Association of Cruise Experts

Regent Seven Seas Training Event - June 2011

2011-06-13T01:14:00.000-07:00

Following a Travel Weekly/Aspire incentive, a small number of agents were invited to Southampton where we were wined and dined at Ennio’s, a delightful Italian restaurant close to the City Cruise Terminal, with an overnight stay at the De Vere Grand and in-terminal training on the Regent product, followed by a ship visit and lunch on board Seven Seas Voyager.

The training took the form of a talk and slide show by 2 members of the Regent sales team covering the whole Regent product including very strong reasons for upselling to Regent from the more main stream cruise lines, when one takes into account their all-inclusive cruises on offer. Now including all beverages, excursions, gratuities and even flights! Agents should bear in mind, they said, the price it costs to ‘get off the ship’ rather than just ‘get on the ship’ and receive commission on the whole package. So take account of everything a client might spend on holiday – not just the cruise cost. They suggested a few tips to achieve this, eg having quoted a mainstream cruise price, ask the client how much they might add to their holiday for excursions, tips, pre/post dinner drinks, wine with meals etc and have them write down those prices themselves and add it to their cruise price and then compare with Regent’s all-inclusive – obviously, having found an itinerary to suit! The difference might not be that different. Regent do offer price comparisons in their sales literature.

Following the training we and another 50 or so agents were invited to board the Voyager and discover it’s pleasures. For the size of ship, taking only 700 guests there is a huge amount of room on board, after all a ship of this size could take up to 2000 passengers! The ship is elegant and with fine dining without a surcharge, there is the opportunity to enjoy an exquisite meal served on the finest Versace crockery. Being a fairly large ship she offers the usual on deck games, a library, huge keep centre and gym, spa and tiered theatre – everything a traditional cruiser would require.

After a leisurely 2 hour tour guided by Regent’s UK Sales Manager, Anthony Daniels, we had lunch in the Compass Rose, Voyager’s main restaurant. A very nice meal of Lobster Timbale, Pumpkin Soup, Chilean Sea Bass or Filet Mignon of Aberdeen Angus Beef followed by a perfect Warm Valrhona Chocolate Cake – delightful.

Many thanks to Graham and all at Regent for putting this together – it really was educational!

Peter Ruck, ACE Ambassador of the Year 2011, Baldwins Travel

ACE UK Cruise Convention early feedback!

2011-05-10T09:10:00.000-07:00

The fifth ACE UK Cruise Convention took place in Southampton last week, 3-5th May and since then ACE has been inundated with positive feedback. The offical feedback questionnaire is going out to members on 10th May but we wanted to share the amazing emails we've had so far!

GARSTANG TRAVEL

Just wanted to let you know that one of our cruise specialists who attended her first Cruise Convention last week and had her first experience of RCCL on the Independence (AND LOVED IT!) confirmed a booking on Saturday on Independence for £9000.00 – 4 passengers who are new to cruise in Balcony cabins!

This just proves that sending front line staff on theses conventions to gain first-hand experience and get enthusiastic about the ships is paramount…

The other staff member who attended also confirmed 2 bookings worth £8500.00 for CCS on Saturday… So it was well worth our investment in sending staff to Southampton!

Thank you to ACE for allowing us the opportunity to continue to gain valuable experience, training and motivation in cruise.

BON VOYAGE
Just wanted to drop you a quick email to say Thank You for what I think was the best convention yet! I thought the speakers and business sessions were really useful, and it all seemed to flow really seamlessly.

OPODO
I just want to say thank you for all your hard work last week, the cruise convention was great and very well organised, and if I am honest I feel better arranged and set up than CLIA in the USA this year.

GO CRUISE
The convention itself was really enjoyable, and it was good to see the different ships. The food at the Oceana club on Wednesday night was really enjoyable, and a fantastic improvement on last year.

FRED. OLSEN
I just wanted to say congratulations on an excellent UKCC, and I hope that you have now recovered from last week’s exertions! Once again, I found it a tremendously beneficial and enjoyable event, and it was lovely to be able to showcase Balmoral to agents and journalists on the first ever ‘Columbus Day’, and the feedback we have received has been extremely positive.

IDEAL CRUISING
I just wanted to drop you a line to say a HUGE Thank you for a FANTASTIC time had at the UKCC !!!! It was a fantastic opportunity & I loved every minute of it !! Can’t wait for next year !!!

CRUISE TRADE NEWS
I thought the entire convention was a great success.

MAIL NEWSPAPERS
Well done on a ‘grand event’, truly a successful few days. The general feedback I heard whilst I was in Southampton was all extremely positive.

NCL
Congratulations on a great event. I very much enjoyed participating and found the couple of days very useful.

TRAVEL CHANNEL
Being able to meet all the cruise lines in one place was the best part for me as I was able to catch up with people I hadn’t seen in a while and meet others I didn’t know.

FREELANCE JOURNALIST
It was well organised, as always, and there were some really good sessions on the first morning and yesterday's trade fair was really buzzing. All good for networking!

Baldwins Travel voted Top Travel Agency

2011-04-27T01:43:00.001-07:00

The Baldwins Travel Group is in celebratory mood after being voted the
‘Travel Agent of the Year for London and South East for the 4th year running.

The Baldwins Travel Group - which has stores in Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Uckfield & Sevenoaks Travel - walked away with the Top Prize at the recent Agent Achievement Awards in London. In addition, the company also won the prestigious National Cruise Agent of the Year 2011 for the whole of the UK.
No doubt awarded for the tremendous cruise knowledge the staff have following ship visits and online training organised through ACE and the various cruise companies - some having reached the high ACE Ambassador standard.

The prestigious Agent Achievement Awards are recognised as the travel industry's highest accolade, recognising excellence and achievement in the UK's travel agency community. Handed out annually, they are based on nominations and votes from key players in the UK's holiday industry.

Baldwins Travel’s Business Development director Nick Marks said Baldwins Travel Agency’s success at this year's awards could be put down to the hard work of its 45 experienced and knowledgeable members of staff.

"You could say we're on top of the world - in more ways than one! Winning the awards is a spectacular achievement and being recognised by our peers in the travel industry is a real honour," he said. He continued “We are so proud of our staff – all of whom have contributed with their knowledge, expertise and travel experiences. They are simply outstanding! Customers who use our business are served by the best in the business.”

Baldwins Travel is no stranger to awards success, having won the London & South East prize five times before (in 1997, 2004 and 2008, 2009 &2010) and being runner-up on no less than seven other occasions.

P&O Azura March 2011 - 'one of my best cruises – ever'.

2011-04-07T01:20:00.000-07:00

Having seen and been on board the Azura for a day visit while in Southampton at the ACE Convention last June, there was something about this ship that attracted me to her. I vowed to have a cruise on her at some time in the future. In March 2011, I joined her on her transatlantic voyage from Barbados to Southampton.

Our charter flight, arranged by P&O Cruises took off more or less on time at 8.25am (4.25am Barbados time) it was comfortable with an attentive crew. About 90 minutes into the flight, the main meal was served (6.00am Barbados time) I feel that the meal served was not appropriate for the time of day and a hot breakfast would have been more suited.

On arrival at Barbados, coaches met us on the tarmac and conveyed us directly to the ship. The baggage was transferred directly from the aeroplane to the ship. This is one area of their service where P&O really excel. Check-in at the pier was fast, courteous and professional.

The ship itself is beautiful, the furnishings the décor – a mixture of modern and traditional – easy to get around and spotlessly clean. I immediately felt at home.

My cabin too was spacious, well furnished, and comfortable and kept in tip top condition by a most friendly and conscientious cabin steward.

The food in the main restaurants and buffet was excellent, with plenty of choice, well presented and professionally served. So good was the food in the main-stream restaurants that I didn’t even bother to explore any of the other alternative dining facilities.

Special diets are taken care of with care and attention and nothing was too much trouble with staff providing special requests in this regard.

The entertainment on board, along with the guest lecturers were mostly of an extremely high standard. The Highlight of the evening entertainment was the outstanding performances given by the Headliners – The on-board singers and dancers. Never before have I seen such talented performers.

The very approachable Cruise Director and her friendly enthusiastic team were highly visible around the ship day and night – always well dressed and eager to provide information and to assist with queries.

On a trans-Atlantic journey such as this, there are quite a few days at sea and when the weather is good, deck space and sun loungers are at a premium especially around the pool areas. Whilst there is a policy concerning the reservation of sun-loungers, this is not enforced.

Bar prices, shore excursions, and items for sale in the shops were reasonably priced. Internet access and photographs on board were expensive.

As a smoker, I appreciated the smoke-free environment inside the ship. However, staff in the Pursers Office and those working on the decks are at odds with each other as to where the designated smoking areas on board actually are. There is also a lack of ash trays on the promenade deck.

Having sailed on Ventura, and indeed I enjoyed my cruise on that ship, I can quite honestly and without reservation say that my experience on-board Azura was superior in all aspects. Azura is a ship that will suit everyone and surely must be the pride in the fleet for P&O Cruises.

