Cruise Lines

Sneaky or what? Less than 10 days after Cunard announced it had extended its contract with Canyon Ranch, the US spa company has signed a deal with Oceania Cruises.

Canyon Ranch spas will be installed on Oceania's existing three ships, Regatta, Insignia and Nautica, by September this year, replacing Steiner's Mandara brand. It will also be on new ship Marina when that launches at the end of 2010.

Cunard won't be happy - they make a big deal of the fact that Queen Mary 2 has the only Canyon Ranch spa at sea - but Oceania passengers will be delighted. I used the spa when I was on QM2 this month and once I had got over the cost of the treatments, I really enjoyed the experience.

Staff seemed more genuine and were not so aggressively sales orientated as those from the Steiner school of (no)charm, who push you towards the highest-priced treatments and whose therapists invariably try to sell you hugely-expensive lotions and potions afterwards, one-to-one in the treatment room when it's awkward to say no.

It's a shame as the tactic negates any relaxation induced by the treatment, leaving you a little annoyed (or out of pocket if you're anything like the crazy woman I once met who spend a fortune on the therapist's say-so because she felt she "had to") and wondering why you even bothered at all.

Luxury line Crystal Cruises is bringing Poles on to its two ships to ensure passengers never have to walk alone.

Confused? You certainly will be when I tell you these Poles are from Norway.

OK, they are actually Nordic Walking Poles, lightweight and designed to evenly distribute stress while you're walking. Apparently they increase stability, improve balance (which could be useful in rough weather) and will even help you to burn up more calories.

And you thought you were going on a cruise to do nothing for a week!

Rick Deutsch, a Nordic Walking Poles specialist, will be on Crystal Serenity's October 8 cruise from Athens to Venice and Crystal Symphony's October 19 voyage from New York to Montreal to introduce the Poles and train the ships' fitness instructors for future cruises.

About two minutes after embarking Royal Princess in Sochi, Russia, last week I got a real sense I had been here before.

I had, of course, not only because I had sailed on the ship when it was Swan Hellenic's Minerva II, but also because just three days before, I had been on Oceania's Regatta in Dover, one of seven sisters built for the now defunct Renaissance Cruises (before becoming Minerva II, Royal bore the unlovely name of R8).

It's amazing how little they have changed on Royal Princess since its Minerva days. Inevitably what changes there have been have taken it from being a one-off British niche discovery-type cruise ship to a American vessel that has to appeal to our friends over the Pond.

So where there used to be a collection of novels by the bar on deck five there is now a photo gallery. At dinner and as you disembark at each port, happy snappers are there to capture the moment.

I forget what the bar itself was called, but it has been renamed the Casino Bar, which gives a hint as to what has been installed there. And what were all those pictures I saw stacked up in the Royal Lounge? The dreaded art auction has found its way on board.

When I was on Minerva II, I got chatting to a lovely couple who were telling me why they liked Swan. "Do you know, they have bingo on P&O," the last word said in a whisper so no one else might hear and be offended. What would he think of art auctions!

The really big change, and the one I don't understand, is that open dining has gone and dinner is now served in two sittings. If Swan could operate an open dining system, and Oceania can do it on Royal's sister ships, why can't Princess?

On Swan, rather than being able to pick who you dined with you just turned up when you wanted to eat and joined the next available table (although of course friends and family could turn up together and therefore sit with each other). It worked a treat as you had different dining companions each night.

Incidentally, it's still the way they do things on Swan Hellenic and Spirit on Adventure, which speaks volumes in my book.

Minerva II had two additional restaurants on deck 10, which were free but I seem to remember you needed to book as they were very popular. These have become Princess' trademark speciality restaurants - a Sterling Steakhouse on one side and Sabatini's on the other.

They are open alternate evenings, which seems to make sense when you are on a ship with just 700 passengers, and cost an additional $15 and £20 per person respectively.

