Lost in Le Havre?

Something that confuses a lot of people about cruising is destinations/ports of call. You think you’re booking a cruise to Rome and actually end up somewhere called Civitavecchia. You think you’re off to Amsterdam and end up in Ijmuiden. You think you’re going to Paris and end up in Le Havre.
So what’s going on? Are the cruise lines lying to you about your destinations?
Has the cruise had to swap destinations a the last minute?
Nope, none of the above.

Help! Have you seen this man?

Wanted! One nineteen year old lad. Last seen several years ago in a pub somewhere enjoying himself immensely. He is sadly missed. If you can re-unite me with him a substantial reward is on offer.
Hmmm as you can probably tell I'm a little depressed today.
I've been trying to figure out what happened to the nineteen year old student I used to be. Going out, getting drunk, meetings girls, stopping out all night. Then before I know it I'm married, one kid already, another on the way and then last night I was reading about pensions. PENSIONS!
I want to be nineteen again. Before I know it I'm going to be thinking about retirement and booking aboard Saga cruises. Which leads me on to the point of today's blog.
What cruise should I book for my age?

It’s all gone International

I’ve been writing this blog for a while now but it was only this morning, messing around with some settings that I found this handy little gadget. I can find out how many people have read my individual blogs worldwide! As you can imagine most of my readers are from the UK, but there are also quite a few surprise entries from around the globe as well.

What are the Northern Lights?

Anyone who reads my blog regularly, (and if you don’t, why not?), will know that I have been writing a lot recently about a company called Hurtigruten. They’re a Norwegian cruise line offering cruises above the Arctic Circle. I’m not, however going to be talking about them today. For anyone who does want to read my blogs on them just click here or here.

What I am going to be talking about is the Northern Lights. It has been impossible to write about Hurtigruten without mentioning the Northern Lights over and over again. They’re one of the main reasons for cruising above the Arctic Circle, but in response to an email I received this morning, today I will be trying to answer the question:
What are the Northern Lights?

It’s all about the little things

What can you do to guarantee the perfect holiday? What is the perfect holiday? What experiences are guaranteed to ruin a holiday or just put a black cloud over the whole trip? I’m sure we all have our own answers to those questions, infact there probably isn't any one right answer, but before you do try to answer them have a read of the following story and let me know if it changes your mind at all.

My Top Ten Pumpkin Carvings

So, how was everybodys weekend? It's been a busy one at my house over the last couple of days. Harry, my two year old son, no doubt inspired by all the Halloween themed cartoons that have been on recently, has been nagging me to make some pumpkin carvings with him. The house is now littered with failed attempts of carved pumpkins, although my efforts at a Bobba Fett and a Spiderman pumpkin were most successful in my opinion. I know it's meant to be more of an American thing, but there was something very funny about watching Harry's face the first time he reached into the pumpkin to scoop out the innards.
Anyway in preparation of Halloween next week I have compiled my top ten favourite pumpkin carvings for you.

Take a look, see which ones you prefer, you've a week to practise, master and post your pictures back here.

A Cruise Joke for You

A blonde walks into a travel agents shop and asks for a last minute deal on a cruise ship.
“Certainly Madame” said the travel agent, “we have a fantastic deal on the P&O ship Ventura for just £1199 a person. It’s sailing out of……”
“Nope, that’s far too much; I’m looking for something much cheaper”
“Ok”, said the travel agent, “If I fly you to Malaga we could put you on a Royal Caribbean ship for just……”
“Oh no”, said the blonde, “I don’t want to fly; it has to be sailing from the UK”.
“Hmmm, well in that case,” said the travel agent, “we’ve currently got a great deal with Fred Olsen, sailing from Liverpool for ju………
“Err, no! I don’t want to have to sail from Liverpool, I wanted Southampton!”
With this final demand, the travel agent, losing his temper, picked the blonde woman up, shoves her in a giant inflatable ring and throws her in the river, (which was conveniently located just behind his shop).
The blonde spends several hours serenely floating down river, before arriving at some rapids where she is bumped, bounced, thrown around and generally soaked through. Arriving at a relatively calm patch of water she pulls up along side another blonde in a similar inflatable rubber ring.
“Wow, it’s a bit choppy isn’t it?”
“Yes”, replied the second blonde, “It was just like this when I came last year as well”.


Happy Cruising

Port of Call Picture Quiz no.4 - Baltic Capitals

Heading into cooler climes with todays quiz. The splendours of the North. How many Baltic Capitals can you recognise?

There's no prizes this time, just the honour of being the first person with the right answers.

Good luck..........

Am I the only one that's bothered by this?

I wrote a blog awhile back, (click here to read it), explaining how P&O were offering Kosher meals onboard their cruise ships but not Halal. For those who aren’t sure of the difference kosher food is a staple of the Jewish diet whereas Halal is the staple of a Muslim diet. Call me naïve if you want but I was quite offended by the idea that a cruise line would specifically cater for one religious group but not another. Several months down the line it turns out that the situation wasn’t quite as simple as I first thought.