One of my best cruises – ever.

I most certainly will be back on-board the Azura and soon.

Willie Fulton, Knock Travel in Belfast

Disney Dream - Inaugural Cruise 22nd-26th Jan

2011-01-27T04:20:00.000-08:00

Friday 21st January
Arrived to a disappointingly rainy Orlando and caught the Magical Express to Disney's Polynesian Resort, one of 22 in the 47 square miles that Disney World occupies. We discovered a beach area and watched the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom in the distance.

Saturday 22nd January
A day at Disney World! I've never been a particularly 'Disney' person, I didn't have a little mermaid lunchbox and didn't think I knew half the characters but I do have a love for theme parks so I set off in optimistic spirits. I had a fantastic time, 8 rides in one day plus a 'move it shake it' street party parade - to my amazement I knew who all the characters were and found myself being swept up by the Disney spirit and dancing with Chip and Dale in front of the Magic Kingdom castle before heading off to Space Mountain. We had dinner at Epcot, another park (there are 4!) accessible by mono rail or boat. Epcot was great - it has rides including Soarin over California, Mission to Mars, Test Track and the Nemo ride including Turtle Talk with Crush the turtle. Epcot has the world showcase - areas of the world such as Mexico, Norway, England, Italy, China and Japan where you can have lunch or dinner and experience a Disney version of the country. We dined in Mexico with real Mexican waiters and a smouldering fake volcano in the background!

Sunday 23rd January
Off to the ship! We were transferred to Port Canaveral by the Disney Cruise Line Express, a bus with port holes for windows and a video with Disney characters showing us what to expect on board the ship. The ship can take up to 4,000 passengers with 1,458 crew, or 'cast members' as they are often referred to. Check-in was quick and I headed straight to my deluxe outside veranda stateroom - it had a large balcony, storage room under the bed, two double wardrobes and a split bathroom/toilet. Lunch was in the Cabana buffet restaurant featuring ocean views, a bar and about five different serving areas with piles of fresh seafood, steak, roast turkey, salads and desserts. Tea, coffee and soft drinks are available 24 hours a day, free of charge.

We then toured the staterooms including the 'Roy O' suite with an enormous lounge, balcony with jacuzzi, two bathrooms and bed area with a TV which appears by remote control. I was actually looking forward to seeing the inside staterooms as I had heard a rumour about magic portholes - I saw a deluxe inside stateroom which had space under the bed for storage, it was a nice size and had a porthole over the bed with a live video feed showing the scene that would be there if there was a window, with Disney characters making occasional appearances.

I took in a quick tour of the rest of the ship, found 'Flo's cafe', the 'eye scream' parlour, nemo's reef swimming area for little kids, and looked on in awe at the enormous TV screen overlooking the main family pool. Then came the inevitable evacuation drill which was painless and quick and I had time to check out the gym facilities. The gym is great, it has ocean views and state-of-the-art equipment and a steam room in the changing rooms all free to use.

I managed to catch the end of the 'golden mickeys' show in the Walt Disney Theatre which was impressive - stage performances from Disney characters interspersed with Disney film clips and music.

The Dream has two speciality restaurants - Palo and Remys. I dined at Palo, it costs $20 to upgrade, not including alcohol and has a lovely Northern Italian menu with Venetian decor. Next door is Remys, a smaller, more exclusive restaurant with a french menu which costs $75 to upgrade.

Monday 24th January
Nassau, Bahamas. The plan for the day was outlined in the daily programme, delivered to cabins the night before along with the obligatory towel-in-the-shape-of-something-Disney. We visited Atlantis, an enormous resort with a huge aquarium and aquapark. The Michael Jackson suite costs $25,000 a night at the Atlantis!

I visited Shutters on Deck 4 where you can swipe your 'key to the world' card (your cruise card) and find the photos taken by the onboard professional photographer for you to view and purchase.

It was the Royal Palace for dinner - passengers are given a table and a three restaurant rotation so they visit the Animators Palate, Royal Palace and Enchanted Garden on each night but the servers stay with you for each place. The Royal Palace had a great menu including Escargot and Wild Boar!

That evening was 'Pirates of the Caribbean' night with kids running about wearing bandanas, fireworks on top deck and a show with a very good Captain Jack Sparrow followed by a club night for everyone.

I headed off to District, the adults-only bar area with a number of different club/bars including Skyline and a sports bar.

Tuesday 25th January
Castaway Cay day! I was excited about seeing Disney's private island - I discovered that only about 48 people actually live on the island, all of whom are Disney employees who are joined every other day by the cruise line passengers. There are therefore plenty of sunloungers for everyone, the island is small enough to walk around but you can also hire a bike or take the tram. There is an adults only 'serenity' beach and a family beach with water slides and a lunch time BBQ all included in the cruise price.

After enjoying the sunshine I decided it was high time I tried out the aquaduck on the ship - a water slide that goes right around the ship, it was great fun but apparently its much faster if there are two people on your lilo!

After all the excitement and sunshine I chilled out in my stateroom, missing Animators Palate which was a shame as I discovered it includes animated interaction from crush the turtle from 'finding nemo' who actually talks to diners! I enjoyed room service (again, all included in the price) and my on-demand TV with the latest disney and hollywood movies.

Wednesday 26th January
Home time! Breakfast in Animators then down to collect my suitcase, through customs then onto another magical express. We had time to visit Epcot again before heading off to Orlando Airport and home to a very cold UK.

In summary, the Dream has loads on offer, not just for the most demanding of children but also for adults in need of a break and some entertainment. The longer cruises include a day at sea and I feel this is well needed considering there is so much to experience on board as well as shore side. The service and Disney culture are fantastic, each and every 'cast member' that I came across were very friendly and committed to ensuring everyone was enjoying themselves. The fact that Disney is an entertainment company at heart shines through and their innovative use of new technology is impressive, including ipod docks in the rooms and WIFI access across the ship. The aquaduck is a nice touch and keeps everyone very entertained,and there are also places to get away from it all and enjoy some peace!

Bring on the next launches this year - P&O Adonia, Carnival Magic, Celebrity Silhouette, Costa Favolosa, Oceania Marina, Seabourn Quest and Compagnie Du Ponant’s L’Austral!

Flo Powell
Director
ACE

The ACE Allure Adventure - November 2010

2010-12-09T06:17:00.000-08:00

ALLURE OF THE SEAS

Having dreamt since last year of seeing the biggest ship in the world, can you imagine how thrilled we were getting our invitations to sail on Allure of the Seas?! Last year Flo, Penny and Bill were lucky enough to attend the festivities onboard Oasis of the Seas, this year it was the turn of myself, Natalie and Kat...............’here come the girls!’

After a couple of action filled and very entertaining days in Fort Lauderdale we boarded the ship on November 23rd. Check in was a dream, I was so impressed with the cruise terminal at Port Everglades and with so many check in desks we were through and onto the ship in no time.

See Picture 1 Allure of the Seas

We located our lovely stateroom with balcony on deck 12, with the help of one of my favourite features on the ship. It’s a very small (in comparison to the rest of the ship) but, fabulous idea. On each deck, outside each group of lifts was a large touch screen which enabled the customer to look for directions to a specific cabin, entertainment venue, restaurant or bar etc. These systems also gave information on what was going on around the ship at any given time and where it was being held, an amazing addition to the service on board.

When our unpacking was completed, it was time to explore. First stop was the Boardwalk with the only carousel at sea and beautiful it was too. The Boardwalk was also host to Jonny Rockets, Rita’s Cantina Mexican restaurant, Candy Store, Boardwalk Dog House, gift store, leisure wear shop, donut station and even an ice cream parlour. The most impressive part of the Boardwalk though was the awe-inspiring Oceanside seating of the AquaTheatre. Sitting eating an ice cream Sunday in the beautiful Miami sunshine looking out over the port and the divers practising for the Aqua Show later in the week...BLISS!#

After attending the Muster later that evening, we were invited to dine in the opulently designed main Adagio Dining Room along with our fellow British and Irish colleagues. Not before a pre dinner cocktail on the main promenade. The Schooner Bar, Boleros, the Champagne Bar or Bow and Stern Pub all provided ample pre dinner drinks opportunities. Dinner was delicious and the service, second to none, as is always the case with Royal Caribbean. As an super organised individual, along with my ACE and PSA pals, I pre booked the evening entertainment before boarding and was lucky enough to attend Headliner Showtime on the first night, starring Ronn Lucas. Ronn Lucas has been entertaining fans for more than a decade with his incredible and unique talent, he mixed stand up comedy, improvisation, audience interaction and astonishing voice gymnastics as a professional ventriloquist, such fun!

