Cruise Lines

Up until yesterday there were 20 dining options on Norwegian Cruise Line's new ship Norwegian Epic, but it seems they have found another, taking the total to 21.

"Who knows how many we'll have by the time the ship launches," quipped Andy Stuart, NCL's executive vice-president global sales and passenger services during a webinar last evening.

The extra restaurant is nothing to do with a late change to the design of the ship, but has appeared because the powers that be at NCL have decided to split Cagney's and the Moderno Churrascarla, which is all about meat, like Cagney's, but Brazilian inspired.

I gather waiters will be coming to the tables brandishing knives and skewers, on which they will spear various types of meat. The name comes from the Portuguese word for barbecue.

Moderno Churrascarla will be one of 10 restaurant on Epic that cost extra, in this case $18 per person. You'll also pay more for the Italian La Cucina ($10pp), Shanghai's ($15pp), the French Le Bistro ($20pp), Cirque Dreams and Dinner ($15pp or $20pp depending on your seating) and the Teppanyaki and Cagney's (both $25pp).

Wasabi (for sushi) and Shanghai's Noodle Bar are both charged a la carte and there is a new pizza delivery service - $5 for a 16-inch pizza delivered anywhere on the ship (but not to another restaurant!).

That leaves 11 places to eat with no charge. As well as the usual self service, grills and room service, there's the Manhattan Room supper club where Legends in Concert will be performing three times a week and Spice H20, an adult-only venue on the aft deck serving Asian and Latin cuisine.

There's O'Sheehans bar and grill, the Studio Lounge that goes with the single cabins, Taste, pictured below, in the atrium where there is also a cafe serving tapas, and the Epic Club or Courtyard Grill for passengers in the villa section of the ship.

It's an impressive selection of places to eat, and you'd be hard pressed to try them all on a seven-night cruise. But would you want to? According to one caller, the paid-for restaurants on a recent cruise were only ever half full.

Seems passengers who only want to eat for free are a problem generally for NCL, as Stuart revealed they are trialling a dining package to encourage more of them to fork out (no pun intended) for the speciality restaurants. If it works, and apparently it is going well, it'll be rolled out across the fleet.

If Queen Elizabeth is late for her naming date in Southampton in October, blame Fincantieri's Monfalcone shipyard in Italy where it is being built because seems they have been otherwise engaged, building this rather lovely cutaway model of the ship.

It was unveiled at Seatrade in Miami this week, is eight feet long, nearly two feet high and weighs almost 80kg, and it gives you a idea what this new Queen will look like.

I suspect Cunard president and managing director Peter Shanks, right, is trying to locate the cabin with his name on, with the help of Fincantieri's CEO Giuseppe Bono.

Wonder what they will do with the model when the real Queen comes out. They could always put it on board and see how much they can get for it at one of the art auctions. It would at last be something passengers might like to buy.

Cunard also announced the new QE's 2011 itinerary this week, which includes cruises to the Mediterranean and Israel, the Baltic, Norwegian fjords, the Canary Islands and around the British Isles.

In other words, the standard cruise fare offered by ships based in Southampton.

Far more exciting is the Royal Rendezvous on January 13 2011, when all three Cunard Queens will be meeting in New York - three years to the day after Queen Mary 2, QE2 and Queen Victoria met there. It'll be quite a moment.

You've seen the stills, now you can watch my video of Celebrity Cruises' new ship Celebrity Eclipse squeezing down the River Ems. The second video is a quick tour of the vessel, although it's not quite finished yet.

Enjoy as this will be your last look until Eclipse arrives in Southampton on April 20.

Celebrity Eclipse ship tour

What is it about Australia all of a sudden? Ocean Village is being disbanded and sent down there, Cunard's Queen Mary 2 will be circumnavigating the continent in 2012 and now Silversea has said Silver Shadow will be cruising around Australia next year.

Silversea's 30-day Sydney round-trip, from January 19 to February 18, visits Brisbane, the Whitsunday Islands, Willis Island (for the Great Barrier Reef), Port Douglas, Cooktown, Darwin, Broome, Exmouth, Perth, Albany, Port Lincoln, Adelaide, Geelong, Melbourne and Hobart in Tasmania.

Prices start from £11,282 per person including all meals, drinks and gratuities, but excluding flights.

Cunard has three circumnavigation options in 2012 - 22 nights sailing from Sydney on February 14, 20 nights departing from Fremantle on February 8 and 21 nights cruising from Adelaide on February 11.

Cunard hasn't released any prices yet. The circumnavigation will go on sale in spring.

