Like many stars before him, noted musician James Taylor and his family sailed aboard Cunard's Queen Mary 2 last week on an eastbound transatlantic crossing from New York to Southampton.
During the crossing he performed twice to SRO audiences in the ship's 1150-seat Royal Court Theatre. He also accommodated passengers by scheduling a Q&A session and posed for hundreds of pictures during an autograph session that was extended to two hours due to the demand.
"It is such a civilized way to go, and Queen Mary 2 is the last word in first class travel," said Taylor.
Now in England, Taylor begins a 10-week, 22 concert tour that will take him to nine countries.
In the video below, Taylor talks about the experience crossing the Atlantic aboard QM2.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Belfast Opens Irelands Longest Deep-Water Berth
Realizing that they were getting aced out of the cruise business as ships became bigger, Belfast spent £10m upgrading one of their deep-water berths to be 1,040 meters long, and the first ship to use it was Crown Princess this morning. It is estimated that the cruise industry brings about £15m annually to the local economy.
The BBC article also includes video.
The BBC article also includes video.
Monday, June 29, 2009
First-hand Account of the Royal Princess Fire
Remember Greg Surratt? He was the man aboard Royal Princess during the fire updating his Twitter account, which unwittingly was keeping hundreds, if not thousands, of people informed of what conditions were like aboard the ship, 140 characters (or less) at a time.
He's home now and has updated his blog, telling his story of his trip, the fire and his journey home.
As you can tell from his account, the emergency procedures were handled just as they should have been, and he has praise for the way Princess took care of the passengers and compensated them.
He mentions that several maritime personal injury attorneys began following his tweets. What he may not know is that they seemed to retweet his messages about the fire or things that weren't going well, but they didn't retweeted his postings that had anything positive to say about the way Princess handled it. So much for truth in tweeting.
He also seems surprised that Princess could update their website with information before the passengers had it on the ship. That speaks to miracle of modern communication and the ability it gives the home office (in California) to be very, very involved in every aspect of the ship's operation - in daily life and emergency situations.
We're glad Mr. Surratt and all the passengers are home safely. His blog is an interesting read.
He's home now and has updated his blog, telling his story of his trip, the fire and his journey home.
As you can tell from his account, the emergency procedures were handled just as they should have been, and he has praise for the way Princess took care of the passengers and compensated them.
He mentions that several maritime personal injury attorneys began following his tweets. What he may not know is that they seemed to retweet his messages about the fire or things that weren't going well, but they didn't retweeted his postings that had anything positive to say about the way Princess handled it. So much for truth in tweeting.
He also seems surprised that Princess could update their website with information before the passengers had it on the ship. That speaks to miracle of modern communication and the ability it gives the home office (in California) to be very, very involved in every aspect of the ship's operation - in daily life and emergency situations.
We're glad Mr. Surratt and all the passengers are home safely. His blog is an interesting read.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Update on Oceanic Detention
After patching the hull of Oceanic with epoxy, the owners of the ship a/k/a The Peace Boat, have decided to have it drydocked at Bayonne (NJ) on Sunday to permanently patch the small hole. The Coast Guard has approved the movement.
The passengers will have to disembark and be put up at hotels in the New York area until the repairs are completed and the Coast Guard allows the ship to sail.
“The fact that the owners of the Oceanic are sending it to dry dock shows their commitment to repairing the vessel and ensuring its safety,” said Cmdr. Anthony Ceraolo, Coast Guard Sector New York.
The Coast Guard did not give an estimate when the ship would be allowed to sail.
Coverage of the original detention was in an earlier item here on Cruiseblogger.
The passengers will have to disembark and be put up at hotels in the New York area until the repairs are completed and the Coast Guard allows the ship to sail.
“The fact that the owners of the Oceanic are sending it to dry dock shows their commitment to repairing the vessel and ensuring its safety,” said Cmdr. Anthony Ceraolo, Coast Guard Sector New York.
The Coast Guard did not give an estimate when the ship would be allowed to sail.
Coverage of the original detention was in an earlier item here on Cruiseblogger.
Friday, June 26, 2009
A Little Trouble for Oceanic
The US Coast Guard advises they detained SS Oceanic, which is currently operating as the Peace Boat, at New York on Thursday night.
The ship arrived at New York Thursday morning with 848 passengers aboard. The Coast Guard was performing a routine inspection when they discovered minor hull damage and several maintenance deficiencies.
A small hole was discovered, leaking approximately one gallon of water per hour into the vessel. Coast Guard inspectors also identified 16 discrepancies in the lifesaving, fire fighting, safety, and other maintenance categories. These also included a crack in the hull below the waterline on the port side of the vessel. The inspection began at approximately 9:00am and concluded about 11:30pm when the ship was declared detained.
According to the Coast Guard, Oceanic will have to remain in New York "until the master can provide a repair proposal and can make necessary repairs that directly impact the ships passengers and crew."
Oceanic will be familiar to many readers as a popular classic ship sailing for several lines over the years. It was delivered new to Home Lines in 1965. In 1985 it was purchased by Premier Cruises and sailed at StarShip Oceanic and Big Red Boat I. From 2000 to 2009 it sailed for Pullmantur under its original name, Oceanic. In March the ship was sold to a group which markets lengthy world cruises under the name of the Peace Boat.
Oceanic arrived New York Thursday morning from Iceland. It's next scheduled destination is Venezuela. Its schedule calls for a departure from New York at noon on Saturday, but it will not depart until it is given clearance by the Coast Guard.
Saturday update on the situation.
The ship arrived at New York Thursday morning with 848 passengers aboard. The Coast Guard was performing a routine inspection when they discovered minor hull damage and several maintenance deficiencies.
A small hole was discovered, leaking approximately one gallon of water per hour into the vessel. Coast Guard inspectors also identified 16 discrepancies in the lifesaving, fire fighting, safety, and other maintenance categories. These also included a crack in the hull below the waterline on the port side of the vessel. The inspection began at approximately 9:00am and concluded about 11:30pm when the ship was declared detained.
According to the Coast Guard, Oceanic will have to remain in New York "until the master can provide a repair proposal and can make necessary repairs that directly impact the ships passengers and crew."
Oceanic will be familiar to many readers as a popular classic ship sailing for several lines over the years. It was delivered new to Home Lines in 1965. In 1985 it was purchased by Premier Cruises and sailed at StarShip Oceanic and Big Red Boat I. From 2000 to 2009 it sailed for Pullmantur under its original name, Oceanic. In March the ship was sold to a group which markets lengthy world cruises under the name of the Peace Boat.
Oceanic arrived New York Thursday morning from Iceland. It's next scheduled destination is Venezuela. Its schedule calls for a departure from New York at noon on Saturday, but it will not depart until it is given clearance by the Coast Guard.
Saturday update on the situation.
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