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?

Should I book an inside cabin?

Anyone who's paying attention to my recent posts will know that I got back from a cruise on the P&O Arcadia, (great ship by the way), back in December. What you probably didn't know was that because I had to book it on a last minute basis I could only book an inside cabin. With that in mind today I'll be talking about the pros and cons of booking an inside cabin.

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.

Man vs Food - Alaska

My wife watches a ridiculous amount of reality T.V.
Seriously, I've no idea how one person can enjoy so much drivel and, to my deep and abiding shame, because I have to normally watch it with her I can hold serious conversations with people about which is the best cycle of Americas Next Top Model. (This is not a good thing)!
Still every so often she stumbles across a program that's not only good, it's pure genius, (the law of averages states it had to happen eventually). Man vs Food is one such program.
It's a show about an ordinary, average joe called Adam who samples all the fast food available around the good ol' U.S of A before trying to complete some mammoth 'food challenge' at the end of the show.

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........

Seabourn moments

I had an email from Seabourn a few days ago. It wasn't anything particularly interesting or even important, just one of the many emails I get from the cruise lines on a daily basis regarding latest offers, cruise news, itinerary changes etc. This email however was a little bit different and I'd like to tell you why.

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.

Blackbeards Castle

One of my passengers has just come back from a Caribbean cruise with P&O and gave me a call to let me know how it went. They had a great time but said they were a little disappointed with the Caribbean. This was the first time they'd done a Caribbean cruise and said next time they thought they'd stick to cruising the Mediterranean. They loved the weather but they thought there just wasn't a lot to do in the way of shore excursions. Apparently none of the Islands had enough history for them.
"Once you've seen one palm tree and white beach you've seen them all" was their final comment.
Whilst I'm obviously glad they had a great time I had to disagree with them about the history of the Caribbean Islands.
Going back to the 15th Century or so and then forward they've been attacked, settled, conquered, invaded, and freed by a variety of Western powers and if you know where to look there's some really interesting things to be seen.

Age discrimination travel insurance

Anyone who's been reading my blog right from the very beginning will know that in a previous life I used to sell insurance. So I know more than most how unreasonable some insurance companies can be. However even I think this latest piece of news from the weird and wonderful world of insurance is low, even for insurance companies. And I'm used to it!

I'm going on the NCL Epic!

As a cruise travel agent one of my favourite times of the year has to be the beginning. This is when the cruise lines offer certain travel agencies a couple of nights visit on one of their ships to help their staff become familiar with the product. They're called familiarisation or 'fam' trips, (I know, I know it's a hard job but someone has to do it).
As you can imagine these trips are few and far between so it's always nice to know you've been selected. This year I've been lucky enough to be picked for a visit onboard the NCL Epic and to say I'm excited is a massive understatement.
NCL only offered out a few places onboard their ship the Epic this year and the criteria was stringent to say the least. To even be considered for selection you had to of completed their online training course showing excellent knowledge of the NCL product. Despite the tough selection process I'm pleased to say that both me and my colleague David were selected though.

Pink sands

I saw an advert for a land based holiday the other day in the window of a local travel agents offering to send people to a gorgeous pink beach. It caught my eye as I've seen plenty of yellow sand beaches here in the UK, (and my fair share of pebble beaches), and quite a few white beaches abroad but I've never come across a pink one.
So what is a pink sand beach?

MV Voyager - V.O.Ds new ship

I wrote a post yesterday about Voyages of Discovery, (V.O.D), which you can read by clicking here.
In it I gave you a bit of information about V.O.D; what the cruises were like; what the MV Discovery was like and a few pros and cons of the cruise line. I also promised to give you a bit more info about V.O.Ds new ship the MV Voyager, being launched later this year. The really nice thing about this ship is that it answers a lot of the problems that some people may have about V.O.D as a cruise line.

Who are Voyages of Discovery?

I was quoting a cruise for a client the other day; they'd seen a cruise advertised on our website, (www.cruise.co.uk), and whilst they loved the itinerary they'd never heard of the company, Voyages of Discovery.
I think, for the right kind of person, V.O.D, (Voyages of Discovery), are an amazing cruise line but because of their small size I wasn't surprised my passenger had never heard of them.
After explaining a bit about them my passenger got very excited about the cruise and ended up booking it but it occurred to me that a lot of my readers might also have never heard of them so I decided to put together a little guide of who they are and what they're about for you all.

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.