Thank you Mrs Wilding

This week I received a large packet in the post – Thank you Mrs Wilding.


Mrs Wilding has sent me so much information about her recent cruise. She did two weeks on the Crown Princess and LOVED IT!

Some of the bits and pieces I received were all of the menus – Which I will follow up with later with some more blogs later in the week. The daily schedules the Princess Patter! – Escape completely which tells me all the different activities that were available on board – shore excursions and lots of other tit bits of information.

It helps that I’m a real people person and love to see what other people are up to and this way I get to pretend it was me on board!

Family cruising – A quick guide.

As we launch for 2012 cruises, it’s easy to forget that we still have summer 2011 to contend with first! It approaching fast and the manic frantic questions have started: Where can we go – What can we do, etc...

There are lots of things to consider if you’re travelling as a group or as a family.

 1) How many cabins do you need? I.e.: Configurations, quad cabins, triple rooms. Some cruise lines wont allow a twin occupancy in a multiple birth room, so rather than having a quad with a twin next door for the grandparents – why not consider having two adults and a child in each room to ensure that you are next door to each other (Where availability will allow) There are some cruise lines that operate cabins with families in mind Norwegian Cruise lines have a Garden Villa which will sleep up to 14 passengers and when travelling as big group these can work out to be great value for money!

2) When will you be travelling – for instance we are now taking loads of pre – registrations for P&O School summer holidays for 2012 as people know that the multiple berth rooms sell out FAST at this time of year – HINT: Royal Caribbean have started selling their 2012 rooms already – so move swiftly to secure Independence for 2012!

3) Pick a suitable cruise line to travel with – If you have a group with lots of different ages in it – you need a ship that ill have something for every one to do, no point the kids being busy as a bee and grandma completely bored sipping sherry all week!

4) If you are a single parent, BE PREPARED. You will have to pay the full cruise fare for the first two passengers in any one cabin – ie: if there is just two of you travelling, your child will be charged the same as you!

5) Consider cruise lines that offer children for free when they are 3rd of 4th passengers, MSC Cruise have some great deals on this basis.

6) Look at cruise lines who offer children’s facilities, a lady I spoke with the other day wasn’t keen on travelling with one particular cruise line as they do not allow you to leave your child in the kids clubs when going ashore!!

7) DON’T FORGET: Sometimes your children may be split up when going to children’s clubs for insurance reasons. Children are split into groups. Aged 2-4 then 5-7, 8-10 pre- teens start at 11-13 – teenagers ages 14-17. Children in different groups may not always be able to eat together (Unless at dinner with you!) Occasionally groups will be combined if numbers are smaller.

8) Babies are welcome, but some cruise lines have restrictions, if there are more than 3days at sea they may not be able to travel under 18months – As a general rule its 6months! Some ships offer baby packs which include nappies & food etc to be in your stateroom on arrival to save on luggage. If you take powdered formula, note that bottled water bought on board the ship can be quite expensive.

9) Let the holiday be an adventure – for both you and the children, so plan a little time away from the children perhaps and evening together - a dinner for two, for example in one of the speciality restaurants - There are many ships with evening or baby sitting facilities.

10) Be flexible, and realize that not all things go according to plan - GOOD LUCK!

Sunday Funday

Today Ive had quite a active day - My day off from cruise.co.uk and the sun was shining so we decided to make the most of the big open spaces around where I live and take to two wheels, Curtis, his daughter and my sister and I took off on our bikes for an afternoons cycling. We took off toward our local heritage point, Forge Mill and Bordesley Abbey - The Archaeological dig site in Redditch - there is some really interesting places local to where I live, however I digress, the main point of this blog was to introduce to you cruises that have connections or facilities for cycling. There are many places where getting to see the sights is common place by bicycle, for instance Amsterdam, there are lots of different bike hire places when you get in to the city. Plenty of cruise liners take in Amsterdam as one of their ports of call, from P&O to Princess there is lots of things to see here. I would love to see Amsterdam by bike, or Paris.

Honeymooners Cruise to Married Life!

I have been talking with a lady this weekend who has called in to cruise.co.uk looking for a good cruise deal and for help in organising her honeymoon as she gets married in June, so Congratulations to Jane!!
We talking about different things on different ships and I’ve tried to put myself in her shoes to decide what I would want to do as we are of a similar age and after talking with her she seems very much on my wave length even down to a few of the things she said that made me smile. So as Jane cant seem to decide, I thought perhaps some of you might like to help out, pros and cons can be listed in the comments section underneath.

