Darts & Football Stars Aboard Fred Olsen

Guests joining award-winning Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ 35-night Caribbean voyage aboard Boudicca in January will find themselves in the prestigious company of three major celebrities from two of Britain’s favourite sports, darts and football.

The stars are ex-footballer and former manager of both Spurs and Arsenal, Terry Neill, along with former darts champions, Keith Deller and Cliff Lazarenko, who will be entertaining guests throughout this cruise as part of the exclusive onboard enrichment programme, Vistas.

Boudicca departs from Southampton on January 19 for an Atlantic crossing broken by a call into the Canary Island of Tenerife before beginning her odyssey of the Caribbean islands. Her ports of call are a roll-call of idyllic destinations – the islands of Barbados and Curaçao, then Cartagena in Colombia, and Colon in Panama, before reaching Montego Bay on the colourful reggae island of Jamaica.

The next port is a highlight of the cruise – an overnight stay in Havana, Cuba, a port steeped in history and romance. Two more Caribbean islands complete this part of the itinerary – Turks & Caicos, and the tiny island of St Maarten – before Boudicca begins her return voyage to Southampton, broken by a last call into Ponta Delgada in the Azores.

Prices for this star-studded Caribbean voyage start from £3,479 per person, based on two adults sharing an outside twin cabin, Grade ‘D’, including all meals and entertainment on board, as well as port taxes. There is no extra charge for taking part in the Vistas programme.

For more info and booking details, be sure to check out this link with the UK's leading cruise agent specialists, The Cruise Line Ltd.

Peter Sissons and Terry Neill Cruise with Fred. Olsen

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines is proud of its philosophy ‘It’s all about the people’ and the cruise line is famed for its personal touch. Part of the pleasure of a cruise is to meet new people and enjoy stimulating discussion – perhaps learning something new along the way. An eclectic mix of speakers appears as part of Fred. Olsen’s cruise enhancement programme, Vistas, which covers a host of fascinating topics that guests can enjoy at no extra cost.

Two very different speakers featured in the 2012/13 Vistas programme are veteran newscaster and broadcaster, Peter Sissons (above), and the Northern Ireland footballer and former Spurs and Arsenal manager, Terry Neill.

Thought to have been Britain’s longest-serving TV news presenter, with a career spanning 45 years, Peter Sissons is best known for his long and distinguished career with the BBC. Having worked for both ITN and Channel Four – where he won three consecutive BAFTAs – he joined the Corporation to present Question Time and the Six O’Clock News. Latterly, he presented the Nine O’Clock News from 1994 until it moved to its present ten o’clock slot.

Prior to his successful life in journalism, Peter studied alongside some famous classmates. Growing up in Liverpool, he was at junior school with John Lennon and Jimmy Tarbuck and then attended the Liverpool Institute, where, among his fellow students, were both George Harrison and Paul McCartney. Many people will remember Peter as the newsreader who was trusted with the momentous task of announcing to the nation the death of the Queen Mother in 2002 – and was castigated by some (and applauded by others) for wearing a burgundy tie, rather than a black one!

He left the BBC in 2009 to concentrate on writing his memoirs, since published under the title ‘When One Door Closes’, and promises to be a fascinating speaker on Boudicca’s 23-night cruise to the Mediterranean, departing from Portsmouth on October 12, 2012. The cruise visits Portimăo (Portugal), Ibiza (Spain), Valletta (Malta), Piraeus for Athens (Greece), Alexandria (Egypt) for an overnight stay, Tripoli (Libya), Algiers (Algeria) and Gibraltar, before returning to Portsmouth. Prices are from £2,379 per person.

From a very different world comes William John Terence (‘Terry’) O’Neill. Born in Belfast in 1942, Terry has been involved in football from his earliest days, playing as a junior for Bangor before moving to Arsenal in 1959. In the early 1960s, he made 29 league appearances for The Gunners, and was also a regular player for the Northern Ireland team. He became Arsenal captain in 1968 and played 275 games for them, scoring ten goals in total. He moved to Hull City in 1990, as one of the youngest ever player/managers, and was later manager of Tottenham Hotspur, returning to his beloved Arsenal as its manager until his retirement from ‘the beautiful game’ at the early age of 41. Since then, he has run a number of successful sports bars in London, and still commentates on Arsenal games for Arsenal TV.

Neill will be speaking on Boudicca’s 35-night voyage to the Caribbean, departing from Southampton on January 19, 2012. The cruise visits Tenerife, Barbados, Curacao, Colombia, Jamaica, Cuba (for an overnight stay in Havana), the Turks and Caicos Islands, St Maarten, and the Azores, before returning to Southampton. Prices are from £3,249 per person.

Prices are based on two adults sharing an inside twin cabin, Grade ‘I’ and include accommodation, all meals and entertainment onboard, including the celebrity speakers, and port taxes.

Find out more at www.fredolsencruises.com or contact the specialist cruise agents of The Cruise Line Ltd.

Costa Rica and the Panama Canal

By guest blogger Steve Newman

Niche tall ship cruise operator Star Clippers operate three of the world’s most head-turning ships, the magnificent four-masted, 170-passenger Star Flyer and Star Clipper and the flagship, five-masted, 228-passenger Royal Clipper.

2010/2011 is an exciting time for Star Clippers, with many new destinations and itineraries including new sailing areas, new home ports, several maiden calls and some unique cruise-and-stay ideas.

For example, this November sees the Star Flyer embarking on an exciting series of tall-ship sailings in Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua for the first time, exploring the bays and inlets of the Pacific coastline, with visits to lush rainforests and hidden lagoons. Prices are from £1,140 for a week’s cruise, including all meals on board, low-key evening entertainment and port charges, excluding flights.

Flyer will also make two spectacular transits of the Panama Canal, one at each end of the season, skimming the north coast of South America, visiting Cartagena (Colombia) and Margarita (Venezuela), as well as the southern Caribbean islands of Aruba and Curacao.

For more details, check out www.starclippers.co.uk

Are you going to the Cruise Show in Birmingham in October (16-17) or London in March (26-27)? You can learn more about Star Clippers - and the whole wide world of cruising!