mediterranean cruise News

Disney cruise line will offer an array of new itineraries in 2013. These include a wider selection of European cruises and new ports of call such as the Greek Islands and Venice, Italy.

In reaction to the Concordia incident and as part of continuous efforts by the cruise industry to improve its safety measures, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), who speaks on behalf of cruise lines worldwide, has announced that the industry is to embark on a Cruise Industry Operational Safety Review.

MSC Cruises has partnered with Blend Craft Wines to offer their guests a range of one-of-a-kind wine-themed activities on board four sailings of MSC Poesia.

Costa Cruises issued a press release on the 24th January 2012 to clarify the issue of discounts and promotional offers for passengers who were on board Costa Concordia on Friday the 13th January 2012.

Windstar Cruises is known for exploring the hidden coves and secluded harbours of the world with their three luxury sailing yachts. The company has now announced a new Islands of Italy cruise featuring some of the most exclusive islands in all of Europe.

Crystal Cruises has released its list of itineraries for 2013 and there are significant changes, for example more short cruises. The company will offer a choice of 64 itineraries next year. In the process 226 ports of call in 62 different countries will be visited.

Thomson Cruises has announced its intention to modernise its fleet of ships by upgrading existing ships and also potentially buying new cruise liners.

Margaret Thatcher might be the last personality to be used to market cruise holidays, yet the release of the biographical film The Iron Lady starring Meryl Streep has urged at least two cruise lines to add one or more of her ex staff members to their line-up of guest speakers.

Cruise lines are working to make 2012 a busy season with plenty of new and fun destinations for their travellers. The Eastern Mediterranean, North Africa and Arabia in spring have all been extremely popular in the last year. This means some of the major cruise lines will begin to lean more towards the Eastern Mediterranean and lower their capacity for other parts of the world. Cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean will increase their Western Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean and Baltic cruises for 2012.

Celebrity Cruises has announced a brand new marketing slogan – Modern Luxury – and also the company’s first ever flight ticket sale. This, they say, will make cruising even more affordable than before.

Bad news for those who have booked a New Year’s cruise on board P&O Adonia: the company has decided to cancel the trip in order to carry out what has been described as “essential maintenance.”

The second Seatrade Winter Cruising Forum in Turkey has come to an end and delegates left after two days of discussions and announcements on the road ahead for off-season cruises in the region.

Vista Cruises has signed up veteran television correspondent Michael Nicholson to join a long line of renowned speakers in their cruise enrichment programme. Nicholson will act as guest speaker on board Boudicca during its 24-day cruise to the Mediterranean that departs from Portsmouth on the 12th October next year.

Cruise lines have never been keener to distract prospective passengers away from their Christmas shopping and get them planning their next cruise.

The cruise market has become extremely competitive in the current economic slowdown. Cruise lines are forced to think of ever more ingenious ways to draw passengers while still remaining profitable.

Those of you who have been on a Mediterranean cruise before will know how magical it is. One has the opportunity to experience so much in such a short time. An equally exciting journey is a river cruise, especially down the Danube at Christmas time – experiencing the magic of Europe at Christmas from the comfort of your cruise boat is simply unequalled.

A Mediterranean cruise is great if you want to visit a number of countries on a single cruise, but once you have been there and bought the T-shirts, what is next?

Mediterranean cruises can be satisfying in so many ways: historically, architecturally, visually, educationally and culturally, and also from a culinary point of view. The Mediterranean is the 2nd most favoured cruise area on the planet, after the Caribbean. It is broadly divided into two cruising locations: the Eastern Mediterranean (countries that are east of Italy, including Turkey, Greece and Croatia) and Western Mediterranean (which includes Italy, Portugal, Spain and France).

Whether it’s the suntan she recently acquired during a Mediterranean cruise or a very satisfying personal life is hard to say, but Jo Rzymowska, the Associate Vice President (UK and Ireland) and General Manager of Royal Caribbean is positively glowing on every photo of her we see in the press.

