Smokers to get a reprieve

Anyone who know me will quite happily tell you I’m a hardened anti smoker. Never smoked a day in my life. Won’t even let the wife smoke in the house. I’ve been trying to get her to quit for years, to no affect.

I only mention all this so you know which side of the fence I stand on whilst you read this blog. A friend recommended something called an electronic cigarette for her. They contain all the nicotine so are still just as addictive but none of the rubbish so are a massive 99% healthier for you.

I might not know art but I know what I like

For those of you who follow my cruise blogs regularly you will know Crystal cruises have just started a series of debates on the ships between different groups of professionals and experts for the entertainment of its passengers. For those who didn’t read the blog I’m assured it won’t be anything like a Jerry Springer show. At the time I wondered if this sort of entertainment was appropriate for a cruise ship and if the passengers would enjoy it. I also wondered how long it would be before other cruise lines started to move away from the traditional type of cruise ship entertainment and start offering something new. Well it looks like Princess are first of the mark with their new modern artist shows coming up over the next few months.

What to do in St. Petersburg

As promised I’m continuing my series of blogs about un-missable tourist destinations on the different ports of call we send you all too. Bear in mind this is aimed at people who have never visited these ports before and it’s all based on my personal opinions and my favourite sites. If you feel I’ve missed something important out or disagree please make a comment below to help other cruisers make up their minds.
So on to business, today I'll be looking at St. Petersburg.

Debates at Sea

Are you sick of the standard on board entertainment?

Can’t stomach one more Abba tribute act?

Looking for something a bit more high brow?
Well Crystal cruise lines may have the answer for you. For those of you who don’t know, Crystal are a luxury 6 star cruise line specialising in exotic destinations.
On their ship the Crystal Serenity, they are now offering a series of debates between world affairs experts on defence policies, international conflicts and even geographical illiteracy with the program launching in 2011. Advertised as lively, engaging and interactive, Ocean Views as it is called, will feature panels of distinguished ambassadors, professors, foreign correspondents, four-star generals and other veteran strategists to debate current events and global issues, along with an audience of Crystal guests. The program is the newest addition to the ultra-luxury line’s Crystal Visions Enrichment Program and debuts on three segments of Crystal’s 2011 World Cruise.
But here’s the real point of this blog; Just because you have paid for an ultra luxury cruise line does it necessarily mean you will enjoy this kind of entertainment?
Now I’m sure Crystal have done their market research on this and feel their clients would enjoy this style of entertainment.
But what do you think?
Have you ever cruised with Crystal?
Would you enjoy this form of entertainment?
Would you like to see something similar available on other cruise lines?
Or is it going to be a spectacular flop?
Let me know what you think.

Happy Cruising

When in Rome............

It's difficult, the first time you reach a foreign port to now exactly what you should visit. On most cruises you will only get a day in the city, nowhere near enough time to see everything.

So what to do first?
What are the most important sites to see?
What can I afford to miss first time around?
Before setting out on a cruise vacation I would always recommend you do some research on the cities you plan to visit and make a list of the attractions/destinations that appeal to you most. With this in mind I have decided to do a series of blogs about different destinations that me and my colleagues at Cruise.co.uk regularly send people to on our most popular cruises.
You should bear in mind that I am only listing my personal favourites but I would love for people to add to this so others can use them as a starting reference guide to planning their perfect cruise.
I have decided the first city I will include is Rome:

To Tip or not to Tip……..what Mr. Pink Thinks

I know tipping on board an American cruise liner is always a bit of a contentious issue, especially to us Brits, unaccustomed to the American style of inclusive gratuities. I know this always leads to a heated debate on both sides of the argument, but I’ve always wondered what the Americans themselves thought of this style of tipping.

