Tuesday, 30 November 2010

Aurora have saw more!!

Here we are again – Back in the office with Bruges under our belts – well for some us! I unfortunately didn’t make it out of my cabin on Sunday, so as a massive chocolate fan, you can imagine my disappointment to have been stuck by illness that kept me away from the markets and all their Christmassy delights and chocolate heavens!!!


 The P&O Aurora however was a really good ship. From what I saw, plenty to do, plenty of space and even people swimming in the outdoor pools whilst we were still in dock in Southampton with snow on the ground and people sat around watching them swim in their hats and coats it was rather a strange contradiction. The blessing for others is the pool with retractable roof, much more pleasant for swimming and hot tubs even in the colder weather – reminded me of a rather Scandinavian way of living!

I would like to thank everyone who voted for me as best cruise agent, although I didn’t win I was so pleased with some of the additional rate my service comments I have received, so thank you all again.

I will be off on another cruise on 10th December – on Fred Olsens’ Black Watch for 7 nights – Christmas Markets cruise to Amsterdam, The Kiel Canal, Copenhagen, Travenmunde and Ostende so lots of Christmassy feelings, hot chocolate and markets for me to make up for missing Bruges! OBVIOUSLY there will be a blog or two on this one when I return.

Friday, 26 November 2010

Shore Excursions - To buy or not to buy!

As you may have noticed Christmas is just around the corner and Cruise.co.uk are heading out this weekend for the annual Christmas Party – which we are lucky enough to be have an amazing team of managers who have organised for us all to go on the P&O Aurora for two nights to Brussels and back, now we have organised our own coach in Brussels to pick up those who want to explore Brussels, as there is so many of us, we just are planning a shopping trip perhaps a coffee or two and lunch and then head back to the ship for early preparations for the formal night – I’m sure picture will follow. But it got me thinking about shore excursions, how much they are and what type of things people do.

Shore excursions obviously depend on the cruise line, where your going and what is available, they are known to start from half day to full day and the most expensive one I’ve seen so far was about $10,000 for a private Ferrari hire and helicopter ride. But for ‘normal’ folk this is going to be out of the budget, but there are many more wallet friendly trips.

Monday, 22 November 2010

Adventure to find food?

Not on this ship… As you are aware Ive just been on a seminar at sea with Royal Carribean Adventure of the Seas, I thought I would wet your taste buds and tell you a little bit about the food I experienced on board – The house Red ‘La Terre’ went well with nearly everything I ate I found! But then most of you won’t be surprised by this news!!! A little review of the food outlets on board:

Winjammer Buffett: Two items jump out at me, The lemonade which as previous blogged my most delicious experience ever. Also Ranch dressing, now I am at home searching the supermarkets for one that even comes close would be good, but the dressing here was lovely. We ate in here on the first day, a couple of breakfasts and a lunch or two – Tandoori Chicken cooked to perfection, Macaroni cheese beautifully done with the widest selection of salads I’ve seen for a while. This is a real hive of activity on embarkation day and the food is really good, I wish I had eaten in there one evening for main meal, but alas I didn’t get there. Maybe next time. My only disappointment here was I felt that the deserts lacked a little something, they all tasted, just a tad bland!
Johnny Rockets: 50s style American Dinner, a small cover charge of $4.95 per person applied, but trust me, well worth the spend, when I walked in on Tuesday Lunch time, it was in full swing so to speak, I sat with Kelly and Laura in front of the retro juke box, which we were highly delighted at when the manager gave us some nickels to choose the music. Fries (With Range dressing) and onion rings were on the table before we had even ordered a drink, Roots beers please!! I ordered an Ole Smoke house burger and Chilli Fries. To be honest I struggled to get through the burger after nibbling at the fires and onion rings!!! The highlight of this venue for me was every quarter of an hour or so all the wait staff got up and danced along to one of the hits playing – So much fun – Like being in that scene in Grease at the burger joint before Frenchy gets her pink hair out!!

