The Grand Princess - After her refurbishment

I came back from a day visit to the Grand Princess recently but have only just managed to upload all of the pictures so I thought I'd share them all with you. Of all the ships I've ever visited it was the Grand Princess I was least sure about. All the other ships I've visited I had a clear idea of what to expect but with the Grand Princess all I knew was that she was quite an old ship that had never the less just gone through a massive refurbishment.

Suffice to say, (as you'd expect from any cruise ship), I was really impressed with her.

See what you think........................

The River Cruise Line - The Switzerland II

I've just got back from the ACE river cruise expo, (#rivercruiseexpo if you're on Twitter), and wanted to tell you about some of the ships I've seen. I had the amazing opportunity of seeing six different river cruise ships all owned and operated by six different cruise lines in the space of about three or four hours.
For that reason, (as we were being hurried around them a little), some of these posts about the different ships may not be as detailed as they always are and some of the pictures might not be the best in the world. They will however, (I hope), give you a taste of what each ship is like and let you judge the 'personality' of each ship.

Shearings river cruises - DaVinci

I've just got back from the ACE river cruise expo, (#rivercruiseexpo if you're on Twitter), and wanted to tell you about some of the ships I've seen. I had the amazing opportunity of seeing six different river cruise ships all owned and operated by six different cruise lines in the space of about three or four hours.
For that reason, (as we were being hurried around them a little), some of these posts about the different ships may not be as detailed as they always are and some of the pictures might not be the best in the world. They will however, (I hope), give you a taste of what each ship is like and let you judge the 'personality' of each ship.

Luftner Cruises - Amadeus Elegant

I've just got back from the ACE river cruise expo, (#rivercruiseexpo if you're on Twitter), and wanted to tell you about some of the ships I've seen. I had the amazing opportunity of seeing six different river cruise ships all owned and operated by six different cruise lines in the space of about three or four hours.
For that reason, (as we were being hurried around them a little), some of these posts about the different ships may not be as detailed as they always are and some of the pictures might not be the best in the world. They will however, (I hope), give you a taste of what each ship is like and let you judge the 'personality' of each ship.

AMA - The AmaDante

I've just got back from the ACE river cruise expo, (#rivercruiseexpo if you're on Twitter), and wanted to tell you about some of the ships I've seen. I had the amazing opportunity of seeing six different river cruise ships all owned and operated by six different cruise lines in the space of about three or four hours.
For that reason, (as we were being hurried around them a little), some of these posts about the different ships may not be as detailed as they always are and some of the pictures might not be the best in the world. They will however, (I hope), give you a taste of what each ship is like and let you judge the 'personality' of each ship.
So, on to the AmaDante operated by both AMA waterways and APT river cruises..................

Avalon Vista

I've just got back from the ACE river cruise expo, (#rivercruiseexpo if you're on Twitter), and wanted to tell you about some of the ships I've seen. I had the amazing opportunity of seeing six different river cruise ships all owned and operated by six different cruise lines in the space of about three or four hours.
For that reason, (as we were being hurried around them a little), some of these posts about the different ships may not be as detailed as they always are and some of the pictures might not be the best in the world. They will however, (I hope), give you a taste of what each ship is like and let you judge the 'personality' of each ship.
First up is the Avalon Vista...........

Uniworld - SS Antoinette

If you've been following my blog over the last week or so you'll have noticed I've been a bit quiet for the last seven days. I haven't been ignoring you - I've been enjoying a river cruise along the Rhine on the SS Antoinette run by Uniworld. I wanted to do a day by day account of the cruise for you here but unfortunately the ships Wi-fi didn't like my blog address. I did however manage to write the day by day account on our cruise forum which you can read here.
You can read all about the ship and what I thought of the excursions and ship-board life but unfortunately, again because of the Wi-fi speed I couldn't upload many photos so I thought I'd give you a bit of a pictorial tour of the ship here.

Gon cruisin'

I'm off to catch a flight to Basel tomorrow for a weeks cruise up the Rhine on Uniworlds amazing ship the SS. Antoinette. I'd normally take this opportunity to say goodbye and see you back here in a weeks time however things are going to be a little different this time.
As Uniworld offer free Wi-Fi on all their ships I'm going to be taking my lap top with me and will be trying to give you a daily update as to what the cruise is like, hopefully with lots of pictures. If you've any questions or requests whilst I'm onboard ask them here and I'll do my best to answer them for you.

Happy, (river), cruising

Ever wanted to run your own cruise line?

Ever since my oldest child figured out how to use my I-Phone about two years ago it seems every time I pick my phone up in the morning there's a new game he's downloaded on it, (thankfully he can only download the free ones).
99% of them are kids games that I wouldn't even look at but the other day he came running up to me to say he'd downloaded a game for me. It was actually quite fun so I thought I'd share it all with you.
It's called Cruise Tycoon.

Azamara Cruises 2013 Brochure

Planning to book an Azamara cruise for 2013? Just looking to find out a bit more about this cruise line? Why not read their 2013 cruise brochure online now!

Happy cruising

Regent Seven Seas Cruises - 2012/2013 brochure

I know this one is a little late but I've just stumbled across the Regent 2012/2013 brochure so I thought I'd upload it all for you to view. There's still a few months to go on it and even if the brochure is nearly out of date you can still see all the ships/deck plans etc.
As soon as I get the 2013/2014 Regent Seven Seas cruise brochure I'll be sure to upload it for you.

Happy cruising

P&O Russell Watson Cruise - Will people be disapointed?

You may have seen these cruises advertised over the last coupleof weeks. P&O launched them with a blaze of publicity to go on sale yesterday, (1st Nov 2012).
There were two cruises up for grabs, a three night mini cruise on the Aurora next year and a four night mini cruise on the Azura a couple of months later.
P&O have stated Russell Watson will do at three shows per sailing, (although the fine print does say that that's subject to change).
As expected as soon as it went on sale yesterday most of the cabin grades were booked straight away by both traditional cruise fans and Russell Watson fans alike.
But are a lot of them going to end up disappointed?

A new cruise line?

Reading the Metro newspaper this morning I came across this little story that I thought I'd share with you all. I know nothing may come of it but if it does it could be a very interesting option for some people.............

Viking River Cruise brochure 2013 - Worldwide Journeys

And for anyone that isn't yet sick of all the river cruise brochures I've uploaded today here's Vikings river cruise brochure for 2013..........

Happy cruising

Avalon river cruise brochure 2013 - Europe

I thought you might all be interested in the Avalon river cruise brochure for 2013, the European version this time - Again, as always, you can read it in your web browser.

