I'm off to the Olympics

I'm very excited as I'm lucky enough to have tickets for the tennis at Wimbledon tomorrow.

We have tickets for  No 1 court and I'm keeping my eye on the schedule closely as this won't be announced until this evening. It's funny to be going but not knowing what I'm going to be watching. Today they have the Men's singles 2nd round and Federer is through already and there are also women's singles and doubles matches going on too. So hopefully tomorrow we'll get to see a mixture too.

I'm going with my family and my 6 year old son Milo is really excited. I'm concerned as I haven't seen many children in the audience on TV so far, but I thought that this was too big an occasion to leave him out of and at only £6 a ticket for him it was a bargain. I'm sure he will have a wonderful day and some fantastic memories to tell his children.

My only last worry is the weather, the rain seems to be holding off so far so please keep your fingers crossed for me.

Whilst I am away

Well it's yet again the school holidays (they come around quickly don't they) and I now have a week off with my family.

Later in the holidays we're off to Disneyland Paris but this week is just a week at home. I'm praying that the sum comes out otherwise it's a week of playing on the Wii for me.

Whilst I am away my colleagues will be happy to help you and they can be contacted on
0800 408 6200. I will be back in the office on Monday 30th July.

P&O & Cunard Offer a Price Promise

P&O and Cunard have finally seen sense and are now offering a Price Promise for customers who book in advance in the form of their new Vantage Fares.

On the 23rd July they are reducing the prices on their 2013/14 cruises by 10-15% and offering customers who book under the new fares the following:

• Your choice of cabin number.
• Additional benefits such as on board credit or car parking or coach transfers.
• A secure booking with just a deposit payment.
• The flexibilty to make changes to the booking up until 90 days before departure.
• A Price Promise.

Once you have booked should P&O or Cunard reduce the Vantage Fare for bookings with the same terms and conditions you will  be recompensed in the form of on board credit or an upgrade. This should give customers peace of mind when booking early.

However P&O and Cunard will continue to bring out 'Getaway Fares' in order to promote sales closed to the cruise date. Customers booking on this fare will be subject to differing conditions:

• No choice of cabin number
• No on board credit or extra benefits
• 100% payment to be made at the time of booking
• 100% cancellation charges from the time of booking
• No amendments allowed.

These fares will be cheaper than the Vantage fares but not to the extent that we have seen in this year.
The cruise lines will not amend a Vantage fare to match a Getaway price as the terms and conditions differ.

By offering the reduced fares for 2013 P&O and Cunard should restore confidence in the early booking market. For those that have already book P&O will be looking at your bookings and applying the on board credit or cabin upgrade as appropriate.

This offer applies to all cruises from the 2013/2014 brochure excluding the World Cruises, ie for sailings from April 2013 onwards.

Introducing Norwegian Breakaway

Yesterday I was given a presentation on the new Norwegian Breakaway and she looks an amazing ship. NCL have always been innovators in the cruise industry being the first major cruise line to offer freestyle dining. Now they have gone and done it again with The Waterfront.

Situated on the promenade deck this is a bit like a boardwalk with a range and bars, restaurants and an ice cream bar in an alfresco setting. I think this is a wonderful idea. Royal Caribbean offer The Promenade with the same concept but it is set within  the centre of the ship. I am an outdoor girl and would much rather sit in the sunshine whilst enjoying a cool cocktail.

At 143,500 grt she will carry approximately 4000 passengers and has many of the facilities of Norwegian Epic. Focusing on entertainment she will have the Howl at the Moon Duelling Pianos and Cirque Dreams and Dinner. They have also secured Broadway's Rock of Ages for its theatre production. The older children will enjoy the massive water park including 2 vertical drop water slides whilst the younger ones will have the Nickelodean themed splash area.

Norwegian Breakaway launches next Spring with a transatlantic sailing from Southampton to New York. She will be based in New York for the summer offering 7 night cruises to Bermuda and then in the winter she will offer a series of cruises to the Bahamas and Florida and 2 twelve night Caribbean cruise in January 2014.

For more details on Norwegian Breakaway and her itineraries just get in touch.

Olympic Fever

On Sunday morning I had a wonderful time when the Olympic torch came to town. It was a great family occassion with my partner and my son, my Mum and Dad and friends of the family. I bumped into lots of friends from work too.

As you can see the weather was dry although only 12 degrees so we were very lucky, I don't think it's stopped raining since.

The show that was put on was great, it wasn't just the torch but a whole parade of sponsors, we laughed because everyone was playing load music and waving to get us in the mood which really wasn't required. Even the motorcylce police were giving high fives to the crowd.

This is the start of Olympic fever for me. I'm lucky to have tickets for the tennis which I'm really excited by. I just hope it stops raining by then though.

If you want to see the torch yourself, just check out the schedule here. Olympic Torch Route