Cruise Lines

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.

I'm off to Dubai with my daughter tonight, to join Costa Cruises' ship Costa Victoria. We're doing a cruise around the Gulf, calling at Abu Dhabi, Fujairah, Oman and Bahrain.

This is Costa's big new destination - so big they are putting new ship Costa Luminosa there next winter, when Royal Caribbean International is quitting winter cruises in the Med and moving into the Middle East with Brilliance of the Seas.

Naturally I am very keen to see what it's all about.

If all goes according to plan, my next blogs will be from the ship, with news and pictures about the vessel and the destinations. Fingers crossed the internet works.

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?

As our transfer car from Dubai airport approached Port Rashid, what did we see lurking next to the ship with a yellow funnel and big C?

None other than QE2, which is still tied up in port, presumably waiting to move to the shipyard where conversion work will turn the vessel into a luxury floating hotel. How sad to see people coming and going from the Costa Victoria as the 40-year-old veteran sat quietly in the corner, ignored.

Or so I thought, until a security guard leapt out to stop me going near to take a picture. I finally managed to persuade him to let me get a bit closer, but had to leave my daughter with him as a guarantee. Of what I have no idea.

One of the nice things about Costa Cruises' Middle East cruise itinerary is that you have a bit of time to see Dubai. We had all day Saturday, when guide Wahid, from Lama Tours, took my daughter Ilana and I on a tour of the city, and Sunday morning. And we'll have more time to explore on Friday afternoon, when we get back.

The city is a strange mix of new and, well, new. It's famous for skyscrapers, stunning hotels and cranes, and it certainly has plenty of those. It also has lots of cars, but Wahid skillfully manoevered us through the traffic, letting us out here and there to take pictures.

The Burj Al Arab Hotel, that's the one designed like a sail, is a must-see of course, and is excess in every sense of the word - no entry without a reservation and deep pockets, and a strict dress code to keep out the riff-raff.

We admired it from the outside and instead joined the sightseers in the new Atlantis Hotel on Palm Jumeirah, one of the man-made islands off Dubai's coast. It's another byword for excess - think Atlantis in the Bahamas or Disney to get an idea of the OTT design - and was full of tourists having a look-see and paying a fortune to get into the aquarium, which costs an extortionate £20 per person.

It contrasts rather with the Dubai Museum, in the Mina Bazaar area, a buzzing part of the city with shops, people and cars. For an altogether-more-affordable 70p you get an interesting insight into the history of this booming little emirate.

And it really is little. Abu Dhabi covers some 87% of the territory of the United Arab Emirates, while Dubai - the second largest of seven - covers just 4.9%. It's 4,000 square kilometres - about the same size as Cornwall - and there are 1.5 million people. And it feels like at least as many cars.

Low-rise Mina Bazaar was the last stop of our tour. Next morning at breakfast, sitting in the al-fresco bit of Costa Victoria's buffet, Ilana and I looked across to the Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building, around 160 storeys, 780 metres high. It's not finished, although I gather there is just a spire to add on the outside and work to do on the apartments, offices and Armani Hotel inside.

"Isn't that rather a target...." Ilana mused. A room at the top certainly doesn't appeal to me, but I put it down to my fear of heights.

At lunchtime on Sunday, Costa Victoria's bottom started to pull out from the pier while the front end was still tied up. Never seen a ship leave like that before. But it worked and we are now on our way to Muscat.

My daughter Ilana wasn't the only one to get that sinking feeling when we went on a 4X4 desert safari in Oman on Monday.

There were 12 jeeps in our convoy, each with four passengers from Costa Cruises' Costa Victoria, and we all had a good laugh as this one went nose first into the sand.

"He didn't follow my tracks, you have to follow the lead car because the sand are always shifting," our jeep driver Waleed told us. Then promptly blazed his own trail, slip-sliding across the sand. But not before telling us he had been doing this for 11 years.