Vivaldi – Main Dining – Late seating 9.30pm!!! Now everyone of us felt 9.30 was a tad late, but it was apparently pushed back to allow for those who wanted to watch the show at 8pm. Which is understandable as they only did one show a night – More on that later! I have to state that I cannot praise the waiting staff more on our cruise, Mustafa and Tian, two amazingly genuine people who always have a smile for us and really did remember our names after the first meal and they was nearly 30of us! Food - The freshest breads were on offer minutes after settling at the table, favourite starters for me would have been the deep fried Mozarella and the shrimp cocktails I really really enjoyed Escargots (Snails) now I was so surprised at how lovely they were, they were done in an garlic olive oil with a beautiful crust on top, now I have been warned that not all snails are served this way and onboard they were particularly good. I also enjoyed the Fillet steaks, Lobster and Crab Ravioli which did however leave the most annoying film on my teeth after – but I think that was to do with the soft cheese filled pasta pillows – gorgeous non the less. I had tagliatelle in a gorgeous white sauce and truffles. I would love to serve this at home, but I don’t think they sell truffles in morrisons!

Promenade CafĂ© – So busy after the ice show I could hardly move, but I did manage to squeeze in a coffee, a brownie which was divine and later in the week an cheese and ham croissant – Great food – no extra fees and open 24hrs – Some of my colleagues found out that the serve pizza until 3am!!! We wont guess how, but let me assure you I was in bed… Well maybe not every night at 3am!!!


Now to the FINALE the supreme eating experience of the week for me:
PORTOFINOS – Cover charge $20 per person. Food – AMAZINGLY good, I cant beat it – and the service was outstanding too, now this was on Wednesday night – the most motion filled evening of the week where I was not the only person swaying occasionally – Although mine may have been vino induced.. Just kidding, but some seasoned cruisers even felt the motion on this night, so the restaurant was quieter than I would have expected, we were greeted by our waitress and guided through the prices as there were a few in our party new to Portofinos, including myself! We were offered a bread basket with oils and balsamic vinegar with parmesan in and then on to the ‘starter’ a table plate full of little appetisers, I had one with Roast duck on and it was truly amazing, the other reminded me a bit of cheese on toast – and who doesn’t like cheese on toast!! My main course was this stunning fillet cooked to medium rare perfection in its own Jus with vegetables and lovely crushed potatoes. The desert here was brilliant fun, myself and Sam our trainer had a sample plate of desserts, comprising of Marinated berries with Madagascar cream, a typical Italian tiramsu, a chocolate soufflĂ© and my favourite ever desert Pannacotta… Unfortunately at the very last hurdle I was disappointed as Id saved the ‘best’ for last and it was not as smooth as I had hoped for but still one of the best dining experiences for a long time. Amazingly well organised, gorgeous food with some brilliant staff at hand always makes the evening that little bit better!

Here at cruise.co.uk were are always debating the best food onboard - What are your thoughts? Where is the best steak for instance?

Tuesday, 16 November 2010

Adventures start here with Royal Caribbean

Monday the 8th November my colleague Caroline and I embark on our 5 day cruise on board Adventure of the Seas. Like many passengers these days we didn’t have any luggage labels and we needed to collect them upon arrival to the port which was so quick and smooth, we asked the first porter who pointed us in the direction of a desk, where the labels were added, our bags put onto trolleys and we joined the queue to check in. This was amazingly quick considering the volume of people waiting to get on, I was very pleased to have such a vibrant lady check us in, even going so far as to tell a little bit about where she had been in the UK whilst processing our papers.


Once on board we had a little wait for our stateroom to be ready as we were on board before 1pm!! So we headed to the Windjammer buffet lounge for lunch with pretty much everyone else who had got on board, so there were very few seats left, a wonderful waitress saw us wandering about with plates of food and guided us to the Portofino restraint where they had opened up for additional seating capacity which was really good service I thought rather than leaving us to wander in hope of finding a seat.

I must say that I experienced the world’s best lemonade – EVER… Only available in the Buffet but was amazing, so fresh made with real lemons I was so very impressed and made sure that a fair few glasses of this were consumed throughout the stay!

Once we got to the staterooms, we were a little disappointed to find that the beds were made up to a double, but once we spoke to our stateroom attendant Aristo this was amended quick speed, so quick we only nipped out again for twenty minutes and the beds were changed. I cant praise him enough, they are like ninjas’, there when needed and do everything in the blink of an eye to such high standards, his towel art were great, we had monkey, a swan, a rose and love heart!!


