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Unfinished and unwanted 9,000-passenger cruise ship to be scrapped

Lower hull of Global Dream II to be disposed of after shipbuilder filed for bankruptcy

What was meant to be one of the world’s largest cruise ships is being prepared for its maiden voyage – to a scrapyard.

Global Dream II , which was designed to hold more than 9,000 passengers, had almost been completed at a shipyard on Germany’s Baltic coast. However, the shipbuilder MV Werften filed for bankruptcy in January 2022 and the administrators cannot find a buyer for Global Dream II.

The German cruise industry magazine An Bord reported that the lower hull of the liner is to be disposed for scrap price.

The administrator Christoph Morgen reportedly told a press conference on Friday that the ship needed to be moved out of MV Werften’s Wismar shipyard by the end of the year because the yard had been sold to Thyssenkrupp’s naval unit, which plans to build military vessels there.

Demand for cruise ships has collapsed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Global Dream II and its sister ship Global Dream – which is not being scrapped for now – would have been the world’s largest cruise ships by passenger capacity when complete.

At 208,000 tons they would have been jointly the sixth largest cruise ships by size, just behind Royal Caribbean’s five Oasis-class ships.

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Here's Your Chance to Buy a Retired Carnival Cruise Ship

One of Carnival's earliest cruise ships is going up for auction in the UK.

Why buy a dream home or a yacht when you can have an actual cruise ship?

According to The Points Guy , London-based ship auctioneer CW Kellock & Co. is listing one of Carnival Cruise Line ’s earliest vessels, the Holiday , next month. If you happen to have a couple million dollars lying around, it could be all yours.

The former Carnival vessel also sailed for Cruise & Maritime Voyages under the name Magellan since 2015, according to The Points Guy, though it still retained its signature winged funnel (also known as the “whale tail”) that Carnival is known for. The British company has since shut down due to the coronavirus, leaving the Holiday / Magellan without a crew.

The vessel originally set sail in 1985. It weighs 46,052 tons, can cater to 1,860 passengers, and generally had between 660 and 670 crew members on board, according to the listing on the CW Kellock and Co. website. Its length is between 727 and 733 feet and has 12 decks.

It’s currently the second oldest Carnival ship that still exists today. CW Kellock & Co. has a number of other vessels that are going up for auction in October, including the Vasco Da Gama , the Columbus , the Astor , and the Marco Polo , according to CruiseHive . All of these vessels other than the Marco Polo are docked in Port Tilbury in Essex, England.

Anyone who wishes to make a bid can also set up an inspection of the ship with CW Kellock & Co., The Points Guy reported. All bids must be submitted to the company by Oct. 19, 2020. There is currently no pre-auction price estimate for the ship, though The Points Guy estimates it will be for several million dollars.

Bidders should submit their offer in a sealed envelope with the vessel’s current name (Magellan) on it via mail to CW Kellock & Co Ltd, 5th Floor, 2 London Wall Buildings, London EC2M 5PP, U.K., or emailed to directly to kellock@eggarforrester.com, The Points Guy reported.

For more information, visit the CW Kellock & Co. website .

Photos of abandoned, stripped cruise ships show how deeply the cruise industry is sinking

• Photos of unused cruise ships getting stripped for parts show how the cruise industry is struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic.
• Maintaining cruise ships that aren't in use is very expensive, so many cruise companies are selling part of their fleet for scrap.
• Since the pandemic hit, the number of cruise ships being dismantled for scrap has increased. 
• Because many shipyards had to close due to lockdowns, there's a waiting list for cruise ships to get dismantled around the world.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories .

The travel industry is hurting as the coronavirus pandemic ravages on, but the US cruise industry, in particular, has been hard hit.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a no-sail order in March, which it changed to a " conditional sailing " one on November 1. This means that cruises could accept passengers, but only after making significant changes to their health and safety protocols. Most cruise companies voluntarily renewed the no-sail order through 2020 as they figure out these new measures.

Ahead of the coronavirus pandemic, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the world's largest cruise industry trade association, which represents 95% of the global cruising industry, projected that 32 million passengers would set sail in 2020 and that the industry was creating an economic impact of $53 billion in the US , and $150 billion worldwide.

The CLIA now estimates that "each day of the suspension of cruise operations in the US results in a total loss of approximately $110 million in economic activity and up to 800 American jobs."

For the shipbreaking industry, however, this means big business.

Photos of cruise ships being dismantled into scrap metal at bustling shipbreaking yards around the world illustrate just how deeply the cruise industry is hurting right now.

Photos of unused cruise ships getting stripped for parts show just how much the cruise industry is struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Nicola Mulinaris, the communication and policy officer at NGO Shipbreaking Platform, told Insider that they've seen an increase in the number of cruise ships getting scrapped since the pandemic hit.

Source: NGO Shipbreaking Platform

He explained that cruise ships can be "extremely costly to maintain if they're not operational."

Consequently, cruise companies, many facing financial troubles, are downsizing their fleets.

Source: WESH

Carnival lost $2.9 billion last quarter, the New York Times reports. It has canceled trips into 2021 and is cutting 18 of its ships, per Good Morning America.

Source: The New York Times , Good Morning America

Three of those ships, the Inspiration, Imagination, and Fantasy, are being dismantled at the Aliaga Ship Recycling Facility in Turkey, alongside two other cruise ships.

Almost 2,000 people are working to dismantle the five ships in Turkey, according to the New York Times.

Source: The New York Times

Mulinaris said that because many shipyards had to close due to lockdowns, there's even a waiting list for cruise ships to get dismantled around the world.

In the past, cruise companies sold their ships to smaller companies, but because of the pandemic, no one can afford to buy them — nor would they want to.

Cruise companies are also afraid of strengthening the competition, said Mulinaris, "so it becomes quite appealing to recycle the vessels and get money out of it."

Generally speaking, cruise ships will sell their ships to scrap dealers through a broker. These will then pay the shipyards for their work, and make money selling scraps.

According to Mulinaris, 90% of a conventional vessel is steel, which is recyclable. But machinery and furniture can also be sold.

"It's a treasure chest in there," an antique store owner told the New York Times about cruise ship interiors. "These are not regular ships; they are luxurious floating museums with many precious items inside."

Depending on where the ships are sold and scrapped, cruise ship companies could be paid between $150 to $400 per ton.

Carnival sent its ships to get scrapped in Turkey: While the prices there per ton are on the low end, according to Mulinaris, the working conditions are better and the recycling process more environmentally friendly.

