. We are talking of at least £140 per person extra for each cruise, on top of the cruise price.

How much longer can it go on?

Now you can come back from your cruise not only feeling good, but looking good too.

Norwegian Cruise Line has become the first cruiseline to offer Botox at sea. Passengers keen to become human pin-cushions in their quest to banish wrinkles and lines will find the treatment on Norwegian Dawn, Norwegian Spirit and Norwegian Gem.

It will be rolled out fleetwide this autumn.

Costa Cruises is going for an industry first by floating out two ships on one day. On June 27, as the 2,828-passenger Costa Luminosa hits water for the first time at Fincantieri's Marghera yard in Venice, the 3,780-passenger Costa Pacifica will be doing the same in Fincantiari's Genoa yard.

Once they are in the water, work will start on kitting out the ship's interiors - the first to be themed a ship of light, the other a ship of music.

The two vessels, which will give Costa 13 ships, will then share a naming ceremony in Genoa at the end of April 2009. As tey say, two' company...

Good to see Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Jade in Southampton last week sporting the line's new Freestyle 2.0 upgraded features.

The ship is homeporting in Southampton this summer - the first time NCL has based a ship at the port - and sailing to the Med with an average 1,500 British passengers per cruise - a very healthy number, especially for a first season (there are also Americans and a few northern Europeans).

Freestyle 2.0 has all sorts of good features - a welcome glass of bubby for everyone on embarbarkation, and thicker mattresses and better-quality linens in the cabins. If you're into seafood, I guess it's also good news that they are offering more lobster on the menus.

But then there are the flags. Sounds so cool - relax on your sunbed, wave a flag and a waiter will come and take your order. The reality? The word tacky springs to mind.

I feel sorry for the crew who have to keep the flags in some kind of order. Bets, please, on how long they will last.

Cruising kids - or should that be parents? - have never had it so good.

Not only do under-18s cruise for free all-year round with MSC Cruises, now the line is offering 30% discounts on excursions for under 14s. That's good news for mums and dads bewildered by cruiselines that count 12-year-olds as adults when to comes to all things financial while forbidding them access to adult areas of the ships.

I also love MSC Cruises' Teen Card for 12-17s that parents can charge with 30 or 50 euros at the start of the cruise, leaving teens free to spend, spend, spend as they want on board - until they use up all the credit, that is.

Parents can then either take their teens back under their financial wing or recharge the cards - presumably after a few lessons in the art of money management.

News reaches me that Lucien Freud's portrait of a naked, pregnant Kate Moss will be on Star Cruises' SuperStar Virgo's voyages from Hong Kong this summer.

Is this supposed to attract bookings from passengers not excited enough at the thought of seeing Vietnam and China. Please tell me it can't be true.

So 89-year-old Beatrice Muller, the New Jersey woman who has lived on the QE2 for the past nine years, is looking for a new home. No surprise there given Cunard has sold the ship to the Dubai Government. She has until November to pack her bags and leave.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/cruises/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=51075048.blog#uslPageReturn

Now she needs another cruiseship to call home.

Which would you choose?

What is happeneng on our high seas? If they are not crashing into each other or into ports, cruiseship are running aground.

easyCruise's easyCruise Life, which only set sail for the budget line last month, is the latest - Associated Press says it ran aground in the Aegean Islands. None of the passengers or crew was hurt.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/cruiselog/

Don't miss this comment:

http://blogs.usatoday.com/cruiselog/2008/06/easycruise-ship.html#uslPageReturn

It was a pizz-a cake for Costa, when it decided to celebrate its 60th birthday Down Under by setting a new world record for the longest pizza line in the world - a total 826 stretching 221 metres. http://blogs.usatoday.com/cruiselog/

Cheering Aussies looked on as 25 local chefs sweated their way to victory in Sydney's Italian quarter.

Once the man from the Guiness Book of Records announced the record broken, the pizza were collected up and distributed to local charities to feed homeless and disadvantaged people. Good work.

If John Heald, the blogging Carnival cruise director with an irritating penchant for dots (read the blog and you'll see) - who must be a little jaded after all his time around cruiseships - can get excited about the new suites on Seabourn Odyssey, they must be good (although of course Yachts of Seabourn is owned by Carnival so maybe he is just a tad biased.)

http://johnhealdsblog.com/2008/06/12/seabourn-odyssey-and-the-lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-bill/#more-3542

Odyssey comes into service June 24 next year but is already on sale and, as Heald admits, has some of the most expensive suites at sea - I've just done a piece on the Grand Suites for the next TW Cruise and they will set you back nearly £11,500 for seven nights, and you still have to pay for flights and a transfer.

If they aren't good, guess there's no hope.

I see Disney Cruise Line just won the questionable honour of paying the highest fee to pass through the Panama Canal.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25084475/

Just hope it was worth it.

Do luxury and exploration cruising go together? Ultra-luxury line Silversea was certainly in no doubt when Prince Albert II - previously known as World Discoverer - arrived at London's Tower Bridge to collect its first complement of luxury explorers.

Silversea has done a lot of work to bring this 132-passenger ship up to its luxury standards, but somehow it misses the mark.

Maybe it's the faux teak on deck seven - such a shame as the real teak in the outdoor grill one deck down looks every bit the upmarket part - or the MFI-look furniture in the cabins (sorry, suites) although some tooms are a nice size, achieved by knocking two into one, and they really have done a great job with the bathrooms. And can you really call one room with a table a spa?

Must admit my heart sank most, though, when I spotted the chains in the dining room that will be used to stop chairs flying around in rough weather. The joys of small ship cruising.

Prince Albert II sets off on its maiden voyage tomorrow, cruising from Tower Bridge to Tromso with around 85 passengers on board.

It will cruise the Arctic and Norwegian fjords until August, when it heads over to the US, South America and on to Antarctica, all the time with a complement of ultra-enthusiastic hippy-style biologists, geographers and anthropologists on board to lecture the luxury lovers before and after they venture ashore in off-beat places on the fleet of inflatable Zodiacs.

If you expect exploration, this ship will be great. If you expect Silversea-style luxury, you'll be disappointed. But I am still not convinced that luxury and real exploration go together anyway. Only time will tell.

Of all the cruiseships in all the world and you had to crash into mine.....

My thanks to Mike at Gill's Cruise Centre for news of a collision between Costa Cruises' Costa Classica and MSC Cruises' MSC Poesia off Dubrovnik on June 6.

You can view footage of the collision at the LiveLeak website 

I know MSC and Costa don't get on that well ... but this is getting silly!

I see Champagne will be out and English sparkling wine will be in for the naming of Carnival Splendor by classical musician, singer and presenter Myleen Klass next month.

"Saves Carnival a bit of money I suppose," a cynical former journalist friend commented. "Or maybe they're just hoping that the cheaper glass is guaranteed to smash."

Did anyone else read about this new book, Cruising from A-Z, in which author Bill Glenton - billed "a leading cruise writer" - warns that many holidaymakers booking a cruise risk "taking a voyage to disappointment"?

'While holidays afloat are usually enjoyable, cruising is now such a vast and complex business that it easy to make mistakes and select a cruise that disappoints. I often meet passengers who feel like a fish out of water.'

Luckily his book "shows us how to choose a cruise and ship to match our personality and pocket, while steering us clear of the shoals and rocks that can lie hidden in the fog of brochure boasts".

Hmmm. Rather than wade through the cliches, I think it would be much simpler and far more productive to speak to a travel agent who specialises in cruising.

Oceania Cruises is the latest to increase its fuel surcharge, which is going up to $15 per person per day from June 16. As there's no maximum, this is going to hit those on longer voyages particularly hard.

Does anyone care? Apparently not. Sales and marketing director UK and Europe Bernard Carter says winter 09/10 is about to launch and agents should advise clients to book fast to secure their cruise because last time all the best rooms sold out in record time.

As the current saying goes, crunch, what crunch?

How sad to see that Carnival is pulling Carnival Freedom from the Med next year. All the talk is about the growth of cruising in Europe - and the line is about to launch ex-UK cruises for the first time - yet here's a first sign that the downturn in the economy is taking its toll.

Carnival fills its Med cruises with a majority Americans, but with the strong euro and swingeing airline fuel supplements (and the amount the cruiseline are now charging is not drop in the ocean) there are fears these guys won't be venturing across the Pond next year.

So Freedom will be staying in the Caribbean, which we know from the 9/11 terrorist attacks is the cruiselines' bolt hole when things get tough. Anyone already booked on the 2009 Med cruises can cancel or rebook without penalty before July 10.

The good news is that Carnival Splendor, which is selling well in the British market, is still scheduled to be back for a second season of ex-UK cruises from Dover to the Baltic next year.

Shows when the going gets tough, you can always rely on the Brits.

Why do it yourself when you can get your cruise passengers to do it for you?

That is clearly the new motto of Voyages of Discovery as their new Antarctica brochure features pictures taken by passengers who have sailed to the White Continent with the line. Clearly they reckon past passengers' recommendations are the best way to sell the cruise.

As I've been there with Voyages, I have to say I agree.

Princess Cruises has become the first cruiseline to offer the Wii fit on all its ships. Apparently passengers can try their hand at a ski jump, Hula Hoop or heading soccer balls.

And there was me thinking people went on a cruise for a holiday.

Apologies but blogs are going to get a bit erratic for a few days as I'm cruising between Moscow and St Petersburg with Viking River Cruises.

A fascinating experience. Just been learning today how a bell was punished and banished to Siberia. Well this is Russia. Food and service are a bit iffy, and my room is a little bizarre, but the big problem - slow and expensive internet.

So this comes to you from Uglich - an unknown town but really quite sweet and at least the sun is shining. I'll be back when I can find more cheap street internet cafes like this.

Good to see the Leading Cruise Agents is going from strength to strength under the leadership of Peter Deilmann's managing director Stuart Perl - who is still with Deilmann by the way. He has just stepped in to guide the LCA as well.

It has just signed up the Worldchoice Cruise Club, adding 45 members, and eight independents, and taking the total to 94 members.

Can only be good news for the cruising business.

The first ice bar at sea will be among the evening hotspots - or do I mean chill-out zones? - on Norwegian Cruise Line's new generation of F3-coded ships.

First it was wavy cabins, now a new reveal, as the Americans insist on calling the simple process of telling us what will be on board its new 4,000-passenger Freestyle ships launching in 2010, lists all the nightlife venues being lined up for these big ships.

There's an adults-only POSH Beach Club - OK, not just for evenings - and wonder of wonders, no theatre. Could it mean the Broadway-style show really is dying. One can live in hope.

Interestingly it looks like that sacrosanct all-inclusive entertainment on a cruiseship bit could be going out of the window. Especially interesting because on my first cruise with NCL they charged for a comedian - and then said if it had happened (the UK office obviously doubted me but I still have the paper to prove it) it was a mistake. Are they about to make another mistake, I wonder?

And while we are on interesting, all this has come out almost in tandem with Royal Caribbean International's next big reveal - there's that word again - about the neighbourhoods (no longer areas, you note) on the giant new Oasis of the Seas. That's Genesis with its 5,400 passengers, in case you've forgotten.

There will be the Boardwalk with a carousel and tattoo parlour (how tasteful), double-decker suites and the first zipline at sea.

At least it will be a quicker way to get down the decks than the lifts on the Freedom-class ships.

Crystal Cruises is converting 12 deluxe cabins into eight Penthouses when its 1,080-passenger Crystal Serenity goes for a refit in November. Reducing capacity when others are increasing, as the luxury line proudly proclaims. Well yes. Just.

The ship will come out of the refurb with 72 Penthouses, 32 Penthouses Suites and four Crystal Penthouses, which have to be among the largest and most luxurious rooms at sea.

All you need are deep pockets and you're on your way to cabin heaven, complete with a butler, of course.

Swan Hellenic's Minerva was named yesterday at a quiet ceremony in Dover, just before the ship set off on its second cruise under its new name - which is actually the vessel's name when it sailed for Swan before, but since leaving Swan five years ago it has sailed as Alexander von Humboldt and Explorer II.

Lady Sterling, wife of the man who bought the brand from Carnival Corp and then sold it on to All-Leisure Group, which also owns Voyages of Discovery, did the honours as godmother and Paul Carter, the cruise director, assures me the Champagne did break.

Heartening story for agents everywhere in Travel Weekly US this week.

Carnival Cruise Lines' president Gerry Cahill says they have reduced the size of the direct sales department and are putting more resources into getting trade bookings.

What has happened this year is our business with travel agents has grown significantly. Key to us is that the travel agent adds value. If someone is just an order-taker, that doesn't do a lot for us. But when somebody can help add value, they are a very important business partner to us.

http://www.travelweekly.com/article.aspx?id=175928

Amid all the doom and gloom of this are-we, aren't-we recession, it's good to see solid proof that cruise sales are buoyant. This comes from Results! Travel, a US travel agency group with 900 locations.

http://www.travelagentcentral.com/consortia/results-travel-survey-shows-growth-cruise-and-resort-sales

It was good to hear from Andy Stuart, Norwegian Cruise Line's executive vice-president and chief product officer, this week that no matter what new stuff they put on the F3 ships, the basic cruise package, with food and entertainment included, will continue.

There have been rumblings that all the new to-be-paid-for nightclub venues suggest the traditional package, which is after all such a strong selling point for the cruise lines - even if they do charge for so much extra these days - could be on its way out at NCL.

Not so, says Stuart. The F3s will continue to include everything that was included but simply add more choice - but that additional choice will probably carry an price.

Example - the private beach club to be on the new F3 ships launching 2010, which will be free to for suite people but an extra for everyone else; likewise the Halo VIP club.

They will probably be great. but have to say my fav is the pool area at the back, which becomes an outdoor Bliss lounge in the evening with double beds, dancing in the pool - OK the bottom comes up to make a stage so it's more dancing on the pool - Chinese food and a big screen where they'll show a sunset if there isn't a real one. How cool is that!

An interesting selection of wierd and wonderful new themed cruises are coming out of the Crystal Cruises' stable for 2009.

There's fashion and style with fashion shows and design excursions, photography, even a chance and fortune cruise, which sounds more like a way to get people to spend more time - and money - in the casino.

But it's the tennis that appeals most:

Tennis - experts provide onboard instruction and insights in anticipation of Wimbledon.

 

They'll be getting real grass on board next. No wait. That idea's already been taken by Celebrity Cruises.

Interesting e-mail from Joe in response to my column a couple of weeks ago in the Telegraph looking at whether the cruising bubble can continue in view of the credit crunch and ever-rising fuel surcharges.

Swan Hellenic are now writing to passengers who are sailing in 2009, promising no surcharges if they pay in full by July 2008. They state possible surcharge figures of £20+ a day.......

Clever how the surcharge has become a tool to get clients to book and pay for their cruises asap. Clouds and silver linings spring to mind.

There was so much that was really great about Holland America Line's new ship, Eurodam, in Southampton for a Friday-night bash so that it could be shown off to the UK trade, journos and past and prospective passengers.

My stateroom was lovely, with a comfy bed, super-soft dressing gown, super-big balcony and large bathroom - thankfully without the garish gold sinks that penthouse people have to live with - with his and hers sinks, and a separate bath and shower.

The new Tamarind restaurant, on the extra deck that makes this a Signature-class ship instead of a Vista-class, really looked the pan-Asian part. And I loved the NCL-type hideaway alcoves in the Silk Bar, which is also a new addition.

But what were those private cabanas all about?

The ones by the Lido pool, with their lovely made-for-two loungers, are one thing - although I'm struggling to know why anyone would want to be hiding behind curtains on a pool deck (for sure you wouldn't be soaking up the sun, as one HAL person suggested, and if couples have anything else on their minds, I would suggest a busy pool deck is not the place).

But the ones on deck 11 - the Retreat - looked like plastic seaside tents at best and builders' huts at worst (workers were making a few finishing touches to the ship so it was an easy connection to make). And just outside was a spartan deck area with some ordinary loungers and chairs. Why would you want to lounge/sit there, just to watch others in their cabana? Or indeed for a view of the closed curtains?

Princess Cruises' brilliant adults-only Sanctuary they certainly ain't, even if the price (from $30 per day for the Lido, $45 for the Retreat) does buy you a butler to douse you in Evian water if you get too hot, iced fruit skewers mid-morning and a glass of bubbly in the afternoon.

Congratulations to Nigel Lingard, Fred Olsen Cruise Line's sales and marketing manager.

He has been named Norway Travel Ambassador of the Year by Innovation Norway (that's the tourist board to you and me) for his support and enthusiasm in promoting Norway over the past 30 years.

He was snapped with Heidi Dahl, Innovation Norway's director of tourism international markets (left), and Wench Nygard Eeg, of Cruise Norway

Has anyone looked at the new P&O Cruises' website? Such an improvement. All the info was there before, I'm sure, but the home page used to be so cluttered and came with a blast of irritating music if you weren't quick enough to get it switched off.

Now there's easy navigation, whether you want to know about the ships, the destinations, find a cruise and several new touches. I especially like this one:

A 'recently-viewed cruises' panel will give users a quick and easy route back to the last three cruises they viewed.

 

I have been given lots of info about the number of hits since it launched, as well as about who is doing what and talking to whom. But the big question is whether it brings in more bookings. I wait to hear.

I see to see on the Travelmole website that the Orient Lines' brand has been bought and will be back with us if the new owner can find a ship.

Orient Lines was the "discovery" arm of Star Cruises and put up for sale last year because it really didn't fit with the Star/Norwegian Cruise Line concept of growing fleets of lively big ships.

http://www.travelmole.com/stories/1129565.php?news_cat=4

Orient Lines' one ship, Marco Polo, was sold to a Greek company and is now chartered by Transocean Tours and operating cruises from Tilbury to the Norwegian fjords and Baltic before heading off to the Antarctic this winter.

As its much-the-same 2009 programme is already out and selling, I assume that's one ship the new owners will have to strike off the list of possibles.

More than the service, more than the destinations we visited, more than the food, the big topic of conversation on my cruise from Moscow to St Petersburg was the internet. Or rather lack of it.

"If you come in a month it will be working," Viking River Cruises chairman Torstein Hagen told me. Not really a lot of good to those of us spending a swingeing 10 euros (£8.30) for an hour online, during which time we were lucky to open one email.

I do admire his confidence, especially as the problems have nothing to do with techie stuff, but rather the fact that right piece of paper hasn't been signed by the Russian authorities. That's the bit he expects to be completed in the next few weeks.

But if he can cut through the red tape that has wound its way around so much of Russian life since the ending of the Soviet regime, and it really does happen, it's great news for all Viking's Russian river cruisers to come.

Even better, Hagen tells me that from the start of 2009, all Viking ships except those sailing the Yangtze in China, will have free wi-fi and laptops to hire for those who don't want to drag their own on holiday.

Sad to see in Travel Weekly that Susan Hooper, managing director EMEA at Royal Caribbean International is leaving the cruise line in September.

Hooper was responsible for persuading her American bosses that Independence of the Seas - the world's biggest cruiseship - could be a success in the UK. Result? The ship was not only named here and is sailing from Southampton this year, but is on sale with a similar selection of Med cruises next year. Suspect that indicates she was right.

Meanwhile, the cruise merry-go-round continues over at MSC Cruises, where Giulio Libutti has taken over from Claudio Baino as managing director, while Stena Line's Lars Olsen has replaced Cunard president and managing director Carol Marlow as Passenger Shipping Association chairman. Olsen was previously chairman of the PSA's ferry section.

Just as I am reading on Travelmole that Fred Olsen Cruise Lines has put its surcharge up again - its fifth increase since December, taking it to £6 per passengers per day for the first two occupants of a cabin, with a cap of £50 - I get an email from Olsen HQ telling me that a Christmas hamper worth £100 will be delivered to everyone on Balmoral's pre-Christmas cruise to the Canaries this year in time for the big day.

Wouldn't it just have been easier to wave the fuel surcharge on this cruise and save all those delivery charges, not to mention the fuel used, getting the hampers to everyone?

Fred Olsen Cruise Lines' tours manager Tim Moore has sent me details of CareVacations, set up by Canadians Don and Susan, who saw an opportunity to open a business renting "special equipment" - oxygen, respiratory products, scooters, wheelchairs, walkers and the like - to cruise passengers.

Apparently the idea has gone down a storm in the US, where they are preferred supplier to all the major cruiselines, so now they have set up over here, shipping equipment to European cruisers.

In the States it's quite a common sight to see a person with portable oxygen shopping ... on cruise ships. They are not prepared to be confined to their homes, and neither should Europeans. Someone with impaired mobility may have their own equipment but it may be too large and too heavy for use on cruise ships. Renting lightweight equipment that is compliant with cruise lines' requirements, from CareVacations Ltd., is the answer.

Well they would say that, wouldn't they, but have to admit this sounds a clever idea. Wheelchair prices start at £99 for a week's cruise, £150 for a month, but you can pay £225 for an intriguingly-named newlife quiet concentrator.

Imagine if you could book these through your travel agent at the same time as your cruise? Just a thought...

I see that Spirit of Adventure, the one-ship Saga-owned brand for the over-21 market, has bought the 500-passenger Astoria from Dutch-based Club Cruise and will refurb and rename the ship Quest for Adventure, reducing capacity to 450 at the same time.

http://www.cybercruises.com/cruisecolumn_july7.htm

Although mainly direct sell, Saga and Spirit are both sold through Thomas Cook.

Astoria is currently on charter to Transocean Tours and sold in the German market. That's the same company that operates Marco Polo under charter for the UK market.

Last week I reported that the Orient Lines' name - Orient Lines is the company that used to operate Marco Polo - had been acquired from Star Cruises. Now I see Gerry Herod, who started Orient Lines, has just bought a ship - Aegean I - so speculation is naturally rife that it and Orient Lines might about to start a new and beautiful relationship.

And so it all goes around....

As founder Harley Van Stratten freely admits, the name cruisepricescompared.com hardly trips off the tongue - or indeed the keyboard - but it's hard to think of a moniker that more accurately suits what this new website does.

As my exclusive story in Travel Weekly this week explains, CPC is a marketplace where consumers can come in search of cruise deals and agents can advertise those deals for free. It couldn't get much simpler.

The catch is that if this is to succeed, Van Stratten needs lots of support from agents - and that means registering and putting up your cruise deals fast so there is something there for consumers to buy.

As it costs nothing and registration only takes minutes - or so I am told by Van Stratten, who is waiting by his computer now to OK applications (only ABTA or Travel Trust Association guys please) - it seems silly not to give it a go.

Once you're approved, you're free to put up your cruise deals using a series of drop-down boxes. That bit really is simple - I know because I have had a go.

The site's success also depends on cruise lines and other travel suppliers stumping up cash for adverts, and cruise lines can also pay for weekly slots on the home page to play their DVDs. That money will be ploughed back into cruise consumers' favourite newspapers - the likes of the Telegraph - to get them coming.

After all, a load of great deals with no one to buy them is pretty useless.

It's good to see that Peter Deilmann's previous disdain for agents is well and truly over, with a cash bonus the latest evidence that managing director Stuart Perl's really does know the benefit of having the trade on board, so to speak.

The incentive is simple. Agents who book a client on one of four half-price cruises this autumn not only get their standard commission, but an extra £40 per person booked to pocket as well. That's £80 for just one booking for two people, more for more bookings, but I'll leave you to do the maths.

Bookings need to be made before July 31, but with cruises along some of Europe's most iconic rivers at half price - that's less than £400 per person cruise-only on some itineraries - that should surely not be too difficult, especially for agents who know what this river cruise lark is all about.

Stuart Perl says he expecting strong support and a big payout. Not too big, I hope. He is still supposed to be making a profit, after all.

Yachts of Seabourn president and chief executive officer Pam Conover and Marco Bisagno, president of Mariotti, met up last week to watch as the keels were laid for for two sister luxury 450-passenger yachts launching 2010 and 2011.

 A third sister is already well on the way. Seabourn Odyssey, which also holds 450 passengers, launches next June with a maiden season in the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea

The International Herald Tribune reports that Royal Caribbean International president and chief executive Adam Goldstein was in Singapore to announce plans to base a ship in Singapore starting autumn 2009.

The line dipped a toe into Asian waters this year, so I guess this decision is proof that the experiment was successful. Either that or they just can't think what to do with all the cruise ships they keep building.

Let's face it, the Caribbean might be popular, but when the giant Oasis of the Seas hits the region in December 2009, it's going to soak up an awful lot of passengers - 5,400 on each cruise if all goes according to plan - so Royal's other ships have to fill somewhere else.

And why not Asia? Star Cruises is there year-round, Costa Cruises bases a ship there for part of the year and Princess Cruises has a big selection of exotic cruises there in winter, but generally it's somewhere the big lines only dip in and out of on their way around the world.

On Carnival Splendor last weekend, I heard Carnival Cruise Lines president and chief executive Gerry Cahill rule Asia out as an option, so seems Royal might have it all it's own way - for a while at least. Smart move.

As my regular blog readers will have seen, I was at Tilbury last week to see Marco Polo, now sailing under charter to Transocean Tours and sub-charter to Cruise and Maritime Services through the summer. Click on the video, created courtesy of Travel Weekly, to see and hear more.

Thanks to Mike at Gill's Cruise for spotting the story about the Dorset couple hit with a fuel surcharge bill of £892 by Voyages of Discovery.

Multiply that up over the 700 or so passengers that Discovery holds and we are talking a nice little earner for Voyages.

No wonder they call the black stuff "liquid gold".

My heart went out to the Royal Navy's Christian Rumming, the man chosen to shin 60 feet up the side of Carnival Splendor during Thursday's naming ceremony in Dover. In a pair of flippers.

And all because the lady loved, well, English sparkling wine.

In honour of the fact the ship was being named in the UK, Carnival shunned smashing the usual bottle of good-luck bubbly and chose instead a home-grown sparkling wine, cruise director John Heald explained during the ceremony.

Nothing to do with the the fact the thinner glass made it easier for Christian to smash when he finally got to the top of his rope, of course, although the event organisers didn't want a repeat of the naming of P&O Cruises' Ventura, when two Royal Marines went over the side of the ship (yes, it does sound very similar doesn't it?) to smash the bubbly and reports came back that one bottle didn't break.

The lady in question, by the way, was Splendor's godmother Myleene Klass, singer, classical pianist, model and I'm a Celebrity star (oh dear, and she was starting to sound really talented), who managed to do the naming honours while holding down her skimpy red dress, which was flapping nicely in the wind.

"That only worked for Marilyn," she quipped as she shouldered her responsibilities well and promised to send Splendor a birthday card every year.

Have one too many on the new Carnival Splendor and you'll start to see pink spots in front of your eyes. No wait. That's what you see if you are stone-cold sober.

Carnival's new baby is a real vision in pink - another creation from Joe Farcus, the man behind all the over-the-top designs on Carnival ships, and lately the Costa ones too.

I must admit I am a bit of a Farcus fan, if only because I am intrigued how he comes up with his ideas and because the attention to detail is quite incredible.

Pink spots notwithstanding, Splendor is a very muted Farcus. I'd say he was considering the sensibilities of the British market, but suspect we are really not that important to Carnival, even if the number of Brits booking has doubled in the past year, as president and CEO Gerry Cahill said during his naming speech.

In fact, apart from the spots, which I really rather like, and the garish lions above the thermal pool in the otherwise very lovely, and very large, Cloud 9 spa, I really haven't seen anything very worthy of note.

Surely that can't be right?

Travel Weekly US forecast that cuts were coming at Royal Caribbean International last week and now they have happened, according to a story on Travelmole.

It's a painful cut too - 400 shoreside jobs and the end of the Scholar Ship educational programme for college students to study abroad at sea - which is hoped to save $125 million a year.

CEO Richard Fain blamed soaring fuel costs, which are eroding too much of the line's profitability.

Bet the money men are rueing the day they placed an order to build the world's biggest cruiseship, especially with launch less than 18 months away.

Yes you have seen this headline before, but I have to admit I misunderstood what Peter Deilmann is doing next year - namely including one excursion per day in the cruise price, not just one excursion per cruise, as I had originally thought.

Great news. Thanks to managing director Stuart Perl for putting me right.

I'm delighted - as I risked saying it was such a good idea - that cruisepricescompared.com, the on-line cruise market place that I wrote exclusively about in Travel Weekly this month, seems to have been a big hit with agents.

Harley Van Straten, who has gone from being the man behind the idea to managing director of the website - where agents can post cruise deals for free - said he was inundated with 150 independent agent registrations within days of the website going live.

Demand has been so high that it has been opened up to members of the Global Travel Group as well as ABTA and Travel Trust Association agents.

I'm amazed how well everything has gone. When I set this up I would have been happy with 50 registrations in the first week and we've already achieved three times that number with more coming on each day.

Van Straten now has to make part two of the business work - namely making consumers aware of the site so they can go in and book the offers posted by agents.

Any registered agents out there? Let me know how it goes.

The crystal ball is working well. No sooner do I predict a reshuffle at Royal Caribbean International, than the top people start moving.

Robin Shaw becomes vice-president and managing director, responsible for finance, human resources, revenue management and guest experience, reporting directly to Miami-based Michael Bayley, senior vice-president for Royal, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises.

UK managing director Jo Rzymowska has been appointed associate vice-president and general manager, still with responsibility for sales, marketing, trade and guest services, but with more resources to help her exploit future growth.

Yet another fuel surcharge story, I'm afraid, but read on because this time it's good news.

Travelmole reports that Peter Deilmann has promised there will be no fuel surcharge in 2009 and Viking River Cruises UK managing director Wendy Atkin-Smith tells me Viking has not imposed any fuel supplements this year or next, although she admits they might have to bring in a charge for 2009 later down the line.

Our past passengers are very loyal so we have brought out nest year's brochure two months earlier than usual so they can book 2009. There are no fuel surcharges now, but I can't promise that won't change.

It's also good to see that Deilmann is now including one excursion per day per cruise in the price. Viking includes daily excursions in the price. Everyone takes them and it seems to give the boats a feeling of camaraderie.

Yet funnily, when I asked Torstein Hagen, Mr Viking himself, why they don't include drinks in the cruise price - even just wine at dinner - guess what? He said it's because passengers don't want to pay for drinks they don't want.

I guess I can just about see the logic. But the other journo at the table nodding wisely in agreement? What is the profession coming to?

A report in Travel Weekly US suggests the chill wind of the economic downturn is starting to blow around the cruise lines.

Johanna Jainchill's report talks of downsizing staff and budget cuts at Royal Caribbean in response to rising fuel costs and says sources say the line wants to trim the payroll by 10%.

RCCL's vice-president of corporate communications Lynn Martenstein admitted they are under pressure to control costs.

Like most companies today, we are redoubling our efforts to find savings, but we have not announced any specific actions.

Hot on the heels of news that Susan Hooper, managing director EMEA, is resigning one can't help putting two and two together and coming up with, well,  four.

I feel a definite reorganisation in the air.

But luckily it's one we can all applaud in these days of being green, in words if not deeds.

The line has won an award from CiAI in Italy, which translates into National Consortium for the Recovery and Recycling of Aluminium Packaging, for collecting tons of empty cans, waste foil and aluminium packaging - 10,000 kg of the stuff between May and December 2007.

CiAI usually reserves its awards for councils, but decided MSC qualified because its ships are floating towns. Actually that doesn't sound so good, does it? I can see the term being picked up with glee by environmentalists determined that cruising is the worst thing since, well, sliced bread.

I see Celebrity Cruises, that bastion of cruise tradition, is cutting back on formal nights for nine, 10 and 11-night cruises starting August 1. A sign of the more casual times, even for lines that like to think their passengers are quality, discerning types.

They'll be telling us they are trialing an open-dining system next. I can't wait.

I'm thrilled to see that Crystal Cruises has added acupuncture to its list of on-board treatments in the spa on Crystal Serenity. Why? Because I'm going on Serenity in September and have always wanted to see what this acupuncture lark is all about.

If it's there and I'm there, what possible excuse is there for us not getting together?

None that I can see. But let's just say that I'm still plucking up courage to have a go on the bungee trampoline on the top deck of Ventura!

It is very high above the sea, though...

How would the world of cruising have survived without everyone's favourite octogenarian Bruce Forsyth and this new dance fad?

Strictly Come Dancing hoofers Flavia Cacace and Vincent Simone have just finished their second cruise on Transocean Tours' ship, Marco Polo; now comes news that Thomson Cruises is repeating its Destiny Dance Fever cruises - except that this year dance champs Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova will be strutting their stuff on Thomson Celebration.

The rather less snappily named Get Up & Dance on Thomson Celebration will take place every week during January and February, when there'll be a series of Latin dance classes covering salsa, jive, rumba and the cha cha cha.

Thomson says novices are welcome, although I guess they won't have a hope of winning the qualifying heat that will be held at the end of each cruise, offering a chance to win a place in an expenses-paid grand final in April.

On second thoughts, so much of this reality stuff is about rewarding under-dogs rather than talent so two left feet and plenty of chutzpah might just do the trick.

From October this year, P&O Cruises is banning smoking in all inside areas of Oceana, Ventura and adult-only Artemis. Smokers will still be able to light up on their cabin balconies and designated parts of the deck.

Not sure what that will do to the Exchange, the pub on Ventura, which is pretty empty at the best of times, either a) because it has no atmosphere, even with the band in there singing their hearts out or b) because you have to cut through the smoke to get in, which means it's a real no-go for non-smokers.

It also suffers from being way down on deck six, away from the fun lounges and bars.
 
Guess it could go either way.

Anyone cruising on Ventura post-October, let me know.

Delighted to see agents are getting behind my campaign for a better deal for singles through Cruisepricescompared.com, the deals at sea website just launched by Harley Van Straten.

Check out the Telegraph website and travel pages this weekend for more about singles and why cruising makes such a great holiday for lone travellers.

Who knows. We might just start to break down the walls of Jericho.

Delighted to see Cruiseprices is doing so well, by the way. Really seems to have taken off thanks to agents' support.

I am flying to Greenland tomorrow, joining a Hurtigruten cruise around the coast.

It seemed strange to be packing gloves and thick socks when it's warm but I know from experience that icebergs and glaciers are very cold places!

I'm told there is internet - and wifi - on board but not necessarily all the time. So I'll be blogging when I can, detailing my progress, in between the hikes and glacier watching.

Keep looking.

Just my luck. I'm on Ventura for two weeks and just when I get off there is a drama at sea.

The Cruise Critic website reports that the P&O Cruises' ship went to the rescue of an injured yachtsman on Sunday as it was sailing from Southampton to Malaga at the start of another two-week cruise.

OK, so the yachtsman probably didn't think it was fun but it must have been a great spectacle for the passengers after nearly two days of seeing nothing but well, sea, in the English Channel and Bay of Biscay.

He was landed and Malaga by the way and is said to be fine.

I can just see the poster now. Adam Goldstein, CEO and president of Royal Caribbean International, in the part of Kitchener, pointing a finger at agents and saying "Your cruiseline needs you".

Over dramatic? Maybe. But then the impending opening of bookings for Royal's 220,000-ton Oasis of the Seas promises to be dramatic too - especially for agents, whom associate vice-president and general manager UK and Ireland Jo Rzymowska expects to be snowed under with bookings.

The level of interest to date is phenomenal and we are anticipating a record-breaking day of bookings when the ship goes on sale for the first time on September 3.

Just to make sure things go according to plan, Royal is producing a stack of sales tools for agents, including window displays and A4 and A5 brochures showing cut-away images of the ship and pictures of Central Park, the Loft suites and Boardwalk.

These they will be with agents by September 3 - hopefully a bit before, so they have time to get them on display before it starts to snow - but a selection of marketing tools will also be available at the line's Cruising Power trade website.

I guess it was inevitable. Transocean Tours is introducing a fuel surcharge on all Marco Polo bookings.

The good news is that it doesn't come into effect until August 30 - so clients have an incentive to book now and save money - and it only applies to summer 2009 cruises on Marco Polo. This summer and winter 08/09 remain are supplement free.

Also, it is only £6 per person per night - that's £42 for a one-week cruise and £84 for two weeks, I know, but gratuities on Marco Polo are included in the cruise price so it's not as if passengers have to fork out twice.

I don't think anyone has too much to moan about, especially as six-night cruise prices start at just £499. That's quite a bargain by any standard.

Seatrade Insider reports that SeaDream Yacht Club is giving passengers the chance to buy the deck on selected cruises in 2009.

