Even if the cruise companies don’t set up their own excursions, there will no doubt be plenty of enterprising taxi drivers waiting on the quayside at Reykjavik to take passengers on the 90-minute drive to the Eyjafjallajokull volcano which is causing all the problems.

The earliest opportunity to cruise to Iceland from the UK will be on Page & Moy’s Athena, which sails from Harwich on May 14 and after calling at two ports in Norway before four calls in Iceland – Reykjavik being the last on May 23. Details on the Page & Moy website.

Seabourn Sojourn, which leaves Dover on June 6, will be in Reykjavik on June 11, and also visits Heimaey, which was evacuated in 1973 when the port was threatened by an eruption which eventually increased the length of the island from 11 square kilometres to almost 13.5 square kilometres. Cruise details here.

Marco Polo, now being operated by Cruise and Maritime Voyages, sails from Tilbury on June 22 and will be in Reykjavik on June 27 and will also be sailing round Surtsey, a small island created by a volcanic eruption in 1963. Sister ship Ocean Countess departs from Leith on July 12 for a 12-night cruise which also includes a visit to Surtsey and a day in Reykjavik on July 17. Details here.

P&O has three cruises which will reach Iceland this summer as part of voyages which also visit Norway , and all departing from Southampton. Dates are: Oriana , June 2; Aurora, June 18; Arcadia, June 19. More details at P&O’s website.

The boutique ship Ocean Princess leaves Dover on June 25 for an 18-day voyage to New York, calling at Reykjavik on July 3 – and it’s unlikely that flights home from the US will still be affected by then. Big sister Crown Princess sails from Southampton on July 29 on a 12-day voyage to Reykjavik and then on to the fjords.

One of the most interesting cruises to Iceland will be on Saga Pearl II which departs from Dover on June 28 and will call at six ports on the island, including Heimaey and Reykjavik, during the 14-night voyage. Sister ship Saga Ruby leaves Dover on June 30 for a 19-night voyage to Greenland, which also visits Reykjavik. Saga cruises are for the over-50s only.

Spirit of Adventure has a 14-night cruise to explore the geological wonders of Iceland, departing from Dover on July 14, and calling at Seydisfjord, Akureyri, Isafjord, Reykjavik and Heimaey.

Holland America Lines’ Prinsendam, which makes a two-day visit to London on July 23 and 24 then sails via Rosyth to Reykjavik and two other Icelandic ports. The 22-day cruise also visits Spitsbergen before ending in Amsterdam.

Eminent vulcanologist Dr Peter Cattermole, who has lectured at the universities of Wales and Sheffield, will be on board Swan Hellenic’s Minerva when she sails from Dover on July 28 on a 16-day cruise to the land of ice and fire, visiting Reykjavik on August 3.

For a one-way trip, there’s a nine-night cruise on MV Discovery leaving Harwich on July 29, with flights home to the UK from Reykjavik on August 6. The ship spends two nights in port at Reyykjavik before heading off to Greenland and then back to Harwich, so there are also options for a full 23-night round-trip.

Finally in this round-up – which does not claim to be comprehensive – are two cruises on Fred Olsen’s Black Watch. The first, of 15 nights, leaves Southampton on August 7 and heads first for Greenland, returning to the UK via Isafjordur and Reykjavik. The second option is a 12-nighter departing on September 5 and visiting Iceland and Norway.

Welcome to Panda Cruises – involving the change of just one vowel in the name, but necessitating a multi-million pound makeover for the seven-ship fleet.

The all-white vessels are to be repainted black and white, like their cuddly namesakes. The 116,000-ton Azura, which has just been delivered by the shipyard in Italy, will be the first to display the new livery when she arrives in Southampton next week.

The handover of the vessel from builders Fincantieri was carried out in conditions of great secrecy last week in order to keep the new colours under wraps. Carnival UK boss David Dingle and Panda managing director Carol Marlow were the only British representatives at the ceremony, and media invitations were withdrawn, under cover of uncertainty over availability of flights because of the British Airways cabin crew strike.

Fincantieri spokeswoman Lola Porfi told me that workers at the yard had been busy for the past two weeks on last-minute modifications to the ship.

“As well as the new colour scheme for the hull, the sports court on the top deck has been converted into a cage to accommodate a pair of pandas, and of course there is hope that they can be persuaded to mate and produce the first pandas to be born at sea.

“The animals will be fed on fresh bamboo shoots grown on board. The company’s environmentalists have been carrying out secret tests and believe that if Celebrity can have real lawns on their ships, there should be no problem growing bamboo – it’s only a type of grass, after all.”