A cruise ship can take up to 10 months to dismantle, but it depends on both the vessel and the shipyard.

"Everything is taken out piece by piece, from the light bulb to the piano and swimming pool to the golf course," Kamil Onal, chairman of the Ship Recyclers' Association of Turkey, told the New York Times.

Usually, ships are cleaned, stripped of anything that can be sold, then cut into small blocks, taking care to avoid hazardous materials. These pieces are then usually lifted away by crane, one by one.

Sometimes they are carried away by hand.

Shipbreaking is dangerous work.

Besides the obvious risks of sustaining injuries from operating heavy machinery, getting crushed, or falling, ships are also filled with flammable gases that can cause explosions and toxic elements like asbestos and lead.

According to data by NGO Shipbreaking Platform, there have been 397 deaths in shipbreaking yards since 2009.

Source: Off the Beach

Shipbreaking is also bad for the environment. As it can be difficult to contain pollutants, oil spills, sludge, and heavy metal, contaminated debris are common side effects.

Governments and organizations such as Mulinaris' NGO are working hard to improve working conditions for shipbreakers and to ensure more environmentally sound practices.

Cruise companies are working to turn things around, however, and are working to get passengers on the ocean as soon as safely possible with measures like mock cruises to test safety measures.

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• Inside Singapore's first 'cruise to nowhere,' where vacation-starved guests took turns using the pool and carried contact tracing devices everywhere they went

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Architecture , Art , Design & Built Environments

The unloved boats: 8 abandoned cruise ships & liners.

Article by Steve , filed under Destinations & Sights in the Travel category

MS World Discoverer

The German-built and Liberian-registered cruise ship MS World Discoverer enjoyed a 25-year-long, mainly trouble-free lifespan as a mid-sized (roughly 225 passengers and crew) passenger liner plying the South Pacific with occasional sorties into the frosty Arctic and Antarctic oceans.

On April 30th of 2000, the World Discoverer was sailing through the Sandfly Passage in the Solomon Islands when she struck an uncharted rock or reef. Captain Oliver Kruess heroically nursed the listing liner into shallow Roderick Bay in the Florida Islands, where all aboard were safely evacuated. The World Discoverer, however, remains where it was beached in 2000, stripped of anything valuable by local islanders.

Looking like an outtake from Life After People, the World Discoverer ‘s exploring days are over for good and unlike most other coastal shipwrecks it will probably remain where it is, slowly rusting and moldering away in its sheltered cove, for some time to come. There’s only one thing that worries environmentalists: sometime in the future the World Discoverer’s metal fuel tanks will finally rust through, releasing unknown amounts of poisonous toxins into the sea and onto the beaches.

Queen Elizabeth 2

The jewel in the crown of Britain’s venerable Cunard Line, the ocean liner QE2 sailed the seven seas as both a transatlantic ocean liner and as a premium cruise ship from 1969 until her retirement on November 27th, 2008. Subsequently, the liner was purchased by Istithmar, the private equity arm of Dubai World, whose stated intention was to convert the vessel into a 500-room floating hotel to be moored at the Palm Jumeirah offshore resort in Dubai.

Due to the world financial crisis and its lingering effects on business in Dubai, virtually no work has been carried out on the ship and rumors have persisted the virtually abandoned QE2 would either be sent to Asia, either to be scrapped in China or converted into a floating luxury hotel, shopping mall and museum… and so it goes.

TSS Duke of Lancaster

Launched in 1956, the TSS Duke of Lancaster was built at the Belfast shipyards of Harland & Wolff where the RMS Titanic was constructed almost a half-century earlier. The 4,450 ton, 1,800 passenger steamer operated as a passenger ferry on the Heysham-Belfast route and as a cruise ship calling at a variety of European ports from Spain to Norway for the better part of two decades. In November of 1978, the venerable Duke was retired from service on the seas… a new, landlocked career was about to begin.

In August of 1979, the ship was moved to Llanerch-y-Mor near Mostyn, Wales to become a static leisure center known as “The Fun Ship”. Legal issues and turf tussles with the local council crippled the ownership group’s business model, however, and the Duke’s slab sides were gradually covered by rust and unauthorized graffiti. The latter must have given somebody an idea because surprisingly, there’s life in the old Duke yet: as the largest open air art gallery in the UK.

Beginning in August of 2012, a commission was offered to Latvian graffiti artist Kiwie who spray-painted a large-scale artwork on the ship’s side. Kiwie’s work was augmented and complemented by a wealth of “bright and surreal” graffiti by acclaimed artists including Dale Grimshaw, Dan Kitchener, Snub23, Spacehop, and Fin DAC. The latter’s eye-popping “Mauricamai” covers most the Duke’s stern and has been breathtakingly captured above by Flickr user Mike .

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Cruise ship graveyards: Where do abandoned ships go to die?

Have you been forced to say goodbye to your favorite cruise ship recently? Thanks to the effects of the COVID-19 cruise industry shutdown, several cruise lines sold off some of their oldest hardware in an effort to eliminate costly upkeep on vessels that had been in service for decades.

A lucky few vessels were purchased by other operators, but most were sent to cruise graveyards after they were sold for scrap.

What exactly does that mean, though? Where do cruise ships go to die, and what happens to those abandoned cruise ships when they get there?

For cruise news, reviews and tips, sign up for TPG's cruise newsletter .

Cruise ship graveyards

Decommissioned ships are almost always sent to one of two scrapyards. The largest is Alang, located in India's Gulf of Khambhat, which recycles more than half of the world's decommissioned cruise ships. The second largest is Aliaga in Turkey.

When vessels arrive at the graveyard — usually under their own power but sometimes with the aid of tugs if their engines are no longer operational — they run aground on the beach.

Workers called shipbreakers then use machinery to haul them farther up onto the sand so they can begin disassembling them.

The tear-down process for abandoned ships

"At both places, ships are run up onto the shore and gradually cut down," Peter Knego, a journalist and ocean liner historian who runs the YouTube channel Peter Knego's MidShipCinema , told TPG.

"In Alang, this is largely done by cutting huge chunks of structure and letting them drop onto the embankment, then cutting those parts into smaller, plate-sized pieces that can be trucked off to the steel mills. In Aliaga, the cut structure is removed with large cranes, then further cut down on shore."

Knego added that tides play a large role, too. "In Alang, [beaching] is usually done during high tide to get the ship as far up as possible, then when the tide recedes, workers walk out to the ship and do their work. In Aliaga, workers are transferred to the ship via cranes with cage-like baskets, and in Alang, the workers climb on board via rope or ... ladders."

