Debbie Marshall from Silver Travel Advisor talks to Laura Cochrane, Head of Marketing for Noble Caledonia, about the history of the company, its latest addition to the fleet, and her personal favourites.

Debbie […]

Anyone reading this blog who is sitting and staring at snow or at freezing rain will appreciate our hard work, here aboard the Island Sky on everyone’s behalf. Today we have been exploring the tiny Venezuelan […]

Words & photographs by Chantal Cookson from the MS Island Sky’s Expedition team. 

Friday, 13th January 2012 16.00 hrs

Ship’s position: 55* 21.330 S

Weather: Deep low pressure Central South West of Cape […]

In a fortuitious coincidence the Pope happened to be in Cuba at the same time as we were, but strangely enough we did not bump into him. As we stood gazing up at the centuries old woodwork of the firmly closed […]

Wonders of Egypt

Stepping off the plane at Luxor Airport I feel an instant release from the chills of the British winter and my spirits lift; the sun is shining and the warm air infused with exotic spices.  My […]

April 5, 2012

The French know a thing or two about small pleasures. Tiny cups of strong flavorful coffee, delicate portions of choice savories, designer shops sporting skimpy diaphanous dresses and, of course, […]

In 2012 many people will celebrate the 600th anniversary of the birth of Joan of Arc, yet how can we be so certain about the date of her birth?

There is no official birth certificate bearing Joan’s name but […]

Dreams of paradise generally conjure up images of white sand beaches, deep azure seas, brilliant blue skies and a leisurely snooze in a hammock. Yes, we are definitely in paradise. If not, then I am […]

“Don’t go to Madagascar in February!” That’s what the book says, but Madagascar is clearly not listening. Each time I do a Noble Caledonia cruise in February it is calm and sunny, and we successfully dodge the […]

The Wonders of the Ancient & Natural World trip ended with several days in Costa Rica. I have worked for twelve years on expedition cruise ships and although I have travelled several times in Central and South […]

Just when we thought we had reached the highpoint of our expedition, we discovered we were wrong. Boca de Toro, (Mouth of the Bull), is a spectacular Panamanian Bay dotted with small mangrove islands in an […]

17th March 2012

At Latitude 07° 29,0 N, Longitude 084° 24,0W, en Route Costa Rica from Cocos Island we decided to stop the vessel and go for a swim. The Pacific Ocean was as calm as a pond, and everybody of […]

Captain Henrik Karlsson blogs from the MS Island Sky

To make a landfall at a tropical island is a thrill, even to the most experienced Mariner. Yesterday around noontime the first signs of Cocos Island were […]

We have just finished the cruise titled Panama – Canal and Corals, it could be subtitled- Panama a land of contrasts. Our first stop in this small amazing country was at Coiba Island, a beautiful archipelago of […]

Hannah Lawson blogs from Peru. Passengers embarked in Calloa, the port city of Lima and in the port we had our first wonder of the natural world, thousands of Franklins’ gulls dotted the water and swirled in unison when disturbed by a passing ship. By the following afternoon we had come in alongside at Salaverry and [...]

Day 1 London to Iasi, Romania An early start from Heathrow flying to Iasi in Romania via Vienna. Upon arrival, we had a short transfer (about 20 minutes) to the Ramada Hotel in Iasi in time for lunch. After lunch our small group joined a walking tour in this quaint city and saw sights including the [...]

MS Island Sky – Patagonia Land of Fire & Ice cruise 5th – 26th January Signed on the IS in Punta Arenas and spent the first night navigating the Strait of Magellan, heading for the Falkland Islands. The current was very strong, up to 10 knots and sometimes very challenging to navigate. Once outside on the [...]

News that the Taj Mahal is in danger of collapsing ‘within five years’ provides a good reason for visiting this monument-to-love as soon as you can. Learning the inspiring story of why this wonder of the world was built provides another… It is sad to hear news that the Taj Mahal, India’s most historic building, is [...]

The Island Sky navigating smoothly into harbour is not, it is fair to say, a toweringly majestic sight. The cruise vessel, which takes a maximum of just 114 passengers, certainly looks spick and span, but its dimensions at 295ft by 49ft would be dwarfed by the latest mega-liners that ply the world’s oceans. Aboard, however, [...]

