Cruise Lines

The International Herald Tribune reports that Royal Caribbean International president and chief executive Adam Goldstein was in Singapore to announce plans to base a ship in Singapore starting autumn 2009.

The line dipped a toe into Asian waters this year, so I guess this decision is proof that the experiment was successful. Either that or they just can't think what to do with all the cruise ships they keep building.

Let's face it, the Caribbean might be popular, but when the giant Oasis of the Seas hits the region in December 2009, it's going to soak up an awful lot of passengers - 5,400 on each cruise if all goes according to plan - so Royal's other ships have to fill somewhere else.

And why not Asia? Star Cruises is there year-round, Costa Cruises bases a ship there for part of the year and Princess Cruises has a big selection of exotic cruises there in winter, but generally it's somewhere the big lines only dip in and out of on their way around the world.

On Carnival Splendor last weekend, I heard Carnival Cruise Lines president and chief executive Gerry Cahill rule Asia out as an option, so seems Royal might have it all it's own way - for a while at least. Smart move.

Science was never my strong subject at school so imagine my glee when I was able to answer the question "what is ice?" posed by Steffen Biersack, the geologist and lecturer onboard this Fram cruise in Greenland.

No trick. The answer is frozen water - and I did get it right! - but I have to admit some of the rest of his lecture on ice went straight over my head. Still fascinating though.

And it's what this Hurtigruten expedition cruising is all about. No shows with didn't-quite-make-it dancers and singers, no napkin-folding or wine-tasting classes; just a nice ship - Fram holds 318 passengers and was launched last year - with big windows so you can always see the view, which at the moment happens to be icebergs. In fact it has been icebergs of varying sizes for the past two days.

There are all sorts on board, young and old, mainly Danish and Norwegian but also a smattering of Brits, Americans and Australians, all here for the excitement of seeing somewhere really different rather than wanting a luxury cruise with crew racing around to cater for their every wish and whim.

No one dresses for dinner and you are expected to clear away your plates and cups if you have tea and cakes in the little self-service.

I can't see cruise traditionalists enjoying this, but I I've never seen so many happy, excited faces, and certainly not on a cruise. Just proves what they always say. There is a cruise for everyone. Get it right and you have one satisfied customer.

This is me, at my sartorial best, about to set off on a RIB boat ride in the Stockholm archipelago.

I've been wanting to do this for years - well since 2004, when I first saw it - so my thanks to Tina Brännström at the Stockholm Visitors Board for getting it booked for me and making my dream come true.

I'm always amazed how few people know what a great city Stockholm is - pretty and with the amazing Vasa Museum to see. And then there are the sightseeing boats that have running commentary as they chug along under the bridges that connect this city's island.

Interesting, but not nearly as much fun as the RIB. And as the boats hit 40-45 knots at high speed, bouncing over waves, banking around nothing in particular (just for the fun of it), you'll forget how daft you look and be very grateful for the wind and waterproofs and silly hat!

Land sailing in Bonaire caught my eye as I read about the new Action Ashore excursions that Ocean Village is offering in the Caribbean this winter.

I remember doing something similar to this - except it was sand yachting in Le Touquet in France. It was wet and windy and our yachts kept going every which way except around the course.

After about 30 minutes, the owner, fed up with putting us back upright, gave a Gallic shrug and walked back to his office, leaving his hapless assistant in charge of a bunch of out-of-control journos. Sadly it meant he missed the spectacular pile-up at the end, memories of which kept everyone in hysterics for the rest of the trip.

I hope Bonaire land sailing is as much fun.

It's also nice to see a zip-wire adventure in Barbados adding a touch of spice to the rather tame island tours, jeeps and botanical garden visits.

Interesting to see on Cruise Critic that Disney Cruise Line is considering offering Alaska cruises from 2010.

Apparently, the cruise line has applied for a 10-year permit to cruise in Glacier Bay National Park, where there are tight restrictions on the number of ships allowed in.

All the more interesting as it was also suggested to me this week that the Baltic might also be on the Mickey radar. With two new big ships coming 2011 and 2012, guess it has to find somewhere to cruise other than its well-trod Caribbean home.

Bales Worldwide is adding a fourth dahabiyya to its Egypt programme for 2009/10.

Dahabiyyas are small sailing boats modelled on 19th-century vessels used by aristos and others with money to cruise the Nile.

They hold just 12 passengers in six individually decorated cabins, have their own private moorings away from the big Nile boats that are moored sometimes six and seven deep, and you are waited on hand and foot by a wonderful crew who will be waiting to greet you back from an excursion - of course there is a guide to take you around the temples and tombs - with cold towels and an even colder beer (all drinks are included in the price).

It really is the only way to do the Nile.