Day 2 was a welcome day at sea, a time for relaxing and taking advantage of all there is to do onboard the ship. Natalie and Kat were up with the larks, had seen the sunrise, conquered the rock climbing wall, had breakfast at Jonny Rockets and sampled the Flowrider* surf simulator. That was all before 10am! Next came the Move It Move It Parade in the Royal Parade, one of the most colourful and entertaining (daytime) activities. Everyone loves a parade, but a parade with all the characters from DreamWorks* movies was certainly like no other parade I had ever seen! I am delighted to have been in the audience of such an amazing spectacle. After the magical mayhem of the last hour I attended the UK and Ireland agent update, looking at the current market and getting some insight into the very exciting future of Royal Caribbean.

See Picture 2 Move It Move It Parade

The self service Windjammer Marketplace was an incredible place to have lunch, so much choice and delicious delights to tempt anyone. The area itself was large and spacious, but never impersonal as the service was as incredible as in any eating place on the ship. Now was the time I really wanted to explore this fabulous ship, Royal Caribbean had kindly opened around twenty staterooms for viewing, these ranges from Interior Staterooms to the Presidential and Royal Loft Suites. With such a range of staterooms there will definitely be something for everyone.

My next stop, was one of my favourite places on the ship and a place that is unique to the Oasis class of Royal Caribbean ship, Central Park. This tranquil area in the middle of the ship, open to the elements was breathtaking. Just sitting amidst the trees and plants, taking in the atmosphere with a cold glass of wine was heavenly. The perfect place to relax and get away from it all. Tucked into this oasis was the Park Cafe, Vintages alternative restaurant, Chops Grill, Photo Studio and The first Britto store at sea where guests enjoyed a new cultural onboard experience, filled with colour, innovation and spirit.

See Picture 3 Photo of Central Park

After tearing myself away from the delights of Central Park we hit the pool deck. Having been spoilt for choice as to where to soak up the sun, we went for sun beds at the back of the ship in the solarium. A lovely sedate area with plenty of sun beds, cabanas, whirl pools, bar and a small plunge pool for the comfort of guests in this area and here we stayed until it was time to change for dinner.

After a fabulous cocktail party thrown by Royal Caribbean for all our UK and Irish agents, dinner was again served in the main Adagio Dining Room, a delicious dinner was had by all and joyously concluded by the waiting staff singing Happy Birthday to our very own Natalie who was 29 today! After dinner we had booked to see the Ice Games Ice Show which was in the style of the classic board game Monopoly. A spin of the giant dice took us all on an ice adventure that was created exclusively for Allure of the Seas. The show included original costumes, scenery and lighting. The international cast of world class skaters totally amazed the audience with their artistry, phenomenal skill, athleticism and precision.

Happy Thanksgiving day three. Having started out with a leisurely breakfast on the balcony and as it was our last full day onboard this fabulous ship, we all decided to go out with a bang! Being in one of the most exciting places in the Caribbean (on board Allure of the Seas), inspired us to have a go. Looking to challenge ourselves at the Rock Climbing wall, take a leap of faith on the zip wire or surfing USA on the FlowRider, I am pleased to say Natalie and Kat did all three! Unfortunately my shoes were unsuitable therefore I had politely decline all physical activity. I did spectate though and was the official photographer that morning.

See Picture 4 FlowRider
See Picture 5 Rock Climbing
See Picture 6 Zip Line

Having watched all that excursion, exhausting it was too, I took the opportunity of lying down for the rest of the afternoon on the pool deck. Ordering daiquiris, being entertained by the resident Calypso Band and soaking up some rays by two of the pools on the ship, was blissful! The pools were spacious and occupied by adults only as the children were being wonderfully catered for in the H2O Zone, one of the ‘funest’ and most colourful places on the ship.

After a relaxing afternoon, we were invited to watch a fabulous taster show in the Aquatheatre, including acrobats, synchronised swimmers, divers and an amazing soundtrack. A wonderful introduction to how incredible the whole show will be in full. The spectacular AquaTheater in the Boardwalk on featured an awe inspiring athletic and artistic masterpiece. Where we witnessed the discovery of an ancient underwater civilisation that gracefully navigates the water, flies high above it and dives to its depths. This AquaTheater extravaganza included fountains and orchestral music that swell and dip with the song of the sea.

See Picture 7 Aqua Show

To celebrate Thanksgiving a dinner was held in the Adagio dining room. Turkey anyone? This evening’s entertainment took the shape of a west end show, not just parts of a show, but the whole shebang. Allure of the Seas delivered that whole stage production of Chicago, WOW indeed! This was one of the highlights of the cruise for me, being a huge stage musical buff, the acting, staging, musician and singers were absolutely top notch. I really did forget I was onboard a ship and was transported to the West End.

Being the last night on board, I thought it only polite to see as many of the night venues on the ship as possible therefore we had drinks in the Schooner Bar, Mojitos in Boleros, a martini in the fabulous Casino, 90s dancing in Dazzles and finished off the evening with DJ Drag@n in Blaze night club, at least that’s what I think he was called anyway! I stumbled off to bed at around 2.30am. Zzzzzzzz

Rudely awoken by my alarm on day 4, not long after getting into bed, we decided that a lazy breakfast in the Windjammer Cafe was just what the doctor ordered. After breakfast it was time to collect our belongings and disembark, one last walk through Central Park later, we had our luggage and were disembarking Allure of the Seas.

As a new citizen of Royal Caribbean’s floating nation, we embarked on a journey like no other, an unforgettable cruise to nowhere (the captains words not mine). As the ship is split into different neighbour hoods, not one individual place felt too big or over facing. Size does matter in a lot of respects but, this ship is not just about being the biggest in the world, but is all about the onboard experience and the unique products it has to offer.

Adele Fitzpatrick-Foster
Head of Membership Services, ACE

Cruising in Hawaii - Brendan O'Connor

2010-12-06T10:15:00.000-08:00

I was so very fortunate to “live” in Hawaii for 2 months and have firsthand knowledge of cruising the Hawaiian Islands.

I was based in Honolulu and worked for Royal Caribbean International as a Guest Services Purser, the only cruise line then that offered inter-island cruises to all 4 Hawaiian Islands.

Honolulu is the port for the Island of Oahu, and the other 3 Islands are Hilo (otherwise known as The Big Island), Kauai and Maui (known as the flower island).

Maui was my favourite island and I did not like Honolulu that much as I felt it was over commercialised, however, I would certainly recommend that your clients take a Hawaiian Cruise as no two islands are the same.

The Hawaiian Islands are a cluster of Islands in the North Pacific Ocean and you can visit Hawaii anytime of the year. Summer is between April and November when it is warmer and drier while winter is between December and March and is a bit cooler. The weather however, can be quite unpredictable with rain at anytime in short, sharp bursts!

Golfing enthusiasts will be impressed by the quality of the golf courses on all 4 islands and others will want to be driven along the 11 mile crater rim of the 5,000 ft high Kilauea Volcano near Hilo.

Shore excursions are a plenty, passengers can take a journey to the Waimea Canyon, Waikiki Beach, or to the Volcano National Park. Surfing and Scuba Diving are very popular here too.

I would suggest selling a Balcony Stateroom to your clients as the views are breathtaking and the Aloha Welcome is very friendly and courteous. Sailaways are special too.

Today NCL are the only cruise line that offer round-trip cruises from Honolulu with the Pride of America based there throughout the year. NCL also offer stopovers in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York. The Pride of America offers a 10 night fly/cruise “freestyle” package for 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Other cruise lines that feature Hawaii are Holland America Line and MSC Cruises.

Warm Regards
Brendan O’Connor, Belfast.
ACE Ambassador of the Year 2010

ACE Team on #Allure - tweeting

2010-11-25T06:44:00.000-08:00

Monday 22nd November 2011

ACE team members Adele and Natalie are in Miami, leaving the rest of ACE behind in freezing Blighty. First tweets:

'Morning! In Miami - fabulous beach, wonderful art deco architecture, great restaurants and superb people watching!'

'Bubba Gump Shrimp company for lunch then off to board Allure of the Seas in an hour. So exciting!.'

'OMG! It's more incredible than I imagined! Biggest ship in the world, WOW indeed!'

Tuesday 23rd November 2011 - Natalie's Birthday

'I've got a fabulous outside stateroom with a balcony. It was so beautiful lying in bed watching the sunrise over the ocean this morning.'

'It's only 10.15 and I've already watched a beautiful sunrise over the sea, had brekkie at Johnny Rockets and Zip-lined. Now waiting to watch the Dreamworks parade. What a great way to spend my birthday!'

'Move-it, move-it Madagascar parade on the Royal Parade - INCREDIBLE! Allure of the Seas really knows how to put on a show!'

'Central Park on the Allure - can't believe this is really on a ship! Just amazing!'

'The Dreamworks parade was so amazing, we had a boogie with the penguins and then headed up to the rock climbing wall - made it to the top - WOO HOO! Now chilling out in the gorgeous Florida sun out on deck'.

'I've found possibly the most relaxing place on the ship - chilling out in the whirlpool overhanging the ocean, admiring the beautiful Miami coastline.'

'All that relaxing has made me hungry - off to Sorrentos for a slice of pizza and a coke - there are hundreds of flavours to choose from!'

'As the sun sets on my birthday I'm enjoying a birthday cupcake and cup of tea on my balcony - how very British!'

