Many are choosing to not just pamper their passengers, but also sort their recyclables, lower energy use, reduce waste and boost water efficiency.

In an effort to satisfy environmental regulations, as well as incorporate even stronger voluntary standards, the industry – from ship design and maintenance to on-board activities for kids – is trending toward a greener approach.

An island getaway doesn’t require leaving eco-initiatives at home. Photo: Cruise-addicts.com

“Ship to Shelter” Program

Ever taken home those tiny bottles of lotion or shampoo from your state room? Holland America Line is putting leftover toiletries and other excess shipboard items to good use in various parts of the world.

Along with mini-packets of bath gel and shampoo, the donations from Holland America’s Ship to Shelter program include such items as towels, bed sheets and kitchen utensils. Among the recipients is a social-service organization in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,  that provides hot showers and food to financially strapped families. Marti Forman, who runs the Cooperative Feeding Program, is delighted to distribute the much-appreciated bounty. Even simple items like disposable packets of soap are a luxury, Forman said, for some of the people served by the programs.

Sometimes, the ships’ loot includes offbeat items like exercise weights and silver-plated ice buckets. Those, she said, are great for fundraisers.

Taking Advantage of Sunshine

Celebrity Cruise’s ship, the Solstice, is equipped to create its own energy from the sun’s rays. Its 216 solar panels produce enough power to handle 7,000 LED lights, or to run the cruise ship’s passenger elevators throughout the trip.

Other ships with the Celebrity Cruises fleet are also enjoying some green modifications. They include:

• Replacing halogen and incandescent light bulbs with more efficient sources of light, like light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and fluorescent bulbs.
• Adding higher-efficiency appliances. The ice makers, for example, use 65 percent less water and about half the energy of previous equipment.
• Conserving water in various areas, from efficient shower heads to the use of river rocks, rather than ice, in buffet displays.
• Painting hulls (the body of the ship, part of which is underwater) with an environmentally safe product that creates a smoother surface, aimed at improving fuel efficiency.
• Teaching crew members to work toward reducing air-conditioning waste in areas that are not in use.

Zero Waste Overboard

Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises are two lines that are going above and beyond: They exceed environmental regulations and do not permit any type of disposal at sea, according to Tim Rubacky, director of corporate communications for Prestige Cruise Holdings, which owns both the lines.

Some of the wastewater that’s treated on-board is reused for such things as washing the decks or cooling the engines, Rubacky said.

Recycling Ahoy

In 2007, Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) kicked off a project to include used cooking oil among its recyclables. More than 15,000 gallons went to an organic farmer in Vero Beach, Fla., who converted the oil to 870 gallons of fuel for his farming equipment, according to the cruise line.

Other items recycled by NCL that year include:

• 96 tons of cardboard
• 206 tons of wood pallets
• 364 tons of plastics
• 909 tons of scrap metal
• 1,813 tons of glass

Some of NCL’s other environmental endeavors include:

• Crew members commitment to separate recyclable materials from regular trash.
• The Kid’s Crew program for children includes environmental topics in its games and activities.
• Some projects for teens offer community service hours applicable for their high school requirements.

Disney Cruise Line also supports recycling on-board, totaling about 405 tons a year. Part of that tally includes plastic film containers from tourists’ cameras. About 50,000 used canisters – 900 pounds worth – are collected and recycled.

Disney Cruise Line also:

• Recycles used cooking oil from the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder ships. The oil is used to help power some maintenance vehicles on the ships’ private island, Castaway Cay, saving up to 8,000 gallons of traditional fuel annually.
• Staffs ships with Environmental Officers to promote green practices at sea.

Eco Travelers

It is important to let the people who you are traveling with as well as travel agents and cruise staff, know that these eco-friendly procedures are a must for you. Discuss that aspect in comment cards, conversations and e-mails. The more demand for environmental responsibility, the more the industry will work to comply.

Additionally, keep in mind that even though you’re on vacation, stick to your waste-saving routines like you would at home. In the space of a relaxing retreat, you don’t want to forget simple acts lik e turning off lights when you leave a room, water when you brush your teeth or reusing towels and sheets.

Queen Elizabeth is the latest ship from Cunard

Cunard Line just revealed itinerary and design plans for its newest ocean liner, Queen Elizabeth, which is scheduled to enter service on Oct. 12, 2010. Queen Elizabeth will be the third new ocean liner to be introduced by Cunard in six years and the second largest Cunard ship ever built.

Queen Elizabeth will feature the unique Cunard traditions linking her with her sisters Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria, and their predecessors. The new ship is named after Cunard’s first Queen Elizabeth, the famed Cunard ship that was launched in 1938 as the world’s largest liner. The new ship will reference her predecessor in interior grandeur, decor and style, but with a modern twist.