P&O Celebrate 175 years cruising in 2012

P&O Celebrate 175th anniversary on July 3rd 2012 will make the enormous event of P&Os 175th anniversary and they will be celebrating with the accumulation of all seven ships in Southampton for the Grand event – Adonia, Aurora, Arcadia, Oriana, Oceana, Ventura & Azura . The details of the celebration have yet to be release, but I’m sure I will bring that info to you as soon as I can establish what they are planning.
P&O are offering some special sailings with Grand Event celebratory prices as follows, The Grand Event Cruises are:
• Azura – 11nights Atlantic Islands Cruise – Starting at £1,149pp
• Ventura – 17nights Central Med cruise - Starts at £1,699pp
• Oriana- four nights mini cruise at just £399pp
• Adonia- 21nights central med cruise - £2,349pp
• Aurora does a 17nights Baltic cruise – £1,749pp
• Oceana has a 7Nights fjords tour from just £749pp


These will go on sale on April 5th 2011 and will include the early booking discounts (Please note that these are just guideline prices)
The 175th anniversary is of the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company who were awarded the lucrative Admiralty contract to carry mail to the Iberian Peninsula and beyond.


Not long afterwards the concept of cruising was born and since 1837, cruising has evolved into a popular holiday choice and now P&O Cruises carries more British cruisers than any other line. With her effortless style, grace and all round ‘British’ sense of formality and some fantastic itineraries, makes cruising with P&O altogether a super choice for British passengers and for the from across the globe, who would enjoy the superior dining options available to them.

So I was wondering what your favourite memories of the P&O Fleet are and how you think they should celebrate?


Marching bands and all setting sail together would be idyllic for me…

ROYALLY CONFUSED ABOUT TIPPING?

As I have outlined CCS, MSC & NCL so far, I thought I d bring all you cruise.co.uk website & blog fans the gratuities information from Royal Caribbean and It looks quite confusing on the site, so I thought Id try and simplify things:

Basically, all new bookings have an option to pre pay your gratuities, or to pay them on the ship following the recommended daily rate as below. These guidelines serve as suggestions to help guests express their gratitude for the outstanding service they experience on their Royal Caribbean cruise holiday.


For new or existing bookings that set sail before 1 July 2011, the suggested tips are:

Suite attendant: USD 5.75 a day per guest
Stateroom attendant: USD 3.50 a day per guest
Dining Room Waiter: USD 3.50 a day per guest
Assistant Waiter: USD 2.00 a day per guest
Head Waiter: USD 0.75 a day per guest


For new bookings that set sail on or after 1 July 2011, the suggested tips are:
Suite Attendant/Housekeeping Services: USD 7.25 a day per guest
Stateroom Attendant/Housekeeping Services: USD 5.00 a day per guest
Dining Room Waiter: USD 3.75 a day per guest
Assistant Waiter: USD 2.15 a day per guest
Head Waiter: USD 0.75 per person per day

Alternatively to pre paying the gratuities or having them added to your on board account, these can be paid in cash, at the end of your cruise, in Dollars. Envelopes for tips will be provided in your stateroom on the last night of the cruise. These should still be given using the recommended amounts as above.

CCS - Cruise Gratuities

At cruise.co.uk, we are constantly asked about the gratuities, who gets paid what etc, so s promised, I have brought to you some additional information regarding the tipping policy of different cruise lines, today I have been looking into P&O, Cunard and Princess:
Cunards official line from their website states that: Gratuities are charged at a discretionary charge which is added to your on board account. If you wish to amend this you can do so by contacting the Purser's Desk once on board. Queens and Princess Grill guests are initially charged US$13 per person per day; Britannia guests are initially charged US$11 per person per day. Gratuities can not be pre purchased and will be added to your on board account during the voyage. You may pre purchase on board credit to cover these costs if you so wish.

Dydd Gwŷl Dewi Sant hapus - HAPPY SAINT DAVIDS DAY

Happy Saint Davids day to all my fellow kinsmen… Being from Cardiff, today marks an opportunity for me to remind everyone of my heritage – With my surname Lewis, you would think that people knew I was was welsh, but as I have long since lost my accent, a gentle reminder doesn’t hurt. I'm sat at my desk at cruise.co.uk waiting to get my Daffs out!!