I was watching Reservoir Dogs the other night on T.V when I heard Mr. Pink having a bit of a rant about tipping and it occurred to me that I had never heard an argument with all the pros and cons of tipping so well put, (assuming you don’t mind ignoring the swearing).
I have enclosed the argument below, with all the swear words blanked out, although I would probably say if you are easily offended don’t click the read more button.
Let me know what you think after you have read it and if it has changed your opinions at all.
Again, if you are easily offended please, please dont click the read more button.
Thank you.

Port of Call Picture Quiz

 Recently Cruise.co.uk brought you all a quiz entitled Cruise Ship Picture Quiz challenging you all to name the cruise ships. In much the same vein, todays quiz will be to name that Port of call.

Good Luck

Ready, Steady, Cruise

Cruises in general and cruise lines in particular have always been known for a love of food. Whether its putting a stone on by the end of your cruise from an over indulgence at the buffet bar, or relaxing at some of the speciality restaurants that have become so common place, cruise lines have always catered for all tastes.

However, Celebrity may have just taken thins one step further.
The Cruise line has teamed up with US broadcaster the Food Network to offer the world's first Food Network at Sea program.
As part of the package, which will be offered onboard the Celebrity Solstice as it departs on Eastern Caribbean sailing this August, passengers will be given bespoke demonstrations of some of the networks favourite recipes.
More important still, they will get the chance to sample some of the food and enjoy VIP treatment at the welcome reception party arranged especially for the passengers.
"We know our guests enjoy cooking and great dining experiences, and many are followers of chefs such as those featured on this sailing, so this is a perfect pairing," commented Dan Hanrahan, Celebrity's chief executive and president.
Do you have a favourite chef you would like to see on board?
Are you not too fussed about the direction cruise lines are taking with their food?
Let me know what you think here.

Happy Cruising

Cruise Ship Photos.... with a twist

I've just been re-reading over some of my blogs this week and realised that most of them have been a bit doom and gloomy, whether it be about pirates chasing down ships or CSI agents onboard the ships.

So in the spirit of 'That Friday Feeling' I thought today I would try for a bit more of a light hearted blog.

As a Cruise Specialist I tend to get sent a lot of funny photos about or taken on board cruise ships. I've been keeping these in a folder, not really sure what to do with them, so I thought I would upload them here to give you all a bit of a Friday giggle. 

The Gulf of Aden

It seems like over the last few months the Gulf of Aden hasn’t really been out of the news with one thing and another and a lot of people with itineries that take them through this stretch of sea have been asking us several questions.

What are our Cruise Lines doing to protect us?
And more importantly; why are cruise ships sailing through there?
For those of you who don’t know where the Gulf of Aden is, it’s located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which is about 20 miles wide.
The waterway is part of the important Suez Canal shipping route between the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean with 21,000 ships crossing the gulf annually. The gulf is known by the nickname "Pirate Alley" due to the large amount of pirate activity in the area.
So, with the introductions made, why aren’t Cruise Liners more worried about this area?
Why are they still sailing it?

It cold, it’s wet, it’s miserable. It’s a typical British October with no good weather to look forward to for months.

But what do you care.
You were smart enough to book this fantastic trip from Fort Lauderdale down to Barbados.

Dear America

To the citizens of the United States of America; In the light of Saturdays humiliating 1-1 draw, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today. Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories. (Except Utah, which she does not fancy.) Your new prime minister (The Right Honourable David Cameron, an MP for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a minister for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

C.S.I. Cruise Lines

First off there is no need to worry, Cruise ships haven’t just got a lot more dangerous, but as many regular cruisers will know laws onboard tend to be confusing at best and if anything does ever need investigating no one is ever quite sure who is meant to do what.

In an effort to help resolve this situation the US Senate on Thursday unanimously approved legislation aimed at improving cruise ship safety and formalizing crime reporting requirements.
HR 3660, the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act, requires 42-inch guard rails, peep holes in every passenger and crew member’s door, on-deck video surveillance and an emergency sound system.

Whats Your Transfer Value?

