Memories....Monte Carlo

This week was my weekend off, so I have spent the time in the Garden but also saw a bit of the F1 in Monaco. Now that reminded me of a time when I went to the South of France and visited Monte Carlo.

It was a wonderful place, beautiful weather although a tad on the expensive side!

I have a few customers there at the moment on various ships and at least the ash cloud did not affect them! It made me think of a photo I took in 2008 when I was there, now which ship is this? It is a Princess cruise ship, but which one - answers on a postcard please!!

Travel Insurance – is it really necessary

I make no apologies for highlighting this subject again on this blog, especially as stories like this have appeared on TV over the last few days.

As part of our discussions with customers when they are booking a cruise, we always ask that they have suitable travel insurance cover and if appropriate give them a competitive quote.

However here is a cautionary tale.
‘I booked a couple onto a Caribbean cruise for next year, and asked the usual Insurance question and was told ' I have a policy and my insurers are aware of my conditions so I don't think it will be a problem.' Once a booking is confirmed it is subject to the terms and conditions of the cruise line on cancellations and if you need to cancel you will lose the deposit.

The passengers existing insurers wants a premium for this cruise, at £2000 - more than the cruise and he considered cancelling, but the deposit would be lost irrespective of the circumstances! I have to say the customer was less than happy.

So, what did he do? As you can guess he tried the usual places of alternative insurance companies without success but then found British Insurance Brokers' Association, a quick phone call and they gave him the name of a specialist broker who arranged him cover for the cruise at a cost which he was prepared to pay.’

Now I have also used this website a couple of other times for people who have an existing health problem or issues, or want to stay away longer than the usual 90 day limit for insurance and they have been able to find a suitable quote for their holiday.

So the moral of the story is check out first and get your travel insurance in place straight away, because with the majority cruise lines their terms and conditions are if you cancel before you pay the balance the deposit will be lost.

So its better to be safe than sorry and have your insurance in place as soon as you book to limit your risk, and if you have a problem ask because I might be able to point you in the right direction to get insurance sorted.

Vado a vedere MSC Poesia

Solo una breve nota.

MSC Poesia a Honningsvag

Martedì scorso me ne vado con Hannah, Julia e Sian per vedere MSC Poesia a Southampton. Non sono mai stato su una nave MSC così Ii vedo l'ora.

Torna qui nel corso della settimana per vedere i miei pensieri.

Continuate a leggere la traduzione!

Just a quick note.


On Tuesday I am off with Hannah, Jular and Sian to see MSC Poesia in Southampton. I've never been on an MSC ship so Ii looking forward to it.

Come back here later in the week to see my thoughts.

Sisters in Livorno

Earlier this week if you had been just outside Livorno, Italy you would have caught sight of this, 3 of the 6 Seabourn ships, Pride, Sojourn and Legend. The Pride and Sojourn were docked in Livorno for the day, with Legend in Portofino.

So with a little pre planning and some swift sailing by Legend, they met up just outside of the port.

Well what is unusual about this? Well according to Seabourn its the first time that the vessels have met up!

Are we just Train Spotters in disguise?

Bet you think I've gone mad, well it has been sunny for the last few weeks!

So what do I mean?

Earlier this week I heard, "I'm off to see 6 ships this summer, that crosses them off my list!" Well, as we move into the summer season more cruise ships are now departing from the UK and it gives us travel agents the opportunity to do ship visits to gain experience.

So read on......


You have to be honest, there are many varieties in cruising, ships, facilities and service levels and we are expected to have an encyclopedic knowledge of all the different cruise lines.

There is only a finite way to gain this knowledge, face to face training, having worked on the cruise lines, read the reviews on a Cruise Forum, cruised as a holiday, been to launch or had a familiarisation trip or finally undertaken a ship visit!

We have not all had the opportunity to work on ships, and those that have usually did with only 1 cruise line, and not everybody is able to take their hard earned time off cruising for a holiday. So, we are now heading into the season when we can get in those day visits to Southampton or Dover to visit various ships, subject to availability!.

