A Royal Household Warrant has been granted to All Leisure Group's Hebridean Princess.

The company can now display the relevant Royal Arms and 'By Appointment' on their products, premises, stationery and advertising.

Executive chairman Roger Allard will be the personal warrant holder.

Royal Warrants are a mark of recognition to individuals or companies who have supplied goods or services for at least five years to HM The Queen, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh or HRH The Prince of Wales.

Allard said: "This is a great compliment to the ship's company and all the staff ashore. I think I am right in saying that this is the first time a Royal Warrant has been awarded to a shipping company and I am sure that all sister companies within the All Leisure Group will be proud to receive this news.

"We will be able to reproduce the Royal Warrant on all Hebridean stationery and marketing material as well as display on board Hebridean Princess."

Click here to view more information on Hebridean Princess - please call for available sailings

Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Breakaway will sail a series of cruises roundtrip from New York to the Bahamas, Florida and the Caribbean during the 2013-14 winter season.

The 4,000-passenger ship is under construction at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. It will enter service in April 2013 and sail seven-day Bermuda cruises from New York in the spring and summer.

A series of 25 seven-day cruises to the Bahamas and Florida will begin 13 Oct 2013. The ship also will sail two 12-day Southern Caribbean itineraries on 5 & 19 Jan 2014, along with two Weekend Escape cruises on 17 & 31 Jan 2014.

Through 27 Apr 2014, the ship's Bahamas & Florida cruises will depart New York on Sundays and include stops in Nassau, Bahamas; Great Stirrup Cay, and Port Canaveral, Florida.

The 12-day Southern Caribbean cruises will call at San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, St. Lucia, Barbados and St. Kitts.

The cruises are on sale now - call our cruise experts for details of sailings and prices.

A sister ship, the Norwegian Getaway, is slated to enter service in 2014.

Click here for more details on Norwegian Breakaway and to view details of her inaugural season sailings

Crystal Symphony will undergo a $15 million revamp in June 2012.

Crystal Cruises will redesign the ship's Avenue Saloon, Palm Court lounge, Galaxy showroom, Hollywood Theatre, Bridge Lounge and Fantasia and Waves "junior cruisers" areas in 15 days.

"On completion of this project, within the past five years we will have redesigned every room
onboard Crystal Symphony with great attention to rich, chic details," said Philip Ordever, vice president international sales & marketing.

Call now for details of sailings on the soon-to-be revamped Crystal Symphony.

During December Oriana and Queen Mary 2 both returned from extensive dry dock refurbishments.

Oriana saw the addition of 27 new staterooms, the introduction of an Ocean Grill restaurant by Marco Pierre White, plus a totally rejuvenated spa.

Queen Mary 2's refurbishment included every one of her 1,310 staterooms and suites, a totally new Golden Lion pub and many enhancements to her public areas including the gym, spa and children's areas.

Click here to view sailings on the newly refurbished P&O Cruises Oriana
Click here to view sailings on the newly refurbished Cunard Queen Mary 2

P&O Cruises is launching four world cruises from Southampton in January to mark its 175th anniversary.

Aurora, Oriana, Arcadia and Adonia will all leave the port in the first two weeks of 2012 flying the 175th anniversary flag and carrying nearly 6,000 passengers.

In 1837 the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company was awarded the Admiralty contract to carry mail to the Iberian Peninsula and beyond, with the concept of cruising starting just after that.

Click here to view details of all P&O Cruises sailings

P&O Cruises has doubled its ex-UK capacity next year from one ship to two as both Oceana and Oriana will sail from Southampton throughout winter 2012/13 on cruises of two to 35 nights.

Oceana's second year of winter cruising from Southampton will include, for the first time, two short cruises for Christmas and New Year.

Oriana will offer seven ex-UK cruises including a 10-night Baltic cruise in December calling in popular Christmas market destinations such as Copenhagen and Hamburg and a 12-night Canary Islands cruise in late January to ports including Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Casablanca.

P&O Cruises managing director Carol Marlow, said: "P&O Cruises already offers the greatest choice of ex-UK cruises and next winter will have 39 roundtrip cruises from Southampton from October to April.

"A growing number of people are keen to holiday in the winter, but don't necessarily want to fly, so this additional range of cruises from Southampton will increase their options sill further."

P&O will also offer four winter world cruises from January to April 2012, from and to Southampton, including Azura's maiden world cruise.

