Favourite Xmas pressie??

Christmas is over and done with for another year....the turkey has been eaten and all the crackers pulled.

My day was fun filled and very family orientated with all the usual eating and drinking. The best part about my day was watching my little niece and nephew open their presents...but what did they get? Well, amongst all the usual kiddies stuff my little nephew Aiden got a little plastic guitar or "gigitar" as he calls it (he's only 2 and half bless him) I did not realise how much fun one little man could have with something as simple as that. I mean from the moment he opened it to the moment he had to go to bed he did not take it off from around his neck to the point where his little neck was red raw from the strap!! But he would not give it up! He was rocking around the lounge like a true little rock star strumming away on it - if ever there is going to be a guitar player he surely will be it! Here is a picture of him taking his stage ready for action...

His little face lighting up when he opened his gigitar!

Taking his stage! Mini Mick Hucknal maybe with his ginger hair??

Its definitely fair to say that this was Aidens favourite present from santa, did anybody get something they absolutely loved? Or maybe even hated? Or was just plain weird/funny? Did anybody recieve a cruise maybe? Let me know!



Merry Christmas Everybody!

Well, its Christmas Eve and the big day is nearly upon us. A white snow blanket is on the ground....all my presents are wrapped and are sitting under the tree eagerly awaiting to be opened tomorrow morning....the question is have I been a good girl this year?? And the answer of course is YES YES YES! So Santa should be visiting my house tonight with lots of treats :)

Christmas for the Rhodes family always consists of me waking up to the smell of the turkey cooking (my mum always puts it in the oven about 6am so we get that smell when we wake up) my dad then puts a full English spread on for breakfast, thats always been his allocated job on Christmas day. Then I will be heading over to my sisters to watch my little niece and nephew open their presents and on to my brothers to do the same! Its all about the kids in my family, although I don't have any of my own as yet I do love watching my little nieces and nephews open theirs. I guess it reminds me of when I was little and how excited I used to be at the mounds of presents that sat under the tree for me and my sister and brother to open, oh to be 10 again!

A few visits to the Grandparents then back to my sisters, who for the first time will be hosting the Christmas dinner - eeek! She not the greatest cook shall we say, luckily my mum is still in charge of cooking the Turkey so we shouldn't get food poisoned at least! Scrabble is always a game that we like to thrash out over some Wine and Baileys and then probably Turkey and stuffing sandwiches for supper.....mmmmm I can just taste it now....

The thing I am most excited about is that this will be the first white Christmas that I have experienced (or that I can remember) I know the snow has probably disrupted a lot of cruise.co.uk passengers travel arrangements but I had fun with my pooch who loves the snow too!

So now you know what I shall be doing tomorrow it just leaves me to wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS tomorrow and I hope you have a Wonderful and prosperous 2011 to come! Enjoy!

Its Official - BIGGER is better!

Well for Celebrity Cruises anyway! They have decided that the two new additions to the Solstice Class, the Silhouette (due late next year) and the Reflection (due 2012) are to be much larger and more jam packed with amenities than their 3 siblings.


Most of the changes will be prominent on the Silhouette - such as: more for-fee offerings, including restaurants and special cabana-style alcoves that can be rented for a full or half-day.

The Reflection will boast an extra metre in width and an increase of 4,000 gross tons. That will allow for additional cabins, 17more to be exact, and expanded capacity in the ship's theatre (45 more seats) and in a number of its restaurants (Main dining 40 seats and Oceanview cafe 118!) I think this will be of great benefit as the self serve restaurant can always get quite busy at peak times.

But most importantly all you sun worshipers out there will be pleased to know that there will be 245 more sun loungers on the pool deck, plenty to go around.
Michaels Club is one of the areas that they will be focusing on changing, so what can you expect?

• A Celebrity mainstay, this venue is being transformed from an "elegant social club" into a craft beer bar featuring new décor (including 46-inch televisions) and a selection of whiskeys and scotches -- plus more than 50 international hand-crafted beers. Bar snacks will include housemade gourmet potato chips and breadsticks along with caramel popcorn.

