Fancy a holiday? Well you are guaranteed to find all smiles and laughter aboard the good ship SS Happy Wanderer presided over by 'H' dropping Captain Crowther and his crew. It may be far removed from the present day 'state-of-the-art' high tech liners currently in service but this bright and breezy early 60s entry delivers some marvellous comedic scenes and lines. I particularly like the opening sequence where the common ranking officer, marvellously portrayed by Sidney James is disturbed to encounter 'new faces' amongst his solid, dependable crew perfectly setting the scene for his difficulties working with them. Also worthy of praise by stealing ever scene she appears in is the delightful eccentric Bridget Madderley played marvellously by Esma Cannon. This film for me still remains as endearingly charming as ever and with the use stock footage and authentically recreated ship surroundings the sea based nature of this film is certainly conveyed very effectively. I feel the series… more »

Fancy a holiday? Well you are guaranteed to find all smiles and laughter aboard the good ship SS Happy Wanderer presided over by 'H' dropping Captain Crowther and his crew. It may be far removed from the present day 'state-of-the-art' high tech liners currently in service but this bright and breezy early 60s entry delivers some marvellous comedic scenes and lines. I particularly like the opening sequence where the common ranking officer, marvellously portrayed by Sidney James is disturbed to encounter 'new faces' amongst his solid, dependable crew perfectly setting the scene for his difficulties working with them. Also worthy of praise by stealing ever scene she appears in is the delightful eccentric Bridget Madderley played marvellously by Esma Cannon. This film for me still remains as endearingly charming as ever and with the use stock footage and authentically recreated ship surroundings the sea based nature of this film is certainly conveyed very effectively. I feel the series regulars look great in naval uniform and there are some great comedic set pieces with some classic 'pie in the face' moments, a mad drinking feast and table tennis playing sequence all very memorable. Totally delighted with a marvellously relaxed, enjoyable and light-hearted commentary with Robert Ross joined for this film by Lance Percival (here in his only series role as the ship's seasick cook Wilfred Haines whom makes quite a remarkable cake (something the actor talks about)) and Dilys Laye (as husband searching passenger Flo Castle whom ultimately falls for ships Doctor Arthur Binn (Kenneth Connor)). Of course they do talk about wider subjects however there are some most enjoyable focused comments about aspects of certain scenes of the film they are watching, like for example Dilys Laye's many change of costumes. We've also got the usual 4 min stills gallery and approx 2 ½ min trailer as the visual bonus features. Certainly "Carry On Cruising" (which apparently gained a Southampton (my home town!) cinema premiere) is a totally delightful title and for me one of the most satisfying Optimum re-released titles in the Carry On collection, well worth having!