The tear-down process is arduous at first, as it involves removing leftover fuel and stripping the ships of any furnishings and fixtures — even toilets — that can be salvaged and sold. Once deconstruction is fully underway, shipbreakers can take a vessel down to just its hull with shocking speed, with scrap metal being sold or recycled.

Environmental concerns

There are also strict environmental precautions that must be taken to avoid the leaking of fuel and other toxic chemicals that could pollute the water and cause harm to marine life. Although scrapyards attempt to follow local regulations, there's still quite a bit of contamination that can happen throughout the scrapping lifecycle.

"Asbestos, which was largely banned in the '80s, was once the greatest concern," Knego said, when asked about the environmental implications of scrapping cruise ships. "But now most ships that are being scrapped are past the asbestos era. [Carcinogenic compounds called polychlorinated biphenyls], oil, fuel remnants, paint and other foulants are still on board most ships, and those can wreak havoc if not disposed of properly. And, of course, plastics ... create toxic fumes when burnt and [present] other issues [when] broken down (or not) in landfills."

Bottom line

If you've recently lost your favorite vessel to the shipbreakers and you're feeling nostalgic, you can ease the blow in a few ways.

Book a sailing on a sister ship that's still sailing, peruse old photos to reminisce or check eBay from time to time to see if anyone is selling memorabilia.

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clock This article was published more than  3 years ago

Carnival is selling 18 cruise ships amid financial struggles and CDC’s no-sail order

In the market for an abandoned cruise ship? Carnival Corp. — the parent company of nine cruise brands, including Princess, Costa, and Carnival — announced in a third-quarter earnings filing that it plans to sell 18 cruise ships in 2020, which amounts to 17 percent of the company’s ships.

The move comes amid a halt in cruises since March, when the lines stopped sailing the day before a no-sail order went into effect in the United States.

The pandemic at sea: How the cruise industry carried coronavirus around the globe

Carnival Corp. has already sold eight older-model cruise ships. It has not disclosed the cruise lines the ships are from or to whom they are being sold. The company will also delay delivery of new ships scheduled for 2021 as a cost-saving measure.

“We are in the process of removing 18 ships from our global fleet with several ships already removed,” Carnival’s chief communications officer, Roger Frizzell, said in an email. “Given our pause in cruising, we recently moved up the timetable to remove our older, less efficient ships from our fleet. We have already sold several ships and we [are] currently in negotiations on others.”

Carnival Corp. lines account for 45 percent of the world’s cruise industry, according to the travel-focused site the Points Guy. Sixty-five passengers or staff died of covid-19 on Carnival-operated ships during the early days of the pandemic, according to the reporting by The Washington Post .

The CDC has implemented a no-sail order through September and is expected to extend the ban, which prevents cruise ships with a capacity of 250 passengers or more from operating in U.S. waters. Carnival Corp. chief executive Arnold Donald said in the filing that the sales “will generate a 12 percent reduction in capacity and a structurally lower cost base, while retaining the most cash-generative assets in our portfolio."

A Carnival Corp. ship had the biggest coronavirus outbreak in the industry. Now Congress is probing the company.

Ships that are retired from cruising typically get sold to other lines, according to cruising website Cruise Critic — or they can be sent to junkyards for scrapping. The company said it has raised $12 billion since March, despite being out of operation, but experienced a net loss of $2.9 billion for the third quarter of 2020. The $12 billion was raised “through a series of financing transactions,” including borrowed amounts and deferred debt repayments. Carnival is also offering stock sales to raise capital.

“Currently, the company is unable to predict when the entire fleet will return to normal operations, and as a result, unable to provide an earnings forecast,” the filing said. “The pause in guest operations continues to have a material negative impact on all aspects of the company’s business, including the company’s liquidity, financial position and results of operations.”

But the move comes as a return to cruising already has begun in some parts of the world. Two Carnival brands have plans to restart or have already returned to operations outside the United States, according to the filing. Costa Cruises resumed sailings from Italy on Sept. 6, and Germany-based AIDA Cruises is preparing for departures in the fall.

A cruise in Italy denied a family re-embarkation after they broke the ‘social bubble’

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Five former CMV cruise ships put up for sale by auction

Five former CMV (Cruise & Maritime Voyages) cruise ships have been put up for sale by auction.

The sale comes just two months after the Essex-based cruise line entered administration , as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic.

CMV had a total of six ships in its fleet when it ceased trading in July 2020, and also had plans for two new ships to enter its service in 2021.

Now, five of CMV’s ships have been put up for sale by auction, with the sale being brokered by CW Kellock & Co.

The ships up for auction are Vasco Da Gama, Columbus, Astor, Magellan and Marco Polo. Each vessel reportedly being sold under a separate deal.

CMV’s 556-passenger ships Astoria is not currently for sale as the ship was always due to leave CMV’s fleet in October 2020.

Deadlines for the sale are between 8 October and 22 October 2022, but it is not known how much the ships will go for or the starting bid.

CMV’s newly purchased ships Amy Johnson and Ida Pfeiffer are also not up for auction. The two ships were purchased from P&O Cruises Australia last year and were due to enter service in 2021.

Four of the ships are currently docked in CMV’s former homeport of Tilbury, Essex, and one is in Bristol Avonmouth.

The sale comes despite the news last month that a former CMV boss was making moves to try and bring the cruise line back.

Christian Verhounig bought the now-defunct cruise line’s customer database and booking systems in a bid to get things back up and running.

It was reported that a “number of assets” belonging to CMV had been sold to a new vehicle established by the former boss.

The sale included customer databases, computer systems, booking systems, office furniture and equipment, IT infrastructure and intellectual property, but not CMV’s six ocean vessels.

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An Entire Cruise Fleet Sold for $9 million

• April 9, 2024

A six-ship cruise fleet was recently sold for just $9 million as American Queen Voyage’s former assets were auctioned off as part of court bankruptcy proceedings.

Cruise Industry News looks at the ships and the individual sale prices.

American Queen Capacity: 436 guests Tonnage: 3,707 Year built: 1994 Type: Riverboat Former names: N/A Sale price: $2,150,000 New operator: American Cruise Lines

The American Queen was sold to American Cruise Lines for $2,150,000 . Considered the largest river steamboat ever built, the 436-guest vessel was built in 1994 and had been sailing for American Queen Voyages since the company was founded in 2011.