From the outside, her distinctive black and red livery will hint at the experience that differentiates a Cunard liner from a modern-day cruise ship. This will be most evident in the ship’s adherence to liner decor, with elegant double and triple height public rooms on a grand scale, intricately detailed interiors replete with rich wood panelling, mosaics, gleaming chandeliers, and cool marbles. Art Deco features will pay homage to the original Queen Elizabeth and will allow the new ship to reflect a more civilized era of travel.

As a successor to Queen Elizabeth 2, the ship will also reflect this great liner via artwork and memorabilia and will have its very own Yacht Club, named after the aft lounge on QE2. Offering guests 270-degree views and the perfect setting for activities and gatherings during the day, it will double as an evening venue for cocktails and dancing. Similarly, through photography, memorabilia and exhibits, the ship will recognize the historic links Cunard has enjoyed with Royalty over the years.

The ship’s distinctive public spaces include:

Queens Room – a new take on the traditional Cunard ballroom, with artwork depicting views from royal palaces, and photography of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family, along with a dance floor for grand balls and tea dances.

Garden Lounge – with its magnificent vaulted glass ceiling creating a conservatory feel inspired by the glass houses of Kew Gardens, beneath where guests will enjoy supper clubs, and mix dining with dancing under the stars.

Games Deck – Named after the same deck on the original Queen Elizabeth, the Games Deck will offer paddle tennis, croquet and traditional British bowls. (Interestingly, the ship’s home port of Southampton is home to the oldest surviving bowls green in the world, first used in 1299.)

Midships Bar – will pay homage to her namesake liner, the first Queen Elizabeth, with memorabilia displayed from that era.

The travelling public are trading in their air miles for nautical miles in ever increasing numbers, and nowhere, from the North Pole to the South Pole, is off limits. If you can get there in a ship, you can probably book a cruise.

Not a year seems to go by without the world’s newest biggest passenger ship being launched, and as the world once again gets used to cabin life, routes multiply and ever more niche markets appear.

From celebrity guests to unusual hobbies, it’s all happening on the high seas, so here’s our roundup of the more eclectic cruises available to discerning seagoers.

Activity cruises

If shuffleboard and napkin folding classes just don’t do it for you, and the thought of sunbathing fills you with abject boredom, there are plenty of cruises that will keep your mind and body occupied while you explore those exotic climes.

For culinary fans, for example, Oceania Cruises offers a 14-night Mediterranean cruise from Barcelona to Istanbul, (departing on April 4). The ‘Gems of Antiquity’ includes live cooking displays, special menus and culinary events by Oceania’s Executive Master Chef Jacques Pépin.

Passengers will also have the opportunity to enjoy cuisine from five countries as Regatta follows its continental itinerary

If you’re a motor sports fan, Hebridean also run the ‘Grand Prix Extravanganza’ itinerary with none other than Murray Walker. This cruise along the French Riviera includes two days spent enjoying front-row coverage of the 67th Monaco Grand Prix, and runs for seven nights from May 20.

History buffs are catered for by Fred Olsen’s Ancient Civilisations cruise (from November 5). It takes in the key destinations of the ancient world, including Rome, Athens and Alexandria. There are also lectures and a comprehensive programme of excursions, including Classic Rome, the site of Olympia in Katakolon, the Pyramids, Sphinx and the Egyptian Museum in Alexandria.

Finally, Kirker Holidays’ musical tour of Britain and Ireland is a nine-night cruise taking in Edinburgh, the Orkney Islands, Dublin, Pembrokeshire, Falmouth and Guernsey. Guests are treated to an exclusive programme of performances introduced by Petroc Trelawney of Radio 3 .

Wildlife cruises

One of the biggest attractions of cruising is the opportunity to take in local wildlife in some of the world’s most exotic locations.

The Galapagos Islands are a cruising staple, but travelling by luxury yacht (actually the honeymoon yacht of Princess Grace of Monaco), it’s possible to see sites out of bounds to larger ships. Iguanas, giant tortoises and sea lions await the 18 guests of the M/Y Grace.

The extreme north and south of the globe always offer up some spectacular highlights. The Arctic Explorer cruise is a two-week adventure from Svalbard to Iceland, exploring the islands of Spitsbergen, Moffen, Greenland and Westmann. Zodiac boat launches take passengers closer to wildlife, from polar bears to walruses (August 30 to September 13).

Penguins, seals and whales await in the southern seas of Antarctica, the earth’s coldest, driest, highest and least populated continent. Bailey Robinson’s nine-day air-cruise on board the Grigory Mikheev includes daily exploratory landings.

River cruises

Cruises needn’t just take place in the open seas. The rivers of the world also provide fascinating cruising opportunities, taking in major cities and unusual inland routes.  One of the most famous, of course, is the Nile Cruise.

Voyages Jules Verne offers a seven-night Nile cruise, aboard a four-star vessel, visiting the key sites of Ancient Egypt, including the Valley of the Kings and the great temples of Karnak and Luxor.