This has to be the party of 2009.

Next August, Hapag-Lloyd's exploration ships Bremen and Hanseatic are cruising the Northwest Passage in opposite directions - Bremen from Greenland and Hanseatic from Alaska. If all goes well with the weather they will meet in the middle and stop for an icy beach party and reciprocal ship visits.

On the way over - in either direction - passengers will be able to take Zodiac excursions to get up close to icebergs and glaciers, and hopefully spot polar bears.

Hapag-Lloyd is a German company and there will be a lot of Germans on board, but the cruises will be bilingual.

Wonder what's happened to my invitation?

Costa Cruises' Costa Mediterranea has inaugurated a new $13 billion cruise terminal at St Petersburg.

I heard about the new terminal, which is open but not finished - completion is scheduled for 2010, when there will be three terminals and seven berths - when I was cruising the Baltic on Princess Cruises' Crown Princess a couple of weeks ago.

Apparently this new facility is closer to the city than the cargo port, which most ships use, but still not really walking distance.

Sadly I was there too early to see it and Princess tied up in the cargo port.

I say sadly, but it was great fun to get from there into the city - you do need visas if you want to go it alone - taking the port bus (which is actually for the workers but tourists can hop on), getting through security at the other end of the port, about three miles away, and then negototiating for a taxi into the city. And then you have to do it all in reverse to get back to the ship.

Of course, if the new port is not walking distance, visitors with visas will still have to do battle with the taxi drivers who have a bad reputation but were most pleasant and certainly knew enough English to negotiate prices and get us into the city and then back to the right port. One had even spent his downtime as a taxi driver learning English, German, Italian and Japanese.

In between the travelling to and fro, we had a lovely day wandering the city, doing lunch and riding the metro.

It is such as shame that most visitors are scared off doing St Petersburg on their own, partly by the effort and cost of getting a visa, but also by the guides, who give the impression that all the locals are out to rob and mug you. But let's face it, they have a vested interest in keeping everyone together in a flock.

Maybe this new terminal is the start of much-needed change of attitude. I would love to think so.

Cunard's Queen Mary 2 set off on its 100th transatlantic crossing yesterday, sailing from Southampton to New York. By the time she moors in the Big Apple, the ship will have sailed 711,288 nautical miles, clocking up 316,729 of them on transatlantic crossings alone, and served 206,200 bottles of Champagne.

Queen Mary 2 has carried Donald Trump, Rod Stewart, John Cleese, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Queen Noor of Jordan, Hillary Clinton, George Bush senior.

But not Jane Archer. Could 2009 be the year I finally add my name to this roll call of the rich and famous? I'll keep you posted.

When I tried to find out some information about Indian Ocean Cruises earlier this year I was told by Uwe, my contact there, that its ship had been deployed elsewhere and that cruises were therefore temporarily suspended. Ondeed the website was a blanck, inviting people to call back later.

He said he would tell me when they managed to find another and got things started again.

He didn't - maybe he has moved on? - but I read in Travelmole that not only does IOC have the 200-passenger Ocean Odyssey back, but that the ship has had a $10 million refurb.

I was on the ship last November and had a great cruise, sailing from Goa down the west coast of India, out to the idyllic Lakshadweep Islands, and enjoyed fab food and charming service, but boy, was that ship in need of some tender loving care. I would love to see what they have done with it.

IOC is also extending its operations beyond Goa. It will cruise there in winter and base the ship in Port Louis, Mauritius, in summer, sailing to Madagascar, Reunion and the Agalega Islands.

Cruise Business Review says the Russian government is considering a visa exemption for visitors arriving by cruise ship and staying in the country for fewer than 72 hours. It will apply to certain ports and St Petersburg is expected to be one of them.

That would be brilliant news for cruise passengers, who might finally be persuaded to leave the comfort of their ships' excursions and find out there is more to St Petersburg than being whizzed around in large groups to look at palaces and paintings

Incidentally, I had news yesterday that "cruise fans can surf the ports" thanks to a new addition to the Cumbria Cruises website. I hurried along to look.

There is a new section, all about the ports. Well, when I say new, that is an exaggeration. There is nothing new or informative here - time zones, local currency, nearest shops, a coupls of lines on key attractions.

Yawn ....

Nothing for anyone who wants some real information about how to get around on their own. That if you are docked by the ferry port in Helsinki you can walk, if you're in the other dock there is a bus for just over two euros. Much cheaper than the shuttle. That in Gdynia you can take a train to Gdansk for a fraction of the cost of a taxi. And what does it say about St Petersburg?

Organised excursions are recommended and sometimes compulsory.

