Another reason to book MSC!

MSC cruises are fast becoming quite a popular brand in the UK market. Probably down to the fantastic deals that they offer such as children under the age of 17 travelling for FREE! But here is another great reason to book with them...

We all know that it can often be a bit of a gamble when you book a fly cruise package with a cruise line as you usually don't know what flights you will be allocated and they could often be indirect. Well, MSC have announced that they will be CHARTERING 3 flights a week with British Airways from LGW to Genoa and Venice. This is fantastic as customers can book with confidence now knowing exactly what flight they will be on and that it will be direct with a very reputable airline.

Their aim with this is to increase even further the number of UK passengers it carries by making it as easy as possible for the UK passengers to get to their ships out in the med. The Genoa flights will serve the Armonia, Preziosa, Divina and Fantasia and the Venice flight will meet the Magnifica and Musica.

MSC are also looking forward to welcoming 4 new mega-ships from 2017 onwards so watch this space!

Fly to America for £150??!!

Yes, you heard it right!

Budget carrier, Norwegian, are coming up behind low cost airlines Ryanair and Easyjet to be the third most popular no-frills airline in Europe and they are this week launching its first transatlantic service from the UK! The low cost flights will be between London and the US and will be from as little as £150...

This bold move is bound to create price wars between rival established airlines and may even cause its rival budget carriers to follow suit with taking on the route! This will be great news for cruise passengers who are sailing from the States as the transatlantic flight can really add on to the cost of the cruise holiday.

However, as always with the budget airlines, customers will be expected to pay £35 extra each way for 20kg of checked in luggage, two meals and reserved seats. I don't actually think that is too bad a charge really if the flights are going to be so cheap. You wouldn't want to be purchasing a can of soda though at £2.50 a pop! ouch!

The airline will launch its first service between Gatwick and Los Angeles on Wednesday, followed by Gatwick to New York Thursday and then finally on Friday to Fort Lauderdale, the cruise hub!

The only problem is not everybody likes to fly from London Gatwick...it can be a difficult airport to get to unless you live within the M25. With that said though, if the price was right would you??

They claim to be able to charge such low prices due to the fuel efficiency if their new dream liners. They do actually look quite comfortable, could you travel 8 hours on one?

I will be excited to see what happens with this as hopefully it could be the start of much cheaper Caribbean cruises for passengers...!

I am back! Introducing Leo Mark Hands...

Well, what an eventful and amazing 9 months that was!
As you will see from my last post I went off to have a baby. Leo Mark Hands arrived on Monday 23rd September at 13.26pm (after quite a long labour!) and he was everything we could have possibly imagined and more....with a beautiful head of Golden Blonde hair, we were in Love instantly.

He is now 9 months old today and coming on leaps and bounds. He still has his lovely blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He has started to crawl and is even attempting to walk...certainly keeping us on our toes! Here are a few pictures of our adventures...

I am excited to be back at cruise.co.uk and ready to start booking up all my lovely clients, old and new! xxx

I'm off to have a baby! Bye Bye for now.....

Today is the day.....I am breaking up for my maternity leave!

I can't believe it has rolled around so quickly. It only seems like 5 minutes ago I found out I was expecting my first little bundle of joy.

Thank you to all my loyal and wonderful clients that have booked with me over the years, it has been a pleasure helping you all with your fabulous cruises :)

This is not the end though as I will be back to once again help you all :)

In the meantime my lovely colleagues will be helping out so if you need any help you can contact the following:

Caroline Kyle - Carolinek@cruise.co.uk - 0800 408 6073

Gemma Coles - Gemmac@cruise.co.uk - 0800 408 6082

Ruby Perkins - Rubyp@Cruise.co.uk - 0800 408 6122

I will keep you posted with a blog on the new arrival so watch this space.....

Flat Pack Hell....but worth it

So,  I thought I was going to have a lovely relaxed day off yesterday but instead my partner and I spent the whole day in flat pack hell!!

It was all worth it though as we were building our nursery furniture for our imminent arrival :) I am expecting my first child, a little boy, on the 28th September so the countdown is on now...

Anybody that has ever had the pleasure of putting flat pack furniture up will sympathise with me when I say it is no fun at all! I have to say, I did leave my partner to do most of the work with it, as at times, I was probably more of a hindrance than a help I think! But we persevered through the day and well into the evening and managed to get it all finished. I have some pictures of our handy work but you never can get the best shots of the whole room so here are a few snippets....

If we never look at a piece of flat pack furniture again it will be too soon!

I am breaking up on the 21st August for my maternity leave - eeeeeeeek! But do not fear as some of my lovely colleagues will be taking care of you all and your bookings so you will be in very safe hands. I will be returning back to work.

Watch this space for an update on the big arrival :)

Cruise.co.uk are supporting our local Football Team!

Cruise.co.uk can announce that we are PROUDLY sponsoring our local football team, Redditch United FC or known to supporters as The Reds!

It all came about because my boyfriend, Mark Hands, has played for Redditch United on and off for a few years now and is currently playing for them. He asked me about possible sponsorship and we thought it would be a great way to keep things local and support the small guys.

Redditch are in the Southern Evo Stick league. 

The new 2013/2014 kits has arrived and this is what it looks like:

Not bad if I say so myself! 

I am sure many of the staff at Cruise.co.uk will be heading down to the Valley (the Valley Stadium) to watch them and support them in the new season. Fingers crossed for a good run COME ON THE REDS!

Finally, singles can GETAWAY!

I would say easily one of the biggest bones of contention with cruising this year has been about the P&O and Cunard Getaway deals. In particular, the way that these deals have penalised the single cruiser.

When the getaway deals were first implemented a few years ago, singles were permitted to book on these reduced fares at 100% supplement (which was always still lower than what the normal fare was at 75% supplement) then at the beginning of this year they decide to change the policy and they stopped the getaway deal being available to book for singles altogether!

I have to say, this caused outrage in the singles market (which is quite a high proportion of Cunard/P&O's repeat passengers) myself alone have taken 100's of calls where a single traveler has seen the cheap last minute deals thinking/hoping that they can still book them at the usual supplement but being very disappointed when told that it is not possible and they must pay sometimes triple the price on the Vantage deal!!!

I am quite sure many people have written in to the cruise lines with their gripes on this, in fact I know a few of my clients have, so surely the cruise lines had to listen?? Yes is the answer! They have FINALLY listened and have decided that for their cruises departing from September on wards, the getaway deals can now be booked by singles and families!! Singles are charged 100% supplement but this is still usually a great deal less than the 75% supplement on the Vantage and families can book 3/4 berth cabins at the reduced prices.

This is absolutely fantastic news in my opinion and could not come soon enough! If I had £1 for every single/family that we have had to turn away because of the current ruling  I would be a very rich young lady.

So to all you single travelers out there - September onward is the time for you to GETAWAY! :)