Cruise Critic UK

Cruise Critic reader captures ‘Ring of Fire’ eclipse

cruisecriticuk — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:33:44 +0000

It’s not exactly cruise-related, but it’s still cosmically cool. Cruise Critic member shootr, whose hobbies clearly transcend at-sea travel, snapped this shot of the “ring of fire” eclipse from near Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport. Put on your shades, queue up some Johnny Cash tunes and check out more of his pics here.

Peruse thousands of ship and port images in Cruise Critic’s member gallery.

We asked a pro for tips on how to take better pics on your next cruise. Here are his top seven.

Have questions on travel photography or gear? Head over to Cruise Criitc’s Photo & Camera Discussions Forum.

Is MSC the new Norwegian?

cruisecriticuk — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:37:26 +0000

Over on Facebook and Twitter, we had some fun discussions about MSC Cruises and its newest ship, Divina, which departed from the shipyard at St. Nazaire, France, on Saturday. One Cruise Critic poster called the Swiss/Italian-owned MSC the Carnival of Europe. It’s not. Costa, which is actually owned by Carnival Corp., gets that nod; it shares ship platforms and, except for the upcoming Carnival Breeze, an interior designer.

It’s my feeling that MSC Cruises is the industry’s most misunderstood line. The style of its ships and service is European through and through, and it’s quite different from the more service-centric lines in the U.S. and U.K. The line, which has debuted eight ships in its eight years of existence, is on a major growth spurt. Still, it’s had its challenges, particularly with service (though it’s working hard to address that negative, hiring more experienced crew).

So I wondered: If you could loosely compare the ambience, food, entertainment, sun deck and accommodations to a better-known cruise line, which would it be?

I’m voting for Norwegian Cruise Line. If you compare its newer ships (Norwegian Jewel, Pearl, Gem and Epic) with the contemporary trio of MSC’s Fantasia, Splendida and Divina, there are more similarities than differences. Both have a range of restaurants onboard, from traditional restaurants to boutique-style eateries. They have invested in major spa and gym facilities. Itineraries are mainstream (they spend most of their time in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean). And Norwegian and MSC are both betting that their ship-within-a-ship boutique hotels (the former’s Haven and the latter’s Yacht Club) will draw luxury-minded travellers to what are otherwise mass-market ships.

Onboard Environment. On Norwegian Epic and the Jewel-class ships, the onboard ambience is jazzy, cheap and cheerful. MSC’s interiors are more elegant and restrained — almost Milanese — using darker tones and schemes.

Winner: It’s MSC by a hair; its furnishings and materials are more quality-minded than those on Norwegian.

Dining Variety and Cost. On both cruise lines, the quality of dining increases as you spend more money. You can certainly eat in fee-free places, such as a station-organized buffet and the main dining venues, but if you’re picky you’ll want to ante up the extra cash to go to speciality venues. A big difference: On Norwegian, you’ll pay significantly higher cover charges — $25 per person — just to sit down. On MSC there are few service surcharges, but most speciality menus are priced a la carte. (For instance, at its burger joint on Divina, there’s a combo package — burger, fries and small beer — for 8 euros or about $10.)

Winner: Norwegian. It has more fee-free options (like O’Sheehan’s), particularly when it comes to casual dining, and its pricing is a bit more straightforward (though it does venture into a la carte pricing in some of its restaurants).

Ship Within a Ship. Not familiar with the concept? It’s when a cluster of cabins occupies a separate area on the vessel and includes such amenities as a private pool, sun deck and butler service. On Norwegian’s Jewel-class ships, it’s called The Haven. Norwegian Epic ups the ante: There’s a private restaurant and bar attached to the area. MSC’s Yacht Club is a similar concept, with suites clustered around the Topsail Bar and Lounge; there’s a private sun deck with two whirlpools and a small pool, plus an outside bar and snack area. There’s also a dedicated restaurant, open only to members of the “club.”