While taking the ferry to Calais might not be the same as a cruise holiday in the Mediterranean, one can hardly dispute the fact that modern ferries are faster, more luxurious and much more comfortable than their counterparts of yesteryear.

With the increasing popularity of Mediterranean cruises one would expect a port somewhere in the Mediterranean to be British cruise lovers’ favourite. Even the virtually undiscovered Chinese cruise market might eventually become a favourite for British cruisers.

John Honeywell, the cruise correspondent for the Mirror, recently experienced quite an adventure on board P&O’s smallest cruise ship, Adonia.

If you want to go on a P&O cruise holiday in 2012/13, you have chosen the perfect time. The company will offer free coach travel, domestic flights and valet car parking as well as 20% discounts in an early-bookings drive for the 2012/13 season.

If you plan on booking a P&O cruise holiday for January, February or March next year, you had better move fast. The company is now offering 15% discount on all bookings received before the end of July 2011. You could even qualify for some very nice spending money on board your chosen cruise ship.

Norwegian Cruise Lines has announced that travellers who want to join their new cruise liner, the Epic, on its seven-day Mediterranean voyages now have alternative embarkation options.

The new flagship of MSC Cruises, Divina, will be completed in time for the 2012 summer season. It has now been announced that she will cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Even if you are an ardent cruise lover, you sometimes get tired of cookie-cutter cruises that only visit overdeveloped ports. The worst scenario is when you have to cut short your sightseeing when you have just discovered a marvellous part of town, or miss the local nightlife because the ship leaves at 5pm.

There are more cruise ships plying the waters of the Mediterranean this summer than ever before, with many cruise lines offering discounts. Royal Caribbean takes the lead with no less than 12 ships cruising the Mediterranean. Second in line is P&O with seven. Thomson, Fred Olsen and Cunard are not far behind.

Cruise lovers will no doubt be delighted with the following news: Royal Caribbean has launched the first ever direct cruise connection between one of the company’s ships and Stansted Airport.

A new era of magic has dawned at Carnival Cruise Lines. Last week the company launched its 100th ship, the Carnival Magic. The ceremony took place at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy, where the Magic was built. Carnival Cruise Lines is one of the brands of Carnival Corporation, which operates cruises globally.

We recently reported about the unseasonably quiet (for Cunard) departure of Commodore Bernard Warner when he retired after many years of service at the cruise line. At the time his successor had not yet been named.

Fifteen years ago, if you wanted a world class spa, you probably would have found it only on dry land. In 2011, however, many cruise ships have spas that can rival the best you will find anywhere on land.

Cunard line is not known for doing things silently. When they bring in a new ship, or launch a new feature on one of their ships, the press is usually the first to know. This was definitely the case a couple of days ago when the company announced three-dimensional films and songwriting workshops on board their cruise ship the Queen Mary 2.

Despite a survey by Saga Holidays indicating that fewer travellers than anticipated plan to watch the Royal wedding while on a cruise holiday, many cruise lines are still going out of their way to make celebrations on board as festive as possible.

Cruising in autumn is in many ways the perfect option for those who want a more relaxed experience. The crowds are gone, the weather is often still perfect and during your land excursions you will have many a flea market and beach virtually to yourself.

The wedding of the year will no doubt be the Royal one on the 29th of this month. There is also little doubt that the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton will set the mood for many other couples to follow in their footsteps.

Carnival Cruises’ latest addition, the Carnival Magic, will be launched on the 1st May. Last week the company invited a number of journalists for a sneak preview of the ship. The nearly completed Magic is currently in the Fincantieri shipyard at Monfalcone in the north of Italy.

A year ago ballerina Darcey Bussell named the Cruise ship P&O Azura in the port of Southampton. A year later she sent a signed card to celebrate the ship’s first birthday. On the outside of the card was a picture of her and the message she wrote inside read “Happy 1st Birthday Azura! I wish I could be with you all. Have a wonderful celebration. Love Darcey."

