Cruise Holidays Irish Cruise Blog

LEGO Love Boat on display in Chicago

Posted by Susan O’Driscoll

Check this out – a “LEGO Love Boat” created by 36-year-old Australian Ryan McNaught, one of only 12 certified LEGO builders in the world!

The LEGO Love Boat, will be on display this month in Chicago at Brickworld, the world's largest LEGO convention.

Made up of more than 250,000 LEGO bricks, the ship is McNaught's largest creation ever and designed to evoke the Princess Cruises ship that was the setting for the Love Boat television show of the 1980s

The LEGO ship includes over 450 miniature LEGO people "enjoying a fabulous cruise and the best holiday they have ever had," McNaught writes on his website, thebrickman.com. The vessel measures over ten feet long by nearly five feet high and includes powered functions such as a moving anchor, bow thruster and propeller. The lifeboat also can be raised and lowered.

"The ship of course has all the Love Boat crew on-board as well as a whole series of '80s washed-up TV stars," quips McNaught, who builds such models in his off hours. By day he's an information technology worker in Melbourne, Australia.

Cruiser in deep trouble

Posted by Susan O’Driscoll

We all know the sign of a great holiday is not wanting to go home, but some people take things a bit too far. 

Take Ryan Ehlert, a passenger aboard Holland America's MS Ryndam. The thought of his Caribbean cruise coming to an end was so distressing, he decided to drop the anchor in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico!

 

 

The 44-year old Californian managed to sneak into a restricted area on the eleventh deck as the vessel made its way from Costa Maya in Mexico, to Tampa, Florida. Then released the rear anchor before throwing a lifebuoy over the railings.

The following day, the captain made an announcement asking passengers for information. Noone came forward, but Ehlert was later identified from CCTV footage. Unfortunately for him, this momentary lapse of judgement may cost him a $250,000 fine and up to 20 years in jail! In future it might be better to suffer in silence like the rest of us.

 

Message in a Bottle

Posted by Susan O’Driscoll

A message in a bottle has been found years after it was thrown from a cruise ship.

The message was found by a couple walking along an Australian beach and inside was a $2 coin, a pen and a note that steered the couple to cruiser Glenda Parker.

Parker, another Aussie, shared the story of how her late husband Ross had dropped the bottle from Pacific Princess cruise ship 7 years ago near Vanuatu - an island in the South Pacific - nearly 1400 miles from where it was found.

"I often wondered what happened to it after Ross had died and then I got a call," Parker told The Northern Star. "The person on the other end told me he had my bottle, (and) I just screamed ... the bottle had been travelling the ocean for more than six years."

Adds Parker: "I'd love to know where it's been."

Cruise Addicts

 

Posted by Susan O’Driscoll

 

Some people will do anything to go on a cruise..

One woman sold her brothers war medals while another stole £900,000 to fund her cruise addiction.

Elaine Deering's brother was a brave Royal Marine who raced to the aid of injured colleagues when their armoured Viking personnel carrier was blown up by insurgents in war-torn Helmand Province. Tragically, Rob stepped on a booby trap during the rescue bid and died. He was just 33.

The marine was particularly close to elder sister Elaine Deering, who was left his war medals, uniform and an inscribed memorial shell casing. Yet the single mum has now sold the cherished military mementoes for a paltry £1,100 to an eBay trader – to help pay for a luxury cruise around the Mediterranean.

In another case a bookkeeper who has admitted stealing almost £900,000 in order to satisfy cruise cravings, has been jailed for four years.

Deborah Wolstencroft, 51, from Devon, admitted thefts of £877,000 over an 8-year period, from computer company Marquesa Search Systems. The money was spent on cruises - mostly QE2, plus Concorde flight tickets. Sentencing her at Exeter Crown Court, the judge announced that she had committed a "serious breach of trust".

Cruise ship rescues stranded tourists

Posted by Susan O’Driscoll

Inaugural celebrations on a new cruise ship have been delayed as the vessel makes its way to Spain to rescue British and Irish tourists stranded by recent air delays.

The 122,000-tonne Celebrity Eclipse is due to leave the city tonight en route to Bilbao and is expected to pick up about 2,000 stranded Britons desperate to get home. Some of the delayed holidaymakers have been stranded for seven days following the volcanic eruption in Iceland last week. Many were on package holidays with major UK tour operators.

Richard Fain, chairman of Celebrity Cruises, said: ''The events affecting air travel are completely unprecedented, and it is in times like these that the global travel industry needs to pull together.

