Upgrades does lady luck shine on you

This year I have spoken to many clients who have been very lucky and received upgrades either just before they travel or when they have arrived at their ship.

In fact quite recently I have had a number of clients who have been upgraded on Cunard to Princess Grills which of course is a fabulous upgrade as the cost of these cabins is considerably higher than the norm and for many customers they would prefer to save their pennies and use this as spending money or to get more cruises.

Now I am not sure what the reasons for this are, and maybe it is because there have been alot of offers for cabins this year on a guarantee basis and therefore the cruise lines are moving passengers up the grades to release cabins in the lower grades to make it more attractive to the consumers pocket or whether my clients have been extremely lucky.

Of course with Cunard , P&O and Princess you can elect for a complimentary upgrade should one become available, however I would never recommend this if you have chosen a cabin to be near a lift or in a particular area of the ship for specific reasons as of course you cannot guarantee that you will get a cabin in the same vicinity with an upgrade and you could be on higher or lower decks more front or rear. Of course when you have one of these upgrades there is no going back to your original cabin.

I love to hear from my clients who have had the good fortune to have been given these upgrades because it shows that there is hope for us all and maybe one day a bit of good fortune could come your way and you are lucky enough to get more than you expect.

Extreme Excursions - Hippo's in Toronto

Now there are some strange excursions that you can take around the world but this one I couldnt get my head round.

This is a bus that goes into the water and is aptly called the Hippo Bus.

Now we offer a variety of tailor made packages to our clients and this has got to be a must for anyone travelling to Toronto.

This Hippo is a unique 40 passenger vessel that offers land and water tours of Toronto. What a fun way to discover what Toronto has to offer... experience the vista on the road and then the sights on the water how fab is that. Excuse the pun but apparently it is the Hippest way to see Toronto.

According to their website you can take a tour from 43 Canadian Dollars and guess what they are coast guard approved.

If anyone has been on this then please let me know or if you have any other quirky excursion ideas I would love to hear about them.

Oriana has a little bump

Reports are telling us that last week the Oriana had a small collision with the dock when departing Kristiansand Norway last week.

Now the good news was that no passengers were hurt and she sufferred a little dent, but it did mean that she had to return to dock briefly which delayed her departure by about an hour.

Now is this big news.... well no not really but it did get me thinking I wonder how insurance works for cruise ships.... would they have to fill in one of those tedious forms showing diagrams of the port and how why when and where the incident happened.

Do they lose their no claims bonus... I wonder how it all works for ships.

If there is anyone out there who knows then please let me know

US Security 7 hour nightmare is it really necessary

I was reading an article today on line from one of leading newspapers who were reporting that a group of OAP's had a security nightmare when entering Los Angeles.

Apparently the 2000 travellers were subjected to the full works, with  fingerprints of both hands  taken as well as retina scans and a detailed check of the passport as well as questioning as to their background.

In all this took 7 hours to complete and the 2000 travellers were made to stand for hours with no facilities whilst they were subjected to these stringent checks.

Ironically, all the passengers that were enjoying a lovely long cruise on the Arcadia all had the relevant immigration ESTA's required so there was just no need to these extra checks and of course this is not something that is the normal when British cruise lines enter US ports.

Some travellers feel that these checks had resulted due to the fact some passengers had got irate after computer systems failed so immigration decided to punish everyone with the full checks.

Whoever's fault this is, personally I feel there is no need for all of this, the US is more than happy to enjoy the extra money being spent in it's ports by our cruise passengers. We should have respect for our older members of society not treat them disrespectfully, if it wasnt for their efforts none of our lives would be as they are now.

The Great Barca Cover Up

Barcelona is banning the wear of bikinis and swimming trunks when walking in the streets of this historic City.


Apparently they want to clean up their image so beware all you travellers staying in Barcelona before or after your cruise you must cover up or face fines for exposing too much flesh in public.

Fines will start from 105 Euros rising to 300 Euros and if you are caught naked (perish the thought) then fines range from 300- 500 Euros.

There will be designated areas where you will be allowed to wear your bikinis or swimming trunks near the beach but if you wander from that well you will be in trouble...

So remember if you like to expose just a little too much flesh when on holiday it could now cost you more than you bargained for....