French company Ponant Cruises was fined $70,000 this week for the unintentional grounding of its ship L’Austral on a sub-Arctic island just off New Zealand in January 2017. The ship’s captain, Regis Daumesnil, was fined an additional $30,000 for his role in the incident. It’s the kind of occurrence that grabs headlines and gets the […]
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Crystal’s Crown Jewel Takes Shape
The poet Robert Browning first coined the phrase in 1855. Architect Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe (now there’s a name to conjure with) picked it up and ran with it in the 20th century, and countless others have used it to varying degrees of success ever since. ‘Less is more’ has become the mantra of the […]
Who Invented Cruise Ships?
Who Invented Cruise Ships? By Simon & Susan Veness The provenance of the very first cruise ship is probably lost in the mists of time. It might have been a Phoenician trader who, fed up with the daily grind of dealing in Tyrian purple, set his sights beyond the Mediterranean for a little jaunt to […]
Five Small-Ship Lines You Need To Know About
We’ve reported this year on small cruise line takeovers by the big boys (Royal Caribbean & Silversea), big ships that are just plain ugly (Norwegian Cruise Line, and others), and when big is just TOO big (last week’s missive centred on MSC’s newest) in cruising terms. So we thought it was time to redress the […]
Cruise Ships: When is Big TOO Big?
By Simon & Susan Veness We all know that cruise ships have increased in size in the last 20 years or so, dramatically in many cases. Where 100,000 tons was once considered gargantuan, it is now merely ‘mid-size’ to some cruise lines. This point came home loud and clear this week as the busy Meyer […]
Malta – A Most Civilising Experience
Look up the phrase ‘crossroads of civilisation’ online – as we did after perusing several Mediterranean cruise brochures this week – and you will quickly find any number of candidates for this most momentous of titles. It crops up again and again in literature, museums and travel guides. From Persia to Morocco and Cordoba to […]
5 New Cruises For 2019
By Simon & Susan Veness If like us, you already have one eye on next year in sea-going terms, you might like to consider some of the intriguing new options for cruises in 2019, as there are an array of really original voyages on offer. With so many high-quality ships to choose from these days, […]
South Pacific Cruise Guide
Some call it the ultimate paradise, others merely insist it is heaven on earth. It has attracted authors like James A Michener, and artists like Paul Gauguin. It is more prosaically called the South Pacific, but it is a vast cruise region of true scenic beauty and pristine, natural splendours. The South Seas are typically […]
A Silversea Takeover? Never Fear!
It’s commonplace in many businesses that the takeover of a small, boutique company by a larger conglomerate often rings the death-knell for the original operator, and that fans of the original business end up in mourning for a ‘lost’ star. Therefore, devotees of Silversea Cruises may well have been more than a touch apprehensive […]
An Endeavor We Can Fully Support!
Count us in, darlings. We can certainly wait, especially given the propensity of the current summer to either bake us or drown us at equally short notice. 2020, you say? No problem, we reply. Count us in. We are, of course, referring to the latest, gorgeous and oh-so-inviting possibilities for the forthcoming new Crystal […]
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Are Cruise Ships Bad For the Environment?
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Crystal’s Crown Jewel Takes Shape
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Who Invented Cruise Ships?
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A Saintly Surprise (or, How We Got St Tropez Completely Wrong)
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Five Small-Ship Lines You Need To Know About
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Cruise Ships: When is Big TOO Big?
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Marina, you’ve gotta see her!
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Small Ship Cruising
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SeaDream Yacht Club Blog
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EUROPA 2 – Try it, you WILL love it!
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Baby Love – Tips For Cruising With Infants
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MS Europa 2 Review
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Simon Veness: Hi Amanda. Thanks for your comment and yes, we can...
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AmandaB: I am a huge fan of Silverseas, my next trip, in 20...
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David Smith: Glad you enjoyed the post, Mr Peel. One of our Voy...
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Tom Peel: We've used The Cruise line for several cruises on...
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Simon Veness: It was a great boarding experience and got the tri...
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Sans Spinks: Seems as though they have boarding down to a T ins...