The Dnieper River may not be quite as well known, but the route from Kiev to Odessa also has some great highlights, taking in the very best of Ukraine’s history. From Yalta’s White Palace to Odessa’s Potmenkin Steps, guests can see how societies from the Vikings to the Tartars and the Cossacks have influenced today’s Ukraine.

China has very much arrived on the travel radar, and the Yangtze River is one of its most iconic sights. Audley Travel offers an epic river journey through the Yangtze Three Gorges, exploring China’s otherwise inaccessible heartland. The cruise uses a number of different boats, all of them with comfortable, en-suite cabins, and a range of facilities.

But the mother of all river cruises has to be the Amazon.

It pays to travel in style, and the Aqua is the first true luxury vessel ever to cruise the northern Amazon, with just 12 spacious guest suites. A four-day cruise takes travellers to the backwaters of the Tahuayo River and Charo Lake, and of course there’s wildlife aplenty, with monkeys, sloths and a wide array of birdlife.

The Ocean Terminal takes shape

FOR years it was the unmistakable sight that welcomed ships and their crew back home to the safe waters of Southampton. The Ocean Terminal, a cathedral of art deco design, was an immense dockside gateway able to cope with the world’s largest liners. Now another, far more modern building, bearing the same name is nearing completion in Southampton.

Vastly different from its earlier namesake, the new Ocean Terminal in the Eastern Docks, which will soon become a dominant waterfront landmark, has been constructed to handle the new generation of cruise ships now based in the city.

The ever-increasing numbers of vessels using Southampton Docks, each able to carry thousands of passengers, meant the port needed extra capacity over and above the three existing terminals.

Over the last 12 months work has been under way building the new £19m Ocean Terminal, which will accommodate up to 4,000 people at any one time, and which is expected to handle its first ship, the P&O Cruises’ vessel Oceana, on Saturday, May 9 this year.

Working in the original Ocean Terminal – click here

Creating a new terminal is a highly complex operation, as the building and surrounding area have to be able to deal with an almost constant stream of people arriving and departing, together with large numbers of passengers’ cars, fleets of coaches, and a non-stop convoy of lorries bringing ship’s stores.

Add all these requirements together and it quickly becomes clear that this needs to be no ordinary building.

The new Ocean Terminal, on the opposite side of the dock to where its predecessor once stood, certainly does not disappoint.

Will Jeffery, the senior project engineer for the terminal, said: “Function must always come before form, and successful operation is paramount.

“The Ocean Terminal is made of a steel framework and painted aluminium cladding while, nearby, will be eight acres of land for a longterm car park.’’ It has been designed to handle the vast mountain of luggage taken off a ship at the end of a cruise and, later the same day, another equally large number of bags and suitcases that has to be reloaded before departure.

With bigger and bigger cruise ships, passenger numbers have increased drastically, so the new Ocean Terminal has been built to ease the flow of people as they arrive on the dockside and check in before joining the vessel.

The space inside the building, divided into two separate floors, is huge, with enough room to accommodate 40 check-in desks and 1,500 chairs, together with a 350ft long baggage hall.

When passengers arrive at the terminal they will leave their vehicles at three long drop-off lanes all under a large curved roof. They then move into the building and take either an escalator, stairs or lift to the first floor, where they will go through security checks and join the ship.

Purpose-built mobile walk-ways, able to move up and down with the changing tide levels, will link the terminal to the entry point on the side of the vessel’s hull.

It was all very different when the great liners of yesteryear would gently come alongside the original Ocean Terminal – built in the late 1940s – when great passenger ships criss-crossed the Atlantic, providing a regular scheduled service.

An army of stevedores manhandled luggage and stores, while up in the terminal lounge representatives, each in their own uniform, from London’s top hotels and travel agents eased their guests through customs and immigration before they boarded the waiting boat train or were whisked away in chauffeur-driven cars.

Clement Attlee, the then Prime Minister, performed the terminal’s opening ceremony on July 31, 1950. The building continued to stand in the docks until 1983, when the decision was taken for it to be demolished.

uk cruise show

Embark on cruise adventures – Amazon River treks, voyages to the Antarctic Circle, wine tasting in Argentina – at the first-ever Cruise Show in London. Held on Saturday, March 21 and Sunday, March 22 at London’s ExCeL, the show, organised by the Daily Telegraph, will feature a whole host of other activities, from win-a-cruise contests to panels of cruise experts who will discuss topics ranging from family cruises to expedition adventures.

The Cruise Show is the next best thing to actually being onboard – and aims to offer a colourful, casual and fun way for travellers, whether virgin cruisers or veterans, to learn about cruising. “The Cruise Show is a real chance for people to ask questions without pressure,” says Chris Erasmus, an event organiser.