• In addition to live music, playlists featuring such popular modern artists as Coldplay, Jack Johnson, Maroon 5 and Kings of Leon will be piped into the venue.

• Enrichment courses, tastings and pairings will be held here.

What else is changing?

Well they are replacing Team Earth with a new Lounge Area called the "Hideaway" here you can relax whilst reading, listening to music with regular and speciality tea and coffee offered for free! Sounds like my kind of place.....



The Lawn club will also be getting a revamp taking out the glass and adding in the food! The glass blowing show is not going to exist on the newer ships but will be replaced by a Lawn Grill (speciality restuarant) at $30per head.
I have to say Celebrity, particularly the Solstice Class, are one of my favourite cruise lines around. The ships are simply stunning in design being very contemporary and sleek. Definately worth a go!

January Sales come early for NCL

For all you NCL lovers you will be pleased to hear that they have started their January sale early! Their European sale started on the 9th December and is running through to the 14th February 2011. This sees savings of upto £400 per stateroom and on top of this they are having an additional "Balcony Bonanza" on all Epic 7night Europe sailings.

Want to know more? Well here is an example of what you will pay for a 7nt sailing onboard this beautiful and innovative freestyle ship:-

29th May 2011 7nts - BF balcony cabin £599pp cruise only

Or if you need the all important school holidays:-
10th July 2011 7nts - BF balcony cabin £729pp cruise only

Lots of other dates available :)

Cruise ship cops?

"Cruise ships should carry federal police on board and scan passengers for drugs" this is a statement made by Australian coroner Jacqueline Milledge due to the death of a 42 year old Australian passenger onboard P&O Australia South Pacific cruise in 2002.

Phone problems....please bear with us!

Hi guys....

I need to make you aware that I have been experiencing problems with my voicemail and I have been unable to retrieve any since Tuesday afternoon ( as have my colleagues) we are also having problems with our phones in that we cannot pick up any calls, so sincere apologies if you have left me a voicemail but rest assured I will be calling you all back once we are back up and running! Thank you for your patience.

Can Celebrities Cruise?

I was flicking through the cable channels the other day in my sheer boredom and happened to come across a programme on MTV called Hogan Knows Best. It is based on the famous 90's WWF wrestler Hulk Hogan and his family life. What does this have to do with cruising I hear you ask? Well, this particular episode was about Hulk celebrating his 54th Birthday (I know can you believe he is 54 and still has the muscles of a 24yr old!) and for his birthday his wife and 2 children booked to go on a cruise, the ship in question was the Carnival Imagination leaving from Miami for 7nts.



From the moment they got onboard Hulk was accosted by many fans wanting pictures with him and his autograph, some were even just constantly staring at him when he was trying to do simple things like sunbath and relax. You could see that it was very uncomfortable for him and at one point he did say he felt like he was trapped onboard with no place to escape it all except his cabin. This made me think, is cruising suitable for well known celebs?? Unlike land based holidays where you can go pretty much anywhere you like a cruise ship is limited in space and the public areas can be quite small. I know if I saw somebody famous like him onboard a cruise ship I probably wouldn't be able to help but stare!

Has anybody ever seen a famous person on a cruise? If so did you feel sorry for them getting lots of attention or did they seem to be enjoying themselves?

Personally I don't think it would be an ideal holiday for them but then I could be wrong - you never know you may see the Beckhams on your next cruise or even Tom Cruise.....pun intended! :)

When in Bruges...

This weekend sees all (well pretty much most) of the staff at cruise.co.uk taking our P&O Aurora 2nt mini cruise from Southampton over to Bruges....

Now I am very excited about this as I have never been to Bruges but have always wanted to. What excites me most is the whole feeling of Christmas it will have with the lovely markets and the idea that it may well be snowing, according to the BBC weather forecast anyway, fingers crossed!

This go me thinking though, what are the best things to do when in Bruges??

So here goes, these are some top 5 attractions that we could take advantage of in Bruges.

Market Square

Otherwise known as the Grote Market. This is a very medieval square where there is always a buzz of activity going on, consisting of cafes and bars in pretty guild houses. They have events here in the summer time all focused around the extremely dominant and regal looking Cloth Hall. Apparetnly Market Square is the place to be to watch the world go by...