Wednesday 24th November - do you think they like the ship?!

'Great UK & Ireland Sales meeting, Royal Caribbean have launched their turn-of-the-year 2011 campaign. "What you see is what you get" - no inflated prices, no early booking discounts, no confusion! Just an amazing, stunning, incredible product.'

'Lunch in the windjammer cafe was around the work in your lunch time! Amazing choice, delicious dishes and wonderful service!'.

'Ice games skating show last night was unbelievable! Costumes were fantastic and the skating was breaktaking!'.

Thursday 25th November - enjoying themselves much?

'Just waiting for breakfast on the balcony in the sunshine! Going to see some other staterooms this morning, can't wait to see the Royal Loft Suite!'.

There will be more before they leave - to keep up follow us on www.twitter.com/ACEtweeting.

For more information on the Allure visit http://www.allureoftheseas.com/.

Brendan’s Alaskan Experience

2010-11-19T07:33:00.000-08:00

I was so very fortunate to “live” in Alaska for 4.5 months and have firsthand knowledge of this breathtaking cruise region.

Alaska is an ideal area for exploring by ship - forested islands, waterfalls and glaciers mainly situated on the narrow coastal strip between mountains and sea.

The Alaskan cruise season is typically from mid May to September with July and August the most popular months. Temperatures in May, June and September range from 10C to 18C while in August it can reach the low 20Cs but it can change on a daily basis. It can also rain at any time and quite often does but May and June are the driest months.
I worked for Royal Caribbean International as a Guest Services Purser for 3 years and our voyages were seven day cruises to the Inside Passage that started and finished in Vancouver and where passengers got to explore the twisting and sheltered waterways between the coast and the offshore islands. I visited ports as far north as Skagway and Haines (twin ports) and southern ports such as Juneau and Ketchikan. Sitka has been added to most cruise itineraries now but I have not been there.

As a purser we had to sell the shore excursions when the team were taking the excursions. Passengers were often disappointed when the excursion they wanted to go on was full when they could have pre-booked this prior to travel. It is widely known that Alaskan excursions sell out faster than any other region and I always advise clients of this at booking stage, they will thank-you for letting them know.

I did a lot of excursions from whale watching in Juneau to flying in a helicopter onto glaciers but my favourite excursion was to sail up Misty Fjords and experience its “noisy” silence!

My favourite Glacier is Glacier Bay, and I also experienced Hubbard Glacier. Most cruise lines have a lecturer making announcements as you sail in and out of port giving passengers the detailed history of each port and glacier. Holland America Line has a high percentage of the permits to visit Glacier Bay than any other cruise line.

An outside stateroom with a Balcony is a must for an Alaskan Cruise because those passengers that don’t have one will be sandwiched between other passengers on the open decks trying to take photos! Your clients will thank-you (again) for this advice.

When I go back to Alaska I want to go with Crystal Cruises!

Brendan O'Connor
Travelmax

2010-10-28T04:09:00.000-07:00

Crystal Symphony & Serenity - Barcelona
Peter Ruck, Baldwins Travel
5th June 2010

Those charming people at Crystal, Andy, Elaine and Bob offered agents the chance to win a trip to Barcelona to view their fleet. Being one of the fortunate winners, they accompanied me and four other discerning agents from Gatwick to Barcelona on Saturday to have a look over both the Symphony and Serenity and view the $25m worth of refurbishments on Symphony. Flying into Barcelona Airport we were afforded a great aerial view of the ships berthed nose to nose - almost kissing!

Crystal took 900 workers and over 5 days brought the not really old standard Symphony up to brand new. They have removed one of the pools and converted the area into an open but coverable space with gorgeously designed and coloured seating. Although slightly smaller than its sister, I believe the feeling now is of much more space. The public areas are fabulous on both ships but I think Symphony shines even more now. The meals on board are varied from the Crystal Dining Room or the speciality restaurants, Preggo – Italian, or Silk Road – Oriental Japanese ( from Los Angeles based chef Nobu Matsuhisa) – both available without a supplement. Preggo arguably offers one of the nicest dining at sea experiences. We were treated to an excellent lunch on board Symphony in the Crystal Dining room – main course choice of beef tenderloin or black cod – both delicious! They offer 1st and 2nd sittings but also a new Open Dining By Reservation too, allowing you to dine where, when and with whom you like in the main restaurant. The array of desserts offered in the open seating buffet restaurants are both creatively attractive and mouth-watering. Coffees and a great selection of pastries are on offer at The Bistro. For a more unusual dining experience, guests may pay a supplement and dine in The Vintage Room for up to seven course wine-themed, gourmet dinners. And of course all soft drinks are included throughout in the cost of your cruise.

Lead in cabins on both vessels are of a good size and include choices of bathrobes or kimonos, slippers, his and hers vanity basins and pillow menus.

Rather than being All-inclusive, Crystal offer their All Inclusive As You Wish – a good on board credit is offered with their cruises so that guests may spend it where they wish. Be it on spa treatments, excursions alcoholic beverages. Many guests prefer this system rather than feeling that they are otherwise subsidizing fellow travellers alcoholic beverage requirements.

There are varied entertainment programmes, including the option to learn a language, play the Yamaha keyboard or polish up your golfing skills with a PGA golf pro.

We spent a good a few hours exploring the ships – unfortunately for us, Symphony was sold out – so no cabin viewings.

After lunch and tours of the ships we caught the complimentary shuttle bus into Barcelona and walked the length of the Ramblas before going back to the airport for our flight home. Crystal provide complimentary shuttles in all ports where they are not moored adjacent to the port centre.

A thoroughly enjoyable (albeit whistle-stop) opportunity to view Crystal’s ships in a destination port.

I Name This Ship Queen Elizabeth... May God Bless Her and All Who Sail In Her.

2010-10-12T08:54:00.001-07:00

Queen Elizabeth Naming Ceremony
Monday October 11th 2010 - Southampton

Adele and I arrived in plenty of time at Southampton train station at 1.20pm both extremely excited to get to the naming ceremony of Cunard's latest ship; Queen Elizabeth. Not only were we desperate to have a nose around this hotly anticipated arrival but we had been told that HRH Queen Elizabeth herself would be in attendance to officially name the ship... after herself.

What we weren't expecting was the attendance of so many celebs at the ceremony, starting with Judith Chalmers (former 'Wish You Were Here?' presenter and UK Cruise Convention 2010 moderator) who we bumped into at the train station! We took the shuttle service to the shiny new Ocean Terminal, handed over our luggage and were directed by friendly marshalls to the check-in desks. Check-in took about 1 minute each and before we knew it we had a glass of champagne and were busily celeb spotting with our agent friends at the reception! We spotted Jimmy Saville, Esther Ranson, Robert Powell, Jenny Bond, Ben Kingsley, Alan Titchmarsh, Vera Duckworth actress from Corrie, Alan Wicker, Terry Waite and I'm sure there were more!!

We were called in groups to go through security to a marquee set-up for the ceremony alongside the ship. Luckily the sun was shining as everybody filed in and were handed their programmes by cute uniformed page boys and girls.

The ceremony kicked off with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, followed by the Band and Pipers of the Coldstream Guards, then bagpipers before we were all told to turn our phones off and be upstanding for The Queen! She kept us waiting as she visited the ship, but we got to see her on the big screen, pressing the horn button, viewing her portrait and being clapped by all the ships crew as she came down the stairs looking beautiful in blue, before getting into her Rolls Royce and gracing us with her presence. Lesley Garrett came on stage (looking gorgeous) and we all joined in for 'God Save The Queen'.

Peter Shanks, MD of Cunard, made a lovely speech about the traditional nature of the Cunard brand, its links with Royalty and its wonderful new addition and how delighted he was that HRH had attended in person. Then we had a rousing rendition of Amazing Grace from Lesley Garrett and the prayers of blessing by the Lord Bishop of Winchester before finally HRH got to the stage and said the words we had all been waiting for: 'I name this ship Queen Elizabeth. May God bless her and all who sail in her'. The bottle was smashed at the side of the ship, loads of streamers were unleashed and everybody clapped!

We were then allowed to board the ship, Adele and I rushed immediately to our cabin to discover we had an outside balcony which was a lovely surprise! We then ran around taking photos before heading back, getting changed and rushing off to the champagne reception in the Queens Room where we quickly got separated as we chatted to the wonderful industry colleagues all sipping champers and claiming it was the best naming ceremony they had ever been to!

Then it was off to dinner in the Britannia restaurant where we had a delightful 5-course menu including the best soup I've ever eaten (artichoke and truffle mushrooms) before heading off to the bar for more chatting and drinking. We also took in the theatre production 'a slice of saturday night' then headed to our extremely comfortable beds.

Morning brekkie was delicious and not a little surreal as I was waiting at the buffet alongside Jimmy Saville and Jenny Bond!

All in all, a once-in-a-lifetime event which was clearly painstakingly organised with military precision, a beautifully elegant, comfortable and grand cruise ship some fantastic food, lovely company and a great night had by all!