The show will consist of three different features:

The Sky Travel Cruise Theatre will host the aforementioned expert panel sessions that also include “new to cruise Q&A”, “cruising destinations,” “casual style cruising” and “great value luxury voyages”. Special speakers on hand will feature Saga Magazine’s Emma Soames, who will chat about best books to pack for cruises, and “Wish You Were Here” presenter Judith Chalmers, a well-travelled cruise veteran. Cruise Critic editor in chief Carolyn Spencer Brown will be joining established travel writers such as the Telegraph’s Jane Archer and Sky Travel’s Steve Read.

In the Expedition Cruise Theatre, all manner of really offbeat, adventure-oriented trips will be spotlighted. Among them include “cruising around the Galapagos Islands,” “Amazon Adventure,” “South of Patagonia,” and “The Northern Lights”. Among special guest speakers will be BBC broadcaster Paul Rose who will discuss his travel to Antarctica.

Want to snag a special offer on a future trip? Most major cruise lines – and many smaller, more adventure-oriented companies – will be on hand to answer questions, offer trinkets, and provide brochures and other info.

Among those that will be part of the Cruise Show include ACE Study Tours, AMA Waterways, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara, Compagnie du Ponant, Cruceros Australis, Crystal, Cunard, Discover the World, easyCruise, Fred. Olsen, G.A.P. Adventures, Hapag-Lloyd, Hebridean, Holland America Line, Hurtigruten, Indian Ocean Cruises, Island Cruises, Noble Caledonia, Ocean Village, Oceania, P&O, and Page & Moy.

Also participating are Peregrine Adventures, Peter Deilmann, Polar Star, Princess, Regent Seven Seas, Royal Caribbean, SAGA, Seabourn, Silversea, Star Clippers, Transocean and Viking River.

Prize-winning opportunities are offered by Fred Olsen, which is giving away a cruise on Balmoral and Saga’s Spirit of Adventure, an expedition line.

Tickets to the cruise show – which enable attendees to participate in all events – are £8 per person in advance and £12 at the door. As a media sponsor, however, Cruise Critic is offering a special 2-for-1 discount for tickets purchased in advance; when booking, please mention ‘Cruise Critic’. For more information on the Cruise Show, log on to Cruisingshow.co.uk.

When it comes to sharing tables with people they don’t know, Brits would rather lose their lunches than be forced to share them with Jack and Jane Smith from Cabin B130 during a meal — or so the respondents in a recent CruiseCritic.co.uk dining survey have indicated.

UK cruises are picky

In February, we asked CruiseCritic.co.uk readers about their dining preferences. More than 45 percent of the survey’s more than 300 participants said the worst thing about cruise dining is sitting with people they might not like. Only six percent found seasickness to be a less desirable fate.

Here’s what else we learned:

When asked which cruise line is best for dining, just three percent chose Norwegian Cruise Line — interesting results, considering readers’ proven penchant for dining sans strangers. NCL is well known for its Freestyle Dining policy, which does not force passengers to eat with random fellow cruisers and has no set dining times, assigned seating or dress codes.

So which line did take top honours? Cunard was most popular, raking in nearly 21 percent of votes. P&O Cruises, Royal Caribbean and Princess Cruises finished second, third and fourth and were followed by Celebrity Cruises, which garnered about 12 percent of votes — impressive, considering it wasn’t even on the list of choices (a fact that prompted participants to write it in).

When asked about the best dining attributes onboard, cruisers said that the quality and variety of food — particularly during dinner, the favourite meal of the day for nearly three quarters of respondents — are most important and believe that dining experiences vastly affect the overall ambience of each sailing. In fact, they feel so strongly about ship cuisine that 60 percent would definitely choose a cruise line based on its dining track record.

That seems fitting, since more than half of responding Brits said they tend to eat a lot more than usual while on holiday and often gain a bit of weight. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean they splurge. When asked how often they attend alternative, for-fee restaurants onboard over the course of a weeklong cruise, nearly 37 percent of respondents said they would never eat at one, while another 53 percent said they’d only take advantage of alternative dining once or twice.

Other survey highlights show that U.K. cruisers favour celebrity chef James Martin, of the BBC’s “Ready Steady Cook” and “Saturday Kitchen,” who develops menus for Ocean Village. They also listed “Hell’s Kitchen” star Gordon Ramsey as the ideal host for a gourmet voyage.

McClatchy Newspapers (www.mctdirect.com)

Kathryn Winter of Chicago was one of the passengers in a Zodiac following a gray whale and its calf in Bahia Magdalena when the mother approached her admirers. The curious whale drew up to the boat, within reach of the outstretched arms.

“I leaned out and was petting her,” Winter said. “She was really soft, like there was a bit of foam rubber underneath all the barnacles.”

Then, the mother did what whales do when they surface _ she exhaled a salty blast from her dual blowholes, soaking Winter and everyone else in the rubber raft.