Incidentally neither can claim a first as Princess Cruises circumnavigated Australia in 2008/09 on Sun Princess and Dawn Princess - 31 days departing from Sydney or Melbourne.

Has anyone else been following the fois gras fracas that has been playing out on the Cruise.co.uk website?

It all started when P&O Cruises revealed foie gras was included on the menu in Seventeen, the new speciality restaurant on Azura.

Must say, it made up my mind. I'm definitely eating in there if I ever get the chance.

Seems I might be the only one though. And I might have to get through the card-carrying "save the geese and ducks" protesters to get to my table.

The same ones who no doubt eat fish that has been snarred on a hook and cheap battery-farmed chickens from Tesco, and who rush to the dining room for lobster night while proclaiming it's cooked at its best when thrown into boiling water while still alive.

And how funny they don't protest about veal, another favourite on the cruise ship menus.

So now we know what "wouldn't rule out" really meant. Namely that P&O Cruises will be launching Mediterranean flycruises next summer.

Well it's more like next autumn and winter really, because in October 2011, Adonia, which joins the P&O fleet in May 2011 from Princess Cruises, where it is sailing as Royal Princess, will be based in the Med for a series of open-jaw cruises, sailing from Savona, Athens, Trieste and Naples.

Until then, the ship, which will be for adults only, will be based in Southampton, sailing cruises lasting anything from seven to 26 nights in the Med and Northern Europe.

P&O managing director Carol Marlow said the Med flycruises "will make many of our existing passengers very happy". Has she been reading my blog?

"At the same time, we hope this will attract new customers who have previously chosen a holiday in a Mediterranean resort."

Sounds to me like they are trying to attract "people who don't do cruises".

The other big change for 2011 is that Oceana will be based in Southampton year-round, braving the Bay of Biscay in winter - and taking on Royal Caribbean International's Independence of the Seas - while new ship Azura gets to bask in the Caribbean sun.

Some ships get all the luck.

It all goes on sale on April 27 and I suspect little Adonia - only 710 passengers - might start flying off the shelves so get your phoning finger ready (0845 3 555 333) or better still, see your travel agent and let them make the booking for you.

Things are shaping up for a right royal battle in Europe next summer with Princess Cruises announcing its biggest-ever programme for the Med and Baltic just days after Royal Caribbean International president and chief executive officer Adam Goldstein revealed Royal will have a record 10 ships in Europe next year.

Princess will have seven ships on this side of the pond, which they clearly feel good about.

But add that to all the Royal ships, the Celebrity ships, the MSC ships, the Costa ships, the Holland America ships, the fact Carnival will be back sailing in the Med, that Norwegian Cruise Line will have its giant Epic over here and you have to wonder whether Europe can really deliver all the passengers needed to fill all that tonnage.

Or if it can, at what kind of prices. Only time will tell.

Princess's 2011 programme marks the line's first step into the world of the mini-cruise. It's offering three-night voyages from Southampton on Grand Princess next summer, in between the usual 14-night Med cruises, to encourage bookings from passengers who have never tried the brand before.

Prices are keen - from £349 per person for an inside cabin for bookings made by June 30, or you can pay another £40 and get a balcony - so you won't have lost much in time or money if you don't like it (which is unlikely).

Two ships - Ruby Princess and Star Princess - will be sailing the 12-night Grand Mediterranean and Greek Isles cruises, and there's a new 11-night Baltic cruise on Emerald Princess (it's a 10-night cruise this year but they've added a call to Aarhus in Denmark).

Ocean Princess will be reprieving its 18-night Land of the Midnight Sun voyage from Dover, but they've added a visit to Spitsbergen - and a second departure. The ship will also be sailing seven-night cruises to the fjords and Baltic from Dover, and in the Med, as it is this year.

The 2011 programme goes on sale to Captain's Club members on April 24 and to everyone else on April 26. For more details see your travel agent.

You'll get up to $300 per couple on-board credit if you book by June 30, or up to $600 per couple if you upgrade to a balcony or suite.

Actually it's the first glimpse and the last one for a while, because if all goes according to plan, the 446-passenger Saga Pearl II will be off today on its inaugural cruise in its new colours - an 18-night voyage from Southampton to the Norwegian fjords.

I say "if all goes according to plan" because the refurbishment of the ship, which was built in 1981 and formerly called the Astoria, has not gone quite as smoothly as Saga might have hoped.

But I saw it in Southampton yesterday and although there are workmen crawling all over it still, it is looking smart and everyone is confident things will be in place and ship-shape when the first paying passengers come aboard today.