The cruiseline is one of the most aggressive in the industry when it comes to whole-ship charters and apparently very successful at getting individuals and companies with deep pockets to book out an entire vessel (they are small, each with room for 110 passengers).

I wonder if this is a sign of the economic times? Can't afford the whole ship for your birthday, anniversary or incentive? The why not have a deck instead?

Anyone who bites gets 21 staterooms on deck 3 and the Owners' Suite for free, which seems a fair exchange.

High waves are as difficult to video as skiing if this snippet on YouTube is anything to go by. There is a lot of spray but personally I find the sound more alarming than the waves.

Not that I am belittling what the passengers went through on P&O Cruises Australia's Pacific Sun when it hit bad weather on the way to New Zealand. It sounds like my idea of hell.

I thought I had it bad going over Drake's Passage to Antarctica last year. I couldn't stand but the bottle of water by my bed stood bolt upright throughout the whole two days!

There's just three weeks to go before the September 7 start of National Cruise Week, the campaign organised by the Association of Cruise Experts to get Brits thinking cruise.

This is being billed as the world's largest-ever cruise campaign, with 2,000 agencies up and down the country signed up and planning events during the week to try to persuade that sector of great British public that still thinks cruising is for rich old people - ie the majority - that they are a little behind the times.

Event ideas from ACE include a spa night, captain's dinner or poker school - all things that are associated with cruising.

If all goes according to plan it should be a great time for agents to be involved in raising the profile of the industry and hopefully making a few bookings along the way.

Free promo packs have been provided by the Spanish National Tourist Office and if you sign up with ACE, your event will be promoted by the Mail on Sunday and Telegraph.

easyCruise has bowed to popular demand and for 2009 will be including half-board accommodation and daily housekeeping in the price.

It's a far cry from the budget line Stelios set up, where everything was an extra once you had paid for your bed, but then he has had to backtrack on quite a lot - reopening inside cabins so passsengers have a window, cutting back on the orange, providing proper food on board, now including it in the price and cleaning cabins to boot. How very mainstream it has become.

Personally I find it reassuring that the bright young things he wants to attract want their rooms cleaned. Seven nights is a long time to wallow in your own muck, especially in Greece in high summer.

History doesn't relate whether sheets and towels will be changed over that time. I hope so. At least once - even if we are supposed to be environmentally friendly.

I remember a seven-night cruise in the Maldives many moons ago when neither was changed. They were so filthy could have walked off with us at the end of the week. I noticed the tour operator I booked with never offered the cruise again.

I see Trista and Ryan Sutter are to christen Ruby Princess in Fort Lauderdale on November 6.

OK I admit it. I'd never heard of them either, but according to the news release, the Sutters are one of the best-known romantic duos in broadcast history (maybe that should be US broadcast history?), having shot to fame after meeting and marrying on The Bachelorette, a reality TV programme that I guess doesn't need much explaining.

Princess Cruises senior vice-president Jan Swartz says the decision to invite the duo - who will be celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary - to do the deed is in keeping with the cruiseline's reputation for romance and reconnection (no I don't understand that last bit either).

If you're still bewildered, it's all to do with Love Boat, the long-running 1970's TV series that starred a Princess' ship. I don't remember it but plenty in the US do and it is almost a cult, I discovered, on a Seabourn cruise earlier this year. No wonder Princess keeps the link alive.

I see Ideal Cruising is selling a nine-night Canary Islands cruise from Barcelona on Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Jade this winter for just £510 per person - and that includes return flights from Gatwick.

I appreciate that this will be NCL's first winter cruising in the Med and Atlantic so they are testing the waters, so to speak, but it's hard to believe anyone can be making anything from that giveaway price.

Except the customer, of course, who is getting an absolute steal - especially as they can bag an outside cabin for just £92 per person more.

It's for a cruise departing December 12, which just happens to be my favourite day of the year (and not because it's when Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas is scheduled to set off on its maiden voyage) but is probably not a good time to try to get people thinking about a cruise given most minds are focused on turkey and tinsel.

Either that, or people are planning to escape the big day, in which case they won't want to be away just before as well.

Costa and MSC have made it work, so really there's no reason why NCL shouldn't - except, of course that the former appeal to the European market while NCL depends heavily on the Americans.

And why would Americans want to cruise over here in a warm-ish, if they're lucky, winter when they have sun, sea and sand on their Caribbean doorstep - and without forking out a fortune in airline fuel supplements.

Pre-Xmas blues or a deeper malaise? Only time will tell.

A report in Florida Today says sales for cruising remain strong in the US as Americans disillusioned with flying latch onto the idea of driving to a port to join a ship.

Terry Thornton, Carnival's vice president for marketing planning, said there is no end in sight for demand for Caribbean cruises, which the company bolsters through locating its ships at drive-to ports around the state of Florida. "The cruise industry is doing well because people are driving to their ports."

Many Brits have already discovered the joys of being able to pack the car and drive to Southampton, Dover or wherever to start their cruise. No airport security hassles, no delays. Just board the ship and you're on holiday.

The Passenger Shipping Association says a record 591,000 passengers cruised from the UK last year. As more people discover the benefits of sailing from the UK - and more ex-UK cruises are offered - that figure can only grow. I expect more records for 2008 and beyond.

My inbox is still being flooded by past passengers concerned about Discovery, the cruise ship operated by Voyages of Discovery, which has been suffering engine problems since March this year.

In a story I wrote for the Telegraph last week, managing director David Yellow admitted there had been problems but said they would be fixed by Friday (August 22).

A statement yesterday from Voyages of Discovery also seemed to show all was finally well with the ship - even if she was going a little slow!

'The MV Discovery is operating its published Baltic Explorer itinerary and is currently in Korsor, as scheduled. The vessel did transit the Kiel Canal yesterday (Monday 25 August) en route to Korsor. During its journey from Harwich to Korsor, MV Discovery averaged its planned speed of 14.5 knots and has made no changes to its designated ports of call.'

But I have also been sent a letter from one of the passengers on the cruise, received on boarding and signed by David Yellow, informing them a new part was delivered last week but the engineers have still not managed to fix the problem. Apparently another new part now needs to be manufactured.

This does mean Discovery will be operating on 3 engines during your cruise which is perfectly permissible and the ship can do so safely. However it does mean that Discovery will be operating at a slightly slower speed than when the itinerary was originally planned.

It might be permissible and safe, but the letter also says Discovery will be skipping Tallinn, which will be a great disappointment to many.

David Yellow told me the part delivered last week also had to be specially manufactured. If that hasn't worked, maybe it's time to either take the ship out of service until it is fixed or replace the current cruise programme with slow, short hops over to the continent, sold on the basis of being one engine short, until everything is up and running again.

Or maybe Voyages just needs to splash out on a new engine. Discovery is an old lady, does some sterling work each year in Antarctica and is obviously feeling a little tired.

Whichever option, it would be a lot fairer to the passengers.

At roughly the moment as I was writing a note to Elaine at RBI's search2cruise.com website, explaining that Orient Lines is effectively no more because it has no ship - Star Cruises sold its one ship, Marco Polo, to a Greek company and it is now operating cruises from Tilbury for Transocean Tours - Cruise Critic runs a story that the line is back in business.

As mentioned in an earlier blog, the Orient Lines' brand was recently acquired by Wayne Heller, the American founder of Orlando-based travel agency Cruises Only, and he has now bought a ship and is back in business.

The ship is the Maxim Gorki, a 40-year-old 24,981-ton vessel with capacity for 650 passengers that is currently operating for Phoenix Seereisen, a Germany-based tour company.

It leaves Phoenix in November for a major refit so it can meet tough new SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) standards effective from 2010 and will then be renamed Marco Polo II and start sailing again in spring 2009, starting with Med cruises from Barcelona before the ship sails north for itineraries visiting London and Scotland.

That doesn't sound too exploration-like - the style of cruising for which the original Orient Lines was famed - but apparently more out of the way places, Antarctica included, will follow.

Travel Weekly US reports that Carnival Cruise Lines is reclassifying cabins on all its ships so they are not just priced depending whether they are inside, outside, have a balcony and according to deck, but also whether they are mid-ships, at the fore or aft end of the ship or near a public room.

Whether you get a discount or pay more for being near a public room, history does not relate.

The changes have already been made on Carnival Valor and will be rolled out across the fleet by the end of the year.

Lynn Torrent, Carnival's senior vice-president sales and guest services, says the change will allow passenger to pick a cabin that exactly meets their needs while giving agents a better chance to upgrade clients because the price gap between the categories is much smaller.

For the sake of the trade, I just hope this reclassification doesn't catch on. Royal Caribbean International  released prices for its giant Oasis of the Seas last week, as the ship went on sale to Crown and Anchor loyalty club members, with 37 different cabin categories. That's quite enough for any agents - and actually consumers - to get their heads around.

Just as it was getting a real taste for flycruising, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines has more than halved its flycruise programme for the next two years.

Instead of enjoying the Med sun in Civitavecchia, the port for Rome, next summer, Braemar will be in Dover, cruising to the Norwegian fjords, the Baltic and the Med. And instead of living it up in Miami, when it goes back to the Caribbean for winter 2009/10, it will be based back in Barbados.

Boudicca's 2009/1010 Caribbean season has also been cancelled. Instead the ship will be operating an extended pre-Christmas selection of cruises out of Portsmouth before relocating all the way to Southampton, for cruises to the Canary Islands, Med and a mammoth 28-night voyage to the Caribbean.

Marketing director Nigel Lingard blames the changes on the rising costs of fuel - rather unfortunate timing as prices have started to fall, and why then put in a costly (in fuel at least) cruise to the Caribbean? - but reading between the lines I wonder if there isn't also a feeling at Fred that they were going too far too fast in their bid to widen their client base beyond their traditional 65-plus market.

With the dramatic increase in fuel prices we have taken the decision to offer a more cost effective programme. This also gives us the opportunity to further widen the choice of ex-UK cruises for our traditional clientele.

MSC Cruises reports its most successful week for bookings. On Saturday, there were 25% more calls to the call centre than on an average Saturday, while Monday recorded 48% more calls than the daily average and the conversion rate was up 60%.

Is MSC reaping the benefits of its amazing deals or is this yet more proof that credit crunch or no, cruisers are not yet ready to give up on their holiday at sea.

The Honolulu Advertiser reports that a proposed law change that would reduce the amount of time foreign-flagged ships can spend in Hawai'i has been thrown out by the White House Office of Management and Budget.

It's bad news for NCL America, the US-flagged arm of Norwegian Cruise Line, which prompted the attempt to change the law.

NCL America was set up specifically to operate in Hawai'i waters - under US cabotage laws, as a US-flagged operation it is allowed to cruise just in the islands, instead of having to make the long voyage to the islands from the American west coast (four days in each direction) - but it has been struggling to make the venture work.

From operating three ships in the region, it now just has one.

NCL America said it sent the other two ships away because it couldn't compete with rival foreign-flagged ships. ...Norwegian Cruise Lines hasn't backed down from its position that something needs to be done to protect its US-flagged operation in Hawai'i. NCL America's US-flagged ships are at a competitive disadvantage because they're subject to US taxes and labor laws.

Travel Weekly US reports NCL is unhappy with the decision, arguing that its one remaining ship should be protected because it provides significant economic benefits for the islands.

Pride of America provides more than 4,600 jobs, $496 million in total economic impact and $142 million in total earnings impact, "which is almost 3.3 times more than the economic impact attributable to the entire foreign-flag fleet that calls on Hawaii", NCL said.

I have feared the writing is on the wall for NCL America ever since their offer of a cruise in Hawai'i to see the operation was quietly withdrawn.

It is a shame as it would be great to cruise Hawai'i without all those sea days at the start and end of the holiday, which add so much to the time you are away.I wonder, though, why NCL didn't sort this matter out before they went in to the Big 50 with all guns blazing - well three ships anyway - lost money and rather a lot of face.

Hawai'i loss is our gain, of course. Pride of Hawai'i has become Norwegian Jade and is now sailing from Southampton and will be cruising in Europe this winter. Not quite Hawai'i I know, but with all the Hawai'i-themed decor and public area names at least you can dream of bronzed surf dudes and leis!

Can Seabourn Odyssey be the luckiest ship about to launch?

As the ship sets off on its maiden voyage from Venice on June 24 next year, all 450 passengers on board will be named godparents (guess it can't be a traditional godmother because some will be men!). Birthdays are going to be like, well, Christmas.

I'm sure the passengers will consider themselves ultra-lucky as their names will be inscribed on a plaque for all to see. Quite an honour and definitely worth the few thousand dollars they have probably spent.

Wonder if they will be eligible for the occasional free cruise, just like traditional godmothers?

Just as everyone was thinking the new ship building boom was over - I refer you to a report on Tripso by Anita Dunham-Potter - sharp-eyed cruise watchers spot news on Aker Yards website saying MSC Cruises has ordered two more Musica-class ships.

Sisters to MSC Poesia, the ships will weigh 89,600 tons and carry 2,550 passengers and be delivered in Febrary 2011 and February 2012.

MSC notwithstanding, Dunham-Potter is surely right in predicted the end of the new ship boom As she points out, all the cruiseships on the shipyards' books bar the MSC duo - she estimates 35 vessels at a cost of $22 billion - were ordered before the price of fuel shot up and world economies shot down.

But does it matter that the boom is over, for a couple of years at least? We all love new ship launches, but I can't help thinking it will be a good thing to give the new capacity coming into the market time to settle - there are still 35 ships to come, after all, and two of those are Royal Caribbean's giant 5,400-passenger vessels.

Simple supply-and-demand economics also tells me that a shortfall in capacity means prices will go up. And higher prices surely are better for cruiselines and agents. Given that, I wonder whether MSC wouldn't be better to watch and wait until it starts to command higher fares.

Do we need more cruise ships? Let me know what you think.

Interesting to see on Cruise Critic that Disney Cruise Line is considering offering Alaska cruises from 2010.

Apparently, the cruise line has applied for a 10-year permit to cruise in Glacier Bay National Park, where there are tight restrictions on the number of ships allowed in.

All the more interesting as it was also suggested to me this week that the Baltic might also be on the Mickey radar. With two new big ships coming 2011 and 2012, guess it has to find somewhere to cruise other than its well-trod Caribbean home.

As promised, an update on the Piazza entertainment on Princess Cruises' Crown Princess. Following juggling Daniel's departure, we've had quick-change artist Yulana Plotvinova and magician Alex Lodge.

I've yet to have seen the latter at work - he does his magic up close so it depends on him coming to your table - but the oohs and ahhs from other passengers were impressive.

Plotvinova is great. She walks into a curtained closet in one outfit and emerges at the other end in another, or wraps herself in a cloak, then whisks it off to reveal - yes, another outfit. I was standing right in front of her, trying to take pictures, but it's impossible because it all happens so fast. And no, I couldn't see how it is done.

These "street" entertainers are very clever. Gives the atrium - sorry, Piazza - life and a reason to hang out there, rather than just passing through to admire the décor and eat the sticky buns they offer for breakfast in the International Cafe!

I looked at them earlier and wondered who would eat such unhealthy food for breakfast - sugar, icing, you name it, they are covered in it. And then along came the Americans!

Either I've not been paying attention or this is new. Passengers who book one of the 99 suites in the VIP Yacht Club on MSC Cruises' new MSC Fantasia, launching December, have soft and alcoholic drinks included in the price.

Suddenly it becomes a lot more attractive!

Yacht Club people also have 24-hour butler service, a VIP swimming pool, hydro-massage pool, solarium, lounge and direct access to the spa.

The ship holds a massive 3,959 passengers and takes pride of place in MSC's new 2008/09 brochure. It will be sailing the Med - the maiden voyage is an eight-night Christmas cruise, then there's a New Year sailing and 12-night itineraries out of Genoa.

How much extra does it cost for the Yacht Club? Unfortunately my press release skips over the money bit and as I'm away and it's now 7am in the morning UK time, I can't find out.

If anyone can enlighten me, I'd love to know.

So this is it. The day Royal Caribbean, travel agents and hopefully the British public have all been waiting for. Oasis of the Seas, the largest cruise ship ever built goes on sale at 1pm UK time.

This ship is longer than four football pitches, higher than Nelson's Column - 220,000 tons and with room for 5,400 passengers.

Royal is moving staff from other areas into reservations to cope with an expected 50% more bookings than on its previous busiest sales day. Senior managers have been drafted in to deal with booking inquiries and Jo Rzymowska, associate vice-president and general manager, has promised to make the tea.

Some £1 million has been set aside to make sure this behemoth sells. It's going to be a long day.

Land sailing in Bonaire caught my eye as I read about the new Action Ashore excursions that Ocean Village is offering in the Caribbean this winter.

I remember doing something similar to this - except it was sand yachting in Le Touquet in France. It was wet and windy and our yachts kept going every which way except around the course.

After about 30 minutes, the owner, fed up with putting us back upright, gave a Gallic shrug and walked back to his office, leaving his hapless assistant in charge of a bunch of out-of-control journos. Sadly it meant he missed the spectacular pile-up at the end, memories of which kept everyone in hysterics for the rest of the trip.

I hope Bonaire land sailing is as much fun.

It's also nice to see a zip-wire adventure in Barbados adding a touch of spice to the rather tame island tours, jeeps and botanical garden visits.

First there was Costa's Costa Fortuna, then MSC's MSC Armonia, which sounds like something you put down the toilet if you forget to put an Italian ring to it.

Now I've discovered a band on Princess Cruises' Crown Princess called Endur. Doesn't really sell them to me.

Bales Worldwide is adding a fourth dahabiyya to its Egypt programme for 2009/10.

Dahabiyyas are small sailing boats modelled on 19th-century vessels used by aristos and others with money to cruise the Nile.

They hold just 12 passengers in six individually decorated cabins, have their own private moorings away from the big Nile boats that are moored sometimes six and seven deep, and you are waited on hand and foot by a wonderful crew who will be waiting to greet you back from an excursion - of course there is a guide to take you around the temples and tombs - with cold towels and an even colder beer (all drinks are included in the price).

It really is the only way to do the Nile.

Ocean Village is spending £1 million on a multi-media advertising campaign starting next week, which will include TV ads in the Granada, Central, Yorkshire and West Country TV regions.

The cruise line for people who don't do cruises is targeting its core 35-54 market with a one-week cruise in the Med from £599 per person. Gill Haynes, OV's head of marketing, says it's a keen lead price that represents great value for money in the current economic climate.

I would say it's an incredible deal. Don't forget that price even includes a flight and transfers. Amazing.

Agents had better get ready for the rush.

US-based Travel Trade reports that MSC Cruises is selling off the MSC Rhapsody, the oldest and smallest ship in the fleet.

No surprise really. In an interview for Travel Weekly earlier this year, MSC's chief executive officer Pierfrancesco Vago told me that the clock was ticking for the 780-passenger MSC Rhapsody and 1,064-passenger MSC Melody - another of MSC's smaller ships.

There are passengers who like Rhapsody and Melody because they are smaller and more intimate, but more and more people want balconies so they will go in the end - I would guess over the next couple of years.

Travel Trade reports that Israeli-based Mano Maritime is interested in buying the Rhapsody. Ironic really, given that MSC Cruises started life when Gianlucci Aponte, owner of cargo giant Mediterranean Shipping Company, acquired the Achille Lauro, the cruiseship hijacked by Palestinian terrorists in 1985, resulting in the death of an Jewish American passenger.

But irony or not, the fact is that with two new ships with room for close to 4,000 passengers close to launch, MSC has less and less room for small, elderly ships such as the Rhapsody. Much as Carnival Corporation had no room for Swan Hellenic and Norwegian Cruise Line had no room for Orient Lines, which are both starting new lives under new owners.

It started officially yesterday, but this is the first working day of the UK's first National Cruise Week.

With 2,000 agents registered to take part and cruiselines bringing out some great offers to support the trade, there has surely never been a better time to get the cruising message across to the great British public.

Not only that it's a great holiday, but also great value at a time when everyone is looking hard at the pennies.

Princess Cruises, for instance, is giving away two free nights in Copenhagen next summer to anyone who books a 10-night Scandinavia and Russia cruise this week, or offering a £300 discount to clients booking a Med 2009 cruise on the new Ruby Princess.

Island Cruises has brought out a Captain's Specials mini-brochure to cash in on the extra interest in cruising expected to be generated by this week's activities.

At the moment the Passenger Shipping Association forecasts 1.5 million Brits will take a cruise this year, rising to 1.7 in 2009. It would be great if this week, organised by the PSA's trade arm, the Association of Cruise Experts, is such a success that the figure has to be revised upwards.

Good news for all agents who are going to miss seeing Celebrity Cruises' new Celebrity Solstice - this is the one with the real lawn and the first new Celebrity ship for six years - which comes out of the shipyard in November and goes straight to the US/Caribbean.

Jo Rzymowska, managing director for Celebrity Cruises UK and Ireland, tells me that the next Solstice-class ship, Celebrity Equinox, will be making a first stop at Southampton when it leaves the shipyard in Germany next August.

After the trade has had time to see it, Equinox will be picking up its first paying passengers in th south coast port for a cruise to Civitavecchia, the port for Rome, where it will be based for the rest of the summer alongside Solstice, which comes back to Europe after an inaugural season in the Caribbean.

Two new Celebrity ships in the Med? That's confidence for you.

Incidentally, I'm lucky enough to be one of a select few from the UK going on board Solstice at the end of next week as it sails out of the shipyard at Meyer Werft and down the River Ems to Gandersum, so keep an eye out here for my first impressions.

Seatrade Insider reports that a contract dispute between Norwegian Cruise Line and Aker Yards could affect the delivery of NCL's first 4,200-passenger ship, code-named F3, scheduled for early 2010.

It's a confused story, with Aker Yards on the one hand saying work on the first F3 is on-going, likwise discussions with NCL, but refusing to confirm the delivery date, and unnamed sources saying the F3 newbuild is not going ahead.

NCL says it will not comment on commercial or legal matters. Unfortunately that only heightens speculation that the story is true.

Is this a sign of the [hard] times - 10 nights Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Galaxy from £796 per person?

OK, it's for an inside cabin, but that's not even £80 a day for a brand that calls itself deluxe - less if you take out the cost of the return flight and transfers. Even the press release that announced the price admitted it was "out of this world".

Or does it just tell us that cruising the Med in the near depths of winter - this is for a November 14 departure - is really not that popular unless you happen to be Italian (Costa and MSC, which carry a majority of Italians, seem to be making it work for them).

What does this mean for Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line, about to embark on their first winter seasons in the Med? Only time will tell.

Costa Cruises' Costa Mediterranea has inaugurated a new $13 billion cruise terminal at St Petersburg.

I heard about the new terminal, which is open but not finished - completion is scheduled for 2010, when there will be three terminals and seven berths - when I was cruising the Baltic on Princess Cruises' Crown Princess a couple of weeks ago.

Apparently this new facility is closer to the city than the cargo port, which most ships use, but still not really walking distance.

Sadly I was there too early to see it and Princess tied up in the cargo port.

I say sadly, but it was great fun to get from there into the city - you do need visas if you want to go it alone - taking the port bus (which is actually for the workers but tourists can hop on), getting through security at the other end of the port, about three miles away, and then negototiating for a taxi into the city. And then you have to do it all in reverse to get back to the ship.

Of course, if the new port is not walking distance, visitors with visas will still have to do battle with the taxi drivers who have a bad reputation but were most pleasant and certainly knew enough English to negotiate prices and get us into the city and then back to the right port. One had even spent his downtime as a taxi driver learning English, German, Italian and Japanese.

In between the travelling to and fro, we had a lovely day wandering the city, doing lunch and riding the metro.

It is such as shame that most visitors are scared off doing St Petersburg on their own, partly by the effort and cost of getting a visa, but also by the guides, who give the impression that all the locals are out to rob and mug you. But let's face it, they have a vested interest in keeping everyone together in a flock.

Maybe this new terminal is the start of much-needed change of attitude. I would love to think so.

I had to smile at the headlines this weekend about all those Brits "stranded" abroad when XL went under. Stranded? Were they in Tristan da Cunha or St Helena, thousands of miles from anywhere in the middle of the South Atlantic ocean?

No, they were in some of the world's top holiday hotspots - you know. Those places served by numerous charter and scheduled airlines, all crammed with hotels which, let's face it, would have had plenty of availability because the people coming out on holiday were not going to arrive. How did we ever build an empire?

But checking into a hotel for a night or two would have cost money they didn't want to spend. Far better to have an uncomfortable 24 hours or so milling around an airport with thousands of others.

The irony is that if XL had levied a higher fuel supplement which better covered the rising cost of oil - maybe just another £1 per client - it might not have collapsed. But then XL clients would have shouted "foul". Just as they are now. But now they are "stranded" and many have lost everything.

My thoughts turned to the cruiselines, which increased their fuel supplements almost weekly in the spring as the price of oil went through the roof.

It was not popular, and I'm sure all people who cruise hope they will eventually go away, but it's something to do with financial management and covering your costs I believe. And the cruisers who have coughed up are getting the holiday they planned rather than a two-night break at Gatwick or Tenerife South.

I asked someone on Swan Hellenic if the fuel supplement would put them off booking a cruise in the future. No, he said, because it was a tiny amount compared to what he was paying for the holiday anyway. The voice of reason.

This has to be the party of 2009.

Next August, Hapag-Lloyd's exploration ships Bremen and Hanseatic are cruising the Northwest Passage in opposite directions - Bremen from Greenland and Hanseatic from Alaska. If all goes well with the weather they will meet in the middle and stop for an icy beach party and reciprocal ship visits.

On the way over - in either direction - passengers will be able to take Zodiac excursions to get up close to icebergs and glaciers, and hopefully spot polar bears.

Hapag-Lloyd is a German company and there will be a lot of Germans on board, but the cruises will be bilingual.

Wonder what's happened to my invitation?

MSC Cruises has not only found the money to buy two new Musica-class ships - 93,000 tons and 3,013 passengers - but they have already been named. MSC Meraviglia and MSC Favolosa, to be delivered 2011 and 2012.

I just hope the names sound better when spoken by an Italian!

The collapse of XL could lead to an increase in dynamically-packaged holidays, according to Nigel Lingard, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines marketing director.

He told the Association of National Tourist Office Representatives/Passenger Shipping Association conference in London yesterday that cruiselines will struggle to find enough capacity to get passengers to their ships next year as a result of XL's demise.

XL was used by some cruiselines so they will have to find other aircraft to charter. We all use charter airlines as we have to get 2,000-3,000 passengers to our ships at once for our flycruises, and without XL there will be a tightening of capacity.

Lingard also said the prices being quoted by charter carriers have gone up since XL collapse and forecast a shift to more longer ex-UK cruises, in fact exactly what Fred is doing, to avoid having to fly people.

There will be problems for all, but ironically it could lead to more opportunities for agent to dynamically package holidays for their clients, selling cruise only and adding flights and pre and post-cruise hotels stays.

When I tried to find out some information about Indian Ocean Cruises earlier this year I was told by Uwe, my contact there, that its ship had been deployed elsewhere and that cruises were therefore temporarily suspended. Ondeed the website was a blanck, inviting people to call back later.

He said he would tell me when they managed to find another and got things started again.

He didn't - maybe he has moved on? - but I read in Travelmole that not only does IOC have the 200-passenger Ocean Odyssey back, but that the ship has had a $10 million refurb.

I was on the ship last November and had a great cruise, sailing from Goa down the west coast of India, out to the idyllic Lakshadweep Islands, and enjoyed fab food and charming service, but boy, was that ship in need of some tender loving care. I would love to see what they have done with it.

IOC is also extending its operations beyond Goa. It will cruise there in winter and base the ship in Port Louis, Mauritius, in summer, sailing to Madagascar, Reunion and the Agalega Islands.

Aker Yards in France has broken ranks and spoken of its dispute with Norwegian Cruise Line over the cost of NCL's two 4,200-passenger ships, codenamed F3.

Seatrade Insider says Jacques Hardelay, president of Aker Yards France, has confirmed there are issues over construction costs.

In projects with this magnitude of complexity, we have in this industry several examples that discussions arise during the project execution. We regret that we have a situation with a dispute.

Earlier Seatrade reports spoke of a meltdown in relations between Aker Yards and NCL and said Aker Yards had approached other cruise lines to take over the building project.

Hardelay says building work is going on, but other reports suggest the yard has stopped work on the F3s.

NCL is officially saying nothing but Travel Pulse say the company has told employees that the first F3 ship order has been cancelled (backed up in the comments section by a mother of an NCL officer, who says all the crew were told last week) and a decision has not been taken on whether to proceed with the second ship.

Travel Pulse also reports that NCL has called off its search for a sales executive to replace Andy Stuart, who was moved left, right or up (not sure which) to oversee the F3 project. It speculates he could be about to return to his old role in charge of sales and marketing. 

Some in the industry have suggested that it would be a good thing if the order were cancelled because it would mean less capacity in the market from 2010, when the two ships were due to launch.

Maybe, but what a large dollup of egg NCL bosses would have on their collective faces after the great song and dance they made about these ships and how they were so different. If the reports are true, seems they are just too different - no theatre, wavy cabins - for other lines to be interested.

Cunard's Queen Mary 2 set off on its 100th transatlantic crossing yesterday, sailing from Southampton to New York. By the time she moors in the Big Apple, the ship will have sailed 711,288 nautical miles, clocking up 316,729 of them on transatlantic crossings alone, and served 206,200 bottles of Champagne.

Queen Mary 2 has carried Donald Trump, Rod Stewart, John Cleese, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Queen Noor of Jordan, Hillary Clinton, George Bush senior.

But not Jane Archer. Could 2009 be the year I finally add my name to this roll call of the rich and famous? I'll keep you posted.

The price of oil might have dropped to below $100 a barrel, but cruiselines have no plans to drop of fuel surcharges.

USA Today quotes a Royal Caribbean spokesperson:

We continue to see considerable volatility in fuel price movements around the world and believe it would be premature to lower the supplement at this time," the company said in a statement.

Carnival Corporation spokesman Tim Gallagher says the company has no plans to get rid of the fuel supplements because the pump prices that cruise lines pay haven't come down as quickly as oil prices.

Our fuel prices for the ships don't drop nearly as fast as oil does, but they sure seem to go up every time there is a spike.

Reminds me of electricity prices, gas prices, oh yes, tax, food.... 

When P&O Cruises launched Ventura this April, it was all about kids. Noddy, Mr Bump and racing cars around a Scalextric track (although having seen them clustered around the table, I reckon that's really for the dads!).

Apparently when sister ship Ventura II is launched - at the moment known as Hull 6166 but I prefer Ventura II until the real name is revealed at the keel-laying on October 27 - things might be different.

At a dinner this week, P&O Cruises managing director Nigel Esdale said the new vessel, which launched in 2010, could have a different appeal.

He said launching Ventura, P&O Cruises' biggest ship, had created challenges, which in turn have led to some on-board refinements.

For instance, I am told by a colleague who attended that they will now be using empty tables in the Club Dining restaurants - that's where the fixed diners eat - to accommodate passengers on Freedom dining (Freedom diners have been facing over-long delays getting a table in the evening) and using themed buffets in the self-service to draw people away from the dining room.

It's probably not an ideal solution, but it's a positive response to the moans from passengers that have filled websites this summer and shows the bosses have been listening.

"We're learning, we're refining, we're changing some of the emphasis, changing some of the service styles, moving some of the manning around, experimenting with some of the flows around the ship in terms of the schedules of the shows and activities."

With Celebrity Solstice off doing its sea trials around the North Sea, workers at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, are turning more attention to Celebrity Cruises' Solstice Number 2, otherwise known as Celebrity Equinox, pictured here behind me.

The ship, a sister to Solstice, launches in July 2009 and will make a first call in Southampton so UK agents and prospective passengers can get a look, before it sets off on its inaugural cruise from the UK to Civitavecchia, the port for Rome, for what remains of the summer season sailing in the Med.

Heard some great news yesterday. The engine on Voyages of Discovery's ship Discovery has finally been fixed.

It's been a nightmare six-month will-be, won't-be saga for the cruiseline and passengers, but it's finally over and the old lady is running at full speed ahead.

But every cloud, as they say.

Swan Hellenic's Minerva - part of the All Leisure stable, like Discovery - is having to go into dry dock on October 27 for a planned four days to have a diesel generator fixed. It means the preceeding Treasures of Africa cruise has had to be shortened, from 15 nights to nine nights.

Passengers who are affected will be receiving letters today.

Entertainment staff "flying" over the audience in the theatre, a floor to ceiling wine tower in the main dining room and dancing fountains. These are just three of the "wow" features on Celebrity Cruises' new ship Celebrity Solstice - apart from that grass, of course!

The ship was not finished when I was on board this weekend, and to my untrained eye there looks to be a lot more work to do, but apparently it is 97% ready.

The plastic protective sheeting on the carpets and stairs has to be to be lifted, furniture has to be unpacked and put in situ, there are more paintings to hang, bits that need painting. And at the end of it all, one hell of a cleaning job.

But despite all this, it is easy to see that Celebrity has done a very good job with this ship. There are lots of big open spaces, plenty of rooms to swallow up the 2,850 passengers and some really smart design ideas.

My favourite has to be the Grand Epernay dining room, a vision of white and silver, light, bright and modern, a welcome change from the heavy decor favoured by so many cruiselines. At one end is the wine tower, a name that hardly does justice to this giant piece of art in which wine will indeed be stored and which will have wine "angels" to fetch bottles from the top level.

Sky lounge is also lovely; more silver, more light and bright, and the water feature in the solarium is captivating. There's another fountain by the pool; apparently they may even have party nights up there and allow passengers to dance in the water. Whatever turns you on.

I was much more excited by a suggestion that the ents team could teach passengers how to "fly" in the theatre. Ocean Village does something similar with the trapeze but sadly that looks like a no-go for the Americans. Health and safety strikes again.

As Celebrity's biggest ship, it's no surprise that Solstice has more speciality restaurants than any other vessel in the line's fleet. Fixed dining in Blu for health-conscious passengers in the Aqua-class cabins, a steak house, reached through a "barrel", an Asian fusion restaurant that will serve big plates of food to share, a 24-hour bistro with soups, sandwiches, crepes.

But there are also a few design faults. The bathrooms are spacious but the loo roll is in the wrong place, the bedside tables are just about big enough for a book - nowhere for my alarm clock and lotions and potions - and there is no main light switch by the bed. In fact I only learned in the morning how to switch off the main lights while leaving on the bedside light on.

I suspect they will be handing out leaflets at check-in to stem a run of questions or risk a spate of broken toes as passengers struggle to get into bed in the dark. Where are the health and safety people when you need them?

This is me on the lawn on Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Solstice this weekend - one of the first people allowed to stand on the green stuff as it was only laid last week - at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, the day before it left the yard to sail up the River Ems for eight days of sea trials.

There's an amazing half-acre of grass that passengers will be able to go putting or picnicking on, even play croquet. Royal Caribbean's Cruises chairman and CEO Richard Fain, who was over from the US for his monthly visit to see how the build is going, tells me the grass was chosen after much research to withstand Caribbean sun, saltwater and lots of feet.

Moreover, each sod has been carefully washed so there are no ants, spiders and other crawly bugs lurking beneath the grass.

Fain - whose had the idea of putting real grass on the ship - saw it laid for the first time last Fridau, just a day before me, and admits he was "blown away".

What happens if it rains? I asked. People will get muddy shoes, Fain replied. Ah, of course.

A new cruise portal, bestcruisedeal, launches on October 1 where cruiselines and agents can access "thousands of cruisers and promote deals, late availability and new itineraries".

As the site wasn't live when I looked yesterday, I'm not sure how they know about these thousands of cruisers. Wishful thinking and a bit of sales talk, I suspect.

The founders of the site are in talks with cruiselines and cruise specialist agents to enable them to promote their deals on the site on a permanent basis. A range of advertising and promotional packages are available, starting from £500 a month.

Sound familiar? In July I had an exclusive story in Travel Weekly about the launch of cruisepricescompared.com, which allows agents to advertise their cruise deals. The difference is, posting a deal on CPC costs agents nothing.

The launch was all very hush, hush for fear that someone might copy the idea. Seems CPC was right. Imitation is supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery, though.

Is bestcruisedeal just an imitation? Let me know what you think.

Celebrity chef Marco Pierre White has opened two more restaurants at sea. The Cafe Jardin on Oceana and Cafe Bordeaux on Aurora have both been given the Marco makeover and are now serving dishes that he has created.

