Gratuity charges on the rise.

Just to let you know that as from this spring both P&O and Cunard will be increasing the amounts that they charge for gratuities.
P&O will now be charging £3.50 per person per night from the following sailings:

Adonia D302 - 03 April 2013
Arcadia J302 - 14 April 2013
Aurora R302 - 24 April 2013
Azura A308 - 04 April 2013
Oceana E305 - 30 March 2013
Oriana X305 - 28 March 2013
Ventura N307 - 07 April 2013

P&O only charged for passengers aged 12 and above and these figures are still low in comparison to the majority of the main cruise lines.

Cunard will now be charging $11.50 per person per night for customers staying in a Britannia stateroom and $13.50 per person per night for those in a Princess or Queens Grill Suite.
Cunard are introducing these charges from:

Queen Elizabeth Q308 - Iberian Adventure - Sunday 7th April

Queen Victoria: V304 - Spring Getaway - Friday 26 April 2013
Queen Mary 2: M304 - Westbound Transatlantic - Friday 26 April 2013

Join me on a cruise.

I have been lucky enough to win a mini cruise on the brand new Royal Princess and I'm very excited.

Royal Princess is the first new ship for Princess in 5 years and she is full of innovative features. Carrying 3,600 passengers she will feature their largest top deck pool ever with a water & light show, and an enhanced Movies Under the Stars® screen. The atrium is 50% larger and piazza style with enhanced entertainments and the dining rooms are richly elegant. I'm sure you'll agree the pictures look amazing.

Royal Princess is doing 2 preview sailings on the 9th and 14th June before her maiden voyage on the 16th June. These 2 night cruises sail from Southampton to St Peter Port in Guernsey for a day and back to Southampton.

In terms of staterooms all exterior staterooms come with a balcony giving you a choice of insides, balconies, deluxe balconies, mini suites and suites.

For the preview cruises prices start at £349pp for a balcony cabin and they go on sale on Wednesday 30th January. Customers  interested in sailing on them are strongly recommended to preregister for the sailing to ensure that you are not disappointed on the day.

So if you fancy joining me one of these memorable voyages just get in touch.

New Silversea Mini Cruises

Silversea have decided to follow Crystal Cruises lead and have announced a series of short duration cruises for this spring and summer. These are fantastic for customers celebrating a special occasion, wanting to try out a luxury cruise line without too much expense or just for a little treat. The sailings range from 4 to 7 nights as follows:

11 March - 5 nights on board Silver Wind
Lisbon - at sea -Malaga - Cartegena - Valencia - Barcelona
From £1190pp

16 March - 4 nights on board Silver Wind
Barcelona - Monte Carlo overnight - Livorno - Rome
From £1040pp

16 April - 7 nights on board Silver Spirit
Lisobon - Portimao - Cadiz - Malaga - at Sea - Ibiza, Valencia - Barcelona
From £1960pp

14 May - 4 nights on board Silver Wind
Rome - Bonifacio - Calvi - Livorno - Monte Carlo
From £1150pp

18 May - 5 nights on board Silver Wind
Monte Carlo - at sea - Soller de Mallorca - Ibiza - Valencia - Barcelona
From £1570pp

25 May - 7 nights on board Silver Spirit
Athens - Katakolon - Corfu - Kotor - Dubrovnik - at sea - Sorrento - Rome
From £1960pp

09 June - 6 nights on board Silver Cloud
Southampton, Honfleur, Ostende, Antwerp, Amsterdam overnight, Hamburg
From £1610pp

15 June - 4 nights on board Silver Cloud
Hamburg overnight, transit the Kiel Canal, Warnemunde, Helsingborg, Copenhagen overnight,
From £1120pp

All of the above are based upon cruise only but can be packaged with flights from around the UK and with pre and post cruise stays as required.

Ports of call....Kotor, Montenegro

At the end of last year I was lucky enough to have Kotor as a port of call on my Crystal Serenity sailing. I will be honest and admit that Kotor wasn't a place that I knew much about and often hoped that customers wouldn't ask anything in depth about the resort. Now that I have been there I thought it was worth sharing my photo's and knowledge on the resort.

Kotor really is an truly beautiful place and to really appreciate it I strongly suggest you go up on deck for the sail in. The waterway into Kotor is a submerged river canyon known as a Ria but it is described as the southern most fjord and only fjord in the Adriatic. Crystal Serenity sailed along the sea into her at about 5.30 am and the scenes were breath taking. I was up on deck with a host of well traveled people who all seemed to agree that it is one of the most spectacular places along this coast line. My pictures really don't do it justice.