As dusk fell, I captured my most spectacular photograph on a voyage packed with extraordinary moments. Seeing a patch of swirling foam in the distance, our sharp-eyed boatman turned our dinghy and sped towards it. Suddenly we were surrounded by a school of frolicking dolphins, each, it seemed, determined to out-backflip the others. For five [...]

Three-thirty on a blistering hot Friday afternoon and a swarthy man with thick, rippled hair has just boarded the Island Sky cruise ship and is making demands of our captain. He’s not a pirate, rather a Greek pilot in tight-fitting navy trousers and powder-blue shirt here to steer our boat, with a berth of 20 [...]

What’s in a name? St Petersburg has certainly had many different names – ones which reflect the enormous changes Russia has been through over the last two centuries. It was Tsar Peter the Great who founded the city in 1703. The name was not bestowed lightly on the place – Peter made Petersburg Russia’s capital [...]

Tinged with an ethereal pink light at sunrise, buzzing with cicadas at sunset and dripping with a wet heat that slaps you like a hot shower curtain, the air in West Africa is alive with the promise of exotic adventure. As you stand on the deck of a ship sailing down the Atlantic coast, the sights, [...]

When the Discovery ship set sail from Cardiff in August 1901 it had on board two men who would come to define the heroic age of Antarctic exploration for British Historians. The lives of Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott would become inextricably linked with the Discovery’s intended destination – Antarctica – as would their [...]

Chile, 2,690 miles long but never more than 120 wide, has fabulous attractions for the intrepid traveller, not least the bleakly beautiful Atacama, the world’s driest desert, and the spectacular Andes. Nothing is very far from its gorgeous coastline, so it’s the perfect destination for a cruise. Follow the coast for a chain of must-see [...]

Perched on an active volcano, about 1,750 miles from South Africa, Tristan da Cunha is one of the world’s most remote communities. The volcano’s barren peak, 6,760ft above sea level, overlooks a heart-shaped crater lake. Immense gulches split the steep slopes, flanked by lava pinnacles and soft cinder screes. Further down, the mountain levels off [...]

Easter Island knows a thing or two about perfect timing, writes Ian Belcher. As its huge canopy of sky explodes into purple and crimson above four enigmatic statues, a local strums his guitar and, right on cue, as the setting sun kisses the South Pacific, a whale breaches off the point. It’s utterly memorable. Marvellously [...]

The blunt nose of the Zodiac inflatable nudges its way to shore through a sea of tiny icebergs, toothpaste blue and chubby as baby elephants, which roll theatrically as we pass. The passengers climb out, outlandish in neon yellow oilskins, to wander up the beach or into the forest of southern beech trees adorned — this [...]

More social event than cruise, the MS Island Sky embodies the spirit of Noble Caledonia. Here, the UK’s most seasoned cruise critic Sue Bryant reports from the deck where you can read about the ship’s reunion with sister vessel, the MS Caledonian Sky. Laughter and noisy banter drifts up from The Club, where the after dinner crowd [...]

The first cruise ship came early to the Black Sea, manned by Jason and his Argonauts, who made the difficult passage through the Bosphorus with the oar power of a Bronze Age galley — top speed about seven knots — against a six-knot current. It must have helped having Heracles on board, and Orpheus came along [...]

Stepping ashore at Tresco on a sunny late May afternoon, you might be forgiven for thinking you have just arrived at an unusually sleepy Mediterranean isle. The tall palm fronds that brush the sky in the distance add to the illusion, but no, this is England, albeit close to its most southerly point in the [...]

Monday 12th December: AT SEA Noon position: 00°16’N 17°57’W MS Island Sky continued at sea, en route from Cape Verde to Ascension Island (a distance of 1,632 nautical miles).  It was another breezy but beautifully warm day at sea. For passengers, it began with lectures on seabirds, and on the flora of the islands ahead. Two large flocks of [...]