Happy cruising

Avalon river cruise brochure - Vietnam, Cambodia & China

As promised here's Avalons 2013 river cruise brochure for you to read online. This one will focus on Vietnam, Cambodia and China.

Happy cruising

APT Luxury River cruise brochure 2013

River cruising is a market that's grown massively in the last year or so and that trend is only going to continue. It's with that thought in  mind that I'll be uploading some river cruise brochures for you for 2013/2014 over the next few days that you will be able to view online.

Happy, (river) cruising

Royal confirm new mega ship

I love big ships! Royal Caribbeans Independence of the Seas, NCLs Epic - The bigger the better as far as I'm concerned. 
Two ships I'm desperate to see, (but have avoided up till now because of the flight times with two young children in tow), are the Oasis and Allure of the Seas so I was particularly happy to hear that, thanks to better than expected third quarter profits this year, RCCL have just announced that they are in the process of negotiating a new 'Oasis style' mega liner that will be ready for 2016.

Hurricane season - I told you so.

I'm not one to say I told you so, (not normally anyway), but it is nice to be proved right sometimes.
One of the questions that always bugs me slightly is whats the best time to book a cruise to the Caribbean? Do I need to worry about hurricane season?
Well yes you do, if you're booking a land based holiday but the beauty of a cruise holiday is that it's on a ship so if the Captain sees a storm coming on his chart he can just go somewhere else. I realise that a change of itinerary isn't always everyones favourite option but if it's that or stormy waters I know which I'd pick. I first wrote about this back in July 2010 and you can see what I wrote by clicking here.
The reason I'm talking about this is that there's a great example at the moment of how flexible a cruise holiday can be.................

Cruise.co.uk Wins Europes Leading Cruise Travel Agent!!!

Hi all - bit of a weird one today, I've got a guest blogger for you. My colleague Kristin recently collected an award for us at the World travel awards but has been having some IT difficulties so has been unable to let anyone know about it!
You can find her report of the event below........
(If you want to talk to Kristin you can reach her at Kristins@cruise.co.uk)

Urgent - New tourist tax!

I've just had a press release regarding a new Catalonia Tourist Tax that may affect anyone flying into Barcelona, (or the rest of Spain), from the 01st November forward.
Full details below................

Oceania winter cruise brochure 2013/2014

Hands down some of the best food I've ever eaten in my life, (on land or at sea), has been on an Oceania ship. It's the kind of food that really can't be described, you just have to try it.
For anyone looking to try the food on an Oceania cruise below is their winter cruise brochure for 2013/2014 to help you make up your minds.
For anyone that would like to know a bit more about the ships just click here for my review of the Oceania Regatta or the Oceania Insignia.

Happy cruising

Too big for the Brits?

P&O cruises have just announced they have started building their newest ship. Set to launch in 2015 it will be their biggest yet at 141,000 tonnes and capable of carrying 3,611 passengers.
If you're interested you can read the full press release here on our forums.

In memory of a legend.........

It's a sad post today I'm afraid. Our long time colleague and friend Drew lost his fight with cancer last week aged just 30.
He had been battling a rare form of cancer called sarcoma since October 2011 and sadly lost the battle early last week.
Typical of the man in thinking of others instead of himself, rather than getting depressed and feeling sorry for himself not long after being diagnosed he set up a charity to help others with this illness.
You can see all Drew did and raised for charity on the web page he set up here at U-Legend or if you felt you wanted to donate something yourself you can do so here at JustGiving
A lot of the staff from our office will be doing a run for the charity on the 21st of October and next Monday, (the 15th), my colleagues Faz and James will be doing a sponsored shave with myself, (although I'll be shaving my beard obviously). You can download a sponsorship form here if you want to help raise funds - Sponsorship form - or just give direct on the Just Giving link above. Anything you can afford would be appreciated.

Drew you may be gone but you'll never be forgotten.

How do you settle your bill?

How do you settle your onboard account? I'm thinking in particular if you use a card on an American ship.
The reason I'm asking you all this is that a client of mine was filling in her Royal Caribbean cruise personaliser today and they were asked if when they went to settle their bill they wanted to use the ships currency converter before the bill was paid or just rely on their card providers conversion rate.

My 500th Blog post!

A bit of a milestone today, I've just reached half a millennium or 500 posts!
It's, (mostly), been a joy writing this blog for you since I started work for Cruise.co.uk way back in May 2010 and hopefully there will be many more posts to come. I'm glad you've all enjoyed reading it, (or at least found it useful), and as always if you think there's something missing feel free to email me and I'll see about adding it.
In the meantime I thought it might be a bit fun today if I did a bit of a top ten run down of my blog, (as it stands now)........................

Sticking up Thomson cruises!

Did you read the recent news story about how Thomson Cruises refused boarding to two deaf passengers but then had to make a quick U-turn and allow them onboard after a complaint and a Facebook campaign by their son? If you haven't already seen the story it was covered on our cruise forum here.
Whilst I'm aware the initial reaction of people will be to blame Thomson for this as being unfair to disabled passengers I'm actually coming down on their side for this topic.
Why you ask?

Sneaking alcohol on a cruise ship - Part 2

I wrote a post over a year ago, (slightly tongue in cheek), designed to help anyone looking to sneak alcohol onto a cruise ship using a rum runner, (you can read the post here). I thought I'd let you all know that there's been an update to help anyone looking to sneak on the booze...............

P&O Aurora - A review

OK, as you all know by now I've just come back from the P&O Aurora where I'd done a mini cruise to Bruges. I've been promising you a review of the ship for a week or so now so here it is..............

Fridays funny story

I was talking to a client the other day who lives up in Scotland who told me of an incident he witnessed in his local a few weeks ago. As publishing a funny story on a Friday is turning into a bit of a regular thing I thought I'd share it all with you...............

Vantage fares - Stage two and three!

You may, (or may not), have read on my blog recently that I've just come back from P&Os Aurora, (a full review will be following soon). In the meantime I thought I'd share an interesting piece of cruise gossip I overheard whilst passing the future cruise desk onboard.

What's your P&O name?

As any followers of my blog will know I've just come back from a two night mini cruise on the P&O Aurora, (my review will follow soon). The reason I'm writing about this issue before getting started on the review is that it really offended me onboard, however, I'm not sure if it's just me over reacting about something again and being too sensitive so I thought I'd ask............... What do you think?