Down side to the cabin, No bathrobes, but we were in a interior stateroom, so I wasn’t surprised by this fact, there were not many complimentary toiletries, just a bar of soap which I struggled to get any later out of. But all in all brilliantly clean and once beds were separated, it created much more space. During the week they took out our sofa and chair to have the upholstery cleaned, which I thought was great, showing that they really keep on top of things!



Monday, 15 November 2010

Not such a splendor end to a cruise with Carnival!

Whilst I was away last week on the Royal Caribbean Adventure of the seas. – On Friday I caught glimpse of the CNN news whilst I was getting ready for the evenings entertainment and I saw that there were horrified passengers on board Carnival Splendour who were struggling due to an engine fire on Monday 8th November which had left them adrift for days – by the end of the week, no hot water, not hot food, no toilets to speak of were making their way back to dry land on 12th November by six tug boats pulling her back into San Diego port where there were hundreds of family members waiting amidst journalist waiting for the Scoop direct from the passengers. When I saw it in CNN on Friday there was a guy saying that he felt Cruise line had lied to them by not telling them that there was an actual fire, but a smoke issue from one of the engine rooms. He added: 'I felt like they were kind of leading us on and lying to us. They weren't telling us what was really happening. The whole area was filled with smoke and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what is going on'.

I found the article on the Daily Mail if you want to have a read on the full story - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1328992/Carnival-Splendor-passengers-vacation-hell.html

After such a wonderful week myself I wonder how I would have coped with such a dramatic return to the home lands? Has anyone incurred such things? Any dramas surrounding your return.

Sunday, 14 November 2010

Adventures takes a detour!!

Well as most of you know Monday 8th November I was on board the Royal Caribbean - Adventure of the seas, sailing from Malaga and quite frankly the ship is AMAZING - Freedom class ships are ace. There was so much to see and do and I will be following up on this more, but I wanted to initially write about the weather!! The impact the high seas made on the first night were quite dramatic.

My thanks go out to the Captain and his team (Most of whom we met during a bridge tour) for the safe journey and for always working with the passengers and ship safety pivotal to any decisions made.

As you an see the first nights' sunset was amidst some very dark clouds and this lead to stormy high seas on the first night - Yes I was sea sick the next morning, nut this may have had an added factor of Blue Margarita a fantastic ship cocktail!

However my praise comes as we had to have a change in the planned itinerary - we were due to leave Malaga and have a day at sea heading to Corsica, however the port master advised that the weather was too bad and instead we headed to Toulon for Provence, with the anticipation we could swap the days and be in Corsica on Thursday, this however was not the case and we ended up in Palma De Mallorca (Palma de Mallorca) is the major city and port on the island of Majorca and it utterly breath taking, on a plus side the weather here was glorious, sunny warm hitting the 20s for sure and a lovely port town with an gorgeous cathedral within walking distance of the port (For the able bodied)

The Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma, also known as La Seu, is a Gothic Roman Catholic cathedral located in Palma, Majorca, Spain, it is built on the site of a old Arab mosque. The cathedral is over 55 metres wide 121 metres high. Designed in the Catalan Gothic style but with Northern European influences, it was built for King James I of Aragon in 1229 but finally finished construction in 1601. I wont be invited those builders to do my conservatory!! It overlooks the Parc de la Mar, the port and the Mediterranean Sea.

Thanks to the unruly ways of mother nature I got to see some fantastic sights in Palma.

I will be back at work Monday 15th November 11.30 if anyone is missing me and needs to get in touch!

Sunday, 7 November 2010

Taking off on my Mini Adventure..

URGENT NOTICE TO GLOAT!!

I am now away from the office until Monday 15th November 2010 at 11.30am.
I will be present on board the Adventure of the Seas!!
Please feel free to post any questions about this ship to me or email nadinel@cruise.co.uk and I will get back to you asap.

Thank you and I look forward to telling you all about it soon.

Thursday, 4 November 2010

Its a mini Adventure.... of the seas!