I ate in the steakhouse and have to say the food was fabulous and cooked to perfection. I'm not a great fan of the way they present you with the uncooked lumps of meat at the start of the meal to help you make up your mind what to order, but here's Alexandru from Romania doing his stuff anyway.

Princess is also offering the Chef's Table dinner that I have already told you about and balcony dining - either a Champagne breakfast ($28 per couple) or a Lobster dinner ($100 per couple).

It is also installed its trademark Lotus Spa - I treated myself to a fabulous 50 minutes of reflexology - and there is now wi-fi throughout the ship, which might not impress too many people but for which I was eternally grateful.

The country-house hotel-style library is unchanged (but different books as all the Swan ones are now on Minerva). A couple of elderly gents were in there while I was nosing around, discussing how much they liked this little hideaway and I can see why. It is a lovely quiet area.

The top deck looked largely unchanged - sadly with no teak deck or loungers as you get on Oceania, but then there were none before either.

And I was so disappointed there were none of the double sun loungers I spotted on Regatta - especially as we had such unexpectedly glorious sunbathing weather each day as we cruised around the Black Sea.

Wonder if it's still an Indian summer if you are in the Ukraine?

You didn't have to be a cruise ship expert to spot Disney Cruise Line's Disney Wonder in Port Canaveral last Sunday as only one of the vessels in that day had red funnels with white ears. And played "When you wish upon a star" as it left port, although of course the idea was that you were on by then!

The ears set the scene well for what was to come on my four-day cruise around the Bahamas. Mickey, Mickey and, more Mickey, with just a little Goofy, Minnie, Donald and co thrown in.

The vessel itself, which is more sleek liner than modern-day cruise ship, is an interesting mix of Disney meets art deco. I rather like it, but it does look a bit dated at times, especially, I imagine, to a younger generation.

The ship launched in 1999, so it is 10 years old and it is showing its age in places. There are big heavy doors out onto the deck, which I've noticed a lot of children struggling with, and from the self-service to the open deck at the back of the ship. There are actually buttons to press to open those doors, but no one, myself included, noticed it so again there were kids and parents with trays struggling to open a heavy door.

The dining system is unusual. It's the traditional two sittings where you are allocated a table number, waiter and time to dine - either 5.45pm, which is unbelievably early, and another at 8.15pm - but you eat in three different dining rooms, taking your waiter with you as you go.

Ilana and I started in the Animator's Palete,  which starts with black-and-white décor and ends up in colour (and the waiters switch from a black-and-white waistcoat to a colour one), then moved on to Parrot Cay, which is self-service by day and waiter service by night.

Last stop on the fixed dining circuit was Triton's (if you are cruising for a week you just repeat the sequence), and I also managed one night in Palo, the adult-only Italian speciality restaurant. The food and service were very good and all for an extra $15 per person, which was excellent value.

They also do a Champagne brunch in Palo on sea days, again for adults only, again for $15 per person, and again excellent value considering the mountain of great food on offer. It was just a shame Ilana couldn't come as well.

The number of adult-only areas of the ship is surprising given this is a family ship. There's Quiet Cove, which is the adult pool area (where ironically a singer who really should have "Let it be" was belting out a Beatles' song the first time I went there so it was anything but quiet), and also the Cove Café attached to the pool.

A new observation lounge just added to the ship for when it goes to Alaska has been deemed adult-only - which makes me wonder where the kids are going to go when it rains or to get away from the cold - and downstairs, the Route 66 bars are closed to under 18s after 9pm.

There is also a sign at the entrance to the Vista Spa announcing you have to be aged over 18 to go inside, but they do have some teen treatments. Ilana had a manicure and pedicure and a friend had a facial.

I treated myself to a very relaxing massage courtesy of Karen from Ireland and am delighted to report there was no hard sell at the end so I left feeling as relaxed as I was while she was doing her stuff. I should add that I later found out that I had escaped lighty. Clearly Elemis does not change its selling spots.

