Which Celebrity would you love to cruise with ????

After our fabulous weekend aboard the Celebrity Eclipse as well as experiencing wonderful food, fabulous facilities and spectacular surroundings, we were also lucky enough to do a bit of celebrity spotting.

The Celebrity Eclipse Food- Wonderful !!!

Wow the food on the Celebrity Eclipse was definately something special, I am afraid I would definately be in need of a strict diet if I was to eat everything you can eat. It was really fabulous and for me the best food I have tasted on board ship so far. I give Celebrity 10 out of 10.

Good news for us Brits travelling on the Celebrity Eclipse

Yes for all of us who need a morning cuppa to start the day in the comfort of our cabin. On the Celebrity Eclipse yes you have a kettle and tea bags, sugar and milk. Its great that they have thought about our obsession with the early morning brew so no need to stress.

Also great news we were worried that we would need to take an American adapter but although there are two American style plugs in the cabin there is also one standard european one. I know it would be great if there were English style sockets but that was never going to happen, but better to have a European plug which most of us do have adapters for than just US style.

The New Celebrity Eclipse

Yippee I am off to see the new Celebrity Eclipse cant wait to tell everyone all about my experience, taste the wonderful food, enjoy the entertainment and compare the facilities and food on board with the other ships I have been lucky enough to visit.

How lucky those holidaymakers were returning from Europe who had been stranded to set sail back to Southampton in luxury.

I will be posting further information after the weekend of my experiences on board the Eclipse.

Food Glorious food..... Titanic v Todays Cruise Ships

What a lovely evening meal I had aboard the Azura, I tried to choose my courses by having dishes that I would not be eating at home . I definately would not be eating lobster at home . The portions were just the right size for me and I also finished off with some cheese and biscuits. My only disappointment was there was no blue cheese on cheeseboard however I am sure if I asked maybe they could of found me some.

Titanic Letter sold for £55.000

Intimate Titanic Letter Fetches New Record


A letter from a first-class passenger on board the Titanic has fetched £55,000 at auction - a record price for a piece of written correspondence from the ship.

The piece was penned by Adolphe Saalfeld, on three sides of stationery from the doomed vessel, to his "wifey", Gertrude, still home in Britain.
His words give a rare glimpse into day-to-day life on the maiden voyage of the Titanic, which sank on April 15, 1912 with the loss of 1,517 lives after hitting an iceberg.
The letter was one of 350 lots of White Star Line memorabilia sold yesterday by auctioneer Henry Aldridge and Son, in Devizes, Wiltshire.
The letter, composed five days before the disaster, was sold to an unidentified museum in Britain, which has yet to formally announce its purchase.
Explaining the appeal of the artefact, Andrew Aldridge said: "The content is superb. It gives a real first person perspective of what life was like onboard, through the eyes of a first-class passenger, right down to the food, the size of the cabin and the decoration."
While other letters exist, this is the best example of its kind due to the depth of its detail, he explained.


The letter tells of Mr Saalfeld's approval of a "luncheon" featuring soup, fillet of plaice, a loin chop with cauliflower and fried potatoes, Apple Manhattan and Rocquefort cheese, "washed down with a large Spaten beer iced".

A partial transcript of the letter, released by the auctioneer reads: "After leaving [Southampton] at noon we had quite a little excitement, as the tremendous suction of our steamer made all the hawsers of the SS New York snap as we passed her and she drifted on to our boat, a collision being averted by our stopping & our tugs coming to the rescue of the 'New York'.

"The weather is calm and fine, the sky overcast. There are only 370 First Class passengers. So far the boat does not move and goes very steadily. It is not nice to travel alone and leave you behind. I think you will have to come next time.

"I had a long promenade and a doze for an hour up to 5 o'clock. The band played in the afternoon for tea, but I savour a cafe in the Verandah cafe with bread and butter and quite thought I should have to pay but anything and everything in the eating line is gratis.

