Gon Cruisin!

I'm going to be out of the office for the next few days drifting peacefully around the Med on a fantastic ship, the NCL Epic.
I'll be letting you know all about it as soon as I'm back but if you need any travel agent help in the meantime feel free to call one of my colleagues on 0800 408 6200.

Happy cruising

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.

Who are the Blue Man Group

I was talking to a customer today about a cruise he wanted to book on the NCL Epic when I happened to mention offhand that one of the shows onboard was the Blue Man Group.
"Ooh, that sounds interesting", he said. "What do they do?"

I cannot tell you how much this question irritated me. Not because he'd asked it and not because I didn't know. I just couldn't find a way to put it into words. And I've seen them live!

Well, they're a sort of comedy act; with paint and music and stuff, and they're sort of alternate and different and........

I must of sounded like a blathering idiot to this poor passenger!
My best advice to him was to look up some videos on YouTube of them as they're one of those things that need to be seen to be understood.
If anyone's ever seen the Blue Man Group and can come up with a better explanation for them than I could please let me know. In the meantime for anyone who's looking to book a cruise on the NCL Epic or for anyone who's just interested in seeing them I've put a couple of videos below for you to have a look at.

Happy cruising

Did you know - The Jade and Jewel

I was chatting to a customer today on one of my regular pre cruise calls, (I like to call everyone up just before their cruise to make sure they're all set for their cruise and that no last minute problems have arisen), when we got talking about the NCL cruises he had done in the past. He told me an interesting piece of gossip about the NCL Jade and the Jewel that I just couldn't resist sharing with you today.

Cruise Line Livery's

A customer of mine has just come back from a cruise onboard the NCL Jade. It was the first time he'd booked a cruise onboard an NCL ship and he had a fantastic time. One comment he did make however was that he couldn't get over the colour schemes onboard. He, in his own words,

"Couldn't believe how garish it all was."

It's true that NCLs colour schemes do take some getting used too but I've always thought they modern and fun.

The other comment my customer made was that it wasn't just the inside of the ship, but the outside as well that suffered from NCLs love of colour. For anyone who has never seen the Jade I've enclosed a picture here for you on the above.
Again, I think NCL's colour schemes are great and really make their ships stand out.
But not as much as some others.....................

The NCL kids clubs

  After posting about the giant Wii screens available on NCL ships recently a lot of people asked what else was available for the kids to do as a lot of parents didn’t want their children spending all holiday playing computer, no matter how big the screen.

Wii want to cruise with NCL

So, you’ve just got past Christmas, you're planning the family holiday for the summer. All you want to do is relax for two weeks in the sun. A cruise round the med seems perfect. Buuuuuuuuut Mom, buuuuuuuut Dad cruises sound boring!