Those who had been in the jeep found it less amusing, but emerged unscathed. Amazingly they managed to get the car out so we could carry on our way.

The excursion lasted nine hours and it was interesting to see a bit of Oman, which is basically made up of mountains, desert and drivers with a death wish. Costa had done a good job pairing up the English speakers so we were able to make some new friends on the trip, but overall the day out didn't quite live up to its billing.

We had only barely 10 minutes skidding around the sand in the jeep, 20 minutes to take pictures while they figured out how to get the car out and 45 minutes at Wadi Bani Khalid for packed lunch and a wander.

The rest of the time - and remember it was nine hours - Waleed was hammering along tarmaced roads and motorways, dodging would-be Schumachers, to make sure we got there and back on time. At £122 each, it was quite an expensive day of driving. 

Last evening, Costa Victoria's daily newletter Today, left each night in the cabin by our stewardess Ruby Gail, had useful information on Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates, the next stop on our cruise around the Arabian Gulf.

There would be a free bus to take passengers to the port gate or a shuttle bus to the Safeer supermarket for €6 return per person. I consulted the city map left in the cabin, which helpfully did not show the whereabouts of the supermarket.

"It's just a supermarket," a receptionist explained, marking an x on the map. "There's nothing to see in Fujairah. But take the port bus and walk to the souk. Sometimes it can be nice to look at new things even if they are not interesting."

I think I know what she meant.

So my daughter Ilana and I took the port bus and started to walk. One and a half hours later we reached the souk that was supposed to be 15-20 minutes away, risking life and limb on what passes for a pavement here.

Actually I enjoyed the walk, but Fujairah is just a building site. It'll probably be very nice when it's finished. The souk is two rows of shops selling veg and clothes (we skipped the meat and fish bit). After five minutes trying to look interested, we took a taxi back to the ship.

I am not a great fan of that great cruise ship tradition of fixed dining, so I was not looking forward to dinner time on my Costa Cruises' voyage around the Arabian Gulf on Costa Victoria.

In fact I was dreading it so much that even before leaving home, I planned to avoid it by paying to eat to the speciality restaurant every night.

My dread was heightened because it was a Costa cruise, packed with Italians, Germans, French and countless other nationalities. Imagine sharing a table for a whole week with people who do not speak any English.

But here we are, four nights into the cruise, and my daughter Ilana and I have yet to set foot in the speciality restaurant.

Food and the service has been good - and full marks to our assistant waiter Yang Li, from China, who on discovering I like iced-water makes sure there is a jug waiting at the table when we arrive for dinner - but best of all, my daugher Ilana and I have a table for two, by the window, so I don't have to make pathetic attempts to converse in French or German. Italian, I'm afraid, floors me completely.

This is actually our second table. The first was allocated for second sitting, on my request before I know that on Costa that means 9.15pm or 9.30pm, which is too late to eat for me. First sitting is 7pm, which is OK. Certainly not so appalingly early as the 6pm first sitting on other cruise ships.

The change was organised by Fausi, from Tunisia, to whom I explained we needed a table for two because of the language problem. He smiled - somehow I got the idea I was not the first Brit with such a request - shook his head several times and came up trumps. What a star!

Incidentally, the Dutch couple - more correctly he's Dutch, she's English and they live in Holland - we met on our excursion in Oman were allocated a table sharing with others from the Netherlands.

Costa's maitre d's clearly put a lot of thought into this sharing table business. I'm impressed.

Cruising on Costa Victoria is a bit like being in the film Cabaret, with every announcement in at least four language and usually many more.

You have to take your hat off to the crew for their ability to switch languages at the drop of a hat. At dinner, our waiter Jose Sanchez, from Peru, speaks English to Ilana and I, Italian to the people on the next table. His native language is Spanish and he also speaks Portuguese. All fluently, without even an "um" or "err".

Captain Mario Moretta was great at his welcome cocktail evening, switching so casually between English, German, Italian, Dutch and French that in the end I really didn't know which language he was speaking. But even he had to use his notes to read a welcome in Japanese and Russian. That got an applause.