American Empress Capacity: 223 guests Tonnage: 5,975 Year Built: 2003 Type: Riverboat Former names: Empress of the North Sale price: $1,600,000 New operator: American Cruise Lines

Also acquired by American Cruise Lines , the American Empress was sold for $1,600,000. Originally built as a coastal ship for Majestic America Line, the paddle-wheeler had been sailing in the Pacific Northwest region since debuting for AQV in 2014.

American Duchess Capacity: 166 guests Tonnage: 3,560 Year Built: 2017 (using the hull of 1995-built casino ship) Type: Riverboat Former names: Battendorf Capri Sale price: $200,000 New operator: American Cruise Lines

The American Duchess was sold to American Cruise Lines for just $200,000 . Built using the hull of a casino ship, the riverboat was designed as a classic paddle-wheeler and had entered service for American Queen Voyages in 2017.

American Countess Capacity: 246 guests Tonnage: 6,837 Year Built: 2020 (using the hull of 1995-built casino ship) Type: Riverboat Former names: Kanesville Queen Sale price: $1,600,000 New operator: American Cruise Lines

Acquired by American Cruise Lines along with its river fleet mates , the American Countess was sold for $1,600,000. Designed as a classic paddle-wheeler, the vessel was purpose-built for American Queen Voyages and entered service in 2020.

Ocean Navigator Capacity: 202 guests Tonnage: 4,954 Year Built: 2001 Type: Coastal ship Former names: Cape Cod Light, Coastal Queen 2, Clipper Discoverer and Sea Discoverer Sale price: $950,500 New operator: TBD – bought by John Waggoner

The Ocean Navigator was sold along with its sister ship, the Ocean Voyager, for a total of $1,901,000. The coastal cruise ships, which originally entered service in 2001, were acquired by American Queen founder John Waggoner and are expected to enter service for a new operator .

Ocean Voyager Capacity: 202 guests Tonnage: 4,954 Year Built: 2001 Type: Coastal ship Former names: Cape May Light, Sea Voyager, Saint Laurent and Sea Voyager Sale price: $950,500 New operator: TBD – bought by John Waggoner

The Ocean Voyager was acquired by American Queen founder John Waggoner. Sold along with its sister ship Ocean Navigator for a total of $1,901,000 , the 202-guest coastal cruise ship is now expected to enter service for a new operator following a refurbishment.

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Cruise Ship Abandons 9 Passengers On African Island After Tour Overruns

Imagine being stuck here, what a disaster.

Nine passengers from a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship found out the hard way just what happens when you miss the departure time for your ship , after they were abandoned by the rest of their cruise . The group of stricken cruisers is now attempting to be reunited with the ship in a trans-African adventure.

Nine passengers were abandoned on the African island of São Tomé and Príncipe after their Norwegian Cruise Line ship set sail without them. The nine people left stranded included an American couple, elderly passengers, a pregnant woman and an 80-year-old who had been left behind after requiring hospital treatment, reports UK newspaper the Metro .

Jill and Jay Campbell were the American couple left ashore, and they’ve been speaking with ABC News about the ordeal . The site explains:

On Wednesday, the Campbells and six other people were on a tour in São Tomé and Príncipe, a small island off of western Africa; but the tour was longer than expected. “We were like, ‘Our time is getting really short,’ and they were like- ‘No problem, we can get you back within an hour,’” said Jay Campbell, who’s also a volunteer football coach at St. James High School. They said the tour operator contacted the captain to let them know that the eight passengers were going to be late and they were on their way.

However, the Metro reports that when the group arrived back at the port to see their ship, the Norwegian Dawn, still docked there, they were refused entry to the vessel after the captain argued they had missed their 3 p.m. return time.

The captain of Norwegian Dawn refused the passengers entry.

After the ship set sail , the passengers were reportedly then ferried out to the vessel by the São Tomé and Príncipe Coast Guard, but as they neared the ship they were once again denied entry.

ABC News adds that several attempts were made to get the stranded passengers back on board with no luck. They then attempted to meet up with the ship at its next port of call, Gambia, only to encounter another problem. As ABC News adds:

However, when they arrived, they found out that the ship was unable to dock due to low tides. It instead spent another day at sea. Now the Campbell’s and their party are scrambling to find a way to get to Senegal, which is where the ship should be in port on Tuesday.

In order to meet the Norwegian Dawn in Senegal later Tuesday, the group of stranded tourists will have to drive to a different port, take a ferry and then pick up another car and drive to the ship’s next destination. In a statement shared with ABC News, Norwegian Cruise Line said:

On the afternoon of March 27, 2024, while the ship was in Sao Tome and Principe, an African island nation, eight guests who were on the island on their own or with a private tour missed the last tender back to the vessel, therefore not meeting the all aboard time of 3 p.m. local time. While this is a very unfortunate situation, guests are responsible for ensuring they return to the ship at the published time, which is communicated broadly over the ship’s intercom, in the daily communication and posted just before exiting the vessel. Guests are responsible for any necessary travel costs to rejoin the ship at the next available port of call. When the guests did not return to the vessel at the all aboard time, their passports were delivered to the local port agents to retrieve when they returned to the port. Our team has been working closely with the local authorities to understand the requirements and necessary visas needed if the guests were to rejoin the ship at the next available port of call. We are in communication with the guests and providing additional information as it becomes available.

Have we mentioned cruise ships are hell?

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• Northern Europe & Baltic Sea

Celebrity's Journey to Moscow excursion

By psygist , March 7, 2012 in Northern Europe & Baltic Sea

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I will be in St. Petersburg in June on a Celebrity ship. Having been there previously, we would like to do the Journey to Moscow excursion. Celebrity lists it in the shore excursion brochure for my sail date, but it has not been available for booking on their website.

I have called Celebrity twice and both times was told that even though it is listed in the shore excursion brochure, it probably isn't being offered since it is not listed for pre-booking on the website. I have emailed Celebrity twice and received a different response. They responded that they were still working with the tour provider on the details and is not yet available for pre-booking.

Anyone have any experience with this that could offer some advice? It's frustrating that cruise line agents can be so misinformed and inconsistent in what they tell us.

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I will be in St. Petersburg in June on a Celebrity ship. Having been there previously, we would like to do the Journey to Moscow excursion. Celebrity lists it in the shore excursion brochure for my sail date, but it has not been available for booking on their website. I have called Celebrity twice and both times was told that even though it is listed in the shore excursion brochure, it probably isn't being offered since it is not listed for pre-booking on the website. I have emailed Celebrity twice and received a different response. They responded that they were still working with the tour provider on the details and is not yet available for pre-booking. Anyone have any experience with this that could offer some advice? It's frustrating that cruise line agents can be so misinformed and inconsistent in what they tell us.

