Anthem of the Seas to sail from Southampton?

You all know I love a bit of cruise gossip and if anything comes across my desk I'll share it with you straight away.
Well I've heard something interesting about Royal Caribbean this morning that I thought any of their fans would be very interested in hearing!

Do High Rollers get free cruises?

I was watching Oceans Eleven at the weekend, (the original with the Rat Pack in it), and it got me thinking about comped rooms.
A comped room, (for anyone not 'down' with Las Vegas slang), is a room or a service that has been given to free, or paid for by the casino, to a high roller, (someone who will gamble a lot of money). This is done to entice them to your hotel over one of your competitors in the hopes that they will spend, (and lose), large amounts of money at your gambling tables.
As so often happens when a random thought pops into my head I started to think how this may apply to the world of cruising.

Where's Cruising Chris

We've been running a fun little cruise game on Facebook for a few weeks now called "Where's Cruising Chris" and in-case you hadn't seen them on our Facebook page, (find us on Facebook here), I thought I'd post a quick recap of them for you , (I'll make sure I post the new ones as and when they're published).

Feel free to copy them and share with your friends

Happy cruising

Royal Caribbean introduce robots to the fleet

I'm constantly amazed by the innovations cruise lines introduce to new cruise ships trying to stay ahead in the game of 'who's got the best ship'.

Sometimes this works really well and we end up with features like bumper cars at sea, (Royal Caribbean), zip wires, (Royal Caribbean and Carnival), planks to walk over the edge of the ship, (NCL), 'magic' port holes with well loved children's characters peering in, (Disney), to name just a few! Other times it doesn't and you get the world's biggest cake shop at sea or the worlds biggest hedge art sculpture.

This next innovation though looks simply amazing!
If I've one complaint about cruising, (blasphemy I know), then it's the shows in the theatre. I've always found them a little amateur dramatics for my taste and tended to do other things, (there's plenty to do), but after reading this my mind may just be changed.

I don't think so Daily Mail

I don't read the Daily Mail for a multitude of reasons but we won't get into my political leanings here. The reason I mention it is that I missed this article yesterday but one of my colleagues has kindly ripped the page out of yesterdays paper and left it on my desk.
When I first saw the article I thought someone was trying to make an obscure joke about my age -
When does middle age really begin? On your 53rd birthday
It wasn't until I started reading that I noticed the cruise reference hidden in the article.

Cunards Queen Elizabeth - Cruise review

I've just returned from a two night mini cruise onboard Cunards Queen Elizabeth and thought I'd share with you some of the photos and videos I took whilst onboard.

I've sailed a few times now with Cunard through work but it was my wife's first experience of them and she was a little nervous. She'd read all the reviews and heard all the criticisms -

"Cunard are too formal"
It's really stuffy onboard"
"They're boring"
"Everyone will be really snobbish"

As it turned out we both had a great time with my wife being turned into a huge fan of Cunard.
I've personally always thought traditional or formal are the wrong words to describe Cunard. When I think of them the word that always springs to mind is iconic and I think this sums up the whole experience you'll have onboard.
As soon as you see that black hull and red funnel in the distance you know you're in for a great cruise.
Yes as a cruise line they are more formal than others, but rather than this feeling overbearing it lends a 'special' feeling to each dinner. You come out of your cabin each evening feeling like James Bond.
I realise that this style may not be for everyone but for anyone that's ever been put off the idea of a Cunard cruise please don't dismiss them out of hand, you really will have a great time!

Cruisers not happy with cruise lines

How happy were you with your last cruise?
Did you have a major complaint?
A minor complaint?
More than one complaint?
Would it surprise you to know that 18%, nearly one in five cruisers, were unhappy with some aspect of their cruise?
This is according to a report by JD Power in a cruise survey called Cruise Line Satisfaction report released last week.