Well done to Cunard and all their colleagues who helped pull this together and thank you for the invite!

Flo Powell, Director, ACE

Crystal Serenity, Voyage 0319 – Gaudi to Gondolas

2010-10-12T06:06:00.000-07:00

Crystal Serenity, Voyage 0319 – Gaudi to Gondolas
12th – 24th August 2010.
I won our Crystal Cruise at an event hosted by Andy Harmer and his team in October 2009. We chose voyage 0319 as I had not been to quite a few of the ports on the itinerary and so we began our trip in style from Barcelona ending up in Venice.
After our very early flight from Belfast Intl on the 11th August we arrived at The Hotel Arts in Barcelona. We were only staying for 1 night and had an awful experience at this hotel, the room and service was deplorable for a 5 Star Property.

Prior to flying, I visited and completed Crystals’ “Priority Check-in & Planning Center” (PCPC), your clients will love you when you tell them what night you can get them a table in the speciality restaurants, Spa Appointments, Shore Excursions and much more.

Day 1 – Embarkation Day
When I say it took us 2 minutes to check-in, I mean it really did. We arrived at Barcelona Port at 12 noon and we were both onboard by 12:10, cruise cards in hand with our pretty pictures on the front! We were greeted by a friendly line of crew members wearing white gloves and asked to take a seat in The Bistro on deck 6. Before we knew it Champagne was thrusted towards us (and it would’ve been rude to refuse!). We were informed that our rooms would be ready at 3pm and to enjoy the public areas and lunch.

We moved up to The Trident Grill on deck 12 for lunch and after this we proceeded to our Stateroom 109 – AA Grade on Penthouse Deck 10. Our luggage was placed on our bed, it was a good size stateroom measuring 269 square foot with private verandah. Our Stewardess greeted us, her name was Maiza, a lovely lady, very pleasant and eager to assist with any wee issue we may have throughout our voyage.

Our stateroom could not have been better positioned, we were near the elevators, laundry room with ironing board (both complimentary), the Lido Café was two decks up and above it on the next deck was the fitness center & Spa, we were truly at home!

We unpacked and walked around this marvellous ship before showering and changing for dinner. We stopped off at the Crystal Cove Bar on deck 5 (every night) and had a cocktail there before we joined our 2nd seating table in the Crystal Dining Room for Bon Voyage Dinner (casual night). At our table were two U.S. Ladies (both travel agents), a Mother & Daughter from the U.S. a Single Lady from Canada (Julie – we loved her) and a single gentleman from the U.S.

Day 2 – Day at Sea
After breakfast in the Lido we got two sunbeds on Lido deck 12, I went for my body Composition Analysis treatment, we had lunch and then lay in the sun all day. We took advantage of Crystal’s complimentary bottled water and speciality coffees throughout the day and this really does save you a lot of money over the course of your cruise. It was formal night tonight so we got suited and booted and met the Captain prior to his Gala Dinner. Waiting for us in our stateroom was a complimentary bottle of wine from Andy and the Team at Cruise Portfolio in London – Thank you for that.

The Captain’s name was Glenn Edvardsen and he has been Master of the Serenity since August 2003. After a fantastic dinner we visited the Avenue Saloon for drinks. Colin Salter was playing the piano and we all sang along!

Day 3 – Monaco, “Where Fairy Tales Really Do Come True”
It was a dull day (weather wise) to begin with and the forecast was for rain, however we never got any! We took the short tender boat ride from the ship to the shore and walked around the famous Casino Square, stopping to have a coffee along the way. Crystal provided a complimentary coach to take passengers from the pier to the town square. We went back for lunch and lounged by the pool for the rest of the afternoon. It was Casual night tonight and we arranged with our fellow diners to meet with us at the Crystal Cove for Cocktails. After dinner we went to see West End Singing Star Petrina Johnson, she was excellent.

Day 4 – Livorno, “Gateway to Florence”
After our Lido breakfast Gerry decided to get off the ship and walk into the town centre. It was a Sunday and most if not all of the shops were closed. I chose to have a Spa day availing of Crystals complimentary Sauna, Steam Rooms and hot tub. Feeling refreshed and relaxed I had lunch in the lido with the adorable Asian Servers who never forgot our names, amazing when you think they meet so many people of a fortnightly basis! They just want to do everything for you, make your tea, carry your tray, and find you a table. We had confirmed reservations at Silk Road this evening and some of the other diners decided they wanted to join us, it was no problem for the Head Waiter he changed the table for us on arrival at the dining room. The dining experience here was simply amazing.

Day 5 – Porto Venere, (Italy) “The Gulf of Poets”
The Crystal Serenity dropped anchor at 8am, I had never heard of this port and it was most exquisite and charming. After our Lido Breakfast we took the tender over to the port and walked through the maize of tiny street that meandered up the cliff, spectacular views from high up. It was very hot and after 4 hours of walking we ventured back to the ship for lunch. The ship sailed at 5pm, however a family of 4 were not onboard and the Captain made announcements for them. It was lucky for them that the pilot was able to bring them out to sea to join the ship some 15 minutes after sailing. After cocktails in the Crystal Cove we had dinner and made our way to the Galaxy Lounge to enjoy legendary arranger, musical director, performer and composer – Marvin Hamlisch. He was quite comical and told tales of working with the likes of Barbara Streisand.

Day 6 – Civitavecchia, Rome “The Eternal City & Italy’s Masterpiece”
After a comfortable night’s sleep it was Lido Breakfast and then the complimentary shuttle from the ship to the port entrance and the short walk to the train station at Civitavecchia. We were heading to Termini Station and the short walk from there to the 5 Star Westin Excelsior Hotel where I was surprising a client of mine (celebrating her 60th birthday) who was staying there prior to her Holland America Cruise. We entered the massive, grand lobby of this fantastic hotel, the couple treated us to lunch and guided us around this amazing hotel. It was in the 30 degree temperatures and we walked back to termini which resembled Spaghetti Junction! We were never so glad to see the ship on our return and as it was casual night we chilled with a few scoops (cocktails), had dinner and went to bed.

Day 7 – Serene Sorrento “Jewel of the Amalfi Coast”
We took our breakfast outside on the lido, as there is so much choice on Crystal I have to say we were pretty good, me with my freshly made omelette and 1 slice of toast, Gerry with the fresh fruit and bagel. It is so easy to over eat with the delicious spread they lay out every morning. We had visited Sorrento before (onboard the Symphony) and after the short tender to the pier we took the complimentary shuttle bus up to the top of Piazza Tasso. It is a very steep climb and we kept thinking we were going to go over the cliff after every nail biting turn! It was so lovely to sit in the square, have a beer and watch the crowds going about their day, shopping and enjoying each other’s company.
Dinner this evening was on Lido Deck “Italian Dinner Buffet" and it was simply amazing.

Day 8 – Serene Sorrento “Jewel of the Amalfi Coast”
We were staying overnight in Sorrento and Crystal Cruises laid on a continuous tender service from 8am to 3 am and this resumed at 7.30 am on day 8 until we departed at 6pm. Gerry and I just enjoyed the ship, he visited the gym and slept in the Sun most of the time and I wandered around taking photos of the public areas which was great to do when most people were ashore. It was also great to have the pool area almost to ourselves and we chatted with passengers from as far as Australia, New Zealand and the usual European’s. I think I was the only passenger onboard with an Irish passport, apart from the Lady Golf Pro who was regarded as crew. I never tried the golf, all that swinging! At 6pm, the Captain sounded that it was time to leave. “What a wonderful world” instrumental was played on the Lido Deck and you could hear people mumbling the words and trying to remember them, it was so very romantic!

We were in Prego tonight – it was great! For those of you who have ever experienced this fantastic dining option (only $7.00 per person) and have had the mushroom soup in the soup bowl made from bread – OMG it’s better than sex, really!

Day 9 – Day at Sea
Another glorious day in the sun, so after breakfast we secured the best sun loungers and just relaxed by the pool. I went for an Elemis Spa Shave & Facial Treatment which was glorious, this was not a normal facial, it was a collagen treatment and I needed all the collagen I could get! We took lunch in Tastes by the Neptune Pool, the sweet potato fries were fantastic but not an everyday occurrence. Dinner in the evening was informal so we suited up and met up with our gang for cocktails and indulged in our French Dinner. It was up to the Avenue Saloon for drinks and Colin Salter playing the tunes on the piano. We loved most of the Crystal Crew, they really do make the cruise for you. Jon in the Avenue Saloon is from Scotland and had a very dry sense of humour!

Day 10 – Trogir (Croatia) “Pirates of the Adriatic”
I had never heard of this port before so I was most intrigued. Trogir is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and after our breakfast we took the tender ashore to the centre of town. Crystal had arranged for cold drinks for passengers getting on and off at the pier, a nice touch. It took us 5 minutes to walk into the Old Town and we stopped for a coffee paying in Euros but receiving the change in Croatian Kuna? We headed back to the Serenity for Lunch and lay by the pool for a few hours before the Cocktail Sail-Away Party began. The servers kept coming by with cocktails as the Captain played the instrumental of wonderful world and everyone started to sing – it must have been what was in those cocktails? It was casual dinner this evening.