Having done this one-day trip to Moscow and back on another cruise while in St. Petersburg, I might be able to share some insight. First, from dealing with some Celebrity folks about Europe options, certain of them are limited in their personal experiences and knowledge about this part of the world. Shouldn't be this way, but it is. They know more on the familiar Carib options as that is what is both closer and for which they get more of their calls/question. If they haven't done it, nor is is clear on their computer screen, they can't be of much help.

Second, that excursion to Moscow has been "evolving" during the past few years as they have switched from doing it by air flights to connection by high-speed rail. On trips like this one that is more costly and highly specialized, you will probably need to "press and push" to reach someone who is more likely to know this somewhat of a "needle in the haystack".

It's sad that you've gotten the "run-around", but sometimes the staff is not as informed and experienced as you would like, expect and need.

Do you need any background info for what you would see and do in Moscow , how it works, etc.???

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik . Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 68,189 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

What you said makes perfect sense. Thanks.

I also looked into doing this tour privately, but one tour provider informed me there were no available trains or planes to fit my ship's time in port. We will be there on a weekend so its possible that transportation does not run as frequent. I just wish Celebrity could get their act together and tell me definitively whether they will be offering the Moscow excursion.

Terry, What you said makes perfect sense. Thanks. I also looked into doing this tour privately, but one tour provider informed me there were no available trains or planes to fit my ship's time in port. We will be there on a weekend so its possible that transportation does not run as frequent. I just wish Celebrity could get their act together and tell me definitively whether they will be offering the Moscow excursion. Paul

If your cruise puts you into St. Petersburg on a weekend, that could be another complicating factor. Openings at certain places, rail schedules, etc., could be different for some days of the week. It is possible to do the Moscow trip by some private tour companies, but if there are any weather and/or scheduling complications, that could make things more difficult. Doing it through the cruise ship, makes it "their" problem, not yours!!

Doing the one-day trip to Moscow is very interesting and special. Lots of cruise lines do it now and have the practice down to a "science". BUT, that weekend timing could be delaying their finalization some on schedules.

• 3 weeks later...

I will be in St. Petersburg in June on a Celebrity ship. Having been there previously, we would like to do the Journey to Moscow excursion. Celebrity lists it in the shore excursion brochure for my sail date, but it has not been available for booking on their website.   I have called Celebrity twice and both times was told that even though it is listed in the shore excursion brochure, it probably isn't being offered since it is not listed for pre-booking on the website. I have emailed Celebrity twice and received a different response. They responded that they were still working with the tour provider on the details and is not yet available for pre-booking.   Anyone have any experience with this that could offer some advice? It's frustrating that cruise line agents can be so misinformed and inconsistent in what they tell us.

I was able to book this for a June cruise in the past few days. If you look carefully in the fine print for the excursion, I believe it is because you have to begin the online check-in process since they need your passport/ID information before you can book this excursion. Try to do as much of the online check-in as you can, and I think it should appear for purchase.

It would be nice to know what the actual schedule for the Moscow excursion is. I don't believe it is actually 18.5 hours, but that is just to make sure that you can't book anything else on that day.

I was finally able to book the tour online. They just made it available for online booking the other day. I sure hope they reach the minimum number of guests so it isn't cancelled.

Not sure why it leaves at 9:30. If it indeed is an 18.5 hour tour, we won't get back until 4 am.

I was able to book this for a June cruise in the past few days. If you look carefully in the fine print for the excursion, I believe it is because you have to begin the online check-in process since they need your passport/ID information before you can book this excursion. Try to do as much of the online check-in as you can, and I think it should appear for purchase.   It would be nice to know what the actual schedule for the Moscow excursion is. I don't believe it is actually 18.5 hours, but that is just to make sure that you can't book anything else on that day.

It looks like Celebrity edited the description to say that, for those excursions on a weekend, the actual tour will be shortened by about 2 hours due to less traffic on a weekend.

Terry (or anyone who has been on the Journey to Moscow excursion before):

Can you give me a little detail on the itinerary? The tour description says that we will have a walking tour of Red Square and the Kremlin, as well as visits to the Armoury and one of the Kremlin cathedrals. Was wondering what other Moscow sights we will get to see. Or will the rest be in the form of a panoramic bus tour? Any opportunity for souvenir shopping?

Thanks for any insights you can offer.

• 1 month later...

This was just cancelled for my cruise :( Didn't meet the minimum number of people interested in going.

There might be some options through private tour companies. We used Anastasia for our part in St. Petersburg, but she is doing these Moscow arrangements for friends, two couples, from here in Central Ohio, in late June. I would contact a couple of key, experiences firms such as Anastasia, see what she and others can offer to make this one-day train trip over and back.

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik . Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 82,951 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 70,872 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

Which sailing are you on that the Moscow excursion was cancelled? I booked it for my Eclipse cruise June 23 sailing and haven't heard anything

• 2 months later...

soakedbythesea

You have probably figured out now that not only excursions, but many other things aboard ship are misleading, if not downright fraudulent. The ship crew, staff and clerks are all going to do pretty much what they want to, but not only on the Royal Caribbean's Celebrity brand, but almost all cruise ships - the captain can almost get away with murder. Aren't you glad you don't have to work on one of these vessels? Also make sure you don't get involved in any type of dispute, as even some crime gets swept under the ship - well, not all, like the Costa that crashed & tipped over, but not sure even then much will happen, as all passengers signed all their rights away before they got on board.

Hope you have enjoyed your cruise by now and maybe look back here on the board. About the only way to get any knowledge about the ships, excursions, etc. is through sites like this.

As we are sailing a year from now on Celebrity Constellation - Aug 12, we were wondering too about shows aboard, excursions (both ship and private), if you ever got to Moscow, etc. Please write to us at:

john at shifferds dot com - thanks

• 5 months later...

Ywlke,   Which sailing are you on that the Moscow excursion was cancelled? I booked it for my Eclipse cruise June 23 sailing and haven't heard anything

We will be in St. Petersburg in July and want to take Celebrity's tour to Moscow. Please let us know if you liked it or not and how long it was. This is going to be our second time in St. Petersburg but will like to take a private tour on day #2. Did you do something the day after your Moscow tour? We are traveling with our teenagers and worry about them being too tired :rolleyes:

• 6 months later...