Click here to view details of all P&O Cruises sailings

Food & Wine Cruises have always been a popular addition to MSC Cruises' repertoire, but now the company is really going to be pushing the boat out! MSC Cruises is delighted to announce that Antony Worrall Thompson, one of the UK's most popular and successful chefs, will be performing a unique series of demonstrations on board MSC Splendida next February.

Antony is an award winning chef, restaurateur, author, television presenter and broadcaster, whose on screen credits have encompassed everything from Ready Steady Cook and I'm A Celebrity Get Me out of Here through to Panorama and Question Time.

He will be joining MSC Splendida in Barcelona on Sunday 5th February 2012. A series of appearances at sea on Monday 6th February will then see this culinary maestro showcase some of his best loved dishes - and a selection unique to MSC.

Commented Worrall Thompson: "I have always loved messing about in boats, so when MSC Cruises asked me to come on board and cook for some of its guests, it was too good an opportunity to miss. Particularly when the request comes from a company that places such importance on great food.

"I will be demonstrating some of my favourite dishes, plus a couple of surprises that I am preparing specially for the occasion."

New for the 2011-2012 season, Antony is among five of Europe's top chefs who will be joining the MSC fleet for a series of special theme cruises.

Other chefs taking part are Michelin starred French chef Gilles Epié, Kolja Kleeberg (Germany), Mario Uliasi (Italy) and the Michelin star winner Paco Roncero (Spain).

Antony will be joining MSC Splendida on her 8 day, 7 night cruise departing 4th February 2012 (Genoa, Barcelona, Valletta, La Goulette (Tunisia), Civitavecchia (Rome), Marseille, Genoa). Prices start from £539 per person (cruise only). Flights are £230 per person return from London.

Click here to view details of the Antony Worrall Thompson MSC cruise

New York has replaced Venice as the favourite port among British cruisers.

A survey commissioned by the Passenger Shipping Association from YouGov found that after two years in the top slot, Venice had given way to the Big Apple.

One in five British adults named New York as their favourite cruise port in the survey, which has been published to mark National Cruise Week.

Thirteen percent voted for Venice and there was a three-way tie for third place between Barcelona, Rome and Singapore, with each gaining 7% of the votes.

The PSA said a record 1.7m Brits would go cruising this year. Of those who responded to the survey, 57% said the main attraction of cruising was the opportunity to visit a number of destinations in one trip while half said the main appeal was the convenience of having to unpack just
once.

Just over a third of respondents said the all-inclusive nature of cruising was a key feature, and 35% said they liked waking up in a new port every day.

Click here to view cruises to the most popular port among British cruisers - New York
Click here to view cruises to the second most popular port among British cruisers - Venice
Click here to view cruises to the joint third most popular port among British cruisers - Barcelona
Click here to view cruises to the joint third most popular port among British cruisers - Rome
Click here to view cruises to the joint third most popular port among British cruisers - Singapore

Fred Olsen scooped three awards at the inaugural Cruise Awards 2011.

It won Cruise Line of the Year, Best Educational Cruise for its Vistas programme and Best Live Performance for the Opera Babes, who also attended the event at the Soho Hotel in London on Wednesday evening.

Norwegian Cruise Line won two awards in the first ever consumer cruise awards, hosted by The Apprentice's Nick Hewer, which were presented ahead of National Cruise Week starting on September 18.

It won Innovation of the Year for its Studio complex for single travellers onboard Norwegian Epic, and the cruise line's youngest captain, Havard Romsoy, was named Coolest Cruise Captain by passengers.

Other awards included:
Best Value Cruise Line - P&O Cruises
Best Luxury Cruise Line - won by Seabourn
Most Outstanding Launch of the Year - presented to Cunard for the launch of the Queen Elizabeth named by Her Majesty
Best Shore Excursion - won by Hurtigruten for its dogsledding and ice hotel shore excursion

Click here to view cruises with award-winning Fred Olsen
Click here to view cruises with award-winning NCL

Norwegian Cruise Line has revealed two new ships joining its fleet from 2013 will be named Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Getaway.

Both new ships will offer accommodation designed specifically for families, spa enthusiasts and single travellers, said the cruiseline.

The new vessels will also include oceanview staterooms, some with up to five berths, which are not currently available on other vessels in the Norwegian fleets.

They will also each offer 59 Studio staterooms for single travellers, a Studio complex and dedicated lounge and bar area, plus 28 Spa Balcony and 20 Spa Mini-Suite staterooms, each with complimentary access to a Thermal Spa Suite.

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