As with The White Room on Ventura, which is also a Marco production, the supplement to eat at both restaurants varies depending on the length of the cruise - £4.99 per person for eight days or more, £6.50 for three to seven days and £7.75 for two-day mini-breaks.

You can't really complain about (although I bet some will) - and there's even a reduction for anyone who eats there between 6pm and 6.45pm. Bit early for me, but many do dine at that time. And how much better if you can eat early and save money!

Cruise Business Review says the Russian government is considering a visa exemption for visitors arriving by cruise ship and staying in the country for fewer than 72 hours. It will apply to certain ports and St Petersburg is expected to be one of them.

That would be brilliant news for cruise passengers, who might finally be persuaded to leave the comfort of their ships' excursions and find out there is more to St Petersburg than being whizzed around in large groups to look at palaces and paintings

Incidentally, I had news yesterday that "cruise fans can surf the ports" thanks to a new addition to the Cumbria Cruises website. I hurried along to look.

There is a new section, all about the ports. Well, when I say new, that is an exaggeration. There is nothing new or informative here - time zones, local currency, nearest shops, a coupls of lines on key attractions.

Yawn ....

Nothing for anyone who wants some real information about how to get around on their own. That if you are docked by the ferry port in Helsinki you can walk, if you're in the other dock there is a bus for just over two euros. Much cheaper than the shuttle. That in Gdynia you can take a train to Gdansk for a fraction of the cost of a taxi. And what does it say about St Petersburg?

Organised excursions are recommended and sometimes compulsory.

Compulsory? Only for those who have not got their own visas. So what a shame it doesn't explain that if you get one you can explore alone. It's not that difficult and it is great fun. I know, because I did it this summer when I was there with Princess Cruises, just as I did the train to Gdansk and the bus into Helsinki.

A port guide with real knowledge and tips on getting around and prices instead of repeating information you can get elsewhere. Now that really would be news.

It was a change waiting to happen once Thomson and First Choice became as one. Now it has.

As the rumour mill predicted, Royal Caribbean Cruises has sold its 50% stake joint venture stake in Island Cruises to TUI Travel.

Island Star, on charter from Celebrity Cruises, will complete its Caribbean winter season and be returned to Celebrity on March 26 2009. It will then join Royal Caribbean's Pullmantur Cruises Spanish operation.

Royal Caribbean Cruises chairman and chief executive office Richard Fain said the company wants to focus on developing and expanding the Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises brands in the UK.

"[This way] we will be better able to serve our customers and create value for our shareholders. This belief has been strengthened by the success of the inaugural season of Independence of the Seas, which has served the UK market from Southampton, since it entered service in May 2008."

Island second ship, Island Escape, will complete its winter season sailing in Brazil and then return to the Med, cruising from Palma in summer 2009 as planned, but as a Thomson Cruises ship rather than an Island one. It is not clear whether the name will be changed, but a statement says it is being "integrated" into the Thomson fleet so it's a fair bet that it will at the very least become the Thomson Escape.

Details of the deal and how it affects passengers booked on Island cruises are detailed on the Thomson Cruises website.

Island's managing director Patrick Ryan will leave the company in December. David Selby, TUI's director of cruising, stays at the helm of the new integrated business.

It's a sad end for a cruiseline that, after a chequered start, built up a good following in the UK for its low-cost cruises and casual brand. I reckon a lot of that was down to the captains, who were always to be seen out and about talking to passengers, which the passengers loved. It gave the cruise a human touch.

Island Escape was not the best ship in the world - one couple I met on another cruise called it the Island Mistake and rued the day they went on it - but I had a very enjoyable few days on Island Star, which was a big step up. Unfortunately for TUI, Royal Caribbean gets Star back, Thomson gets the Escape.

It will be interesting to see what they do with the ship's dining. Island is all about buffet dining, with waiter service available at extra cost. Thomson has a 24-hour buffet but waiter service in the evening as standard. Difficult for Thomson to have an odd one out in the fleet so I suspect Escape will have to change.

I guess it had to happen. A cruise ship launching with a 4D cinema - the 4th D being where they shake you, spray you with water and blasts of air. The first film I was ever all shook up over was that masterpiece of the silver screen, Earthquake.

Disaster, death and destruction. Just what you want to take your mind off the fact that you are at sea, miles from anywhere on a lone cruise ship, at the mercy of the deep blue sea!

The cinema will be on AIDAluna, a 2,050-passenger vessel being built by Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany, for German cruise line AIDA Cruises - which is part of the Carnival Corp empire - and launching next April.

All the talk at a meeting at Royal Caribbean HQ in Addlestone, Weybridge, yesterday was about the new ships - Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Solstice and Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas.

But this wasn't the usual stuff about Central Park, Boardwalks and zipwires, but rather a day for the techies to find out some behind-the-scenes stuff about these ships.

About the wonders of non-toxic silicon paint on the hull, for instance, how they will be using waste heat from the engines to heat water, how common rail diesel engines have been fitted as they are more efficient and reduce emissions, how air-conditioning and lighting is cleverer, so it uses less energy and so helps the environment.

The air-con changes mean there will be a 25%-30% improvement in energy efficiency (personally I would just turn it down - or is it up? - so passengers don't freeze, but maybe that's too simple) while lighting-related energy consumption will fall 40%.

We learned that Solstice has 500 square metres of solar panels, which will provide enough energy to power the passenger lifts - all the jokes about being stuck in the lift when the sun goes behind a cloud illustrates why they won't actually be used for that purpose!

We also learned that the pipes sticking out of the funnel on Oasis are telescopic, allowing them to disappear inside the funnel to allow the ship under low bridges.

True, you don't get that many bridges in the ocean, but without this cute mechanism the ship couldn't get out of the Baltic - it is being built in Finland - or into New York.

Cue more jokes .... but I'll leave you to work that one out for yourselves.

With no sign of an end to the dispute between Norwegian Cruise Line and Aker Yards over the building/cost of its 150,000-ton F3 ships, comes another misery for NCL.

Cyprus-based Louis Cruise Lines has failed to dot the i's and cross the t's in the purchase of Norwegian Dream. The sale was supposed to go through on Monday but Louis apparently decided against splashing out $218 million for the ship because the charter business it was planning for the vessel did not materialise.

As well as operating its own cruises, Louis charters ships to other lines, including Thomson Cruises. It's not so unlikely that one of those others - or indeed Thomson - has decided against increasing capacity at a time when people are concerned about their bank balances.

Louis is saying nothing; likewise NCL, which will be no surprise to anyone who has been following the F3 saga. Leaving everyone to speculate and rumour.

Star Cruises, which owns half of NCL has told brokers to put Norwegian Dream back on the market, but brokers reckon it's a terrible time to be selling a ship.

I don't know. I had a meeting Tuesday with the guys from Fred Olsen Cruise Lines and casually mentioned the ship sale had fallen through. "Don't tell Mr Olsen," came the urgent reply. New-to-Fred ship Balmoral used to be Norwegian Crown, so they obviouly fear he has a penchant for ex-NCL stock.

But what with Balmoral and the newly-stretched Braemar, the FO team feels they have more than enough extra capacity to fill for a while!

...but not really in the way Spirit of Adventure intended. As we arrived at the port, in Turkey, there was a sudden jolt, followed by an apology from the captain. Apparently the tug had not been doing its tugging bit as we came into dock. Result, one alarmingly big gash in the side of the ship.

Cleverly it was patched up so we could continue on our way, into the Black Sea, heading for the Ukrainian ports of Odessa, Sevastopol and Yalta.

Spirit of Adventure - it's also the name of the ship - is scheduled to go into dry dock after this cruise anyway for its annual spruce-up. Could the timing have been any better?

It was hinted to me this summer when I was in Stockholm, but now it's for sure.

In 2010, Disney Cruise Line is positioning the Disney Magic in Scandinavia in 2010, operating 12-night cruises that will visit Germany, Russia and Sweden.

All-American mouse meets St Petersburg history and culture. What a thought.

I'm off on a Black Sea cruise with Spirit of Adventure, the Saga brand for the over 21s (hence I am allowed on).

Hopefully I will be able to keep you posted about the ship, the Black Sea and other breaking news, but internet connections don't sound great so blogs might be a bit intermittent.

You have been warned.

The website Cruise Critic has announced the winners of its 2008 Editor's Picks Awards.

Royal Caribbean International topped the league table, coming first in five categories, with Princess Cruises getting a very respectable three awards.

It's an interesting snapshot of who does what best in the cruise industry - but only if you are in the US. There's no mention of UK lines P&O Cruises, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines or Ocean Village, nor of river cruise specialist Viking, which might not win any "best for" awards when it comes to ships, but has some great itineraries (Russia, Ukraine, China anyone?).

With a Cruise Critic UK website now established, maybe it's time to open up the voting a bit?

And the winners are ...

Best Luxury Cruise Ships - Crystal Cruises
Best Dining - Oceania Cruises
Best for Romance - Princess Cruises
Best Spa and Fitness - Royal Caribbean International
Best Cabins - Holland America Line
Best Value for Money - Carnival Cruise Lines
Best Itineraries - Azamara Cruises
Best Entertainment - Norwegian Cruise Line
Best Shore Excursions - Carnival Cruise Lines

Best Family Cruises
Best Kids' Programs - Disney Cruise Line
Best Teen Programs - Royal Caribbean International
Best Multi-Generational - Princess Cruises - Grand Class

Best Luxury Cruises
Best Luxury Dining - Crystal Cruises
Best Luxury Service - SeaDream Yacht Club
Best Luxury Staterooms - Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Best Dining
Best Main Restaurant - Carnival Cruise Lines - Conquest Class
Best Specialty Restaurants - Oceania Cruises
Best Healthful & Alternative Dining - Celebrity Cruises

Best for Romance
Best for Honeymoons - Windstar Cruises
Best for Weddings - Princess Cruises
Best for Couples - Regent Seven Seas Cruises' Paul Gauguin

Best Spa, Recreation and Fitness
Best Pool Deck - Royal Caribbean International - Voyager/Freedom Classes
Best for Fitness Enthusiasts - Royal Caribbean International
Best Spas - Costa Cruises' Samsara Spa - Concordia Class

Best Cabins
Best Standard Staterooms - Holland America Line - Signature Class
Best Suites - Norwegian Cruise Line - Jewel Class
Best Family Cabins - Disney Cruise Line

Crystal Cruises has reduced its required deposit from 10% to 5% for all 2009 bookings except for the World Cruise.

For the World Cruises, passengers now only need to put down $1,000-$1,500, depending on stateroom, not 20% of the cost as before.

The cruiseline is also giving people a week to pay their deposit (it was three days) and has cut the no-penalty cancellation period from 75 days to 45 days.

The announcement is all dressed up in words like "secure", "risk-free" and "investment", but at the end of the day it suggests that even six-star passengers need coaxing to part with their money as the credit crunch turns into a recession.

Anyone booking a suite in Ruby Princess will be able to start the day with a peaceful breakfast in Sabatini's, away from the madding crowd in the self-service or the main dining room.

It's a great idea - makes suite passengers feel special and means a few less people for the morning scrum - and one of several new features making their debut on Ruby, Princess Cruises' new ship, launching next month.

On sea days, for instance, they will be serving a British pub lunch in the Wheelhouse Bar (ploughman's or bangers and mash anyone?) and they are adding cheese to the menu at Vines wine bar - 12 varieties will be available each day for a "nominal" fee.

The Scholarship@Sea programme is being expanded so passengers can learn new skills, such as the art of entertaining, navigation, astronomy (I guess those two go quite well together) and how to mix a cocktail.

There will be "misting" stewards around the pool to help passengers keep their cool, more audience-participation entertainment (karaoke is bad enough, so dread to think what this will entail) and a Wizards Academy for kids.

Best news for me, though, is that wifi will be available in the cabins - no more trudging down to the atrium with a laptop, hunting around for a seat next to a plug. They are also adding the connections needed for passengers to use their mobile phones while at sea. Another very welcome addition.

Princess will no doubt wait to see how all this is received, but I think we can expect most of it to be rolled out to Ruby's sisters, Crown Princess and Emerald Princess, if not other ships in the fleet, in very quick time.

The BBC reports that QE2's iconic red funnel is to be sliced off by its new owners, Dubai-based Nakheel, and replaced with a four-deck glass penthouse with swimming pool, designed to become the most exclusive hotel room in Dubai.

The Cunard ship sails from Southampton for the last time on November 11, to start a new life as a floating hotel at the Palm Jumeirah, one of the reclaimed islands on the waterfront in the emirate.

According to the report, the funnel will be used as an entrance to the ship, the lifeboats will go, extra rooms will be built at the stern and all cabins will be ripped out and replaced with bigger, modern bedrooms.

"What's happeneing to the ship is very good," Captain Ian McNaught is quoted as saying. Tell that to the thousands who will be shedding more than a few tears as they wave a last farewell on the 11th day of the 11th month.

Seventh heaven for footie fans surely? A seven-night Brazilian/football-themed cruise with Pele, top European players and all sorts of people from the world of football.

It's all happening on Italian line Costa Cruises' Costa Serena, on a cruise departing June 28 2009, not from Brazil as you might expect, but from Venice, sailing around the Greek Islands.

There will be non-stop talk about football, an exhibition of items linked to the most important moments of Pele's life, with never-seen-before video clips.

I can certainly see the appeal if you like football, but the bit that appeals to me is that the whole cruise will be Brazilian-themed - the food, the entertainment, the atmosphere - to make Pele feel right at home.

"When I began to feel "saudade", meaning when I was homesick, what I wanted most was to be able to experience the traditions and customs of my beloved Brazil. The Costa Serena cruise, during which everything will be focused on Brazil, will spread joy throughout the entire Eastern Mediterranean."

Nice sentiment, but since when have footie fans spread joy in the countries they visit?

The ever enigmatic Ian Buckeridge, UK director of SeaDream Yacht Club, was back on the subject of expansion at an intimate get-together in London last night.

I have heard it before - that SeaDream is planning to expand, that they are negotiating for a Hurtigruten ship. Last night's news was that they couldn't see it would work as a separate luxury exploration vessel. Sounds familiar?

It seems this time it really could happen, although not with the Hurtigruten ship, giving SeaDream the opportunity to expand into new destinations.

At the moment it only has two ships, each with room for just 110 passengers, each designed for outdoor living so the ships have to be in warm places. The Med in summer, Caribbean in winter.

But don't hold your breath. Nothing seems likely to happen until 2010. Which is long enough away for us to forget that it was ever on the cards.

Fred Olsen Cruise Lines has announced it is retiring the geriatric Black Prince, first launched in 1966 as a passenger/freight ferry sailing between the UK and the Canary Islands in winter and the UK and Norway in summer.

Black Prince has long been destined for the chop - as with Cunard's QE2, it would cost too much to bring the vessel up to the standards needed to meet new SOLAS (Safely Of Life At Sea) regulations that become law in 2010.

These are tough new rules about the make-up of a ship - no combustible materials, low-level lighting, fireproof enclosures around stairways, and more - that has made it more cost-effective to hive off older tonnage than spend money on repairs.

Saga's Saga Rose is also another ship destined to go because of the new regulations.

Like QE2, Black Prince will have a farewell season to help sell those last few cruises.

The long goodbye, although no where near as long as QE2's, starts on September 9 2009 in Liverpool and ends in Southampton on October 16, spanning four cruises. A shame they didn't throw in a last three nighter to round it all off.

Then Black Prince would be retiring in October 19 2008, having come into service on October 19 1966. It has a certain symmetry that appeals.

Fred hasn't said what is happening to the ship, but speculation last evening at a get-together with SeaDream Yacht Club was that it will end up sailing in Greece, where, we were told by our host, Ian Buckeridge, the line's UK director, that ships will not have to comply with SOLAS 2010.

Remind me never to book a cruise with a Greek line.

Interesting to see that Island Escape might not be swallowed up into the Thomson Cruises concept following TUI's decision to buy its outstanding half share in Island Cruises from Royal Caribbean.

Instead, Thomson might use the ship to build a more casual Island-style brand, adding one or two others from its fleet.

It does make sense. After all, not everyone wants Thomson's more formal-style cruising - namely fixed dining, with two sittings at dinner time. That's no doubt a key reason why they booked with Island in the first place.

All will be revealed in Thomson Cruises' next brochure, due out in December.

You can always tell when a new ship feature has been a success - it starts to appear on the cruiseline's other ships.

And so the 2,600-passenger Star Princess becomes the first vessel in the Princess Cruises' fleet to be retro-fitted with a host of features introduced when Crown Princess launched in 2006.

Star has just emerged from a three-week drydock with an adults-only Sanctuary (a serene area at the top of the ship with faux greenery, padded loungers and stewards armed with water sprays to keep you cool), a Movies under the Stars screen where you can have a night at the fliks, and an piazza-style atrium with a cafe, wine bar and "street" entertainers to keep the buzz buzzing.

Caribbean Princess and Golden Princess go for their facelifts, respectively in January and April next year, and will emerge with all the above (actually there's already a Movies under the Stars screen on Caribbean Princess - it was the first Princess ship to get one).

They will get a new Crown Grill steak and seafood restaurant. Great news. That was my favourite place to eat when I cruised on Crown Princess this summer.

It had to happen given how successful Costa Cruises seems to have been operating cruises from Dubai around the Gulf.

Between January and April 2010, Royal Caribbean International is positioning Brilliance of the Seas at the emirate, presumably also sailing around the Gulf, although itineraries have not been announced.

Brilliance is the ship chosen to operate cruises in the Med this winter - the first time Royal has stayed in Europe year-round. If Brilliance is also staying for 2009/20, it's for a very short season. Does this mean winter Med has not been a success? I hope not, but wait to find out.

Sad to see that instead of positioning Carnival Liberty in Dover for the 2009 summer season, to operate a series of Baltic voyages, Carnival Cruise Lines has decided to leave the ship Stateside.

The line only launched its Baltic cruises this year, starting with the magnificent naming ceremony on Carnival Splendor and a most enjoyable three-night cruise to Amsterdam.

The official line is that the bosses fear continued economic uncertainty and high air costs will deter the Americans from flying to Europe. The same reason given for pulling Carnival Freedom's 2009 Mediterranean season earlier this year.

That could be true. But what about the Brits? We don't have to fly anywhere to get to Dover.

As I reported in the Telegraph recently, though, Carnival was selling next summer's 12-night Baltic cruises for £699 per person - less than £60 a day. Month ahead of sailing. It doesn't suggest the cruises have been flying off the shelves.

Any Brits booked on the cancelled Liberty cruises will get a full refund, but the UK team is also scouting around trying to find alternative voyages on another line in the Carnival group. Passengers can also rebook on Carnival Dream, the line's new big ship, due out of the yard in September and scheduled to operate a few Med cruises before going to the Caribbean.

Unless they are about to be cancelled as well.

P&O Cruises next new ship will be called Azura.

The keel for the vessel was laid today. The ship will be floated out in summer 2009 and delivered to P&O in spring 2010. That's barely 18 months for a 3,100-passenger cruise ship to grow from a lump of metal into a vessel setting off on its maiden voyage. I don't know how many keel-layings and new ships I've seen, but I still find it amazing.

I was among a small group of British journalists supposed to be at the keel-laying ceremony today at Fincantieri's Monfalcone shipyard in Trieste, Italy, but the event was called off last week because of the tragic death of a worker on the Ruby Princess.

Azura's first section laid weighs 650 tons and is made up of six pre-manufactured blocks ready-fitted with piping. In all, 50 sections and several interconnecting steel blocks will be used to build the ship.

There have been hints that Azura will not follow sister ship Ventura down the big-for-families route, but for now all speculation remains just that. The next news bulletin is on November 25.

It's official. Celebrity Solstice belongs to Celebrity Cruises.

The keys were handed over on Friday and the ship is now on its way to Fort Lauderdale, where it will be named on November 14 after a mini-cruise to nowhere. Celebrity promises "formal ceremonies" but details of the naming are under wraps.

I'll be there and keeping you updated on the pros, cons and the naming itself so keep watching TW's Cruise Lines.

Quest for Adventure, the ship slated to join Saga's Spirit of Adventure cruise line for the young at heart, will instead replace Saga Rose, which is being retired in October 2009.

Its Farewell Voyage will be a 37-night cruise from Southampton around the Med, to the Greek Islands, Egypt, Malta and Morocco.

Like Cunard's QE2 and Fred Olsen's Black Prince, Rose does not meet the standards required by the Safety of Life at Sea regulations being introduced in 2010 and the cost of making her shipshape and SOLAS acceptable are just too high.

It's sad news for all Saga Rose fans, but also a bit of a blow for Spirit of Adventure, which was due to start sailing Quest for Adventure in July 2009. It was already in the brochure and some passengers on my recent Spirit cruise in the Black Sea were booked on it.

The ship, currently named Astoria, was built in 1981, weighs 18,591 tons, holds 450 passengers and is sailing for German company Transocean Tours.

Instead of becoming Quest and going in search of adventure, Astoria will become Saga Pearl II, devoted to passengers aged 50-plus who want tradition, convention and formality.

With oil hitting $70 a barrel from its $150 summer high, cruise lines are starting to remove those dreaded supplements.

Carnival Corp was one of the first to announce it was axing surcharges across its brands on all new bookings made after October 31 for 2010 sailings.

Now Royal Caribbean has followed suit. Passengers booking a cruise with Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises or Azamara Cruises after November 10, for a holiday departing on or after January 1 2010, will not pay a surcharge.

Those with 2009 sailings might even get a refund, in the form of an on-board credit, if oil prices stay low, but what is the chance of that when the oil-producing nations have already decided to cut back production to push up the price?

Just in case, there are some very complicated price mechanisms in place to determine who might get what if the price goes down or stays level. If anyone actually understands them, I reckon they should be rewarded with a free cruise.

Carnival has also negated any cause for celebration by announcing price rises effective from, you've guessed it, October 31. It's a clever move. The whole world hates the S word, so just swallow up the supplement in the price. I have no doubt others will soon follow suit. Will they be as honest? Only time will tell.

Hurtigruten's new trade website is a useful new tool for agents planning to sell the cruise line.

There are lots of useful bits and pieces - a place to order brochures and download flyers, find out about training and fam trips, a FAQ section.

The Norway map, where you can see at a glance where the ships visit when they sail between Bergen and Kirkenes, is very helpful. It would be good to have one for each of Hurtigruten's other destinations - Spitsbergen, Greenland, even Antarctica, along with details of the ships that serve these rather specialist areas.

That information is on the main site, I know, but it's a pain if you have to keep jumping between URLs.

The Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy, officially handed Princess Cruises the keys for Ruby Princess yesterday and the ship set sail for Fort Lauderdale.

It will be named on November 6 by Trista and Ryan Sutter from the ABC TV show Bachelorette, who will also be celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary.

I am among the UK contingent going to see the ceremony and enjoy a two-night cruise on the ship. Keep watch here for my first impressions.

Casual cruiseline Ocean Village is offering one week in the Caribbean for £749 per person (from £99 for kids under 12) - an incredible deal given that it includes flights and transfers.

The low, low price is on a December 17 departure - a seven-night Corals and Coconuts cruise on Ocean Village Two - which is a bit of an awkward time for agents to sell I guess because it's so close to Christmas for those who want to be back for festivities with family and friends.

But you know, Christmas has a habit of coming around every year. Deals like this might not. Blue skies and Caribbean sun or the grey skies and rain? A bit of a no-brainer really,

I've often reported that Vietnam is the next big thing in the world of cruising.

For 2009, at least nine major cruise lines will be visiting the country, still best known to most people for the war with the US.

But that was all a long time ago and these days the Americans are gathering on the shoreline for altogether more peaceful reasons - to see this amazing, exotic little country that was such an important part of their history.

Princess Cruises, Silversea, Seabourn, Crystal and Royal Caribbean International are among the cruise lines that will be calling on Da Nang, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City and other stops along the Vietnamese coast.

It's long been on my list of must-see places. Maybe 2009 is the year it will happen.

Was yesterday's shocking news of the demise of Ocean Village really such a surprise?

One of my blogs two days ago reported they were giving away Caribbean cruises. What kind of message does that send out?

Rather than going overnight, the line will be phased out (to give Carnival UK a chance to change its mind if things suddenly recover maybe?). Ocean Village Two will join P&O Australia in autumn 2009, while Ocean Village the original will go a year later.

It's sad news. Ocean Village seemed to have built up a following among people who don't do cruises, converting them into people who do do cruises. And understandably. I cruised with them twice and had a great time. They did what they did very well. It was casual, fun, relaxed; great for kids and adults alike.

But it can't support more than two ships and that, officially, is why it has to go.

It's interesting that this is the second casual brand to go in less than two months. Island Cruises is to be wound up next year, following TUI's decision to buy the outstanding 50% share of the line. It has said it will set up a new casual brand, but so far there have been no more details.

The end of Ocean Village means another major loss in capacity for the UK market. QE2 leaves the Cunard fleet in less than two weeks and next year Island Star, Black Prince and Saga Rose will also go.

In return, in 2010 P&O Cruises gets new ship Azura, while Cunard gets the new Queen Elizabeth.

Travel Pulse reports USB cruise industry analyst Robin Farley has revised 2009 and 2010 yield estimates and is now forecasting a 3% decline for 2009 and a flat year for 2010.

October has reportedly been a very challenging month so far and as a result cruise lines have become more aggressive with 2009 promotions, starting them earlier than normal given the macroeconomic environment.

It's certainly true there are a lot of deals out there. Yesterday I reported Ocean Village is giving away Caribbean cruises, now I've got this from six-star SeaDream Yacht Club - seven nights in the Caribbean for £2,795, departing January 31. That's a straight 50% price cut and includes flights and transfers, an overnight stay in Antigua before the cruise, alcohol and soft drinks and gratuities.

It's on offer from BA-way Cruise. To book, call 0208 248 2355.

The Seattle Times concludes the cruise sector is facing rougher seas after a Cruise Lines International Association report showed the number of North Americans cruising last year grew by just 1%.

The CLIA says 12.6 million people took cruises worldwide last year, 4.7% more than the previous year, and that in the first half of this year numbers grew 5.8%.

But the 2007 CLIA Economic Study also says North Americans contributed just 1% of that growth as economic woes - falling house prices, rising unemployment and reduced airline capacity - made many think twice about a cruise holiday.

The report notes that in 1995, around 11% of passengers on CLIA members cruises came from outside North America. This year to date, overseas passengers represent more than 20% of cruise passengers.

All these years using wire and plastic clothes hangers and now it turns out we are collectively responsible for damaging the environment.

As a result, Crystal Cruises has switched to new EcoHangers, manufactured from recyclable materials, themselves 100% recyclable and proven stronger than wire hangers in lab tests.

Just what do people do with their hangers? The heaviest thing I've ever seen on one is a cute towel monkey made by my room steward.

I'm sure this is all good green news. More importantly, though, does it mean an end to that maddening tinkle tinkle from the wardrobe that you get on the last night, once all your clothes are off the offending hangers and packed?

And what exactly has Crystal done with those eco-unfriendly hangers? Surely not added them to the 8.5 billion that it says fill America's landfill sites each year.

Ocean Village's latest recession-busting offer means they are now giving away free Caribbean cruises when they travel with two adults booking a voyage on Ocean Village Two. That's four adults for £1,877 including flights - but you have to go from Birmingham.

Does this give us an idea of which area of the country is battening down the hatches first as talk of recession hots up?

I couldn't help but smile at the story this week about the Thomson Celebration passengers who had a cruise to, well nowhere.

I don't think they saw the funny side. The ship was due to set off on a three-day cruise to Ireland when bad weather struck. The captain could have battled his way through the storms or settled for a couple days in Liverpool.

Very sensibly he chose the latter. Who on earth wants to spend three days being sick on the Irish Sea? But then, who wants to spend three days tied up at Liverpool docks?

Quite a few people, apparently. Everyone was free to go home - and incidentally would still get the 80% refund, offered in the form of vouchers to use against another Thomson cruise - but many decided to stay on board and eat, drink, enjoy the entertainment, even have a free bus trip into the city. In fact they had everything but Ireland and the seasickness.

Some have now cried foul because they are not getting a full refund. Thomson cited terms and conditions, said it was an insurance issue and that it was not obliged to give any refund at all. All to do with small print and why we are all urged to have travel insurance.

Mr and Mrs Scott, quoted in the Liverpool Echo, said it was "scandalous", especially as ferries were making the crossing and they were in a ship. Yes, but Thomson Celebration is not a very big ship. History doesn't relate if they stayed on board and enjoyed the hospitality anyway - or indeed whether they had any travel insurance to cover the £279 they had each splashed out on the break.

Personally I prefer the attitude of the couple from Crewe quoted by Cruise Critic.

"We are disappointed, but we know it couldn't be helped and at least there is good food, good entertainment and people were having fun."

Kelly Ranson, Cruise Critic's UK editor, just happened to be on the ship and wrote:

This seemed to sum up the attitude of the majority -- and although everyone was disappointed that they were not visit Cork or Dublin, the facilities and the attitude of the staff on the ship helped to make a good weekend away.

The interesting question is whether any will use their refund vouchers and have another go on Thomson cruise. Or is once enough? We'll never know.

It was nice to read on e-tid that no one will face the chop in the wake of Carnival UK's decision to axe Ocean Village.

A spokeswoman said the ships' crews will transfer to P&O Australia, while land-based staff will be needed at P&O Cruises and Cunard, which are both getting an extra ship in 2010.

P&O Cruises takes delivery of the 3,100-passenger Azura in spring 2010, with the new 2,100-passenger Queen Elizabeth joining Cunard in October that year.

"The 26 people who work shore-side on Ocean Village will be absorbed with this new capacity."

Sky Travel reports that Thomson Cruises has dropped plans to base a ship at Liverpool after just two departures.

It's nothing to do with the cruise that never was, but rather because instead of allowing Thomson Celebration to use the city's new cruise liner terminal, the port people said the ship had to tie up at Langton Dock, which overlooks the biggest scrapyard in Europe.

Somehow they managed to build a new terminal that doesn't have the customs and baggage-handling facilities needed for turnaround days, when one set of passengers disembarks and the next lot come on.

Thomson Celebration would have been the first ship to be based at the port in 50 years and contributed £4.5 million in port fees and related spending to the city's coffers.

There must be some very red faces in the city's council offices.

Norwegian Cruise Line has announced it will be axing fuel supplements on all bookings made after November 10 for cruises departing on or after January 1 2010.

There are also complicated rules to determine whether those already booked for cruises after that date will get a refund in the form of an onboard credit; likewise, for those who have booked a 2009 cruise.

After this year's roller-coaster oil ride, I can understand why NCL is cautious, but it does seem a little unfair that anyone who has booked early for 2010 - what the cruiselines want them to do, after all - is to be penalised for their eagerness.

There is a real danger these people will be so annoyed they'll join the ranks of the last-minute bookers and that is not good anytime, but especially not when times are tough.

Princess Cruises' Movies under the Stars as been so popular it's being added to seven more ships over the next three years, starting with Golden Princess in May next year and ending with Sapphire Princess in 2011.

The big pool-side screen is used to show sporting events, rock concerts and films through the day but it realy comes into its own at night, when you can tuck up under a blanket and nibble away at popcorn while enjoying your favourite flicks.

It's an intriguing question, posed by Mark Tre in the Cruise Examiner, in a piece looking at the winners and losers in the cruise industry in the current financial crisis.

He reckons the big two - Carnival Corp and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines - are best positioned to ride out the storm, but that question marks hang over Norwegian Cruise Line and MSC Cruises.

The big question about MSC is not only whether it will be able to survive a rapid expansion in a short number of years, but whether parent company Mediterranean Shipping Company, the world's second-largest container line, can survive in a diminishing market where freight rates are dropping every week.

NCL may be a stronger position, now being half-owned by Apollo Management as well as Star Cruises. But Apollo had had to follow through on a recent major acquisition in another market and has a full interest in Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises that it must also look after. There have also been reported disagreements between Apollo and NCL as to the future path that NCL should be taking, one of the reasons for the dispute over the F3s.

Can the two get together to take on the big two? Or would MSC fill a hole at Royal Caribbean and offer a counterpoint to Carnival's Costa?

This is not the best time for cruise lines to be on a spending spree - or is it? Desperate times can mean desperate deals.

Here's a different take on the fuel surcharge issue.

Rather than dropping the supplement altogether, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines is offering passengers who have paid the surcharge a refund if the price of oil is on average less than £40 per barrel in the calendar month before their departure.

The rebate will be offered for cruises after January 1 2009. As with other lines, money will be given back as on-board credit rather than a cash.

Another week, another ship launch. This time it's the turn of Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Solstice, and again it's in Fort Lauderdale.

So after a day at home on Sunday and a day at World Travel Market yesterday, today I'm flying back out to Miami.

We've a two-day cruise before the naming so I'll be keeping you posted here and in Travel Weekly on how things are looking.

First it was the oldies; now it seems it's the big spenders who will take the cruise industry through the recession.

Because just as the rest of the industry starts to feel the crunch, White Star Cruises, the luxury cruise arm of WEXAS - The Travellers Club, reports record sales figures in October.

The on-line company sells only five and six-star cruiselines - the likes of Crystal Cruise, Silversea, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, SeaDream Yacht Club, Swan Hellenic and Peter Deilmann - and says its average sales price is a whopping £5,500 per person.

Just to prove things are good, White Star has produced a 60-page on-line brochure featuring 15 of the world's top-rated cruiselines. General manager Scott Anderson calls it "informative, inspirational and independent".

No, I don't entirely follow the logic either. If a company is so happily crunch-busting, why spend time and effort creating such a masterpiece? But no matter. It's refreshing to have good news while all around is recession. Long may the luxury guys carry on cruising.

Here's some interesting news from Grand UK Holidays that should help to banish some of the clouds hanging over the cruise industry.

The over-55s specialist has found that the grey market is not half so concerned about the current economic downturn as bright young things saddled with debt.

Research by web analyst Hitwise found that almost 60% of vistors to cruise websites are aged over 55. More importantly for the trade, its report says they are more likely to book through a travel agency than direct with the cruise company.

"UK internet visits to cruise websites, which typically peak in December, increased by 8.2% between September 2007 and September 2008."

Hitwise figures also show that in the three months ended October 25 2008, the Caribbean was the most searched-for cruise destination in the UK, while Norway was the most popular destination. During September, P&O Cruises was the most visited cruise website in the UK, receiving one in every 10 visits to the category.

Naturally there is a reason why Grand UK is giving us this info. It has just launched its 2009 summer cruise programme featuring cruises from the UK on Fred Olsen Cruise Lines and Transocean Tours, which operates sailings on Marco Polo from Tilbury.

Grand UK Holidays sales director Harold Burke said retired holidaymakers are less affected by mortgage rate rises and their kids have left home. They're also accustomed to taking several breaks a year and can travel in term times.

"We are not immune to the effects of the economy but we have not yet seen a downturn, and our experience is mirrored in these statistics."

These rectangular bars of metal on the pods on Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas look a bit like those things tyre fitters use to balance your car's wheels.

In fact, they are sacrificial anodes and their job is to divert the corrosive attentions of salt water away from the pods they are positioned on. When their job is done, they are simply replaced. Quick, easy and a darn sight cheaper than replacing a corroded engine.

So simple. And apparently they really work too!

Royal Caribbean International's giant Oasis of the Seas has to be seen to be believed ... and I was lucky enough to see it on Friday, at STX Europe's shipyard in Turku, Finland, where it was about to be floated out.

The Caribbean it wasn't, with snow and ice on the ground and freezing temperatures, but we were kitted out with big coats, steel toe-cap shoes, gloves and hard hats for a walkabout in the dry dock and on board - the first groups to get a glimpse of what this levathon will be like.

After a lightening tour of some of the key places on the ship, we were taken dockside, a cannon was fired - so loudly the ground shook! - and the sluice gates were opened, allowing water to touch the hull for the first time.

The gates were opened at about 5pm and the dry dock was expected to be filled by midnight so the ship could be sailed out to a new berth where the interior will be fitted out. They have just under a year to transform it from looking like a mass of steel and scaffolding, as below, into a luxurious cruise ship.

This is the Royal Promenade - the very same feature you'll find on the Voyager and Freedom-class cruise ship, except this one will be more than twice as wide as the "street" on those vessels. When finished, there will be a pub, shops, cafes and the amazing Rising Tide Bar.

Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines chairman and chief executive officer Richard Fain, who was guiding my group, said they decided they needed a lift to get passengers from the Royal Promenade to Central Park above and those little box things most of us manage with to get up and down floors was just too boring. So they are putting in a bar. Of course.

The idea is that it acts as a lift, but I can see passengers grabbing a stool for the evening and staying put.

Unless of course they are tempted away by the antics in the Aquatheatre at the back of the ship.

There is a pool, 17.9 feet deep (this one pool will hold more water than all the pools on the Freedom-class ships) surrounded by amphitheatre-style seating and with a bridge 10 metres above from which performers will be diving into the water. Sort of Cirque de Oasis, I guess. Apparently one show will have a row of divers going off the bridge all at once, which would be quite spectacular

When the pool is not needed for swimming, the bottom can be raised so it also becomes a dance floor.

Is this the first casualty of the credit crunch?

Seatrade Insider reports that the "new" Orient Lines president and CEO Wayne Heller has cancelled the resurrected cruise line's first European season due to the current econimic climate.

"We are exploring possible options to relaunch our cruise program at a more favourable time in the near future."

The maiden voyage on Maxim Gorky, which has been renamed Marco Polo II, was supposed to be on April 15 from Barcelona.

Booked customers will receive a full and prompt refund.

Silversea has pulled the South Pacific cruises planned for exploration ship Prince Albert II in summer 2009 and instead will be bringing the ship back to the Arctic, cruising around Greenland and Spitsbergen.

Reading between the comments from Silversea president and chief executive officer Amerigo PerassoIt, the South Pacific cruises were not selling, mainly because of the cost of getting there, but also because people didn't connect with a ship built for polar waters sailing around sun-kissed islands.

Operating our vessel in close reach of our three leading markets (United States, United Kingdom and Continental Europe) is all the more justified in the present economic conjuncture. With its ice-strengthened hull, Prince Albert II is quite naturally associated with polar sea ice regions, rather than other attractive, exotic destinations.

Prince Albert II will sail nine Arctic cruises between June and August before heading back to the Antarctic for winter 2009/10.

MSC Cruises says it took 47% more calls in October than in the same month in 2007, while bookings for the month were up 84%.

Managing director Giulio Libutti attributed the bookings surge to the fact the call centre is open longer and also on Sundays for the first time.

Apparently a lot of bookings are coming in for MSC Lirica, which is sailing the Baltic from Dover next summer, and the giant MSC Fantasia, which is being named in Naples on December 18.

This is the ship with the much-anticipated VIP Yacht Club - a separate area of the ship where top-paying passengers will enjoy butler service in their cabins, have a private swimming pool and observation lounge with bar. 

Travelmole reports P&O Cruises is to make some changes to Ventura after admitting to facing "challenges" in the first summer season.

In a letter to travel agents, managing director Nigel Esdale says they will stop taking bookings for the Freedom dining restaurant so diners really do have freedom to turn up and dine when they want - hopefully getting a table straight away - the Beach House self-service will become an informal dining venue with waiter service and sunloungers will be placed on deck 19, in an area previously devoted only to the bungee trampolines and Cirque Ventura.

"We will retain the bungee trampolines which have been a real hit with passengers aged from 8 to 84. And we will continue to offer the Cirque Ventura circus skills school teaching the art of juggling, tightrope and stilt walking."

In addition, new furniture, including a reclining chair, will be put on cabin balconies, to help alleviate demand for loungers on the open deck.

I reported in my cruise column in the Telegraph on the problems of Freedom dining I encountered when I was on board and spoke to people who were fed up with the morning rush to grab a sunlounger so it's good news that all these things are now being addressed.

After several seasons in Antarctica, Voyages of Discovery is leaving the White Continent and cruising to South East Asia and the Far East in winter 2009/10.

I wrote a little on this for the next TW Cruise, due out soon, but since then the brochure has come out bearing more information and some magnificent itineraries that will take you around India, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and South Africa.

VoD's ship Discovery takes its time as it cruises through all these places so there's lots of time ashore. Anyone with the time and money could put some of these itineraries back to back and have an ultimate round-the-world trip.

OK, you won't make it to Australia so it's not quite RTW, but at least you would see the world as you went instead of spending endless days at sea, as is the norm on a standard world cruise.

There is no single supplement on a number of cabins and guaranteed no fuel surcharge on all bookings. All the cruises will have guest lecturers on board to add some insights into the places being visited.

VoD says it has switched to Asia to give passengers who have done Antarctica something new for winter 09/10. Makes sense. I cruised Antarctica with Voyages and much as I loved it, it's not something I would do twice with the same cruise line as I'd like to see how others cope with the harsh environment down there.

On my cruise, most of the passengers agreed they had done Antarctica and would not go back. After all, it's not cheap and makes more sense for them to spend their money seeing new places and cultures.

QE2 might have left Southampton for the last time, but the old girl is not going to disappear from the headlines.

Dubai is planning to match last week's fond farewell at the south coast port with an equally big welcome when the ship arrives in the emirate on November 26.

QE2 will be met at The World islands by a flotilla of local yachts, boats and leisure craft led by a Royal Navy frigate, and there's an open invitation to anyone with a boat to register and be part of the welcome.

QE2 is to be transformed into a luxury floating hotel off the trunk of Palm Jumeirah by new Nakheel, which is also planning to open a heritage museum displaying artefacts from the ship and of local maritime history.

Great for anyone who happens to be in Dubai, but what about past passengers left without their favourite ship to cruise on? I offered some QE2 alternatives in a piece in the Telegraph. Let me know if you have any other suggestions.

Michelin-starred chef Atul Kocchar, the man behind Sindhu, the Indian restaurant opening on P&O Cruises' new ship Azura, tells me his dishes will be Indian "with a British twist".

The "twist" being that there will be no hot curries, but rather a tasty use of spices. "What if some like it hot?" I asked, a little dismayed. We can cater for them too, Atul promised.

Atul said Sindhu will also be all about presentation. The food will look more attractive than the stuff dished out at your local Tandoori, with meat and sauces served separately so diners can see what cut of meat they are eating (I know what he means - I always go vegetarian at my local curry house, just in case....).

As well as creating the menus, Atul will be helping to design Sindhu and also training the staff who will work there, either by going on board himself or having one member of staff learn the ropes at one of his restaurants (he owns Benares in London, Vatika in Southampton and Ananda in Dublin) so he or she can teach the others.

Meanwhile, he is getting ready to embark on his first P&O voyage, in March or April next year, so he can see what this cruising lark is all about. "I've been on Ventura in Southampton and am confident this will work," he says. "The biggest challenge for me is not having an open fire."

And for that I think we can all be grateful.

P&O Cruises is going back to its core values of delivering a traditional British cruising experience with new ship Azura, launching next year.

The ship will be a sister to Ventura, managing director Nigel Esdale said, but it will not be the same. Crucially, instead of the big push for families that accompanied the launch of Ventura, Azura will be aimed at couples looking for "a serene holiday experience" that is unahamedly British.

"Azura will establish P&O as a contemporary brand that delivers a stylish large ship experience in tune with what the British want. British tastes will drive the decor, entertainment and shore excursions .... All passengers will be British so they need to be able to feel at home"

That's not to say families will be banned on this ship. Azura will have as much space devoted to kids and teens as Ventura, and Noddy and Mr Bump will be on board - as will bungee trampolines, high up on deck 19.

Azura will have an Indian restaurant, Sindhu, created by Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar (this will be where East is on Ventura) and a new restaurant-cum-wine-bar, The Glass House, being created with the help of TV wine expert Olly Smith.

There will also be a new fine dining restaurant - presumably where The White Room is on Ventura - but it has as yet no name, as well as the usual self-service outlets and dining rooms. There will be three dining rooms, with fixed and dine-when-you-like options available.

A couple of things have been "borrowed" from sister brand Princess Cruises - an adult-only Retreat on the top deck and an open-air cinema (respectively the Sanctuary and Movies under the Stars on Princess ships) - but new for P&O (in fact new for any cruise ship built this century) there will be single cabins. There are just 18, it's true, and they will carry a premium but nothing like the double occupancy price that many lines charge.

Also new are a couple of large suites suitable for families or groups of friends and designated spa cabins located near the Oasis Spa.

QE2 arrives in Dubai this morning, November 26, the last stop on her last cruise.

An Emirates double-decker A380 aircraft will be making a grand flypast to welcome the ship as it arrives at The World islands and a flotilla of small boats will be waiting to escort the ship to her new home at Palm Jumeirah.

At 3pm tomorrow, Cunard will hand over the keys to new owner Nakheel in a traditional flag-changing ceremony.

And so the chapter ends - just in time for a new one to begin.

In a move Woolworths would be proud of, Italian cruise line MSC Cruises is offering cruises for £1 on selected sailings across the fleet next year - even on new ships MSC Fantasia and MSC Splendida.

To qualify, one person has to book an MSC Cruise at brochure price and the second person travelling with them will then pay only £1, plus any flights of course. The offer is applicable to more than 100 departures between March and November, but bookings have to be made between December 1 and 7 this year.

Drastic times call for drastic action, but is it a bit too drastic? Last week Travelmole reported on a survey by the website Cruise Critic which found that just 13% of cruise travellers would not be cruising next year because of financial pressures.

People did say they would be looking at ways to cut the cost of their cruise. Avoiding flying, booking at the last minute and cutting on-board spend were top ideas. But they pale into insignificance compared with the now very obvious way of cutting costs.

Book an MSC Cruise for £1!

There's never been a better time to go cruising on your own.

Elegant River Cruises, part of Connections, which is the independent travel division of Titan Travel, is offering no single supplements to travellers who book a spring cruise before December 31. It means a potential saving of nearly £2,500.

Now Oceania Cruises has slashed the single supplement on Far East and Australia cruises on Nautica between December 2008 and April 2009, cutting it from 100% to 50%.

I reckon we'll see a lot more offers for singles over the coming weeks as lines pull out all the stops to fill their ships in these credit-crunching times.

Agents should urge clients travelling along to make the most of it and who knows? Maybe the cruise lines will discover a hidden market and the lower supplements will stick.

Or maybe not. But it's a nice thought.

Hot on the heels of Silversea's decision to bring Prince Albert II back to the Arctic for summer 2009, Hurtigruten has added capacity in Spitsbergen for June, July and August for 2009.

The additional cruises are on the 120-passenger Expedition, which is owned by Gap Adventures and has been chartered on a crew basis for four years by Spitsbergen Travel, which is a subsidiary of Hurtigruten.

Expedition will be sailing 13 nine-day Kingdom of the Polar Bear cruises for Hurtigruten from Longyearbyen, circumnavigating Spitsbergen, weather permitting.

Hurtigruten's head of commercial Kathryn Beadle said demand has outstripped capacity on the line's two other ships in Spitsbergen.

"Our main nine-day Spitsbergen voyage is already close to being sold out for 2009 and we still have more than six months' selling time."

Expedition, which has an ice-strengthened hull, was built in 1972 and is currently undergoing modernisation. When it enters service it will have a panorama lounge, expedition lounge, restaurant, library, bar, fitness room and sauna.

Cold is clearly the new hot for British cruisers. Just a month ago Titan HiTours announced it had signed an alliance with National Geographic which enables Brits to travel on the company's expedition ships, operated by Lindblad Expeditions, to Antarctica, the Arctic, Alaska, the Galapagos and other such exciting places.

John Sargeant's decision to exit from Strictly Come Dancing means he is now free to take up a previously booked slot as guest speaker on P&O Cruises' Oceana, on a 15-night voyage from Barbados through the Caribbean and into Latin America.

Putting up with unpleasant comments from the judges week after week or basking in the Caribbean sun? What a tricky decision.

Travelmole reports that Yachts of Seabourn is to name its second new ship, Seabourn Sojourn, in London, when it launches in June 2010.

The vessel will be the second of three sisters bring built by Seabourn. The first, Seabourn Odyssey, comes out of the shipyard in June 2009.

It's yet more proof of how much faith cruiselines have in the UK market, even in these credit crunching times, following hot on the heels of Celebrity Cruises' announcement a couple of weeks ago that it will be offering its first cruises from Southampton, aimed at British cruisers, in summer 2010.

Seabourn president and CEO Pam Conover said the UK has a large and loyal following of repeat cruisers from the UK and expects this to grow.

"In the long term, the UK represents a huge growth market for Seabourn as UK cruisers look for a more intimate, personal experience offering exceptional value for money, all of which can be found on our yachts." 

Cruise Critic reports that Fred Olsen is considering pulling its Liverpool departures because of the scrapyard scenery and "abysmal" facilities its passengers have to put up with at Langton Docks.

Thomson Cruises has already voted with its fleet and decided not to offer cruises from Liverpool after a trial run this summer.

The problem? Cruises that start and end in Liverpool have to use Langton Docks, while cruiselines just visiting for the day get to use the shiny new terminal.

The reason? The powers that be managed to build the new terminal that doesn't have the customs and baggage-handling facilities needed for turnaround days, when one set of passengers disembarks and the next lot comes on.

The result? Huge loss of potential earnings to the city.

How clever was that?

Italian line Costa Cruises has been named "Best Cruise Company" at the annual Virgin Holidays awards. Runners up were Carnival and Ocean Village.

Naturally managing director Marco Rosa is pleased - in fact almost as thrilled as when I saw him last week, racing high-performance cars at a fantastic day out at Thurleigh Airfield near Bedford with some of his top-selling agents and fellow scribes.

He now has to come back down to earth and get ready for 2009, when Costa has two new ships launching - the Costa Luminosa and Costa Pacifica - so close to each other they are sharing a naming ceremony.

Hebridean International Cruises is going back to the Caribbean and Central America for winter 2009/10 - and this time it is taking people on the transatlantic.

The cruiseline's 98-passenger Hebridean Spirit made its debut in the region in winter 07/08 and that time went over the Pond empty, thinking that no one would want to be making that journey in a 4,200-ton ship. It seem they were wrong.

"The brochure's only been out a couple of weeks but we already have some bookings for the crossing," managing director Mike Deegan told me on the even smaller Hebridean Princess - just 2,112 tons and yes, the one the Queen chartered - when it was in Tilbury this week.

The night before I was there, it had been hosting Hebridean's top-selling agents for an awards evening and overnight. It is a lovely little ship, with quaint but beautifully-appointed cabins, but at that size I can understand why they run for cover at the first sign of bad weather.

News of those intrepid transatlanticers is interesting, but the real point here is that they have actually been able to book because the brochure is already out - part of a strategic move by Hebridean to stop lagging behind when it comes to getting its cruises out on agents' shelves.

There are some great cruises in there, more Caribbean than before, and taking Spirit though the Panama Canal and into ports in Cuba that most people will never have heard of.

The 2010 summer programme will be out in March, and one brochure will feature cruises on both ships, which is also a first for the cruiseline - usually there are two brochures for each ship each year.

I am told Princess will be doing its usual Scotland stuff, but dropping its Norway visits as Spirit is going north for the summer, covering off Norway and the Arctic areas.

When it is a taster cruise from Cruise Thomas Cook. These tasters are a benefit for anyone who joins the retailer's new Cruise Club and explained as follows:

"For those who want to sample a life at sea for real, taster cruises are available for The Cruise Club members to book for a small fee. Once on board members will be given the opportunity to sample a menu and view a selection of cabins to help decide if a cruise is right for them. If it is, when they book, the fee will be refunded."

Wow. What a fab offer. You can go on a short cruise and "sample life at sea" - and the cost is refunded if you then book another cruise?

Er, no. It's actually a ship visit, a meal on board and a tour of the cabins.

Nothing new there then.

Princess Cruises must be cock-a-hoop about Cruise Thomas Cook's new cruise report.

The Love Boat line puts a lots of store on romance and now it transpires they were right, with nearly two-thirds of the 5,000 Brits polled by the cruise retailer revealing that a cruise helps to put the spark back in their relationships.

More than half of those surveyed said tables for two at dinner get them in a romantic mood, while 30% said dining on their cabin balcony gets them in the mood (good news for Princess, which has Anytime dining for passengers who want a romantic table for two and balcony dining for lovers who prefer a little privacy).

Just under a quarter said a Champagne breakfast worked magic in the romance department, while one in four said they'd like to get married on a cruise ship (yes, Princess can help there as well, with its weddings at sea performed by the captain). The findings are just a few of the facts to emerge from Cruise Thomas Cook's first cruise report.

* 70% would like to see a full-scale West End or Broadway musicals (with West End and Broadway quality performers, I would hope, but history doesn't relate).

* 57% wanted a total ban on smoking.

* 44% would love a branch of Marks & Spencer and Boots on a cruise ship (why go away if you want to take the high street with you, I wonder?)

* 45% of female cruisers buy new undies before setting off on a cruise (hopefully they are cruising with their loved ones, although again history does not relate).

* 65% prefer organised shore excursions to exploring alone.

It's all good fun stuff, but the really important thing for agents and cruise lines is that the survey bears out what has been said so many times: Get someone on a cruise once and they will be back. Some 4,811 of the 5,000 polled had been on a cruise and more than three quarters said they "were very likely" to cruise again.

Cruise Thomas Cook director Marc Bennett said: "As an independent cruise retailer we are in a good position to provide this type of report. There is no angle for us but the most important factor in continuing to grow the UK cruise market will be a greater understanding of the needs and requirements of today's cruise passengers."

Do I spy a possible sideline selling undies? I'll bet it's more lucrative than travel insurance and forex, and certainly a lot more interesting.

It's good to read in Cruise Critic that several cruiselines are dropping the complicated mathematical formula introduced to work out whether passengers will pay a fuel supplement, and instead banishing surcharges to the box marked history.

It has been a long time coming, especially given the price of oil has been hovering around the $50 a barrel mark for some time - well below the $150 high of the summer when the supplements were introduced.

Then they had good reason; now it just looks as if the supplement is being used to help pay for the hefty discounts being offered to get people booking in these tough economic times.

Carnival Corporation's Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Costa Cruises, Cunard, Princess Cruises and Yachts of Seabourn will be axing the supplement from December 17 2008. Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean brands Celebrity Cruises, Azamara Cruises and Royal Caribbean International follow suit on January 1 2009.

That's a good start. Now let's hear from the lines that are still charging. There's still time for them to make it a happy Christmas for their (British) customers.

MSC Cruises' "sail for £1" sale, for this week only (at least as far as we know), seems to have hit wanabee-be cruisers in all the right places.

Operations and reservations manager Milica Mocevic says they have had to draft in extra staff to cope with all the demand.

Which just goes to show what a clever piece of marketing it is.

You only qualify for the £1 cruise when you book with another person paying full brochure price.

When you get over the emotive £1 bit, you realise this is actually just what other cruiselines - and indeed travel companies generally - call "buy one get one free". Except people going for this offer are paying top whack by getting the £1 in return for paying full brochure price.

I reckon they'd probably be better off - literally - shopping around for the 40% and more discounts doing the rounds in these credit-crunching days.

But they are not and MSC is reaping the benefits. Smart.

The pirate attack on Oceana's Nautica on Sunday morning (November 30) has naturally provoked a lot of talk about the safety of cruising.

In my cruise column in the Telegraph this week, I refer to a quick poll I did among other passengers on the Windstar cruise I am on at the moment in the Caribbean.

A resounding "no" met my question "would the pirate attack put you off cruising?"

One man pointed out that Nautica was close to capacity for its cruise through waters that have become notorious for pirates, while here in the sunny Caribbean, Wind Star has just a quarter full.

It certainly doesn't smack of people running scared.

Another woman paused to wonder what she might think if Captain Jack Sparrow, aka Johnny Depp, appeared on the horizon, skull and crossbones waving in the breeze. We both decided we would force our captain, Briton Mark Boylin, to lower the ropes and let him board!

Cutting prices is one thing, cutting prices and angering others who have paid a higher price for the same cruise is something else. How not to win hearts and minds.

So good for Voyages of Discovery, which is extending savings just announced on ex-UK sailings and flycruises to passengers who have already booked.

It means some people will cash in on savings of up to 50% on the early-booking prices, or benefit from new prices up to £900 below what they were. Perfect for countering all the bad news floating around right now.

It'll be interesting to see if other lines follow suit.

Costa Cruises has marked the start of its third season of cruising around the Gulf from Dubai by announcing new ship Costa Luminosa, launching in June 2009, will be homeported in the Middle East port in winter 2009/10.

That's quite a commitment given this is still such a new market. Usually, somewhere new has to put up with the smaller, older ships for quite some time, until they have proved themselves.

I guess Costa feels Dubai has already done that. When they launched Dubai cruises in winter 06/07, they had one 1,680-passenger ship and carried 44,000. Last winter they put on a second ship and carried 70,000.

This winter there are also two ships - the 1,680-passenger Costa Classica and the bigger 2,394-passenger Costa Victoria - and they expect to carry 100,000 passengers.

The numbers are made up of Europeans, including Brits, but also increasingly passengers from China and the Far East.

But maybe also Costa is making sure it is in a good position to head off competition from Royal Caribbean International, which is positioning Brilliance of the Seas in Dubai in January 2010, also to operate cruises around the Gulf.

The 92,700-ton Costa Luminosa carries 2,828 passengers and will have all the mod-cons you expect of a new ship including 772 balcony cabins, a luxurious spa, 4D cinema and Grand Prix driving simulator.

Interesting to get some information from Star Clippers that doesn't just tell me how well they are doing. On the contrary it says the cruise line is to suspend fuel supplements for all cruises departing after March 31 2010. Moreover it is going to refund passengers booking a cruise around Tahiti the magnificent sum of £200 towards the cost of their flights.

Are they in the real world? When most of the rest of the cruising industry, with a few notable exceptions, is getting rid of fuel supplements altogether now, Star Clippers - which operates sailing ships, you will remember, which sail when wind conditions allow, thereby saving on fuel consumption - thinks it is good news that they will be suspended in more than 12 months time. Have they looked at the cost of oil lately?

As for £200 per person towards the cost of a flight to Tahiti. When cruise lines are cutting fares frantically to get people booking, the word generous does not spring to mind.

Considering its launch is only a year away, we know very little about Silversea's new ship Silver Spirit, which merits just two paragraphs on the cruiseline's website.

Compare that to Royal Caribbean International's Oasis of the Seas, which comes out at roughly the same time, has its own website and has already had journalists nosing around it in the shipyard.

But in response to a question about world cruising in 2010, I am told Silver Spirit will be sailing a Christmas voyage from Barcelona to Lisbon in December 2009, a transatlantic in January 2010 and a Grand Voyage around South America, starting in January 2010.

So now you know.

Apparently more information will be released in the next couple of weeks. I hope so. The ship carries 540 passengers and none can book unless they have some itineraries and prices.

Costa Cruises has launched a new family fare which makes it more affordable for mums and dads to book a separate cabin for the kids.

It's a great deal for parents fed up with going to bed early with the little ones or having to creep around the cabin in the mornings while teens have their beauty sleep.

But what's really interesting about this news is that it transpires Costa doesn't require children to be over a certain age before they can have a cabin to themselves.

"There is no lower age limit for children in their own cabin. As long as there is a person aged over 18 in the cruise party, it is then the parents responsibility for the children in the separate cabin. Costa will try to give interconnecting cabins where possible, but this is not guaranteed."

Norwegian Cruise Line says"kids" have to be over 21 to have their own cabin, which is frankly ridiculous and a rule made to be broken, but no minimum age is not wise either. Imagine a couple of kids under the age of 10 trying to cope in an emergency.

MSC Cruises and P&O Cruises stipulate 18 years, Princess Cruises requires children in a cabi on their own to be aged over 16.

Prestige Cruise Holdings, the parent company of Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, the latest to drop fuel supplements.

The change is effective January 1 2009. Passengers who have already paid the supplement for cruises next year will have the money refunded as an on-board credit.

Soon it'll be only the British lines holding out for the supplement. Why?

Rather than pit passengers against pirates, Cruise Critic says Hapag-Lloyd is going to disembark all those on the first sector of Columbus' world cruise at an undisclosed point before they reach the Gulf of Aden and fly them to Dubai, where they will wait in five-star luxury for the ship to catch up. There will be no extra cost to passengers.

The ship will be manned by a skeleton crew as most of the staff will also be taken off and flown to Dubai.

Hapag-Lloyd managing director Sebastian Ahrens says as long as the situation in the Gulf of Aden is uncertain they will not cruise through the region with passengers on board.

Just over a week ago, there was a failed pirate attack on Oceania Cruises' Nautica.

MSC Cruises laid on an epic show for the launch in Naples of its second ship of the year, the 3,274-passenger MSC Fantasia.

Over the course of almost three hours, acrobats tumbled, drummers drummed, speeches were spoken and three of Italy's favourite singers warbled. I cannot tell you my relief when the cameras picked up godmother-to-be Sophia Loren and Gianluigi Aponte, the owner of MSC, making their way to the tent so she could do her naming thing.

It wasn't so much that it was an over-long show - although it was - but I was getting colder and colder as the evening wore on, despite the polythene tent they had erected quayside for the event and the big coat and gloves I had thought to take.

Ms Loren said a few words in Italian - probably something along the lines of "yes folks, I'm godmother yet again" (this must be the fifth or sixth MSC ship she has named) - before making her way over to the ribbon.

That should have been the moment she said "I name this ship", but that job fell to someone else - "she never says it," an MSC insider told me - the ribbon was cut, the bottle smashed and the tent filled with confetti.

It was the moment I had been waiting for and worth the wait, although I confess I missed the fireworks in my mission to get back to the warmth of the ship as soon as possible.

Job done. Now it's all hands on deck at MSC because in just seven months, it will be the turn of MSC Spendida, another 3,274-passenger ship, which is being named in July in Barcelona by... you guessed it, Sophia Loren. Talk about déjà vu. But at least it will be warm!

Norwegian Cruise Line and STX Europe have broken their silence and announced an agreement on the building of NCL's new-build project, code-named F3.

The deal means instead of two vessels, as scheduled, the shipyard will now build only one of these 4,200-passenger ships. Delivery is scheduled for May 2010.

And that's all we know for now. NCL promises more info about what's on board another time.

I'll be in Naples in a few hours, to watch the naming ceremony for MSC Cruises' new ship MSC Fantasia.

As usual, Sophia Loren is doing the honours so there's no news there, but there should be lots to say about the vessel, which is the biggest MSC has ever built, with room for almost 4,000 passengers. So keep looking here for news and pictures.

Just to prove there is no such thing as bad publicity, USA Today's Cruise Log reports hits on the Oceania Cruises website went through the roof on news of the attempted attack by pirates.

Not only has the world now heard about Oceania Cruises, but one agent is reported as saying the great American public has now discovered where the Gulf of Aden is and is interested in going there.

And here are the cruiselines thinking they have to sell at rock-bottom prices to get people to book.

It's official. QE2's red funnel is to be sliced off, restored and become the central attraction of a new maritime museum close to the vessel full of memorabilia taken from on board.

After months of speculation, details of QE2's new look were released at this week's Seatrade Middle East Cruise Conference by Manfred Ursprunger, CEO of new owner QE2 Enterprises, which in turn is owned by Dubai-based Nakheel.

"QE2's arrival in Dubai is not the end for the most famous liner in the world but a new beginning."

"New" is certainly the word. Essentially the ship's insides are to be ripped out to create a new luxury hotel with 200 rooms, 110 apartments and five restaurants, serving menus created by celebrity chef Michel Roux. There will be a theatre where once there were engines.

A replica funnel will, as predicted, house an apartment that the new owners hope will become one of the most sought after addresses in Dubai.

The bridge, captain's cabin and Princess Grill will be kept, to become part of a heritage trail around the 40-year-old vessel. Hardly the most exciting day out, but no doubt plenty of people will stump up to see the QE2's rather paltry remains.

All the work is being done locally, at the Drydocks World repair yard, and is expected to take up to three years. An incredibly long time given they they build new ships in 18 months.

Rumours are that it is - or at least it is but for one ship instead of two, and at a much increased cost. But as usual Norwegian Cruise Line and STX Europe are not saying a word. Leaving us all free to continue to speculate.

Crystal Cruises has followed the pack and is dropping its fuel surcharge for cruises on or after January 1 2009. If you're on a Crystal cruise and have paid in full you'll get a shipboard credit, if you've yet to pay in total, the final invoice will be adjusted.

Happily, they are all falling like flies, although there is still silence from British lines P&O Cruises, Fred Olsen and Ocean Village.

Check out Cruise Critic for a handy round-up of who's doing what.

It's bad enough that Star Clippers is retaining the fuel supplement until March 31 2010. Now I read that honour is actually only for us Europeans and it is lifting the supplement for passengers from North and Latin American only as from January 1 2009.

Nice to see where their loyalties lie. That's a whole 13 more months they plan to charge us the levy, even though the price of oil has plummeted.

I hope passengers vote with their bookings. After all, there are plenty of other lines out there that are playing fair.

Just before I go... I couldn't resist this story from Travelmole. Carnival UK CEO David Dingle has been awarded a CBE in the New Year's Honours list for services to the shipping industry. Is the Queen after a free holiday with P&O Cruises?

We need to see more stories like this. John W Schoen writing for msnbc and quoting a panel of economists who reckon the green shoots of recovery are starting to appear amid all the doom and gloom.

Could it be? Well, why not? No one forecast the recession until it was almost upon us, so who's to say it won't go in an equally unexpected fashion.

More to point, is it really good news? Well, for all those of us shuddering every time they say house prices are going down more or for anyone fearful of losing their job, of course it is.

With discounts of 50% and more biting into their bottom lines, we can be pretty confident that cruiselines would rather see the back of the recession as well.

But what about cruisers? There are some fantastic bargains around at the moment for anyone with a few pennies in the bank, And let's face it, a lot of cruisers have quite a few pennies, even if they are smarting from the current ultra-low interest rates. They might be fed up with all the bad news, as are we all, but they are having a fine time with all the bargains around. Why would they want a return to the status quo?

Rob Lovitt, also writing for msnbc, taking his cue from those aforementioned economists, suggests there could be a rebound in consumer confidence in the second half of the year - and therefore a rebound in people's willingness to travel.

I think he could be right. It's going to be a tough year, but who can resist when Oceania Cruises knocks 50% off prices or NCL dishes out cruises for less than £90 a day. Or you can pick up a transatlantic crossing on Cunard's Queen Mary 2 for just £699 including a flight. If the bargain hunters do their bit, we could end the year with a record number of UK cruisers.

Even if he's not right, it's the kind of upbeat news we could all do with hearing and could also get those bookers booking.

Here's to cruising in 2009. Let's make it a good one.

Thank goodness we at least had the good news that one of its F3 new-build ships is back on track, because otherwise it's not been the greatest December for Norwegian Cruise Line.

On Christmas Day it was reported that Star Cruises is getting out of NCL America, suggesting Star has no confidence in its future although the brand sails on. The following day Cruise Critic said a passenger was missing, presumed overboard, from Norwegian Pearl. She disappeared while the ship was at sea east of Cancun, Mexico.

Sadly there was no sign of the woman, 36-year-old Jennifer Seitz, from Florida, during a four-day sweep of the area by the US Coast Guard and Mexican Navy. The search was called off on Monday and the FBI is now investigating her disappearance.

Seatrade's Insider News website reports that Star Cruises, which owns 50% of NCL (Apollo Investment owns the other half), is pulling out of Norwegian Cruise Line's ill-fated NCL America operation.

It's no surprise. NCL America started with such a great fanfare. A US-flagged operation with three ships all sailing within Hawai'i, cutting out the need for the four days at sea - in both directions - for ships sailing to the islands from the US east coast. It sounded brilliant.

Only problem was, it wasn't making any money and having a mainly US crew also produced massive staffing problems. So one ship came out, then another, leaving just Pride of America to continue to fly the Stars and Stripes. Papers were drawn up in September 2007 allowing for either or both parties to exit or disband NCL America at the end of 2008.

In the event it is just Star that wants out so it doesn't mean the end of NCL America. Its Hawai'i programme has been confirmed until 2012 and it is making money, according to NCL president and ceo Kevin Sheehan.

I'm taking a couple of days off now, but will be back on Monday December 29.

Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.

The year might not have ended but it's already time for agents to sign up for the Association of Cruise Experts 2009 cruise convention, on June 17-19.

It will be back in Dover but with lots of added features including a Discovery Zone with information about ports and destinations, an appointments' system so agents can be sure of a meeting the suppliers they want to see, as well as business sessions covering everything from luxury to river cruising.

Agents will also the chance to visit four cruise ships - Holland America Line's Prinsendam, Fred Olsen's Braemar, Crystal Cruises' Crystal Symphony and Princess Cruises' Tahitian Princess - which will be in port during the two days of the convention.

It held on and on, but Fred Olsen Cruise Lines has at last announced the end of fuel supplements. They were dropped last week. Anyone who has already paid them will get them refunded as on-board credit.

At a meeting at Royal Caribbean International's UK HQ in Surrey in October, I heard about the innovative "green" aspects of the giant new Oasis of the Seas.

I also heard how building was progressing fast, prompting me to ask if, as with other new ships of late, it would launch earlier than planned. Very unlikely, I was told.

I asked the question again in November, when I went to Turku for the Oasis float out and heard sea trials would be in June and September. Same reply.

But now - surprise - Royal Caribbean has announced that Oasis will indeed enter service earlier than originally scheduled.

A new four-night cruise departing December 1 2009 will call only at Labadee, Royal Caribbean's private island - to celebrate the opening of new facilities and excursions there - while the seven-night Eastern Caribbean inaugural will now depart December 5.

Anyone booked on the original December 12 inaugural has until January 11 2009 to switch to the either of the new sailings, or they can put the two new departures together to make a longer cruise and get $200 per cabin on-board credit as well.

Poor P&O. Yes, I know. It's the second time in as many days I've written that at the start of my blog. It's really not their week.

Cruise Critic reports a passenger on Oceana died while on a scuba-diving excursion in Tortola, in the Caribbean.

Puts the whole bad behaviour episode into perspective, doesn't it?

Poor P&O. Stories claiming that Ventura descended to the levels of Benidorm on a recent Caribbean cruise is just the sort of publicity it doesn't want.

I don't know how much of the story was truth and how much exaggeration on the part of aggrieved P&O regulars.

But it was an incident waiting to happen once cruiselines decided to open up cruising to all by cutting prices and lowering standards to cater for the lowest common denominator.

Don't get me wrong. The "formal, fixed, fluff and feathers" cruising of old doesn't do anything for me, but it does help to maintain standards and turn off the chavs and tattoo brigade. Almost as successfully as high prices.

But maintaining prices in a recession is hard, especially when you have big ships to fill. Ventura holds more than 3,000 passengers.

Ultra-luxury cruiselines love to use the expression "likeminded people". It's designed to reassure potential passengers with deep pockets they will be cruising with their own sort, not some riff-raff who have picked up a cheap holiday.

It's not a particularly nice turn of phrase, but what a selling point it's going to be from now on.

The first 550-ton block for Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Eclipse was laid at Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, last Friday. Only another 71 blocks to go and they will have something resembling a 122,000-ton cruise ship.

The ship is Celebrity's third Solstice-class vessel - the first, Celebrity Solstice, launched in Fort Lauderdale in November last year; the second, Celebrity Equinox, seen below in the shipyard, will be named in Southampton at the end of July, before it sails to Civitavecchia, the port for Rome, to complete the summer sailing Med cruises.

Celebrity Eclipse, launching summer 2010, will be based in Southampton, offering Celebrity's first ex-UK cruises for the British market.

MSC Cruises next but one ship MSC Magnifica is well and truly on the way, having been floated out at the STX Europe shipyard in St Nazaire, France. The ship, a 93,000-ton sister to MSC Poesia, is due to launch March 2010.

With only 22 days left until St Valentine starts to spread his pixie magic, I guess it's not surprise the cruiselines are trying to get in on the romance scene.

Windstar, the don't-go-on-without-your-loved-one line with real sailing ships, has a great Romance Package - even greater for the fact it is free as long as you book a 2009 cruise and hand over your deposit by February 14.

Romance Windstar-style means chocco-dipped strawberries delivered to the cabin, a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label and his and hers massages in the spa. Agents who make a booking will be entered in a draw to win a seven-day cruise on Wind Surf.

Norwegian Cruise Line, the "you're-free-to-whatever cruiseline - has up to £100 off Valentine Day cruises (seven night in the Caribbean from £799 with flights can't be bad) and a special Valentine Day dinner in the French Le Bistro. They will even be serving romantic cocktails throughout the ship decorated with heart-shaped ice sculptures.