Kevin's girl

I thought I would bump this up. We will be on the Brilliance this time next year and are very interested in doing this our. Are there still people out there that have done it? I would love to hear what you thought of the tour, the travel part and what you were able to see while in Moscow. Was it worth the price?

I thought I would bump this up. We will be on the Brilliance this time next year and are very interested in doing this our. Are there still people out there that have done it? I would love to hear what you thought of the tour' date=' the travel part and what you were able to see while in Moscow. Was it worth the price?[/quote'] We just did this tour and really liked it, but this was our second time in St. Petersburg. If this is your first time there I don't know if it's the best choice. You spend most of the day in airports and buses. Our meeting time at the ship was 6:45 AM, followed by a 45 min. long drive to the airport. Then we had to wait for a 10:00 AM one hour flight to Moscow. As you can see we arrived after 11:00 AM followed by another 30 minutes ride to the city. We were taken to the Red Square, to take a subway ride, followed by a coffee and tea break, then to the Kremlin armory museum (where we spend most of our time), also visited the Cathedral of the Annunciation, and back to the Red Square. Were only given half hour for shopping, followed by a really long dinner at a local restaurant. Our flight back to St. Petersburg departed half hour late, arriving at 11:30 PM. It took a while for the bus to pick us up, another 45 min. drive to the port and we were at our rooms by 1:00 AM. This means that if you want to see St. Petersburg the next day, you are going to be really tired. BTW, I'm not complaining, this tour was so popular on our cruise that they had two groups for the first time. Most of my friends were on that group and they had the worst time. Their flight left earlier than ours and although they were taken to more places than us, they ended up on a later flight and arrived in St. Petersburg after 12:30 AM. The problem was that the tour company knew that they were not going to make it on time to the bridges that connect the city to the area where the ship docks. The elevated bridges go up at 1:30 AM in the morning and are taken back after 5:00 AM. Can you believe that our tour guide made fun of the fact that the other bus was not going to make it on time? It was really frustrating for them to watch the bridges go up in front of their eyes. They finally found online a bridge that goes down for periods of 15 min. and were able to go back to the ship after 3:00 AM. Some of them couldn't make it to their tours the next day. Remember, this is Russia, if you don't make it to your tour the next day, you won't be able to leave the ship. My friends tried to take a taxi and catch up with us, but their visa stated a 9:00AM pick up time and had to stay on the ship. We liked our tour, but it is up to you to decide if it's worth it. The time that you actually spend in Moscow is really limited. If by any chance you are given a late flight on your way back, start screaming and demand an earlier flight. The tour company hired by Celebrity is going to buy the cheapest flights to make more money. Just my two cents. I tried to research this tour before our cruise and didn't find too much information. Hope this helps. BTW, I was concern about the planes used for the flights, if you are too, don't be. The flight was great and were even given a sandwich with juice or water. I do have to say that we felt that we were on a PanAm 1970's flight. The attendants were all really young, skinny and beautiful, wore heavy make up and complicated hair styles. I was also not impressed by either St. Petersburg or Moscow's airports. No restrooms close to the gates, two flights leaving at the same time through the same gate, just a mess!! Before our tour I couldn't understand how Edward Snowden could hide for such a long time on an airport, after visiting Moscow's international airport it just made sense. Hope you enjoy your Baltic cruise.

Thanks for the details. I was quite curious about it. Unfortunately it doesn't sound like you got to see so much there. Fortunately as you say it was your second time in SPB, so you can compare and see the differences between the cities. They are very different.

On our Celebrity cruise, it was sold out, but I didn't come across anyone who took the tour to find out their experiences.

drarill, I had to laugh at the comment about how Snowden was able to hide in the airport ... I had wondered the same thing, but now we know!! LOL

We just did this tour and really liked it, but this was our second time in St. Petersburg. If this is your first time there I don't know if it's the best choice. You spend most of the day in airports and buses. Our meeting time at the ship was 6:45 AM, followed by a 45 min. long drive to the airport. Then we had to wait for a 10:00 AM one hour flight to Moscow. As you can see we arrived after 11:00 AM followed by another 30 minutes ride to the city. We were taken to the Red Square, to take a subway ride, followed by a coffee and tea break, then to the Kremlin armory museum (where we spend most of our time), also visited the Cathedral of the Annunciation, and back to the Red Square. Were only given half hour for shopping, followed by a really long dinner at a local restaurant. Our flight back to St. Petersburg departed half hour late, arriving at 11:30 PM. It took a while for the bus to pick us up, another 45 min. drive to the port and we were at our rooms by 1:00 AM. This means that if you want to see St. Petersburg the next day, you are going to be really tired. BTW, I'm not complaining, this tour was so popular on our cruise that they had two groups for the first time. Most of my friends were on that group and they had the worst time. Their flight left earlier than ours and although they were taken to more places than us, they ended up on a later flight and arrived in St. Petersburg after 12:30 AM. The problem was that the tour company knew that they were not going to make it on time to the bridges that connect the city to the area where the ship docks. The elevated bridges go up at 1:30 AM in the morning and are taken back after 5:00 AM. Can you believe that our tour guide made fun of the fact that the other bus was not going to make it on time? It was really frustrating for them to watch the bridges go up in front of their eyes. They finally found online a bridge that goes down for periods of 15 min. and were able to go back to the ship after 3:00 AM. Some of them couldn't make it to their tours the next day. Remember, this is Russia, if you don't make it to your tour the next day, you won't be able to leave the ship. My friends tried to take a taxi and catch up with us, but their visa stated a 9:00AM pick up time and had to stay on the ship. We liked our tour, but it is up to you to decide if it's worth it. The time that you actually spend in Moscow is really limited. If by any chance you are given a late flight on your way back, start screaming and demand an earlier flight. The tour company hired by Celebrity is going to buy the cheapest flights to make more money. Just my two cents. I tried to research this tour before our cruise and didn't find too much information. Hope this helps. BTW, I was concern about the planes used for the flights, if you are too, don't be. The flight was great and were even given a sandwich with juice or water. I do have to say that we felt that we were on a PanAm 1970's flight. The attendants were all really young, skinny and beautiful, wore heavy make up and complicated hair styles. I was also not impressed by either St. Petersburg or Moscow's airports. No restrooms close to the gates, two flights leaving at the same time through the same gate, just a mess!! Before our tour I couldn't understand how Edward Snowden could hide for such a long time on an airport, after visiting Moscow's international airport it just made sense. Hope you enjoy your Baltic cruise.

