Azamara Journey - my recommendation for the Caribbean this winter

If you're looking for a Caribbean deal this winter then my absolute recommendation would be Azamara Journey.

Azamara Club Cruises are an informal luxury cruise line, with more intimate ships that can reach smaller ports of call, and with just under 700 passengers on board you receive excellent service and experience a friendlier ambience on board, than many of the larger ships in the Caribbean.

They class themselves as ‘Primarily All – Inclusive’, this means that as well as your food being included in the cost they also include wine with your meals, bottled water throughout the day, speciality tea and coffees (which are often $5 each on other ships), gratuities, free shuttle buses in ports of call and the self service laundry.

Now with all of this included you would expect the prices to be high, however they are actually on a par with P&O’s Azura. I have just priced a balcony cabin on Azura in November for £1959pp whereas Azamara Journey comes in at just £40 more - £1999pp. What’s more – P&O are offering £50pp on board credit, whereas Azamara are currently offering $500pp. And don’t forget with P&O you have to pay for all of your drinks and pay gratuities. This Azamara sailing is 2 nights shorter in duration being just a 12nights cruise, but this can often be preferable by the time you’ve allowed for a hotel stay before the cruise and overnight flights returning. Both prices quoted include return flights from London.

If you’re worried as to why the prices are so good – don’t be. Azamara cruises are a fairly new brand are are trying to build their presence in the UK market, they have good reviews which you can read on our main website. With offers like this they won’t need to promote themselves for long so my advise would be to try them now, before everyone else has heard of them.

By the way -  I believe the on board credit on selected sailings is being increased next week in a four day sale too.

Cunard and P&O 2012 World Cruises

Cunard and P&O will be launching their 2012 world cruises on the 15th July, but I can give you a sneak preview of what is to come and if you want prices in advance just give me call.

Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth are offering full world cruises from Southampton, both departing on the 10th January 2012. Queen Mary 2’s World Voyage includes a 22 night inaugural Circle Australia voyage after which she returns to Southampton via the Far East, arriving home on 27 April 2012, whilst Queen Elizabeth sail a more traditional itinerary of Southampton to San Francisco, Australia, New Zealand, the Far East and Dubai. She also arrives home on the 27th April. Queen Victoria is doing a series of Exotic Voyages between 8 and 25 nights in length through the Panama and Hawaii, but on a fly cruise basis from the USA.

P&O’s Adonia embarks on her first World Cruise from Southampton to South America and the Amazon, around Cape Horn and into the Chilean Fjords. Aurora and Oriana will take passengers on a full world circumnavigation. Aurora heads west towards the Caribbean, while Oriana heads east out through the Mediterranean. Finally, Arcadia will undertake an epic 109-night Grand Odyssey, which takes in the Orient, Australia and South Africa.

Early booking offers include additional discounts and on board credit for both cruise lines, the amounts varying dependant on the cabin grade and length of cruise chosen. Cunard are also offering to free gratuities on the full world cruises.

There is too much information to detail all the prices and benefits here but if you would like further information on any of the voyages or sectors then just give me a call or send me an e-mail. I’m offering great discounts too!

Calling all Portunus members

Don't forget that if you want to benefit from double on board credit, early booking prices and free car parking for P&O sailings for 2011. Then you must book by close of business tomorrow. This is also the best time to get the cabin of your choice.

Cunard's early booking offers also end tomorrow..so don't delay & book today!

Why are the swimming pools so small?

I was also one of the lucky people who got to sample NCL Epic's launch party last week. The weather was fantastic and on Wednesday, I was able to chill out by the pool.


The main pool area, as shown in the photo above, consists of two separate swimming pools and lots of cooling blue tiles around it. It looked amazing and my colleague Sian and I enjoyed dipping our toes in the water. However there was a huge amount of wasted space and we questioned why they hadn't made the whole area into one giant pool. Individually you could probably fit around 20 people in each pool to cool off, and the ship holds over 4000 passengers.

This isn't just an NCL design fault but seems to be the case on many ships. This photo shows a pool area on P&O's Ventura - again look at the space of the pool compared to the deck area

What I'd like to know is - are the pools small because cruisers don't like to swim and would prefer to have more deck area? Or is it an economical reason - ie does it cost too much to keep maintained or to build? Or is it an actual physical limitation - does a large body of water weigh too much for a ship to sustain. Please excuse me if these questions sound a bit daft (you can see that I am blonde) but if anyone actually knows why cruise ship pools are small please let me know.

How much do drinks cost?

As a cruise specialist, I often get asked about the price of drinks onboard the cruise ships, so I thought I would share some details with you all!

