Cruise Lines

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.

Proving that glitz isn't everything, the 800-passenger Marco Polo, which cruises from Tilbury in London, has beaten off ships with lavish theatres and big entertainment budgets to come number three in Cruise.co.uk's reader surveys.

Actually it was at number at the start of the week, but these scores change faster than Yulana Plotvinova changed her clothes on Crown Princess last summer.

At the time it was brought to my attention, Marco Polo was number one with 4.29 points out of 5. As I write this, it is number three with 4.23, behind Cunard and Thomson, but ahead of Princess, Royal Caribbean, Ocean Village and P&O Cruises.

If you want to see what all the fuss is about, there are always bargains to be had on Marco Polo. How about an 11-night cruise around the British Isles departing July 26 for £699 per person? And there are no gratuities to pay. At that price, you can't afford not to trade up to an outside cabin, which is just £100 more.

Katy Setterfield, who won the BBC TV series The One and Only as Dusty Springfield will be performing on board. Call 0845 833 9798 or check out the website for more information. 

Less than a week after Peter Deilmann announced the imminent demise of its river cruise operation, its ocean-going vessel, Deutschland, arrived in London on a round-Britain voyage.

The vessel was moored in the Thames at Greenwich, it's usual spot by Tower Bridge having been closed. That's a real shame for passengers, who still had to tender ashore when they were by the bridge but at least they didn't have to negotiate the DLR once on dry land.

With river cruising almost gone - it finishes at the end of the season in October 2009 - Deilmann is pinning its hopes on Deutschland and ocean-going cruising, and especially the US and UK markets, which are seen as the growth markets.

The problem is, Deutschland feels very German, which could put off most Brits (although there were four on board, I am told, who had travelled to Hamburg to join the ship and sail back to the UK).

It comes across in the name of the ship (and the names of some lounges and restaurants - Berlin, Lili Marleen), which helpfully is on the chairs so you'll never forget where you are (as the average age is 72 maybe that is considered a possibility)...

...the fact that so many passengers are German or German-speaking and the slightly decadent, verging on kitsch, very 1930s Germany decor. This is the Terrasse Lounge (note the statues), below is the ballroom, below again the Old Fritz Pub.

The spa is interesting. This is called a Kraxen Oven and it is basically a sauna for people who don't do saunas (with apologies to Ocean Village). You sit here with a towel covering your front half and the hay behind is heated, which in turn heats the top half of your body. It costs €5 for 15 minutes.

And this is Cleopatra's Bath. It's filled with either goat's milk or coconut milk and you can lie here for half an hour with a glass of Champagne and the one you love (they reckon two can fit in it), doing oodles of good to your skin. It costs €45 for 30 minutes, but I suspect that excludes the bubbly.

I have to admit I was not a great fan of the ship when I first saw it a few years back, but it has grown on me. The little bit of service I experienced in my very short time on board was lovely - the passenger-facing crew all speak good English - and I was impressed with the food.

I also loved the fact there are nuts on tap in the Terrasse throughout the day. Such a mark of civilisation, but a bit of a killer where the diet is concerned. It's probably also one of the reasons why the average per diem is an eye-watering £250. And that excludes drinks.

You don't have to be elderly to cruise on Deutschland, but if you need to find that kind of money, it certainly helps.

Who says Carnival's Fun Ships are only for young people? A 90-year-old Californian resident, Isaac Levy, has been sailing on the line's four-day Baja Mexico itinerary every month for the past 14 years.

Unfortunately the story, from Carnival, does not relate why Levy has only ever sailed this route. Incredibly, he has done it almost 100 times.

Mini cruises are usually a good testing ground for first-timers to decide if they would like a cruise, but surely he should have decided by now.

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.

The island of St Helena, where Napoleon was exiled, is remote enough, but in January 2011 the RMS St Helena, the cargo-cum-passenger ship that is its lifeline - it's the only way in and out of the island so everything the Saints need has to arrive on the Royal Mail Ship - will be making a return visit to Tristan da Cunha.

Tristan is 1,320 miles south of St Helena, itself 1,200 miles off the west coast of Africa, and said to be the world's most remote inhabited island, home to just 272 people. The RMS St Helena was last there in February 2006 and has no plans to be back other than this one time, so this really is a bit of a one-off trip.

The 20-day Tristan da Cunha voyage departs Cape Town on January 25 2011. It will spend three nights at Tristan and then sail on to St Helena, an overseas territory of the UK, for two nights, returning to Cape Town on February 13.

Prices start from £2,716 per person including all meals on board the ship (passengers stay on board at Tristan) but excluding international flights. Call 020 7575 6480 for more information and to book.

Celebrity Cruises has confirmed that starting September, passengers will be able to opt for fixed dining or go for the new Select system, which allows them to choose a time to dine.

They have gone for an incredibly complicated system though - which is no doubt why they have given themselves until September to put it in place.