Disney Cruise brochure

You may remember a couple of months ago that I said you'd be hearing a lot more about Disney cruises for the Summer 2013 cruise season. If you still haven't made up your minds about whether a Disney cruise is for you or not then you may find the cruise brochure below useful, (and remember Disney ships aren't just for kids these days, there's loads of adult only activities to!)

Happy cruising

Celebrity Cruises brochure 2013/2014

Celebrity cruises have to be one of my favourite cruise lines out there. The Celebrity Eclipse, (although it isn't my favourite ship of all time), is definitely in my top three.
For any one curious it would be:
NCL Epic;
Celebrity Eclipse;
Cunards QM2.
In fact you can click here to seem my review of the Eclipse from the last time I was onboard. However for those of you who haven't cruised with Celebrity but are thinking of it for next year you may find their 2013/2013 cruise brochure useful................

Happy cruising

Gon' Cruisin'

Don't worry if you don't here from me for the next few days, I'm just off down to Southampton tomorrow for a mini weekend cruise break over to Bruges and back.
It's on the P&O Aurora, (click here to see my review of her from the last time I was onboard), and I should be back back next Monday or Tuesday.
In the meantime, if you need help with any of your cruise enquiries feel free to contact one of my colleagues on 0800 408 6200.

Happy cruising.

Star Clipper 2012/2013 cruise brochure

I've written about Star Clippers cruises quite a bit in the past so I won't cover old ground here. Suffice to say of all the luxury lines out there this is the one I'd most like to try, (definitely top of my bucket list). If any cruise can be described as romantic then this would be it.
The problem is when you start talking about clipper ships and tall ships to people it doesn't always mean a lot. With that thought in mind I've uploaded Star Clippers 2012/2013 cruise brochure for you here which can now be viewed online, after all a picture tells a thousand words. Let me know what you think of them.

Happy cruising!

MSC cruise brochure 2012/2013 - Online

You all know I'm a fan of MSC, cheap cruises, great staff and service, free kids places for anyone under 18, free carparking in the UK, so I thought it might help today if I showed you why. You can click here to see my review of the MSC Opera or below you will find their complete brochure for 2012/2013 which I've just uploaded for you all.

Happy cruising

Mediterranean cruising with Royal Caribbean

For awhile now I've been recommending people to cruise with MSC. They're a great cruise line, with amazing ships and they offer really great deals, especially for families, (free kids places for children under 18).
However one of the big complaints I hear back from people is that they're un-happy sailing with MSC in  the Mediterranean  as they felt the ships would be full of Italians. Instead they book with an English or American cruise line like P&O or Royal Caribbean as they feel there will be a much higher percentage of English speaking people onboard.

Online Carnival cruise brochure 13/14

Take note of this brochure as I'm going to be talking quite a bit about Carnival cruises in the next few months.
Carnival are going to have a much bigger presence in the Med next year, (2013), with a ship based in Dover for 8 cruises, (Carnival Breeze), and two ships in the Med.
Carnival are known for their glitzy, glamorous ships, sometimes described as Las Vegas at sea. Great for couples and families, (wait till I tell you about the kids clubs), they're definitely one to watch for next year!
(If you want to see a bigger version just click the square button in the bottom left corner of the brochure).

Cruise joke of the day

Just been sent this great cruise joke through by a customer and thought I'd share it with you all...........

Apologies to NCL

I wrote a post yesterday, (see here), bemoaning the amount of money cruise lines charge babies under the age of two. The reason this topic occurred to me was because of a press release from NCL stating they would be scrapping free child places for children under the age of two and instead charging them the standard third/fourth guest rate.

How much does a baby cost?

How much does a baby cost?
No, before someone suggests it, I'm not looking to buy or sell one on the black market, I mean how much do they cost a cruise line once they're onboard in terms of food/entertainment/upkeep etc.

We need you!

Yes, it's that time again! The World Travel Awards are here again and we've been nominated in the category of Europes Leading Cruise Travel Agent 2012.
We've won this award for the last few years now so it'll be great to win again but we need your help!
Click the link below to register your vote and let all of Europe know why they should be booking their cruises through us!

Europes Leading Travel Agent 2012

Happy cruising and thanks for all your support over the last few years!

Travel urban legends

I wrote a post last week called "a funny story for you", (just click the title if you haven't read it yet). Judging from the amount of you who read it, (and the number of appreciative comments it got), you enjoyed hearing about funny stories from the travel industry. Thinking about that made me remember an old story that I heard when I first started in the travel trade. As I say, it's an old story so my apologies to anyone who's heard it before.
Because it's so old now I'm not even sure if it really happened or if it's just an urban legend that's been floating around the internet for awhile. Either way though it's quite funny so I thought I'd share it with you.

A funny story for you

I was talking to a passenger of mine today who'd just come back from his cruise and he had this brilliant story to tell. It made me laugh so much I thought I'd share it all with you.................

Cruise lines try to restore consumer confidence

Have you ever booked a cruise early and then been left feeling gutted when you've noticed it for half the price on a last minute deal?
Many people have and in the last six months or so the problem, (if that's the right word for it), has only gotten worse.
Last year there were several cruise lines who all released some really great last minute offers. This was great for anyone booking last minute but as you can imagine it really annoyed everyone who'd booked their cruise early, back in 2010.
The problem the cruise lines then faced was that everyone took the line of, "well I'm not booking early again, I'm waiting for a last minute deal".
This meant that once again for this year the cruise lines have had to drop the price on all their sailings and offer cheap last minute deals.
Whilst this is great for me and you, it's obviously annoying the cruise lines who don't want to have to keep offering cheap last minute deals to fill their ships.
But now that everyone's got into the habit of waiting for a last minute cruise what can they do to rectify the problem?

Walk the plank with NCL

Walking the plank - not exactly a new idea idea in nautical terms but in relation to cruise ships?????
I do like it when a cruise line comes up with an idea or concept that's never been tried at sea before. I mean I love cruising but if we're honest there's only so many new things you can try on a cruise ship.
The concept I'm talking about today will be called walk the plank and will be found on the new NCL Breakaway, set to launch from Southampton next April on it's inaugural voyage to New York where it will be based.

Do you read travel reviews?

If I'm honest with you I don't normally bother. I know I should, but I tend to just research what I want, when I want it and see what's available and then off I go to book it. However that nearly ended in disaster recently so I may have to re-think my approach to booking things.

US lawyers file suit over Costa Concordia

I think the Costa Concordia has had enough press coverage over the last few months or so and I'm sure the last thing anyone wants to read by this point is another story about a group of lawyers suing Carnival over the tragedy. However I came across this report last week and it seemed to me to be a little different to all the rest.