I understand the name change will be supported by a sponsorship agreement with the World Wildlife Fund, and that 2011 itineraries for next year’s world cruises are being altered to include extended visits to the Chinese ports of Shanghai, Dalian, Xiamen, and Sanya on the tropical resort island of Hainan.

Also new on the ships’ itineraries will be visits to the remote island of San Serriffe, and excursions to the spaghetti tree plantations in Italy.

The history of P&O can be traced back to 1837, when the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company was awarded the contract to carry Royal Mail to the Iberian peninsula and beyond. The company grew into a major commercial shipping line and passenger liner operator and in 1918 took over the Orient Line, its partner in the UK to Australia mail route, thus becoming Peninsular and Orient.

In the 1950s and 60s, the company’s fleet carried thousands of “£10 Poms” to Australia, and when that program ended ships such as SS Canberra were converted to cruise liners. The cargo and ferry side of the business also grew, with the takeover of companies such as British-India Steam Navigation and Townsend Thoreson.

In 2000, P&O demerged its cruise business as P&O Princess Cruises, and this company was taken over in 2003 by the giant Carnival Corporation.

But confusion among consumers unable to differentiate between the cruise line and the remaining shipping and logistics company – which since 2005 has been owned by Dubai World – have led to the decision to adopt a new name.

Welcome to Panda Cruises – involving the change of just one vowel in the name, but necessitating a multi-million pound makeover for the seven-ship fleet.

The all-white vessels are to be repainted black and white, like their cuddly namesakes. The 116,000-ton Azura, which has just been delivered by the shipyard in Italy, will be the first to display the new livery when she arrives in Southampton next week.

The handover of the vessel from builders Fincantieri was carried out in conditions of great secrecy last week in order to keep the new colours under wraps. Carnival UK boss David Dingle and Panda managing director Carol Marlow were the only British representatives at the ceremony, and media invitations were withdrawn, under cover of uncertainty over availability of flights because of the British Airways cabin crew strike.

Fincantieri spokeswoman Lola Porfi told me that workers at the yard had been busy for the past two weeks on last-minute modifications to the ship.

“As well as the new colour scheme for the hull, the sports court on the top deck has been converted into a cage to accommodate a pair of pandas, and of course there is hope that they can be persuaded to mate and produce the first pandas to be born at sea.

“The animals will be fed on fresh bamboo shoots grown on board. The company’s environmentalists have been carrying out secret tests and believe that if Celebrity can have real lawns on their ships, there should be no problem growing bamboo – it’s only a type of grass, after all.”

I understand the name change will be supported by a sponsorship agreement with the World Wildlife Fund, and that 2011 itineraries for next year’s world cruises are being altered to include extended visits to the Chinese ports of Shanghai, Dalian, Xiamen, and Sanya on the tropical resort island of Hainan.

Also new on the ships’ itineraries will be visits to the remote island of San Serriffe, and excursions to the spaghetti tree plantations in Italy.

The history of P&O can be traced back to 1837, when the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company was awarded the contract to carry Royal Mail to the Iberian peninsula and beyond. The company grew into a major commercial shipping line and passenger liner operator and in 1918 took over the Orient Line, its partner in the UK to Australia mail route, thus becoming Peninsular and Orient.

In the 1950s and 60s, the company’s fleet carried thousands of “£10 Poms” to Australia, and when that program ended ships such as SS Canberra were converted to cruise liners. The cargo and ferry side of the business also grew, with the takeover of companies such as British-India Steam Navigation and Townsend Thoreson.

In 2000, P&O demerged its cruise business as P&O Princess Cruises, and this company was taken over in 2003 by the giant Carnival Corporation.

But confusion among consumers unable to differentiate between the cruise line and the remaining shipping and logistics company – which since 2005 has been owned by Dubai World – have led to the decision to adopt a new name.

