Want to take the kids away on a cruise? Will a P&O cruise suit?

Over the last few weeks as my granddaughter heads towards her 2nd birthday as a family we have been thinking about options for the next 12 months. I have to say my daughter has never fancied the idea of a cruise, but she is slowing coming round. 

So what have P&O got to offer families?

Family cruise holidays

Enjoy family cruises on the family friendly members of the fleet: Aurora, Azura, Oceana and Ventura. These super liners were created with family enjoyment and comfort in mind, and are dedicated to ensuring the very best for your family on our family cruises making sure your family have a wonderful time with us and return home with amazing memories.

The child and teenagers programme is called The Reef, with enthusiastic and well-qualified Reef Rangers who have extensive training and experience in planning a wide range of play and leisure activities ensuring that your children will always be in safe hands.

The Reef


The Reef is our exciting on board programme for 2 – 17 year olds, meaning we are the ideal choice for cruises for families. Split into four age groups, there are a whole host of exciting activities organised daily by qualified Reef Rangers, to keep children of all ages entertained and to ensure that they have the chance to make friends of their own age.

Splashers’ for 2 – 4 year olds ‘Surfers’ for 5 – 8 year olds ‘Scubas’ for 9 – 12 year olds ‘h2o’ for 13 – 17 year olds Accommodation The cabins are well equipped for the needs of the whole family. Many have additional beds. For example, in the majority of twin cabins, beds fold down from the ceiling or out from the wall. In cabins, mini-suites and suites, the extra beds are sofa beds. Other facilities in your room include: TV Telephone Refrigerator Tea and coffee making facilities Plenty of drawer and wardrobe space In-stateroom listening facility Teenage and adult pamper packs Bathroom

Family Dining Normally children join their parents for breakfast and lunch but since you might occasionally want to dine on your own, on our family cruise holidays, we lay on a special children’s tea every night featuring all the food that children will enjoy: sausages, fish fingers and pizza to name just a few. In addition there are many healthy options, such as salads, soups, fruit, vegetables and pasta. Shore Excursions On our family cruise holidays we have a whole range of tours designed especially for families, meaning your time ashore will be as stress free as the rest of your holiday.  With arranged transport, entrance fees and English speaking guides, all you need do is turn up and enjoy your time together. Typical family tours include: Beach transfers Water park trips Dolphin/ Whale watching Adventure trips Family city tours  So, has that helped? Don't forget that there are only a limited number of 3 or 4 berth cabins on each ship and the number of children in each age category are limited for health and safety purposes so I would always recommend that you book early.

Do the cruise lines really welcome back past passengers of other cruise lines?

So you've just taken your cruise, most cruise lines will want you to come back to them to try a different ship or itinerary. To entice their past passengers, not only do most offer some kind benefits for making that next booking onboard but they all have special clubs for 'repeaters', which include perks such as magazines, members sailing and even discounts.

But can you 'sort the wheat from the chaff'?


Well, each cruise line has something different to offer, these are summarised in the Complete Cruise Brochure for 2012, if you follow the link you can view the electronic version of this guide, then look at pages 86 and 87.

But can you benefit with one line having sailed with another?

Well I can't see Royal Caribbean giving you the benefit of sailing with NCL, you can get cross over between Royal and Celebrity but really at a high level and when P&O changed to the Penisular Club they stopped taking sailings with Princess into account.

However, recently I recevied a leaflet direct from Princess - now you probably know I have never sailed with Princess, and was surprised to see in the Captain's Circle they are giving benefit to P&O passengers. Now I know there isn't much to give away to a Gold member, see the image below, but its better than nothing!

I wonder then in these difficult times if others will follow suit? Perhaps Silversea or Regent will take into account your days on Thomson, would be very interesting!

Washington DC, a Tailormade opportunity?

Well as you can probably guess I have been away for the past 10 days or so,  not on a cruise but doing a City Break to Washington DC. What an amazing city!

There is absolutely loads to do here and my feet are still aching; sightseeing, Museums, Arlington Cemetery and even the Zoo and it has the advantage of all the attractions being free!

We even went to Capitol Hill, you had to go through security to get in but again guided tour all free, you would not get any of that at home would you?

I even got to stand on the spot at the Lincoln Memorial were Dr Martin Luther King made the famous 'I have a dream' speech.

The City itself is quite large, but the Metro is easy to use and priced relatively low, we did use a Taxi a couple of times and found these were more expensive than we expected. So the answer is to walk or take the Metro.

I found this place an amazing place to visit and was wondering if it could be added to the start or end of a cruise from the US? Well, New York is only 2 hours by train from Union Station, or Baltimore is not far up the road.

So we could book you on Cunard's QM2 from New York and add in a couples of days in Washington then time in New York; or go on Royal Caribbeans Enchantment of the Seas from Baltimore to Bermuda and spend some time in Washington.

To be honest the options with this are endless, which is why they are called Tailor-made cruise holidays, so just give me a call so I can tell you more about my break but then arrange a trip for you.

100 years on...... will wecontinue to remember?

It is now 100 years since the loss of the Titanic, and over the last few weeks there have been a number of 'events' to commemorate the loss, various TV programs and a re-release of the film in 3D

But what else has there been?

At the moment, Fred Olsen's Balmoral is doing a special voyage to be at the point where Titanic sank at the same hour.

But what about Titanic's birthplace? Over my lifetime Belfast has been synonymous with 'Troubles' and as such not a place that would come up high on the list for a tourist attraction, well just opened to coincide with this anniversary is Titanic Belfast.

Something like this to me is a better way to commemorate the anniversary, it will benefit the community and future generations far more then a TV drama!

But why is it, with the exception of perhaps Pearl Harbor, that the Titanic is remembered so much?

The Mighty Mississippi

Just been watching the TV and saw ITV advertising Sir Trevor McDonald's new program about the mighty Mississippi and it reminded me of something I read last week.

The Mississippi is one of the great rivers of the world, and with the growth in River cruising in Europe and the Far East is the US the next growth area?

The American Queen steamboat had a successful cruise last week on the Mississippi River as it ran through its first set of builder’s trials. For the first time in almost five years, the paddle wheel achieved 17 revolutions per minute with plenty of steam in reserve.

“The new propulsion and control system operated perfectly during last night’s trial,” according to the Great American Steamboat Company’s EVP of Vessel Operations Greg Brown. “There was a significant reduction in vibration and noise thanks to the newly added technology.”

The American Queen cruised the Mississippi River along the French Quarter for three hours before conducting berthing trials in front of the famed Café Du Monde on the Riverwalk.

On April 13 the American Queen embarks on her first voyage and on the 19th will depart New Orleans, travelling up the Mississippi River to her home port of Memphis at Beale Street Landing, where christening festivities led by Godmother Priscilla Presley will take place April 27, 2012. After the christening, the American Queen will depart for her inaugural voyage up the Mississippi River to the Ohio River with stops in Henderson, Ky., Louisville, Ky., and Madison, Ind., before arriving in the disembarkation city of Cincinnati. In Louisville she will take part in the time-honoured tradition of the Kentucky Derby Festival’s Great Steamboat Race with the Belle of Louisville and Belle of Cincinnati.

You have seen it here before it appears on our website.