Cunard Jubilee painting

Where were you for the Queens Diamond Jubilee? Like thousands of others did you head down to watch all three of Cunards ships, the Queen Mary 2, the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Victoria meet in Southampton?  If you did you may want to book a Cunard cruise soon as this will be the only way to get your hands on this fantastic memorial painting by artist Robert G Lloyd.

Win another free cruise - (seriously)

I posted a week or two ago how there was an online competition to win a free P&O cruise. It seems it must have been popular idea as I've just stumbled across another free cruise you can win.......

BHX vs. LHR

Or for those of you reading this who aren't travel agents, Birmingham airport vs. London Heathrow airport.
The reason for the post is that Birmingham International is making a determined bid to be seen as a viable alternative to Heathrow; this as Heathrow struggles with permission to build a third runway.

NCL Cruise ship - 360 Virtual tour

Hi all. As you know I've just got back from the NCL Epic a couple of weeks ago and had a great time. I've definitely been converted to freestyle cruising and will be talking about this with you soon.
I know I've been promising to show you all the pictures I took onboard to give you a bit of a better feel for what the cruise was like but I'm still trying to recover them after I crashed my computer. In the meantime there is a handy little section on the Norwegian cruise lines website that I thought I'd share with you that allows you to take a 360 virtual tour of all their ships.......

Last chance to register

I've written a little in the past about river cruises and how they're the fastest growing corner of the cruise industry. However there's nothing like talking to an expert in the field to learn all about river cruises or ask those awkward questions you've not been able to find answers to.
With that in mind cruise.co.uk have got together with APT River Cruises and will be hosting a webinar on the 18th June 2012 at 7:00pm

Win a free cruise, (seriously)

I noticed this last night and thought I'd share it all with you this morning. Hands up anyone who'd like a free cruise?

Animators Palette restaurant

I was writing yesterday about some of the amazing innovations you can find on a Disney cruise ship. Continuing on in that theme I felt I had to mention the Animators Palette restaurant on the Disney Magic. This has to be one of the cleverest ideas for a restaurant I've ever seen!

Magic Portholes

I was talking to a sales rep recently from Disney cruise lines, chatting about some of the features of the Disney ships.
We don't sell loads of Disney cruises here in the UK, (it's a predominately American market), however this seems like a shame as they do sail in the Mediterranean and some of the features of their ships are amazing. Possibly one of my favourite innovations is their magic portholes.

NCL Epic - Facts and figures

Continuing on with my posts about the NCL Epic I thought it might be useful today, rather than talking about my impressions, if I gave you all the facts and figures of the ship instead.
Have you ever wanted to know how big she is?
How many people can fit onboard?
How many bars and restaurants are there really?
Well fear not, all the answers to those questions and more can be found below.

Norwegian iConcierge

As you'll all probably know by now I've just gotten back from my cruise on the NCL Epic with Norwegian Cruise Lines. I wrote briefly the other day about my first impressions of the ship and if I can figure out how to get my phone and computer working hopefully I'll be showing you all the pictures I took onboard soon. Today however I want to tell any prospective Norwegian cruisers about a handy little app they should download for their phone before they cruise. It's called the Norwegian iConcierge.

NCL Epic - First impressions

As you probably know I've just got back from the Norwegian cruise lines ship Epic and I had a fantastic time. In fact I've had more fun on that cruise than any other I've done before!
I'm going to be talking a lot about Norwegian cruises, (NCL cruises), over the next week or so as I've a lot to tell you but I thought I'd start today by just sharing my first impressions of them with you.

Gon Cruisin!

I'm going to be out of the office for the next few days drifting peacefully around the Med on a fantastic ship, the NCL Epic.
I'll be letting you know all about it as soon as I'm back but if you need any travel agent help in the meantime feel free to call one of my colleagues on 0800 408 6200.

Happy cruising

Man vs Food - San Juan

I wrote a post a month or two back about some of the food you could expect to be served on an Alaskan cruise, (you can read it here).
The video I used was taken from a show called Man vs Food, an American show that's just made it's way over to the UK from their Travel Channel.
It's about a New yorker called Adam who travels around the US sampling some of the more delicious, (unhealthy), foods on offer there. I watched an episode last night all about the food you'll experience in San Juan and as I've just booked a hotel for a client there for a three day stay before their cruise I thought I'd share the episode with you so you can see some of the culinary delights available in San Juan.

Happy cruising

Problems with the Celebrity Eclipse???

I first went onboard a Celebrity ship last year when I visited the Celebrity Eclipse, (you can read my review here), and I thoroughly loved every minute of it.
As I said in the review, I loved every inch of the ship but as I was taking a guided tour around I saw something that I thought may have been a major drawback for certain cruisers.
I didn't say anything at the time because I wasn't sure if I was being too picky or pedantic but as someone mentioned it to me yesterday returning from the Eclipse I thought I'd mention it to you all and see what you thought..........

Real Cruise Quotes from Twitter

I was having a look at Twitter last night when I came across a great Tweet, (def: a post written by someone on Twitter),  so if any of you are on Twitter I'd recommend you start following this person as they really made me laugh. You can find them at @cruise_quotes.
It's a collection of quotes someone has heard other cruisers make whilst they've been onboard and whilst some of them sound silly I can well imagine some of the cruisers I've met saying them.
Check it out!
But for those of you not on Twitter I've included some of my favourites here.........

Happy cruising

PS feel free to follow me on Twitter as well at @James_cruise_co

It's a Viking Invasion

Not literally. I'd hate for any of my Northern readers to start avoiding Yorkshire in the fear that the county is set to be pillaged by a ferocious horde of beefy blond barbarians in horned helmets from Scandinavia.
However, in a very real sense the cruise world is set for a bit of Viking invasion. So what am I talking about?

Getting ready for the Grand Event

It's been awhile in the coming but P&Os Grand event is nearly here. All seven ships will be leaving Southampton on the 03rd July this year in celebration of P&Os founding 175 years ago.
I remember when these seven cruises first went on sale, most of them sold out almost instantly, helped I'm sure by the fact that one lucky couple on each ship will be winning a free world cruise.
If you're already booked onboard then I'm sure you're excited enough but just in case you're not P&O have just released this animation getting everyone ready for the Grand Event. Check it out below......

Happy cruising

Fancy a free holiday?