Saga has done a lovely job with the refurbishment, which unusually was carried out in Swansea. Flying the flag for Britain.

OK, they have thrown £20 million at the ship (that's the official figure but I suspect the final cheque will be quite a bit more) to practically rebuild it - much of it has gone on techie bits the passengers will never see like the engines but they have also installed new balcony cabins - so you should get something good.

But it's more the look and feel they have gone for that impressed me.

For one thing, they have opened up the ship so you can see from one side to another, which gives a real feeling of space. For another, the furnishings are bright and modern, not at all how I would have imagined a Saga ship to be (this is the first time I have been on one). The wood floors give it a real yachty feel, as does the colour scheme they have chosen for the cabins.

On the Bridge Deck, outside the Sundowner Bar, there are al fresco soft sofas to lounge around on - very Celebrity I feel - and a modern hi-top table which I could see myself sitting at, glass of wine in hand, watching the sun go down. Well at any other tme as well, actually!

Shackleton's Bar looks very smart and I like the way it is open to the corridor where there is more comfy seating. I just wonder if there is enough seating in the area altogether as it could be a popular place for pre and post-dinner drinks.

The library is next to the bar - there are a staggering 3,400 books - forward is the Discovery Lounge, the main entertainment venue but more suited to concerts than shows as the stage is not very big, aft is the main dining room.

Saga is being very daring on Pearl II and switching from fixed dining to open seating, where passengers turn up to eat when they want, sitting with whom they want. It works a dream on sister brand Spirit of Adventure, so it'll be interesting to see how Saga passengers take to it.

I suspect there'll be talk of rebellion initially, but after a while they'll realise actually it's quite nice to be able to sit with friends - much like when you go out to a restaurant at home, after all - or alternatively that's it's an easy way to meet new people. The real joy is, if you don't like them, you never have to sit with them again.

The only downside is that the dining room is not big enough to hold all 446 passengers at once, so many will have to dine upstairs in the Verandah (the last picture in the sequence above).

That's the self-service by day but it will be waiter service in the evening, serving exactly the same food as in the dining room.

I'd be very happy to eat there as it's a nice airy room but I reckon many passengers will see it as second best, which will lead to an evening stampede for the dining room.

I would not like to be the maitre d'.

What a cool guy Celebrity Cruises president and chief executive Dan Hanrahan is. Not just calm as his new ship Celebrity Eclipse negotiated the obstacle course known as the River Ems, but also totally laid back about the fact Eclipse looks a long way from being finished.

"When I see Bernard Meyer panic, I know it's time to get worried," he told me. "There is a lot to be done but I am confident if they tell me it will be ready on time, it will be ready on time."

Incidentally, Bernard Meyer was on board for the conveyance, and was quite confident that all was going according to plan.

Nonetheless, there are hardboard walkways, plastic sheets and bare rooms all over the ship, which is crawling with workers hammering, drilling and painting.

And this is how the lawn is looking....

It's been too cold in Papenburg to get it laid - and I can certainly testify that it was freezing there last week - so the plan now is to ship the grass from Italy, where it has been grown, to Eemshaven, on the edge of the North Sea, where the ship is now and, fingers crossed, they'll get some warm weather and be able to get it sorted.

Among other changes on the ship, Celebrity Eclipse will have a new speciality restaurant, Qsine, the brainchild of chef Jacques Van Staden, Celebrity's vice-president of culinary operations.

Jacques was on board for the conveyance and enthusing about the fish and chips popcorn and other weird foodie things on the menu. He dubs them "uniquely unordinary". I admit I was just struggling to envisage what it was all about.

To help us out, in the evening of the conveyance they served a few things from the menu in the Oceanview Cafe.

We sampled the popcorn fish, below (turns out it's pieces of battered fish served in a box - only about five or six pieces in each though, as the box is mainly filled with packaging), garlic brioche wrapped in paper cones, Crunchy Munchies, right, which are basically calories in a cardboard cone) and Disco Shrimp, bottom (it's prawn cocktail on a bed of plastic ice that flashes).

It'll cost $30 per person to eat there, which seems steep to me for what is rather ordinary food served in bits of cardboard and paper. Reminded me of McDonald's, but with more packing.

Of course we did only have a taste of things to come, not the whole menu, so rather than have to eat my words I'll stick with saying "seems" and wait to see the reaction of passengers when the ship launches - and don't forget, it'll be mainly Brits on Eclipse initially as the ship is sailing no-fly cruises from Southampton this summer.

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!