The kids have two pools - the Mickey pool with a small slide for the youngsters and Goofy pool for the bigger kids. And naturally they can also spend their days in the kids' clubs, while teens have Aloft, where no parents are allowed, to hang out in.

Entertainment is naturally all Disney-based and very schmaltzy, but also extremely impressive, with clever use of moving backdrops and curtains to make it look as if the live action on the stage is part of what is happening behind.

Away from the shows, there are films in the theatre and non-stop on the TV, but the main attraction seemed to be the character appearances. Whether it's Mickey, Donald or one of the princesses, mums had their kids in line - and some of those lines are very long - cameras and autograph books in hand.

Judging by some of the kids' faces, I think many would have preferred to be out in the sun playing on the Mickey slide. They just didn't dare to let on!

I did promise to let you have some thoughts about Costa Europa, the ship destined to become Thomson Dream next April, from my visit a couple of weeks ago.

It was quite fleeting but long enough for me to realise that I had forgotten most of the ship from when I last saw it - well it was 2002, when it was being handed over from Holland America Line to Costa Cruises.

In fact only the Medusa lounge, a nice big room with raised seating either side, rang any bells when I did my whirlwind tour. Yet there were other good features I should have remembered, such as the comfy sofas in the theatre and the retractable roof on the swimming pool, which will be a great addition to the Thomson fleet.

The decor is smart but not at all garish and I liked the spacious feel of the ship, which Thomson's director of cruise David Selby promised me they won't change.

There are also some very strange things about Costa Europa, not least the fact that most of the cabins were below the reception desk on deck eight, there is no atrium at all, not even an attempt at one, as was usual on older ships, and the gym was in the mid-ships on deck 10, separated from the spa back down on deck eight. Not quite Poseiden, I know, but it did feel very upside down to me.

Thomson is not planning to do much to the ship when it first takes delivery - changing a few names and putting a smiley face on the funnel are immediate priorities - oh and putting a new menu in the speciality restaurant.

The restaurant served the strangest collection of dishes I've ever seen and certainly would not appeal to your average British Thomson passenger

There was "egg cooked at 65 degrees" (which turned out to mean it was cold and raw), snails that really looked like snails for a main course and a pasta dish with brocolli "stuff". Actually the pasta was quite nice but certainly contained no brocolli so I never found out what "stuff" was. A strange Italian translation - but of what? - or had the broccoli man just failed to deliver that day?

Sorry Costa, but whatever Thomson decides to serve up, it can't help but be better.

In November 2010, Thomson is putting the ship into drydock for six weeks, by which time I reckon they will have found a few other things to sort out and spruce up.

The fun thing will be to go back on board afterwards and see I can spot the difference. As a hint, David, the first place I will look is my bathtub...

Apart from the extra dining venues, the big new thing on Silversea's new ship Silver Spirit is the spa.

Well it's big in relation to the spas on Silversea's other ships, with nine treatment rooms and a new hammam where you can be steamed and scrubbed.

There is also a thermal suite with four heated mosaic-tiled beds, a sauna and steam room (a pass costs $25 a day or $99 for a week) and an outside relaxation area with loungers and a tub to dip in.

I tried the hammam treatment and also a new Thai herbal poultice massage, both courtesy of Yoko, who did a great job and earned my eternal thanks for not trying to sell me any products afterwards. You can see more on my video and a couple of pictures of the spa below.

Incidentally, you can also watch my video tour of Silver Spirit by clicking here.

It's been one busy weekend for those of us who were at the Cruise show at London's Olympia on Saturday and Sunday.

As soon as the doors opened at 10am on Saturday, the crowds started to flood in. Every time an underground train arrived at Olympia, the scene in the street was like that one from the Disney film Mulan, where the Mongul hordes come over the hill.

And they were coming fast as well - all of them keen cruisers or folk wanting to find out if a cruise was the holiday for them - all desperate to get to the show. You would not have wanted to get in the way.

