Spectator Cruise

It’ll be me vs Jean-Claude Juncker at the Judo World Championships

26 September 2015 8:00 am

Gstaad Jeremy Clarke has wiped me out again, for a change. His accounts of the high jinks on board the…

Modafinil, ladies and gentlemen. Recommended.

19 September 2015 8:00 am

The staples of my daily alcohol consumption on the cruise were champagne, gin, red wine and Polish vodka. One morning…

The only one who set a bad example on the high seas was Taki

12 September 2015 9:00 am

There is something repulsive about the sea, especially when seen from the altitude of the upper decks of a monstrous…

The good economic news that we forgot in the China panic

5 September 2015 9:00 am

Home from the hot Aegean, huddled by the fire as rain ruins the bank holiday weekend, I’m thinking: what gloom…

Before cruises there were crossings – the good old days!

5 September 2015 9:00 am

 On board MS Queen Victoria   They remain engraved on my brain, like something out of a Greek tragedy, so…

Taki's table talk and my fears about the Spectator cruise

5 September 2015 9:00 am

Last Saturday afternoon, in Venice, 31 Spectator readers, plus Martin Vander Weyer, the great Taki and I came aboard the…

Sorry, but I can’t join in the China panic (especially not while I’m on a cruise)

29 August 2015 9:00 am

 MS Queen Victoria, 38°N 19°E I’ll do my best, but I’ve got to be honest: being surrounded by shining Ionian…

The unspiritual life is in sad decline (except on Michael Chandris's yacht)

29 August 2015 9:00 am

According to Somerset Maugham, in material terms one must live on the razor edge between poverty and minimal subsistence in…

Italy is so civilised! Even at a mad dash

29 August 2015 9:00 am

I sprinted through Milan station, speed-read the departures monitor without stopping, and arrived gasping on platform 8 with two minutes…