Unlike the boat drill, when we had to endure an explanation of what to do when the alarm sounded in eight languages, including Japanese and Russian, then stand by the lifeboats in our lifejackets while more instructions were read. Again in eight languages.

"I wonder what would happen in a real emergency," someone near me commented. "We'd have sunk by the time they got through that lot."

I think it took about two minutes in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates and third stop on our Costa Victoria cruise from Dubai around Arabia, before I decided I loved this place.

Was it the stunning skyscraper skyline - they call it the Manhattan of Arabia - the blue sea, the sandy beaches, far more trees and grass than you'd ever expect to see in the desert, being driven in style through the city in a silver Mercedes by Nile, our driver for the day, kindly provided by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority.

All these things, I guess.

First stop was the huge Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Mosque, where I had to join other women and put on an abaya (gown) and shayla (head cover) before going in (entry and robes are free, by the way).

Then it was on to the Emirates Palace Hotel, which has a central accommodation area with one floor for rulers from the emirates and another for visiting VIPs. There are two helipads (popular with visiting sheikhs), while VIP suites have a private drive and entrance so they don't have to mix with the riff-raff.

Not that your average riff-raff could afford to stay here. The hotel, opened 2005, cost $3 billion to build and is quite stunning. It's done out in colours that reflect the desert. Carpets come from Iran, flowers from Holland, there are 13 types of marble and showers big enough to fit two or three couples - at once! None of that comes cheap.

"All the suites have a dining room," Mirjam, from guest relations, explained as she showed me the the top places to stay. "That glass cost 750 dirham." That's about £150. For one small glass. I inched away from the table..

Armed with the worse-than-useless map provided by Costa Cruises, we hit the streets of Manama City, the capital of Bahrain, this morning. Mission: To see the Grand Mosque.

Go out and right, we were told by the security man at the yet-to-be-finished Harbour Mall. As there was nothing for as far as the eye could see but building work and cranes, I asked a passing American. It's that way, he said, pointing the opposite direction. But a long way. Too far to walk.

He called over to a friend to confirm what he thought as he had only lived in Bahrain a couple of months. The friend pointed to a building straight across the street from us. "Take the road in front of that building. It's down there." He sounded so positive, we crossed the street, walked to the front of the building. No sign of said road.

At that point we gave up and took a picture of the World Trade Centre instead. An amazing piece of 21st-century architecture and such a contrast to the narrow streets, alleys and shops in the nearby old souk.

It was quite amusing because it didn't hugely matter to Ilana and I if we saw the mosque or not. But it's not funny if this is your holiday and your one chance to see the highlights.

We finally discovered the mosque is a two-mile walk from the centre of Manama, about halfway between the city and the ship. We had seen it when we drove in, but decided it was not the Grand Mosque as it was not where indicated on Costa's map. How stupid of us to think it would be.

Especially after a couple of Brits we spoke to at reception last night said they had gone in search of the souk and fort indicated as places of interest on the map of Abu Dhabi. They found both. The former is a construction site; the latter is closed for renovations.

"They need to update their information," one said. Update and improve, I would say. These are all new ports for most passengers and those not keen on rather over-priced shore excursions (and they are crippling for us Brits now the pound is so weak) would appreciate a bit of help getting around.

I realise that doesn't make any money for Costa, but with a little bit of help we would all be going home with a much more positive feeling about the cruiseline.

After a facile welcome meeting on day one of our Costa Victoria cruise, when English-speaking hostess Suzanne showed us how to read the Today daily newsletter - yes, really - there was no way I was going to go to her disembarkation meeting on the penultimate day of our cruise.

So I guess it was my own fault when, at 6am on the day I was disembarking, I went to the Concorde Plaza to collect our passports, armed with photocopies of the picture page of said documents - I guessed they would need these to confirm who we were - only to be sent away to get my end-of-cruise bill.