I came across this in the Metro this morning on my way to work and thought I'd share it all with you in case any of you 'deserve' a free holiday.
A young man, Tom Frankenburg, (22), had booked a holiday with his girlfriend. Unfortunately they've now broken up.
The holiday, a week in Malta this July, can't be cancelled so Tom has has taken the unusual step of advertising his holiday on Youtube. He will give it away to the most 'deserving' couple that reply to him.
So if you fancy a free holiday check out the vide below and get in touch with Tom.

P&O get HRH

Normally it's Cunard that get all the Royal attention so it's nice to read that P&O have a special visit planned for their 175th Anniversary cruises this July.

Cruise line discrimination - Disabled cruisers

Do cruise lines discriminate against disabled cruisers?
You'd certainly hope not, especially in this day and age, but I was thinking about it recently and was wondering what your thoughts were?

Are P&O stealing from passengers???

Sorry you've not heard from me for a week or so; I've been away on my hols. I'm back now so normal service will be resumed shortly - or now even, how have you all been?
I've obviously spent most of the last week either relaxing or doing my best to keep two young children entertained, (no easy task as any parent will tell you), but in my quieter moments I've also been keeping an eye on what's happening in the cruising world.
I'm sure it's old news to most of you by now but one story shocked me so much when I heard about it I felt I had to comment on it here. - P&O's new tipping scheme.

Spoof Titanic 3d Trailer

Hi all. It's a miserable Sunday afternoon with the wind and rain hammering at my window, (fingers crossed for you that the weather is better wherever you are!)
As the weather is so bad I thought I'd try and cheer you all up by sharing this spoof Titanic 3D trailer I saw on the Internet, (thanks go to Malcolm for sharing it on our cruise forum).

Happy cruising!

Why can't I book a four berth cabin?

I was speaking to a customer yesterday who was trying to book a last minute deal with Royal Caribbean cruises for a four berth family cabin. The cabin they wanted was available and would sleep four people. However Royal Caribbean would only let them book two people into the cabin. They wouldn't sell the cabin my customer wanted as a four berth.
I explained to the gentleman why he couldn't book it but he wasn't very happy with the explanation.
It occurred to me though that a lot of other people might be confused about this issue so I thought I'd explain it in todays post.

Hurtigruten 2013 brochure

You may or may not have heard of Hurtigruten. I've written numerous posts on them in the past which you can read by clicking here. By now you should all know I'm a huge fan of them. If you're looking to experience the 'real Norway', at any time of the year, then there's no better cruise line than Hurtigruten.
They can go where no else goes, at times of the year that one else offers and you can book some truly unique shore excursions with them; from husky sledding to an ovenight stay in an ice hotel!
I've enclosed their 2013 cruise brochure for you to have a look at online. Feel free to email me if you have any questions or you want to book something.

Happy cruising.

Funny road sign

One of the things I like so much about working for cruise.co.uk is that we don't have a customer service team. Everything is handled by me, from a clients initial quote, to booking their cruise, then any problems or changes on the lead up to their cruise and welcoming them home after as well. It's all done by one person, (me), and the customer has access to my direct telephone number and email address if they need to reach me.
What this means is that I really get to know my passengers; I had one lady who rang up today to book her fourth cruise with me who said it's like ringing an old family friend.
This means that a lot of my clients sometimes just call up for a chat or like to share joke emails they've been sent with me and I thought I'd share this one with you as I found it so funny.

Well that's a bit of a drag

You may remember a post I wrote awhile back about how Azamara were offering a swingers cruise in 2013, (you can read the post here).
As I said in this post this type of theme cruise is quite common, normally with one company chartering the ship and then selling on all the cabins.
However I came across a themed cruise this morning that is on general sale which means there may be a large percentage of people onboard unaware of the theme.
What do you think of this?

Interesting cruise infographic

I was browsing on the internet earlier when I came across this interesting infographic that I thought I'd share with you all. If you scroll down it's got some really interesting facts about Royal Caribbean, Disney cruises and Holland America as well as interesting points about cruising in general.

Happy cruising

Star Clipper facts

It doesn't take a genius reading this blog to know I'm a huge fan of Star Clipper cruises, (click here to see some previous posts about them).
I was talking to a rep from Star Clippers a couple of weeks ago who gave me a couple of interesting facts about them I'd never heard before. Naturally I thought I'd share them with you........

All the 2013/2014 cruise season in one place

The marketing team at cruise.co.uk just keep getting better and better.
Not content with bringing you the complete cruise brochure year after year, (see my post on it here), they've now put together a complete brochure of almost every single cruise for the 2013/2014 cruising season. To my knowledge this is the first time anyones ever attempted anything so large so please be kind if you do spot any little errors.
If you're already on our database it should be landing on your doormats soon, if you're not feel free to email me and I'll get one posted out to you but, specially for all my readers if you want a sneak peek you can have a look at the online version below.

Happy cruising.

80% discount; but how will they re-coop it?

It's just been announced that Costa cruises will be discounting the price of most of their future cruises by up to 80%. As you're all probably aware the Costa Concordia sank recently and Costa Cruises are obviously trying to entice people back to the brand.
But will it be enough?

Hats off to an amazing cruise passenger!

I booked a cruise for a couple about two months ago. I'm not going to mention their names here without their permission but I just wanted to let you all know how amazing I think this couple are.

St Maartens airport...........

I saw a video of St Maarten airport on Youtube earlier whilst I was researching a cruise for a client and had to ask the question; is this the scariest airport you've ever flown into/out of?

Weirdest coincidence ever

I like to think I'm a rational man; I'm not religious, I'm not superstitious and I don't believe in fate. A coincidence to me has always just been a coincidence. Sometimes a coincidence is so big though it does just leave you thinking, "hmmmmm, that was weird!"

Port holes vs picture window

I've written a few posts in the past about the benefits of a balcony cabin. I even wrote a post recently about an inside cabin, (see here), but the humble outside cabin quite often gets overlooked by both cruisers and cruise lines alike.For the right kind of person though an outside cabin can be the perfect compromise.

Cruise expert or cruise geek?

How do you define an 'expert'? What's the dictionary definition of an expert?
Who's opinion would you trust?
I'm thinking about this because I was watching a show the other night that mentioned the definition of an expert was someone who had spent over 10,000 hours on one particular subject.
Being the geek I am a quick bit of maths work followed and I'm ashamed to say I can probably only get to about 5,000 hours talking about/studying/booking/sailing on/ thinking about cruises.
So does this mean I can no longer call myself a cruise expert?