Absolutley nothing to do with cruises, but I was just sent this and thought it might make you all smile. The NHS have created a fitness quiz that will calculate your transfer value on the World Cup Market as though you were a star player.
I just scored £33,000.000, not bad all things considered, but can you beat me?
The quiz is featured at http://www.nhs.uk/ on the top right hand side, just click the Football Fan Fitness button.

Have fun

Tour Guide in My Pocket

For a lot of people the excursions are the most exciting part of any cruise but a lot of people don’t like having to pay the cruise lines tour guide prices, or, for the more experienced cruisers, having to trail around the same old tourist destinations.

Well now you don’t have to.

A Brief Guide on how to use these blogs

Just a quick one today. As many of you will know by know there a lot of blogs written at Cruise.co.uk and unless you spend all day every day checking them you will never get to read them all.

So which ones should you read?

June

Couldn’t get away this month? Did you just miss out on that last minute deal? God forbid, has another volcano erupted and your cruise was cancelled? Airline staff striking again? Well not to worry, there’s still plenty of weird and whacky things happening this month to keep you entertained in dear old Blighty that will see you through to your next cruise.

Number 17, Unlucky for some

I was just trying to book a cabin on the MSC ship Splendida when I noticed that neither she nor the Fantasia had a deck 17. A quick survey through the deck plans showed that none of the other ships had a deck seventeen or even a room number seventeen.

Interestingly in Italy the number seventeen has the same connotations for bad luck as the number 13 does over here, with Friday the 17th being considered very unlucky.
The reason for this is that in Roman numerals the number 17 is spelt XVII which can be anagrammatically re-arranged to spell out VIXI which translates as ‘I have Lived’, implying in the perfect tense "My life is over’
Most Buildings in Italy won’t have a floor number 17 or any rooms by that number either.

Strange but true.

This might not be for everyone, but.......

Ever fancied a cruise but thought the price was just too much out of your reach. Have you ever considered a Re-Positioning cruise?
These are when a cruise line has been sailing in one area for a season, say the Caribbean, and re-position the ship in another area, say the Mediterranean. You can book passage on the ship as it sails from the one location to the next, and because there won’t be lots of destinations you usually get massive discounts.
As an example I have just booked a client on the MSC Melody sailing from Cape Town South Africa to Genoa Italy in March 2011. The cruise is 18 days long calling in at Walvis Bay in Namibia, Jamestown in St. Helena, Dakar in Senegal, Arrecife De Lanzarote in Spain, Barcelona in Spain, and then Genoa Italy along the way.
The Price for this unbelievable 18 day cruise was only £350!!!
Yes £350!!!
Even after I had added flights, MSC could do London to Cape Town and then Genoa back to London for just £630. That’s a total of £980! Only £54 per day, with all your food and entertainment thrown in.
If this cruise is of interest to you or you just want to have a chat about any other Re-Positioning cruises give me a call on 0800 408 6142.

Happy Cruising

Another Milestone for the Disney Dream

The Disney Dream is still at least eight months away from its maiden voyage but a major construction milestone was reached earlier this week.

A ship's hull is composed of giant blocks, which are preconstructed and then fitted together into place in the dry-dock like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Disney Dream is composed of 80 blocks, and the final one, this time the bow, was lifted into place in Meyer Werft's huge covered dry-dock at their Papenburg (Germany) facility

Interested in booking a Disney cruise? Call now to avoid disappointment for 2011; these are going to be very popular!

Happy Cruising

Genuine complaints to travel agents

All of the below are genuine complaints made either to us or to other travel agents (some I have collected from different sources off the web). Thought it might make you all smile.

Cruisers, gotta love ‘em.

Now, obviously all our customers are refined, intelligent cruisers who know exactly what they want and understand all aspects of cruising.

That being the case I want to make it very clear that the following comments/questions obviously don’t come from our customers, I was emailed these by a friend . None of you would ever have asked anything like this, would you?