Drinks prices vary from ship to ship, as they do in most bars at home. It is also worth bearing in mind that overall the American based cruise companies work out  more expensive as they add on a 15 - 18%  service charge to drinks aswell as being more pricey in the first place. Royal Caribbean, NCL & Oceania are all known to be expensive.

Fred Olsen and P&O tend to be more competitive  as their prices are in Pounds Sterling. A spirit and mixer is approximately £2.65, a bottle of beer is approximately £2.30 and a coffee is about £1.50, although some offer free tea and coffee in the afternoons or in your cabin you may get tea and coffee facilities, it is always worth checking this information when booking.

Island and Thomson Cruises are also fairly reasonable, charging average bar prices, but they also offer an All Inclusive drinks package for the duration of your cruise, starting from as little as £49 per person. These need to be purchased before departure, and is often offered for free if booked in advance. If you decide not to take this option, prices for a spirit and mixer is just over £3.00, and a bottle of beer from £2.70.


The European cruise lines such as Costa and MSC will charge prices in Euros. Depending on the exchange rate at the time, the prices work out at 7 Euros for a spirit/mixer, a coffee is approximately 2 Euros and a beer range from 4 Euros.


Cunard, Royal Caribbean and Princess Cruises all charge in dollars and will add a 15% gratuities onto their prices automatically. Prices for a beer aboard these floating marvels start at $4, and a spirit/mixer on average is $5 plus. Cunard offer a soda package which includes unlimited soft drinks from $3.75 a day, all of these prices do not include the 15% service charge. Royal Caribbean has a child soft drink package starting from $20 for a 7 night cruise - well worth it for those of you with thirsty children!

Seabourn and Regent - the most exclusive of cruise lines offer complimentary drinks aboard their ships, however you do pay for this in your original cruise cost.
Hopefully this will give you some insight into additional costs onboard and will help you budget for your dream holiday!  Any further questions just give me a call!

Further comments on fuel costs

Thanks for your comments and questions on my recent blog - it's good to know people are reading this.
As a general comment, last time the cruise lines introduced fuel surcharges it was for new bookings only on all lines except for Swan Hellenic, who applied them retrospectively. Swan's customers ended up having to pay an extra £200 or so on their cruises.

So far Fred.Olsen and P&O have added fuel surcharges for next year and so we are expecting the others to follow suit soon. I'll keep you informed.

Predicting the cost of fuel.....P&O make me angry again!

P&O make me really angry, they have just launched their 2011 programme and advised customers that the early booking offers are in place until 30 June 2010.

Now they go and announce a fuel supplement for all sailings from 01 November 2010. At £2.50/day this puts the price up by £35pp on a typical 14 night cruise. How the cruise lines get away with charging a fuel supplement I don't know - this is a charge to allow for the increase in the global price of fuel.

Predicting the price of fuel is clearly not rocket science.  It has consistently increased in price over the last few years and will continue to go up over the next year. Surely P&O realised that they need fuel to run their ships and could have calculated this cost into the brochure price.

But hey, I'm not the one doing the pricing, just the person on the end of the phone trying to explain it to the customer.

This new charge applies to all bookings made from 10th May onwards, so if you want to avoid the charge book now.

Sunbed etiquette - what do you think?

I have just had a good customer return from a cruise aboard Celebrity Infinity, he had a terrible time with  a lack of sunbeds and fellow customers leaving their belongings on the sunbeds whilst they went off for hours at a time.

Apparently Celebrity have a 'half hour rule' whereby you shouldn't leave your sunbed unattended for more than this time, however this was not enforced. P&O also state in their daily newspaper that they 'do not condone reserving sunbeds' however, again it is not enforced.

Is this something that you have come across? Which cruise lines are the best/worst for sunbed hogging? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

P&O Free Kids sailings for 2011

Here is a comprehensive list of those sailings with free kids places on board for 2011. These place will be subject to availabilty so you are better to book early.

Personally whilst they appear to be offering alot of free kids sailings there are that many that are child friendly itineraries - the only one that really jumps out at me is Azura 14 October 2011 as this will tie in with half term a for some of the cruise.

Please note these are for free kids only - there are many more sailings where infants can sail free.


