Cruise.co.uk buy QE2

Cruise.co.uk today announced that they have bought the much loved QE2. Sold by Cunard in 2008 she has rested in Dubai but there has been little progress in converting her to a hotel.

Business hot shot and Cruise.co's MD Seamus Conlon is quoted as saying 'Our customers are always telling us how much they love this ship and what a shame it is to see her go to waste'

She was be sailing a mixture of 7 and 14 night voyages with her maiden voyage to sailing alongside Cunard's new Queen Elizabeth.

To register for Cruise.co.uk's QE2 just click on read more...

APRIL FOOL

Queen Victoria - 12 nights in May from £949pp

Cunard have announced some special late deals and this one caught my eye.

14th May 2010 for 12 nights and calling at the following ports.

Southampton, Barcelona, Cannes, Florence/ Pisa, Rome, Gibraltar, Southampton

Prices for an inside cabin start at just £999pp or £949pp if you're a Cunard past passenger. That's just £79per night!

Give me a call to book - 0800 408 6088

Cunard Free Kids for 2011 ...includes school holidays

I have been asked several times which cruises include free kids prices for 2011 so here is a list for you.

Queen Mary 2 - Round trip Transatlantics 12nts
M106B 10 May
M109B 03 June
M116A 15 Aug
M121 A 29 Aug
M128A 16 Oct

Queen Victoria
V119 12nt Baltic 20 July
V113 7nt Ireland and Ibiera 22 May

Queen Elizabeth
Q113 12nt Western Meditteranean 02 Aug
Q114 14nts Baltic 14 Aug.

On all of the other sailings Cunard are offering child reductions with prices from about £200 per child upwards.

Think booking early is a con...read on

I have just quoted a passenger for Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas for August 2011, and the Royal Caribbean prices started at a price of £1393pp for a inside cabin with free car parking at Southampton

As a comparison I thought I'd look at the price of the same cruise this year and the price is at £1649pp, without any parking.

I am always being asked whether customers should book early and can now answer confidently - Yes, definately, if you can save over £500/couple and secure the cabin you want, why wouldn't you.

Ocean Village Update

Just to let you all know, Ocean Village have not sorted their system problems and her final voyage will now go on sale again on Friday morning at 9am, not tomorrow morning.  The good news is there are still some cabins available and prices have only increased on some grades. Watch this space for further updates.

Ocean Village apologise to all

Ocean Village have apologised to customers and agents after failing to deliver a satisfactory service yesterday when her final voyages went on sale.

Demand was so high for the sailings that despite extra staff being drafted in the booking systems could not cope and Ocean Village had to suspend bookings.

At Cruise.co.uk we pride ourselves on being the experts at booking maiden and final voyages and always get more customers on the pre-registered voyages than any other cruise agent, but even we failed to secure our normal high number of cabins, before the systems gave up. But don't worry, Ocean Village say they will be putting the voyages back on sale at 10 am on Wednesday - all that remains to be seen is exactly what price they will now be charging for these hugley popular cruises.

Ocean Village - Not a good company to do business with

Ocean Village have done a major campaign to get customers to pre register for their final voyage.  This is going to be a very popular sailing and is expected to sell out immediatly. They have issued prices and encouraged travel agents to prebook as many customers as possible,

Whilst they have warned us that prices will increase, they have now advised that prices are increasing once just 2% of any cabin grade is sold. This is a ridiculous way to do business. The prices agreed currently are basically meaningless. We are supposed to ask customers to agree their maximum budget and we have to guess what the price will be.

As it is such a popular sailing there is no need to have a 'headline message' cheap price. Why not just sell at the price they want to get from the start. As an agent, it does not look good having  to tell a customer that there cruise has gone up or that we cannot confirm a price in advance.

I personally think this is a very bad way to business - they will upset agents and customers alike. But then I guess they don't really care what we think do they. What do you think?

Calling all Bridge players

Fred Olsen have teamed up with the English Bridge Union to offer an EBU sanctioned bridge tournament on board Balmoral's Canaries Cruise in May. The tournament is being hosted by Daily Express bridge correspondant Paul Hackett  and is sure to be very popular.

The cruise itself is now on a special offer and prices through myself start from just £799pp, which is an incredible price for a 12nt cruise.

Balmoral sails on the 3rd May 2010 - Dover, Madeira, La Palma, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lisbon, Dover.

Just call or e-mail me for more details

Thomson Cruises - more generous than the other cruise lines

When it comes to booking 3 passengers in a cabin then Thomson Cruises win the prize for being the most generous. Not only do they give a very good 3rd adult reduction, but they will also allow all adults in a cabin to have the on board credit.

This is the only cruise line that I know of that do this, most restricting the on board credit to the first two passengers only. They may not have such new ships but you can see why they have such a loyal customer base.

A Magnificant Bird

I'm not sure what type of bird she is, but she was spotted on board MSC Magnifica at the weekend.

I love that my customers e-mail their photo's to me, feel free to send me any funny ones that you have.