I bet the crew will LOVE doing that.

Bad news for all parents who had hoped that they were taking their kids on a cruise so they might learn a bit about the world. Nope. They will have their noses stuck in Playstation games, just as they did at home thanks to Costa's latest on-board addition.

I can just imagine it. Mum (thinking of all the money spent): "Remember that great cruise we did to Rome and Naples?"

Offspring: "Was that the one where I beat you all at SingStar. Awesooome."

I exaggerate of course. The reply will be a grunt as said offspring has his or her nose stuck in the same game because, joy of joys, the games are also for sale on board.

I suppose it's better than one of those cheesy family portraits people take home to show off to bored neighbours.

The Playstations will be on new ships Costa Pacifica and Costa Luminosa, both launching this year and due to be named in a joint ceremony on June 5.

You have been warned.

Am I the only person sad to hear of the refurbishments on Regent Seven Seas two all-balcony ships?

Not the general sprucing up, but the fact Seven Seas Voyager and Seven Seas Mariner have emerged from a $40 million facelift sporting Prime 7 - a new steakhouse where Latitudes speciality restaurant used to be.

I enjoy a good steak, and I am sure the ones in Prime 7 will be first class, but I remember a couple of really lovely Asian meals in Latitudes. It was nice to have a restaurant that served something different, especially as it was done so well.

Now I can have a steak, just as I can on almost every other US cruise ship.

It's another example of creeping standardisation - "he's got a water park/big screen/adults-only area so I want one" - but I suspect the money men have also been at work here. By bringing Regent into synch with sister line Oceania Cruises, which already has the Polo Grill steakhouse, they can probably make use of those wonderful "economies of scale" when it comes to buying beef.

Oh well. At least there's still no charge to dine there. I'll have the Ribeye please.

Full marks to Regent Seven Seas Cruises for coming up with what has to be one of the most innovative "get 'em booking" initiatives. Free shore excursions.

The cost of shorex is a major bugbear for many cruisers, me included. If you're taking one now and then the cost is not so bad maybe, but if there's a couple of you doing one a day (and I have met plenty who do that because they want to see as much as possible) you can easily clock up £500 per person. Ouch.

But not with Regent. You have to book by March 31 to get the free excursions and they only apply to certain cruises but I've had a quick look on the website and there seems to be plenty of variety in terms of where to cruise and departure dates.

Regent's UK office is also freezing dollar-pound exchange rates for a while. Until June 30 you can get $1.95 for your £ instead of the miserable $1.45 you'd get in the markets. That's got to be worth a few bob in the pocket as well.

It's so nice when people agree with you. According to Travelmole, the US-based Cruise Lines International Association - a sort of US version of our Passenger Shipping Association - reckons there will be a 2.3% rise in the number of cruisers this year.

That's just what I've been saying to anyone who cares to listen. Well, maybe I haven't been quite so specific about percentages, but one of my predictions in my Telegraph cruise column earlier this month was that more Brits would cruise in 2009 than last year.

Look at the facts. Those in work now have unbelievably low mortgages, the cost of fuel has fallen and food prices are not as scary as they were. They have money in their pocket and cruise lines have cut prices to unprecedented levels to get them to book. Cruisers and potential cruisers have never had it so good.

CLIA's prediction refers to worldwide cruisers and makes for the kind of happy reading we need these gloomy recessionary days:

* 2.3% more cruisers worldwide, to a global total of 13.5 million.

* 34 million Americans intending to take a cruise next year

* 94% of all cruisers rating their cruise as satisfying

* 44% saying it was extremely satisfying

CEO Terry Dale admits there is uncertainty about the propects for 2009 but says CLIA members are confident that they will weather the challenges and emerge stronger than ever, as they have before.

"The remarkable diversity and variety of cruises give consumers a unique opportunity to find a vacation that fits their budget even during these economic downturns and we expect that North Americans, Europeans and travellers from all over the world will respond positively."

Way to go Terry. That's the kind of fighting talk we need.

Was launching two ships in one year just too much? Seatrade Insider reports that MSC Cruises has decided to postpone the launch of MSC Magnifica until March 2010 but does not give a reason.

It's the second change for the yo-yo-ship. It was originally going to come out in March 2010, but the launch date was changed to December 2009, with a naming ceremony in Hamburg and an inaugural season in the Caribbean.

But now that inaugural season has been scrapped as well. Instead the ship will operate in the Med until September 2010, when it will reposition to New York, where MSC will have a debut season of autumn foliage cruises between the Big Apple and Quebec City. As winter 2010/11 draws in, it will move to Fort Lauderdale, and pick up on the seven-night Caribbean cruises.

MSC Cruises, you will recall, got last year's launches underway when MSC Poesia was named in Dover in April and also signed off the year with a naming ceremony in Naples for MSC Fantasia in December.

I wonder whether they felt Poesia had suffered because they were having to promote Fantasia before the former had even come out of the shipyard. Maybe after the experience in Naples, when we all froze watching the naming ceremony, they have decided Hamburg in December is not a good place to be. Could they just want to keep their euros in the bank a little longer?

It'll be interesting to see how Costa fares this year. They have two ships launching in 2009. The difference is they will be entering service so close together they are sharing a naming ceremony. So at least it makes sense to be talking about two new ships at the same time.

My thanks to Regent Seven Seas Cruises UK managing director Graham Sadler, who has put me straight on the new restaurant on Seven Seas Voyager and Seven Seas Mariner.

Seems I wasn't the only one sad to see the Asian eatery Latitudes go, but those same passengers have come back raving about Prime 7.

"Wow - it is spectacular," was the quote.

Some humble pie to go with the Ribeye please.

Did tax or pricing prompt Royal Caribbean International's decision to downsize in Alaska, asks Seatrade Insider.

Effective 2010, Serenade of the Seas will be exiting the 49th state. A company official cited RCI's global policy, which basically means they want to put it somewhere else, the $50 head tax and Alaska's tough discharge rules.

Maybe they also read John Binkley's words of doom and gloom. He's the upbeat president of the Alaska Cruise Association who told the Chicago Sun-Times that cruise lines are suffering some of the worst sales they have encountered.

It's not so surprising. Alaska is an expensive place in the best of times and these, according to the so-called experts - the ones who never even saw this coming - are the worst of times.

Time to consider being somewhere else then.

After all the trials and tribulations Norwegian Cruise Line has gone through to get the F3 ship built, is it any wonder they have called it Norwegian Epic?

No sooner was the name out than the Cruise Critic message boards were buzzing. And the consensus? Sorry NCL. Most are not keen. One says, "I hope it grows on me" and I'm afraid I agree.

The good news is that once this 4,200-passenger Epic leaves the shipyard in St Nazaire, France, in May 2010, it will be stopping in the UK for some "spectacular inaugural events" so we Brits can become New Wave travellers in the curvy cabins and get our chills in the ice bar.

It will then head over the Pond to its new home in Miami, where it will be sailing alternating Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises.

Times might be tough for the cruise industry right now, but even a mean-old global recession can't dampen spirits when it comes to new ships.

In the past couple of days I've reported on the float out of MSC Magnifica and the keel-laying for Celebrity Eclipse. Now on Cruise Industry News Oceania bosses are talking about their new baby, Marina, being built now and launching in September 2010.

Oceania has some amazing offers out there - 50% off summer cruises, single supplements down to 25% - but are the men in charge worried at the thought of yet another ship to fill? And another after that (a sister ship is due summer 2011)?

Apparently not.

The new 1,260-passenger ship is a gift for anyone who likes food - eight places to eat, including a French country restaurant and Pan-Asian diner, and a secretive "culinary-related something" that isn't on any other cruise ship. My money's on a Chinese takeaway.

The ship will be sailing the Med in spring and autumn, the Baltic in summer, and the Caribbean, Amazon and Panama Canal in winter, freeing the smaller Regatta to do some offbeat destinations.

Homepage image: Jacob Lindner / WestEnd61 / Rex Features

Cruise.co.uk has revealed the best cruise lines and ships as voted in January 2009 by the consumer reviews posted on its site. The results are interesting and will make some cruise lines very happy and others wonder why they bother. Here are some of the highlights.

* Three awards for Oceania - Best Ship, Best Food and Best Service.

* Best Cruise Line goes to Cunard.

* Princess Cruises wins Best Shore Excursion and comes sixth and 10th in the same award.

* Royal Caribbean International's Independence of the Seas is named Best for Families. P&O Cruises takes the next four places with family ship Ventura the least favourite of the four.

Cruise.co.uk says the survey is based on 12,000 reviews on the site and that the awards are based on a minimum 50 votes for cruise lines, 20 votes for ships. Not a huge number out of 12,000.

They are fine. What worries me is that is you click the "NEW - Official Cruise Passenger Ratings" button in the site - which most people will - you get some meaningless results.

Viking River Cruises becomes the Best Cruise Line based on two reviews. Hebridean is in second place with one review.

Change the criteria and ask for best cruise ship in all age ranges and the winner is Wind Star with two reviews. Discover Egypt's river cruise boat Beau Soleil comes third with - yes you guessed it - one review. Thing is, if you look on the Discover Egypt site, there is no Beau Soleil.

In 11th place there's F3. Um. But's that being built. Doesn't launch until next year. In 15th place comes P&O Cruises Adonia. But that became Sea Princess in 2005.

Drill down through the ages and you get some even more fantastic results - Carnival ahead of Fred Olsen in the 56-65 age group, Viking River Cruises and Spirit of Adventure top in the 36-45 year-old category.

Just to make things even more interesting, the results change every time I look. So forgive me if you see different ships in different places. That's the reason.

I've had hours of fun playing with this, but that's not really the point. Cruise.co.uk needs to do more work on the survey - don't let any entry in with fewer than 10 votes (20 would be better) and take out all the rogue reviews. Then we'll start to have some really valid ratings.

Here's the full list of January 2009's top performers with scores:

Best Ship: Oceania Insignia - score 4.55 out of 5

Best Cruise Line: Cunard - 4.36 out of 5

Best Accommodation: Costa Mediterranea - 4.75 out of 5

Best Entertainment: Independence of Seas - 4.37 out of 5

Best Food: Oceania Insignia - 4.77 out of 5

Best Service: Oceania Insignia - 4.86 out of 5

Best for Families: Independence of the Seas- 4.28 out of 5

Best Shore Excursion: Star Princess - 4.22 out of 5.

EasyCruise is the latest line in search of the hearts and money of young lovers in the name of St Valentine.

The budget line has turned cupid with the offer of two cruises around the Greek Isles and Turkey for the price of one - and a free bottle of champers to boot.

Prices start from £255 per couple for a four nights of romance or £350 for seven nights. That includes a half-board meal plan and daily housekeeping, but flights to/from the UK are extra.

The two-for-one offer ends at midnight February 16.

Mundy Cruising has promoted Sophie Higgins, sales and marketing director of the Cruise Portfolio, Jamie Loizou, sales and marketing director of Mundy Cruising, and Caroline Jenkins, head of accounts, Mundy Cruising. All three (pictured left to right) become associate directors for the cruising specialist. Congratulations to them all.

The Cruise Cafe reports that Royal Caribbean International will be repositioning Adventure of the Seas to Malaga for five months in 2010.

The move is an incredible vote of confidence for the Spanish port, which is a new departure point in Royal's 2009 brochure. Adventure's sister Navigator of the Seas will be sailing six five-night cruises from Malaga, but as they don't even depart until October this year so there's been no chance to see that all runs smoothly when it comes to getting passengers - and their luggage - from the airport and on and off the ship.

It's also an incredible vote of confidence in the UK office - this is an obvious top departure point for the Brits, after all - and the European market, suggesting a firm belief that we'll sail through the recession on this side of the Pond.

The Cruise Cafe says Adventure of the Seas will be operating 15 seven-night cruises around the Western Med between June and October 2010, followed by 10 five-night mini breaks - five heading south to Tenerife and Funchal, five calling at Ajaccio in Corsica and Villefranche.

Adventure of the Seas has sailed exclusively from San Juan, Puerto Rico, since it was launched in 2001, raising much speculation on Cruise Critic message boards as to what happens there when the ship departs.

Maybe nothing. Cruise Critic says San Juan has suffered negative feedback from cruisers in terms of the port experience. It's also not the greatest place in the world to get to. Flights from the UK have been cut and there are no direct service from the UK.

More to the point, I have nightmare memories of the airport check-in experience. Queues? Made Gatwick on a strike day look civilised. It was Third World chaos in a country that's part of the US. I wonder even half of the passengers managed to get their flight.

Princess Cruises' 3,080-passenger Caribbean Princess has emerged from dry dock in the Bahamas sporting a host of favourite Princess features, including the adults-only Sanctuary, a piazza-style atrium with an International Cafe and Vines wine, seafood and cheese bar. The casino has also been moved and the ship has seven new suites.

Some 1,500 worker and contractors worked around the clock to get the refit done in just three weeks. They are still putting the finishing touches to a new steaks and seafood Crown Grill restaurant.

It's the latest ship in the fleet to get these new features. Star Princess and Grand Princess have already been upgraded; Golden Princess goes into drydock in May.

Cruise Business Review reports that TUI Cruises, the German joint venture cruiseline created by Royal Caribbean Cruises and TUI AG, is to name its first ship - currently known as Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Galaxy - Mein Schiff in a ceremony on May 15.

The name was chosen in a competition that attracted more than 30,000 ideas from 11,000 people. TUI Cruises chief executive officer Richard J Vogel said several suggested Mein Schiff and it was chosen because it "expresses our core ideas of individuality and room to move".

Really? In my day at school it simply meant My Ship.

Question is, how bad the others were if this was deemed the best?

Valentine's Day might be over, but that is not likely to stop couples on P&O Cruises' ships tying the knot. Apparently they have been doing it in ever-increasing numbers since the line started offering weddings at sea in 2006.

Until that point, only sister cruiseline Princess Cruises offered weddings at sea, with the captain doing the honours. In fact, I am one of the thousands to wed on a Princess ship. My wedding (pictured) was on Grand Princess, between Copenhagen and Stockholm. You can read all about it in the Daily Telegraph.

Some 371 couples said "I do" on P&O ships in 2008 - that's a third more than in 2007. Why? Because it's different, it's romantic, it's easy (you just say what you want and someone else does all the work) - and it's also a bargain compared with getting hitched in the UK.

Apparently an average UK wedding now costs £19,200. P&O weddings at sea packages start from just under £1,000. Of course you have to pay for the cruise, but hey. That's the honeymoon taken care of at the same time.

Anyway, the reason P&O Cruises got all romantic in time for Valentine's Day is to announce they have launched a dedicated weddings website. If wannabe brides and grooms need help planning their big day at sea, this is the place to look.

Have you heard Hebridean Spirit is for sale, a friend asked the other day. I immediately went on line and found this ad, already uncovered by eagle-eyed Cruise Critic reader ISS.

"We were approached by two buyers, which prompted us to instruct a broker and see if they were serious," Hebridean International Cruises sales and marketing director Ken Charleson tells me.

"No one wanted to sell the ship, but everything has a price. But as nothing has happened, we will be taking the ship off the market next week. We've got to start planning itineraries for the next couple of years. So it's business as usual."

Hebridean Spirit is the big ship in Hebridean International Cruises' fleet (OK, so it only holds 98 passengers but it is big compared to the 49-passenger Hebridean Princess).

While Princess spends its time cruising around Scotland, Spirit gets out and sees the world - South Africa, South America, the Mediterranean. I'll be on in April, on a trip through the Suez Canal (that's where it is in the picture) and visiting Libya - that's always assuming a last-minute buyer doesn't appear from nowhere with loads of money. I hope not, as it is a lovely ship and a fabulous itinerary.

Charleson admitted it caused a bit of a "hoo-ha" at Hebridean when the ad came out. "The brokers were not supposed to mention the name of the ship," he said. Well no. It is a bit of a strange thing to do.

How refreshing to read of a cruise line adding something extra to their ships that passengers can enjoy for free.

Canaletto, the Italian restaurant that debuted last year on new ship Eurodam, has been so popular that Holland America Line is rolling out the concept to four more ships - Oosterdam, Veendam, Noordam and Amsterdam - while they are in dry dock in May 2009.

Canaletto is actually part of the Lido self-service, but it's transformed into a lovely casual waiter service Italian each evening. You can just turn up to dine, but they prefer reservations. Whichever you choose, there's no charge.

And it's not often you can say that anymore.

MSC Cruises managing director UK and Ireland Giulio Libutti told me their sail for £1 offer was such a success when they did it at the end of last year that it would be repeated. And here it is. Well almost.

In what has to be acknowledged as a really smart piece of marketing, they got passengers paying full brochure price - which has to be a first - and in return a companion could cruise for £1. A two-for-one offer by any other name except it's not really because all the companion got was the cruise. Port taxes and flights cost extra.

The new offer is even more generous though. The companion gets to save that £1 and cruise for free (but they still have to pay port taxes and flights).

Bookings must be made between Feburary 14 and February 16 (yes, St Valentine out to spark a little romance again) - a small window, but there's plenty of choice of ships/itineraries:

MSC Sinfonia: eight seven-night cruises from Livorno between April 25 and June 20. Prices from £735 cruise-only for the first passenger. Flights cost £249pp.

MSC Fantasia (pictured): 12 seven-night cruises from Genoa between March 8 to June 14. Prices from £735 cruise-only for the first passenger. Flights cost £210pp.

MSC Poesia: seven seven-night cruises from Venice between April 18 and June 20. Prices from £780 cruise-only for the first passenger. Flights cost £210pp. 

MSC Armonia: 10 seven-night cruises from Venice between April 13 and June 15. Prices from £735 cruise-only for the first passenger. Flights cost £210pp.

Silversea has gone down the celebrity chef route, finalising a link up with Swiss-born Anton Mosimann, senior vice-president of sales and marketing, UK, Ireland and Middle East, Trudy Redfern tells me.

Why Mosimann? "Well it was me actually," she admitted. Turns out Redfern is a member of Mosimann's in London - an honoured position for which you have seconded by existing club members, provide letters of proposal and be approved by the membership committee.

Redfern says the nuts and bolts of the deal have yet to be finalised but at the very least Mosimann will be creating daily signature dishes for the main restaurant on Silversea ships.

He will also be joining a 12-day Culinary Arts voyage from Istanbul to Rome on Silver Wind from October 18-30, hosting food and wine pairings and giving hints and tips on Mediterranean cookings during live demonstrations. Cruise-only fares start from £4,371 per person.

"It all gets a bit political because of our deal with Relais & Chateaux so we call him a guest chef," she reveals. "But the fact is, a name people recognise sells cruises."

Maritime Matters says Nakheel, the Dubai-based new owner of the QE2, is having second thoughts about spending millions of dollars converting the ship into a luxury floating hotel now that the world is in a financial mess and tourists are thinking twice about holidaying in Dubai.

Regular readers will remember I saw the old girl tied up and looking rather lonely when I was in Dubai at the beginning of January, to join a Costa cruise around the Arabian Gulf. I was surprised then that she hadn't been taken off to the shipyard for her multi-million-dollar facelift. Time is money, after all.

Maritime Matters says Nakheel is considering opening the ship as is. A this-is-how-they-did-luxury-40-years-ago sort of museum piece I guess. But before fans get too excited, MM also hints that another option would be to sell the ship for scrap.

After paying Cunard £50 million for the ship? Ouch.

There's definitely a joke there - unless you are one of the many cruisers who book to be on a maiden voyage, only for another cruise to be slotted in before yours because your vessel is ready earlier than planned.

It's an understandable decision by the cruiselines - they don't want their ships sitting around when they could be earning money - but it is occurring with alarming frequency these days.

Ventura, Celebrity Solstice and Ruby Princess (pictured) all had new maiden voyages last year; earlier this year Royal Caribbean announced giant Oasis of the Seas would set off on its maiden cruise on December 1 - that's after they had sold an inaugural departing on December 12.

Now Celebrity Cruises has slotted in a new maiden cruise for Celebrity Equinox, a sister to Solstice, which is being named in the UK in July.

The new cruise is an eight-night sailing from Southampton to the Norwegian fjords priced from £999. It will be followed by the original inaugural cruise - a 10-night sailing from Southampton to Civitavecchia (the port for Rome).

It's not all bad news if you booked the Rome inaugural to be the first on board though. Celebrity says you can combine the two cruises in to an 18-night voyage and get $200 per stateroom ($300 per suite) on-board credit.

Don't all rush now.

Worried about cruiselines' dress codes or tipping policies? Still deciding whether to take that first cruise? Cruised before but looking for some new ideas?

You need to sign up for CRUISE, sponsored by the Daily Telegraph and Sky Travel, the first-ever show in the UK dedicated to all things cruise.

Cruiselines will be there to tell you about their ships and itineraries, yours truly and Sky Travel's Steve Read will be among a band of experts offering advice during Q&A sessions and TV celebrities will be sharing their thoughts on the joys of cruising.

It all happens at London's ExCel exhibition centre, from 10am to 6pm on March 21 and from 10am to 4pm on March 22. Tickets cost £8 per person in advance or £12 at the door.

Remarks on Travelmole show Costa's new partnership with no-frills carrier Ryanair has gone down like a lead balloon in some quarters.

There are questions about Ryanair's ability to deliver passengers to the port in time - on a cruise-only deal the ship is not under any obligation to wait for guests (no matter who the carrier) - and fears about the high price clients will pay for baggage.

I have never flown with Ryanair and freely admit I have no intention of doing so because I hate the whole low-cost model of having to pay for everything as a separate item. I like to know the price so I can decide if it's OK or not. Easy.

There is also the small issue of having to get to Stansted Airport on the nightmare-ish M25, when British Airways' wonderful Terminal Five is less than 30 minutes away.

But I gather from figures given to me by Sinead Finn, Ryanair's director of commercial revenue, that a lot of people do fly with Ryanair.

Whether they enjoy the experience or not is another question of course, and I guess they don't from all the negative remarks I've heard about the airline. But they go anyway. On that basis, people should have no issue about flying with Ryanair to join their Costa cruise.

Then there is the issue of luggage. Most cruise passengers do like to take the kitchen sink, it's true. But hang on. Costa's UK managing director Marco Rosa made it clear they were after professional young new-to-cruise passengers - people not wedded to their traditions (or their sink) - but who presumably can afford to pay for hold luggage if necessary, especially if the flights really are so cheap.

Alternatively, why not manage on their 10kg hand luggage for a week? I regularly go on a week's cruise with hand luggage only and look smugly at people struggling with bags they can't carry and getting nervous when their luggage does not appear on the carousel.

Of course a lot does depend on the cruise line. Remember, this is not formal P&O, but informal Costa. When I was on Costa Victoria in the Gulf last month, Gala evening (the formal night equivalent) brought out some people wearing black tie, others in slacks and jumpers.

All mixed and mingled together - and there were no dirty looks or chav accusations by the black-tiers. Simply, on Costa if casual floats your boat, that's fine by everyone. And if that's what you like, hand luggage works just fine.

I'd just rather carry my bags onto a BA flight.

Crystal Cruises has always been a staunch opponent of the all-inclusive model favoured by its luxury rivals, but recessions bring out the flexibility in everyone, it seems, because they have just launched an All Inclusive - As You Wish promotion.

Its two ships haven't actually gone all-inclusive, which on other luxury cruise ships means drinks and gratuities are included in the price.

It's even better than that. A whopping $2,000 per couple on-board credit to spend on things they want - wine, shore excursions, spa treatments, gratuities. In fact the only thing you can't use it for is gambling in the casino, which is fair enough.

The All Inclusive promotion is available on all Crystal Serenity cruises in the Med between July and November, all 11-night Baltic and British Isles cruises on Crystal Symphony between July 19 and August 23 and Symphony's transatlantic from Dover to Boston in September.

I'd love to know what the most popular on-board buy is. If it's alcohol, might Crystal be persuaded down the all-inclusive route after all? Only time will tell.

Life is about to get a whole lot sweeter for anyone booked in a Royal Caribbean Grand Suite or higher category stateroom as the cruiseline is bringing in new benefits next month to reward top-paying passengers and, presumably, encourage more people to upgrade.

There'll be dedicated suite security and check-ins at selected terminals to whisk them through the boring stuff and onto the ship. They'll get a gold SeaPass cards so the crew know how important they are, and cheese, choccies and fruit nibbles at various times through the cruise (because, after all, there are times on a Royal cruise when you might get hungry!).

They will be invited to a private Captain's cocktail party, get reserved seats in the theatre, priority tickets for tenders (which is definitely worth having) and priority disembarkation at the end of the cruise.

On Freedom and Voyager-class ships, they will have reserved seats on one side of the stepped platforms on the pool deck (but there'll be no reserving of loungers), on Freedom, Voyager and Radiance-class ships they'll get a key to the Concierge Club so they can enjoy continental breakfast in peace and drop in for the daily pre-dinner cocktail receptions.

Anyone tempted to book the new maiden voyage from Southampton to the Norwegian fjords scheduled for Celebrity Equinox will have to be quick.

A delighted Jo Rzymowska, Celebrity Cruises' associate vice-president and general manager UK and Ireland, tells me the cruise sold out within 24 hours of going on sale, either with confirmed bookings or options.

Within another 24 hours the res team was chasing passengers to see if they wanted the option or if they could release the extra space.

It bodes well for Celebrity Eclipse, a sister to Equinox, which will be based in Southampton in summer 2010 and offer cruises aimed at the UK market.

Back in the 1950s and 60s, thousands of ten-pound poms emigrated to Australia on P&O Cruises' Arcadia.

Last week the fourth ship to bear that name - P&O Cruises' 21st-century Arcadia - arrived in Sydney for a maiden visit Down Under (the ship is also on its maiden world cruise) and hosted a reunion lunch for a group of those £10-ers. Which is a good excuse to show this picture, by James Morgan, of the ship sailing past the Opera House.

Arcadia is just one of 28 cruise ships which will have called at Sydney in as many days this season. Travel Asia Daily says the passenger terminal at Darling Harbour has been so busy the cargo terminal at White Bay has been drummed into use for cruise ships.

Sydney's Tourism and Transport Forum executive director, Olivia Wirth, says four in one day are expected in early March, but three are too big to sail under the Harbour Bridge and two will have to tender passengers ashore.

Wirth says Sydney needs to improve its facilities if it is to continue reaping the full economic benefits of the cruise industry.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that change is on the way, but it doesn't sound like "improve" is quite the right word. SMH says the New South Wales government decided last December to move the main cruise ship terminal from East Darling Harbour to White Bay.

Carnival Australia chief executive Ann Sherry is not happy.

"There is so much to see and do around Darling Harbour. In comparison, White Bay is bleak with no buzz or energy.... The NSW government has an opportunity to create a world-class cruise facility but, based on the plans we've been shown, it is a shed at White Bay with nothing else around it."

Nice one, Sydney.

You'd have had to have been living on Mars for the past 12 months not to have heard about Central Park, the zipwire and Moving Bar on Royal Caribbean International's Oasis of the Seas launching in December.

But how many of you know what's going to be on Carnival Cruise Lines' Carnival Dream, which comes out in September? They have kept very quiet about it, but not only is it the biggest ship of the fleet - 130,000 tons and with room for 3,646 passengers - it will have some great features.

All the usual spas, kids' clubs, restaurants, of course, and also that latest cruise ship must have - a water park.

But hang on. This is no ordinary water park. We are not talking the usual fountains and jets, but a four-deck-high corkscrew water slide and a four-lane racing slide.

I wasn't impressed when I saw the water park on Carnival Splendor during its inaugural sailing from Dover last year but the one on Dream looks great.

I just dread to think what the queues will be like.

Thanks to computer wizardry, we are able to see what Norwegian Cruise Line's new ship Norwegian Epic will look like.

This 153,000-ton giant is being built at STX Europe's shipyard in St Nazaire, France, and launches May 2010. It will have room for 4,200 passengers and goes on sale this spring.

According to my Thesaurus, epic means 'larger than life', 'impressive' and 'ambitious'.

Two out of three ain't bad.

The annual Carnival UK report released last week is packed with interesting facts. Here are a few of the best:

• Princess Cruises carried more than 100,000 British passengers for the first time in 2007 and saw more growth in 2008 - all without any big marketing campaigns. Bodes well given Princess has a bigger ship, Grand Princess, based in Southampton this summer.
• Carnival Cruise Lines' sales grew almost 80% in 2008 compared to 2007 as a result of Carnival Splendor's season from Dover. Sadly, that turned out to be a one-off, at least while air fares stay high and money is tight.
• Costa Cruises has become a force in the honeymoon market due to its cruises from Mauritius. But don't send anyone looking for a traditional British cruise, UK managing director Marco Rosa warns.
• Passengers on Cunard's Queen Mary 2 managed to get through 97,000 pounds of lobster and 206,200 bottles of Champagne.
• Nearly three quarters of British holidaymakers are planning to spend at least as much on their main holiday this year as they did in 2008.

But the one that really caught my eye was that Ocean Village has replaced its plastic laundry bags with linen ones. Environment and all that.

All very laudable, but it occurs to me that the line's happy green thoughts will turn to seeing red when the linen bags start to walk off the ship.

Especially after I heard the story recently of a woman taking a long cruise on a luxury ship - no names, but it is true - who seemed to be getting through rather a lot of the lotions and shampoos you find in suites on classy lines.

The officer in charge of these things was getting a little worried - we might think it's a freebie, but this top-brand stuff apparently costs the cruiselines a lot of money. They had a look around the passengers' suite to try to find out what was happening and found a suitcase containing the bottles. Not just with 10 or 20, you understand, but full.

Brings a whole new meaning to the concept of money laundering.

Considering the stuff Disney trades in, I guess we shouldn't be too surprised the cruise line picked Dream and Fantasy as the names for their two new ships. I just wish I had put money on it.

Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy will be launched in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Each is 122,000 tons and carries 2,500 passengers (but there's room for 4,000 with all the berths in use).

Steel cutting began last week at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, and guess who was there to help the day along?

Oh to be crossing the Atlantic on Cunard's Queen Mary 2 on June 19, when James Taylor will be playing two gigs (actually they're "command performances" on the QM2).

I admit I am not the world's greatest James Taylor fan - far from it (if he walked past me in Sainsbury's I would never know) - but how I have longed to see some real singing talent on cruise ships. And here it is.

He'll be on a eastbound crossing from New York to Southampton and is using it as a way to get his band, crew, gear and family to Europe - minus jetlag -  for a summer tour.

I, meanwhile, will be at the Association of Cruise Experts' Cruise Convention in Dover.

By the way, there is still room on the June 19 crossing if, like me, you would like a break from the traditional belt-em-out singers they so love on cruise ships.

Nakheel, the Dubai company that now owns QE2, says it is considering opening the ship to tours in its current state in response to popular demand. Probably also because it is rather expensive having a ship moored up with engines running, especially in these tough economic times.

The company is clearly smarting over rumours that money is so tight it has droppped plans to spend millions transforming QE2 into a luxury floating hotel and might now sell it for scrap.

A very long statement says, in a nutshell, that it takes time to work out how best to do all the work. It explains an engine is running to provide power and light and keep the air circulating.

"Irrespective of short-term plans, the ultimate goal is to renovate and refurbish QE2, and for her to be the focal point of a luxury precinct, dedicated to her, that will recreate an authentic luxury ocean liner ambience and lifestyle. There is no question of QE2 being operated as a cruise liner or of her being sold to any third party whatsoever."
 

First reports on the future design are expected at the end of the summer, at which point they will issue a timeline for the refurbishment (well, almost total rebuild really).

I can't wait.

It's all systems go for Oceania Cruises, as the keel is laid for new ship Marina at Fincantieri's Sestri Ponente shipyard near Genoa, Italy.

The Oceania-class ship, the cruiseline's first new build, will hold 1,252 passengers - almost twice as many as the three other vessels in Oceania's fleet - in 626 cabins, of which 96% will have teak balconies. The ship will have six open dining restaurants. It launches next year.

At the keel-laying ceremony, Oceania's founder Frank Del Rio, now chairman and CEO of Prestige Cruise Holdings, Oceania's parent company, welded a US silver dollar and a pre-Castro silver Cuban peso into the keel of the new ship to ensure its good fortune. A steel block was then lowered into the dock.

Only another 54 to go and they will have a ship.

Del Rio is on the left, with Bob Binder, Oceania's president, on the right.

Travel Asia Daily reports that Singapore is to build in a new cruise terminal as part of a plan to develop as a major cruise hub.

The designs look interesting - the rooftops are supposed to depict rolling waves - but let's hope they remember to make it big enough.

When I was there last year on P&O Cruises' Aurora we had to park in the cargo terminal because of the ship's size (and it only has room for 1,870 passengers) and disembark straight onto the dock, to be surrounded by those ubiquitous MSC containers that the cargo arm of MSC Cruises ships around the world.

To their credit, they did bother to put up a welcoming tent, had a forex desk on hand and there was an efficient - and free - shuttle bus into the city.

The terminal designs were unveiled at Seatrade in Miami this week. Opening is planned for the end of 2011.

It was always such an easy equation. SeaDream Yacht Club ships had 55 cabins - sorry, suites - and held 110 passengers. I could do that even without O level maths.

But things are changing over at the diminutive luxury specialist. SeaDream II is now sporting a new suite, and sister ship SeaDream I - because the company is very fair - is going to get one too.

On both, the new Admiral's Suite is where the boutique used to be. I'm told the folk at SeaDream who did pass O level maths did a few calculations and decided they could make more monely selling the space as a suite than they did from it as a shop where passengers bought the odd tube of toothpaste or branded shirt.

You can still buy that stuff, but it's all at reception now.

SeaDream I is going into a shipyard in Lisbon for its new suite refit. Work starts in June, so the accommodation will be ready for the start of the Mediterranean season.

"It's a bit smaller than the Owners' Suite, so it's a bit cheaper," SeaDream's head of UK business Ian Buckeridge says. If size means anything, it's 375 square feet, while the Owners' Suite is 450 square feet.

The new suite has a separate living/dining area - the latter with a dining table that seats four - a master bedroom and one-and-a-half bathrooms. There is an entertainment center with wall-mounted flat-screen TV, refreshment centre - I assume that's what we ordinary mortals call a minibar - and writing desk.

The master bedroom features a queen-sized bed with flat-screen TV and a master bathroom with marble walls and floor, multi-jet shower massage, tub and vanity area. There is no balcony - none of the SeaDream rooms have balconies - but the suite has three panorama windows looking out to sea.

The suite is a great addition, but the timing is lousy as SeaDream is having to discount to fill existing capacity - just 110 passengers (112 with the new room) don't forget."It's a tough environment," Buckeridge admits.

I see the lucky folk on Silversea's new ship Silver Spirit, cruising from New York to Southampton on an April/May transatlantic, will be calling at Plymouth, that well-known cruise mecca where Sir Francis Drake is said to have played bowls as the Spanish Armada approached.

I can't help wondering why. I was brought up "over the bridge" from Plymouth and can't think of a single reason to visit the place. The Pilgrim Fathers had the right idea. They left. And that was before the post-war architects got their hands on it and created an ugly concrete jungle.

Interestingly, next port after Plymouth is Southampton, so maybe there will be an opportunity for a few favoured guests to see the ship if there's no time when it comes out of the shipyard in December.

Plymouth aside, there are some great cruises in a new dedicated Silver Spirit brochure. An amazing 91-night Grand Inaugural round South America from January to April 2010, cruises through the Western and Eastern Med, into the Black Sea, lots of overnights in many of my favourite places - Sorrento, Venice and Istanbul.

The ship returns to the Caribbean at the end of October.

Carolyn Spencer-Brown, editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic, has named Cruise Lines her favourite journalists' blog in an article for the Times Online.

John Heald, Carnival Cruise Lines' cruise director and inveterate blogger, comes top in her list of favourite cruiseline blogs.

If you've not caught up with John yet, you are really missing out. But don't forget to come back here for the news and views.

In less than four months, this ship - Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Equinox - will be shining like a new pin and in Southampton so would-be passengers and travel agents can get on board and take a look see.

The ship will leave the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, on June 19-20, when it will sail down the River Ems to Emshaven in the Netherlands, for some last-minute finishing off and sea trials. Celebrity Cruises takes delivery of the ship on July 16.

Celebrity Equinox is being named in Southampton; its maiden cruise is an eight-night voyage to the Norwegian fjords.

