What's wrong with Titanic?

Obviously I mean the movie versions, not the actual ship, we all know what was wrong with her!I was channel surfing the other night when I came across a really interesting program about all the historical inaccuracies in the different Titanic movies filmed since the disaster.
Unfortunately I only caught the last 10 minutes or so and I haven't seen it repeated yet but the bits I did learn where fascinating!

Fjord cruises in southern climes

What do you think of when someone tells you to picture a fjords cruise? Snow?
Ice?
Glaciers?
Rugged Nordic beauty?
Gushing rivers and waterfalls?
Arctic/Scandinavian wildlife?
Would you think about Chile, (the country, not the food)?
 Did you even realise that Chile has it's own set of fjords with cruises going in and out of them as well?

Cruise line wordsearch game

It's a Sunday morning and I've arrived at the office a bit to early which means I didn't have anything to do for an hour or so. Because I'm such a generous soul I thought I post a bit of a cruise game to while away 20 minutes of your time today. It's free cruise wordsearch game that you can solve online so have fun and let me know what you think.
Happy cruising.

What are Cunard cruises like?

I've been writing a series of posts lately aimed at first time cruisers to introduce them to the different cruise 'brands' available to them. What they can expect onboard; what the cruise is like, the kind of people they'll find onboard etc.
Today's post will be aimed at what Cunard cruise lines are like.

Free carparking for your cruise

How many times have you seen a cruise advertised with free carparking only to find out that the 'offer' isn't applicable to what you want.Or have you seen a cruise suddenly advertised with free carparking only to find the price of the cruise has gone up by the exact amount the carparking would have cost you?
Well, it doesn't always have to be that way.

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.

Can you cruise if you're a Sikh?

Probably not, which is a shame I think. At least you can't if you're an orthodox Sikh anyway.I had an enquiry about this a day or two ago about cruises from Southampton and I thought I'd share with you what I'd learnt today.

Are cruisers too unrealistic?

Cruisers, on the whole, are some of the loveliest customers I've ever booked anything for in my life.
And believe me, coming from an insurance background I'm more than used to being shouted at by irate customers.
So my general opinion of you all is that you're fantastic.
There, my backs covered now and the reason I say that is that I've noticed some peoples expectations of their cruise can be a little on, shall we say, the high side.
It's by no means all cruisers, but by the same token it's not really a small minority either.
Is it something particular to cruise holidays or do you think people are like this for all their holidays?

Flotsam, Jetsam and............

Someone emailed me a few days ago saying how useful they found my blog, especially the section for first time cruisers. The one thing they didn't like about it though was the title of James' Jetsam as they weren't sure if Jetsam was my surname or not and if it wasn't what it actualy meant.
Todays post then is for anyone who's been wondering the same thing.

Too religious to cruise?

How religious are you? Too religious to cruise? Does such a thing even exist?
I obviously don't mean that a religion has made it a sin to travel on a cruise ship, (at least I don't think so); what I mean is do you have to schedule your cruises around any religious festivals or holidays?
Well, not any more you don't.

Cruising all year round

You all know the feeling. You've just got home from your cruise, the post is waiting to be be opened, (and you know there are bills waiting for you), you need to unpack and wash all your clothes and you want nothing more than to capture that feeling of being back onboard.
Well know, thanks to Princess cruises you can, at least in part.

How can you cruise only half the Panama Canal?

Cruising down the Panama Canal has to be on the bucket list of every serious cruiser out there, normaly from Fort Lauderdale to L.A or vice versa.
For people who either don't want to or just don't have the time most cruise lines also offer the option of only cruising half the canal so you can say you can experience it without it taking up a good chucnk of your holiday.
But here's a question for you. In a great big cruise ship, how do you cruise only half a canal, it's not like you can turn around half way through?
Is it?

Royal Caribbean change age of of drinking

I wrote a blog last week about how I thought Royal Caribbean was perfect for families with small children or adults on their own but were sadly lacking for the 17-21yr old age bracket.
This is because at the age of seventeen the average British teenager is far too old for the kids clubs but won't be allowed to drink on any of Royal Caribbeans cruise ships until they turn 21, (you can read the full article here).

Now I'm not claiming responsibility for their policy change, I'm just saying it's a bit of a coincidence it happens a week after I write about it.

Hmmmmm, yes I know, I've got a big head! 

Alaska - Top ten little known facts

I was researching a cruise for a client recently who wanted to add a land tour to his holiday in Alaska. I was reading about the different tours that were available to him and trying to match them up to his cruise when I stumbled over a website full of unusual facts about Alaska.
I'd always known that Alaska was a pretty special destination to cruise to but I hadn't realised how many unique features it had as well.
I've put together a top ten list of little known facts about Alaska below.............

What does customer service mean to you?

It's a thought that's been prying on my mind over the last couple of days after a bit of a run in with Boots online.
What, for you, would mean good customer service from a company?
Always answering your calls?
Always being polite?
Never making a mistake?
Well read on to find out what I think real customer service is..........

Silversea to partner with Choozi entertainment

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a huge fan of cruise ship entertainment. I'm not even sure I've ever sat through an entire performance onboard.
Don't get me wrong, I love cruising, I've just always found the shows a bit, 'cheesy', like a bad Abba tribute act at a social club, (although that's just my opinion, I know loads of people who love the shows).
With that in mind you can imagine I was quite sceptical when a piece of news crossed my desk this morning stating that Silversea cruises had partnered with a company called Choozi Entertainment to completely revamp their onboard shows.

Booking a back to back cruise

I wrote a post yesterday about one of the pitfalls of booking a back to back cruise, (it was just from America), but it occurred to me that the post was a bit one sided as there are some great benefits to booking a back to back cruise as well.
Todays post then will be all about the pros and cons of back to back cruising. Feel free to add your own underneath if you think I've missed any.

Problems with back to back cruises.

It's true what they say you know. You're never too old to learn something new.
At least that's the conclusion I've come to this morning after speaking to a client and then the cruise line about booking a back to back cruise for him.
I'm posting what I found out here for you as it's possible it could ruin your holiday; so if you're planning a back to back cruise it's worth double checking with your travel agent/cruise line.

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.