Day 5, Heraklion, Crete On 25th October 2011, the Island Sky arrived in the bustling city of Heraklion, the fifth largest city in Greece. The forecast promised rain, so with umbrellas in hand we prepared for the worse as we headed to Knossos. To our delight the sky remained dry as we walked the wooden pathways [...]

Leith, Scotland to Arkhangelsk, Russia – June 2011 Tuesday June 7th, 2011.  Leith, Scotland – embarkation After a car, train or plane journey to Edinburgh, we arrived at Island Sky, alongside in the harbour of Leith, towards the end of the afternoon. The Scottish weather was clear with rolling cumulus clouds under blue skies and sun was shining on [...]

The results of The Sunday Times Travel Magazine Readers’ Awards 2011 were announced last Monday, November 28th, at London’s glamorous hotel-of-the-moment, the St Pancras Renaissance. Readers of The Sunday Times Travel Magazine voted in their thousands to reward the hotels, airlines, spas, websites, destinations and travel companies they rated most…[Read more]

Black Sea Odyssey Day 4: Trabzon, Turkey. On 4th October 2011, the Island Sky arrived in the port of Trabzon, Turkey, where we had the privilege to visit the spectacular Sumela Monastery, situated on the face of a mountain some 1200 metres above sea level. Although it was tough going to manage the uneven ground, tree roots [...]

Sue Bryant tells Cruise International Magazine why MS Island Sky is an ideal vessel for those looking for a Country House Cruising experience. Next year promises to be quite a year for Noble Caledonia. To begin with, the line will be celebrating its 20th anniversary. It will also mark the maiden cruises of the MS Caledonian Sky . [...]

A Successful End to the Year for Noble Caledonia After an eventful year which has seen Noble Caledonia celebrate its 20 th anniversary and acquire a new ship, the Caledonian Sky (formerly Hebridean Spirit), the company are now celebrating after recently receiving two awards – ‘Favourite Small Cruise Line’ in the 2011 Telegraph Travel Awards and…[Read more]

Day 1- Monday 7 th November We flew from London Gatwick to Luxor with Monarch Airlines at 10.10, arriving into Luxor at 17.30. We met our Tour manager & Guest Speaker at the airport, check in & flight all ok, lovely breakfast served on in-flight. Arrived into Luxor, Visa is issued on arrival – very quick and [...]

Sue & Malcom Bryant, lucky prize winners from  Silver Travel Advisor tell us about their River Cruise – ‘Mozart on the Danube’ tour aboard the MS Johann Strauss. The cruise was a package through Noble Caledonia flying to Budapest with a 7 night cruise through Hungary, Slovakia, Austria and Germany and finishing at Passau.  We flew out with [...]

One voyage from desert to rainforest is a revelation of the earth’s richness and diversity. In February, the MS Island Sky embarks on a voyage from central Peru to Costa Rica, from bone-dry desert landscapes to a realm of dense, exuberant greenery. This is a journey of shades and juxtapositions; between energetic Spanish-colonial coastal towns [...]

There’s something terribly British about our ever increasing interest in the Falkland Islands. It’s not just that this faraway archipelago, perched 350 miles off the east coast of South America, shares our sovereign. Nor is it simply that we so admire the resolve of those 3,000 or so inhabitants who live on this windswept outpost. [...]

Captain Torbj Örn Svensson Master Island Sky; a n interview with Steve Newman.  Do you come from a seafaring background? In a way. My father was an artist and writer who loved islands and the sea. As a family we sailed around the Stockholm Archipelago on Folk Boats and there is no doubt I inherited my father’s love of [...]

What happened to Fletcher Christian and the Pitcairn Mutineers? Nine of the most famous mutineers in naval history landed on uninhabited Pitcairn Island in 1790. By 1808 only one remained. So what happened to Fletcher Christian and the Pitcairn Bounty Mutineers? It must have been a surprise when the American trading ship Topaz spotted Pitcairn…[Read more]

After an inauspicious visit in the 1980s, political sketchwriter Simon Hoggart cruised back to St Petersburg to find it renamed and revived – but still with its salty Russian humour. St Petersburg is, for most passengers, the highlight of a Noble Caledonia cruise in the Baltic. It’s romantic, historic, stupendously beautiful yet with a lingering…[Read more]