More P&O Budget cuts

I've written a few posts now on cruise lines cutting corners, making budget cuts or just, in my opinion, lowering the overall standard of the cruise. However some changes are just so small and petty that you're just left asking
"What's the point?"
Such is the case with the notification email I had from P&O this morning.

Boycott the book!

It's not often I get up on my high horse, (cough, cough), but is it just me or is there something very distasteful about this book deal that's just appeared in the news?

Should I book an inside cabin?

Anyone who's paying attention to my recent posts will know that I got back from a cruise on the P&O Arcadia, (great ship by the way), back in December. What you probably didn't know was that because I had to book it on a last minute basis I could only book an inside cabin. With that in mind today I'll be talking about the pros and cons of booking an inside cabin.

Someone needs to get there priorities straight

I read an article online today that said Italian prosecutors are wasting their time investigating the disappearance of the Costa Concordia bell. Actually the article just said investigating, I added the bit about wasting their time.

Man vs Food - Alaska

My wife watches a ridiculous amount of reality T.V.
Seriously, I've no idea how one person can enjoy so much drivel and, to my deep and abiding shame, because I have to normally watch it with her I can hold serious conversations with people about which is the best cycle of Americas Next Top Model. (This is not a good thing)!
Still every so often she stumbles across a program that's not only good, it's pure genius, (the law of averages states it had to happen eventually). Man vs Food is one such program.
It's a show about an ordinary, average joe called Adam who samples all the fast food available around the good ol' U.S of A before trying to complete some mammoth 'food challenge' at the end of the show.

Surprise new ship for MSC

Normally we get loads of notice of a new ship. There's loads of hype, loads of teasers for details onboard and most of all a huge fanfare.
And then sometimes you just get a small notification email from the cruise line........

Seabourn moments

I had an email from Seabourn a few days ago. It wasn't anything particularly interesting or even important, just one of the many emails I get from the cruise lines on a daily basis regarding latest offers, cruise news, itinerary changes etc. This email however was a little bit different and I'd like to tell you why.

The Germans are invading!

Well maybe not quite; but it might not be long before you're eating bratwurst and sauerkraut on your cruise if recent comments from some industry leaders are to believed.

Blackbeards Castle

One of my passengers has just come back from a Caribbean cruise with P&O and gave me a call to let me know how it went. They had a great time but said they were a little disappointed with the Caribbean. This was the first time they'd done a Caribbean cruise and said next time they thought they'd stick to cruising the Mediterranean. They loved the weather but they thought there just wasn't a lot to do in the way of shore excursions. Apparently none of the Islands had enough history for them.
"Once you've seen one palm tree and white beach you've seen them all" was their final comment.
Whilst I'm obviously glad they had a great time I had to disagree with them about the history of the Caribbean Islands.
Going back to the 15th Century or so and then forward they've been attacked, settled, conquered, invaded, and freed by a variety of Western powers and if you know where to look there's some really interesting things to be seen.

Age discrimination travel insurance

Anyone who's been reading my blog right from the very beginning will know that in a previous life I used to sell insurance. So I know more than most how unreasonable some insurance companies can be. However even I think this latest piece of news from the weird and wonderful world of insurance is low, even for insurance companies. And I'm used to it!

I'm going on the NCL Epic!

As a cruise travel agent one of my favourite times of the year has to be the beginning. This is when the cruise lines offer certain travel agencies a couple of nights visit on one of their ships to help their staff become familiar with the product. They're called familiarisation or 'fam' trips, (I know, I know it's a hard job but someone has to do it).
As you can imagine these trips are few and far between so it's always nice to know you've been selected. This year I've been lucky enough to be picked for a visit onboard the NCL Epic and to say I'm excited is a massive understatement.
NCL only offered out a few places onboard their ship the Epic this year and the criteria was stringent to say the least. To even be considered for selection you had to of completed their online training course showing excellent knowledge of the NCL product. Despite the tough selection process I'm pleased to say that both me and my colleague David were selected though.

Pink sands

I saw an advert for a land based holiday the other day in the window of a local travel agents offering to send people to a gorgeous pink beach. It caught my eye as I've seen plenty of yellow sand beaches here in the UK, (and my fair share of pebble beaches), and quite a few white beaches abroad but I've never come across a pink one.
So what is a pink sand beach?

MV Voyager - V.O.Ds new ship

I wrote a post yesterday about Voyages of Discovery, (V.O.D), which you can read by clicking here.
In it I gave you a bit of information about V.O.D; what the cruises were like; what the MV Discovery was like and a few pros and cons of the cruise line. I also promised to give you a bit more info about V.O.Ds new ship the MV Voyager, being launched later this year. The really nice thing about this ship is that it answers a lot of the problems that some people may have about V.O.D as a cruise line.

Who are Voyages of Discovery?

I was quoting a cruise for a client the other day; they'd seen a cruise advertised on our website, (www.cruise.co.uk), and whilst they loved the itinerary they'd never heard of the company, Voyages of Discovery.
I think, for the right kind of person, V.O.D, (Voyages of Discovery), are an amazing cruise line but because of their small size I wasn't surprised my passenger had never heard of them.
After explaining a bit about them my passenger got very excited about the cruise and ended up booking it but it occurred to me that a lot of my readers might also have never heard of them so I decided to put together a little guide of who they are and what they're about for you all.

Who cares if Argentina refuse entry to cruise ships

You may have recently read that Argentinian port authorities have refused entry to two cruise ships, the P&O Adonia, which was banned from entering Ushuaia earlier this week and the Princess ship Star Princess which was also prevented from entering the port.

Two Jews on a cruise - A review

I've just downloaded a new app for my phone that let's me blog direct from my mobile.
As I was talking about Two Jews on a Cruise yesterday I decided to test it out by writing a review of the show as I was watching it; we'll have to see how well it works.

Wonderland: Two Jews on a Cruise

What are you all doing tomorrow night? Actually never mind, it doesn't matter because you're going to need to change your plans.
Wonderland: - Two Jews on a cruise
BBC2
9:00pm
That's my recommendation for the night...........

Is Celebrity Concierge class worth it?

First off Celebrity themselves are great value for money. Their ships, (especially the new Solstice class), are amazing, (see my review here for the last time I was on the Eclipse), but it just seems to me that the Concierge service they offer isn't worth the money you pay for it;  but what do you think?

Cruising with your pets

That's right you can take your pets on holiday with you.
I wrote a post a couple of days ago about how you could take fencing lessons on the Queen Victoria, (you can read the post here), and continuing in the theme of revealing little known features of Cunard cruises; today I'm going to tell you about how you can bring your pets onboard the Queen Mary 2.