Groeninge Museum

One of the finest museums in Belgium, the Groeninge boasts some of the most celebrated Flemish masterpieces on display dating back to the 15th century. There are many inspiring renaissance sculptures and era defining modern art which are sure to satisfy all tastes and a likely visit will take up several hours to fully appreciate its artistic riches.

Canal Cruises

Not quite a Cunard cruise or a P&O but still a lovely way to see the City.

Enjoy an unforgettable adventure back in time through a labyrinth of serene canals that wind their way through the medieval city. You will glide beneath ancient bridges and alongside spectacular gothic churches and guild houses. Hear stories of Bruges history and its very special architectural heritage with a pleasantly relaxing few hours floating on its waters.

Shop for Delectable Chocolates

A personal favourite of mine! :)

No Bruges trip would be complete without sampling some of the delectable goodies in the world famous chocolatiers of the city. I'm not sure I will be able to resist!

Bruges Diamond House

Another personal favourite of mine!

I may well have to visit here to give my chap some ideas :) Yes, still waiting for a proposal so maybe here I can chose the perfect Diamond....hmmmm maybe just a dream....

I will take lots of pictures of my trip to share with you in a blog upon my return. I'm sure there will be tales to tell...we will also be having our awards ceremony for Best Cruise Consultant and Best Blog so fingers crossed for me and many thanks to all who have voted for me!

VOTE FOR ME! :)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of my blog followers for taking the time and effort to read my blog over the last year and kindly rating my service that you have received from me, all of which have been lovely comments which are much appreciated :)


Now I just need to ask one more favour of you....VOTE FOR ME!

Next weekend will see our office heading onboard the Aurora for our annual Christmas party cruise. Whilst onboard we will be attending a small award ceremony which is in-house to acknowledge the 1. Best Blog page 2. Best Cruise Consultant. So if I could ask you to take your time to VOTE FOR ME by clicking the vote for me button on the top page of my blog and keep your fingers crossed!!

Thank you! x

QM2 - My Review....

I have recently returned back from my 2nt trip onboard the QM2, leaving Southampton on Monday and cruising over to Cherbourg. So, what were my honest thoughts of this extremely popular Cunard Ship?

I will be out of the Office...

Hello cruisers

Just a quck note to let you all know that I will be out of the office from 3pm today for the whole of next week returning at 11.30am on Monday 15th November.

If you require any urgent assistance then do call the main sales line on 0800 091 5254 with your booking ref and somebody will be able to assist you. If its not urgent then feel free to call me on my return.

Bon Voyage....I am going on the Queen Mary 2!

Monday sees me heading back down to Southampton to see my second Queen, the Queen Mary 2! It only seems like 5 minutes ago I was in Southampton for the Launch of the newest edition of the Cunard fleet the Queen Elizabeth.

                               

I will be spending 2 nights onboard with 5 of my cruise.co.uk colleagues where we will be sailing over to Cherbourg to spend a full day taking in the delights of Normandy.

I have to say I am extremely excited about seeing the Mary and experiencing a sailing on her as I have heard nothing but great things about her. She is a firm favourite with lots of my customers and avid Cunarders so it will interesting to see why! No doubt we will have a few tiples in the Golden Lion and I may even try a little afternoon tea!

I will be doing some comparisons no doubt against the Queen Elizabeth to see who is the fairest Maiden so watch this space for blogs when I return.

Royal Caribbean Flight GIVEAWAY!!

Royal Caribbean has announced today that they will be giving away, that’s right GIVING AWAY 10,000 flights across many Mediterranean sailings for 2011!

This Amazing offer is on until 20th December 2010 or whenever the flights sell out and are available on many different departure airports including Gatwick, Heathrow, Manchester, Leeds Bradford, Belfast, Birmingham and Newcastle on selected dates.

• 7nt Spanish Med - Grandeur of the Seas

• 7 nt Italian Med - Grandeur of the Seas

• 14 nt back to back Spanish and Italian Med - Grandeur of the Seas

• 7 nt Western Med - Adventure of the Seas

• 7 nt Eastern Med - Navigator of the Seas

• 7 nt Western Med - Voyager of the Seas

• 7nts Adriatic Seas - Voyager of the Seas

• 12 nt Egypt & Eastern Med - Brilliance of the Seas


Spanning across 5 ships it means you can take a fly cruise from as little as £509pp!!

