NEWS - Pirates foiled attempt!

Catching up with the recent cruise news events in the daily telegraph and I read an article about Somali Pirates.. Thought a quick over view may be interesting to you all?..

The Discovery ship, of Voyages of Discovery was cruising through Mobassa over towards the Indian Ocean when they were alerted by a ‘Code Purple, call over the tannoy systems during early breakfast – about 7.30am. To a speedboat that had come up along side the port side of the ship about 100 yards away, the quick acting crew and captain are recognised for their rapid actions, when all the Filipino crew rushed to their emergency stations. Ironically this happened just hours before a practice was due to take place.

Oceania New ship for 2011

..Luxury cruises are one of my favourites subjects, you get so much for your money, if you can make the jump from main line cruising to luxury liners, you won’t be disappointed! If you want to know more, I previously did a blog entitled 'Luxury Liners leading the way' which highlights some of the advantages of luxury cruising.
Im keen to keep this subject alive, as I’ve just found out that the Luxury line Oceania who are launching a new ship Marina early 2011 are offering an agents day, where selected agents get to go down and look around the vessel prior to the maiden voyage. I’ve not received an official invite yet (I may yet stow away) but I am crossing my fingers tightly as I would love to see this ship!


The new ship Marina is 1,250 capacity – small and comfortably luxurious, she will travel From Genoa to Barcelona in January playing host to upto 530 agents from the UK and Europe. The are looking to reward long time partners of Oceania, and as Cruise.co.uk is a well established travel agent and cruise specialist, Im hoping we get a few seats so to speak!! They are offering a taster of the finery on board, lounges, dining rooms and of course the all important cabins.

Sad news for cruise ships

This is not a great week for cruise related deaths. I'm normally quite a positive a bubbly person, I'd hate to bring anyone, down but felt I had to let everyone know about the goings on this week.



Im not sure which way round the events happened, but both are equally tragic about men and money and the impact it can have one one lives, Firstly a 51 year old man identified by Hong Kong police as Mr Xu who is believed to have lost over £400,000.00 in the on board casino on the SuperStar Aquarius . Mr Xu was seen wandering around on the open deck for about an hour, before he took the decision to call it a day and jumped over board!! The 2-day mini cruise had began on Saturday, and he was in the casino from dinner until approximately 8am the following morning. My heart goes out to this man's family, he obviously had a problem. Many believe casinos on board should have a much lower limit – perhaps if this ship had a minimum of say £10,000 a day he would have walked away with great memories of his cruise, and his life? Any one have any thoughts?


Secondly, and much more close to home, The P&O Aurora has had a sobering event on board, a junior cruise ship waiter, 22 year old Sumith Gawas was found having hanged himself in his cabin after being caught stealing from the self serve restaurant on board, once caught with his fingers in the tin, he was sent to his cabin where he took his life, I cant imagine the shame the poor guy felt, but there was over £800 found which indicates this was not his first attempt! Again, my deepest sympathies go to his family who he obviously did nt want to disappoint!


Now as sad as the situations are, I must stress that these are isolated incidents and certainly not something that gets reported often. So please feel safe onboard and don’t spend to much!!

Tropical Storm Georgette hits Mexico!

Reading through travel news this morning, I was devastated to find that Mexico has been hit by a hurricane called Georgette! Affecting more than one million people in flood waters. And just when Pakistan is beginning to recover from their storm and traumatic floods. The World aids will have to come together once more..


Among the worst hit areas is the Baja California region on the Pacific coast, where the heaviest monsoon rains recorded for 15 years have already left many homeless and without safe water to drink! The storm has since been downgraded to a Tropical Depression –Id be depressed to if that storm had affected me!! It actually made landfall near the resort town of Cabo San Lucas bringing heavy rain and crashing waves. The storm is presently located about 155 miles south of Guaymas and is moving in a north-westerly direction at a speed of about 14mph.


Luckily they have tropical storm watchers on the case and they monitor the coast just off mainland Mexico. Many of the coastal areas are still suffering from the previous storm Karl which also made land fall in the area and cost 15 Mexicans their lives!