Winner: It’s a toss-up. Both lines do an incredibly good job of catering to a more luxury-minded traveler who wants the variety in entertainment, dining and kids’ club options that big ships provide and the intimate, pampering ambience of luxury vessels. Even at the entry level, Norwegian’s Haven cabins are quite spacious. The smallest come with separate living rooms, small inside sleeping rooms with two berths each and pretty bedroom/bathroom combos with vast beds, separate showers and whirlpool tubs (which are set into windows overlooking the sea). The Haven cabins offer more comfort and amenities than those on MSC, whose Yacht Club cabins are typically smaller. But Norwegian’s furnishings are a bit too cheap and cheerful, and they’re not as comfortable.

MSC’s ship-within-a-ship concept also offers more value: cocktails, wine and beer are complimentary in its Yacht Club bars and at its dedicated restaurant, whereas you’ll pay out of pocket for the same stuff on Norwegian.

How do you choose between them? Compare the fares!

Ultimately, the nod goes to MSC’s more inclusive Yacht Club, because of its superior value-for-money quotient. If I’m paying top-dollar on a mass-market ship, I don’t want to be nickel-and-dimed every time I turn around.

Check out MSC cruise deals.

Check out Norwegian cruise deals.

Contest winner: Where were we?

cruisecriticuk — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:45:00 +0000

It's the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark.

In our most recent blog contest, we asked if you could name the setting (a famous garden) and location (a European capital city) of the photo above. By and large, you got the right answer, although there were a few notable answers in the mix.

Rich Pisani said, “I know. I know. It’s some place I’ve never been. Am I right? Where is my prize?”

Rich, we don’t know if you’ve been there, but as much as we chuckled at your answer, unfortunately it didn’t technically qualify as being correct.

Our winner, Christine Clayton, gave us an answer we can confirm. “This is Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen,” she said. “We went here on our first ever cruise on the Jewel in May 2007.”

Christine, it is indeed Tivoli Gardens and Copenhagen, Denmark, is the city where they’re located. Well done; for your efforts, we’ll be sending some Cruise Critic swag your way. Please drop us a note at feedback@cruisecritic.co.uk with your contact details. And thanks to everyone who participated.

To learn more about Copenhagen and other Baltic ports, visit our ports pages.

Cunard’s Jubilee spectacular in Southampton: What’s the big deal?

cruisecriticuk — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:51:27 +0000

Three Queens, fireworks and the Red Arrows will make for a spectacular June 5

A gathering of Cunard Queens is always a huge draw to spectators. Whether it’s the ships’ association with royalty, or the romantic heritage of the line, or the simple fact that Cunard’s ships are so famous, there’s always a party when the sisters get together.

In New York last year, spectators braved freezing January conditions to watch a procession of three Cunarders heading out of Manhattan to a 21-gun firework salute, as the Empire State Building was turned ‘Cunard’ red in honour of the occasion. Weeks later, when Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary 2 arrived in Sydney together, hundreds of small boats turned out to escort them into Sydney Harbour.

June 5, when all three gather in their home port of Southampton, will be not only the first time the three current Queens have assembled in Europe, but it’s the culmination of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebratory weekend, which, as we all know, means four days of street parties up and down the country, a spectacular pageant of boats on the Thames and an extra bank holiday. Cunard reckons that its Southampton party on the Tuesday will be the biggest single celebration outside London over the weekend.

What makes the combination of the royal festivities and the three Cunarders extra-special is the long-standing association between the two ‘families’; the Queen named Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth (and before either of those, the QE2 in 1967; she also attended the naming by her mother of the original Queen Elizabeth in 1938). The Duchess of Cornwall named Queen Victoria. Although Cunard is now American-owned and its vessels no longer flagged in Britain, as far as we’re concerned, its ships remain, like the monarch herself, a national treasure.

And for good measure, another national icon, the Red Arrows aerial display team, will be thrown into the mix, a squadron of seven aircraft performing dazzling stunts over Southampton for the first time. The day will end with a massive fireworks display, after which the vessels will file down the Solent in formation. A big deal? You bet it will be.