The Concorde Plaza is at the front of the ship; our cabin was near the back. Just what I needed at the time in the morning. I did as I was asked and returned armed with my bill.

The receptionist took one look at it, said "But you have paid by credit card" and passed it back to me. She looked at me as if I were a bit strange and called over the person waiting behind me. I didn't follow any of this - why was I sent back to get it if she didn't want to see it - but I did notice a lot of people were settling in cash, in which case the bill was stamped.

This procedure is one of several clumsy ways of doing things on Costa Victoria. Like having to carry around photocopies of your passport when you go ashore because the machine that swipes you on and off the ship doesn't flash up with a picture.

On other cruiselines, that same machine also emits a loud "ee-ahh" to tell the guys on security - and everyone around - that you haven't paid your bill. No need to queue early in the morning to show your bill before you can have your passport.

There are no internet packages to help sweeten the 50 cents a minute charge, and credit cards or cash payments have to be registered the day after you come on board instead of at check-in, which was another good way of creating queues.

Costa Victoria is a cosy ship and does have some notable features - I particularly liked the colour-coded cabin layout and the fact you never had to fight for a sunbed - but it is looking worn here and there, even though it's not that old (it was built in 1996). The layout is odd by today's standards and it lacks any mod-cons other than balconies (added in 2004).

Put it another way. It's easy to see why Costa has decided to put the glittery new Costa Luminosa there next winter in response to Royal Caribbean International's decision to try their luck in the Arabian Gulf with Brilliance of the Seas.

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.

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?

I felt I had to pass on this story, sent to me by a lovely couple I met on my recent cruise on Windstar's ship Wind Surf. It was e-mailed to them by another couple on the ship. I won't mention any names as they don't know I'm putting this on my blog.

Anyway he lost a pair of sunglasses on the penultimate day of the cruise. Put them down. They disappeared. She contacted customer services to ask if they had been found. Customer service said they'd be in touch in a week. A month passed. Then one day in snowy Chicago their doorbell rang. It was Fedex, delivering the sunglasses.

How's that for service?

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.

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.

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 nothing to do with the weather, but rather John Binkley, executive director of the Alaska Cruise Association, who has been forecasting doom and gloom to the Chicago Sun-Times.

He tells the paper that cruiselines are discounting tickets by up to 40% because they are suffering some of the worst sales they have ever encountered.

The businesses he represents in Alaska must be delighted. It's just the kind of upbeat message you need from your trade association.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Americans are carrying on cruising by lowering their standards and time at sea, according to a report in Florida Today, which quotes Howard Frank, Carnival's chief operating officer, to back up the story.

"Our shorter, less expensive Caribbean cruise products are performing much better than our premium and luxury, longer cruise products. So we are seeing a consumer trade-down to value."

Apart from being notable for a rather big howler in the copy*, the report is interesting as it shows that not every fad and fancy crosses the Pond.

In the next edition of TW Cruise, out February 20, I report that British cruisers are not trading down in the recession - in fact some cruise lines say they are trading up as there are such good deals out there. After all, If you can get an outside cabin for just a few pounds more than an inside, or to go from an outside to a balcony, why wouldn't you?

As for spending less time at sea. Not so easy for us as the Miami crowd. There are a few short-break cruises from the UK, but most are seven nights and usually 14 just because of the time it takes to get anywhere (with apologies to St Peter Port, Cork and Zeebrugge, but a day trip to either is hardly the stuff of main summer holidays).

* In case you haven't spotted it, here it is: Sovereign of the Seas sailed for Royal Caribbean International, not Norwegian Cruise Line. But anyway the ship transferred to Spanish line, Pullmantur, owned by Royal Caribbean, last October, and now cruises under the name Sovereign.

NCL started operating three and four-day cruises from Miami to the Bahamas in July 2008, but on Norwegian Sky, the ship plucked out of Hawaii after dwindling sales for the NCL America brand.

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.

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.