''Collecting stranded British and Irish holidaymakers is a fitting first mission for new ship Celebrity Eclipse.

''We hope that guests initially invited to join the launch celebrations on April 22 will understand the change of plan, and we look forward to welcoming as many of them as possible to the naming ceremony on April 24 instead.''

The luxury liner was to launch a two-day celebration on Thursday before the crisis caused by the Iceland volcano eruption.

The naming celebrations are now planned to go ahead on Saturday and Celebrity Eclipse will be named by Hampshire yachtswoman and breast cancer survivor Emma Pontin on April 24.

The naming of the ship will follow Celebrity SunWalk 2010 where men, women and children will take to the streets to raise cash for breast cancer charities by completing a powerwalk around the city.

Celebrity Cruises said it was working to accommodate guests who were scheduled to join a two-night launch celebration sailing and it would contact all affected guests directly.

See the fantastic Celebrity Eclipse below.

 

QE2 used to smuggle IRA weapons

Posted by Susan O’Driscoll

 

News has emerged that during the 1970’s Cunard’s flagship cruise liner, QE2, was used to smuggle IRA weapons and explosives.

Brendan Hughes, a former member of the merchant Navy, helped to ship hoards of guns and grenades in a bid to help those crew members who supported the IRA.

Since his confession another IRA activist has confirmed the smuggling, and explained that rifles were taken off the liner hidden in the lining of long coats. During one QE2 operation, he also met his wife.

Cunard said they were completely unaware of the illegal activity and the smuggling was carried out without their consent.

Cirque Dreams and Dinner

Posted by Susan O'Driscoll

Norwegian Epic has created a one of a kind theatrical dining experience, Cirque Dreams & Dinner. An extravaganza of world class talent, Broadway acrobatics and a touch of tasteful participation, this show is sure to provide an unforgettable dining sensation. See the video below for a better idea of what to expect.

Giant wave kills two cruisers

Posted by Susan O’Driscoll

Two cruise passengers have reportedly died after a series of powerful waves hit a cruise vessel during stormy weather in the Mediterranean.

The waves up to 26ft in height also slightly injured 14 others on board the Louis Majesty.

The incident took place near Marseilles as the cruse ship with 1,350 passengers and 600 crew sailed between Barcelona and Genoa.

The ship returned to Barcelona last night and the injured were taken to hospital. The victims have been identified as German and Italian.

A spokesman for Louis Cruise Lines said during the bad weather the waves were unusually high and the glass windshield in the forward section of the vessel was smashed.

The Louis Majesty was on a 12-day Mediterranean cruise.

Jumping ship joke gets couple thrown off cruise

 

Posted by Susan O'Driscoll

 

How do you cause panic on a cruise ship? Threaten to jump overboard. And that’s exactly what happened to New Zealand couple, Steve and Erica Taylor. They were travelling onboard Holland America's Volendam around Alaska last year when Steve asked for a cabin upgrade with a balcony.

"Me, being very silly, said that if I threaten to jump overboard, would you then say, 'I will find you a cabin,'" Taylor says he joked. "That is the worst thing you can say on a cruise ship."

 

Immediately the couple were sent to the ship's doctor for an evaluation and were later then confined to their cabin. At the next port, Juneau, they were sent to a local hospital for further evaluation.

Although cleared by the hospital, they were not allowed back on board the ship and had to make their own way back to Vancouver at a cost of $1,160.

Erica Taylor said she "only later found out cruise lines have been struggling with the issue of people booking cruises to commit suicide".

"I can understand they are paranoid about it," she says. "Steve should never have mentioned jumping overboard."

The 'most haunted' cruise ship

Cruise-goers on Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas are in for a surprise of the supernatural kind this summer.

Paranormal sensation David Wells, who has presented popular shows such as the Travel Channel's Most Haunted, is regarded as a leading astrologer, psychic and medium

On this cruise departing from Miami in June, holidaymakers will be encouraged to ask him the questions they've always wanted to know, such as 'am I psychic?' or 'what does a sprit look like?'

According to USA Today, travellers will also join the celebrity one of the nights under the stars for "a remarkable meditation (that) will enable them to re-align themselves with the cosmos".

Wells commented saying: "The cruise will definitely encourage people to think about possibilities and show ways to unlock the potential we all have within us to use our mind to create greater balance, awareness and harmony in our lives."