Compulsory? Only for those who have not got their own visas. So what a shame it doesn't explain that if you get one you can explore alone. It's not that difficult and it is great fun. I know, because I did it this summer when I was there with Princess Cruises, just as I did the train to Gdansk and the bus into Helsinki.

A port guide with real knowledge and tips on getting around and prices instead of repeating information you can get elsewhere. Now that really would be news.

It was hinted to me this summer when I was in Stockholm, but now it's for sure.

In 2010, Disney Cruise Line is positioning the Disney Magic in Scandinavia in 2010, operating 12-night cruises that will visit Germany, Russia and Sweden.

All-American mouse meets St Petersburg history and culture. What a thought.

...but not really in the way Spirit of Adventure intended. As we arrived at the port, in Turkey, there was a sudden jolt, followed by an apology from the captain. Apparently the tug had not been doing its tugging bit as we came into dock. Result, one alarmingly big gash in the side of the ship.

Cleverly it was patched up so we could continue on our way, into the Black Sea, heading for the Ukrainian ports of Odessa, Sevastopol and Yalta.

Spirit of Adventure - it's also the name of the ship - is scheduled to go into dry dock after this cruise anyway for its annual spruce-up. Could the timing have been any better?

I seem to be spending my life underground on this Spirit of Adventure cruise in the Black Sea. On Saturday in Odessa I was down in the catacombs under the city, seeing where resistence fighters lived during the Second World War; on Sunday I was in tunnels dug after the Second World War to hide a submarine base in Balaklava, just outside Sevastopol.

Yes, the very same Balaklava made famous for the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War, so we learned all about that too while we there.

The history in this area is fascinating. Odessa, I was surprised to discover, is a very elegant city, best known for the Potemkin Steps - 200 steps that lead from the city to the harbour that featured in Eisenstein's film Battleship Potemkin.

It was great to see them, and I walked up and down them, but the catacombs are far more interesting - 2,500km of mad-made tunnels (it's where they took the limestone from to build the city) that would stretch from Odessa to St Petersburg if laid in a straight line.

Up to 250 resistance fighters lived for a year in the tunnels we wandered through under the town of Nerubaiskoye, coming out at night to blow up German trains, trucks and garrisons. Because they lived underground, they were very pale, so they had to make themselves up before they went out on sabotage duty or the Germans would easily spot them.

Nest day I was in the submarine tunnels - much bigger obviously as they had to hold a nuclear sub. These are the stuff of James Bond - I could just see Daniel Craig racing through them, blowing everything up as he went. Or maybe that was wishful thinking.

The tunnels were dug by brigades, which each did their bit and were then sent away - shot, I suggested, but Mariya, our guide said no - so no one knew the full extent of them. She reckons the people of Sevastapol, just down the road, didn't even know they existed.

The subs and nuclear weapons have all gone now - after all this area is now the friendly Ukraine, not the Russian bear (you don't even need a visa to visit). And anyway, the subs got too big to fit in the tunnels and no one had any money to expand them.

I have to admit I had a long debate with myself before I left home for this Spirit of Adventure cruise in the Black Sea, deciding whether I really wanted to spend my evening in Sevastopol watching the Russian Navy Black Sea Ensemble doing their thing. Am I glad the cynic in me lost.

It was a fabulous show, full of singing and dancing - yes, the kind of stuff that usually leaves me cold, especially on a cruise ship. But then cruise ships don't have singers and dancers like this.

When the show, at some officers' club in town, ended we all sat there, waiting for them to come back. Instead we got Neil, our much-loved cruise director, reminding us there would be food in the Verandah self-service when we got back on the ship.

Groan. Not more food, the audience chorused as one (we had, after all, had an early dinner before leaving for the performance). Then they rushed up to the Verandah as soon as they were back on board. Unlike a fool and his money, a cruiser and his food is never parted.

After our jolt getting into Kepez, Turkey, earlier on my Spirit of Adventure cruise, it was a pleasant surprise when the captain came on the tannoy in my cabin this morning at 7.30am - yes, really, and in the cabin too; there is no sleeping in on this cruise - to announce we had tied up. I hadn't even noticed we had stopped moving.

But imagine my shock when he announced we were in Malta. We had only left Sevastopol late the previous night and were supposed to be in the Black Sea. Was I mistaken? Was it his Aussie burr? Not if half the passengers on this cruise can be believed.

Naturally it was a great joke and the talk of breakfast.

Anyway, the truth is, we had arrived in Yalta, the third and last port in our Black Sea odyssey. Most of us spent the morning at the Livadia Palace, the summer residence of the last Russian Tzar, Nicholas II, and famous as the place where the Big Three - US president Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin - met at the end of World War Two to carve up Europe.