This summer Star Clippers will feature a number of “rail and sail” departures, which allow guests to travel by train from the UK to the French south coast, directly joining one of their cruises and completely bypassing all airports.

For the past few months the world’s eyes have been on the upcoming Royal wedding. Speculation about where Kate and William will spend their honeymoon has been rife. In the midst of so much action we all seem to have forgotten about the Queen for a while. Where is she going to spend her summer holidays?

MSC Cruises decided to announce their Christmas and New Year Mediterranean cruises early this year, injecting some Christmas spirit into early April.

Families who still want to experience a Mediterranean cruise on board Disney Cruises’ ship Disney Magic do not have much time left. The company has announced that the Magic will depart from European waters in September and won’t return in 2012. It will cruise to the Caribbean from Port Canaveral during the winter months and operate from New York next summer.

After the very enthusiastic response to the company’s new series of seven-day cruises for 2012, Oceania cruises has now decided to add two additional seven-night cruises in October and November 2011 to their line-up. These cruises are aimed at cruisers who want to experience autumn in the French Riviera and Tuscany.

Albania has long been the poor stepchild of European tourism. When cruise ships started vying against each other to carry well-off passengers to Croatia’s historical cities and beautiful islands, Albania could only watch with longing eyes.

After recently announcing that it will once again offer cruises around Britain, Thomson Cruises has now also announced that the company will send cruise ships to the Isle of Man during 2012.

Way back in 1970 Gianluigi Aponte had a vision of becoming one of the leaders of the world shipping industry. His dream started off small, with a single ship.

After a winter that many cruise lovers would rather forget, the 2011 cruise season began in the Germany city of Kiel on the 3rd April. AIDA Cruises’ latest cruise liner the AIDAsol was named during a dramatic show and a festive display of fireworks.

Inger Olsen, a Danish lady, has the honour of being the first female captain in the 171 year history of Cunard Cruise Lines.

According to David Dingle, UK CEO of Carnival Cruises, cruise lines will increasingly have to adapt their itineraries in order to cut down on the cost of fuel and to keep up with environmental regulations.

The guys over at Carnival certainly love their market research. Not only do they request every cruise passenger to complete a questionnaire before the end of each cruise, but they also regularly carry out surveys with the help of students from Southampton Solent University.

David Dingle, the CEO of Carnival, has dismissed any possibility that the UK cruise market might be nearing saturation as “absurd.” In the company’s cruise report for 2011 he states that not only did all Carnival UK brands meet their sales objectives and pricing targets for 2010, but that they are also expected to do the same during 2011.

Many die-hard cruise lovers will never forget their first trip on Princess Cruise Line’s very first Royal Princess way back in 1984. That cruise ship has since been passed on to P&O Cruises and still sails under the new name of Artemis.

According to a press release by the company, Costa Cruises will call 2,800 times at 92 Mediterranean ports during the course of 2011. The total number of passengers involved will be just over nine million – a number that clearly underlines the fact that Costa is the undisputed leader in this region.

Next year is of course P&O Cruises 175th anniversary. The cruise line plans a grand celebration in Southampton in which all seven cruise ships in its fleet will be taking part.

As part of their series of special interest cruises, Fred Olson will offer fans of The Archers the opportunity to go on two Archers-themed cruises in 2011.

According to Carnival Cruises, cruising is all about fun – something the company aims to give its cruise passengers this season. Their latest (and greatest) “fun ship” named Carnival Magic will start the fun when it is launched in May 2011.

MSC Cruises have become known for their mouth-watering gastronomical delights made from fresh ingredients and inspired by the company’s ethical approach to food.

As cruise lovers probably already know, P&O’s Oriana will switch to an adults-only policy from November. In anticipation of this move, P&O has announced that the Oriana will be furnished with one of their new Marco Pierre White restaurants. The ship will also get 27 brand new cabins.

The Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship Independence of the Seas will use Southampton as a base for its cruises for the third year in a row during 2012. The good news for cruise lovers is that many of its cruises will cost the same as in 2011.

