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?

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.

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........

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Parasailing from a cruise ship.

Can you parasail whilst on a cruise? Not anymore I'm afraid.Sadly there have been several deaths recently relating to shore excursions where parasailing was offered and as such many cruise lines are choosing to remove it as an option whilst you're in their care.

Lidl cruises

I've always tried to bring you the most up to date gossip and rumours that cross my desk relating to the cruising world. Combined with that I've always enjoyed sharing crazy or unusual cruising stories with you.
The nice thing about the rumour I heard today was that it ticked both the above boxes.

Is my Canaries cruise still safe?

If you've been watching the news over the last few days and you've a Canaries cruise booked you might be feeling rather nervous.
If you've not heard then to just catch you up the Spanish government has issued a yellow alert to all travellers and residents in the Canaries area due to an increase in seismic activity in the last few days.
El Heirro has suffered what is called an earthquake swarm, over 8,000 tremors in the last two months!
Experts say that this is normally a good sign that a volcanic eruption is imminent.

There are over 10, 000 people living on El Heirro although so far only 53 of them have been evacuated but the Spanish army has been mobilised and is ready to perform a mass evacuation if one becomes necessary.

The Thomson Spirit - A British institution...........Back in Britain!

You may or may not know it but if ever a client calls looking for a low cost cruise, or a really last minute cruise, it tends to be a Thomson cruise I end up offering. They always have plenty of departures from regional airports as opposed to the normal Manchester/London option offered by other cruise lines with great affordable prices for people.
If I have any problems with Thomson cruises it's been that they never offer any deals on cruises leaving the UK, so if you don't want to fly you've been stuck a little for choice with them.

How to get a great cruise deal..........

Have you ever thought about booking your next cruise whilst your still on your current cruise? Most people haven't. In fact most people don't even realise you can do this or that there are extra benefits for doing so.
Cruise lines love for people to book their next cruise whilst they're still onboard and very often give people tremendous offers for doing so......

Lobster golf balls!

And the award for most pointless improvement goes to......

I came across this story earlier today and thought to myself that I just had to share it with you.
Now we all know cruise lines will go to extreme lengths to keep guests happy onboard, paying attention to the smallest details of your cruise holiday. Indeed, I think I've said it before here that it tends to be the silly little small details that can really make a holiday. But have they finally gone one step too far.......?

Win a free World Cruise for P&Os 175th anniversary!

Did you know P&O is 175 years old next year? I know they're part of the Carnival corporation now but they're still British run and there's not many other companies that can claim a record that long.
As you'd expect for their cruises 2012 they've got a lot of plans with new cruises, destinations and deals planned.
The bit I'm most interested in for 2012 though has to be the date of their anniversary, 03rd July 2012!

More fuel surcharge increases

Just found out today that P&O, Cunard and Princess cruise lines will be putting their fuel charges up to £6 per day, up to a maximum of £200 per voyage. Unlike other cruise lines, who shall remain nameless however, (cough Fred Olsens cough), they wont be applying this charge to cruises already booked, just any new bookings made after the 28th Feb 2011.
The good news is that the increase will only apply to certain voyages, normally the longer ones, but todays top tip definitely has to be:
If you're looking to book a P&O, Cunard or Princess cruise this year do it before the 28th of Feb.

Strangely I'm on the side of the cruise lines with this one, if the price of fuel does go up clearly they need to put their prices up, it only annoys me when they apply it to bookings that have already been made.
But what do you think?

Happy Cruising