Cruise Lines

Has there ever been an April like this? As if four cruise ships to be named in as many weeks was not enough, Norwegian Cruise Line has managed to squeeze a keel-laying in between the launching frenzy.

I’m counting the days I’ll be at home rather than the time I'm away.

Kick off is this weekend, when MSC Cruises’ Poesia is named in Dover in a glitzy event starring Sophia Loren as godmother; next up is P&O Cruises' Ventura, with Helen Mirren and the Champagne-smashing Royal Marines taking centre stage in a gala do in Southampton.

Then it’s all eyes on Greece, where a new-to-easyCruise ship takes on a new life - as easyCruise Life - for the budget brand. Finally it’s back to Southampton for a smashing time with Royal Caribbean International as it gets set to sail its newest megaship from the UK.

And that NCL keel-laying? It’s for a new generation of F3 code-named ships – huge beasts that will presumably take the Freestyle concept to another level. We will have to wait and see.

I love cruiseship naming ceremonies so this month is like manna from heaven for me, but I’ll have my eye on one new ship in particular.

Ventura, P&O Cruises’ new offering, promises to be nothing like the P&O we have come to know and love. Old and stuffy? Forget it. If all the hype is to be believed, this is young and funky; dare I say even glitzy in places (or so it would seem from the website) and all about having fun.

The traditionalist we-love-P&O brigade I cruised with on Aurora recently, who disliked foreign food and wanted everything to be like it was 20 years ago, would be horrified.

Personally I can’t wait to see if the ship lives up to the promise of lively evenings, good food (hopefully not just in Marco Pierre White's restaurant), contemporary tableware and designer kettles in the cabins - yes, really – and great activities for kids, including a circus school (never mind kids, I rather fancy that!) and giant Scalextric track.

And I am so looking forward to seeing Noddy fly by in his little yellow-and-red plane. What do you mean there is no such person as Father Christmas?

How great to see that Island Cruises has halved its single supplement for Med cruises outside the summer peak this year. Now it's just £210 extra for holidaymakers travelling alone, although that is for an inside cabin.

Cruising is a great holiday for people travelling on their own, but not if they have to pay 100% supplements.

So come on guys. You all want to get more people cruising, so why not do more to get singles on board? Their money is as good as anyone else's when it comes to buying drinks, excursions and the like.

If more proof were wanted that smokers are the new pariahs of society, it surely comes in the survey by www.cruises.co.uk, which found that more than two thirds of Brits think smoking should be banned completely from cruise ships.

It's a hard life for those who want to light up - not allowed on flights, in public buildings, maybe not for much longer on cruiseships.

I know we're all supposed to live in fear of passive smoking these days, but personally I am more concerned with not going up in smoke - especially as almost a quarter of those questioned admitted either throwing a cigarette over the side or seeing someone do that.

Are they mad? That's just how a fire started on Star Princess three years ago, resulting in one death.

I'm all for personal freedom but if smokers can't behave responsibly, maybe it is time to call time on the weed. If nothing else, I would like to see a universal ban on smoking in cabins and balconies - not just for safety reasons, but so us holier-than-thou non-smokers don't have to live with the smell of stale smoke.

Am I glad I’m not clearing up after yesterday evening’s ceremony in which MSC Cruises took official delivery of new ship MSC Poesia from the ship yard in St Nazaire, France.

As the bottle of bubbly smashed, pink and white balloons were loosed from their netting and cannons shot pink and white paper circles into the air. Not just a few, but hundreds, coating the ground and all who sat there.

Environmentalists would no doubt moan about it, but hey. This was a great ceremony – it actually started and ended on time, which must be a first for MSC – with a marching band to keep our spirits up in the cold wind, the customary switching of flags and lots of speeches in French and Italian (I gathered that the shipyard is honoured to have MSC’s business, which is good because it has another three MSC ships on its order book, and MSC’s boss rather likes his new toy).

Let’s just hope this new-found punctuality lasts until Sunday morning.

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.

Globetrotting Tahitian Princess is to be renamed Ocean Princess when it goes for routine maintenance in Singapore in November 2009, Princess Cruises has announced.

It is a bit odd to have a Tahitian Princess sailing around the Med, Alaska and Asia, I agree, but it's such a wonderfully exotic name - conjuring up images of white-sand beaches and gently lapping blue seas, and so perfect for this small ship (it holds just 670 passengers).

In comparison Ocean sounds so big and just a little forbidding. Not at all what passengers can expect.

With free-flowing booze, Italian diva Sophia Loren to cut the ribbon and the likes of Andrea Bocelli and KT Tunstall to keep the troops entertained, it was always a dead cert that the naming of MSC Poesia in Dover would be a successful event.

But will it achieve the ultimate aim of increasing business from the UK for MSC Cruises? And at what cost?

An oft-repeated conversation between fellow scribes at these events revolves around the question, can the cruiseline ever get back what it has spent? How many passengers do agents need to book and over what time frame to make this - literally - worthwhile?

If anyone has some answers, I would love to know. Not only would I sound intelligent, but I could move the conversation on next time around.

Until I am enlightened, I will continue to wonder at the massive sales job UK agents now have on their hands if they are ever to repay MSC for a great evening. The few I spoke to were certainly excited and enthusiastic about the whole experience.

For MSC's sake, I hope that enthusiasm infected the many and can be translated into sales.

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...

Next month's cruise convention in Southampton is going from strength to strength, with a Premiere day now added where agents will be able to learn how to increase their cruise sales as well as lunch and take a tour of one of Princess Cruises' superliners.

Was it really only last year that Andy Harmer got up on stage in Dover to open the first cruise convention and introduce the world to the Association of Cruise Experts? I guess the speed at which this event has taken off just underlines how fast this sector of the industry is growing and what a great job ACE has been doing in the meantime.

Whether agents go for the Premier on May 16, the three-day event the following week, when there will be another five ships to see, or both (definitely the best option), it's a fantastic opportunity to learn more about cruising from some of the leading people in the industry. Proof indeed of how important the trade is to the cruiselines.

Premier day places are up for grabs now. Email natalie@psa-ace.org or call 020 7436 2449.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Can't believe I am going to say this....

My dinner last night in one of the dining rooms on P&O Cruises' Ventura was really good. Tasty, hot - and when I wanted to go off-menu for the starter, it was sorted without so much as a murmur.

I'm back on board tomorrow night for the naming ceremony. I would so love for that to be the case again, although it means I'll also have to eat my words about the quality of the food cruiselines serve in the main dining room.

Here's hoping.

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...

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?

Anyone who has missed the fact that P&O Cruises has launched a new ship must have been on Mars for the past week or so, during which time Ventura has been doing a sterling job in Southampton, selling itself to past and future passengers, agents and just a few passing hacks.

But what is the ship really like? Is it that different to the P&O norm?

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.

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.

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?

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!