Celebrity Cruises recently announced that, in addition to the usual complimentary tea service in the main dining room, their ships will from now on also offer a special event called “Champagne High Tea”. The company will in future also offer their cruise passengers a selection of top class Kosher meals.

If you are a lover of suspense stories you will no doubt enjoy the 120th celebration cruise Fred Olsen is planning for Easter this year. The Balmoral will visit Iberia and Morocco and special radio plays will be featured, as well as a magnificent celebration cake – the Delicious Death Cake.

A major new partnership deal between MSC Cruises and AC Milan Football Club, one of the most successful football clubs in the world, has recently been signed. The new agreement replaces an existing long term arrangement between the two parties in terms of which they mutually promote and develop awareness of each other’s brand names.

A year ago Costa Cruises decided to discontinue its weekly visit to Valetta in Malta. After protracted negotiations between the cruise line and local company Orange Cruises Ltd, a decision has now been reached to resume this weekly visit.

After carefully evaluating feedback from passengers, P&O Cruises have decided to make major changes to their loyalty scheme. From April next year (2012) the scheme will no longer be known as the Portunus Club, but as the P&O Cruises Peninsular Club. There will now be six tiers and a number of important new benefits.

One thing is clear: Celebrity Cruises is determined to offer the company’s passengers the best the world of cruising can offer. The new services and guest experiences to be offered by their two new ships are simply world class.

With 3 James Bond movie theme songs behind her and having sold more than 135 million records, Shirley Bassey is one of the UK’s best loved performers. What else could there be that might excite someone with such an exciting career?

Whether the current financial turmoil in the world will change this pattern remains to be seen, but according to the latest figures Brits still spend an astronomical amount of money on holidays throughout their lives.

We have recently reported that Celebrity Cruises and Princess Cruises are spending millions of Pounds on upgrading their fleets of cruise ships. It’s not only these companies though that are forking out millions to keep their ships up to date. Companies like Crystal Cruises are also just as busy upgrading their ships.

The 16th ship in the Costa fleet, and part of a major expansion program the company launched in 2000, is currently under construction at the Fincantieri Marghera shipyard. The Costa Fascinosa will be a sister ship to the Costa Favolosa.

Costa Cruises has put together an exciting range of cruise holidays for 2012. The company now offers more than 250 cruise destinations. There are a minimum of 130 itineraries and, believe it or not, every port of call comes with at least 7 shore excursions.

The president of Celebrity Cruises, Dan Hanrahan, visited the UK briefly during February. He made it clear that his aim for the company was to make it the best in the industry. Once a cruiser has sailed with Celebrity, he or she should never even think of using another cruise line again.

Persistent rumours that the actress Lindsay Lohan will be launching Carnival’s latest cruise ship to rescue her sinking career seems to be nothing but rumours at this stage.

Roughly 90 000 lucky Royal Caribbean passengers will be able to watch the Royal wedding onboard their cruise ships on the 29th of April 2011. This is the number of passengers that are expected to be on board the company’s 40 cruise ships on that Friday in April.

The Grand Princess will undergo the biggest makeover of any Princess Cruises ship in history when it enters the dry-dock this coming spring. It will be upgraded with many features that became Princess Cruise trademarks since the ship was first launched in 1998. This includes the by now famous Piazza atrium.

With news of a political uprising in Egypt all over television screen and newspapers during the past two weeks, the vast majority of cruises that were about to call on Alexandria and Port Said have been diverted to other destinations for the coming months.

Windstar has revealed that its 312-passenger yacht, Wind Surf will return to the Greek Isles next year. This is the first time in six years.

Royal Caribbean cruises has announced 47 additional cruises in their 2011/12 itinerary.

Seabourn’s latest yacht, the Sojourn which has its maiden voyage later this year, will be offering guests excursions to Prague in the Czech Republic and Berlin in Germany.

An increasing number of cruise lines are dedicating ships to the UK market.

Enjoy a family day out at Tenerife''s Siam Park water attraction.