Before the day had ended, the caterers had run out of sandwiches and so had Tesco over the street, and most of the cruise lines were sending back to the office for fresh supplies of brochures to get them through another day.

Day two started slower - well it was a Sunday just after the clocks had changed - but by midday the venue was packed.

This was the second Cruise show and wow, what a difference from last year. For one thing it was at Olympia, so it was easy to get to. For another, as well as having all the cruise lines there, handing out brochures, giving advice and taking bookings, there was all the fun stuff as well.

Royal Caribbean brought a rock-climbing wall (the kid in my picture below had a real struggle to get up and earned applause when she made it), MSC Cruises had three therapists giving free 10-minute massages, Fred Olsen had a golf challenge.

P&O Cruises brought Olly Smith, who is opening the Glass House on Azura and who kept a packed audience in the new ship theatre enthralled with stories of his love of good wine, food and gastrogasms (yes, really).

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera to hand when Olly was on, but P&O had another wine expert on Sunday and you can see he was lecturing to a full house - not just because of all those glasses of wine surely?

Carnival Cruise Line put on a special version of Loose Woman with Linda Lusardi, SpongeBob Square Pants and Dora the Explorer came along to support Norwegian Cruise Line (they will be on Norwegian Epic when it launches in July) and kept the kids entertained as they wandered around the show.

Not sure how they managed to get around sometimes, mind, as you could barely move for the crowds on Saturday.

And then there were the panel discussions in the Sky Theatre, all of which were well attended. They were hosted by Sky's Claire Smith and featured yours truly among many other cruise journalists and experts from the cruise lines, all of us there to dispense advice about how to choose a cruise, destinations and what to do during those days at sea.

Here are some of the scenes from the show. Look at the stands - they were all packed like this for most of the two days. I just love the moment of serenity on the Yachts of Seabourn one, though, promoting their Champagne in the surf.

Did I say serenity? Don't be fooled. Behind me everyone from the cruise line was busy with customers, several of whom made thousands of pounds worth of bookings over the two days.

The show moves to Birmingham's NEC on October 16-17 and will be back at Olympia next March. Don't forget to make a date.

I promised to bring you more news about what Crystal Cruises is doing in 2011 as soon as I found out, rather expecting to be reeling off details of ports and itineraries for next year.

Instead, there is the much-more-exciting news that in 2011, Crystal is offering free flights with all sailings.

It's great news for lovers of luxury, but possibly not so wonderful for Crystal. As I already reported, they are also continuing their All-Inclusive As You Wish offer, giving couples up to $2,000 to spend on whatever they want - alcohol, spa treatments, excursions, and so on.

What with that, and the free flights, it must be quite painful for the money men.

It's great for consumers though, and has sparked an all-inclusive battle as at the end of last month Regent Seven Seas Cruises launched its 2011 programme, also offering free flights.

On Regent, all drinks - soft and alcoholic - are already included in the cruise price, as are shore excursions.

So which is the most inclusive?

The answer is, it depends. If you go on lots of shore excursions, you'd be better off with Regent, although of course you can use your $1,000 Crystal credit ($2,000 per couple remember) towards whichever shorex you fancy.

However, if you like to be pampered in the spa, Crystal would be better as you can also use the on-board credit in there, whereas on Regent you pay full whack.

As already reported, for 2011 Crystal is bringing in Perfect Choice Dining, allowing passengers to escape the rigid two-sitting fixed dining system if they wish, and the line has also confirmed it is going back to Alaska for the first time since 2005.

It is offering nine 12-night sailings on the 940-passenger Crystal Symphony from San Francisco between May 9 and August 13.

In spring, Symphony will be around South America, the Panama Canal, Mexican Riviera and Hawaii. In autumn, it relocates to east coast US for New England and Canada cruises; in winter it moves to the Caribbean, and back to the Mexican Riviera and Hawaii.

The 1,080-passenger Crystal Serenity, meanwhile, will be in Europe for most of 2011, cruising the Med and Baltic, before relocating to the Caribbean in December.