This really is a great offer from them and could potential save quite a few £££ on your next summer holiday as Royal Caribbean can often come out slightly pricey on their flights in my exprience. They are limited to the first 10,000 though, which may sound a lot but will go quite fast I think.
The offer starts on Saturday 30th October so don’t miss out!

BA - Could it all be over by Xmas?

I was reading my paper yesterday and noticed an article on British Airways - the title was "The Battle of BA: it could all be over by Christmas" so I instantly thought, oh dear have they finally hammered the last nail in their coffin??

Well the answer is no and in actual fact it could be good news for everybody who works for the travel industry like myself and have felt the previous impact of the BA strikes.

British Airways have announced that they will be offering their cabin crew a new "peace deal" that could potentially remove the threat of strikes at Christmas that travellers have been facing and end the lengthy and bitter dispute, thank god I hear you say!

Unite has agreed to put the offer to BA's 11,000 cabin crew after the Union managed to secure concessions from the airline for the reinstatement of BA's staff travel perks. As if it wasn't enough working for an iconic British Airline with extremely decent salaries in today's Economy they have fought for better travel perks? It seems a bit incredible to me with potentially millions of unemployed, they should be grateful for the job they have.

So what do these perks entail that are going to keep them happy?

• A pay rise of RPI inflation capped at 2.9% next year and 3% the year after
• A single bonus worth £6,616 a year for mainline crew to replace a range of individual allowances.
• Arbitration by the conciliation service Acas where there is a legal dispute over disciplinary action taken against staff during the dispute.
• Restoration of travel perks but only in 2013

If the crew vote and accept this offer by Unite it will potentially end the dispute that has now dragged on for 18months and caused over 22 days of disruption from striking. I for one know how disruptive these strikes were having had to deal with the flight cancellations and stranded passengers of ours! We were in fear that the BA cabin crew were planning to strike again over Christmas this year so we can only hope that this ballot will solve all of our problems......we shall see.....

QE -Royal Wow or Royal let down?

As you probably know from my previous Blog, I was very lucky in that I got to go down to spend a night onboard the brand new and eagerly awaited Cunard Queen Elizabeth on Saturday. You may have seen the Queen on TV as she was in Southampton for the official naming ceremony, being the Godmother of the ship.

So what were my thoughts of the ship? I did say that I would give you my honest and open opinion so here goes....

Upon entering Southampton and getting closer to the port I started to feel very excited as we could just about see that famous Cunard Red Funnel. The ship itself looked quite big sat in port; my initial thought was that the back of the ship seemed very short and straight down rather than the normal tiered effect. I am going to assume that this is Cunard trying to minimise the "overlooked" effect that you can get from being on the lower deck and overlooked by the higher decks, but who knows!

See what you think?

Upon boarding the ship, the staffs were very friendly and really looked the part in their Cunard uniforms, very smart indeed I thought. One of the first things that I noticed was the Art Deco design that Cunard had promised, it really did look Regal and in keeping with the whole Cunard brand with lots of creams, gold’s and blues featuring in the decor.

One of the main themes of this ship, I would imagine due to the name and the fact that Her Majesty is the Godmother, is the Royal Family. There were lots of beautiful portraits of the Royal Family but the one that really caught my eye was this stunning picture of Queen Elizabeth.

I stayed in an A3 balcony cabin which was mid ship. I have to be honest, the cabin decor did not grab me when I walked in, it was all very neutral and quite Blasé. The bed however, did look very comfortable and I was later to find out that it was (when I passed out after one too many!)

Our meal in the Britannia Restaurant I have to say was gorgeous; I was certainly not disappointed with the food of the service received. The only thing i do need to be honest about is the challenge that I had form a customer who wanted to see how well they could deal with her wheat allergy. I asked the waiter for a wheat free roll and all he offered me was a brown roll! I am going to defend them though in saying that as it was an agent’s weekend they may not have been fully prepared as they would for a normal sailing.