Thank you for posting your experience. You have given me a lot to think about. It just seemed like a good idea, now I need to think really hard about it. I would hate to have our second day messed up in SPB.

We did Celebrity's Journey to Moscow excursion in July 2012. We had been to St. Petersburg before so decided to do something different. Interestingly, this excursion had been cancelled on some of the previous cruises that summer as a result of not enough people signed up. There were about 20 people on our excursion.

In a nutshell, I recommend the excursion and would do it again, but there are some caveats:

1. I would probably not go to Moscow if this was my first time visiting St. Petersburg. SP is full of wonderful sites so I would spend my two port days there seeing all the city sites, including the Hermitage, as well as visiting one of the palaces outside the city.

2. If you go to Moscow and plan on taking a tour in SP the next day, be aware (as someone else posted) that the tour returns to the ship very late and you might have difficulty getting up early enough the next morning for your SP tour. Our flight didn't land back in SP until after midnight and we were unable to cross the bridges before they rose. We didn't return back to the ship until after 2am, but because we anticipated that this might happen, we booked an afternoon private car in SP. We actually ended up enjoying being out late in SP with the bridges up as our bus and guide drove us around the city late at night and it was a surreal experience, especially during the white nights of summer.

3. We thought the time in Moscow could have been better organized, allowing us more time to see Red Square and the Kremlin buildings, but we were prevented from doing so due to horrendous traffic around Moscow, a very long-winded local tour guide, and too much time spent stopping for a coffee break (which was entirely unnecessary IMO). We also had almost no time to shop and the time spent in Red Square was much too short. Again, I mostly blamed this on our guide who talked too much rather than allowing us free time to wander around. I ditched the guide and our group before we were actually dismissed for free time so that I could wander around Red Square and make a few purchases from a street artist (local art and crafts on the street are of high quality and inexpensive IMO).

4. The dinner, while served in a beautiful, elegant setting, was mediocre at best. Lots of alcohol, but I've had better beef stroganoff in a school cafeteria.

Having provided you with these caveats, I still would take the tour again. It was a fascinating and magical experience. From the very interesting airport and airplane experience, to having the opportunity to visit the Kremlin sites and Red Square, it was worth it for us. It was a whirlwind of a tour, lasting about 18 hours from the time we left the ship until we returned.

I hope this helps others make a decision about this tour.

• 3 years later...

I was finally able to book the tour online. They just made it available for online booking the other day. I sure hope they reach the minimum number of guests so it isn't cancelled.   Not sure why it leaves at 9:30. If it indeed is an 18.5 hour tour, we won't get back until 4 am.

We are on May 21, 2017 Eclipse and want to do the same tour.

There are several trains per day even on weekends and holidays. If it is the weekend I would say you are better off flying as traffic will be a little better than on a weekday especially in the morning. There are probably several flights an hour. The train is modern and comfortable but not especially scenic.

Since you need a visa anyway you could also consider arranging a Moscow tour guide to meet you at the airport and arrange your own transport to Moscow. An airport taxi should be easy to arrange in St Petersburg or use Uber. Aeroflot tickets are easy to buy online.

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Republicans are fleeing the stench of a rotten congress.

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Mr. Bruni is a contributing Opinion writer who was on the staff of The Times for more than 25 years.

When it comes to Donald Trump, House Republicans do a convincing pantomime of love. Many of them chirpily parrot his lies. Most of them merrily launder his misdeeds. They grovel for his favor, gush about getting his endorsement and speak and vote in line with his desires.

They’re half partisan, half courtesan.

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More than two dozen House Republicans, along with more than two dozen House Democrats, have headed or are headed for the exits , but the largeness of those numbers — which track with those in other election years over the past decade — don’t tell the story. What matters is who those Republicans are, the disgust in their goodbyes, their palpable sense of defeat and how it contradicts the fact that they have been in the majority in the chamber since early 2023.

In power, they have found themselves close to powerless. That’s the hellish paradox of their surrender to Trump.

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The Trump giveth, and the Trump taketh away.

Five of the Republicans who decided to escape the Hill’s poisonous climate didn’t or won’t even wait until the end of this year and finish out their terms. They can’t flee fast enough.

Among them is Representative Ken Buck, a Colorado Republican. “This place just keeps going downhill,” he told reporters, “and I don’t need to spend my time here.” You say that kind of thing about a rundown bar where there’s no eradicating the stench of spilled beer. He was talking about a broken-down institution that reeks of abandoned principles.

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They carry the scars of a scabrous 2023. Such was the Republican infighting that McCarthy’s ascent to House speaker required an unprecedented 15 roll call votes — and then he was ousted after the third-shortest speakership in history.

In a profoundly depressing analysis in The Times, Carl Hulse called 2023 “one of the most tumultuous and unproductive legislative years in recent memory.” Vital bills languished. Bedlam prevailed. Representative Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican, said that McCarthy had purposely elbowed him in the kidney. “And then I chased after him,” he proudly reported. Zygotes behave more maturely.

“It was historical and hysterical,” Representative Steve Womack, an Arkansas Republican, said at the time. McHenry called it “a very actively stupid political environment.”

Now, its fruits. “Four G.O.P. committee chairs are leaving,” Marianna Sotomayor wrote in a roll call of the Republican refugees in The Washington Post last weekend. “Eight lawmakers are retiring from the coveted Energy and Commerce Committee, and eight subcommittee chairs are leaving.”

Sotomayor quoted Buck as saying: “The populist wave has eroded the conservative values that I had when I came to this place. Now, we’re impeaching people like it’s some kind of carnival, and the Constitution is just a thing of the past to the very same people who were tea party patriots 10 to 12 years ago.”

A carnival ethos. Contempt for the Constitution. Call to mind any former president you know?

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The writer Gary Shteyngart spent a week on the Icon of the Seas, billed as the biggest cruise ship ever, and his account in The Atlantic was a prose buffet from which many of you plucked morsels. “The ship makes no sense, vertically or horizontally,” he wrote. “It makes no sense on sea, or on land, or in outer space. It looks like a hodgepodge of domes and minarets, tubes and canopies, like Istanbul had it been designed by idiots.” Also: “There is no imposed order, no cogent thought, and, for those who do not harbor a totalitarian sense of gigantomania, no visual mercy.” (Thanks to Melissa Guensler of Fredericksburg, Texas, and Pam Vetter of Austin, Texas, among many others, for spotlighting Shteyngart’s article.)