The greatest meal never eaten

I was watching a re-run of Heston Blumenthal Feasts on TV last night when I caught an Edwardian episode about the Titanic that I had missed the first time around. I wont go too much into details on the show, I’m sure you’ve seen it before and this is meant to be a blog about cruising rather than TV, but it got me thinking about how much dining had changed onboard over the last hundred years or so.

And before I get lynched by a lot of angry cruisers, I’m in no way saying the quality of the food has changed, just the style. But how much of a difference does the style/presentation of the cooking really make? Is a steak just a steak?

On Board Credit - Explained

There’s no such thing as a stupid question. Especially if you’re booking your first cruise.

It’s a phrase I find myself repeating quite often to people nervous about their first booking. A lot of the terms we regular cruisers use, and take for granted, can if you step back and think about it be quite confusing for anyone about to book their first cruise holiday.
Guaranteed cabins;
Formal/informal nights;
Obstructed views;
and onboard credit.

Obstructed Views - Yay or Nay?

It happens quite often that someone, looking for a last minute deal, will turn up there nose at a cabin with an obstructed view. But what is an obstructed view? What’s obstructing it? Why is it obstructing it? And are there any pros or cons to an obstructed view? Fingers crossed I will try to answer some, if not all of those questions here, (with simple to understand pictures as well, because I’m just that helpful).

Southampton an A-Z Guide

I’ve done a lot of blogs over the last few months about all the different destinations we here at cruise.co.uk send you all today, butt it occurred to me yesterday that there was a gaping hole in the different guides I had written. I’d never covered Southampton.

Not exactly the most exotic of destinations I’ll admit but as most of the cruises I book start and finish there it seemed appropriate that it got covered, especially when you consider that a lot of people, worried about missing their ship arrive the day before. So then what needs covering? The three big issues it seemed to me were carparking, hotels and entertainment, which I will be covering here. If anyone else has any other items that they’d like to know about Southampton then add them here and I’ll cover them for you.

I’ve just been on Queen Elizabeth – Wow!

First impressions of the QE? Wow!

Well, once I was onboard anyway. My actual first impression from the outside was that the hull looked more matt grey than Cunards traditional jet black, but that’s only a very minor point on a gorgeous ship. If you click the read more button below you will be able to see some of the pictures I took whilst onboard with my opinions of the ship, although as always please forgive the photography, unless you're completely surrounded by her elegance any picture you see will never do her justice.

The QE/QE3, an argument settled?

Awhile back now I wrote a blog posing the question why the new Queen Elizabeth was so named, rather than the more obvious QE3 to follow her predecessor the QE2.

Boy did that question annoy some regular Cunardians!
You can click here for anyone who wants to read the original blog, (along with all the comments from people explaining to me exactly why I didn’t know what I was talking about), but I now have the definitive answer to the question.......

From 0 star to 6 star………

Can you guess the ship? I bet you can’t.  I’ll give you a clue – She will be a six star luxury liner that is launching in May 2011. You can’t believe it looking at the pictures below, (taken by the way by our very own Simon Loveless from marketing whilst on an MSC cruise), but she will eventually be a luxury liner. Would you sail on her as she is now, I bet you wouldn’t.

A Cartoon about Tipping

For anyone who reads my blog regularly who will know that I enjoy messing around with different formats and it is with this in mind that I have made a cartoon for you all from a blog I wrote recently about tipping. Anyone who wants to read the original blog can do so here, it raises some interesting points about the fairness of American style tipping, but I think the video below keeps the same message across in a much more fun way. Let me know what you think. (for anyone who has trouble playing the video, or if you just see a blank black or white square, just try clicking it with your mouse once or twice and it should play)

Should I book that guaranteed cabin?

It’s a question I get asked a lot by people and to be honest there’s no easier answer. There is however a list of pros and cons that probably should be considered before booking.

Hurtigruten – What can you expect.

I wrote a blog recently about a company I’ve been hearing more and more about recently. Hurtigruten. Since then I’ve received a flurry of questions about this company and the cruises they operate. It’s for this reason that I have decided to start a series of blogs that will take on all aspects of Hurtigruten. Todays blog is going to be about why you should pick Hurtigruten in the first place and what you can expect to do whilst on the cruise.

October

I’ve been doing a series of blogs for awhile now on what to do during in a particular month if you missed out on that last minute cruise deal. Included have been some of the wackier days out/festivals that can be found around our dear old Island. This months entries are no different, (although the last one sounds like a Halloween rip off to me, although after writing this I’m sure I’m going to get a bunch of emails from people telling me it’s a century’s old tradition). Read on if you dare……………..

Sailing To Stavanger?

O.K., so here’s another update on my series of blogs about un-missable tourist destinations on the different ports of call we at cruise.co.uk send you all too. Again, 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 anyway. If you feel I’ve missed something important out or disagree with a point I've made please make a comment below to help other cruisers make up their minds. It’s ben pointed out to me that a lot of these guides have been for the Med so for a change were heading north to……..