As of Monday 8th November 2010 I shall be away from the Office until Monday 15th November as another cruise.co.uk colleague and I will be away from the office and on the Royal Caribbean ship Adventure of the seas. Flying from Birmingham into Malaga and boarding the ship Monday we shall be taking in the five day cruise to Corsica and Provence and whilst at sea you all will be happy to know that my time will not be spent lying around the pool, I will be attending some special training courses designed to keep me up to speed with all of the Royal Caribbean ‘adventures’ and what they have going on in the coming year.

So expect some blogs from me about the ship and the company, as it stands, I have been doing a bit of research on the ship and what to expect as this will be my first time on board and I’ve discovered that so many passengers have actually uploaded videos to YouTube about the ship this gives a really good and insightful look at the ships – there are a number of videos to be found - I’m sure there would be just as many for other ships:   http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=adventure+of+the+seas&aq=f

I was excited to see the pool areas and one of the videos was taken in December 2009 so we might get some warmish weather to enjoy the open areas, my colleague Caroline is coming with me and is planning to have a go on the rock climbing – I’m not built for heights, so I probably wont be doing that, but I’m aiming to get some footage of her having a go if we get the opportunity. This is definitely ship that does not lay way for laziness or boredom, Rock climbing, Ice skating, miniature golf, golf simulators fitness centres and basketball courts for the active, Themed bars and restaurants , casino and spa centres for the not so active (Me) amongst us.


So wait with baited breath and I will hopefully send a little blog whilst I'm away if I find five minutes to spare!

Tuesday, 2 November 2010

Wheely good news for Cunard

Following on from the last blog about tailor made trips, many of you will have seen the Independence Day no fly New Yorker, I have a client who is wheelchair bound, his wife is a part time wheelchair user, and this cruise would be perfect for them as they travel together and don’t want to fly!

I was made aware of P&Os’ wheelchair users policy that for every wheelchair user, there must be an ‘able bodied’ carer with them. For my clients this is not either acceptable or required, as such they have boycotted P&O, luckily I have been in touch with Cunard again this morning and found out that as Cunard is an American based company their rules on this are slightly different in that they will allow two passengers who both are wheelchair users, to travel together without the assistance of a ‘carer’ as long as you are able to look after yourself!

So if there are any other passengers out there who are in a similar situation, please keep in mind that you are able to cruise on Cunard as long as you accept responsibility for yourselves and understand that there will not be anyone on board to assist you, then Cunard is the cruise for you – Like the no fly New Yorker, there are many cruises and packages that we can tailor to your needs and cut out flying if that is preferred. Let me know what I can do for you, where you would like to go and we can look at the fantastic three ships in Cunard's sisterhood and see where you can go!

CHECK OUT THE NO FLY NEW YORKER:

Monday, 1 November 2010

Especially for you - Tailor made Asian delights

Not very often am I totally blown away, but this is fantastic and I wanted to spread the word about a new tailor made package from Cruise.co.uk, if you are like me still yet to experience the wonders of the far east then this package is definitely worth a look:, from Chinese history and modern skyscrapers to Tiger Balm gardens, places and temples and superb beaches all with the luxury of having us do all the hard parts – the organising for you.


Starting on the 12th January 2012 we are taking you to Singapore where you will have two nights at the Hilton a 5 star hotel in Singapore, there is the cruise on board the luxury liners Oceanias ship Nautica, which is a must for anyone who likes the finer things in life! You will visit, Ko Sumai, Bankok, Sihanoukville in Cambodia, Saigon in Vietnam, Hanoi in Vietnam, Canton in China, arriving to Hong Kong where you will delight in 2 nights stay at the Harbour Grand hotel in Kowloon and take in more sights including the Lantau enlightenment tour before heading home. Check out the link http://www.cruise.co.uk/cruise-guides/Tailor-Made-Silversea-Ancient-Wonders/?utm_source=011110&utm_medium=TM_Asian_Wonders&utm_campaign=TM_Asian_Wonders
 for more info.

The tailor made packages that we are now doing have far out shone what I thought they would be and I have booked a few – Including, Independence day no fly new Yorker, the ultimate Australian Adventure and the Charms of China tours. Lots of new stuff going on at cruise.co.uk its never a dull day here and always something new to experience.