We were all dressed up in our lovely frocks and the boys in there suits and we then boogied the night away in the Yacht Club. They had a live band for most of the night and then into the early hours the DJ kicked in with some old classics (i'm the one in the red!)

The Atrium looked Very Grand indeed with a superb centrepiece of the ship.

Overall, I would say that the ship itself is very beautifully presented with both style and comfort taken care of. She showed inpecable service from the staff and the food was delicious. If she continues with this then i'm confident her future passengers will have a wonderful time when they travel on her. The only thing for me is that she didnt really grab me with the WOW factor I was excpecting but I think the reason for this is because I had never been on a Cunard ship before so was comparing with Celebrity Eclipse, which is uber modern and contemporary. It did not disappoint me though and I will highly recommend her to my future passengers.

Eye Spy...a Costa Ship!

I have just had this picture sent to me from a client who was in Izmir in Turkey....they Spied a Costa ship docked in port and thought they would send it to me to add to my collection...

Its quite far away but you can just see the signature yellow funnel with the C on it for Costa. Im not sure which ship it is but my guess is it will be the Costa Serena doing  Venezia : Bari : Katakolon : Izmir : Istanbul : Dubrovnik : Venezia for 7nts.

Feel free to contact me for more information on Costa and prices.

I am always on the look out for pictures of ships - so if you are ever on your travels and see one in port feel free to send them on to me to make an apperance on my blog page  :)

Off to see a Queen!

Hello folks, I just thought I would write a blog to you all as I am off on an exciting adventure tomorrow to see the Queen....not Her Majesty i'm afraid but the long and eagerly awaited new addition to the Cunard fleet the Queen Elizabeth!

We have all been anticipating her arrival here at Cruise.co.uk since I started with the company in February 2009 and it has finally arrived. I feel very lucky indeed to be one of the chosen ones to go and see her. I will be travelling down tomorrow morning to spend the day onboard looking at the staterooms and taking in the fantastic facilities she has to offer guests. We then get dress up in our Sunday best froks for an evening of fine dining and entertainment.

This is to give us an idea of what she is really going to be like for passengers so we can pass on our knowledge to you! I have booked many guest onboard for her future sailings so if anybody has any questions before you travel feel free to call me and ask away, I will give my honest and open opinion.

I am already doing a little test for a customer thinking of booking on her whose wife has a wheat intolerance - I am going to ask for a wheat free roll at dinner to see how well they handle my request.

I will be out of the office from 11am tomorrow but will be returning approximately midday on Sunday where I will be working until 6pm, I cant guarantee a bad head wont be on the cards! :)

Escape the rain with last minute deals....

The weather is turning, the leaves have started to fall and the rain has settled in....thats right Summer is officially over! But that doesn't mean the end of the Holiday season, oh no.....

Fred Olsen have just released to us some absolutely fantastic last minute deals!

Fred Olsen are a lovely traditionally British cruise line, boasting smaller ships that offer a friendly home from home feel onboard. Excellent food, very attentive staff and just a brilliant overall experience.

Here are a few of the excellent deals we have on offer:-
BOUDICCA 19th October for 23nights

Newcastle : Lisbon,Portugal : Almeria,Spain : Eivissa,Ibiza,Spain : Valletta,Malta : Kusadasi,Turkey : Volos,Greece : Piraeus (For Athens),Greece : Gythion,Greece : La Goulette (For Tunis),Tunisia : Cartagena,Spain : Gibraltar : Holyhead

This deal also includes a free coach trasnfer from Holyhead to Newcastle so you can park your car in Newcastle and not have to worry about getting back!

LATESAVER 2BED CABIN £999pp! THATS JUST £44pp per night!!

BRAEMAR 26th October for 17nights
Try this Transatlantic crossing to the Caribbean with your return flight home:-

Dover : Funchal, Madeira : Santa Cruz De Tenerife, Canary Isla : Philipsburg, St. Maarten : Road Town, Tortola : Basseterre, St. Kitts : Castries, St. Lucia : Bridgetown, Barbados

LATESAVER 2BED CABIN - £849pp - VERY LIMITED AVAILABILITY ON THIS ONE!

