French Collection an unusual 7 night cruise on the Balmoral

I recently booked some clients on a cruise with Fred Olsen on the Balmoral departing on the 1st August.

I thought I would bring this cruise to your attention because it is uniquely different from most 7 night cruises that depart in the summer from Southampton as normally they head down the western coast of France to Northern Spain and back oryou they travel up to Fjords.

This cruise departs from Southampton and travel to Joan of Arc's famous Rouen where she docks overnight giving you nearly 2 days to explore this interesting area of northern France. I myself lived in this area for a while 10 years ago and we spent many hours wandering through Rouen,which has quaint cobbled streets, lovely pavement cafe's and of course tributes to Joan of Arc. The area also boasts Monet's gardens as well as beautiful countryside.


Next she sets sail for St Malo, then on to the North Western town of Brest with its stunning beaches along the Brittany coastline, finally arriving in L'orient  to enjoy the interceltique festival before she returns back to Southampton.

For anyone that doesnt want to spend too many days at sea and is looking for something just a little different then this may be the cruise for you.

For further information please call me on 08004086115

Cruising the mediterranean - Trevor Macdonalds Secret Mediterranean on ITV

This week I was lucky enough to watch Trevor Macdonalds Secret Mediterranean....what a fabulous program this is for those considering a mediterranean cruise for the first time.

Trevor went to my favorite part of the world the beautiful bay of Naples and the Amalfi Coast. Although this programme has nothing to do with cruising itself, you can see the wonderful scenery and of course get a glimpse of what you can expect to see if you find yourself on a cruise visiting Naples. He visited Naples itself, walked to the top of Mount Vesuvious, gave us glimpses of Pompeii and took a drive along the stunning winding roads of the Amalfi coastline.

Next he was in Barcelona, a place that so far I have not visited. Again he gave us glimpses of what Barcelona has to offer and an insight into Gaudi's  Sagrada Familia, I was fascinated by this building that may take decades to complete.

Finally he was off to Tangier, and although you didnt get to see alot of Tangier itself, we were able to see life beyond the cities and also where the mediterranean finishes and the Atlantic ocean begins.

For anyone who has missed seeing this series then I would recommend trying to catch it when repeats are on and tune in next week for the next installment in Trevors Mediterranean adventures.

Natural Disasters at ports of call what happens if you are due to visit?

Following the recent terrible news of floods in Australia,  and of course today the terrible devastation near Rio De Janeiro and in Sri Lanka obviously this makes some people nervous even if they are thinking of travelling many months ahead.

Our hearts go out to anyone who has lost a loved one or suffered terrible damage to their properties around the world due to these strange weather phenomenons that have happened over recent months.

When Madeira suffered so badly there were so many mixed reports, with the inhabitents being very concerned for their tourist trade and of course Rio, Sri Lanka and Australia will be worrying too.

What was very heartening when Madeira was hit so badly was that although some cruise ships decided not to dock there , there were also some that did as of course where the ships dock or where the excursions visit is not always where there has been any devastation.

For anyone visiting any areas that have suffered badly, then I would say do not panic as things can change so quickly as Madeira proved, and of course if you cannot visit somewhere it will be for your own safety.

Lets hope that these countries do not suffer anymore and that life can get back to normal as soon as possible and for those looking to travel to these countries whether by ship or by airplane that you are not too hasty in changing your plans.

Remember the tour operators and cruise lines will where possible try and get you to visit ports, and will only change things if they feel that they have to which will be for good reason.

A Busy Start to 2011

After all the doom and gloom of the past few weeks with our news packed with tales of woe, snow, flooding, birds dropping out of the sky mysteriously, threats of terrorism and worries of swine flu as well as the state of the economy, to be honest I was not sure how busy we would be in January when I returned to work after the new year.

However I am pleased to report that we are busy busy busy in fact we are busier than this time last year.

This just shows that the cruise industry is still as buoyant as ever and there are so many people who call who are booking cruises for the first time as well as those who have cruised previously.

I am so pleased that I work for a company that takes the time and trouble to ensure that cruise lines keep us up to speed with everything and they have such a rapport with the operators after 27 years in business that training is a priority and where possible we have visits to look around both old and new ships.

Those colleagues who have been in the industry for many years are always happy to share their experiences and we have many staff who have actually worked on board various cruise lines.

It is important when our clients call that we can give them honest opinions as lets face it we want them to return to us and what I am proud that I work with a lovely bunch of people of all ages who all have a wealth of experience in life and cruising/travel.

So often now when we speak to a call centre we do not always get the levels of service that we would expect, as companies do not always invest in their staff to keep a fine balance of age and experience.

We now have more staff  as our business is growing and growing and I am sure that it will continue to grow even more.