"At 6 o'clock we anchor outside Cherbourg and two tugs with passengers came alongside. Owing to our little mishap at Southampton we were all one hour late and had dinner only at 7.30 instead of 7 o'clock as usual."
Mr Saalfeld, a German-born businessman who was en route to New York hoping to sell perfume concentrates, apparently name-dropped to good effect when it came to procuring a larger table at dinner.

"The name of my friend, the White Star manager in London, works wonders and I have a small table for two to myself. I made a very good dinner and had two cigars in the smoke room and shall now go to bed as I am tired. But for a slight vibration, you would not know that you are at sea."

Mr Saalfeld was apparently in the smoking parlour at the time of the collision and survived the sinking, having clambered into Lifeboat No. 3.

He later said there was sufficient time to save all on board - if enough lifeboats had been carried.
Mr Saalfeld died in 1926 at Kew Gardens and is buried in London's Golders Green cemetery.
Another star of the sale was a set of keys belonging to an officer transferred from the Titanic at the last minute, which fetched £54,000.
The keys - bearing a brass tag engraved with the words "binocular box" - were kept by officer David Blair and would have been stored in a teak box on the bulwark of the bridge.
Mr Blair sailed with the ship from Belfast to Southampton, but was moved onto another ship at short notice, taking the bunch of keys with him - a move which may well have saved him.
Mr Aldridge said: "Mr Blair was without doubt one of the luckiest men alive because this decision almost certainly saved his life."
A set of photographs relating to the Titanic, her passengers and crew were sold to various collectors for over £100,000. One picture, of Rosa Abbott, who was pulled from the water, fetched £35,000 and went to a private collector.

Kevin Cruise - Dusts off the volcanic blues Britain's Got Talent 2010

Cruise entertainer Kevin Cruise on Britains Got Talent...... this was so entertaining and worth a watch and a welcome relief from the volcanic blues.........

2 very good reasons why to travel on a P&O Cruise on the Azura

Oh dont we miss an early morning cuppa when there are no tea/coffee making facilities in our rooms........well you dont need to fret here is the proof below direct from my cabin on the Azura, Cabin D210 to be precise yes I could plug in my all important hair straighteners and even better I could enjoy a lovely cup of tea or coffee in my cabin. How lovely it was to make a cuppa and sit outside on the balcony in the lovely sunshine.

Darcy Bussell Godmother of P & O Azura what the stars have to say

For those who as myself were not able to see Darcy Bussell launching the Azura please look at the link below and you can see a brief video of the launch and see a few of the stars who attended and what they had to say.

http://www.talktalk.co.uk/video/27723/entertainment/Darcey-Bussell-launches-ship/?lpos=tat-links-5-videos&lid=tat-links-5-darceybusselllaunchesship#27723

P&O Azura - A day and night to remember

I have just returned from our ship visit to the wonderful new ship Azura.

What a warm and welcoming feel this ship has ,over my next few blogs I will give you my opinions and more information on my visit but for the moment as today is her special day I would just like to celebrate this new addition to the P&O Cruises family.
I would also like to thank P & O for giving us all the opportunity to go and experience a night on board this new ship, we were wined and dined and entertained and were given the opportunity to pretend we were on holiday too, sitting on deck and on the balcony enjoying the warm sunshine we have been so lucky to have over the last few days, anyone would of thought we were really at sea not in dock in Southampton.

I loved the Azura and have returned home wanting to go on her myself as she really suited my holiday needs and the standards of accomodation were fantastic. A superb range of entertainment, lovely food, wonderful spa facilities who could ask for more

The Weird and The Wonderful - QE2 Next ?

I was reading a popular internet site recently and came across this wierd hotel made from an old airplane

I am not sure about this eventhough it is definately different, with talk of floating hotels from old cruise liners, who knows where these old airplanes,cruise ships etc will end up.

Lets hope that the dear QE2 doesnt end up one day stuck in the middle of a jungle and she does become a super luxurious hotel.

P& O Flexi/Freedom Dining made Simple

Further to my previous post regarding set first or second sitting dining please see below information regarding Freedom Dining that hopefully will assist you.