Feel free to call me for more information on Fred Olsen cruise line.

Royal Caribbean at your service! Luggage service....

Royal Caribbean have announced a new luggage delivery service for passengers leaving from the UK - Southampton/Harwich

So what is this I hear you ask?
Well, its a hassle free secure service that promises to take your luggage right from your very door step where you will not then see it again until you get to your stateroom! This is an extremely safe and secure service and can be tracked at any time by you.

It will cost you £35 per luggage item (30kg per item) and takes between 24-96 hours subject to your location in the UK.

This is great for passengers who are planning to travel by rail or a regional flight if travelling from Scotland and up North as you will not have to worry about carrying your luggage or tight budget airline baggage allowances.

To book this service all you have to do is call 0845 686 0662

A long lost Dream for Thomson?

For those of you that missed it, on Thursday 23rd September BBC Watchdog featured a segment on the "newest flag ship" for Thomson, the Dream.


The Thomson Dream is marketed by Thomson as the newest, and most luxurious, ship in their fleet and Thomson claim that the cabins were recently refurbished, have 'interior-designed good looks' and that the ship is 'new for 2010'



Funnily enough I took a call from a passenger that has booked to go on the Dream complaining because she was under the illusion that she was booking on a "brand new ship" when in fact the ship was built in 1986 and was previously operating as the Costa Europa. She was very unhappy as she felt their brochure had misled her into thinking that I was a newly built ship.



Watchdog featured testimonies from passengers that have sailed on the Dream, most of which I'm saddened to say were not good.

Passenger Natasha Hopkins onboard reported
"Everything was very dated, it definitely wasn't new. The first experience was it definitely wasn't luxurious... It was really humid, it made you feel nauseous, it made you feel tired. It drained you"

Susan Macklam was on the Thomson Dream for its maiden voyage and she told Watchdog about the water in her cabin: "Something came out of the tap but it was thick brown sludge so you can imagine I was absolutely horrified".



She also mentioned an horrific smell onboard the ship "It just overwhelmed you, and you know when you just feel like you can taste a smell. And it was the smell of raw sewage".

This takes me back to my blog that I did back in May "A Dream Makeover for the Thomson Dream" stating that Thomson were planning on spending £5million on new interiors and an overhaul of all the public areas - so what happened to this?! Why haven't they spent the money on upgrading the cabins as promised?

I have to say in Thomson’s defence we have had a statement from our Key Account Manager who has pointed out that this programme was based on passengers who had travelled in April/May and so was therefore "old news" and that in actual fact Recent CSQ scores for the overall holiday experience on the ship have averaged 97%, which she feels speaks for itself.

Since going live last night we have had a lot of reviews that have been added to our cruise reviews on our website, which are very positive so it may well be that since April/May Thomson have pulled their socks up and have the problems rectified.

If you have sailed on her since April/May please leave me feedback on my blog as we would like to know your views!! My advice if you are booked to go on her next year - dont panic and cancel as Thomson are doing their best to get things sorted and up to scatch.....and remember one mans hell is another mans heaven.....

Its finally here - pre booked flight seats on Charter flights!

Fed up not being able to pre book your airplane seats on your charter flight? Well.......

P&O cruises have just announced that they are launching a new facility on their cruise presonaliser for customer to be able to pre book flight seats on charter flights!

This is fantastic news as up until now you could only do this on the basis of medical grounds. Scheduled airlines have been offering this for a while now so it is great that charter airlines are also allowing passengers to do so! I know it will help me as I get a lot passengers asking about booking there flight seats.

The tool is very easy to use apparently with on-screen instructions to guide you through the booking process. You will need to supply a valid email address, and accept the Terms and Conditions and then you will be they presented with an aircraft plan to make your selection from. You just hover over the seat map to view available seats and prices. Once the seats have been chosen, you will be taken through to the payment screen to pay for your selected seats using a credit card, simple!

And don’t panic if you think you have done something wrong or if you need help as P&O have set up a direct number to the flight department where somebody from air ops will be waiting to assist, phew!