“Who knew she was going to sneeze?” said another of the passengers, brandishing a waterlogged camera.

Our eight-day excursion with Lindblad Expeditions aboard the National Geographic Sea Bird was titled “Baja California: Among the Great Whales.” Indeed, blue whales, humpbacks, pilot black whales, orcas and gray whales were the stars, with a supporting cast of dolphins, sea lions, pelicans and other ocean creatures.

Prices for the trip range from $4,620 to $7,560, according to accommodations, and include round-trip airfare from Los Angeles to La Paz. Departures are in January, February and March, when the whales visit Mexico.

Lindblad, one of the world’s top eco-tourism companies, has teamed up with National Geographic to offer trips to the planet’s most interesting places, covering the globe from the Arctic to Antarctica. The 200 or so islands off Baja California in the Pacific and Sea of Cortez are known as Mexico’s Galapagos because of the evolutionary treasures found there.

Isolated for a few million years, uninhabited because of a lack of fresh water and surrounded by nutrient-rich seas, the islands boast the largest number of endemic species in North America: bats, lizards, rattlesnakes, jackrabbits, squirrels, plants and insects found nowhere else in the world. Because of their rare inhabitants, the islands are protected. You need a permit to walk them, and marine reserves surround many of them.

While most of the 54 passengers on the Sea Bird were entranced by the charismatic marine mammals, the most exciting find of my trip was not quite so charming. The rattleless rattlesnake that naturalist Adrian Cerda Ardura turned up on a three-hour hike of Isla Santa Catalina was understandably upset when coaxed from the shade of a cactus. We wanted to see if it really had lost its rattle over eons. It had.

Female gray whales travel from the Chukchi Sea in the Arctic 7,000 miles down the California coast to Bahia Magdalena in winter to give birth or to get pregnant. Males follow to help in the latter process. The migrants begin showing up in December.

The Mexican government was one of the first to give whales protection, outlawing fishing in the bay in 1954 while the whales are present in the shallow lagoons. In return for the loss of their business, the fishermen were granted the 25 whale-watching permits, and each of the Sea Bird’s four whale-watching Zodiacs had a local fisherman aboard. Regulations limit watching to two boats per whale, at a respectful distance. You don’t chase whales; you follow them. If the whales come close, it’s their decision.

After dousing the raftload of tourists, the mother went beneath the Zodiac, which briefly traveled under “whale power,” to the delight of its occupants. The baby then joined the fun, moving up to touch the boat and getting its share of love.

Mike Greenfelder, the Lindblad marine biologist who was piloting the Zodiac, noted that Bahia Magdalena presents a unique opportunity for whale watchers.

“Occasionally, in the Arctic, we’ll get Minke whales that are curious,” he said. “But here, mother whales will come up and rub the boat. They’ll push their babies to the boat. We get babies that won’t leave us alone. It’s always something to pet a whale.”

Lindblad offers voyages on 12 ships, including the new National Geographic Explorer, an ice-class vessel that can navigate polar passages. The Sea Bird and its sister ship, the Sea Lion, have 31 outside cabins that can hold 62 guests.

The Sea Bird has a lounge and restaurant, and decks fore and aft for wildlife watching, sunning and reading. The cabins are cozy, with plenty of space to stash your stuff, and feature showers in the commode closet and a sink in the room. Each cabin has two single beds or one double.

While comfortable, the Sea Bird would not be mistaken for a splashy cruise ship. No disco, no ice rink, no swimming pools, not even a hot tub, although a masseuse was on board. It had one thing in common with the larger ships: Plenty of good food, with desserts beginning at breakfast and continuing throughout the day.

But Lindblad attracts a clientele eager to walk off those extra calories. Most are 50 or older, many are repeat cruisers with Lindblad, and all enjoy exploring the natural world.

They hiked on every island and signed up when snorkeling was offered, although the water was 66 degrees, chilly even with the wetsuits provided.

Which brings us to our weirdest experience with nature.

We took the Zodiacs to Los Islotes, a group of tiny islands of red volcanic rock that look like they are dusted with powdered sugar. The icing was guano deposited by the seabirds that breed there. California sea lions give birth on the island, and the young males come out to swim with snorkelers, performing their graceful underwater ballets.

But the frisky youngsters nip one another and will grab the wrist or flipper of a swimmer. “They look at us and say, ‘Wow, a playmate,’” said Sue Perin, our expedition leader. “Snorkel with your hands by your side, no appendages out to attract the sea lions.”

The pups swim around you, blowing bubbles, and occasionally streak straight toward your mask, veering away at the last second in a daredevil maneuver.

Dr. George Terranova, the physician on our ship, had a more unusual encounter. One of the young males climbed onto his back as he swam and, well, did what young male creatures sometimes do.