In The Santa Barbara Independent, Zak Klobucher marveled at one of Bruce Springsteen’s live performances: “He carped so much diem that when he called on the audience, ‘Can you feel the spirit?’ Robin Williams showed up to ask him to take it down a notch.” (Mark Flannery, Fullerton, Calif.)

In The Star Tribune of Minneapolis, James Lileks described his attempt to use a snowblower as a slush blower: “I pushed it into the drift, and it was like trying to eat a thick, wet pillow with your dentures out.” (Marie McGeehan, St. Louis)

In The Financial Times, Anjana Ahuja questioned the potential of a new meat: “With half the U.K. population reporting anxiety about snakes and about one in 50 harboring a phobia, the idea of snakes as the new livestock of choice might not have legs.” (Lois Russell, Somerville, Mass.)

In The Times, Wesley Morris appraised Larry David: “I’ve never seen any actor with David’s grasp of how to play skepticism for laughs. Eyebrows as up-yanked drawbridge, forehead creases as lasagna of vexation. That rawboned voice of his soars, if not in octaves, then certainly with tickly, prickly dynamism.” (Carol Ball, Boston, and Annie Stamford, Philadelphia, among many others.) I was as taken with this bit of Wesley’s about “Curb Your Enthusiasm”: “It presents the American id at war with its puritanical superego. Sometimes Larry is the one. Sometimes he’s the other. The best episodes dare him to inhabit the two at once, heretic and Talmudist.”

Also in The Times, Kevin Roose gave thanks for Andres Freund, a Microsoft employee who might have prevented a major cyberattack: “In the cybersecurity world, a database engineer inadvertently finding a back door in a core Linux feature is a little like a bakery worker who smells a freshly baked loaf of bread, senses something is off and correctly deduces that someone has tampered with the entire global yeast supply.” (Paul Frame, Long Island City, N.Y., and Meg Smith, Old Saybrook, Conn., among others)

Ezra Dyer paid tribute to an automotive throwback, the Dodge Challenger Black Ghost: “It’s a stupid car, really, peak mouth-breather, screaming of wretched excess. But its analog mechanical brutality activates some primal lobe deep in our brains, the one that catalyzes noise into adrenaline. The final V-8 Challenger rolled off the line on Dec. 22 last year, another dinosaur obliterated by the E.V. asteroid.” (Gerry O’Brien, Goderich, Ontario)

And Christopher Kuo reported on a gang of museum robbers less polished than their serial heists suggest: “In court records and interviews, they come across as more 7-Eleven than Ocean’s Eleven.” (Gary Carter, Winston-Salem, N.C., and Miriam Bulmer, Mercer Island, Wash., among others)

In The London Review of Books, Michael Hofmann took pointed issue with some right-wing warriors: “It seems there is only one model for today’s ‘man of action,’ and that is shock and awe. Overwhelming force deployed suddenly and overwhelmingly. A theatrical performance with no audience as such, only a houseful of victims. The lions eat the circus and then tweet about it.” (William Wood, Edmonton, Alberta)

And in The Atlantic, David Frum remembered the death of Miranda, his daughter, in her early 30s: “For me, the thought of my own death has never been a distressing subject. We live, we love, we yield the stage to our children. I hoped that when the time arrived, I would have the chance for farewells. If that wish were granted, I could with total content ride the train to my final destination. It never occurred to me that one of my children might board the train first, pulling away as her parents wept on the platform.” (Howard Yegendorf, Ottawa)

To nominate favorite bits of recent writing from The Times or other publications to be mentioned in “For the Love of Sentences,” please email me here and include your name and place of residence.

What I’m Reading, Writing and Doing

My pooch partiality perhaps makes me the wrong judge, but I had a blast reading an advance copy of “ Dogland: Passion, Glory and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show ,” by Tommy Tomlinson, which will be published on April 23. It’s more than a behind-the-curtain look at that storied competition. It examines the history, absurdities, vanities and poignancy of our relationships with dogs, at times making the case that they’ve trained us every bit as much as we’ve trained them.

As someone who has written the kinds of articles that fetishize and make much fuss about food, I appreciate counternarratives that puncture all that pretension. Peter C. Baker’s “ The Case Against ‘Good’ Coffee ,” published in The Times Magazine, does precisely that, with abundant style and sense.

If you aren’t aware of and haven’t been reading The Point, a relatively new blog in Times Opinion, please check it out . It’s a showcase of quick takes by columnists and other Opinion writers and editors. I recently contributed this post about some Democrats’ complaints that other Democrats are being unduly alarmist about the 2024 election.

I’m excited to be onstage with David Axelrod at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics at lunchtime on Friday, April 26, for a conversation about my new book, “The Age of Grievance,” that doubles as a live taping of his “Axe Files” podcast. Registration details here . I’ll discuss the book with Katie Couric at the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center in Manhattan on Wednesday, May 1, at 6:30 p.m. Details here . Other cities and events are listed here on my website.

On a Personal Note

There’s a riot outside my bedroom window.

Chirping. Trilling. Cawing. Squawking. I need a thesaurus to do a proper aural inventory. I need noise-canceling headphones to make it go away. But I don’t want to silence or muffle it; it’s an exquisite cacophony, a tapestry of sound that’s perfect, even though it’s all loose threads. I’m nestled in a noisy aviary.

And in a vivid garden. There’s a second riot outside the window, one of color: the pinkish blossoms of a tree whose pedigree I keep forgetting, the red and white flowers spread like frosting atop a hedge of azaleas, the purple fringes of my redbud trees. Early April is when spring struts the most flamboyantly here in my area of North Carolina. The Duke campus is positively Edenic.

And it’s scrambling my relationship with the seasons. I’ve always been an autumn guy — and, for the most part, still am. It’s hard to argue with those colors and with the delicious bite of the air in early November.

But now that I have a house and a yard with yellow daffodils that showed up like an advance guard more than a month ago, pink and red camellias that followed fast on their heels and a cherry tree that peaked for a few glorious mid-March days, I’m wondering if spring has the edge. There are no leaves to collect (though there is the green pollen spreading across my screened porch). No frigid hints of the winter to come.

And there are all these chattering birds! I know that they’re talking with one another, but I like to pretend they’re speaking to me. They’re telling me that amid all the ugliness these days, there’s ample beauty.

Frank Bruni is a professor of journalism and public policy at Duke University, the author of the book "The Age of Grievance" and a contributing Opinion writer. He writes a weekly email newsletter .   Instagram   • Threads •  @ FrankBruni • Facebook