Costa fortune

Anyone who's been anywhere near the rail of the poop deck of a cruise liner cradling a cocktail protectively in their hand will know one thing. The ship moves at glacial speed anywhere near anything that isn't water. If you're in a hurry, don't be. Modern liners have every bit of marine satnav technology in the book to avoid parking it where it doesn't belong.

Quite baffling that the 952-foot ship ran aground 50 yards off the beautiful island of Giglio off the Tuscan coast in January 2012, killing 32 people, threatening an ecological disaster and costing a fortune to salvage. It shouldn't put you off cruise liners. But it should put you off one captained by a jolly sailor called Francesco Schettino. He's up before the Beak on Sept 23.
One silver lining: the island's businesses have benefited from the custom of 450 salvage workers since the diaster.