Windstar Cruises has opened an alfresco dining option on Wind Star and Wind Spirit, its two smallest ships holding just 148 passengers. Called Candles, the restaurant is actually the back deck of each ship, dressed up in the evening with steaks and skewers on the menu.

The only surprise here is that neither ship has this alfresco dining option already. I ate in Candles when I cruised on Wind Surf last December (it was introduced on the ship last summer) and it's a lovely experience.

The food and service were great and it's all very romantic - dinner under the stars gazing into the eyes of the one you love.

Unless, that is, you have longish hair and it's a windy night. My top tip: don't sit at a table at the very aft end of the deck!

Sixties band The Merseybeats have signed up to be on Black Prince's farewell cruise from Liverpool on September 9.

The Fred Olsen ship is retiring in October after more than 40 years of sterling service because it's too expensive to do all the work needed for the vessel to meet new SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) regulations coming in 2010.

The Merseybeats were in the charts when Black Prince set sail, which means its members must be at least as old as Fred passengers (average 60-plus) - unless of course this is the Merseybeats mark 2 (or 3, 4, 5).

That was the case on P&O Cruises' Aurora last year. We had the Batchelors. Well, actually one Batchelor. The other two were imitations, but still no spring chickens.

If the Merseybeats have also plucked some ageing singers from obscurity to make up numbers, I guess Black Prince will sail gracefully, rather than rock, into retirement. But that's just perfect for dedicated followers of Fred.

Prices start from £1,045 for the 10-night cruise, which visits Belfast, the Hebrides, Chatham, St Peter Port in Guernsey, Falmouth and Dublin.

Princess Cruises is back in the Med in force in 2010 and offering a new selection of seven-night cruises, which are great for anyone desperate to cruise but short on time and money.

These week-long "Interludes" are on Ocean Princess (that's currently the Tahitian Princess but the ship is being renamed Ocean Princess in November 2009). The ship holds just under 700 pasengers and the Interludes will be around the Greek Isles, Scandinavia, Norway, Ireland, Scotland and the Western Med.

There are also more overnight options. The ships will be staying two days in Israel, Egypt and St Petersburg (a regular two-nighter) so there's more time to explore these fascinating places. Pyramids in Cairo anyone? Or a day floating in the Dead Sea?

There are also some interesting new ports lined up - Cephalonia (made famous by Captain Corelli), the Greek island of Khios, Koper in Slovenia, for days out in Ljublijana, and Constanta in Romania to name but a few.

Princess will have six ships in Europe next year. Itineraries include the signature Grand Mediterranean Voyage - a brilliant cruise for ticking off some of Europe's most iconic cities. Athens, Istanbul, Rome, Florence, Naples. I'll be doing it in August on their newest ship, Ruby Princess, pictured here at the very red naming ceremony last November, and can't wait.

It's been a busy weekend for me with two days taking part in question-and-answer sessions at the Cruise show at London's ExCel.

This was the UK's first dedicated Cruise show - and actually Carolyn Spencer-Brown, editor in chief at Cruise Critic, tells me she doesn't recall any cruise-centric show in the US either - so it was always going to be an experiment.

Carolyn (right) is pictured here with me, Royal Caribbean's associate vice-president general manager UK and Ireland Jo Rzymowska and Sky Travel presenter Claire Smith during one of the panels.

My impression from talking to cruiselines that had stalls (most were represented one way or another and those that were not there were conspicuous for their absence) was that the experiment worked.

Saturday morning was the busiest time. People were actually queuing at the Royal Caribbean stand to make bookings, which was incredible, and other cruiselines were doing very nicely thank you - even having to send back for more brochure supplies and staff to help man the stands.

It was quiet Saturday afternoon - was this when Captain Greybeard was there?; Sunday saw steady visitor numbers. We should know tomorrow what the total attendance was.

I was impressed with the numbers given everything that went against the show. We were informed two days before it opened that the Jubilee Line and DLR were not going to be working. That made getting there a trial for me and hundreds of others. If there's another Cruise show, ExCel is not the place to be!

We had the rugby on Saturday afternoon, Mothering Sunday and the lovely sunny weather. Who wants to be indoors at a show when the sun is shining? Quite a few people it seems. And they got there despite Transport for London.

I was on several Q&A panels with Carolyn, Steve Read from Sky Travel and Simon Veness from World of Cruising, talking about the joys of cruising, cruise destinations and why cruising is such a great holiday for families.

There was a lot of interest in cruising for single people and questions about the swingeing single supplements. I suggested a few cruiselines that don't penalise the lone traveller but it's a shame I couldn't mention more. Here were people who travel alone with money to spend and we were not able to direct them to any of the big lines (except P&O's Azura, but that's not even built yet!).

If there is another show, it would be good if the cruiselines went a little more overboard (sorry, couldn't resist it) with their stands.

A mini rock-climbing wall on the Royal Caribbean one maybe, appearances by Noddy on the P&O one (which actually disappeared under Complete Cruise Solution branding, which means what to consumers?), a mock up of a luxury suite, an executive chef cooking up dishes for visitors to taste.

Fred Olsen Cruise Lines was highlighting their Flagship Golf programme with a putting tent where visitors could practise their strokes, but otherwise none of the things that are on ships to excite and inspire current and would-be cruisers - there were quite a few cruise virgins listening to our talk on Sunday morning - were to be seen. It all costs money I know, but I can't help feeling it was a missed opportunity.

Swan Hellenic has sailed in with a rescue plan for passengers left high and dry by Hebridean International's decision to sell Hebridean Spirit.

It is offering past Spirit passengers, or those currently booked, a past-passenger 5% discount off 2009/10 cruises on Minerva and Swan's Danube river programme.

Minerva is currently on a Cape to Cape cruise - sailing from Cape Horn to the Cape of Good Hope. On March 25 it leaves Cape Town for a 20-day cruise to Kenya, then sails from Kenya to Aqaba, through the Suez Canal and across the top of Africa, visiting Alexandria and Libya. In fact it will be there just a few days after I should have been! The ship will then start its Mediterranean and Northern Europe season.

Like Hebridean, Swan offers free excursions at every port and gratuities are included in the price; however, Minerva is bigger than Spirit and it's not all-inclusive so Spirit passengers will find they have to pay for drinks.

You can get details at the website or call reservations on 0845 017 1806.

Someone obviously heeded my blog last month and got a quick bid in for Hebridean International Cruises' 98-passenger Hebridean Spirit because the ship has just been sold.

It's a shock after being told by sales and marketing director Ken Charlson that the vessel was being taken off the market and it was "business as usual".

I'm very sad on two counts - it was a lovely ship, small and friendly; more to the point, I should have been cruising with them in April, on an exciting itinerary visiting Libya. Spirit goes at the start of the summer season so that's all off now.

Anyone booked on Spirit will be offered a full refund or a transfer to Hebridean's other ship, the 49-passenger Hebridean Princess, which sails around the Scottish isles. Somehow that's not quite the same as Libya.

The sale also means jobs will go, both at head office in North Yorkshire and among the crew.

Hebridean says it can't continue to operate Spirit in an aggressive market when all around are discounting. When I was on last, we were only half full (and it's only 98 passengers remember) - and that was two years ago.

Hebridean is going to concentrate on Hebridean Princess, a nice little ship but suddenly the company becomes a pretty insignificant operation.

I forecast the next announcement will be a name change, back to Hebridean Island Cruises. After all, it can't be "international" anymore.

Ill-fated Aurora's even more ill-fated world cruise is back in the news. The passengers, it seems, are fed up with looking at the sea.

The P&O Cruises' ship suffered engine problems as it left Sydney and ended up staying six days in Auckland (surely an opening for one of the passengers to write the definitive "how-to-kill-a-week-Auckland" guide book) while the problem was fixed.

Now the ship racing to get back to Southampton, to start its Mediterranean season on time, and has visited just two ports in 22 days after skipping five calls in New Zealand and the South Pacific. Passengers say they are beginning to feel like prisoners rather than world cruisers. All have splashed out thousands of pounds to do a Phileas Fogg.

I sympathise. I did a two-week sector of a world cruise on Aurora last year and while it's a nice ship, I can't imagine being stuck on it for so long without so much as sighting land. You can only read so many books.

It seems they got so bored, they created their own entertainment, the Aurora Committee, with the headline act being a demand for more compensation.

P&O had offered free drinks while in Auckland, a £500 payment and a refund of four days of the cost of cruising, but has apparently decided to be more generous. Is it really that easy?

What bad timing. On the one hand Regent Seven Seas Cruises releases a few pictures of the $40 million refurbishment of Seven Seas Mariner and Seven Seas Voyager.

At the same time, comes news that Voyager, on its World Cruise, is limping along to Dubai, having had to cancel calls at Mumbai and Abu Dhabi, where engineers are waiting to fix a propulsion pod damaged off Singapore when it got tangled in fishing nets.

It's still a good excuse to show some of the changes, which included a new grill restaurant, Prime 7 (pictured below), where Latitudes used to be, a new pizza oven and ice cream bar and new carpets, upholstery and wallpaper in the public areas and suites.

Regent's third ship, Seven Seas Navigator, is due to get its facelift in October 2010.

The British are still booking their cruises, but it's tough in the US. That's the message I've been getting for the past couple of months. But it seems things are not all that bad after all.

MSC Cruises US president and CEO Rick Sasso told this month's Cruise Shipping Miami conference (that's the annual Seatrade get-together but with a new name) that a survey showed about 80% of travel agents thought peak season bookings were equal or better than last year.

He reckons the number of cruise passengers this year will rise 300,000 to 13.4 million, which is roughly what the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) was predicting in January.

Of course we all know the numbers are being achieved on very low prices - "unprecedented" is the word that's been used many times in my conversations with cruiselines - so the cruiselines are hurting profits-wise, but I agree with Gerry Cahill, president and CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines, who told the conference that filling capacity is key to survival.

When we come out of this - and we will - it's vital holidaymakers are still thinking cruise. It'll be tough to get them to accept higher prices, but hey, without these challenges life would be just too easy.

Disney Wonder is to move from Port Canaveral, Florida, to Los Angeles in 2011, making way for the two new ships, Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy, joining Disney Cruise Lines in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

An agreement was expected to be approved yesterday for the ship to operate from the Port of Los Angeles for three years, with an option to extend for another two years.

The move makes a lot of sense for Disney Cruise Line. With all the additional capacity coming along (each of its new ships will carry 4,000 passengers when all berth are full), it needs to explore new markets outside its traditional Port Canaveral base.

Los Angeles is a logical new homeport as it allows passengers to combine a cruise with a stay at Disneyland in Anaheim, but it is also testing the waters on this side of the pond again next year with a series of Scandinavian and Mediterranean cruises on Disney Magic.

For the Scandinavian cruises, the ship will be based in Dover - the first time a Disney ship has been in UK waters.

I was once told by one of the Disney people over here that the cruise line was not interested in the UK market because the ships could easily be filled with Americans.

Was she taking the Mickey? I don't think so, judging by the total lack of information about the cruise line that comes from the UK press office.

But times have changed and recession is upon us all, so now they might be pleased to have a few Brits filling their berths. Having a cruise ship in Dover is a terrific opportunity for them. I just hope they get their act together and spread a little Disney Magic so would-be cruisers and agents can get to see the ship.

The Los Angeles Times reports that a bipartisan group of senators has predicted the travel ban on Americans visiting Cuba is close to being lifted.

Seems they've finally noticed that a policy put in place 50 years ago to undermine Castro's regime hasn't worked!

If it's true, get ready for a rash of new Caribbean itineraries from American cruiselines. They've had to sail past the island while their passengers dream whistfully of Cuba's lovely beaches and classic Cadillacs. Once they can go, the flood gates will be open.

It would be great for Cubans finally to benefit from the tourist euro (although presumably Cuba would have to stop turning its nose up at the dollar?), but I would advise a trip there now, before it happens.

The "real" Cuba will surely disappear under the weight of 3,000 or more passengers disembarking in Havana, and racing to buy the "I love Cuba" t-shirt and cheap jewellery.

People booked to cruise on Hebridean Spirit, just sold by Hebridean International Cruises, have become hot property.

We've had Swan to the rescue offering them a 5% discount, Silversea to the rescue offering a 10% discount and now SeaDream Yacht Club has stepped in offering 15% off the "book today" prices for 2009 and 2010.

Decisions, decisions.

SeaDream's two 112-passenger vessels are closest in size to Hebridean's 98-passenger Hebridean Spirit (and they have the added advantage of being all-inclusive, as was Spirit) but they only sail in the Med and Caribbean.

Silversea's Prince Albert II, with capacity for 132 passengers, is also pretty close, and also all-inclusive. But at the moment it only sails in the Arctic and Antarctica.

If passengers want greater choice of exciting destinations, it has to be Swan. Minerva is bigger - 350 passengers - and unfortunately you have to pay for drinks on board, but you do get to visit places such as North Africa, the Black Sea, South Africa, Turkey and Mozambique. And that's just the sort of thing that Hebridean Spirit did too.

The way things are going, though, the best thing is probably just to sit tight and wait for the next "rescue package". Judging from past experience it will be offering an even bigger discount!

Regular readers will have seen my blog in February about the behind-the-scenes open day P&O Cruises holds every now and then in the atrium on Ventura, allowing passengers to try their hand at making beds, manning the security scanners, even driving the ship.

It seems it was so popular, P&O has gone a stage further and is now giving passengers a chance to make those behind-the-scenes' experiences a reality in a new scheme, launched today, April 1, called Jobs at Sea.

They could be making beds, starring in the chorus line in the theatre, preparing dinner, even taking the helm as the ship docks.

The scheme was trialed last month and proved a success. Izzy Foreal from Oxford said: "It took me three goes to pass my driving test as I could not get to grips with parallel parking. My friends couldn't believe the holidays photos of me docking a 115,000-ton superliner in the Caribbean with absolute precision."

P&O Cruises managing director, Nigel Esdale said passengers are looking for new, more adventurous excursions and activities.

"If anyone has ever dreamed of putting on that white uniform and being at the helm of a superliner, Jobs at Sea is for them. Imagine being the Captain of a cruise ship for a fortnight, or even executive chef or chief housekeeper. Passengers will be able to relate stories of how they cooked 3,000 portions of lobster thermidor during their cruise holiday, or turned down 3,000 duvets each day."

No experience is necessary but you do need a sense of humour.

Just think. If the scheme goes well, maybe there'll be a chance to become navigator for the day. It could make the itineraries more interesting.

Nobuyuki "Nobu" Matsuhisa, the man generally credited with having introduced the western world to sushi, is joining Crystal Serenity's Venice to Athens cruise departing July 28.

Nobu already has restaurants on both Crystal Cruises' ships - Serenity and Symphony. There's the Silk Road for his famous Japanese-with-a-Peruvian-twist-style dining and the Sushi Bar for those who fancy a finger-sized bite of raw fish.

While on board, he will be preparing meals for the Silk Road, signing books and hosting cooking demonstrations.

The 12-night cruise costs from £4,285 per person including flights, transfers, soft drinks and all the sushi you can eat (there is some other food too). You'll also get $2,000 per couple shipboard credit through the promotion called "As you wish". You can spend it on drinks, shore excursions, in the spa. Basically as you wish.

Last week Swan Hellenic stepped in with a special offer for Hebridean International Cruises' passengers left high and dry (including me!) when their ship, Hebridean Spirit, was sold from underneath them.

Now Silversea has also stepped in. Passengers booked to cruise on Spirit can claim a 10% saving, in addition to existing savings of up to 40%, on most 2009 and 2010 cruises.

The offer is available on all Silversea ships, including Prince Albert II, the exploration ship, which, with room for 132 passengers is closest in size to Hebridean Spirit, and Silver Spirit, the new ship launching in December.

Call Silversea on 020 7920 7064.

The King of the Jungle, aka naff-turned-cool DJ Tony Blackburn, is trading the air waves for the ocean waves this summer when he hosts a Smooth Radio cruise on Ocean Village in June.

It's all to celebrate the new film The Boats that Rocks. about a fictional pirate radio station but inspired by Radio Caroline, which Tony Blackburn helped to launch. After spending a few years spinning the vinyl (that's records to those too young to remember) and practising his corny jokes there, he went on to torture us on Radio One, which he opened with the words "and good morning everyone. Welcome to the exciting new sound of Radio One." Or so I am told. I wasn't there at the time.

When I was at school he was the epitome of naff; now he has totally reinvented himself to become the king of cool. Good on yer Tony.

The seven-night Smooth cruise (so called because he is on Smooth Radio these days) is for sale exclusively through Thomas Cook Cruise.

To book, call 0800 975 6099 and quote Smooth cruise to ensure you are one of Tony's groupies. Sorry group. Prices start from £715 per person including flights.

Poptastic!

Royal Caribbean International hasn't even launched the giant Oasis of the Seas yet but already sister ship Allure of the Seas is going on sale.

Diamond and Diamond Plus members of the Crown and Anchor Society can book from April 2. Bookings open for all other Society members on April 8, and for the rest of us from April 13.

The maiden voyage is slated to depart on December 12 2010 - that's 12 months to the day after Oasis was supposed to launch (Oasis is now coming out early; the first cruise is on December 1).

There's more that's the same. Allure will be following Oasis of the Seas around the Eastern and Western Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale. Not surprising as there are only so many islands that can take these big ships, but not exactly exciting either.

It's hateful being the younger sister.

What is it about cruising people that makes them want to see crew making food, washing dishes and ironing shirts?

I spend most of my time in ships these days, but I can honestly say that in the days when my overseas stays were more land-based, I was never asked by the hotel receptionists if I wanted to sign up for a tour of the laundry or kitchen.

Yet cruisers will stump up vast sums of money to see all the things they have come on holiday to forget. Or at least I thought that's what this holiday lark was all about.

Yet even my cynical self enjoyed the Behind the Scenes tour I did with Princess Cruises last November at the launch of Ruby Princess, but forget galleys and laundrys. The bit I liked was going into the funnel and seeing the engine control room, where computers indicate black water with a picture of a toilet. I reckon even I could operate the ship with guidance like that.

I know some of the men wanted to see the actual engine room, but I've been in a few in my time and they are hot, noisy and windowless. Put it another way, if you're travelling in a car would you rather sit on the comfy leather seats or under the bonnet?

Now Norwegian Cruise Line is getting in on the Behind the Scenes act, offering a similar kind of tour as Princess (bridge, laundry, galley, theatre, and more). It's available on all ships except Norwegian Majesty and just once per cruise on a sea day.

A two-hour basic tour will set you back $55 per person, splash out $150 per person and you get a seven-hour extravaganza that includes sushi-making and sake-tasting, a group photo taken on the bridge, one cup of speciality coffee, pre-dinner cocktails and dinner with a glass of wine (just the one again, I presume) in Cagney's Steakhouse.

It might win the award for ugliest ship of the decade, but I do like the sound of the additional restaurants Norwegian Cruise Line is planning for new ship Norwegian Epic, revealed last Friday, along with details of an aqua park, abseiling wall and big kids club.

There will be 14 places to eat on the ship, launching next July, including NCL favourites such as Cagney's Steakhouse, which will be serving skewered meats a la Argentina for the first time, the Teppanyaki Grill and an Italian farmhouse-style eatery....

...but also new places such as Shanghai's for Chinese food and Taste (pictured below), in the atrium, for traditional and contemporary cuisine. Exactly what that is, I have no idea, but I'm guessing European stuff, to go with the Euro retro-style decor.

For those who can't sit still, not even to eat, there is the Manhattan Room supper club with a big dance floor and live music so diners can strut their stuff between courses. Gives me indigestion just thinking about it, but I know it's popular and the room is apparently elegant and romantic.

More me is the abseiling wall - I'm terrified of heights, but I've always wanted to try abseiling - and the Epic Plunge water slide. Haven't a clue what it's all about but I get the idea it's the mother of all water slides at sea!

Epic will also have a 33-foot high extreme rock-climbing wall, a 24-foot tall climbing cage, and bowling alleys in the Bliss Ultra Lounge and O'Sheehan's Neighborhood (sic) Bar and Grill, another new eatery, with flat screens that will show sports events.

If all that's not enough to keep kids occupied, they can spend their days in Recess, for the two to 12s, with Wii games, karaoke, a cinema and more, or Entourage for teens ages up to 17, where there are video games by day and places to hang out in the evening.

There's more information about another restaurant and three new bars on Epic to be revealed May 20 in New York. Then that's it. All the news is out; we just have to wait for the STX Europe shipyard in France to build the ship.

It's Epic stuff. And now I know why the powers that be at NCL choose that name for the ship.

P&O Cruises might not have achieved the bookings it was hoping for on day one of Azura being on sale, but managing director Nigel Esdale wasn't looking too glum at the Azura day on Saturday.

Especially when he revealed that the 29-night Christmas and New Year cruise, departing December 10 or 11 2010 and taking in 17 ports in the Caribbean, sold out in less than five days. That's 3,080 passengers booked - and the ship doesn't even launch until next April.

If you missed out, don't despair. They have started a waiting list. But with demand like that, you'd better get your name down fast.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises has been forced to cut short Seven Seas Voyager's world cruise after discovering the damage done when fishing lines got tangled in a propulsion pod was greater than first thought.

Attempts had been made to fix the damage in Cochin and Dubai, but it's not been enough. Now the ship is going into dry-dock in Rome for repairs, meaning the end of the line for the world cruisers on board.

They should have sailed from Istanbul, arriving in Fort Lauderdale on May 8. Instead they will all be flown home from Rome. Regent has also cancelled the May 8 sailing from Fort Lauderdale to Southampton via Reykjavik.

It must be pretty gutting to have got so far around the world, only for the voyage to end on such a sour note. But there is a silver lining: Regent has offered a generous compensation packet - and without the passengers even having to threaten a mutiny - including a full refund for passengers on the March 18 voyage from Singapore to Dubai, which was marred by missed ports (the damage was done on leaving Singapore).

Cruise Critic quotes one member saying the "mood of the ship has changed from disappointment and complaints to elation".

Nice one Regent. It might be painful financially but at least passengers will leave with happy thoughts.

Costa Cruises is inviting travel agents from around the world to come up with names for its next two ships, which I shall call numbers 16 and 17, for obvious reasons, launching in 2011 and 2012.

Has Costa run out of ideas? It says not. It's just a fitting token of thanks to the trade for helping to sell their cruises.

The three travel agents whose ideas are judged best will be invited to number 16's naming ceremony in 2011.

They will also get a Costa workstation, which comprises a computer with two screens, wifi keyboard and mouse, office chair, desk lamp and limited-edition pen holder, and the one agent who submits the winning pair of names will be invited on number 16's maiden cruise.

One or more pairs of names (because there are two ships, remember) can be submitted online any time before June 5.

In case it helps, the ships will be 114,500 tons and carry 3,780 passengers, and based on past experience I would suggest a name beginning with Costa. That's it. You're on your own now.

Have you discovered MSC Cruises' Deal of the Day yet? It's aimed at anyone looking for a last-minute getaway and as the name suggests, it changes every day - except at weekends, when it is on offer for two days - so you have to be quick.

Is anyone surprised that Miles Morgan Travel took 100 bookings in 24 hours for its Titanic memorial cruise?

The ship might have sunk 100 years ago, but there can't be anyone in this country - dare I say in the western world? - that does not know, and is not interested in, what happened that fateful night in April 1912. Even the young generation knows thanks to Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.

When she heard of the memorial cruise, my 15-year-old daughter asked whether it wasn't a bit gruesome. Well yes. But that's the point. We all love the gory and the gruesome. It's why people go on Jack the Ripper walks in London and why Ground Zero in New York became a huge tourist attraction.

A Titanic cruise that even stops for a memorial service where the ship went down fits the gruesome bill perfectly, but there's more to it than that. Those on board - Miles Morgan has chartered Fred Olsen Cruise Lines' Balmoral for the voyage - will be living history in their own small way.

I expect the other berths to be snapped up in no time, even though the cruise doesn't happen until 2012. A website has been set up with all the details for those who want to book.

Miles says they will be avoiding ice-bergs at all costs. It'll certainly be a good idea to avoid hitting any, but I bet most passengers will be disappointed if they don't see at least one. It would add just enough authenticity.

I'll also bet a few passengers will be sussing out the lifeboat deck as soon as they get on board. Counting seats. Just in case.

Onlookers at the keel-laying ceremony for Holland America Line's Nieuw Amsterdam didn't just have an unidentifiable lump of steel to look at, but also the front section of the ship, which was constructed in Fincantieri's Sestri year near Genoa and floated around Italy to Fincantieri's Marghera yard near Venice.

The section of keel was lifted into the dock and joined to the front section. A few more such building blocks and they will have an 86,000-ton, 2,106-passenger ship, which is scheduled for delivery in late June 2010.

The interior design of the new Nieuw Amsterdam - a sister to Eurodam, which launched last year - will refect the glamour and history of New York, called Nieuw Amsterdam in the 16th century when it was a Dutch colony.

It will be the fourth Holland America ship to carry the name. The first was launched in 1906, the second served as a troop ship in the Second World War. Nieuw Amsterdam number three launched in 1983, weighed 33,930 tons, carried just over 1,200 passengers and now sails for Thomson Cruises as Thomson Spirit.

Depends what you think of Marco Pierre White and spending your holidays being yelled at while slaving over a hot stove.

Because the Hell's Kitchen star will be hosting cookery classes on three Ventura cruises this year.

Why Marco? The White Room on Ventura is named after the fiery chef, who also devised all the menus served there, and he rather fancies passing on his culinary skills to us ordinary mortals.

Marco Pierre White Heavens Kitchen sessions - for groups of up to eight adults and children only - will cost £75 per adult and £35 per child and are available on three 14-night cruises from Southampton to the Med. One departs on May 8, another on July 3 and the last on September 25.

Everyone at Royal Caribbean Cruises must be breathing several sighs of relief after securing funding for Oasis of the Seas.

The 220,000-ton 5,400-passenger behemoth is costing an eye-watering $1.4 billion and up until yesterday Royal didn't have the money.

And there's me worrying about paying my credit card bill.

When chairman Richard Fain wrote his blog "Thanks a billion" yesterday, I'm sure it came straight from the heart.

I was surprised when last year I learnt that funding for new ships is usually the last thing the cruiselines worry about. It would be pretty high up on my list of considerations. But it has been taxing Royal Caribbean somewhat earlier than usual because, as Fain points out, "these are not normal times and normal financing is abnormal today".

And they might have only wanted 80% of $1.4 billion, but that's still rather a lot of money.

Anyone interested can read the details of the deal on Fain's blog. Suffice to say the banks, Finnish government and shipyard have come together and provided the financing.

I know there were many observers who thought we would have trouble arranging this financing ... but we always thought those concerns were naïve - those naysayers underestimated the financial value of the ship; they underestimated the strengths of our relationships with Finland and with our bankers; and they underestimated the determination and ability of our team to make it happen.

Is this man Mr Cool or what?

Block 642, known as the pointy bit to us cruising types, oh OK then, the bow, was lowered into place on Norwegian Cruise Line's new ship Norwegian Epic yesterday.

It took 100 workers at the STX Europe shipyard in St Nazaire, France, about two hours to get the block, weighing 445 tons and measuring 85 feet long by 108 feet wide and 30 feet high, into place. Here's the speeded-up version.

King of the quick quip and bad joke Basil Brush is setting sail with casual cruiseline Ocean Village this summer.

Gill Haynes, OV's head of marketing communications, says parents will be as amused as their children to find him on board.

Too right. I loved Basil Brush (mind he was never so good once Mr Derek left - ooops, that's really showing my age!) and there will be plenty of my generation who spent many a happy half hour listening to his "posh voice" and excrutiating jokes. Boom, boom.

OV's other stalwarts Bagpuss and Paddington must be quaking in their boots at the thought of competition from the foxy fella.

Basil will be cruising the Western Med on the original Ocean Village throughout this summer. Prices from £749 per person including flights. Call 0845 358 5000 to book.

Basil Brush® © 2009 I Owen/P Firmin/Entertainment Rights PLC

It's getting hard to keep up with what's happening in the cruise market from the UK for 2010.

First Norwegian Cruise Line pulls its cruises from Southampton on Norwegian Jade - the ship will instead be sailing from Venice - then Thomson launches its 2010 brochure with all traces of cruising from the UK gone. Instead it will be sailing from Marmaris, Palma and Corfu.

And now Royal Caribbean has announced it will sail year-round from Southampton with the 3,600-passenger Independence of the Seas starting winter 2010/11. Cruises go on sale June 1 2009.

Winter in the Med? Departing from Southampton? Taking on the Bay of Biscay when the weather can be atrocious? The very thought fills me with horror, especially after Balmoral's rough ride over Biscay this winter.

Independence might be a newer ship, but it was built to cruise in the Caribbean. It's got stabilisers it's true, but they are not much good when things get too rough. It's also very tall - the equivalent of a nautical brick wall. Just what you don't want on a windy day.

Robin Shaw, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line vice-president and managing director UK and Ireland says bringing the ship to Southampton year-round is all about cementing the line's position as one of the leading players in the UK cruise industry.

Very flattering. But what's wrong with a nice flycruise from Barcelona, where there's a chance of better weather, cutting out the two potentially rocky days it takes to sail from Southampton to the Med and the two it takes to get back.

It's great news for the city of Southampton of course - it reckons that each passenger who joins a cruise at the port generates £380 for the local economy. That's a potential £50 million if the line can fill the ship all year. But that's a big if.

Or is it? The cruises, ranging from 11 to 18 nights, will be visiting the Italian Riviera and the Balearic Islands and cost from just £799 for an 11-night cruise to the Canary Islands. That's £73 a night with all food and entertainment thrown in.

It's a small price to pay for a few days of discomfort.

I've often commented that it is hard to get any idea what a cruise ship will look like when it is under construction as it just looks like a building site.

For those wondering how bad it can be, here are some pictures of Princess Cruises' Golden Princess, in dry dock until May 15 for a very big makeover.

The atrium, left, is being stripped out and transformed into a Piazza with an International Cafe and Vines wine bar.

Below: On deck 15, 10 new balcony suites are being added where once there was a video arcade.

Above: This was the Internet Cafe. Soon it will be the casino.

Below: An adults-only Sanctuary is being fitted on the top deck.

News of the fun and games on MSC Melody at the weekend has put Fred Olsen Cruise Lines off taking its chances through the Gulf of Aden.

It probably was never too comfortable with the idea of sailing through pirate waters after its own experience back in March. The Sun's version makes fun reading. What I believe to be the more accurate account is here.

Whatever happened that night, Fred is not taking any more chances. The return leg of its world cruise on Balmoral in 2010 will now take passengers from Australia across the Indian Ocean to South Africa and back to the UK by the west coast of Africa.

They should have been visiting ports in the Indian Ocean en route to Dubai, Oman and Egypt, and coming home through the Suez Canal.

The cruise will still leave Dover on January 5 2010 and return 106 nights later on April 21.

All cruiselines have now confirmed they will be staying away from Mexico as a result of the the deadly swine flu. Itineraries are being assessed on a daily bases in response to news about the virus.

While no one has actually banned travel to Mexico, it had to happen. Can you imagine the furore if a passenger contracted the virus and died after official advice from both the US and UK was against all but non-essential travel to the country?

And how many passengers would have wanted to go to a place where locals are wandering around in face masks and from which holidaymakers have been evacuated?

The cruiselines have had to work fast to change their itineraries, but in a round-about kind of way the swine flu might turn out to be good news for them.

Many are simply turning the Mexico port day into an extra day at sea. That means passengers are trapped on board and spending, which is not to be sneezed at (no pun intended) in these recessionary times.

But we should also spare a thought for the Mexicans who live and work around the ports. With no cruise passengers spending their dollars in the shops or in the taxis, no cruise passengers to go on excursions, their livelihoods have been shattered overnight.

And these people also have to live with the harsh fact that the only people who have died from the virus are Mexicans.

The Israeli security staff on MSC Melody who repelled an attack by pirates in the Gulf of Aden over the weekend by firing on them have become overnight heros.

Not with the bleeding heart human rightists - they are still wringing their hands over news that the Israeli security staff had guns - but with ordinary people who can't understand why governments from all countries are dancing around the Somali pirates instead of blasting them out of the water.

The Israelis on MSC's Melody, hired from a private security firm, didn't even need to do that. Captain Ciro Pinto, who is also something of a hero in my book for having the courage to take action, ordered that pistols kept in a safe on the ship be handed to the guards.

They opened fire as the pirates tried to board the ship and water hoses were also turned on the bandits so they gave up.

Domenico Pellegrino, MSC Cruises managing director, said of the Israeli security guards: "We use them because they are the best -- and we have just had a demonstration of that."

Interestingly, Ally suggests on TravelMole that MSC brought the attack on by telling the world last week it was changing its route through the Gulf while another writes on Cruise Log that MSC was a brand struggling to become known in North America. "Now everybody knows who they are.....the cruise line with REAL security on board. Bravo!" writes King Bob.

See where I'm going? No. A marketing ploy too far surely!

But do take a moment to read some of the comments on Cruise Log. These are some of my favourites:

* In a related news story in which Royal Caribbean says: "We will charge a surcharge for pirate entertainment."

* A new on-board activity......shoot to kill the pirates. Prizes for the best killshot, sinking the pirate craft, etc. Ship could offer free gratuties, free casino plays and free pirate costumes for the winners.

* Bring back skeet shooting on cruise ships! Then passengers could provide their own security. More fun than any rock-climbing wall. For every pirate taken out, the cruise line could offer an onboard credit!

The people have spoken!

Thomson Cruises has risen three places to land second place in the UK's Official Cruise Passenger Ratings, as compiled by Cruise.co.uk, putting it way ahead of P&O Cruises, which calls itself Britain's favourite but is languishing at number eight.

Cunard takes the top spot, with Royal Caribbean at number three, Princess Cruises at number four and Ocean Village - the line that's being closed down next year - up five places, at number five.

1: Cunard Cruises - no change
2: Thomson Cruises - up three places
3: Royal Caribbean Cruises - no change
4: Princess Cruises - no change
5: Ocean Village Cruises - up five places
6: Holland America Line - up two places
7: Island Cruises - new entry
8: P&O Cruises - down one place
9: Celebrity Cruises - down three places
10: Fred Olsen Cruises - down one place

Rankings like these are very hit and miss as they depend so much on who voted. Get a lot of Thomson lovers, as could have happened here, and the results are immediately skewed.

But what interests me are the comments from P&O stalwarts on P&O's Community website in response to the results of this poll.

This from Dave T

"I have cruised several times with P&O and am very happy with their product, but in defence of Thomson I have to say, having cruised once, that they are almost as good.... The food and general service on the ship (The Emerald) was at least as good if not better."

 This from Bella36

"I am not at all surprised that Thomson have scored so well.... Their itineraries are varied and different to the "same old, same old" P&O ones and they have a very loyal customer base, most of whom have tried other cruise lines, but always go back to Thomson. I would not hesitate to go with them again."

This from Anthony Smyth

"We thought we were downgrading going on a Thomson ship but how wrong we were... the Celebration is a beautiful ship .... Food was good, entertainment just great and there was a classical concert every evening. In the end we felt we had enjoyed our cruise far more than even on the QE2 the previous summer."

There will be some very happy people at Thomson Cruises right now.

It was great to hear that All Leisure Group has acquired what we must remember to call Hebridean Island Cruises again.

The company has saved a much-loved cruiseline, added a lovely little ship to its portfolio and secured the futures of a number of office and ship-based staff, as well as those people in Scotland, where Hebridean Princess sails, who will be employed one way or another provisioning the vessel, securing the ropes when it gets to port (and untying them again), guiding excursions and so on.

All Leisure chairman Roger Allard deserves many thanks.

It was just the news we needed on a miserable Budget day.

Norwegian Cruise Line has become the latest to cut back its Alaska capacity. blaming the rising costs of deploying three ships in Alaska and new legislation, in particular the $50 head tax.

Royal Caribbean Cruises is taking a ship out of Alaska for summer 2010, while Carnival Corp chairman and chief executive Micky Arison has threatened to "pull capacity" next year due to the tax and regulations. Carnival owns Holland America Line and Princess Cruises, which each have huge land operations in Alaska in addition to the cruises. Cruise West has already taken three ships out the Alaska area for 2009.

Instead of sailing in the 49th state next summer, NCL's Norwegian Sun will be based in Dover, taking over Norwegian Jewel's Baltic Capitals cruises from the UK.

