QV Cruise Cancelled....

Cunard recently announced that they have had to take the drastic decision to cancel one of their cruises due to mechanical failure.



The 16 night voyage was due to depart from Southampton on October 3, but has been dropped to allow the ship to undergo emergency repair work in Bremerhaven, Germany.

The Ship is currently unable to reach its usual cruising speed due to problems with its propulsion units. She was returning from a Mediterranean cruise when these problems occurred.

Its next sailing will now be a two-night mini-cruise departing from Southampton on October 17, followed by a 23-night Caribbean voyage, leaving the same port on October 19.

I have had a few passengers that have been affected by this and I have to say, it has been heart breaking having to tell them that they will not be going on their holiday. After having been looking forward to it for well over 6 months, my one client was absolutely devastated to hear that with only a few weeks to go they would not be taking the cruise after all. They had bought new clothes, got there Euro's ready and were set to go. They can't unfortunately change holiday dates with work now so are tied with what they can do - a 16night holiday at home for them! Needless to say that is one part of my job I do not like :-(

Obviously something like this can't be helped and if it has to be then it has to be. Cunard have offered to cancel free of charge so customers can make alternative arrangements and have given a 15% cruise credit in addition to this for a future cruise. Personally I don’t feel that this is enough to cover the loss and upset that thousands of people will be experiencing.

I hope everybody affected by this have managed to get something alternative sorted and it doesn't put them off cruising with Cunard - or just cruising in general.

My visit to the Regent Voyager

Last Thursday (6th September) I was invited down to spend the morning on board the Beautiful, Ultra Luxury, 6* Regent Seven Seas Voyager where I was also treated to a gourmet 4 course lunch.

We were taken on a guided tour of the ship, which is the most spacious ship at sea, and this really does show throughout. The corridors of the ship can take 3 men abreast easily and feel very spacious indeed. Regent boast a staff to guest ratio of 1 to 1.6 which means the level of service you receive on board is second to none. She was the World’s first all-Suite all Balcony ship when she was built back in 2003 and carries just 700 passengers in total.

We were shown around the Suites - ranging from the Standard Deluxe Suites right up to the top Suite on the ship The Master Suite! Everyone was decorated sumptuously and to a high standard. The Master Suite was absolutely huge in size with a large dining table that seated 8 people, its own bar area, a telescope, multiple marbles bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, walk in wardrobes to name but a few things...

The Standard Deluxe Suite which is the leading grade on the ship is almost as big as what you would get with a Princess Suite on a Cunard ship (382sq ft) and is excellent value for money, it comes in at a very generous 356sq ft.



Master Suite

Grand Suite

Voyager Suite

Seven Seas Suite



Penthouse Suite

Deluxe Suite

Wtih Regent Seven Seas "It's All Included" offering you Ultra Luxury in cruising:

ITS ALL INCLUDED:

• Free return economy flights on every sailing.
• Unlimited Excursion - take as many as your time and energy will permit!
• Dining in ALL restuarants onboard including speciality. In-suite dining for breakfast
• Fine wines with your evening meals as well as coffees, teas, juices, cocktails, premium spirits, whiskeys and much more...
• Gratuities
• All onboard activities
• Entertainment

They really are excellent value for money when you consider what you get inlcuded and the food is absolutely out of this world! (I know, I have tried it!) I really would highly recommend them if you are thinking of treating yourself on a Luxury Cruise....



Only 3 Days to go....2014 World Cruises Launch!

Only 3 days to go folks before the launch of the P&O and Cunard New 2014 World Cruises and World Cruise Sectors....and they are mixing things up a bit with the itineraries!


If you have been thinking of taking a World Cruise then now is the time to have a look and check out whatthey have to offer - some exciting new destinations and some old favorites!
You can pre-register for your World Cruise booking today to secure the best prices and availability - they predict to have sold about 60% of their occupancy on these by November 2012 so early booking is DEFINITELY the way forward for World Cruises and Sectors.

Here are the Key dates:

Monday 3rd September 2012
P&O Cruises Full World Cruises and Liner Voyages go on sale for Caribbean,Baltic and Ligurian Peninsular Club Members only, from 8.00am

Tuesday4th September 2012
P&OCruisesFull World Cruises, Liners and Sectors go on general sale from 8.00am

Wednesday 5thSeptember 2012 Cunard World & Exotic Voyages2014 will go on sale from 13:00pm
Call me today to pre-register or get a price 0800 408 6089

Royal Announcement...