This will not be something we can do for you, but we will be happy to advise you as much as we can.

Julia really does Set Sail....

It would appear that I have a ship of my very own named after me :)
The MV Julia sets sail for Cork, Ireland. This new tourism vessel takes visiting tourists to and from Ireland and Wales, it has been dubbed "The People's Ship". The ship emcompases the dreams of several small business owners and some individuals that were interested in helping out the tourism industry. They got together to buy a ship, and with the help of several private investors, companies and organizations and getting over a few obstacles, the ship and the shipping line Fastnet Line came to life!




MV JULIA

The MV Julia saves travellers a huge 370 miles instead of driving to get there and the passengers have direct access to M4 when they arrive in Swansea. This fast new route means that the Irish and Welsh can now grow stronger than ever in there ties and means that tourism between the two can grow rapidly! Great ship great name! :) ok its no quite the Cunard Queen Victoria but she does the job!

Tailor Made Luxury with you in mind....

Fed up with the Med? Done the Fjords to death? Want to do something a bit more exciting and bespoke?!

Then look no more! Here at Cruise.co.uk we pride ourselves on our Cruise Experience and giving our customers the best available service and knowledge when booking our customers cruise holidays. Well, we have gone that little bit further on what we can offer and have spread our knowledgeable wings into creating exciting and inspiring Tailor Made Luxury Cruise Packages.

Let us take you on a Voyage of Discovery with our expertly chosen and crafted packages. Teaming your favourite cruise lines and itineraries with breathtaking shore excursions to tantalise any traveller’s senses! To top off all of that we have chosen some of the best Hotels around the world to complete your package, stay in wonderful Cities such as New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Sydney, Hong Kong, Rio De Janeiro to name but a few...it really is the most exciting way to take a cruise.

Hong Kong at night!

Las Vegas

Sydney

You can view our full Tailor Made Packages on our website http://www.cruise.co.uk/ or click here Tailor Made We have a specialist team on hand ready to take your calls and don't worry, if you don't fancy a certain hotel or want to add on extra nights take nights off we really can Tailor Make it to your holiday needs, the possibilities are endless....

Queen Elizabeth Launch....here I come!

In light of the confirmation of the Godmother for the brand new Cunard Queen Elizabeth being Her Royal Majesty herself I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to gloat a little as I am pleased to announce that I too will also be going down to the Launch of the QE on the 9th October! How laaady dar of me!

Unfortunately I wont be there the same time as her Majesty but I do get to spend the night onboard to experience what the QE has to offer. We had an in house competition here at cruise.co.uk to win a place and due to my loyal customers logging onto my blog page and kindly rating my service I was lucky enough to be one of the Cruise Consultants to win my place :)

I am extremely excited I have to say because I have not yet had the experience of a Cunard Ship, the QE is very hotly anticipated by all us Cruise Agents and avid Cruisers so it will be a very interesting and wonderful experience im sure! I will of course be taking lots of pictures for all to see what she looks like and I will write a blog on my thoughts and personal opinion so watch this space!

I am off on my travels again...lucky me!

Hello cruisers,

Just to let you all know (and rub it in a little) I am off on my travels again this week the lucky girl I am! this time I am doing a City Break in Manchester. Why Manchester? I'm not sure myself to be honest but I have done London to death and its somewhere that I have never been! The place where we are staying is Deansgate and is about 5minutes away from Granada Studios where they film Coronation Street. I am a soap junkie so I am going to be on the lookout for any characters from the soap wandering around, I may get a glimpse of Ken Barlow or Gail Platt!

My boyfriend is a huge footie fan so no doubt I will be dragged around Old Trafford for a tour and we also have a spa day planned so I will be busy busy...

If you have any urgent queries whilst I am away then please call the main sales line on 0800 091 5254 and my colleagues will be able to assist you. I will be returning on Monday 6th September if you would like to speak with me.

Bon Voyage again!

I am back from my Travels....what were my thoughts?

I am back at work today after having a lovely week away to Marmaris in Turkey with 4 of my lovely friends. I was not sure what to expect from the Country as it was my first time visiting but I have to say I was not let down.