Poesia in Honningsvag

All of us here sell a variety of cruises on different cruise lines so for me being able to visit an MSC ship, the Poesia later this month and also Celebrity Eclipse in July, will allow me to give my customers that first hand knowledge you gain from actually 'touching metal'.

PS.

The train photo is from Mr Google, none of mine from the 70's have survived!!

A Travel Agents diary...

So thought I'd write this as a little diary, 3 days on a River Cruise on the Main/Danube Canal in Germany on an Ama Waterways ship.

To set the scene this was a short 3 day familiarisation trip on AMADante, which was doing a 14 day trip which started in Budapest and ended in Amsterdam on 1st May. My colleague Faz and I were doing 3 nights of this trip from Nuremberg to Wertheim, then flights back from Frankfurt.

Day 1 - Sunday 24th April (Easter Sunday)

Long day today, early start for me in Redditch at 6.30am to drive to Heathrow picking up Faz on the way to get a Lufthansa flight to Munich.

Once in Munich, a private transfer to Nuremberg to the ship. My first experience of the German Autobann, unlimited speed limits in places, the 7 series BMW made light work of the 180 kilometres - could I add this car to list of ones I'm looking at - sorry don't think the bank manager would allow!

Nuremberg

There we joined the end of an excursion around Nuremberg before a transfer to the ship by coach.

Reception

First time on a River cruise, so we took a quick tour of the ship given by our host Neil. Now the ships are not the prettyest externally, but they are limited by size of bridges and locks but internally its a bit different. A boutique hotel would be a good description, and as a bonus there are also some single cabins.

Treatment room 

Gym

There is only 1 sitting for dining, so at 7 everyone headed to the dining room were the meal came came with complementary wine or beer. We then headed to the bar and eventually to our cabins.

Day 2 - Monday 25th April

The ship had travelled over night to Bamberg, Germany going through a number of locks on the way. Be careful when looking out in a lock or you could bang your head!

View down the lock!

All the excursions are included and on some days there is a choice, but not today, so a guided tour of Bamberg and our first change to use the Vox boxes, so everyone in that group can hear the guide and not have to strain. Thought that was excellent.

'The gruesome twosome' with Faz modelling the Vox Box

In the afternoon, we had a day sailing the river, first chance to see the locks and bridges. The bridge moves up and down depending on the clearence, now this next picture is interesting - nice if its fine but otherwise the captain may get wet!

The Captain looking out from the bridge!

Day 3 - Tuesday 26th April

Again the ship has travelled overnight and we are now berthed in Kitzingen for a morning tour, before returning to the ship for lunch and then an afternoon stop and excursions further down the river.

Kitzingen

Now, we have all heard about traffic jams on the M6 well that's what happend to us, the ship was stuck in a queue for a lock and we could not get back for lunch. So the Cruise Director organised coaches to Wurtzburg for lunch and then follow the afternoon excursion, which could have been Wurtzburg or Rothenberg, we chose Rothenberg in the mountains.

Rothenberg

Back to the ship and then thye evening entertainment. Now if you were expecting big shows like Cunard, Royal et al, forget it the ships are not big enough, but tonight we had a glass blower on board, what a laugh and relevant because tomorrow the ship will be in Wertheim, a large glass blowing area. (Found his picture on the web)

Glass blower

Last night, back to travelling in the morning so an early night.

Day 4 - Wednesday 27th April

Up early for breakfast, the usual, excellent omlette made by the chef in front of me. But there is a wide variety of other choices for breakfast.

Transfer back to the airport, Frankfurt this time, for a flight back to blighty. Walking through arrivals at about midday back to my family.

So it was a long trip for a few days but it certainly gave me an insight into River cruising. If you are looking to be entartained with a Broadway or London show or want to have relaxing days at sea, then this is not for you, but if you want to take a leisurely trip down one of the main rivers of Europe seeing churches, cathederals and castles on the way this may well be for you.