Princess Cruises have announced the name of the next New Ship to be added to the fleet in Spring 2014 - This will be called the Regal Princess....

The Regal Princess will be the sister ship to the Royal Princess which is due to launch June 2013.

The Keel (the bottom most part of the ship) was lowered into position today marking the start of the building process at the Fincantieri ship yard in Monfalcone, Italy. It was officially blessed by a priest before being laid with a computer guided Manoeuvre that took only minutes to do.

The building of this beauty is expected to take more than 2 million man power hours - wow that’s some work!

She is going to be 141,000 gross tin ship and carry 3,600 passengers, This seems to be the normal size nowadays for the new ships as bigger is certainly becoming better!

If you want to know what the Regal Princess will feature you need only look to the Royal Princess as she will carry a lot of the same features. This includes an expanded atrium; a new been done before over-water SeaWalk clickhere to read more of this; Plus private poolside cabanas; the new Princess Live! Television Studio to name but a few....



Look out for more information and itineraries which will be announced sometime next year....

The Stork has made a delivery!

I was very excited on Sunday as the baby stork made a special delivery, I became an aunty to my 3rd nephew! And what an absolute gorgeous little munchkin he is...he was a little bit early so only weighed in at 6lb 12ounces, bless him. My sister and her husband named him Oliver but Ollie for short. That's 5 neices and nephews in total plus my boyfriends of 6, so lot's of pressies to buy for at xmas!! They are all worth every penny though :)

I am trying to convince them all that the best way to holiday now with all the children is a cruise! With cruise lines around such as Royal Caribbean and Disney where they have amazing childrens clubs, lot's of inovative facilities such as ice skating rinks, rick climbing walls, shows, entertainment and much much more. Cruising is the best and safest way to holiday as a family nowadays and of course excellent value for money. Maybe when little Ollie is a bit older I can take him on his very first cruise, we shall see....

WE NEED YOU - VOTE FOR US!!

We have done it again, we are delighted to announce that we have once again been Nominated for Europe's Leading Cruise Travel Agent 2012 at the World Travel Awards....




We pride ourselves here at cruise.co.uk with the best customer service in the business and if you dont believe us you can read for yourselves in the 'rate my service' box on every single one of our own presonal blog pages.

And to top that off and prove we really are the best we won the World's Leading Cruise Travel Agent for 2011 and we want to keep it up! So we NEED YOUR VOTE! Please click the picture below to cast your vote - we appreciate it :)




If you want to see a full list of all the awards we are very proud to hold click here

My visit to the Ms Maasdam

On Thursday gone, Myself and 3 of my colleagues from cruise.co.uk made the journey down to Southampton to visit one of the Holland America ships the Ms Maasdam.

I was rather looking forward to this as out of all of the cruise lines Holland America is one of the very few I have not yet had the pleasure of experiencing. I obviously have a good idea and knowledge of the product but it's never the same as actually having seen a ship and get a feel of it.

HA class themselves as a Premium brand, not quite luxury but certainly a higher standard than your average mass market cruise lines such as P&O or Princess.

The Maasdam is actually one of HA older ships but you really do not feel that when on board as it has been kept to a very high standard. Some areas felt a bit more dated than others but as a whole the ship was lovely. There were some really nice features on this ship and it felt every bit the 'Premium' standard they promise.

Unfortunately due to the ship being mid cruise we were not able to view any staterooms but we were allowed to wonder around the rest of ship with ease.

The Main Atrium is rather lovely with something that resembles a Green waterfall of glass squares. Also, the main dining restaurant, Rotterdam, was quite different to most cruise ships I have been on. Because she is a mid-sized ship the restaurant is a nice size, not too big and overwhelming. It also has a section where they have live bands playing whilst you eat dinner, rather nice touch I thought. That evening they were having an Olympic Themed dinner with an Olympic menu and the restaurant was Olympic themed decorated. This was nice to see that they still get into the spirit of things so even though you are on a cruise you do not lose touch with events that are happening on the outside world!

We were treated to a 3 course lunch and the food did not disappoint! The desert was particularly amazing :) and my main of miso glazed salmon was cooked to absolute perfection, it would give Oceania's miso glazed sea bass a run for its money any day!

All in all I was very impressed with the Maasdam as, even though she is an older ship, she really didn’t fail to deliver and I would happily sail on her for my own holidays. I think HA are a little Gem in the hiding and the British market really should start thinking more about them as an option.

Here are some snap shots of the ship that I took whilst doing my tour....