Angry Birds theme park ride

Ok, so this is meant to be a cruise themed blog. I know that and you know that but sometimes I come across a story in the general world of travel that's so fun or interesting that I have to share it with you.
This is one such story!

Fred Olsen Braemar chartered for the Olympics

It's been announced today that Fred Olsen have had to completely re-schedule their cruises for July and August 2012.
The Braemar has been privately chartered by an unknown agency for the full duration of the 2012 London Olympics.

Fencing on the QV

I was talking to a client of mine today who had just got back from a cruise on Cunards Queen Victoria, (he had a great time by the way). We were discussing all the different things he'd got up to when he mentioned he had taken some fencing classes onboard.
I looked into it afterwards and did you know the Queen Victoria is the only ship at sea to offer fencing lessons?

Norovirus soon to be a thing of the past!

The Seattle Times recently carried a story regarding how close scientists are to developing a vaccine for the norovirus.
I tend to take stories like this with a pinch of salt as the norovirus evolves so rapidly, (as of right now there are over thirty known varieties), it always seems a little unrealistic to me. Still if the vaccine does work this could be great news for cruisers.

Cunards ships crossword puzzle

It's a cold Sunday moring so I've decided to post another 5 minute crossword for you all.
This one is a list of Cunards ships with the clues in the form of general knowledge questions.

Have fun and happy cruising.

Fred Olsen 2013 now on sale

You may remember a post from a week or two in which I was talking about some exciting new itineraries coming for the west coast of Africa, (if you can't you can read it here).
I've just received a notification that they are on sale as of now!

Headless Horsemanning and Koalaing

Anyone who has followed this blog for awhile now will know that I've got a bit of an obsession with internet crazes and phenomena. It wasn't too long ago that I wrote a couple of posts about planking and owling which you can read by clicking here.......
Planking
Owling
And I'd still love to organise a flash mob on a cruise ship but in the meantime I've just read about two new crazes set to be sweeping the internet; headless horsemanning and koalaing, which I will be expecting all my readers to trial the next time they're on a cruise ship!

Royal Princess sneak preview

Are there any Princess cruises fans out there? Princess have just sent me a sneak peek of their new Royal Princess which goes on sale 15th March.
Check out the video below to be one of the first to see inside this amazing new cruise ship.

Do modern cruise ships need ports of call?

Cruise ships keep getting bigger and bigger and as they increase in size and passenger capacity the cruise lines look for more and more ways of making their ship the 'one' to see. Have any of you ever considered how far this trend will take us though?

Problems with getting married at sea

What could be more romantic than getting married at sea? A tropical clime, a beautiful dress, (for the girl hopefully), the perfect scenery of a beautiful sea, what could possibly go wrong?
Well hopefully nothing but you do need to make sure you do your research!

112 - Got your number!

If you booked a cruise to the Med and were having a great time in one of your ports of call when the worst happened would you know what to do? How would you reach the emergency services of the country you're in? Have you even ever thought about it?
In a recent survey only 13% of UK residents knew how to contact emergency services when abroad. Only 13%!

The Bernie Warner bear

I've reported on some strange cruise stories in the past but this has to be one of my all time favourites!

Perfect table size for a cruise

I've been writing a guide of top tips for first time cruisers for awhile now but it occurred to me earlier that I'd never really discussed how to pick a table size on your cruise.
For anyone that has yet to cruise, (and what's taking you so long may I ask), when you book a cruise there will be two main areas you can eat onboard. There will be the self service restaurant or buffet where you can sit where you want and dine any time you want and then there will be the main dining room.
The main dining room will normally have two dinner sittings of an evening, first dining from around 6:00 - 6:30 and second dining around 8:00 to 8:30. If you choose to dine of an evening in the main dining room then you will need to choose your table size and with a couple of exceptions this will be where you dine for the entire cruise. I'll address the exceptions at the end of this post but for now it's best to remember that you need to pick your table size when you book your cruise and each choice has it's own pros and cons.

Why no cruises to Africa?

I've been selling, living, breathing and on occasion dreaming cruises for the last couple of years now and do you know what I've noticed in that time? There are hardly any cruises to Africa.
Sure you'll get the odd World cruise that will take in the occasional port, normally Cape Town in South Africa, and you might get the odd repositioning cruise to take in a port or two but apart from that it's woefully underrepresented in the cruise world.
Why is that I wonder?

Should kids cruise free?

I've been working as a travel agent for awhile now and I've lost track of the times someone has said to me
"I'm not paying for my child, he's only two", or, "I'm not paying gratuities for my 10 month old, why should I?"
As a Father myself of a three year old boy and a one year old girl I would never dream of expecting this on a cruise. and I'll tell you why.

Liverpool get go ahead

I can admit when I'm wrong, (I can afford to be big about it as it happens so rarely), and I have to say I really didn't think Liverpool would ever get the go ahead to be used as a turn around port.
I thought there was just too much pressure from Southampton, I didn't think Liverpool council would want to pay back the EU cash grant it was given, I didn't think there'd be enough demand for it and mostly I didn't think the cruise lines would want to.
As I've said though, I was wrong, (mostly).

Fred Olsen drop 5% discount

Why go direct? What's the point? Why would anyone ever book direct with the cruise line?
"Well you're bias", you might say. "Of course you'd say that, you're a travel agent! All these things are true but even given that I still don't understand why anyone would book with the cruise line direct.

Top tips to avoid tipping

Tipping.Always a contentious topics wherever keen cruisers gather to chat. Should I tip, shouldn't I?
Should I pre-pay them, should they be added at the end of my cruise?
Should I tip who I want, should I let the cruise line give my tips out?
I've seen the arguments go on and on and on with the people on both sides of the argument bitterly divided.
The truth is there is no easy answer to the topic, tipping always has and always will be, (for the British market at least), a personal subject. Now, I've written at length in the past on both sides of this argument and to be honest I'm still not sure where I stand on it but I thought it might be fun today if I put together a, (fairly), tongue in cheek guide on how to avoid tipping on your next cruise.

What is wrong with Homeland security?

At the risk of never been granted a visa to enter the United States I had to ask the question after seeing this story in the news yesterday. How stupid are the American security services? For those of you who didn't see this in the news yesterday, please keep reading, you won't believe it!

Can I wear a kilt on my cruise?