"Here comes the Sun" NCL proclaimed as it released the news, putting a happy slant on the fact they are actually reducing capacity from the UK yet again next year. For summer 2010, after just two years, NCL is also pulling all its cruises from Southampton and repositioning Norwegian Jade in Venice.

Southampton worked well but cruises from Venice are more straightforward, I was told. As cruising from the UK is about as straightforward as it gets for the Brits, I suspect that means the Americans weren't too impressed with cruising from Southampton.

Norwegian Sun holds 1,936 passengers, while Jewel has capacity for 2,376. For summer 2010, Jewel moves to New York, from where it will be sailing various seven and 10-night cruises to the Bahamas, Florida, New England and Canada.

If your cruise is affected by the Sun/Jewel swap you can change to a comparable sailing but you need to be fast as transfers must be done by May 11. Call NCL on 020 7591 8007.

This has to be the perfect cruise for any budding Picassos out there. A seven-night Nile cruise-cum-painting holiday with Sherree Valentine Daines, billed as the face of Modern British Impressionism.

She will be giving painting lessons each day and be on hand to offer help and guidance to passengers trying to capture the scenes from the riverbank on canvas. There will also be a programme of daily excursions.

I can just about manage to paint a wall - one colour you understand! - so for me the best bit of this trip is that you'll be on a dahabiyya, a wooden sailing boat built to resemble vessels used in the 19th century by aristos doing the Nile tour.

I cruised on one a while back and they are superb. They have just six double cabins, hug the river bank as they sail, tie up away from the unattractive big boats ploughing up and down the Nile and the service is wonderful.

The cruise, departing October 18, is available from Bales Worldwide from £2,295 per person, which includes flights and transfers, all meals and drinks on the boat, sightseeing and painting lessons. See your travel agent, call Bales on 0845 057 0600 or visit the website.

Royal Caribbean International has finally rolled its My Time Dining scheme out fleet-wide, allowing passengers to escape the evening shackles of old and eat when they want while sitting with whom they want.

They've been trialing the scheme since early last year on selected ships, apparently keen to avoid mistakes made by other lines (I'm mentioning no names) where passengers opting the new flexible system couldn't get a table in the restaurant.

So what a surprise to see they are allowing guests who don't want to take their chances with being flexible to make bookings as that proved one of the big mistakes!

Unusually passengers can register for My Time Dining on board if they wish. Most other cruiselines require you to decide in advance so they can manage numbers.

Less surprising is that My Time diners have to prepay gratuities. It's the way Royal wants everyone to go. Which comes back to that thorny one when is a tip not a tip question.

Naturally fixed dining is still available for those who prefer the Soviet system of being told when to eat and who they have to be friends with.

There is also a new My Family Time Dining scheme, which promises to get children aged 3-11 fed, watered and back to the kids club in 45 minutes (escorted by a youth counsellor) so parents can eat undisturbed and the youngsters don't have to learn the art of dining out.

I'm not sure why mums and dads don't just take kids who want a quick meal to the self-service. Or is it just too much trouble for them?

Talking of pirates, there is an interesting account in Spiegel Online of what actually happened on MSC Melody at the weekend.

Remember the hero captain? Well it seems maybe he wasn't such a hero after all. That title belongs to some passengers on deck who spotted the pirates trying to board and managed to repel the marauders using deckchairs and tables.

Captain Ciro Pinto, meanwhile, was enjoying a drink in the bar and coincidentally telling two passengers that there was no likelihood of a pirate attack because they were 1,000 sea miles from the Somali coast.

As soon as he was alerted to what was happening he sprang into action and distributed the guns to the security guards, but by the time they got the scene, the pirates had given up trying to board - one was knocked off a rope by the makeshift missiles - and were instead firing at our new heros.

A good story? Apparently not. MSC Cruises chief executive Pierfrancesco Vago has admitted the statements given by the passengers to Spiegel Online are "authentic". He added: "We were professional, but we were also lucky."

That's one way of describing it.

I wonder if he'll be sending the passengers a bill for the missing deckchairs and tables.

It's all change on the no-fly market from the UK again, with Holland America announcing it is to sail three cruises from Dover to the Baltic and Norwegian fjords next summer.

The line has been testing the UK waters with a couple of mini cruises from Dover on Eurodam - they are in July but sales have clearly been good enough for HAL's US lords and masters to agree to the longer cruises.

Interestingly, just a month ago I reported the line has been having its best year ever for sales in the UK. Not bad going in a recession!

The 2010 cruises will also be on Eurodam, which will be operating 12 and 11-night sailings to the Baltic on May 29 and June 9 respectively, each with an overnight stay in St Petersburg, and also an eight-night Norwegian fjords voyage on June 21. Prices start from £939 per person.

It's good news for the UK no-fly market, which is losing a lot of capacity next summer, when NCL pulls its cruises from Southampton and downsizes the ship it is sailing from Dover to the Baltic.

What next? I guess if things continue to go so well a full season of HAL cruises from the UK is not so unlikely.

So that's it. It's official. The first vessel in the new TUI Cruises fleet really is called Mein Schiff (my ship), a moniker chosen in a "name-that-ship" contest. And it's painted large on the side, just so no one forgets.

TUI Cruises, which is aimed at the German market (guess the name gives that away), is a joint venture between Royal Caribbean Cruises and TUI AG.

Mein Schiff, which holds 1,914 passengers, was the former Celebrity Galaxy. It's had a 38-day makeover and will be sailing the Baltic this summer, and from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic in winter.

My question is, what happens if they add another vessel. Does it become Mein Schiff Zwei? Or Mein Anderer Schiff? We could start the contest now.

If you go down to your travel agent today, you're sure of a pleasant surprise.

For three days only, Norwegian Cruise Line is giving away thousands of dollars in on-board credit to anyone booking 2009/10 cruises in the Caribbean, Alaska, Europe, South America, Panama Canal and Canada and New England.

The only requirement is that bookings be made through agents.

You'll get $50 per stateroom for a three to five-night cruise, $100 for a six to nine-night cruise and $200 for cruises of 10 or more nights. The credit can be redeemed against shore excursions, spa treatments or dining.

Itineraries in the three-day sale include a 14-night Mediterranean Escape from Southampton on Norwegian Jade departing July 12 2009 that costs from £1,039 per person, and a 12-night Baltic Capitals cruise round-trip from Dover on Norwegian Jewel departing on 9 July 2009 from £1,119 per person.

Saga Rose will be saying a very long goodbye as she prepares to leave the Saga fleet in October. Like QE2, the ship falls foul of new SOLAS regulations that come in on October 1 next year. Saga had the choice of spending shed-loads of money to make it compliant (assuming it was even possible) or getting rid of it.

Saga decided it had to go.

The first farewell is to Dover, from where the ship will sail today for the last time, cruising to Guernsey, the Isles of Scilly, Ireland and Scotland, and ending up in Liverpool, where it will spend the summer, sailing to Norway, Iceland and Greenland.

After saying more goodbyes in Liverpool, the ship will move to Southampton, from where it will be saying its final farewells.

The very last voyage, after 44 years in service, departs October 30 and will be visiting Spain, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, Malta, France, Morocco.

What happens then has not been decided. At one point it appeared Dubai would snap it up, as happened with QE2, and turn Rose in to a floating hotel as well, but that seems to have fallen by the wayside now the recession has hit and the emirate has discovered cash is in short supply and it has rather too many hotels anyway.

I guess the other options are to find a buyer in a part of the world where no one bothers too much about SOLAS (as Fred Olsen did with Black Prince) or selling it for scrap.

All Saga says at the moment it that it is discussing plans for a fitting retirement.

No sooner had Regent Seven Seas Cruises announced a 48% increase in bookings so far this year, with May setting a new bookings-in-one-month record, than Silversea came out with news that on May 26 it took more calls in one day than ever in its 15-year history.

The record-breaking day occurred during a three-week period where bookings surged nearly 150% compared to May 2008. Average call volume last month was up almost 40% against April 2009.

Green shoots or just a sign that people will book if the price is right?

Whichever, it has to be good news for Silversea, which is launching the new 540-passenger Silver Spirit at the end of this year. It needs bookings, bookings and more bookings to fill that and its four existing vessels.

As with Regent, the bookings are being spurred by some very lucrative incentives - hefty discounts on selected cruises, free or discounted flights and $1,000 per stateroom on-board credit.

Interestingly, a few weeks ago Silversea sent me a chart they had put together comparing their prices with those of a mass-market cruise ship, a luxury ocean liner (I wonder who that could be?) and a luxury resort.

They took the basic cruise-only price of a 10/11-night holiday in the Caribbean, deducted any discounts then on offer and added a notional amount for drinks and gratuities, and also for food at the resort as the price was just for bed and breakfast.

Result? Silversea's six-star service was more expensive than the mass-market ship, which is not surprising, but almost £400 cheaper than the liner and incredibly almost £5,000 cheaper than the resort.

Remember, on Silversea there is nothing to pay for drinks and gratuities are included in the price, and with the on-board credit as well, you can also have free shore excursions. In fact, you might as well leave your wallet at home.

No wonder the cruiseline is having such a record-smashing time.

In a variation on the buy one get one free deal, casual cruise line Ocean Village has a buy two, get a third and fourth free offer this autumn.

Put another way, when two people book a cabin, a third and fourth cruise for nothing. Not a bad offer when you think about it - although of course you do need to get on with numbers three and four as they have to share your cabin.

It means that four of you can cruise on the seven-night Emperors and Espresso cruise from Palma on September 15 for just £387 each (total price £1,550, divided by four) - and that includes flights, transfers and all meals.

There is one small catch - you do need to make up you mind quickly and book in July. See you travel agent, call 0845 4567 888 or the website for more details.

It was a case of one out, one in at Fincantieri's Monfalcone shipyard near Trieste this week. The "out" was P&O Cruises' Azura, which was floated out last Friday, freeing up the dry dock for the "in" - Cunard's new Queen Elizabeth.

Construction started at a keel-laying ceremony yesterday, when the first section of the ship's hull was laid in the dry dock.

The section is made up of six pre-manufactured blocks, weighs 364 tons and is fitted with 104 tons of pipes, cables, insulation and other equipment. Once another 52 have been put into place and they have done a bit of work on the inside, the ship will go from looking like this...

to this...

The shipyard has 15 months to get the vessel looking ship shape and ready to depart on its maiden cruise, which leaves Southampton on October 12 and sold out in a record-breaking 29 minutes, 14 seconds back in April - before work has even started on the vessel.

Now that's loyalty.

Dawn Princess is the latest Princess ship to have been given a makeover. After two weeks in dry dock in Brisbane, Australia, the vessel is now back in service sporting a signature Movies under the Stars screen by the pool and an adults-only Sanctuary.

It's a case of one out, one in for Princess.

Royal Princess checked into a shipyard in Piraeus at the weekend, where it will undergo repairs following the engine room fire on June 18, as the ship was departing from Port Said in Egypt.

No one was hurt in the blaze, but two engines were disabled. That cruise and the June 25 departure were cancelled. The ship is expected to be back in service in time for its next scheduled cruise, departing Venice on July 7.

And while we're on the subject of Ocean Village....

The casual cruise line for people who don't do cruises is now asking passengers to put on their party best for a Big Night Out.

It's all in the aid of having fun though - you can still leave the DJs and ballgowns at home - and designed to encourage passengers to stay up late (presumably because if stay up they will keep spending, which all helps the on-board revenue).

There's one Big Night Out per cruise. In a nutshell, passengers nominate themselves or a fellow cruiser to be the ship's Godmother for the night. As the fizz flows, the captain draws a name and the winner gets to say the immortal words "I name this ship..." and smash a bottle against the ship's bow (OK, a mock-up of the bow - they are at sea you know!) as confetti explodes from above.

Bet the crew will just love that.

There's a celebration cake, more fizz, a celebratory dinner, a movie quiz and a late night party in the nightclub with a New Year style countdown to midnight.

A sort of formal night for people who don't do formal I guess.

First P&O Cruises reported record sales for its long voyages for 2011 - 1,374 passengers booked on the first day on sale, July 1, and more than 1,000 of those for a full circumnavigation.

Now Cunard says first-day sales for its 2011 world cruise programme, also on July 1, were up a recession-defying 150% compared to last year.

It's terrific news given the experts tell us we are in the grip of a global economic crisis. I suspect people are just fed up with the bad news and determined to have some fun instead of sitting watching their money earn paltry interest.

Interestingly, P&O reports increased demand from first-timers. Now that's brave. Imagine booking a three-month cruise and discovering you didn't like cruising. My advice always would be to try a seven-nighter first just to make sure.

The record demand could, of course, also have something to do with the prices -book with P&O and you can see the world from £6,899 per person - and the fact P&O and Cunard have come out with something a bit different for world cruisers in 2011.

P&O has four long voyages, including an 84-night cruise on Oriana that sets sail in September 2010 instead of the usual post-New Year departure (OK, so it really shouldn't be in the 2011 programme, but they did that, not me).

Cunard will be offering its first circumavigation on new ship Queen Elizabeth, but also a veritable Queen cruise-fest - voyaging from Southampton to New York on Queen Victoria, New York to Sydney on Queen Elizabeth and Sydney to Southampton on Queen Mary 2.

Not content just to launch a new ship next week - in case you've missed the news, Celebrity Equinox will be named in Southampton next week - Celebrity Cruises has also launched a new on-board programme.

It's all very American, so guess that should really be program - especially as one of the three program categories is Savor. The other two are Discover and Renew.

It sounds very grand but basically it's all about encouraging people to spend lots of money while on board, but cleverly dressed up to sound really special. Never mind. There are some interesting things in among the options. Here are a few examples:

Savor - attend mixology workshops, wine tastings (they call them events but what is wine if you don't taste it?) and cookery classes and competitions.

Discover - learn new languages, listen to lectures on subjects such as history, culture and art, and uncover the secrets of iTunes, Blackberries and Photoshop.

Renew - learn how to keep looking young (by having Botox and the like), keep fit (indoor cycling, personal training) and use things like acupuncture to stave off stress.

Celebrity Life launches on Equinox and will be rolled out to the rest of the fleet by November.

A bill that would require all cruise ships to install security latches and peep-holes in cabin doors has passed a US Senate committee.

If it becomes law, it would also require all crimes that occur on board cruise ships to be reported to the Coast Guard and Federal Bureau of Investigations and for ship physicians to be trained to handle sexual assault examinations.

It seems there is an International Cruise Victims Association and that it has been pressing for a law like this for some time, but it has never happened because the Cruise Lines International Associaton, the industry body in the US, wouldn't support it.

Now CLIA has changed its mind and is giving its backing to the need for legislation, which would be wrapped up in the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2009.

Travel Agent Central says its position has been changed by recent recent incidents of missing persons and sexual assaults, making many question cruise lines' security.

It's a sad day for the cruise industry if ever this does become law, which apparently is now very likely.

One of cruising's big selling points is that it is so safe. Elderly single women too nervous to go on other holiday will go on cruises because they feel safe, families take their kids on ships because they recognise it is a safe environment and one in which the children can have quite a bit of freedom.

Peep holes in doors, security latches and physicians trained to examine passengers claiming sexual assault tells a different story.

There have been a lot of cases recently of people going overboard, most recently the suspected suicide who went over the side of Holland America's Zaandam while in Alaska, but legislation is not going to stop that.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the following quote from Senator John Kerry, the bill's sponsor.

"Murky lines of jurisdiction are no longer an excuse for risking the safety of millions of Americans who will board cruise ships this year."

Risking the safety of millions of Americans? Just which planet is he on?

It's been a long time coming but Saga finally bought the Astoria yesterday, when a metaphorical hammer fell on the company's bid at a closed auction in Gibraltar.

The story of Saga and Astoria started last year and has become something of a, well, Saga.

First Astoria was going to join Spirit of Adventure as Quest for Adventure, then Saga decided to sell Saga Rose early so Astoria was to switch to the Saga fleet and become Saga Pearl II.

But just as the deed was about to be done, Astoria's owners went into receivership and the ship was impounded in Barcelona. It was then taken to Gibraltar for auction.

Now it's back to the drawing board for Saga - but in the positive sense. After paying what it calls an "appropriate" price for the ship, it is planning a £14 million refit that will upgrade the show lounge, spa and two swimming pools, create one of the best libraries afloat and install new kitchens.

Saga is adding balcony cabins and the ship, which weighs in at 18,591 tons and has capacity for 446 passengers, will also have a special coating of paint applied to the hull that will enable it to travel through the sea with greater ease and significantly reduce fuel consumption.

Saga Pearl II's inaugural cruise will depart Southampton on March 15 2010, for an 18-night voyage to the Norwegian fjords and high Arctic. That will be followed by a 16-night cruise to the Canary Islands and a 16-night Mediterranean Discovery.

The Boston Globe reports on new figures from The Cruise Lines International Association that show the number of Americans cruising last year dropped 1.7%.

The paper also says that for the first time since CLIA started publishing stats, the number of ships setting sail from US ports fell year on year. In 2004, US embarkations accounted for 77% of all cruises. In 2008, that had fallen to 69%.

Despite the US downturn, the number of people cruising worldwide grew to 13.05 million, an increase of 4%. That's in large part thanks to Europe, where passenger numbers keep on growing.

The number of Brits taking a cruise last year rose 11% to close to 1.5 million, while 4.7 million passengers joined their cruise at a European port - a 68% increase since 2005. In comparison, CLIA reports that the number of people taking a cruise originating in the US was down 1.7% to about 9.3 million passengers.

As for all those missing ships? They are over here. The number of cruise ships operating in Europe in 2008 was up 35% compared to 2005, to a total 192, according to the European Cruise Council.

To quote Carnival UK chief executive David Dingle from a conference a couple of years ago, "cruising lights are coming on all over Europe". Great stuff, but the industry does need the US market to recover as well if it is to fill all the big new ships coming along and start to make money again.

An Epic transatlantic. Sounds terribly grand doesn't it, but actually it's a transatlantic crossing like any other - it just happens to be on NCL's new ship Norwegian Epic.

Did I say like any other? Well not quite, because usually when you book a transatlantic you know the date and price.

Not with NCL, who have announced neither date nor price, nor even the itinerary. The only clue is that the ship has to get from the STX Europe shipyard in St Nazaire, France, where it is being built, to Miami, from where it will be sailing, in time for a first Caribbean sailing on July 17 2010.

So if you're free in late June/early July next year and fancy being among the first on board, ask your agent to get your name down now, either by calling 0845 201 8900 or registering your details online.

If you're still not entirely sure what this Glass House thing on P&O Cruises' new ship Azura is all about, tune in to P&O's website and all will be revealed. Well sort of.

TV's Olly Smith, the man behind the cork screw in The Glass House, is hosting four online wine-tasting sessions starting this week. Each will feature one red and one white, with information about the wines and vineyards followed by a tasting.

Each week viewers will be able to enter a competition to win a case of their preferred wine; on the final week, Olly will host a live web chat, answering questions about the wines and his Azura venture.

A list of all the wines to be tasted is online so webisode watchers can join in. As Olly is a wine man of the people, they are all very affordable - between £5.99 and £8.99 - and available from supermarkets and wine merchants.

Similar tastings in his own rather irreverant style will be in offered in The Glass House - mostly given by an Olly clone, if there could ever be such a thing, though, as the man himself will only be on Azura four times a year - where you'll be able to learn how to match different wines to different foods.

At the end of the webisodes - every Thursday at 7pm starting this week, September 3 - there will be a grand draw to win one of two places on a two-day trip in late October/early November with Olly to the Settesoli vineyard in Sicily to see how the house wine blend for Azura has been created and be the first to taste it.

Am I the only one who spots a similarity between the new test-drive lunches Thomson Cruises is launching next year and my idea about excursions to ships?

OK, they're not quite the same as Thomson Cruises is only opening its gangway to land-lubbers on resort-based holidays booked with either Thomson or First Choice, not cruisers who want to take a look at another ship.

But the philosophy is the same: Make use of port days to show off your ship to new potential passengers.

It's good to know someone is taking notes!

Tempted to see what all the cruising hype is about or just planning to book your next holiday at sea? Then get on down to your local travel agents next week and see what offers they have in store.

From September 20-27 it's National Cruise Week - seven days when the cruiselines go mad and offer some amazing prices.

* More than £650 off the cost of a nine-night Caribbean cruise with Windstar departing November 21 2009, bringing the from price down to £2,087 per person including flights. And if you book next week you'll also receive £300 credit to spend on board.

* Get a free cabin upgrade with Carnival Cruise Lines by quoting "National Cruise Week" at the time of booking. Prices from £969 for nine nights in the Caribbean including flights.

* Orion Expedition Cruises is offering 20% off a six-night Great Barrier Reef voyage departing November 20 2009.

* Save £300 per stateroom when you book a Princess Cruises' Mediterranean voyage on Ruby Princess. Prices from £1,149 per person including flights and transfers.

* Save £1,000 per couple on Viking River Cruises Imperial Jewels of China cruise. Prices from £2,135 per person including flights, transfers and excursions.

The list goes on and on, and your cruise agent will have them all. But don't think too long. Remember it all ends September 27.

A coincidence that the day I was joining Princess Cruises' Royal Princess news came through that the first Royal Princess, now called Artemis and operated by P&O Cruises, had been sold.

It officially goes on October 6, but is being charted back by P&O to complete its 2010 itineraries and 2011 world cruise. It will finally be going on April 12 2012.

New owner Artania Shipping will be then be chartering the vessel to German operator Phoenix Reisen.

Fantastic news greeted the cruise industry here in Barcelona for the Travel Convention this morning as the Passenger Shipping Association revealed 5% more Britons will have a holiday at sea this year.

That's despite the fact we have been locked in the worst recession known to mankind for the past year.

I'm especially delighted as only last month I forecast there would be growth this year, flying in the face of the PSA's nil growth prediction. And I said in in front of two people from the PSA so there's proof!

Sadly my forecasting skills let me down badly when it came to predicting what sbjects would be covered during the Q&A session with Carnival Corp chairman and chief executive officer Micky Arison here in Barcelona.

Was he asked the prospects for a future new-build programme, the need for more capacity, about what is happening in Alaska, about whether he will bring a Carnival ship back to the UK - or at least the Med - in 2011.

No. Moderator Jeremy Vine asked him about "that" fight on P&O Cruises' Ventura, about the problems of discounting so much that the "wrong" sort of passengers are able to cruise, and why Carnival vessels became known as the Fun Ships.

What a wasted opportunity. I know I'm not the only one who was disappointed not to hear some real insights for the future from a man with so much power and influence in the world of cruising. Judging by some of his responses, I reckon Arison was a bit bewildered by it all a well.

But the interview did allow him to show us what a great sense of humour he has.

Asked which is the biggest cruise ship, he admitted he couldn't recall, but that "Queen Mary 2 was up there". When asked whether the industry could have been "knocked for six" by the recession, he admitted he didn't know what that meant. "Smashed", Vine translated. "That means being drunk to me," Arison smiled.

An interesting story from Bloomberg quotes Royal Caribbean Cruises chief exective officer Richard Fain as saying that by 2011 or 2012, the cruise line will have more international than American passengers.

"Within a year or two ... we will be more international than US in both revenue and passenger cruise days ... All of our growth at this point is coming from overseas."

It certainly explains why the cruise line is investing so heavily in markets outside the US. Not just the UK and Europe, but it also has a growing programme in Asia and the Far East, and is also now dabbling in South America.

At the moment, 60% of all Royal's passengers are from the US.

Fain said Royal Caribbean has begun raising prices in some markets, including Europe, and added that there are no immediate plans to order new vessels.

The Norwegian fjords have been voted the world's best travel destination for the third time by National Geographic Traveller.

Some 133 destinations were surveyed by 437 travel experts and rated according to their environmental and ecological quality, their social and cultural integrity, the condition of their historic buildings and archaeological sites, their aesthetic appeal, the quality of their tourism, and management and outlook for the future.

Naturally Hurtigruten, the cruise line that sails the Norwegian coast between Bergen and Kirkenes - and has been doing so since 1893 - is delighted with the results.

But while I agree that the fjords are lovely I'm not so sure I'd rate them the best travel destination in the world. Personally, I feel once you've seen two or three, you've seen them all.

What about the Baltic with its fabulous capitals? Or exotic Asia? Even the Black Sea, which is surrounded by fascinating cities?

Where would you vote for? I'd love to hear. 

It's been an exciting few days for Royal Caribbean as the cruise line finally took delivery of Oasis of the Seas and the 220,000-ton mega-ship set sail for its new home in Fort Lauderdale in Florida.

The ship has been six years in the making and during that time has managed to stir up plenty of mixed emotions - "too big", "too many people", "ugly", "can't wait", just plain "wow".

Whichever category you fit in, and of course it won't suit everyone, you have to admit Royal has come up with something truly spectacular.

The Central Park with real shrubs, a zipwire, inside balcony cabins, a bar that thinks it's a lift, an AquaTheatre, hundreds of places to eat - well OK, 20, but it's still a huge number. And then there's the FlowRider and rock-climbing wall that are already on other ships, but Oasis has two of each, and also an ice-rink.

I'm lucky enough to be going to be cruising on Oasis in November, just before the naming ceremony on November 30, and am already feeling exhausted just thinking of having to get around to see all these things.

But that's a while yet. More immediately, it seems Oasis will be making a technical stop at in Southampton on Monday at about 12.30pm to off-load people not needed for the transatlantic crossing.

I remember Richard Fain, Royal Caribbean Cruises chairman and chief executive officer, saying a while back that this was on the cards and that no, I would not be able to go on board to have a look. Well it was worth a try! But anyone in the area at the ETA specified should be able to see the ship, even if it is not docking. 

If that fails, there is still room on the inaugural seven-night Eastern Caribbean sailing - and therefore I'm guessing on most departures thereafter - for anyone who wants to make history and be among the first to cruise on the largest cruise ship in the world.

Your local travel agent will be able to help or click here to book on line.

Inside cabins will never be the same again. First we had Royal Caribbean International's inside balcony cabins on Oasis of the Seas that look out over Central Park, then Norwegian Cruise Line's budget studios on Norwegian Epic that have a window onto the corridor.

Then at a special unveiling in New York on Thursday I learnt that the inside cabins on Disney Cruise Line's new ship, Disney Dream, will have virtual portholes, with a view of the sea streamed in from cameras on the outside of the ship so passengers really can see the waves as they happen (not quite sure if that's a bonus when it's bumpy but the porthole can be turned off).

And then every so often, a Disney character will appear on the water. This is Steamboat Willy chugging along.

It's a great idea and should help to sell inside staterooms, but enough to persuade balcony lovers to trade down, as I overheard one journalist at the event suggest? I don't think so.

I always thought a roller coaster of some sort would be among the innovations on Oasis of the Seas. I was wrong, and now Disney has beaten Royal to it with the AquaDuck, which looks great fun - a water slide-cum-roller coaster the length of two football pitches that drops and climbs, all powered by water.

And then there is this little guy. He's called Crush and is in the Disney film Finding Nemo. There's one of these "magic theatres" in each of the kids' clubs, where the children can "talk" to the turtle. And it's not every day you can say you have done that.

But this is Disney after all.

Last Friday evening I was glued to my computer, listening to a live Norwegian Cruise Line webcast about the entertainment on Norwegian Epic.

I admit I wasn't enthralled with the Blue Man Group, which is going to be performing eight times per cruise on Epic. It's great to have something different on a cruise ship, but I caught a taste of their performance during the "reveal" in New York in May and felt quite queasy (!) watching what they did with what I think were marshmallows.

I'm not saying more - you'll have to go on board to find out!

But on to Friday's news. There will be duelling pianos in a late-night rock-and-roll show called Howl at the Moon, which is performed at 14 venues across the US and will be playing four times per cruise, and Legends in Concert, a tribute show that plays in Las Vegas among other US cities.

I'm not usually a fan of someone pretending to be a big star because too often they don't have even the physical presence to carry it off, never mind the voice, but judging by the website the "Legends" at least have to look like the people they are playing.

I'll have to wait until I go on board the ship, which launches next July, to judge if they sound like them as well, but I reckon both shows look really fun and exciting.

During the webcast, NCL's entertainment's chief Richard Kilman said his goal is to change the face of cruise ship entertainment on the 4,200-passenger Norwegian Epic.

Wouldn't it be nice if, in so doing, he changed the face of cruise ship entertainment per se and we were able finally to put to rest the dire songs from the shows.

Christmas is coming and there are some amazing bargains out there for anyone who can get away at fairly short notice.

Here are some of the latest "can't afford to say no" prices I've received in the past few days.

* Gills Cruise Centre: 15-day Caribbean Christmas cruise from Barbados on P&O Cruises' Ventura departing 18 December 2009. Balcony from £1,499 per person including flights from East Midlands. That's less that £100 a night and you get a flight and balcony in the bargain.

Or if you'd prefer to spend the new year at sea, there's a 15-day cruise on Ventura departing Barbados on January 1 2010. Better price -  from £999 per person - but it's for an inside

To book either cruise, click here or call Gills on 08456 58 23 23.

* Tropical Sky: 17-night cruise-and-stay, combining a 13-night transatlantic crossing and Caribbean cruise on Costa Cruises' Costa Mediterranea with four nights' all-inclusive at the Almond Smugglers Cove in St Lucia. Departs Savona in Italy on December 5 2009 and costs from £1,099 - less than £65 a night - including flights from the UK to Savona. To book, click here or call 0870 907 9600.

* Carnival Cruise Lines: Seven-night Southern Caribbean Christmas cruise on Carnival Victory departing San Juan in Puerto Rico on December 20 costs from £619 per person for a balcony cabin. That's £88 a night, but you have to book your own flights.

Or if you fancy trying Carnival's new ship, Carnival Dream, there a seven-nighter departing Port Canaveral in Florida on December 19 with inside cabins from £579 per person. Again, no flights though.

The Carnival prices are only available through your travel agent - tell them to look in Amadeus Cruise.

* Oceania Cruises. OK, not Christmas and not quite so cheap, but a great deal nontheless - a 21-night cruise from Sydney to Bangkok on Nautica departing February 8 2010 from £1,799 per person.

It doesn't say, so I'm guessing it's for an inside cabin and I know there's no flight, but that's 60% off the normal price and they'll pay your gratuities as well. There are also big savings on South American and Asian cruises. To book, click here or call Oceania on 0845 505 1920.

With less than a year to go until Cunard's next new ship launches, a worker at the Fincantieri shipyard in Trieste, near Venice, welds its name on the bow.

The Queen Elizabeth launches in October. The maiden voyage, on October 12, is sold out but there's still room on other cruises in the maiden season.

Former Royal Ballet principal dancer Darcey Bussell has been named Godmother of P&O Cruises' new 115,000-ton ship Azura.

Bussell will be naming the 3,100-passenger ship in front of 1,200 invited guests at a gala ceremony in Southampton on April 10 2010, before the vessel sets off on its maiden voyage, a 16-night Mediterranean cruise that includes calls at Malaga, Corfu, Dubrovnik and Venice.

Darcey, who officially retired from ballet in 2007, lives in Sydney, Australia, but will be flying back to the UK for Azura's glittering naming ceremony, details of which are being kept under wraps.

P&O Cruises managing director Carol Marlow said Darcey Bussell would be the perfect Godmother as she epitomises glamour, sophistication and elegance, which are all qualities the cruise line has strived to achieve in Azura.

"Azura will offer the service, quality and entertainment associated with cruising at its very best and as dance will play a key part in this, it is entirely fitting for Darcey to give Azura the best possible start in life."

Bussell said she is "excited and honoured" to be Godmother, but also "somewhat filled with trepidation".

The naming ceremony will benefit three international charities chosen by Bussell - Sydney Dance Company, the Royal Ballet School and the Prince's Rainforest Project.

How sad to read of the armed attacks that have forced cruise lines to suspend excursions in Nassau, in the Bahamas.

I was there in October with Disney Cruise Line and had a fantastic day out at Dolphin Encounters. I do hope that is not one of the excursions that has been hit. As it is on an island, out of the town, I suspect all is well.

At the time of choosing our excursions, I asked if we could do the Earth Village as well as the dolphins as I have always wanted a go on a Segway.

It never happened, I suspect because there was just not enough time, but it looks like that might have been a good thing as that is one of the trips that has been pulled by Disney and Royal Caribbean International.

As Nassau will now discover, it is easy to get a reputation for being unsafe, but very hard to get rid of it, no matter how many police you throw at the situation or reassurances you give. Look at what happened in Egypt after the shootings at Queen Hatshepsut's Temple in 1997.

It's very tough on all those people in Nassau who depend so heavily on the cruise ship visits for their income.

It's hardly great news for the cruise lines either, as Nassau is such a popular stop, especially for short cruises from Florida.

And Royal Caribbean must be extra worried. Nassau one of the very few ports in the Caribbean that the huge new Oasis of the Seas can get into (and then only because the authorities in Nassau have spent a fortune dredging the harbour to take the 225,000-ton giant).

With so few places the ship can visit, the last thing they need is to have to pull a port.

When you launch a ship as big as Oasis of the Seas, you've got to consider the fact that it's easy for people to disappear on it. Especially kids.

Royal Caribbean has considered it and come up with Royal Connect, a system whereby kids who register in Adventure Ocean, the children's club, get a wristband that has a tracking device embedded in.

Parents can then hire an iPhone - $17.50 per device for the week - loaded with technology that allows them to keep an eye on the whereabouts of their little darlings while they are on the ship.

Believe me they need it. Trying to find people on that ship is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I know, because I've been trying to do over the past few days ---- and failed. In fact, trying to find your offspring on ships that are half the size of Oasis is well nigh impossible. I know because I've had to do that too!

For your $17.50, you also get unlimited texts to other iPhone users and can use the device to see what activities are happening on the ships.

It's a brilliant idea. Just wish I could get the idea of "tagging" and criminals out of my mind!

After a fortnight on dry land since seeing Oasis of the Seas, it was nice to be back on a ship last week, even if it wasn't going anywhere.

I was on Cunard's Queen Victoria while it was tied up at the Ocean Terminal at Southampton, for the Carnival UK agent awards - an annual event when P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Ocean Village and Cunard thank all the travel agents who have supported them through the year, hand out a few plaques to the top performers and treat everyone to some well-earned bubbly and a nice lunch.

It was also a moment for Cunard's president and managing director Peter Shanks to remind everyone that there were only 306 days until Queen Elizabeth's naming ceremony in October 2010. As of today - Monday - that's 301 days. Not that anyone is counting

It was also a moment for P&O Cruises managing director Carol Marlow to give a quick plug to Azura, launching in April 2010, and announce the news that Royal Princess is to become a P&O ship in May 2011, sailing under the name Adonia.

It must seem like deja vu for Carol. It seems only yesterday I was having lunch with her on Swan Hellenic's Minerva, while it was on a visit to London, discussing the impending launch of Swan's new ship Minerva II, formerly Renaissance Cruises' prosaically-named R8.

When Carnival sold Swan, they kept the ship, sent it to Princess Cruises and named it, yes, you've guessed it, Royal Princess. Now it is to be Adonia.

If ships were human, this one would definitely be having counselling by now.

But back to the awards. There were lots of familiar names among the winners including Virgin Holidays Cruises, Gill's Cruise Centre, Cruise.co.uk, Iglu.com, Cruise Thomas Cook, Get Cruising and Hays Retail, but just two agents walked off with the top four awards.

Bolsover Cruise Club was named top independent agent for P&O Cruises and Princess Cruises. Here's general manager Derek Wilson and director Julie Straw being presented with their awards by Carnival UK chief executive officer David Dingle.

Reader Offers was named top independent agent for Cunard and Ocean Village. The company's Angela Frost and Sara Wikevand collected one award each from Complete Cruise Solution's head of sales Mark Pilkington.

Other winners:

Top multiple agent - Thomas Cook.

Cruise sales person of the year - Joanna Rigby.

Complete Cruise Solution sales person of the year -  Lucy Guy.

Waves of Wisdom agent of the year - Estelle Pitman, Wayfarers World Travel.

Heard the one about the new drinks packages now available on Celebrity Cruise ships? No, it's not the start of a joke, although many people clearly believe it is after looking at the prices.

The beer package costs from £20.75 per person per night, the spirits packages cost from £31 per person per night for the classic version, or £45.50 for the premium one. Both prices include gratuities (15% on each drink bought, regardless of whether it is served or you go to bar and get it yourself) and allow unlimited consumption during the cruise.