A tropical storm watch is in effect for the coast of mainland Mexico from Huatabampito north Many coastal areas are still recovering from the impact of Hurricane Karl, which made landfall with the loss of 15 lives last week.


The storm is expected to reach the United States towards the end of the week, which is obviously concerning for those cruising in those waters, but please be assured if the cruise lines are affected you will be notified by Cruise.co.uk or the cruise line directly..

P&O Offering to pre book seats!!

We are quite excited this week at cruise.co.uk – we have received notification that passengers that are doing the Caribbean with P&O and charter flights this year can now – pre book their seats!! Anyone travelling on or after Ventura cruise N028/A will be able to access Flight Seat Booker. This will then be available for the 2010/11 season.

This is great news as it gives customers the chance to select where they sit and who they sit with instead of taking pot luck. The only downside is that there is a charge - Prices start from £25pp to select your seat. The system has been designed to be user friendly and is accessible via our website http://www.cruise.co.uk/ on the payment and check in section, click the picture icon for P&O and it will take you to the cruise personaliser where you normally fill in all your check in details, passport and insurance etc. You will need to supply a valid email address, and accept the Terms and Conditions, after which, you will load a page which shows an aircraft plan. Then just click over the map to find out which are available to book. Once you have picked your seats you’re taken to a payment screen where you need to pay for the privilege. (These must be paid for at time of booking) The process reminds me of booking cinema tickets online – much the same principal! Once done P&O will send you a confirmation invoice

Seats are available to book from 12 weeks before departure up until 7 days before departure.


It is available now for the Thomas Cook and Thomson flights from the 5th November 2010 onwards. I would suggest that for the earlier flights you book now, before everyone else does!! I know the 19th November on Ventura will be a busy one; I’ve booked a few of you to go – so get clicking!! – Don’t miss the boat on this one Excuse the pun!


Any trouble doing this please let me know on 08004086144

We can be world class for 2010 with your help!

We are once again nominated for the ‘World’s leading Cruise travel agent’ and we need your help with the voting please! It’s quite simple to do so if you would like the world to know what you already do - WE ARE THE BEST!! we won the award last year (2009) and we would like to win again!  please follow the link below and vote for us!
• Follow this link http://www.worldtravelawards.com/ and click the top left hand corner of the page where it says vote


• You will then need to register where it shows you – and fill in the relevant details


• Once registered it will send you a verification email & also display a ‘click here’ function on the page to take you through to the voting as you are now logged in


• Click on the bottom category that says World


• Select category 31 which is ‘Worlds leading cruise travel agent’ and then highlight the box for us


Thank you very much, its greatly appreciated, and whilst your feeling in a giving mood - dont forget to Rate my service and help other potential passengers get a good a idea of what they are getting from me as well.

CAR PARKING - The low down!

If you are one of the passengers lucky enough to have a great deal when you booked your cruise that it includes free car parking, there rest of us mere mortals are jealous!! When we have to cruise with out the luxury of free car parking it can become a bit of a mine field, so I thought it might be of interest to see what the costs incurred could be:

Southampton: Ports side - Through CPS which is based at the cruise terminal. The costs start from £79 for 7 nights, £104 for 10 nights and £136 for 14 nights. You can contact them on 02380 334883 or at http://www.candps.co.uk//.


Southampton – Non port side - Cruise Parking Ltd which is a secure car park approximately 20 minutes away from the cruise terminal. The transfers to the terminal are on demand and on your return you are met by a representative who then takes you back to the car park. 7 nights is approx £55 and is bookable through us.


Dover: If you are going from Dover you can book through Dover Cruise Parking which is based at the western docks. When you park here you can then walk to the terminals it is that close! 7 nights parking is approx £68 which you can book through us.






If you are Cruising from Tilbury it is approx £8 per day. There are other UK ports that you can cruise from and we will always be able to find out costs for you!


Give me a call if you need help with this. 08004086144

Cardiff - Home coming and new cruise home?