Passengers can pre-book their preferred dining time for the duration of the cruise, or pre-book different dining times. Or if they pre-book and then if they want to change when they are on board, they can do that too.

Having experienced first-hand P&O Cruises making a complete hash of its Freedom dining on Ventura because it allowed people to book, I can't help wondering how Celebrity is going to manage this.

I am also struggling to understand the point of the new system, which seems simply to allow passengers to fix another time to dine rather than giving them flexibility to just go and eat when they want to.

"We don't want Celebrity passengers having to queue to get a table," Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, Celebrity Cruises senior vice-president hotel operations, told me.

To my mind, Celebrity Select also misses one of the key points of these new flexible dining systems, namely giving passengers the option to dine alone with your partner if that's what you wish, rather than share a table with complete strangers.

Lutoff-Perlo said diners are unlikely to get a table for two as there are so few in the dining rooms on Celebrity ships, but she promises people won't be put on a table where passengers are already halfway through their meal.

Which is something I guess.

Next time you book a cruise that either starts or ends in Venice, be sure to add a night or two at the Cipriani.

It was my home for the night before the Azura float-out and it is wonderfully romantic, on an island across from St Mark's Square so you are away from the madding crowds but as there is a launch to take you back and forth 24 hours a day you can take on the hordes whenever you feel like it.

The service is truly classy (I asked the man who showed me to my room about using wifi and when I went downstairs 10 minutes later he had already arranged an access code for me) and my bedroom was gorgeous, with a bathroom big enough to get lost in. I think it has to be the only hotel I've stayed in that has ceramic holders for the pens.

Of course none of this comes cheap, but it is a perfect add-on to a ultra-luxury cruise. And as the luxury lines have so many deals around at the moment, you can always treat yourself to the hotel with the money you save on the cruise.

Just remember to take the one you love.

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.

A milestone in the short history of P&O Cruises' new ship, Azura, was reached on Friday when the valves of the dry dock at the Monfalcone shipyard, near Trieste, Italy, opened so water could hit the hull for the first time.

The float-out is always a big occasion for a new cruise ship - it's the moment when the superstructure is finished and the shipyard can turn its attention to fitting out the interior - so naturally it wasn't going to pass without ceremony.

But first we were able to have a quick peek inside the ship, which launches next April.

In terms of size and layout, Azura is a sister to Ventura, but in style the two siblings could not be more different. Ventura was a bit of a rebel, but Azura is going back to P&O's heartland, out to attract the line's regular cruisers.

This will be Sindhu (if you know Ventura, it's where East is, but unlike East it will open out onto the corridor), an Indian fine dining restaurant created by Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar.

It won't be blow-your-mind hot stuff, he tells me (shame because that's what I really love), but he promises he will be using a lot of spices, so the food should be packed with taste. Atul is also creating an Indian tapas-style menu that will be served in a seating area around the restaurant's open kitchen.

Below is The Glass House (Las Ramblas on Ventura), where TV wine expert Olly Smith is creating a wine-cum-dining experience.

Each course will be accompanied by a different wine, which will be "presented" to diners in a lively and passionate Olly-style spiel (tune into Saturday Kitchen to see him in action). "It won't be in a bow tie or pretentious way", he promised. "Enjoying wine should be all about informality and having fun."

Sadly that was to be Olly's last word on the matter because when he saw where The Glass House will be, he was rendered speechless - he reckons for the first time in his life. "It's amazing, brilliant," he managed as he surveyed the huge area. Personally I think a bit of work on the decor might not go amiss but hey, who am I?

Seriously though, Olly has already picked the 32 wines that will be served in The Glass House, and also the glassware ("it's got to show off the wine but be strong enough to survive life on a cruise ship"), and is now concentrating on getting people trained and sorting out things like storage issues so the wine is always served in peak condition.

As The Glass House will be as much about Olly's presentation as the wines, P&O is planning to run a competition to find an Olly number two, who will be doing the theatricals when the main man himself can't be there, which will be most of the time.

The quick look-see over (the top is Malabar, the Tamarind Club on Ventura, below is me with the adult-only Retreat in the background), we watched as a £2 coin and euro were welded at the foot of the ship's mast for good luck. Here is Carnival UK chief executive officer David Dingle wielding the iron ...

...and then headed dockside for speeches, a blessing, and to see the madrina Amanda Dowds, wife of Azura's captain Keith Dowds, press the button that sent a bottle of Italian Prosecco smashing into the ship's hull, signaling the moment for the valves to open and the water to be allowed in.

A madrina (or godmother) at this stage of the construction, by the way, is Italian shipyard tradition. Amanda is godmother of the float-out, but there will be another godmother to name the ship.

Sea trials are planned for the end of the year and P&O Cruises takes delivery of the ship on March 31. There will be a few days of inaugural celebrations in Southampton before the ship's maiden voyage, a Mediterranean cruise departing April 12.