The packages can be bought ahead of the cruise, in pounds sterling (hence the "from" price I think as I'm assuming it depends on the exchange rate) or on board in dollars.

News of the packages has certainly caused a stir. Cruise Critic has helpfully worked out you'd need to drink between five and seven beers a day to get your money's worth, asks if it will cause "risky binging" and has had plenty of none-too-favourable comments from members.

Many of USA Today's Cruise Loggers likewise are not enthralled."Oh great, encourage the boozers to drink more," writes one. "The price of the package is so high, purchasers will inevitably work real hard to get their money's worth, and that is bad for everyone involved," writes another.

The packages certainly do look expensive, but how about if you split them between two? Against the rules I know, but is there really anything to stop the holder buying a drink, giving it to the wife, husband, partner, whoever, and then heading off to another bar (no point in being blatently obvious) to get another? They might be able to see on the till that you've just had a drink, but it would be a brave waiter who dared to suggest you join AA.

Unlimited beers for two for the duration of a cruise? Now that starts to look like good value.

My bigger problem with these packages are that they are too specific. I like a beer or two in the day, but a few glasses of wine in the evening, so I'd have buy-as-I-go, as I do now, which is expensive, especially when the gratuity is added to every drink, or purchase the Taste of the Vineyards package, which costs from £68.25.

They don't say how many bottles you get for that so I've no idea if it's good value. But I do know that if added to a beer package my pocket really would start to hurt. And that would be the time for Cruise Critic to really start worrying about binge drinking.

By the way, re USA Today. Am I the only one who wonders about the Cruise Logger who wrote:

"Everyone keeps talking about how much they would have to drink all day but all the prices refer to "PER NIGHT"!!! If this is only limited to nightime, that makes it rediculously (sic) expensive."

Is he for real? Has he really always thought that the daytime part of his cruise was free because he pays a per night rate? He's in for a nasty shock one day.

Must admit, I checked the date when I saw this story that MSC Cruises' has made MSC Splendida into the world's first "fully-fragranced, sensory-branded" ship.

"It's no April Fool," I was assured by the UK office. So I dug back in my memory and remembered that at one time travel agents introduced "holiday" smells into their stores to get people in the vacation (and buying) mood.

This isn't quite the same because you've already bought the cruise by the time you're onboard and sniffing MSC Splendida.

MSC says they want the scent to "enhance the customer experience during the cruise and stay with passengers forever as a sensory trigger to fond MSC Cruises memories". And get them to buy another cruise, I assume.

The scent, called MED by MSC, has been specially created for the cruise line and is described as "an effervescent fruity green fig accord with delicate floral notes blended with gentle musk".

Unfortunately they didn't send a sample so I've no idea how that actually translates into a smell.

All I can say is that as it's everywhere - in the air conditioning in the stairwells, corridors, lounges and spas (but not the cabins), and also in the toiletries, cleaning products and laundry softener - I just hope it's nice.

On Tuesday I docked the Emerald Princess in Ketchikan, Alaska.

OK, so it wasn't the real thing. If I had gone in too fast, Princess Cruises would not have been sending me a bill for millions of pounds worth of damage.

But it was the simulator P&O Cruises, Princess, Cunard and other Carnival Corp brands are using to train their officers and captains - and also the nearest thing I am ever likely to get to driving a cruise ship.

The simulator is in Almere, just outside Amsterdam, and was set up by P&O and Princess after a string of what Captain Hans Hederstrom, who is in charge of the Centre for Simulator Marine Training (CSMART), with wonderful understatement, called "unfortunate events".

Remember when one of Queen Mary 2's propellors was pulled off as the ship manoeuvered out of Port Everglades and the near mutiny that followed because ports had to be missed? Or when QE2 became grounded? They were "unfortunate" incidents.

P&O and Princess decided something had to be done, approached Hans in 2007 and the rest, as they say, is history.

At the CSMART complex, which has been open for six months, they have two bridge simulators - even with bridge wings - where officers learn about, or are updated on, the latest developments in bridge technology.

There are also 11 virtual ports, with more being added all the time. This is me on one of  bridge wings steering into Singapore. Southampton is about to join the line-up, while Fremantle and Adelaide have been added because QM2 will be visiting both for the first time next year and the officers need to get a feel for the two ports.

They are learning not just the port layouts, but how QM2 copes coming in when all sorts of bad weather is thrown at it - high winds, rough seas, heavy swells, maybe all three. If the training goes according to plan, they will also learn when it's time to call it a day and say, actually it's too dangerous to try to dock today.

The control room at CSMART put on some rough weather for me and it really feels the part (apparently some officers once felt so unwell they had to go and sit down!). And every so often, they programme in other vessels - big ships, small yachts - which of course you are supposed to steer around. It's all incredibly realistic.

So far the centre has 12 ship models, mainly P&O and Princess vessels, but also the Costa Atlantica, and it trains captains and officers from most of the Carnival brands, including AIDA, Costa, Seabourn and Holland America Line as their bridges are all very similar.

Carnival Cruise Lines has a contract elsewhere at the moment but when that ends, they will use CSMART too, and Norwegian Cruise Line is about to become a customer, which will help to recoup some of the $5 million the CSMART hardware alone has cost.

All the officers have to do a five-day course each year at CSMART - it runs up to three courses a week for about 40 weeks a year - and another week's training elsewhere learning about updated methods of security, safety and so on.

They can't fail as such, but they can be told they need to do another course. And maybe another and another "until it's time to agree to part", Paul Hailwood, one of the trainers, told me.

One interesting development at CSMART is the way they have inverted the captains' role. On P&O, Princess and Cunard ships, the captain is now no longer the guy at the top making all the decisions but he is leading from behind, allowing his officers to make all the decisions and learn from having their hands on the buttons (unless. of course, there is a problem, at which point the captain steps in and take control).

Hans said when they initially did their review, before creating the training course, they found officers were bored because they were not allowed to do what they were trained for and as a result became too passive.

"There were instances when assertive action from officers could have prevented an incident."

So how did the captains feel about it all, I wondered. "Some initially didn't like the idea of no longer being at the front," Hans admitted. "They have big egos and found the new structure difficult, but all have now embraced it totally."

I was interested to read on Travelmole that Cruise West has started to offer kids' prices.

It's a welcome new development for any parent who longs for an adventurous cruise away from the Mediterranean or Caribbean hordes but is put off by prices. But what really grabbed my attention was seeing the cruise line says children are children until age 18.

Hooray.

With the notable exception of MSC Cruises and Costa Cruises, which offer free cruises for under 18s, cruise lines generally suffer from the theme park syndrome that says kids are adults by the age of 12 or 13, which is patently unfair for many reasons.

First, as far as I'm aware anyone under 16 in this country has to go to school so how can they be out earning money to go on a cruise? They can't. It's just more for mum and dad to have to pay. Not a great way to win new customers.

Second, as youngsters get on board the family-friendly ships they are bombarded with leaflets urging them to join the kids or teens clubs. Hang on? I thought they were adults.

And lastly, as if to pour salt into the wound, they pay an adult price but you just watch what happens when kids try to get into the adult-only pool or relaxation area. I'm not saying they should be allowed in - I'm sure all adults welcome a child-free bolt-hold - but if they can't get in, they should not be classed, and charged, as adults.

Under Cruise West's new pricing, under 18s will pay half the adult fare. Babes under two will cruise for free.

While on the subject of age, I spotted this on Carnival Cruise Lines' website the other day.

"Guests under the age of 21 must be accompanied in the same stateroom by a parent or guardian 25 or older."

Imagine the scene. Mum looks up to 20-year-old (he didn't stop growing and now towers over her) and says excitedly "We're going on a cruise."

Then adds apologetically: "There are just two things. As it's an American ship, you won't be able to drink alcohol. And two. I know you have your own house here in the UK but in the US you're a child so you've got to share a cabin with your father and me."

I'm not sure who to feel sorry for most.

In case you're wondering what's been happening in the world of cruising for the past two weeks, apart from the launch of Silversea's new ship, Silver Spirit, here's a quick update.

* Celebrity Cruises has announced its fourth Solstice-class ship will be called Celebrity Silhouette. And I was betting on it becoming a Star, in keeping with the astrological theme set by sisters Solstice, Equinox and Eclipse. Oh well. The 122,000-ton ship will carry 2,850 passengers and is due to launch in 2011. Like its sisters, it will have a half-acre real grass lawn on the top deck.

* Tempted to try Norwegian Cruise Line's new ship Norwegian Epic but can't afford a week in the Caribbean? Then a one-night taster cruise from Rotterdam to Southampton departing on June 21 2010 might be just the ticket. I can't guarantee sunny Caribbean skies or steel bands (a blessing you may say!) but it won't break the bank. Prices start from £89 per person plus the cost of a one-way flight to the Netherlands. See your travel agent or click here.

* French cruise line Compagnie du Ponant is courting the British with a selection of new on-board features. From now, all officers and crew will be bilingual, and shore excursions, daily programmes and menus will be in English and French. The cruise line is launching new yacht-like ship, the 264-passenger Le Boreal, in May 6 2010.
 
* Yachts of Seabourn is calling all motor enthusiasts for a seven-night Mediterranean cruise from Monte Carlo on Seabourn Legend on May 17. The cruise starts as the Monaco Grand Prix ends, so Seabourn points out it's a perfect voyage for anyone who will be in the Principality anyway for the race. Prices start from £1,799 per person including drinks and gratuities but excluding flights.

How ironic that the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should report that the incidents of norovirus on ships reached its lowest level for almost 10 years in 2009 just as Fred Olsen was battling with its latest outbreak.

It says there were just 13 outbreaks on ships operating from US ports, down from 34 in 2006, even though more people were cruising.

Somehow I don't think Fred Olsen will take heart from the report. Balmoral and Boudicca were both hit with the vomiting bug during their Christmas and New Year cruises. Cruise Critic says it's the third time in less than a month that passengers have been taken ill on Boudicca.

In a statement, Fred's managing director Mike Rodwell said: "This is just the time of the year when the norovirus, or winter vomiting virus, becomes widespread in the UK, and being highly contagious it can spread very quickly in the confines of a cruise ship."

True. But what about the outbreak on Balmoral in September?  Or the outbreak on Marco Polo in last July? He can't blame winter for either of those.

Rather than make meaningless statements, Fred really does need to do something and fast to get the bug in check.

May I suggest a few lessons from the readers of Cruise.co.uk, writing in response to news of the Boudicca Christmas outbreak.

This from Shelledpea:

"This report says a lot about the customers that FO attracts especially as has been pointed out so few staff are coming down with the virus as opposed to the pax! Maybe a quick guide to hand washing i.e hot water, soap, as hot as you can stand for 1 min minimum like in the food trades! Not the quick flick under a cold tap and then longer under the hand dryer that some people do."

This from PropShaft:

"I do feel that the cruise lines should now send everybody an information sheet with the cruise tickets on virus information and basic passenger hygiene, and what is required of passengers during the cruise. Sterile wipes for wiping door handles etc are a good idea, but when we see someone leaving the toilet without washing hands we should call them back and remind them, that they have forgotten. It's our own safety they put at risk."

Cruise.co.uk readers are in no doubt that the bug pops up time and again on Fred ships because its passengers are all rather elderly.

It's true, they are. But if that has a bearing, either because older people are more prone to illness or because they are less concerned about hygiene, why don't Saga, Swan Hellenic, Voyages of Discovery or Spirit of Adventure get regular outbreaks as well?

Any suggestions gratefully received.

While all eyes in the UK were focused on the snow yesterday, over near Trieste, Italy, shipworkers at Fincantieri's Monfalcone shipyard had a much bigger thing on their mind.

The float-out of Cunard's new ship Queen Elizabeth. That's the moment when the dry-dock valves are opened and water hits the hull for the first time.

It's now all hands on deck to get the vessel ship-shape in time for its naming ceremony in Southampton on October 11 and maiden cruise to the Canary Islands departing the next day.

No sooner had I written how mean cruise lines are when it comes to charging for kids than news came winging my way from Crystal that it is offering free cruises for kids in 2010.

OK so they actually only go free on two cruises. but that's two more than last year and more importantly, the offer applies to all those aged 17 and under so they, at least, are playing fair with families.

I'm not convinced Crystal this is an ideal cruise line for young children as they generally want to play with kids their own age, but I took my daughter, aged 15, on Crystal Serenity this summer, cruising from Pireaus to Civitavecchia, and we had a ball.

On port days, we went off and did our own thing, discovering local sights, lunching ashore and fitting in a bit of shopping as well.

On board, she quickly discovered the video library and was happy relaxing with a film while I was working. She was also old enough to appreciate the fine and friendly service and also to enjoy the good food in the main dining room and the speciality restaurants.

After dinner, she usually met up with the handful of other teens on board and they'd hang out at the swimming pool as they weren't allowed in any of the bars without parents after 11pm.

In fact that was her biggest complaint because after all the last thing she wanted was mum hanging around with her friends. And mum wasn't too keen to act as chaperone either.

Crystal definitely needs to do something about that policy if it wants to win the hearts and minds of the under-18s. I couldn't see why they couldn't go in the nightclub - especially as few other passengers did.

Crystal's two kids' free cruises are on Crystal Symphony. One is a round-Britain voyage from Dover on June 14, the other a Baltic cruise from Copenhagen to Stockholm on August 7.

Prices start from £1,942 per person for the round-Britain cruise and £2,048 cruise-only for the Baltic cruise. Contact Crystal on 020 7287 9040 or click here for more information.

Finally one of the big cruise lines has broken away from the pack and acknowledged that single cruisers are nice people to have on board after all.

I say that with all due respect to P&O Cruises, which is building new ship Azura (launching in April) with 18 single cabins. I thought that was a positive step.

But on Wednesday evening, NCL announced that the 128 Studio cabins on its new ship Norwegian Epic, launching in June, will go on sale as single rooms from January 18.

They will cost from £599 per person for a seven-night Caribbean cruise (excluding flights), which NCL claimed did not to contain any of that dreaded single supplement.

Out of interest, I checked my brochure, published way before this announcement, and that quotes Studios from £479 per person with up to 100% supplement for a single person.

I was also told that in response to a question during the annoucement, NCL said the per person price will be slightly lower if two people are shoehorned into one of these tiny Studios - they are 100 square feet, which means you can take your cat but cancel all thoughts of swinging it - which means there is a very small supplement.

But hey, for £599 who really cares? The room might be small, but Studio passengers get access to their own lounge where they can go to watch TV, have a drink and make friends. It's brilliant if you are travelling alone, as you can identify the other lone cruisers.

So will other cruise lines take up the singles challenge? Realistically, no. NCL is not being altruistic by catering for singles; it just happens to have these Studios on Epic, which senior vice-president marketing Maria Miller admitted had sold mainly to single people anyway. "We are positioning them where the market is," she said.

Having said that, it only takes one cruise line to do something for the others to follow. Speciality restaurants, poolside screens, adult-only lounges, whizzy water slides, automatic gratuities. They all started somewhere.

Now we just need one of the big cruise lines to actually have the courage to break away from the pack and do something about tipping, not just say they are "looking" at it.

Or is that just being too unrealistic?

Seems Carnival Cruise Lines was not very impressed when it hosted a pack of cougars and cubs on Carnival Elation last month.

Those are the names given to older women out to have no-strings-attached fun with younger men - and the men who are up for it. CougarEvents.com had arranged for 300 of them to be on the ship.

By all accounts all was fine, but clearly the self-styled Fun Ship operator has decided there is such a thing as too much fun because when SinglesTravelCompany.com tried to book a group on a Carnival ship, the cruise line said no.

The Miami Herald quotes a rather piqued Stewart Chiron, chief executive of CruiseGuy.com, as saying couger cruises don't fit Carnival's "squeaky clean image".

Maybe not, but that's great news for Royal Caribbean International and Norwegian Cruise Line, which apparently have no qualms about allowing man-hungry female cruisers on board.

The paper reports that the singles will now be on a Mexican Riviera cruise on Royal's Mariner of the Seas in May while the cougars are booked on a three-day cruise from Miami on Norwegian Sky from December 3-6.

You have been warned. Or should that be alerted? Personally, I'm more intrigued by ABTA's pre-Christmas forecast that naked cruising is one of the emerging trends for 2010.

I can see all sorts of benefits, not least the fact that you can leave the DJ and cocktail dress at home. I guess also you really can be sure there are no strings attached and if there are, at least you'll spot them!

You'd want to be cruising somewhere warm, though, and I hope the cruise lines have the foresight to go easier on the air-con in the dining rooms. All those naked bodies is one thing, but naked bodies sitting around covered in goosebumps?

It would quite put you off the Baked Alaska.

Ever fancied cruising backwards down a river? If so, your time has come.

Celebrity Cruises is offering one UK and Ireland tweeter the chance to win a cruise down the River Ems - backwards of course - on the new 2,850-passenger Celebrity Eclipse.

All you have to do is write a tweet - normal Twitter rules apply so no more than 140 characters - saying why you want to be on the ship for its first-ever cruise, all 26 miles from the Papenberg shipyard in Germany where it has been built, to Eemshaven in the Netherlands, where they will finish kitting it out.

Jo Briody, Celebrity's head of marketing, says they are looking for "succinct creativity, recognition of the innovations onboard the ship (this is one of the Solstice-class ships with a real grass lawn on the top deck) and to engage with the biggest fans of Celebrity Cruises".

So probably just saying your life's ambition is to cruise backwards down a river in Germany won't be good enough.

Jo will be judging the entries, along with Cruise Critic's UK team and cruise tweeter and fellow blogger Capt Greybeard, who always gives me a long-suffering look when I say I haven't got a clue why anyone bothers to twit, oops, sorry tweet.

The competition closes on February 14 at 23.59, which eagle-eyed readers will notice is almost midnight on St Valentine's Day, when surely couples really should have something better to do with their time than send messages to @CelebrityUK.

Plan A is that the conveyance, as this cruise manoeuvre is called, will take place the second weekend of March, but a lot depends on the weather. Too much wind and the wrong tides and they can't get the ship through the narrow locks.

Celebrity Eclipse is scheduled to arrive in Southampton on April 20. It will be named in the city on April 24 and spend the rest of the summer cruising from the south coast port.

The prize is for two and includes return flights in economy from the UK to the ship, overseas transfers and meals and drinks onboard the ship. You must have a passport, be aged over 18 and willing to take part in publicity photographs.

Silversea's new ship Silver Spirit officially got its name in Port Evergales, Florida, last week

It was a very traditional ceremony, unfortunately marred by the wind. Executive vice-president and chief operating officer Ken Watson struggled to keep hold of his notes and the gusts kept the champagne from smashing against the hull (you can't tell that from the video, but Cruise Critic's Carolyn Spencer Brown was there and reports that it was finally smashed by hand).

Silver Spirit has now set off on its inaugural 91-day circumnavigation of South America and I hope the weather is kinder than than it has experienced so far.

We had a bit of a rough ride sailing from Monaco to Barcelona before Christmas, and the transatlantic crossing was not always a bundle of laughs, judging by comments on Cruise Critic.

Ah well, that's life on the high seas, I guess.

The ceremony is quite long so before clicking the play button, I suggest putting on the kettle so you can sit back and enjoy it with a nice cuppa.

Silver Spirit Christening Ceremony from Silversea on Vimeo.

Travel Weekly US carried some interesting results from a survey of travel agent members by CLIA (that's Cruise Lines International Association, the US version of the PSA).

Seems an optimistic breeze is blowing through the US trade at the moment.

The travel agents say people are booking further out - about 30% of clients are booking less than four months out, compared with 39% in 2009 - which is always a sign of confidence. Some 83% of them predicted this year's Wave booking period will be 10%-20% better than last year's.

More than 75% expect higher sales this year, with most forecasting an increase of about 15%. Just 11% expect sales to be on par with 2009.

What would the results be like if the PSA took a similar survey over here, I wonder? Any thoughts very welcome.

Most of us mark 20th anniversaries with a party for family and friends, maybe a special holiday if we're feeling flush.

Crystal Cruises does it by creating its own Champagne and wine. This year, Crystal cruisers will be able to sample the line's new Billecart-Salmon Champagne and a new Pinot Noir for 2010, the latter created from grapes grown at the "C" Vineyard in California's Santa Lucia Highlands where other Crystal wines come from.

I've been told the Pinot Noir for 2010 boasts flavours of strawberries and red cherries with earthy herbal undertones and spicy aromas from French oak barrels but not the price.

I'm guessing that's because it's rather expensive (have you noticed how companies always tell you prices if they are deemed "value" but not if they they are likely to caused a giant "gulp"?), but don't worry. The $2,000 per couple on-board credit Crystal is giving away on cruises this year should help to cover it.

For those who don't know, Royal Caribbean's private Caribbean island of Labadee is on the north coast of Haiti. It apparently escaped any damage in the earthquake that destroyed so many buildings and claimed so many thousands of lives.

As a result, Royal has decided to continue visiting, using the calls as a way to transport water and dry goods to the island. It points out passengers are also pumping much-needed money into the hands of the locals who work there.

The first ship since the earthquake was back there last Friday, three days after the earthquake, and more will be there this week.

Is it right to keep going? It's an impossible question. Of course they should, given they are getting supplies and money to the island. On the other hand, I struggle with the idea of going ashore and having fun knowing about the death and devastation just a few miles away.

Judging by yesterday's story on Cruise Critic I am not alone.

Cruise Critic asked its readers whether ships should have returned to Labadee so soon. Some 3,495 people responded across its .com and .co.uk sites. And the verdict? An overwhelming 67% said yes.

Here are the results:

Yes, Haiti needs the money - 35%

Yes, they're bringing aid - 32%

No, it's in poor taste - 19%

I'm on the fence - 14%

I wonder what the response would have been if they had asked: "Should cruise ships have returned so soon and would you like to be going?"

Cruising and bridge go together like hearts and diamonds, so it's no surprise to see that Fred Olsen has teamed up with the English Bridge Union to offer a debut EBU-sanctioned tournament at sea.

It takes place on Balmoral's 12-night Canary Islands cruise from Dover on May 3 and will be hosted by Daily Express bridge correspondent Paul Hackett and keen player, who will be giving talks and daily play updates during the cruise.

During the six days at sea - and probably during port days if I know anything about bridge players - there will be tournaments for experienced and novice players. They will earn EBU points for taking part.

These special-interest cruises are great for single people - for bridge players it's a perfect way to make friends - but I see this is also a cruise-and-walk voyage in association with Ramblers, so it will work well if any non-playing spouses fancy going along as they'll have something to do while their partners are up to their tricks.

The cruise will be visiting Madeira, La Palma, Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lisbon before returning to Dover.

Prices start from £1,004 per person, plus it costs an extra £100 per player to take part in the bridge sessions (which must be pre-booked through Fred Olsen). Your travel agent will have more details, or call Fred on 01473 742424 to find out more.

What was that I was saying about the cruise lines' obsession with safety and security?

Carnival Cruise Lines has told embarking passengers they are no longer allowed to lock the luggage they hand over to porters for delivery to their cabin "to maintain a safe and secure environment".

I think it is safe to say the idea has gone down like a lead balloon with most passengers.

Aside from the fact that many dislike the thought that porters, security guards and whoever happens to be wandering by at the time is free to nose through their luggage, there is a very slightest suspicion that this is nothing to do with safety and security at all but rather is an attempt to stop all those fun-loving passengers smuggling booze into their cabins.

Here's what John Frenaye, writing in Travel Research Online, said:

"As we all know, alcohol sales are one of the top moneymakers on a cruise. And as anyone familiar with Cruise Critic knows, most of the Carnival loyalists routinely share stories on how to best smuggle booze on board."

And they say we Brits are tight because we object to the cruise line's forced tipping policies!

Frenaye also makes the point, as do Cruise Critic readers, that there is a small issue of liability here. Just who would be liable if something were to disappear from your suitcase between you handing it to the porter and it arriving in the cabin?

Not Carnival, because the porters are not their employees."Try to sue the Longshoreman's Union. Fat chance," writes pnjkeith on the Cruise Critic.

Everyone writing in response to Frenaye's comment is also unhappy, including several agents. "I've been selling Carnival for over 23 years and guess what - that will be stopping soon," writes Kenagain.

Can't help feeling this will be a decision Carnival lives to regret.

Someone had to fill the gap Ocean Village is leaving when it is closed down in November this year by launching Brit-friendly cruises from Palma, and I have to admit I always thought it was going to be P&O Cruises.

The cruise line is ultra-British and Ventura has proved itself a good family-friendly ship that appeals either to first-time cruisers or those who like a more relaxed holiday at sea, with not too much of the formal stuff and freedom to dine when they choose.

Of course Ocean Village is being shut down because parent company Carnival UK said they could not make the flycruise model pay so I don't know if ex-Palma cruises were actually ever considered.

But it's irrelevant now anyway because Royal Caribbean International has just announced it is stepping in to fill the OV gap. I'm intrigued to find out what they are doing differently so they think they can make it pay.

Starting May 2011, Grandeur of the Seas will be based in Palma, sailing seven-night Western Mediterranean cruises to France, Italy and the Balearic Islands that will be on sale only in the UK and Ireland that can be put back to back into a 14-night voyage.

It's a clever move. Spending two or three days sailing over the Bay of Biscay to get to the Med is not everyone's idea of fun, especially if the weather is bad, which is always a very strong possibility over that stretch of water.

And aside from the chance of choppy seas, many people - and especially families and young people - can't be bothered with all those sea days (and don't forget you have to do the same journey coming home). They just want to get to the sun as fast as possible. And then get home just as fast.

For those who do like the Bay challenge, there's always Royal's Independence of the Seas, which is now sailing year-round from Southampton.

Grandeur, which holds a maximum 2,446 passengers, has Royal's trademark rock-climbing wall and Adventure Ocean kids' club as well as all the usual cruise trappings including a spa and gym, bars, lounges and plenty of places to eat.

Prices will be released next month, when the cruises go on sale. As Royal will be going head to head with Thomson Cruises, I predict they will be very competitive.

Watch this space.

Remember the good old days, when friends and family could go on board a cruise ship to say farewell to loved ones about to head off on a voyage?

Well no, actually neither do I, but we are about to find out what it is all about thanks to Princess Cruises, which is daring to be different with a new Bon Voyage Experience.

I dread to think what the for-your-own-safety-and-security brigade think about the idea, but essentially around 50 friends and family will be able to go on Princess ships on embarkation day with their cruising buddies for a look-see at the ship, a four-course lunch and wine, and "even" (to quote Princess) a souvenir photo.

In all they'll get about four hours on board before the tearful farewells and all for $39 per person, which can be put towards a future cruise with Princess.

And that's what it's all about. A new way to rustle up business.

I say new, but it reminds me of the test-drive lunches Thomson Cruises is launching in April. The difference is the test-drive lunches are available to any Thomson and First Choice clients on a land-based holiday near one of the Med ports Thomson's ships visit. And they are not available on turnaround day.

For now Princess' Bon Voyage Experience is only available in the US, starting with Sapphire Princess in Los Angeles and Crown Princess in Fort Lauderdale on March 6 and then rolling out across other ships including Coral, Emerald, Island, Ruby, Golden and Sea Princess. It'll also be on Sapphire, Golden and Royal Princess in Alaska starting in May.

So why not in Europe and the UK? Surely if they can do it in the US, where security has gone mad - yes, even more mad than in the UK - we can do it on this side of the Pond?

Or are we also now running scared of our own shadows? Let's hope not.

I await news of the start of the European season with interest.

This is a story I never thought I'd write - at least not while the economy is still teetering on the brink. Or is that really still only here in the UK?

From March 22, Carnival Cruise Lines will be increasing prices for all summer sailings by up to 5%. The move has been prompted by what Carnival president and CEO Gerry Cahill called "unprecedented levels" of bookings between January 1 and February 22, the Wave period.

He says that's all to do with the strong support Carnival has received from agents, targeted marketing and Carnival's strategy of basing ships in a multitude of ports around the US, in easy driving distance of large swathes of the population.

The laws of supply and demand say that he is right to put up prices. Or they would if it was just Carnival in the market. But there are plenty of other cruise lines out there still offering good deals that Carnival customers can turn to if they don't like the price hike.

I imagine those lines will be looking on with interest to see if the Carnival tactic works.

It's time to get the hankies out. The very last Ocean Village cruise is going on on sale at 8am on Monday March 8.

OV is the cruise-for-people-who-don't-do-cruises brand and has built up quite a fan club among Brits who wanted a casual holiday at sea since it was created in 2003 but Carnival UK is closing it down at the end of this year.

One ship, Ocean Village Two, was sent Down Under to join P&O Cruises Australia last November as Pacific Jewel. The original Ocean Village follows in November this year and then OV will be no more.

The Fond Farewell cruise is a 23-night voyage from Crete to Singapore from October 21 to November 13, calling at Egypt, Dubai, Cochin in India, Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia on the way. You'll also transit the Suez Canal and cruise through Pirate Alley (the picture shows OV2 going through last year, escorted by the Royal Navy's HMS Cornwall).

Prices start from £1,889 per person including return flights and £150 per person on-board credit.

There's also a Big Goodbye cruise - 30 nights from October 14 to November 13 by adding a week sailing from Crete to Venice, Croatia and Greece before the final voyage to Singapore. Prices start from £2,199 per person including flights and £150 on-board credit.

Instead of the £150 on-board credit, you could opt for a free night in Singapore and £75 spending money, or two free nights and no on-board credit. If you want a third night in the city it'll set you back just £75 per person.

These final sailings are all focused on adults so there will be no children's facilities available on the ship from October 21.

Demand for the final cruise is expected to be high so get your dialing finger at the ready at 8am on March 8 or save yourself the angst and ask your travel agent to make a booking for you. Call 0845 358 5000 or click here for details. 

Royal Caribbean International president and chief executive officer Adam Goldstein writes on his blog that they will have 10 of their 22 ships in Europe in 2011.

It's very impressive but I fear we could be in danger of a European overload. Places like Barcelona, Santorini and Naples are often bursting with cruise ships as it is and just can't take anymore - or at least can't take anymore and still deliver a good experience for visitors.

Dare we hope Royal might look for new destinations as they plan their saturation campaign?

Goldstein doesn't say which ships will be over here - all will be revealed over the next couple of months - but I'm guessing it won't be Oasis of the Seas, the world's biggest cruise ship, or its giant sister Allure of the Seas. Yet.

Let's face it. There has to be a limit as to how long they can have two huge ships just going round and round on rather unexciting Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries. Norwegian Cruise Line clearly thinks so, hence it is bringing Norwegian Epic here in 2011.

So I reckon we could yet see one of them in Europe. Probably not in 2011 but maybe 2012.

These ships are too big to get into any port over here, or so it has been said, but 2012 is still a while away and anyway, my suggestion of seven-night cruises to nowhere, giving passengers loads of time to spend, spend, spend on board (and boost Royal's profits), is still up for grabs.

But no need for special glasses - this is one Eclipse you can look at safely.

It's the first view of Celebrity Eclipse, the third of the new Solstice-class ships being built for Celebrity Cruises in Papenburg.

The ship emerged from the Meyer Werft shipyard over the weekend and will be heading off, still backwards, down the River Ems next week, heading for the open sea.

Its sea trials await, and no doubt some last-minute finishing off, and then it will be coming across the North Sea to Southampton, where it will be named and homeported for the rest of the summer, sailing for the British market.

It's the first time Celebrity has has a ship specially for the Brits and they have made some concessions for UK tastes. There are kettles in cabins and steak and kidney pud and mushy peas on the menu. It will also have a new restaurant, Qsine, serving fish and chips and spring rolls in ways you have never seen before.
 
I'm hoping to be on board Eclipse for the conveyance from the shipyard to Emden next week and then will be back on the ship in Southampton for the christening and a two-night cruise from April 24-26.

Hopefully I'll be reporting back from both events so keep checking in.

There is something very surreal about looking out of the window of a 122,000-ton cruise ship and seeing sheep running along the river bank.

But that was the view from my cabin on Celebrity Eclipse yesterday as we were tugged backwards down the River Ems in Germany and Holland.

The manoeuvre is known as a conveyance - literally conveying the ship 26 miles down river from the Mayer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, where it had been built, which bizarrely for a shipyard is inland, to the open sea at Eemshaven.

Sounds simple doesn't it, but first they have to flood the river to make sure it's deep enough (they do this by waiting for high tide, then shutting the barrier at Gandersum so it can't escape), and en route they have to squeeze through two locks and pass under two bridges.

Well, when I say under, one section of the railway bridge at Weener is actually dismantled so the ship can pass through it. Thoughtfully, when they built the second bridge they thought to put in a hinge so it could be raised for moments such as these.

And there are quite a few such convenyances. This is the third Celebrity ship to do the conveyance in as many years and there will be another two, one in 2011, the other in 2012. Later this year, the new Disney Dream will be making the same journey. heading for sea trials and getting ready for its launch next January.

It's an amazing spectacle and despite the freezing cold, we were all out on deck, breathing in at the appropriate moment, while hordes of locals huddled around the locks and bridges and watched us from the shore.

In fact, people lined the river bank all along the way and I'm sure many watched us sail through one bit then dashed back to their car and drove to the next key viewing place!

I found it hard to believe we would fit through any of the gaps - so it's probably a good thing I was not the tug driver who has to line the ship up on the approach.

There was a tug at the back, which was the front as we were going backwards, to pull the ship, and another at the front, which was the back. Very confusing when if you try to navigate according to the direction the ship is moving!

The tug driver looked remarkably calm about the whole thing and so did Celebrity's president and chief executive Dan Hanrahan, whoc was on board with us. No doubt that's because until the ship gets safely to Eemshaven and proves it can sail in the open sea as well as down rivers, he doesn't have to hand over the cheque!

At the recent floating out of Oceania Cruises' new ship Marina, the line made the surprise announcement that its next ship would be called Riviera.

They then surprised the invited guests further by saying that work on the ship was to start that very moment.

So, everyone jumped on coaches waiting dock side where Marina was being fitted out and made the short journey to another section of the Genoa shipyard where the ships are built.

Here Riviera's first steel was cut. Watch our video to see how a multi-million dollar cruise ship starts its life.  

There's a storm a-brewing over Papenburg, the email on Monday said.

No it's not a stand-off between Celebrity Cruises and the Meyer-Werft shipyard over the new Celebrity Eclipse. It's bad weather on the way.

It means Celebrity has had to bring forward the date of the so-called conveyance, when Eclipse is tugged backwards down the River Ems, through narrow locks and under too-low bridges, towards the open sea.

It also means I'm heading out there two days earlier than originally planned. Hopefully I'll be arriving there around midnight tonight and the ship will start moving at 7am tomorrow morning.

Internet willing, I'll be bringing updates and pictures, so keep checking back.

Ocean Village has had to delay sales of its final farewell voyage again (there was one last year onOcean Village Two) due to system failure caused by the strong demand. It is now due to go on sale from 9am on Friday March 12.

The voyage, from Crete to Singapore though Pirate Alley, was supposed to have gone on sale at 8am on Monday but the systems went down as people tried to book.

The cruise line had hoped to resolve the problem by today, but instead there is an updated message on the website giving the new on-sale day.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for them.

MSC Cruises is the latest cruise line to come out with an AA-sponsored drinks package. "Sponsored" as in it is clearly trying to drum up trade for Alcoholics Anonymous.

The cheapest alcohol package is £33.30 per person per day. Now I just happen to have a bar list from MSC Magnifica, from when it was in Southampton at the end of last month, and can tell you a large draft beer (40cl) costs €4.70, which at today's exchange rate is £4.40.

You'd have to drink more than seven of those each day to make that package pay.

Let's assume you'll have a bottle of wine with dinner. The list has bottles from £15.00 (excellent value, by the way) so you can down a whole one each (this is a per person package remember) every day and still have plenty of credit left for beers and cocktails.

There is also a premium drinks package at £37.80, which I assume includes spirits, and a couple for non-alcoholic drinks costing £18.90 and £23.40.

I'm all in favour of drinks packages as I dislike the way waiters have to otherwise hover over you for your cruise card and signature - and it's not very nice for them either - but they are all so ridiculously priced. Unless you really are a candidate for AA.

Of course clever people will buy one and use it between two. It means you'll have to get a drink at one bar and then go to another for the second one, but suddenly the package looks excellent value. Just don't say I suggested it!