Viking River Cruise brochure 2013 - Worldwide Journeys

And for anyone that isn't yet sick of all the river cruise brochures I've uploaded today here's Vikings river cruise brochure for 2013..........

Happy cruising

Avalon river cruise brochure 2013 - Europe

I thought you might all be interested in the Avalon river cruise brochure for 2013, the European version this time - Again, as always, you can read it in your web browser.

Happy cruising

Avalon river cruise brochure - Vietnam, Cambodia & China

As promised here's Avalons 2013 river cruise brochure for you to read online. This one will focus on Vietnam, Cambodia and China.

Happy cruising

APT Luxury River cruise brochure 2013

River cruising is a market that's grown massively in the last year or so and that trend is only going to continue. It's with that thought in  mind that I'll be uploading some river cruise brochures for you for 2013/2014 over the next few days that you will be able to view online.

Happy, (river) cruising

Royal confirm new mega ship

I love big ships! Royal Caribbeans Independence of the Seas, NCLs Epic - The bigger the better as far as I'm concerned. 
Two ships I'm desperate to see, (but have avoided up till now because of the flight times with two young children in tow), are the Oasis and Allure of the Seas so I was particularly happy to hear that, thanks to better than expected third quarter profits this year, RCCL have just announced that they are in the process of negotiating a new 'Oasis style' mega liner that will be ready for 2016.

Hurricane season - I told you so.

I'm not one to say I told you so, (not normally anyway), but it is nice to be proved right sometimes.
One of the questions that always bugs me slightly is whats the best time to book a cruise to the Caribbean? Do I need to worry about hurricane season?
Well yes you do, if you're booking a land based holiday but the beauty of a cruise holiday is that it's on a ship so if the Captain sees a storm coming on his chart he can just go somewhere else. I realise that a change of itinerary isn't always everyones favourite option but if it's that or stormy waters I know which I'd pick. I first wrote about this back in July 2010 and you can see what I wrote by clicking here.
The reason I'm talking about this is that there's a great example at the moment of how flexible a cruise holiday can be.................

Cruise.co.uk Wins Europes Leading Cruise Travel Agent!!!

Hi all - bit of a weird one today, I've got a guest blogger for you. My colleague Kristin recently collected an award for us at the World travel awards but has been having some IT difficulties so has been unable to let anyone know about it!
You can find her report of the event below........
(If you want to talk to Kristin you can reach her at Kristins@cruise.co.uk)

Urgent - New tourist tax!

I've just had a press release regarding a new Catalonia Tourist Tax that may affect anyone flying into Barcelona, (or the rest of Spain), from the 01st November forward.
Full details below................

Oceania winter cruise brochure 2013/2014

Hands down some of the best food I've ever eaten in my life, (on land or at sea), has been on an Oceania ship. It's the kind of food that really can't be described, you just have to try it.
For anyone looking to try the food on an Oceania cruise below is their winter cruise brochure for 2013/2014 to help you make up your minds.
For anyone that would like to know a bit more about the ships just click here for my review of the Oceania Regatta or the Oceania Insignia.

Happy cruising

Too big for the Brits?

P&O cruises have just announced they have started building their newest ship. Set to launch in 2015 it will be their biggest yet at 141,000 tonnes and capable of carrying 3,611 passengers.
If you're interested you can read the full press release here on our forums.

In memory of a legend.........

It's a sad post today I'm afraid. Our long time colleague and friend Drew lost his fight with cancer last week aged just 30.
He had been battling a rare form of cancer called sarcoma since October 2011 and sadly lost the battle early last week.
Typical of the man in thinking of others instead of himself, rather than getting depressed and feeling sorry for himself not long after being diagnosed he set up a charity to help others with this illness.
You can see all Drew did and raised for charity on the web page he set up here at U-Legend or if you felt you wanted to donate something yourself you can do so here at JustGiving
A lot of the staff from our office will be doing a run for the charity on the 21st of October and next Monday, (the 15th), my colleagues Faz and James will be doing a sponsored shave with myself, (although I'll be shaving my beard obviously). You can download a sponsorship form here if you want to help raise funds - Sponsorship form - or just give direct on the Just Giving link above. Anything you can afford would be appreciated.

Drew you may be gone but you'll never be forgotten.

How do you settle your bill?

How do you settle your onboard account? I'm thinking in particular if you use a card on an American ship.
The reason I'm asking you all this is that a client of mine was filling in her Royal Caribbean cruise personaliser today and they were asked if when they went to settle their bill they wanted to use the ships currency converter before the bill was paid or just rely on their card providers conversion rate.