Day 11 – Trieste, (Italy) “Cultural Crossroads”
The ship docked right in the heart of the City. The pointy end looked as if it was half way across the street! It was Sunday and almost everywhere was closed bar one or two coffee shops. We had an excursion booked “Discover Trieste by Foot” but we cancelled this and did our own discovery. It was amazingly hot and the streets were crowded owing to Silversea also having a ship in port. It was Formal night tonight so we headed back, had some lunch and pressed our suits for our Gala Farewell dinner.

The laundry service is excellent on both Crystal Ships, they have 4 washing machines twinned with dryers and 2 ironing boards with iron, and there is a room on every deck. We sailed from Trieste at 4 pm, but our main highlight of this day was the Mozart Afternoon Tea in the Palm Court. We took lots of photos of this special hour and the costumed servers were tortured by each passenger for a photo with them. The buffet was a breathtaking display and the Crystal String Quartet played beautifully in the background.

Gala dinner was a fine dining experience (as was every evening); with all this food you wonder how you are still hungry at 8.30 pm? It was an early night for us as we wanted to be on deck at 6am for the scenic sail in to Venice the next morning.

Day 12 – Venice, “You’re The Tops”
We were up on deck at 6am for the fantastic sail in to Venice. Crystal had arranged for Tea & Coffee along with Danish Pastries in the Palm Court. The sun rise was spectacular as we meandered up the Grand Canal and docked at berth 18. After many photos and breakfast we caught the 1st Complimentary shuttle boat from the pier to Monumento (in front of the Londra Palace Hotel) and we did our own tour around Venice. There really is so much I can say about Venice and so I will just mention St. Marks Square, the Rialto Bridge and Palazzo Ducale. The main square was packed as there were 5 or 6 ships in port and the weather temperature was 29 degrees centigrade. We walked everywhere, ducking and diving for shade where we could. We were going to try the Gondolas but it really looked like wacky races so we opted for coffee and cakes along the canal and with the heat getting to us we decided to walk no more and headed back to the ship. We collected our passports from the Pursers Desk and locked these away in our safe.

There is always so much taking place on a Crystal Cruise and the Daytime Activities Sheet enclosed in the daily copy of reflections keeps you in the know! As we were disembarking tomorrow it was that dreaded time to start packing so we had a few hours on deck before dinner and bid our farewells to our fellow diners, the waiting team who did a wonderful job and our favourite people in the Crystal Cove.

Day 13 – Disembarkation

After breakfast we said our goodbye’s to Maiza (we wanted to take her home but they would not let us) and the fabulous Asian waiters in the Lido Café. We swiped our card and collected our luggage from the holding area, jumped into a taxi and made our way to Marco Polo Airport. It was all very smooth and operated very well by the Ground Handlers. The taxi journey cost us €46.00 and took only 20 minutes.

There were three negatives to our Crystal Cruise:

• The TV. was the old boxed TV and the remote control was antiquated (I am sure this will all change with the Serenity due to have a major refit in May 2011.

• The glass shelving in the bathroom above the wash hand basin was very low, Gerry kept hitting his head on it (hopefully this will also change with the refit)

• We found the Pursers on the front desk unapproachable, unhappy and “stuffy”

A few plus points (there are lots!) of cruising with Crystal Cruises are:

• The best dining options at sea (10 in total and much more than most cruise lines)
• The best speciality restaurant’s at sea – and for such a very low supplement
• The service from the crew is second to none.
• The cleanliness standard is extremely high
• The Port information “At a Glance” that was available each morning at the front desk
• Crystals’ Priority Check-in & Planning Center (PCPC), Amazing – your clients will be very impressed.
• Crystal Cruises are returning to Alaska in 2011 with the Symphony offering 9 sailings from San Francisco, I would dearly love to do this cruise.

Warm Regards

Brendan (O’Connor)

ACE Cruise Expo on Norwegian Sun, Belfast 01st October 2010.

2010-10-04T04:19:00.000-07:00

Flo Powell (Director at ACE) greeted me onboard the Norwegian Sun at 09:45 am. Accompanied by Flo were a small team from Norwegian Cruise Lines who would later give us a guided tour of the ship.

We were taken into The Atrium (Atlantic Deck 5) and had to wait a short time before our Conference Room was free (Promenade Deck 5). Waiting for us there was Debbee Dale (Debbee Dale Development, and has compiled Training and Development for ACE) who outlined what our session would entail.

Debbee covered the vast cruise statistics (1.65 million ex UK Cruisers, the fact that 59% of cruisers come from America and 28% from Europe – to name just a few). Debbee also “touched” upon National Cruise Week and Flo informed us of a few facts like, Fred. Olsen said that this was their best National Cruise week, CCS also fared well and details about the cruise offers that all the cruise lines promoted during that week.

Debbee then captivated us with the various ways of selling, be it rational or emotional! We also covered ideosensory trancing, the 4 P’s (Product, People, Process and Physical) and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Analysis. We all whispered to each other how wonderful Debbee is, and she really is.

As Martin (our NCL Rep) was unable to make the visit we were played a DVD from him welcoming us onboard, we just could not figure out if he was on the right or the left in the video?

Jude was our guide for our ship tour, we came out of the conference area and we took a right towards the Stardust Lounge, passing the Photo Gallery on the way. We then made our way to Pool Deck 11 and viewed the Great Outdoors Café, Garden Café, Pacific Heights Restaurant (and we were all starving just looking at all the food), then on to the Sun Deck, the Beauty Salon, Gym, Spa, Sports Bar and Video Zone. Then up to Sports Deck 12 to see the speciality restaurants, (we were advised of their cover charges) and then down to International Deck 7 to see the Casino, the Shopping Arcade, various Bars and into the Stardust Lounge (Balcony) to see and entertainer practising for that evenings’ show.

Some facts and figures about NCL and the Norwegian Sun:
• The Ship was built in 2001

• It is one of two Sun Class Ships (the Norwegian Sky being the other) and the first ships ever designed and built for Freestyle Cruising.

• At double occupancy this ship can carry 1936 passengers

• It has 13 Decks

• It has 12 Dining Options

• 10 Bars & Lounges

• Norwegian Cruise Lines sail to over 150 ports of call on five continents. You will find cruises to the Caribbean, Alaska, Europe, South America, Bermuda and Hawaii. With 11 cruise ships and over 50 itineraries to choose from, it's easy to find a cruise that's right for everyone.

• The NCL Youth Programme will certainly keep kids of all ages entertained. There are four complimentary programmes: Juniors (Ages 2-5), First Mates (Ages 6-9), Navigators (Ages 10-12), and Teens (Ages 13-17)

• Mandara Spa operate the Spas on all NCL Ships, there is jogging and walking tracks, basketball courts and a fitness center that is open 24 hours with televisions, treadmills, and elliptical, free weights, special classes, and more.

• NCL have a fantastic online training programme called NCLU (U=University) for more information on this cruise line or if you would like to increase your knowledge register today at www.nclu.co.uk

• The Sun sails from Belfast to Dublin (where ACE have another Cruise Expo) then back to Dover. From there the ship will reposition to Port Canaveral for its 14 night Eastern and Western Caribbean Cruises.

• In 2011 this ship will remain in the Caribbean based out of Port Canaveral until April 2011.

Jude finally stopped at the Four Seasons Restaurant at 1pm where we were wined and dined and I was quite lucky to be sat beside Flo and Debbee. I had the Salmon for my main course, it was excellent. The crew were very friendly and attentive.

After lunch it was time to kiss and say goodbye to all the lovely people onboard the Norwegian Sun and once we had our passports we left the ship.

I have to say I really liked this ship, and the only negative on the day was not being able to view any staterooms.

To be honest, I think I prefer this ship to the Epic or the Jewel Class Ships.
NCL have recently informed us of the direct flight from Belfast Intl (BFS) to Reus to coincide with the Epic’s sailings’ from Barcelona in 2011, however, I feel their prices are not competitive (more expensive) than with their competitors offering like-for-like!

A very big thank-you to Natalie at ACE for confirming my place and especially to Flo for hosting the day.

Warm Regards
Brendan
Travelmax Worldwide, Belfast - Tele: 02890 799 775 or 07817 406 234.

Azamara Journey - Ian Warren GoCruise

2010-08-24T05:59:00.000-07:00

AZAMARA JOURNEY

As part of my runner’s up prize in the ACE 2009 National Cruise Week poster competition, I won a weekend break in the Malmaison Hotel in Liverpool. I decided to hold off booking the weekend until I knew that there would be a ship in port I wanted to visit.

We arrived in Liverpool on the morning of the 20th August, and I managed to get soaked through carrying the luggage from the car to the hotel, but luckily the weather improved from then on, and stayed dry for the rest of the weekend. I have to say that the Malmaison is a really good hotel, with excellent furnishings and high quality food. The only small moan would be that everywhere within the hotel is so dark.