Azura
• Cruising to the Central and Western Mediterranean, Baltic, Norwegian Fjords, Iceland, Western Europe and Caribbean
• Sailing 17 ex-UK cruises from April 2011 to October 2011 and 11 Caribbean fly cruises from October 2011 to March 2012
• Cruises range from a four night cruise break to Azura’s inaugural 15 night Icelandic cruise
• Overnight calls in Venice and St. Petersburg
• Prices starting from £599 for a seven night cruise break in April 2011

Oceana
• Cruising to the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, Norwegian Fjords, Atlantic Islands, Western Europe, Caribbean and USA
• Sailing 31 ex-UK cruises from March 2011 to March 2012
• Cruises range from a two night party cruise to a 24 night Eastern Mediterranean cruise
• New ports of call – Ashdod and Haifa, Israel, and Oporto, Portugal
• First time offering year-round cruises from the UK
• Prices starting from £199 for a two night party cruise in May, September or October 2011 and £1,099 for a 14 night Mediterranean cruise in April or November 2011

Arcadia
• Cruising to the Eastern, Western and Central Mediterranean, round Britain, Baltic, Canada and USA, Alaska, Caribbean and Atlantic Islands
• Sailing 13 ex-UK cruises from March 2011 to January 2012
• Cruises range from a 13 night round Britain cruise to a 72 night Grand Alaska Adventure
• Eight new sectors available on the Grand Alaska Adventure, ranging from 10 to 28 nights
• New Ports of call – Liverpool and Oporto, Portugal
• Overnight calls in San Francisco, New York, Quebec and St. Petersburg
• Prices starting from £1,049 for a 12 night Atlantic Islands cruise in November 2011 and £1,149 for a 14 night Western Mediterranean cruise in April 2011.

Oriana
• Cruising to the Western and Central Mediterranean, Baltic, Caribbean, Western Europe and Atlantic Islands
• Sailing 20 ex-UK cruises from March 2011 to January 2012
• Cruises range from a two night party cruise to 34 night Caribbean cruise, roundtrip from Southampton
• New ports of call – Koper, Slovenia, Oporto, Portugal, Ravenna and Salerno, Italy
• Overnight calls in New Orleans, Venice and St. Petersburg
• Prices starting from £199 for a two night party cruise in June or December 2011, and £3,049 for a 34 night ex-Southampton no-fly Caribbean cruise in September 2011

Aurora
• Cruising to the Western and Central Mediterranean, Atlantic Islands, Black Sea, Baltic, Norwegian Fjords, Greenland, Caribbean, Canada and USA
• Sailing 16 ex-UK cruises from April 2011 to January 2012
• Cruises range from a two night party cruise to a 24-night Canada & New England cruise, roundtrip from Southampton
• New Ports of call – Catania, Italy, and Oporto, Portugal
• Overnight calls in New York, Quebec and St. Petersburg
• Prices starting from £199 for a two night party cruise in November 2011 and £2,299 for a 21 night Black Sea cruise in August 2011

Ventura
• Cruising to the Western and Central Mediterranean, Norwegian Fjords, Atlantic Islands, Caribbean and Western Europe
• Sailing 21 ex-UK cruises from March 2011 to October 2011 and 11 Caribbean fly cruises from October 2011 to March 2012
• Cruises range from a two night party cruise to a 17 night Central Mediterranean cruise
• Overnight call in Venice
• Prices starting from £599 for a seven night cruise break in April 2011 and £1,199 for a 14 night Caribbean fly-cruise in December 2011

More details at the P & O website.

Queen Elizabeth
• Based in her home port of Southampton, a Maiden Season of 22 voyages from five- to 24-nights from £499 per person.
• Five short five-night voyages to give access to aspiring Cunard guests and a taste of the most notable ship to come into service in 2010.
• Voyages from Southampton feature the Fjords, the Baltic, the British Isles, the Mediterranean, USA / Canada and the Caribbean.
• Four ‘Maiden Voyages’ to the Baltic, Around the British Isles, the Fjords and USA / Canada with a total of 52 maiden calls in her first season.

Queen Victoria
• 23 voyages from seven- to 22-nights from just £799 per person.
• Strong Southampton programme from April to August with the best of the Canaries, the Mediterranean, the Baltic and the Fjords.
• Fly-voyages to the Mediterranean with eight voyages for 12-nights sailing out of Venice, Rome and Athens from £1,349 per person.
• A 15-night Caribbean voyage from Venice to Fort Lauderdale from £1,999 per person.
• A 14 night Christmas voyage from Los Angeles taking in the best of Hawaii from £2,699 per person

Queen Mary 2
• 21 Transatlantic voyages between Southampton and New York; most crossings are now seven nights in duration – from £899 per person.
• The only way to visit famous cities in the USA and Canada from the UK with no flying and as much luggage as you like
• 11 roundtrip Southampton departures to Europe and the Caribbean from two- to 29- nights from £399 per person.
• A repeat of the popular ‘Around the British Isles’ voyage, eight-nights from £999 per person.

More details at Cunard’s website.