As many of you know – I am Welsh, very proud of it and hail from the wonderful capital city of Cardiff, tomorrow Wednesday 15th September is my day off and as my Father is still in Thailand, Im going to Cardiff to take my Grandfather shopping!! – Duty calls and all of that – but I was talking to one of my colleagues about it and she reminded me that in July this year the Cardiff Guardian wrote an article that Cardiff council are to pump £200,000 in to trying to make Cardiff recognised as on e of the UK Cruise Terminals.

Cardiff is aiming to attract some of the luxury liners such as Silversea and Residensea (apparently) carrying up to 540 passengers – The Alexandra docks in Cardiff were originally opened officially in 1907 by Queen Victoria. Now personally – I’ve seen these docks in various states over the years – From the mudflats of the Mid eighties when the coal industry suffered and right through to the ultra modern views of mermaid quay and Tiger bay – My favourite new addition has to be the water bus – This leaves from Penarth – ten minute down hill walk (20mins back up it again) from where I grew up as a child, these docks have become second to the swish apartments of places along the Thames, very hip & modern contemporary living – a perfect venue for a luxury liner to find itself a new home for sure!

‘Cruise lines are attracted to Cardiff because of the expanding cruise sector which is experiencing year on year growth (9%). The growth inevitably creates further jobs for ship pilots, taxi drivers, and dock security as well as on board crew. The average spend for passengers in 2008/9 was £70 per passenger’ The Cardiff Guardian has revealed


I look forward to the first voyage – think I may take a trip home just to see that one leave!!!

MARTINI BAR - NONE!

Its not just Royal Caribbean Cruise line who are keen on a martini or two – They offer the martini classes as you can see from my previous blog, but the Celebrity Eclipse has its own take on a Martini Bar, but perhaps a slightly classier edge!

So without getting your hands dirty or sticky, and ruining your best dress, why not pop to the martini bar on board Eclipse and experience 6 different flavour for $15.00 a taster session at the Martini bar on the Promenade Deck, just opposite the Cellar Masters for the vino lovers amongst you!!

Not being one to let good alcohol stand for too long, I did once hear a rumour that some people suffer with warm drink syndrome, where the chin wagging takes over and not enough goes in lol, but you need not worry at this perfectly flashy and superbly decorated themed bar as it has a wonderfully exciting feature, an ice topped bar!! No warm drinks here! If you fancy getting at taster of this ship the Celebrity Eclipse is doing a four night tour next April on the 29th Southampton, Cork  Southampton and prices start at just £399 per person for an inside cabin. Just the taster you needed?? Email me nadinel@cruise.co.uk or call me direct on 08004086144 cabins are selling fast!!

Eclipse restaurants:

Whilst very similar to other liners, Celebrity offer a choice of dining options, Main first, Main second and their Celebrity Select dining which allows you to dine in the evening in the same standard and menus and the main dining options, but without a fixed time. There are also numerous ‘speciality’ restaurants that offer great value for money by charging a cover charge per head for the option of these exquisite dining venues.
Restaurants available to you on board Celebrity Eclipse:


Oceanview Café  - Open almost 24hours a day, this is a buffet style restaurant which offers guests a wide variety if food to suit all tastes and appetites. I must say the desserts on display were mouth watering; there is an ice cream bar for kids of all ages with all types of food from Carvery to stir-fry!!

Main Dining Room  - Beautifully named Moonlight Sonata and is the epitome of class. With stunning surroundings, themed like champagne, you will see lights, glass bubbles in every corner and the centre piece of the ceiling is amazing. It’s a two storey restaurant where guests on the main dining options enjoy waiter served meals for breakfast and dinner included in the cruise price; this offers a different menu every night. Ill follow up later with what I had on Saturday!

Tuscan Grille -  $30 per head (subject to change and availability) this glamorous speciality restaurant specialises in Italian inspired steaks amongst other dishes which include a wide variety of pasta dishes.