“All of a sudden, I had something heavy on my back and two flippers around me,” Terranova said. “He actually stayed there for 30 or 40 seconds. It was like a puppy humping somebody’s leg. Hilarious. That’s a behavior nobody ever told me about.”

A half dozen blue whales were in the waters around the ship when we awoke the first morning. The whales can grow to more than 100 feet long and 150 tons, making them the largest animals ever to roam the planet. They dive deep to dine on krill, a tiny shrimp-like crustacean.

“This is the healthiest blue whale population on earth _ some 2,000 feed in these waters,” said Greenfelder, the marine biologist.

The blue whales were followed by pilot black whales and four orcas, or killer whales. The orcas were the “transient” type, which hunt down prey in packs, like wolves. Transient killer whales will eat blue whales. (Watch a YouTube video of an orca attacking a great white shark at tinyurl.com/yphyxx.)

Dozens of long-beaked common dolphins chased our ship, gathering at the front to “bow ride” the pressure wave generated by our passage. They were replaced by bottle-nosed dolphins, which tagged along with the Zodiacs.

At Bahia Bonanza, you could join a hike led by a naturalist, kayak along the shore or walk on your own along the long, curving white-sand beach. Coming back through the sand dunes, I discovered the bleached skull of a big horn sheep. We were told to leave our discoveries where we found them, so I took a photo to show Ardura, the naturalist. “That’s a goat,” he said.

Our evenings began with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the lounge, where we’d recap events of the day. Greenfelder used scuba gear to shoot video of the snorkeling and explained each of the reef residents that appeared on the screen.

“A parrotfish,” he said. “It’s teeth are fused into a beak. It eats coral and poops out nice clean sand.”

After two days of watching gray whales in Bahia Magdalena, we headed by bus across the peninsula to La Paz, where our voyage had started. Our only touch with civilization had been a brief visit to San Jose del Cabo, which retains some of its small-town charm and has a walkway along a wetlands filled with coots, grebes, osprey and frigatebirds. A local, for some reason, was clutching a live black-crowned night heron, its legs bound with nylon cord. We ratted him out to the uniformed policia patrolling on bikes.

One evening was spent at a beach barbecue; on another, Capt. George Coughlin sped up to catch sunset at Land’s End, the scenic tip of the peninsula at Cabo San Lucas, the former fishing village turned mega-resort that docks up to six cruise ships a day. The timing was perfect. The sun was glowing orange through El Arco, the arch cut in the cliff above the water. We were joined by a sightseeing boat from the resort town.

Loaded to the gills, in more ways than one, laughter and voices came from the boat as it circled the Sea Bird with the stereo blaring the Baha Men.

“Who let the dogs out? Woof, woof, woof, woof. Who let the dogs out?”

Party animals, a common species in Cabo.

Cruise lines claim that more Britons than ever are opting to cruise in 2009

…….A raft of cut-price offers is encouraging record numbers of Britons to book cruises this year, leading lines have reported.

Cruise lines claim that more Britons than ever are opting to cruise in 2009. Despite the economic downturn, Royal Caribbean has reported that bookings were up by 40 per cent in January and February compared to the same period last year. While Carnival, Britain’s biggest cruise line (it includes Cunard, P&O and Holland America among its brands), claimed that in the last week of February it received more bookings that at any time in its 37-year history.

Carnival’s bookings in January and February were up by a quarter on the same period in 2008. A spokesman for Fred Olsen also confirmed that its sales were ahead of this time last year.

Jo Rzymowska, general manager for Royal Caribbean, admitted that profits would be affected by the continued need for price promotions. But she added that there has been no marked shift towards last-minute bookings or any rise in cancellations due to the financial downturn – a claim supported by a recent poll of Telegraph readers which found that nearly 40 per cent still booked their summer holiday at least six months before departure.

“We calculated the right approach but we’re by no means thinking his is going to be any easy ride for the rest of 2009 and into 2010,” said Ms Rzymowska.

The price cuts are expected to continue as, with more than 40 new ships due to be launched by 2012, tens of thousands of extra berths will need to be filled. Among the new ships are two 5,400-capacity ships scheduled for launch by Royal Caribbean later this year.

Ms Rzymowska added that there was a growing demand for cruises out of the UK and all-inclusive fly-cruises in Europe as passengers look for both financial security and the ability to fix their costs ahead of travel.

The same demand for all-inclusive packages has been mirrored by in the mainstream summer holiday market. According to research by The Co-operative Travel, sales of half-board holidays are up by over 50 per cent and all-inclusive breaks by nearly a quarter, compared to the same period last year.

Article by Charles Starmer-Smith

In a thick Italian accent, Capt. Arma announced that there was a bad storm in the Mozambique Channel to the north, in the direction where we were scheduled to sail that evening. Therefore, the Silver Wind would be forced to stay docked in Maputo for another 24 hours.