According to Irina, guide of bus 6, both Western leaders got tired of Stalin's oneupmanship - he even provided a lemon tree for a US delegate who complained there wasn't a slice of lemon in his drink - so they decided to play a trick on him.

One morning Roosevelt told Stalin he dreamed he was leader of the whole world, Churchill that he was ruler of the universe. Quick as a flash, Stalin said he had also had a dream: that he was the person who refused to sign the papers appointing each of them to these positions.

"It's just a joke," Irina emphasised, having just told us what a kind, hospitable man Stalin was. Or maybe that was the joke?

This time it all happened as we were leaving Yalta late last night in the hands of an L-plated tug boat driver. It was his first tugging job, apparently, and seems to have been a minor disaster, leaving us standed for a while as the tug failed to do its tugging thing. Thankfully, though, this time there were no piers for Spirit of Adventure to hit.

So today we've been all at sea, heading back over the Black Sea towards Istanbul in Turkey, where we are due to dock around 8am tomorrow.

We've had four lectures, a Ready Steady Cook with cruise director Neil and Captain Frank Allica that got the smoke detectors on red alert, a gala drinks do, formal night, crew show and we've got to be on deck at 6am tomorrow for the magical dawn sail through the Bosphorus.

Who says cruising is a holiday?

It had to happen given how successful Costa Cruises seems to have been operating cruises from Dubai around the Gulf.

Between January and April 2010, Royal Caribbean International is positioning Brilliance of the Seas at the emirate, presumably also sailing around the Gulf, although itineraries have not been announced.

Brilliance is the ship chosen to operate cruises in the Med this winter - the first time Royal has stayed in Europe year-round. If Brilliance is also staying for 2009/20, it's for a very short season. Does this mean winter Med has not been a success? I hope not, but wait to find out.

I've often reported that Vietnam is the next big thing in the world of cruising.

For 2009, at least nine major cruise lines will be visiting the country, still best known to most people for the war with the US.

But that was all a long time ago and these days the Americans are gathering on the shoreline for altogether more peaceful reasons - to see this amazing, exotic little country that was such an important part of their history.

Princess Cruises, Silversea, Seabourn, Crystal and Royal Caribbean International are among the cruise lines that will be calling on Da Nang, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City and other stops along the Vietnamese coast.

It's long been on my list of must-see places. Maybe 2009 is the year it will happen.

Casual cruiseline Ocean Village is offering one week in the Caribbean for £749 per person (from £99 for kids under 12) - an incredible deal given that it includes flights and transfers.

The low, low price is on a December 17 departure - a seven-night Corals and Coconuts cruise on Ocean Village Two - which is a bit of an awkward time for agents to sell I guess because it's so close to Christmas for those who want to be back for festivities with family and friends.

But you know, Christmas has a habit of coming around every year. Deals like this might not. Blue skies and Caribbean sun or the grey skies and rain? A bit of a no-brainer really,

Sky Travel reports that Thomson Cruises has dropped plans to base a ship at Liverpool after just two departures.

It's nothing to do with the cruise that never was, but rather because instead of allowing Thomson Celebration to use the city's new cruise liner terminal, the port people said the ship had to tie up at Langton Dock, which overlooks the biggest scrapyard in Europe.

Somehow they managed to build a new terminal that doesn't have the customs and baggage-handling facilities needed for turnaround days, when one set of passengers disembarks and the next lot come on.

Thomson Celebration would have been the first ship to be based at the port in 50 years and contributed £4.5 million in port fees and related spending to the city's coffers.

There must be some very red faces in the city's council offices.

After several seasons in Antarctica, Voyages of Discovery is leaving the White Continent and cruising to South East Asia and the Far East in winter 2009/10.

I wrote a little on this for the next TW Cruise, due out soon, but since then the brochure has come out bearing more information and some magnificent itineraries that will take you around India, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and South Africa.

VoD's ship Discovery takes its time as it cruises through all these places so there's lots of time ashore. Anyone with the time and money could put some of these itineraries back to back and have an ultimate round-the-world trip.

OK, you won't make it to Australia so it's not quite RTW, but at least you would see the world as you went instead of spending endless days at sea, as is the norm on a standard world cruise.

There is no single supplement on a number of cabins and guaranteed no fuel surcharge on all bookings. All the cruises will have guest lecturers on board to add some insights into the places being visited.

VoD says it has switched to Asia to give passengers who have done Antarctica something new for winter 09/10. Makes sense. I cruised Antarctica with Voyages and much as I loved it, it's not something I would do twice with the same cruise line as I'd like to see how others cope with the harsh environment down there.

On my cruise, most of the passengers agreed they had done Antarctica and would not go back. After all, it's not cheap and makes more sense for them to spend their money seeing new places and cultures.