Once in port Kotor is a small town built into a hillside. At the base of the hill this UNESCO World Heritage Site offers many cute bars, cafes and restaurants. Built between the 12th and 14th centuries it is a hive of narrow criss cross streets and within them you'll find the Cathedral of Saint Tryphon which dates back to 809 AD. 

 You can wind your way up through cobbled streets and even through people's back yards and up the steps of the ancient walls which ascend 3 miles above the city. You do have to pay 3 euros's to climb these walls so make sure you have some change. At the top you'll find the ruins of the Fortress Sveti Ivan (St John's) and the views over the old town and the bay are amazing.  The walk is long and hard so wear some good trainers and water is recommended too 

I hope this has given you a taste of what Kotor can offer you and if you would like details of cruises that sail here just give me a call.

Free internet access with Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Regent Seven Seas Cruises have announced free internat access on 5 sailings this summer, for bookings made before the 31st March. Making them now the most All Inclusive product on the market.

The included sailings are:

 

24 April - Seven Seas Mariner - Istanbul to Barcelona - 10 nights from £2969pp

01 June - Seven Seas Mariner - Venice to Rome  - 10 nights from £3439pp

28 June - Seven Sea Mariner - Venice to Athens - 10 nights from £3719pp

29 August - Seven Seas Mariner - Rome to Venice - 10 nights from £4339pp

06 October - Sevene Seas Mariner - Rome to Monte Carlo - 7 nights from £2939pp

 

Along with the free internet you will also have included in your fare:

Flights

Transfers

A luxury hotel stay before your cruise

A huge choice of unlimited shore excursions

Open bars and lounges including cocktails, champagnes and premium drinks

Mini bar replenished daily

Speciality dining at no extra charge

Gratuities

As someone who's partner works for himself and rarely takes a break this would be perfect for me as I could laze by the pool while he could both have a holiday and keep up with his business. However I'm not convinced that everyone likes to stay on line whilst away so I'm not sure how much this will work to promote sales for them - what do you think?

P&O's Oceana

I am very lucky in my job to celebrate Christmas on a cruise each year and I can honestly say that this year's trip on P&O's Oceana was the best yet. Now a lot of this is down to the people that I work with who are all good fun and enjoy a party, but also because  I enjoyed the ship.

Oceana has been refitted recently and showed no signs of being 12 years old. Whilst she maintains the traditional P&O feel her public areas bright and colourful putting you in the holiday mood from the start.

In particular I really liked my inside cabin. I'm not normally a fan of inside cabins but on Oceana the cabin was light and airy and had a lot of storage space. I would have no hesitation in recommending one for a longer cruise.

 At 77, 000 tons and carrying 2016 passengers she is a mid sized ship but  is very easy to navigate your way around and she offers a variety of entertainments. In the evening I enjoyed a drink and a game in the Yacht and Compass bar and a dance in Le Club, although I could have easily sampled the show in the theater or tried my luck in the casino.

I dined in the Horizon Grill and Cafe Jardin, her two speciality restaurants and the food was fine, although the service was slightly slow. However some of my colleagues opted for the main restaurant one evening and claimed that the food was even better there - and at no additional charge.

All in all we had a fab time and I hope you enjoy the photo's.

Is this the end for the travel agent?

2013 sees a lot of changes for the cruise industry with the majority of cruise lines now 'fixing' prices and advising travel agents that they can no longer offer additional discounts from their commission payments. P&O, Cunard and Princess introduced this policy over a year ago and now the likes of Fred Olsen, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruise to name just a few have followed suit.

As a customer this will make booking a cruise holiday a lot easier, you will no longer have to trawl the internet and spend hours on the phone trying to get the cheapest price for your cruise as all agents and the cruise lines directly will be selling at the same price.

This though has led to concern over the impact that this will have on travel agents. Why book through a travel agent, if you are no longer getting a better price? Personally though I don't think it will be an issue, the UK cruise market is growing and growing, around 1.7million Brits cruised in 2011, a similar figure is expected to be reported for 2012 and predictions are high for 2013. There is more than enough business for everyone and the savvy customer will book with the agent that offers the best service.

Add to this the fact that more and more passengers are cruising for the first time and the travel agent is the obvious person to book with. Why would you call a cruise line direct when they can only offer you one product? There are so many different types of cruise to chose from, from small adult only ships like P&O's Adonia to mega cruise ships with Shrek on board such as Oasis of the Seas. It is only an independent Cruise Specialist  that can talk you through your full options and make sure that you book the cruise that is right for you.

I  have worked in this industry for many years and always made sure that my customers always get the best advice and I relish the future and a return to service being as important as the price that you pay. And the good news for you too, is that there are some great offers out there this year, which I look forward to sharing with you.