One thought immediately popped into my head: Swaziland or bust. I had wanted to visit the small Kingdom of Swaziland that day, only about 50 miles from Maputo, but was unable to find a reliable and reasonably priced car and driver to make the trip. Now with an unexpected extra day, I hoped I could make the necessary arrangements.

Why the fascination with Swaziland? Well, for one thing, there was something exotic about the name that had always intrigued me. And I knew it was one of the last remaining absolute monarchies in the world, meaning the King has complete power. Also, one day was more than enough to spend in Maputo, a congested city with few tourist attractions and pesky hawkers constantly in my face trying to sell tacky souvenirs.

Finally, it would be a chance to check another country off the list. I have long wanted to join a fairly exclusive group called the Travelers’ Century Club. To be eligible, you have to visit at least 100 countries. I’ve now been to more than 90 and a visit to Swaziland would get me one step closer to membership.

I approached Mr. Rudy, the local port agent on board. Did he know someone who could take me to Swaziland the following day? I told him it was essential that the car be reliable and comfortable and that the driver speaks good English. He nodded and said he would have the details for me the following morning.

I spent the evening trying to recruit fellow passengers to join me. There’s always safety in numbers and sharing the cost would be nice, too. After a bit of cajoling, I was able to get commitments from Linda, a retired accountant from Georgia (and a fellow country-counter), and Bob, an attorney from Illinois.

The next morning Mr. Rudy said he had lined up a reliable car and driver. “Of course,” he said, when I asked him if the driver spoke English. We agreed on the fare — $400 – which Linda, Bob and I would split.

As we left the ship at 10 a.m., we were reminded by a Silver Wind staff member that the ship would be sailing that afternoon for Madagascar at 5 p.m., with or without us. We only planned on a four or five-hour trip, so that gave us plenty of time to spare.

Mr. Rudy drove the three of us to the port entrance about a mile from the ship where Dudley, our driver, was waiting in a white Toyota four-door Land Cruiser. We were off on our adventure to Swaziland.

Or so we thought.

Dudley drove a few blocks through Maputo’s chaotic traffic and abruptly pulled into some sort of service station. The next thing I knew someone was adding oil to the engine and replacing a bald front left tire.

I looked around the vehicle. There were no seatbelts in the backseat (more a problem for Linda and Bob as I had grabbed the front seat next to Dudley), no air conditioning (temperatures that day were in the high 80s with humidity to match), and a cracked windshield with a wiper dangling from its holder like a broken twig. I think my window was the only one in the car that actually moved up or down.

This definitely did not appear to be a reliable and comfortable vehicle as Mr. Rudy had promised. From the backseat, Bob suggested that perhaps Mr. Rudy hadn’t deliberately misled us. By Mozambican standards, maybe this was a reliable and comfortable vehicle. Bob also suggested that we consider aborting the trip and scrap our sojourn to Swaziland.

But it was too soon to give up. I did voice my discontent to Dudley, who simply smiled and said, “It’s okay.” By now, the tire had been replaced and Dudley tried to start the engine but nothing happened. He yelled something out the window, two guys came over to give us a push, the Land Cruiser sprung to life, and once again, we were on our way. Not an auspicious beginning to our trip.

After another stop for gas, we were finally headed out of Maputo into the Mozambican countryside. But I checked my watch and it was already 11 a.m. Our unexpected stops had cost us an hour’s worth of precious time and we were only just underway.

As for Dudley’s English, that also left something to be desired — a lot, in fact. The longest sentence he was able to string together during the course of the day was, “I like Obama,” which he said with a huge smile when I asked him about the new American president.

But Dudley did understand the word “stop,” which we would utter from time to time so we could stop and take pictures along the way. I was especially fascinated by the site of Mozambican women carrying huge loads of produce in baskets on their heads as they walked along the side of the road. No wonder they all seemed to have such excellent posture.

One time, though, Dudley pulled the Toyota over without our prompting. He got out of the car and I heard him utter something that must have been a curse word in his indigenous language (Portuguese is the official language of Mozambique, reflecting the country’s history as a colony of Portugal, but a number of indigenous languages are also spoken, including Swahili).

I got out and took a look for myself. That same front left tire that had been replaced back in Maputo had gone flat. Dudley got to work changing the tire. We were seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but within minutes, several children appeared to watch Dudley put on the spare. When you can’t afford X-boxes and video games, I guess this sort of thing makes interesting entertainment.

By now, the three of us were quite concerned. What if another tire would go flat? Dudley had already put on the spare. I had visions of being stranded in the middle of nowhere at 5 p.m. while the Silver Wind sailed away. I had planned to eat in La Terrazza, the ship’s specialty Italian restaurant that night. Would the grilled veal I craved end up on someone else’s plate?