Murano - $35. Per head cover charge for this grand, contemporary European cuisine

Qsine - $25 cover charge and by far my favourite of the speciality restaurants, this features a whole new way to eat, guest enjoy a unique culinary journey that turns ordinary upside down. Including the lampshades which are upside down on the ceiling which creates a fantastic ‘Mood’ lighting. There are signature dishes, Disco shrimp where the glass lights up, a new and exciting spin on a cheesecake which has strawberry candy floss inside a glass. The exciting décor is worth the cover charge alone, great sea views whilst you eat – If you want them!

BLU - This is the designated dining area for those passengers lucky enough to be booked into the aqua class cabins, the menu in here, albeit lower in calories, is every bit as tasty as any other menu you will find on board. If there are space available, then as a non aqua class passenger it may still be accessible with a cover charge.

ECLIPSE!

I’ve recently been invited to look around Celebrity Eclipse, so Saturday 4th September, my colleague Kim and I drag ourselves from our beds at 5.30am to get ready for 6.30 and get to Southampton for 9.30am…


We made really good time and got there just after 9.30 – Not bad as I took a wrong turn at one point – Sat Nav is a nightmare, anyway – upon getting to gate ten, there ready and waiting to start a two week Med tour was a sight to behold, the newest Solstice class celebrity ship and by lord she’s stunning. So many balconies, the whole side was virtually made of glass!


So I will be writing up some reviews this week, I took more photos than was really necessary, but hey ho – I just have to get some one more technically minded than me to load them on to my computer from my phone.

We had a wonderful tour of the ship – The sun shone nice and bright for the tour of the pool area and Lawn Club this was probably my favourite part – Strange to get excited about grass, but GRASS!! Real live growing, smelling wonderfully like child hood memories in meadows.. REAL grass!! With its own watering system and lawns keeper – It took all of my strength not to do what I threatened as soon as I smelt it and to kick of my shoes and run wildly through it. I did even joke that a cartwheel would be the only way to full appreciate it, but mine would have ended up as some strange forward roll!! So I restrained and carried on merrily enjoying the smell!


The official lines are” The Lawn Club.” The half-acre Lawn Club on Celebrity Solstice invites guests to enjoy bocce ball and croquet, practice their putting, picnic with a basket of wine and cheese, or simply feel the grass between their toes, while sailing the oceans of the world. The area also features the Hot Glass Show, another first in the industry, developed in collaboration with The Corning Museum of Glass; the Patio on the Lawn; the Lawn Club Shop, and the Sunset Bar”


Please let me know what you thought of it if you have experienced it and, don’t forget Ive got some great cruise deals which as always included this ship!

How do you get there?

I’ve been having conversation with my father as he is off to Thailand today one of his quarterly trips a year at the moment,. He seems to have fallen in love with the country and in particular one very special lady – Pree who is soon to be part of the family and I cant wait to meet her – she seems lovely when I’ve spoken to her. He is on a coach leaving Cardiff and I know this his least favourite part of the trip, being squashed in with lots of other passengers, especially when its warm and the air conditioning doesn’t work!!

It got me to thinking about transfers and the options that are available to people who don’t want to drive them selves to ports and airports – Especially airports where parking can be quite costly if your leaving for a long trip, also last weeks fire in the car part in Stanstead seems to have put people off too!

So… What are the options? By the way I can help book any of these for you.


Drive and park at Southampton/Dover etc www.candps.com/parking
Airport Parking
Train & taxi!
Coach travel
Chauffer driven – Ive got some great rates on this if you fancy a bit of luxury!


I can also arrange cars in various different world wide destination, cruise.co.ukwww.cruise.co.uk has lots of options, so don’t be afraid to ask!
If you want some prices and a tailor made package for your cruise, let me know and Ill be happy to help - 08004086144 -

Royal Caribbean Martini Clinic.

One of my colleagues has just returned from his holidays, on board Splendour of the Seas and I found some really interesting activities are on board, Favourite for me, has to be the martini clinic, passengers can meet up with the specialist bar staff in the Viking Crown Lounge and discover new tricks of the trade and get involved with all the ‘Cocktail’ type action.

Drink and a souvenir glass is included for a nominal fee of $9.95 per person – Plus the 15% service charge.

If your looking at cruising with Royal Caribbean, Ive got some great rates, call me on 08004086144