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! :)