Also, it would most likely cost a fortune to fly to Nosy Be, a small island off the coast of Madagascar that was the Silver Wind’s next stop on our itinerary. In fact, did planes even fly there? Undeterred, Dudley put the spare tire on and we were ready to resume our journey. Soon, the countryside changed from flat to mountainous, with lush green hills as we headed southwest to Swaziland. At one point we had to stop for a herd of cows to cross the road.

Sensing our apprehension about the time, Dudley picked up speed and as it was starting to drizzle, I got a bit nervous as the Land Cruiser negotiated the road’s twists and turns.

It was now past noon and Swaziland was still nowhere in sight. Finally, we drove into the Mozambican border town of Nemaacha, where vendors selling fruits and vegetable lined the roadside.

We pulled into the immigration office for what we hoped would be a perfunctory process. I had done some research and knew that Swaziland did not require a visa. But the problem was with the Mozambican side of the border. With our passports laid out in front of him, a border official was lecturing Dudley about something. Sternly shaking his head, he kept saying the same thing over and over again in a language we couldn’t understand.

“This couldn’t be good,” I said to Bob and Linda, wondering if it was time to consider deploying the universally used tool known to work at border crossing all over the world – the bribe.

Turned out that anything under the table was unnecessary, Dudley told us. We just needed to pay $25 each for the privilege of leaving Mozambique. We would also have to pay $25 to reenter the country.

This trip was starting to get expensive.

But we had cleared our last obstacle, and when the bar was raised at the border crossing to let the Land Cruiser drive onto Swaziland soil, I felt like Sir Edmund Hillary at the summit of Mount Everest, with Dudley as my Sherpa.

Swaziland, at last!

By now, though, with delays due to car problems, picture stops, cow herds and bureaucracy at the border, it was already time to head back to Maputo to catch our ship. We had time only to take a quick peek at Lomahasha, the Swazi border town.

We popped into a shop and saw a portrait of the ruler of Swaziland, His Majesty King Mswati III. He was born in 1968, four months before Swaziland became independent from Great Britain, and succeeded his father as absolute monarch in 1986.

From what I heard, the King, who has 14 wives and 23 children, has some pretty tough challenges to deal with in the country, including an HIV infection rate near 40 percent, highest in the world.

All told, we spent about 45 minutes in Swaziland. The only souvenirs we could find were some coins in the Swazi currency, known as the lilangeni. But Swazi t-shirts or fridge magnets were nowhere to be found.

All we needed was a quick bathroom break (and to pay another $25 at the border crossing) and we were ready to head back to Maputo. Bob and I had to pay $1 to use a bathroom that was two-inches deep in water – at least we hoped it was water. Unfortunately for Linda, the women’s bathroom was out of order.

The Land Cruiser needed another push to leave the border area and when Dudley asked Linda if she wanted to stop at a hotel on the way back to use the facilities, she politely declined. We knew that each time we stopped, we might not be able to start.

With about one hour to spare, we arrived back at the ship. It had been a true African adventure and after a bit more turmoil and stress than we would have cared for, we had reached our destination and safely returned.

My Swaziland dream had come true. And I had set foot on the soil of another country, if only for a few minutes.

Now, back on the ship, it was time for some grilled veal and a stiff drink. To learn more about Dan Fellner’s cruise on the Silver Wind, go to: http://www.fellnertravelinfo.com/silversea/index.shtml

The welding of the coins into the keel is long-standing maritime tradition which is believed to solicit good fortune for the ship, its crew and its passengers during its seagoing life. After the coins were welded into the keel, the first of the 55 steel blocks which comprise Marina was lowered into the building dock thus marking the official start of the construction of Oceania Cruises’ first purpose-built ship.

“This is a momentous day in the history of Oceania Cruises, one which will only be eclipsed on the day we take delivery of Marina in 2010. We want to express our sincere thanks to our loyal guests, travel partners and the entire Oceania Cruises team for all their dedication and hard work in making this new ship become a reality,” stated Frank Del Rio, Chairman and CEO of Prestige Cruise Holdings.

Marina, the first of the new Oceania-Class, represents an evolution of the line’s extremely popular Regatta-Class ships, retaining all of the warmth, popular design elements and signature amenities the line is renowned for while affording guests an additional level of comfort, convenience and many new luxury amenities. Designed to cruise to all corners of the globe, the new ships will boast a cruising speed 20% faster than the Regatta-Class.

The new ships will be awash in rich woods, Italian marble, lustrous granite, fine wool carpets and sumptuous leather. No detail is being overlooked to create an array of spacious, yet intimate public spaces and luxurious staterooms and suites. They will accommodate 1,252 guests in 626 staterooms and suites who will be served by more than 780 staff members. 96% of all accommodations will feature private teak verandas and guests will dine in their choice of six open seating restaurants.

Additional details on the Marina’s suites and staterooms, restaurants, guest facilities and itineraries will be released in the coming months.

Information provided by www.oceaniacruises.co.uk