The growth of Dubai

I came across this photo of Dubai in 1991 compared to Dubai now and it really is amazing. I can't believe how much the city has changed in such a short space of time.

Dubai is now a major cruise port and is particularly popular as an embarkation port on World Cruise sectors with sailings back to Southampton or from Dubai towards the Far East.

MSC and Royal Caribbean also offer 7 night cruises from Dubai. MSC Lirica will be sailing from November 2013 onwards calling at Abu Dhabi, Khor Al Fakkan, Muscat and Khasab whilst Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas is based their this winter. She is sailing until the end of April and calls in at Fujairah, Muscat, Abu Dhabi and includes an overnight stay in Dubai.

If you fancy seeing Dubai and sailing in this region just give me a call. I can package up a great hotel stay at the start or end of your cruise, or just help you with the cruise only.

Royal Caribbean increase their gratuity charge

With effect from the 1st March 2013 Royal Caribbean are increasing their gratuity charge to US$12 per person per day. This will be automatically added to your on board account. The cost for suite customers will be US$14.25pppd.

There has been quite alot of press about this increase but it is only a 35 cents increase from the previous amount and follows on from P&O and Cunard who have also increased their charges recently.

As a customer gratuities are still at your discretion and if you are not completely satisfied with the service on board you may visit Guest Services to decrease or remove the amount being added to your account.

Royal Caribbean also offer the option to prepay your gratuities and those that have chosen to do so will not be charged any extra when sailing this summer. With this in mind I would always recommend prepaying your gratuities if booking in advance. You never know when prices will increase.

Requirements for driving in Florida

If you are planning a trip to Florida and are looking at driving there the laws have now changed and non-US residents now need and International Driving Permit. This law came into effect on the 1st January and is now being enforced.

“The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has advised that should drivers of rental cars in Florida be involved in an accident, or traffic offence or any other reason for interaction with the Florida Highway Patrol, they will be required to have an International Driving Permit in their possession and if stopped, law enforcement may be applied,” Abta said in a statement.

You will also of course require your own driving license too and will need to take both the photograph and paper copy with you.

An International Driving Permit can be obtained for £5.50 from Post Offices, the Post Office website, RAC and AA. If you cgo to the Post Office in person you can obtain the permit there and then.

 

A week in Val D'Isere

I have just spent the last week on my annual snowboarding holiday and had a fab time. This year we travelled with Esprit Ski who are a family ski company and excellent for children and we picked Val D'Isere as the resort.

Val D'Isere is a gorgeous resort with some fabulous shops, although these were way out of my league and it's ski area, when linked with Tignes is vast. As a snowboarder though it does have a lot of flat runs and some walking involved, so the Tignes side of the mountain is preferable.

This year the weather wasn't as great as it could have been. It snowed all day on 4 of the 6 days making visibility poor although it was at least soft to fall on and the day temperatures were in the minus 20's in resort with strong winds high up. I had to wear a huge amount of layers so unfortunately look larger than normal in all my photo's.

My son who has a charmed life and has skied before came on really well this year. He had 'improvers' lessons in the morning and then skied alongside us in the afternoon and even achieved his first black run on the last day. It was wonderful to see him achieve so much and really enjoy himself.

Now that I'm home it's still snowing, which is a shame, I like to come back from snowboarding and look forward to spring plus my warm clothes all need a wash. However I have got my next trip to look forward to which will be on board Royal Princess in the summer.

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.