The sun was shining brightly on the Sunday morning, and as I looked out of the bedroom window I could see Azamara Journey berthed behind a few hundred yards away. So after breakfast we strolled over to meet everyone else for the ship visit. I think there were about 50 agents in total, and it was nice to see a good number from GoCruise among them.

Azamara Journey looked good against the backdrop of the Mersey, and I was looking forward to seeing inside. When we boarded we went to the Looking Glass lounge, which is situated forward on deck 10, and has fantastic views all around. With comfortable furniture it is a popular venue by day, for relaxing and watching the world go by, and by night for listening to music and dancing.

We then headed off for a tour of the ship, which took in all of the main public areas and a selection of staterooms. For a ship which carries around 700 guests, everywhere seemed very spacious. I had to say though that the ship was almost deserted, as the majority of the passengers were American and they had gone on the Beatles tour. We did chat to one couple though who told us how impressed they were with the service onboard, and having been on several cruise lines before, said “this is the cruise line to be on”.

Due to the size of the ship, the main suites obviously can’t be as large as those on some of the massive new ships, they were still very spacious. The quality of the furnishings, and attention to detail, was excellent throughout the different stateroom grades, all of which were a good size.

When it comes to dining, which is always an important point for cruisers; no-one should be disappointed. The spacious and bright Windows Café is situated aft on deck 9, and has a section outside for those who wish to dine al fresco. Discoveries Restaurant and Lounge is situated aft on deck 5 and is the main restaurant, with open seating dining, so guests can dine at whatever time they choose, and with who they want. There are no formal nights and the dress code is Country Club smart casual. For those who are celebrating a special occasion, or who just want to dine in a smaller venue, then head to Prime C or Aqualina, both situated aft on deck 10. There is a small cover charge of just $15 per person (free for suite guests), but well worth it for the quality of the food offered. We had lunch in Aqualina, and enjoyed a wonderful Filet Mignon. Of course the wine was free flowing, as selected house wines are included in the cruise price with Azamara Club Cruises.

Other areas on the ship worthy of mention include the Mosaic Café, the Cabaret lounge and of course the Astral Spa situated forward on deck 9. As well as the hairdresser and gym, and all the normal things you would expect, they also have an acupuncture clinic, where they can help you with pain management, sea sickness, weight loss and quitting smoking. They also have a thalassotherapy pool outside, on a sheltered area of deck. There is a charge for this (free to those in the top 2 levels of suites).

Overall I can thoroughly recommend Azamara Club Cruises, based on what we saw today. When you consider that the price includes free flowing quality house wines with lunch and dinner, speciality teas and coffers, bottled water and soda drinks, stateroom and dining gratuities, and local shuttle buses, it represents excellent value for money.

Many thanks must go to Ruth Gardiner and Leon Hand, for their warm and friendly hospitality during our visit.

Ballymena Travel Agent wins ACE Ambassador of the Year Award 2010

2010-07-05T03:59:00.000-07:00

Top performing Ballymena travel agent, Brendan O’Connor of Travelmax has been awarded status as an ACE Ambassador by the world’s leading cruise lines. The award was made at a glittering ceremony in front of hundreds of travel agents at the annual conference of the Association of Cruise Experts in Southampton. The accreditation is only bestowed on those travel agents whose knowledge of cruise ships has reached the very highest level.

Brendan was delighted with the recognition. He said “I am passionate about the cruise industry and always seeking to expand my knowledge about cruise lines, new ships, routes, the latest news and improved facilities.”

Most travel agents have experienced cruising first hand, but for Brendan it was his job too. His love of cruising started many years ago when he worked for Cunard aboard the QEII after which he spent three years working with leading cruise line Royal Caribbean International.

While the award is a great personal honour for Brendan he is determined to help to raise the profile of cruising within Northern Ireland. He said “During my time in the travel industry I have seen the cruise sector grow from strength to strength locally and there is a steadily growing core of regular customers who now take a cruise as their main holiday of choice. While some people jet off to join a ship in the Caribbean, with cruise ships regularly calling into Belfast, Cork and Dublin the opportunity to board a ship locally has never been better.”

Recognising Brendan’s achievement, Flo Powell, Director of the Association of Cruise Experts said “ACE Ambassador Agents are those that have achieved the pinnacle of cruise expertise, with advanced knowledge and experience gained through visits to ships and in-depth destination training. It is the highest level of recognition we ever give to a travel agent.”

Brendan is shown receiving his award at the 2010 ACE Cruise Convention in Southampton – with Debbee Dale of training specialists Debbee Dale Development and Flo Powell, Director of ACE.

The Association of Cruise Experts (ACE) is supported by 36 leading cruise lines and gives three different levels of recognition to travel agents depending on their product knowledge. The top level of achievement is that of an ACE Ambassador. Brendan was the only travel specialist to receive this top accolade at this year’s ACE Conference.

Travelmax is an independent travel agent based in the Ballymena Business Centre in
Fenaghy Road in Galgorm. With 25 years of valuable experience the company specialises in finding exactly the right holiday or flight to suit customers’ needs.
Travelmax is a member of the Travel Trust Association which provides complete financial protection for money paid for travel arrangements. In addition to its shop, Travelmax also operates three travel websites: travelmax.co.uk, cruiseholidaysdirect.com and 12ski.co.uk.

Disney Magic - Chris Roberts, Go Cruise

2010-06-18T04:20:00.000-07:00

This is my second cruise with Disney, both on the Disney Magic. The first was with Yvonne in the Caribbean and this one was with my two daughters in their 20’s. This cruise was from Barcelona to Dover over 7 nights.

We travelled to Barcelona by train, taking the Eurostar to Paris Gare du Nord and then the overnight Spanish train –hotel from Gare Austerlitz to Barcelona Franca. We were only able to get reclining seats for the trip, not the most comfortable, but roomy and they do recline back over 60 degrees. Would go again but in a sleeper berth.

Check in at Barcelona was very straightforward and we were on the ship by 11.30. For parents with children Disney have Mickey and Minnie mouse making appearances in the terminal.

On boarding through the main atrium you are greeted and announced ( The Roberts family) to the waiting staff with rounds of applause.

The rooms were not ready until 1.30pm so we went to Parrot Cay Restaurant for the buffet lunch. It was very tasty and featured a hot carvery, soups, cold meats, fish and assorted salads and various of sweets to follow. There is a buffet, The Topsider, aft on the pool deck, that is small by to-days standard.

We had booked a Cat12 inside on deck 2 but were upgraded to a Cat11 inside on deck 6. During the second night on board a strange noise started in the cabin at 4am, mentioned it to our excellent steward and later that day we were moved to a Balcony cabin. The cabins are very spacious with plenty of storage and have a seperate toilet and washbasin from the main bath/shower and washbasin.

Disney does dining a little different in that you eat in three different dining rooms during your cruise. You do this in a rotation. The dining rotation is shown on your cruise card. Ours was PLAPLAP. We began in Parrot Cay, then Lumière's, which is a French inspired restaurant that used a theme based around The Beauty and Beast story. The third night was at Animator’s Pallet. Then you restart the rotation. Your waiters move with you and were excellent and made the dining a pleasurable experience, the food was to a very high standard.

One morning there is a Character Breakfast where all the Disney characters come around to every table and the Disney escort with the character will take your picture with your camera, hilarious!

Characters appear in the main atrium throughout the day and also around the ship, on embarkation day prior to sailing after swimming in the adult fresh water pool I was drying myself off when the towel was pinched by Goofy who proceeded to dry my bald patch to everyones amusement.

The Topsider buffet is open for all meals and a restaurant is also open for breakfast and lunch, which I prefer, I like my Eggs Benedict for breakfast.
On deck by the pools there are three food outlets, Goofy’s Galley, Pluto’s Dog House and Pinocchio’s Pizzaria. There is also free ice cream machines and free soft drinks, all Coca Cola products, no paying for a drinks container to obtain a soft drink 24/7.!

The entertainment is certainly the best at sea, a show every night, elaborate and very good and the stage sets quite amazing. The cruise director Brent from Aussie and his staff were fantastic. The cruise entertainment staff really kept everything moving from quizzes, to bingo to cooking demonstrations, wine tastings to cocktail mixing lessons to lectures.

There is a separate Cinema where they show the latest Disney Films in 2D and 3D. Films are also shown in the main theatre. The in cabin flat screen TV has a wide range of programmes and plenty of films to watch.

The pool deck has three fresh water pools, Childrens pool, Family pool with large screen showing feature films to football and an adults only pool, spent every day here and most of the time had the pool to myself. The adult area included a good-sized pool and two relatively large whirlpools. The area is only for passengers over 18 and Disney seems to do a good job of policing it and keeping it that way. By this pool there is Signals Bar and Cove Cafe which has a selection of books and magazines to read.

Adults are well taken care of with their own areas to relax. There is also an adult only restaurant Palo’s where they serve brunch and evening meals for a small fee, highly recommended.