You can if you want to. People do.
I've seen loads of people on a formal night wearing their full tartan regalia proudly boasting how these have been their clan colours for the last four or five hundred years -
Except, sorry, they haven't.

Azuras 2013 world cruise cancelled.

Lets face it who didn't see this coming? A world cruise on a ship this big was always going to be a mistake.
I'm going to generalise a little bit here but the average age of a world cruiser tends to be sixty five plus, (who else but someone that's retired can cruise for a hundred days or more?).
Older cruisers tend to prefer smaller ships, (see, I said I'd be generalising), and P&O have designated the Azura as their largest 'family friendly' ship.
A cancelled cruise was always on the cards.

Ultimate luxury line to host ultimate food experience

It's hard to imagine Crystal cruises getting much better. Now that they've done away with onboard credit and moved to the all inclusive option onboard it would seem to some that they're about as good as they're going to get.
Well, to start with I'm sure that's not true. I've never known a cruise line to just sit back and rest on it's laurels; they're always trying to improve things onboard.
However, any passengers booked on the Crystal Serenity this May leaving Dover are in for an extra special treat.

Are Costa Cruises offering a 30% discount to Concordia survivors?

The internet has been ablaze for the last couple of days over a report that Coast Cruise Lines has offered  cruise passengers onboard the Costa Concordia a 30% discount off their next Costa cruise as compensation for the disaster.
Whilst I don't think Coast have exactly been covering themselves in glory over this incident I'm afraid people that this report is completely false, or nearly so anyway.

Coast Guard audio with Captain Schettino

Anyone who knows me will tell you my political views lean so far to the left that I'm nearly falling over and I'm a firm believer in a free and impartial trial but I have to admit after listening to this recording even I was left thinking what a coward. If a lynch mob had of walked by my house at the time I would have helped them carry the rope!
Let's hope when it finally does go to trial the Italian court system manages to find an unbiased jury.

Tourist attractions in Ceuta

I was looking up a cruise for someone the other when I noticed a city on the itinerary that I'd never seen before. As it was a fairly standard cruise to the Canaries you can imagine this surprised me., I thought I knew all the ports of call in that area.
The more I read about it though, the more interesting it sounded so I decided to put together a little guide for you of "what is there to do in Ceuta" if you ever find yourself there.

Complete cruise brochure 2012

Well, it's finally ready! The complete cruise brochure 2012 is here and should be landing on your door mats as you read this, (or maybe a week or two later depending on Royal Mail).
If Royal Mail are particularly bad in your area though I thought it might be nice if you could have a bit of a sneak preview.
Well, not really a preview. If you take a look below I've added the entire magazine for you so you can read it online.

Enjoy

Some fun cruise facts

Just came across a website this morning with some interesting cruise facts. Not sure I can believe all of them but if they are true then WOW! See what you think...................

Friends of...........

Have you ever been walking around your cruise ship saw a private meeting advertised in one of the function rooms as The Friends of.............A lot of people have asked me what they are as they've seen them on quite a few cruises, so...........

Liverpool's still moaning......

First off, Liverpool is a great city with a lot to recommend it , (apart from it's football, but hey, who's perfect?). My brother lives in Liverpool and I've spent many enjoyable weekends there. However I'm getting a little bored about listening to Liverpool City Council moan about cruising.

Cunards Victoria vs P&Os Arcadia

Which is better? Are you a Cunard fan? A P&O fan? Have you cruised on either of these ships?
Did you think there was much difference in them?
What if I told you there was no difference at all?

My random week

May Nan used to be fond of her little sayings any time anything strange happened to her.
"There's nowt queer as folk"
or
"It takes all sorts".
After some of the people I've spoken to this week I'm starting to think she may have had a point.

I hate call centres!

Press one to book a land based holiday.
Press two to book a cruise.
Press three if you already have a land based holiday booked
Press four if you already have a cruise booked
(you have selected a cruise)

Press one to book cruise only
Press two to book a fly cruise
(you have selected cruise only)

Press one to book a cruise with P&O
Press two to book a cruise with Cunard
Press three to book a cruise with Princess
Press four to book a cruise with Fred Olsen
Press five to book a cruise with NCL
Press six to book a cruise with Royal Caribbean
Press seven to book a cruise with Regent Cruises
Press eight to book a cruise with Celebrity cruises
Press nine if you wish to book a cruise with anyone else
(you have entered an invalid option please try again being more careful this time)

Solo discrimination by the cruise lines

I'm actually a little surprised that it's taken me this long to write about how badly single cruisers are dealt with by the various cruise lines. I guess as I've never tried cruising solo it's sort of flew under my radar a little. So for all the cruisers out there that cruise on their own I apologise it's taken me this long to comment on it. As you've guessed by now from the title of this post I definitely believe anyone trying to do a solo cruise gets the short end of the stick. But how bad is it really?

Freds do it again!

Fred Olsen cruise lines have been making a lot of changes recently that I've not been happy with. First of all they introduced automatic gratuities to all their cruises, then they did away with all their casual dress codes. The latest change however just seems to be penny pinching at it's worst with no benefit or even thought given to the customer.

Maritime superstitions

I've just finished watching Sky Ones new drama series Treasure Island, (I recorded it over the Christmas break on V+). I mention it as it was quite good and I recommend you all see it, (even if the ending is completely different to the book and nowhere near as good), but it's also the inspiration for todays post.
As you can imagine there was quite a lot of ships, sailing and sailors involved in the story and one of the sailors happened to mention some maritime superstitions he held.
It gave me the idea for todays post; I thought it might be fun if I put together a top ten list of some of the stranger maritime superstitions/customs that sailors/crew/passengers have held over the years.

P&O customer service

Far too often here you read about all the examples of bad customer service that I hear about from time to time with the different cruise lines. The thing is though we all know how great the service is onboard a cruise ship, so rather than moaning again I thought I'd share an example of some of the best customer service I've ever experienced whilst on a cruise.

Why is New Zealand called 'New' Zealand?

I was booking a cruise to New Zealand for someone yesterday when he made a bit of a joke saying"when are they going to start calling it Zealand, it's not really new anymore".After dutifully chuckling for a second I did start thinking to myself, where is Zealand?
York and New York I get, I know Orleans and New Orleans even, but I'd never heard of Zealand; so where is it?
Well as it turns out there's no such place!

Cruise consultant of the year 2011

Hi all, I'm back. did you miss me?The sharp eyed amongst you will have noticed that I haven't posted anything here since the beginning of December. You don't need to worry, I'm fine, I've just been enjoying a well deserved break.So what have I been up to you ask?