By Sue Bryant

Follow our coverage of the event over the next few days, from where to watch the fireworks to what the other lines are doing to mark the Jubilee.

Thinking of sailing with Cunard? Check out members’ reviews here.

Wanted: A pair of Queens (or three if you have them)

cruisecriticuk — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:06:26 +0000

Send us your best photos of Cunard's Queens.

As part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebration next month, Cunard will be amassing its own royal trio — Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2 — on June 5. At the end of the special bank holiday weekend, the event promises to attract thousands to Southampton for a street festival, fireworks and a high-flying performance by the Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force Aerobatics Team. We’ll be covering the event from all angles, but first, we need your help. This isn’t the first time Cunard has brought its fleet together, and we’re sure there are plenty of pictures out there of previous rendezvous. Have you snapped a photo of two or three of the queens together? Send them to us at at feedback@cruisecritic.co.uk and we’ll share them as the day approaches. If we select yours, we’ll send you a nice bit of swag to say thank you.

Can’t get enough Cunard? Join one of 612 discussions in our forums.

Poll: Would you still book a Greek cruise?

cruisecriticuk — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:27:17 +0000

View This Poll

With German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s admission that Greece may have to leave the Eurozone, a couple of rather alarming travel-related stories caught our eye this week.

Online travel company DialAFlight warned holidaymakers to ‘get rid’ of their Greek euros in a blog post (which has since been removed from the website). The company was criticised for scare-mongering, according to a story in the Daily Mail, but the fact remains that the fallout from Greece exiting the Eurozone cannot yet be predicted.

Industry newsletter Travelmole reported that TUI Travel PLC, which owns a number of tourism properties, including Thomson and Island Cruises, has contingency measures in place to compensate for a downturn in travel to Greece. And there are widespread reports of bank runs in Greece, totaling millions of euros.

So, will you still book cruises to Greece? Are you concerned about upcoming cruises you already have booked? Vote in our poll, and let us know how you feel in our comments section.

Know before you go: Take a look at our Eastern Mediterranean port profiles.

What’s your cruising theme song?

cruisecriticuk — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:42:54 +0000

A memorable moment as Riviera sails into Venice for the first time

As Oceania Cruises’ brand new ship, Riviera, sailed along the Giudecca Canal into Venice on Monday, guests swigged Bellini cocktails in the hot sunshine as the rousing strains of legendary tenor Andrea Bocceli singing ‘Volare’ wafted out of the speakers, across the open decks. It’s a song I will now always associate with that rather moving moment – a new ship, arriving for the first time in one of the world’s greatest seafaring cities.

Plenty of songs are associated with cruising and just hearing a few bars can transport you straight to the colourful Caribbean, the magical Mediterranean, or wherever your last voyage took you. Star Clippers always plays Vangelis’ ’1492′ as the ship hauls anchor and the vast sails go up, and you may call it cheesy – but it’s a moment the line’s regulars never, ever miss. Cunard fans often reminisce about the days of sailing away from Manhattan on QE2 to ‘New York, New York’, while Crystal Cruises has adopted Louis Armstrong’s ‘It’s a Wonderful World’ as its sailing theme song.

Leaving Venice, as opposed to arriving there, brings tears to many an eye, too, when the sailing music chosen by the cruise line is Bocelli’s (again) ‘Time to Say Goodbye,’ with Sarah Brightman.

On a more cheery note, some people love to bebop along to Bobby Darin’s ‘Beyond the Sea,’ as the deck party gets going and the rum punch hits the spot. Another upbeat ditty is ‘Hot Hot Hot’ by Arrow, the perfect party music for a Caribbean sailaway. Or maybe even Rod Stewart’s classic, ‘Sailing’.

What song gets you in the cruising mood? Let us know.