The weather was beautiful, if not a little bit too hot for me reaching 49degrees on the hottest day! By the sea there was a slight breeze though to take the heat off a little. I would say if you are not into very hot weather September/October would be an ideal time to Visit.

Along the sea front there were lots of gorgeous restaurants offering a fine mix of cuisine ranging from authentic Turkish to traditional English meals. The great thing about Turkey is they still have their own currency, the Turkish Lira - which with the exchange rate you get over double to the English £. On average a meal will range from about 10 lira to 20 so that’s just £5-10- great value for money!

My Friend Vicki and I enjoying some Authentic Turkish dishes! Delicious!

At the far end of Marmaris there is a lovely Marina where lots of day trip boats dock as well as yachts and cruise ships. I would highly recommend taking one of these day trips out as they take you to about 5 secluded bays where you can get off the boat and swim around in the crystal clear waters. This was great value at just 20 lira (about £8) for the day to include lunch of chicken pasta and salad. You also get to sunbath on the tip deck to soak up the rays in between swims.

I am there somewhere!

The pregnant Nuns house - the tale tells of a Nun from Rhodes who fell in love with a pirate, got pregnant and was banished to live on this island in solitary. They built just a house and a church, where you can just about see the remaining ruins.

In port I was lucky enough to see the Thomson Celebration docked over night. It certainly lived up to its name as they sounded like they were having a right old Celebration onboard as I could hear lots of music and laughter coming from the ship!

Me in front of the Thomson Celebration

An example of this cruise would be:-

6th September 2010 7nts
Marmaris, Bodrum, Izmir, Mykonos, Piraeus, Nauplion, Aghious Nikolaos, Marmaris

With prices from £679pp to include return LGW flights (other airports available) full board.

If you’re anything like me and you like your shopping you can Visit the Bazaar where you will find hundreds of shops from bags, sunglasses, perfumes, jewellery and much more! Just watch those luggage restrictions with your flights as it can be easy to get carried away!

Overall I would certainly recommend taking in this sort of itinerary on your cruise. Turkey has some very exciting and beautiful places to see and is steeped in Culture and History.

I am going away on Holiday...yay!

Hello to all my cruisers,


Just to let you all know I am off on my holidays from Friday 13th August (unlucky for some but not for me!) and will be back in the office on Monday 23rd August.

I am off to Turkey, not on a cruise unfortunately this time but I am still very much looking forward to it. I am hoping to take in the tradition of the Turkish baths and the fine cuisine of a Turkish Kebab!

I will be sure to take lots of pictures and fill you in with a blog when I get back.
If you have any urgent questions while I am away please email contactus@cruise.co.uk or call the main sales line on 0800 091 5254 - or if you perfer you can leave me a voicemail and I will call you when I return.

BON VOYAGE!

Nightmare of Packing for your holiday...

We all dread it, we all stress over it....PACKING....its that dreaded word of any holiday!

Arrive at your Cruise or Hotel in style...

Are you the sort of person that likes to arrive at your destination in style? Like the finer thing in life and for things to run as smoothly as possible?

LAST CHANCE TO BOOK MSC FOR FREE ONBOARD CREDIT!

DONT FORGET to book your 2011 MSC Opera cruise from Southampton by 31st July 2010 to take advantage of theup to £150 per person ON BOARD CREDIT!

On board credit available on every cabin grade! Starting from £50 up to £150

(The On Board Credit offer is applicable to the first 2 adults per cabin on all Southampton to Southampton sailings only)

PLUS…

FREE car parking at the port or FREE return coach transfer to the port.

Or regional flights from Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh & Newcastle to Southampton only £50pp extra - Return!

ALSO DONT FORGET children cruise for FREE on EVERY sailing…unbeatable during school holidays!

You could take a family of four (2adults 2 children) on an 8nts sailing from Southampton on MSC Opera

Southampton, United Kingdom : Amsterdam, Netherlands : La Rochelle, France : Bilbao, Spain : La Coruna, Spain : Cherbourg, France : Southampton, United Kingdom

from just £1950 for the cabin - with £50 onboard credit and free coach/parking

Lots of other dates available but REMEMBER IT ENDS 31ST JULY!