2012 - What a year.

As the year draws to an end I can honestly say I have had a great year and have a lot of happy memories to take into the next one.

As a country we have grown and had a lot of good reasons to celebrate and I have enjoyed the party spirit that has prevailed.

I have had some amazing moments that won't be beaten for a long time. From seeing the Olympic torch being carried through the streets of Redditch, something I hope my son will never forget, to watching Federer win on no 1 court at Wimbledon having successfully bid for Olympic tickets.

In the summer I had a great holiday in France, watching Milo meet Mickey Mouse for the first time and a fantastic day out in Paris. We had a ticket for the Bateau Bus which cruises along the Seine stopping off at all the sights and I would highly recommend this to anyone calling there on a cruise.

The autumn was both happy and sad, I had the joy of pushing myself to the limit and running the Birmingham Half Marathon, I trained with some fantastic colleagues from Cruise.co.uk but it was all tinged with the great sadness of losing a dear colleague at a very young age.

And finally work wise I have had a great year. Whilst the industry has been tough the cruise lines have been keen to show off their ships and I have been lucky enough to either sail on or have lunch on Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas, Regent's Seven Seas Voyager, Crystal Serenity and most recently P&O's Oceana. I'm hoping a get to see many more next year.

So that's 2012, it's been a good one and here's to next year being even better.