Sue Bryant

Join the discussion! Member SarahC78 is compiling the perfect cruising playlist on the Cruise Critic forums.

Or help the members on this thread add to their list of favourite cruise party songs.

And take a look at this post about a bunch of Britons singing a patriotic song on sailaway.

Contest: Where are we now?

cruisecriticuk — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:31:04 +0000

Can you pinpoint this location? Answer for a chance to win.

Editor’s note: This contest is now closed. Thank you for participating.

We’re off on a shore excursion, meandering through a lovely landscape, and we can’t quite recall the name. Can you help? There could be a prize in it for you, provided you answer correctly, of course.

Enter our contest using the comments section below. In your entry, tell us the name of the famous garden in the photo as well as the city where it’s located. (Hint: It’s a European capital.) In order to give everyone a fair chance, we won’t approve any comments until the contest ends on Friday, 18 May, at 5:00 p.m. After that, we’ll choose a winner from all the correct answers and announce the winner on Tuesday.

To peruse our ports (which could perhaps provide inspiration), visit our ports pages.

Will 4-to-an-Inside Cabin Cruisers Have Room Envy?

cruisecriticuk — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:43:40 +0000

We’re big fans of group cruising. Pick the right ship and you can easily accommodate wildly disparate tastes for seven nights. But some of reviewer of the week live2vayk ‘s choices had us a little worried. She was sailing on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas as part of a four-family, 16-passenger crew — only her quartet was sardined in an inside cabin, while the other units enjoyed balcony views. Was she setting her family up for a case of cabin envy? The self-described cheapskate wasn’t worried. Check out her insightful review on group cruising.

Curious about Crown Princess? Eurodam? See all of this week’s chosen reviews.

Don’t just sit there: Share your perspective, and write your own review.

Live From Riviera: Does the Godmother Fit the Ship?

cruisecriticuk — Fri, 11 May 2012 07:58:05 +0000

In Barcelona, I’m onboard the 66,084-ton, 1,250-passenger Riviera, the newest ship from luxury-mainstream straddlers Oceania Cruises. In preparation for Friday’s christening ceremony, our dock is literally ringing with the sounds of hammers and chisels as workers install stages, lighting towers and a massive flat-screen television to create a mini-arena.

No doubt the star of tomorrow’s festivities will be Riviera’s Godmother, “Iron Chef” Cat Cora. A chef is a fitting pick for a line that’s one of the most passionate in cruising when it comes to the culinary arts (whether it’s about eating food or cooking it in the Bon Appetit Culinary Center). Indeed, Oceania takes cuisine so seriously that its two new-builds (sister ship Marina debuted in January 2011) are often described as “the world’s largest floating galleys.”

But I’ll be honest: I’m not a huge “Iron Chef” devotee and, at first, it seemed to me that Riviera’s godmom should’ve been someone who’s famous in the culinary world for more than just dexterity in TV cooking competitions. On a ship in which the inimitable Jacques Pepin, the French superstar chef, not only oversees all its cuisine but operates his own eponymous restaurant, wouldn’t Alice Waters, the Julia Child of our time, actually be a more appropriate match?

Maybe not. The more I learned about Cora, the more the pick made sense. As host of the brand new “Around the World in 80 Plates” reality show, an “Amazing Race”-esque series on Bravo in which 12 chefs will compete across 10 countries in 44 days (it’s not being shown in the U.K. yet, but you can follow along on Bravo’s website) Cora has proven she’s got travelling chops. That’s an important quality for a Godmother on a cruise line that sails around the globe, focusing on destination-intensive itineraries.

And the mother of four is feisty, just like Oceania, an upstart line which in the nine years since its founding has carved out an identity for its style of hybrid luxury and its hedonist approach to food and drink. So what was I thinking? This sounds like a perfect match to me.

Stay tuned for reports from Oceania Riviera, including tomorrow’s christening in Barcelona.

–Carolyn Spencer Brown

Want to know more about Oceania? Visit our cruise line profile page.