Ventura                                              Azura
15 Sep - 12nt Canaries                        04 Jun - 14nt Baltics
27 Sep - 12nt Med                              18 Jun - 15nt Iceland
09 Oct - 12nt Canaries                        27 Sep - 17nt Med
                                                           14 Oct - 14nt Med

Oriana                                               Aurora
20May - 14nt Baltic                            14 Apr - 21nt Caribbean
21 Jun - 14nt North Cape                   05 May -13nt Baltic
11 Sep - 16nt Med                             06 Jun - 14nt Spitsbergen
27Sep - 34nt Caribbean                      06 Jul - 18nt Greenland
31 Oct - 16nt Med                              01 Nov - 11nt Canaries

Oceana
15 Apr - 14nt Med
05 Sep - 12nt Canaries
17 Sep - 14nt Med
01 Oct - 14nt Med
17 Oct - 9nt Atlantic Coast
26Oct - 14nt Med
09 Nov - 12nt Canaries
21 Nov - 24nt Med
08 Jan 2012 - 35nt Caribbean
12 Feb - 14nt Canaries
26 Feb - 24nt Med
21 Mar - 14nt Med

My Azura Review

I have just had the pleasure of a night on board P&O's newest ship Azura and I really liked her. I was lucky enough to have a deluxe balcony room and it was lovely - a large sitting area, 2 flat screen TV's, so you can watch from your bed or the sofa, plenty of wardrobe space and a bathroom with bath tub. Plus the largest bath towels at sea which gave a real feel of luxury from the start.

For my full review just click on read more.

As a sister ship to Ventura the layout and features of the ship are the same but she is marketed at the non family marketed and to attract the classic P&O customer. I haven't been on board Ventura but in comparison to Aurora I loved this ship. She is modern and bright yet still smooth and sophisticated. Lunch in the buffet restaurant was busy, but this can be a hazard of cruising and eating at peak times, the food was kept replenished and there was a good choice of hot and cold dishes. Dinner in the Meridian was fantastic - the restaurant was split into sections giving the impression that you were dining in a much smaller venue and the menu was perfect for me with a good selection of light starters, and main courses (the lobster was divine) giving me plenty of room to sample the puddings and the cheese board. Coffee and chocolates were also served.

With only one night on board I didn't get the chance to sample Sindhu the modern Indian restaurant, the Oriental room or Seventeen,  but I look forward to returning to and trying them all. Just reading the menu's made my mouth water.

The one thing I was really impressed with was the cool ambiance of The Retreat. Situated around the Oasis spa, this exclusive adults area is availaible for £6 per half day on port days and £10 on an at sea day. It has it's own pool, wicker loungers and private massage areas. It did look very inviting and at this price is a very affordable treat.

The evening entertainment was great, I chose to dance the night away in the Manhatten bar and the drinks were well priced, at £1.95 for a wine spritzer and £2.60 for a spirit and mixer the costs are in comparison to a local pub. The dance floor was also plenty large enough for a host of travel agents, although with only a small ladies toilet close by the queues did get a big long.

Finally breakfast was as expected - a good selection on the hot buffet, fresh fruits, dried fruits and pastries. There was nothing special or unexpected - an omelette bar or pancake station for instance but the food that was there was all a good standard and fresh.

Overall I thought Azura was great, my last trip on Aurora had disappointed me a bit but Azura restored my faith in P&O and I would definately holiday on this ship. If you're not booked up for this year I recommend you look at this ship, especially as there are some really cheap deals for her. And if you are already booked then you'll have a great time and I am very jealous. Let me know what you think on your return.

How low would you go?

Is cost now all that is important in life? On Tuesday, Arcadia's Grand Alaskan voyage went on sale on 8am. My colleague quoted a gentleman last week who said he wanted to book, as we don't open until 9am she called him at 5.30 the night before to check that he was definitely booking.

She then duly arrived at work an hour early in order to book his cabin, called him as arranged at 8am to be advised that 'workmen have just arrived - please call back in 10mins' On the second call she was informed that he had booked with another cruise agent as they got a cruise deal that was £2 cheaper.

I'm all for ringing around and getting the best price, after all times are hard and why pay more than you have to. But surely good manners and decency comes in to it somewhere? But I'm looking from the agents point of view...what would you have done?

Artemis - NOW SOLD OUT

Well 26 minutes after going on sale she is now sold out. But don't worry there are still plenty of other voyages available between now and April 2011, so if you want to sail on Artemis before she retires just give me a call.

Artemis farewell voyage...price increases already

Here we go again, it happened with Queen Elizabeth and it's happening again with Artemis. P&O have given travel agents prices, encouraged us to take pre registrations withe customers and agree prices and then as soon as she goes on sale thet put the prices up.

Cruise specialists such as ourselves are left with the choice of  calling  customers back to  ask for more money, making us look stupid and incompentant - or discount so much that we make a loss on the booking so as to keep our loyal customers happy. Not a great choice to make.

My message to P&O is 'sort this out before the next launch/final voyage' and to you as a customer..book now before the prices go up any further or the voyage sells out.