The childrens clubs are without doubt the best in the industry and I was informed that other cruise lines send staff on board to see how children are looked after .
Disney is also the only cruise line to have fireworks at sea, this was spectacular and followed on from a “Pirates in the Caribbean” party on deck.

Obviously if your clients are not Disney fans this may not be the cruise for them.
Yvonne and I may be biased as we are Disneyholics have been going to Disney since staying in Disney World in Florida for a week on our 5 week honeymoon 26 years ago and having owned a villa in Orlando 3 miles from Disney for the last 9 years.
We are booked on the Disney Magic Transatlantic this September, says it all!!!!

Azamara Club Cruises - Seminar at Sea - 2-6 June 2010

2010-06-09T01:07:00.000-07:00

I was one of the fortunate and privileged travel agents to be given the opportunity to attend this, the first seminar at sea, by Azamara Club Cruises. When I received the call from ACE inviting me I got very excited as I missed this wonderful ship (Azamara Journey) when it was in Belfast a few years ago. I have tried to keep it as brief as possible and welcome any questions you may have in relation to this fantastic cruise line.

A brief outline of my itinerary:
02nd June - overnight onboard the Azamara Journey in London (Greenwich)
03rd June – set sail @ 5.30 am from London (and I did attend the sailaway!)
04th June – Ijmuiden (Amsterdam)
05th June – Kiel Canal (Germany)
06th June – Copenhagen – Disembark and complimentary B.A. flight to London.

Once I received my cruise confirmation number I completed my online check-in and printed my Xpress Pass in order to speed things up at check-in (I will be happy to complete this for you).

Day 1 (London).
I confirmed my return flight with BMI from Belfast City and arrived at 1.30 pm on the 02nd June.

I was not looking forward to the Camel Hike from Heathrow to Greenwich and managed to do this via 3 tubes and Dockland Light Rail in 1 hour 20 minutes (I was very impressed and on a very hot day)

On arrival at Greenwich Pier I met 4 other travel agents and we took the short tender service to the ship. Once onboard we made our way to the Guest Relations desk on deck 4 for check-in and the lovely Nikki (Purser) greeted us with champagne cocktails served by the equally lovely Elena. A very quick and efficient check-in followed and we were handed our Cruise Card in a small leather wallet with our stateroom numbers on a separate welcome aboard card (So that your stateroom number is not visible on your cruise card)

We were directed to our staterooms and I was allocated a Club Oceanview Stateroom (Category 04, number 4017). It was very spacious, comfortable and had a queen size bed, flat screen television, in-room safe, hairdryer (not that I need one) and Elemis products in the bathroom (I need those). Other amenities include cotton bathrobe and slippers, fresh fruit basket, fresh flowers, the list goes on (please ask me for the full list).

On my bed was my copy of Pursuits (Daily Programme) informing me of a list of events taking place, dining options (both Culinary & Signature) and the bar hours with deck locations for all. A few of us made our way to the Pool Grill for a quick snack as we had to meet our hosts at 7pm for cocktails and the rest of the group. My Stateroom Steward was called Bartoleme, a lovely gentleman whom I only met twice in the 5 days purely because I was rarely in the room and we kept missing each other.

At this point I am going to give you a very brief overview of Azamara Club Cruises.
Lots and lots of information can be found on their website: www.azamaraclubcruises.com

They have two ships: The Azamara Quest & The Azamara Journey, they are sister ships and carry the same amount of passengers: 694. Their ships are categorised as Boutique, sophisticated and relaxed.

They visit 140 ports in 50 countries with their two ships and because of the smaller size of these ships they can visit unique worldwide destination ports. Their motto is “you’ll love where we take you” and you really will. The officers and crew are International and speak many languages. I found them all to be very pleasant and helpful yet unobtrusive. Electrical outlets in all staterooms and suites are 110 Voltage.

Currency onboard is $US, all your entertainment is Free and the dress code is smart/casual attire.

They have three different Club Suites and four different Club Staterooms. The Suites offer much more amenities such Priority Check-in, Priority Luggage, Dry Cleaning to mention a few. (Also see below)

Gratuities are included in all Suite & Stateroom categories and additional gratuities are at your own discretion.

Since April 2010 the new Azamara Club Cruises now offer more inclusive amenities:
• Preferred vintage red & white wine with lunch & dinner
• Bottled water, sodas, speciality coffees & teas on the house
• Housekeeping, dining & bar gratuities all included
• All meals and room service with speciality dining complimentary for suite guests
• Destination-influenced entertainment & enrichment programmes
• Shuttle service to/from port communities, complimentary where available
• Complimentary self-service laundry
• Butler service for Suite guests

Day 1 (London….Continued)
At 7pm we all met for cocktail’s and were greeted by the UK & Ireland Sales team of Michael English, Cindy Tamblyn and later by Ruth Gardiner (who was hosting an agent’s show around) and the rest of our group.

After a brief hello and introduction we split into two groups and one half dined in the Aqualina and the other in the Prime C – Signature Restaurants. (We then swapped around for the following evening)

The food was to die for in both of these Restaurants, the service was excellent and the “House” wine was the best house wine I have ever drank (not that I drink that much as you know!!!) We all gathered afterwards for drinks and then retired as it had been a long day travelling.

Day 2 (Sea Day).
After a very comfort night’s sleep, most of us met (as requested) at 5.00 am the following morning (have photos to prove it) and we set sail at 5.15 am. The skyline was wonderful and almost everyone was in good spirits. It was back to bed for a couple of hours and then we had our travel agent’s seminar which went on until 5.15 pm after our wine tasting session with Boris, Elena & Laurentia.
I had a fabulous steak for dinner at Prime C this evening and we all met up again later for cocktails.

The clocks went forward one hour at 2am the following morning.

Day 3 (Amsterdam).
We arrived into Amsterdam’s Ijmuiden Cruise Port and I did not get off as I had been to Amsterdam before so spent the day with a few of the agent’s by the pool. Azamara Club Cruises offer extensive Shore Excursions in all of the ports they visit at competitive prices and can be pre-booked prior to sailing or onboard (the issue with booking onboard can lead to excursions being full and you - very disappointed).
I had lunch at the Pool Grill and the crew were very generous with the complimentary wines at both lunch and evening meals.
This evening we had a choice of either dining in the Cova Café di Milano or Discoveries Dining Room. I chose the latter as this is the main dining room and the menu choices are extensive over all courses.

Day 4 (Kiel Canal).
After another great night’s sleep we entered the Kiel Canal at 10:00 am. This canal is the first connection between the North & Baltic Seas and the transit of the canal take approximately eight hours. While this may appear a sea day to some, Azamara Club Cruises offer a City Tour of Hamburg – additional cost.

We all decided to meet at the Martini Bar on deck 5 and the lovely Michael (Barman) looked after us so well while Jacqueline Dolan (The Harpist from Ireland) entertained us with some ABBA tunes. She was excellent.

Dinner this evening was in the Discoveries Dining Room for everyone. It was our last night and the great group of people I had met were all up for a long night. And a long night it was……

Day 5 (Copenhagen).
We were leaving today and all very sad. We docked at Pier 245 in Copenhagen and an air conditioned coach was waiting for us to take us to the Airport for our B.A. flight to Heathrow.
We all went our separate ways from there and I caught the BMI flight back to Belfast City.

Just one or two things to point out to you:
• Azamara Club Cruises will not serve alcoholic drinks to anyone under 21 years of age.
• While both ships appear to cater for adults only, they do allow children, however you must be aware that there are no children facilities onboard, but they are most welcome.
• They have an excellent Fitness Centre and Spa facility.
• 13 laps around the jogging track on deck 10 = One nautical mile.

I have to say I loved my short cruise on Azamara Club Cruises and think that you will enjoy it too.

I have crammed as much as I could into these three pages and if there is anything else you would like to know then please contact me and I will be happy to talk to you in more detail and provide any future quotes for you. I would sincerely like to thank Cindy, Ruth, and Michael from Azamara for their generous trip, friendly and professional training and also the lovely group of people I met for their company too.

Warm Regards

Brendan O’Connor

Celebrity Eclipse showcase voyage to Cork - Review

2010-05-07T07:34:00.000-07:00

Review by Jason Peters (Director Creative Cruises)

The sparkling new jewel in the crown of the Celebrity Cruises fleet, the Eclipse arrived in Southampton, to not only a fanfare for its arrival but also on a mission to rescue from the clutches of the Ash Cloud stranded Brits in Spain. This was followed by a lavish naming ceremony in the port of Southampton where the Great and Good of the Cruise industry celebrated another addition to the Fleet of the finest cruise line afloat.

So once the day for the launch Voyage came, the Eclipse had already made her mark on the expectant passengers about to board her, to marvel at its grand interiors and enjoy the elegant and attentive service of its officers and crew.

The 4-day Cork cruise offers agents the chance to not only introduce new to cruise clients to cruising, but also new to brand for those hardy cruisers used to sailing with the other major lines from Southampton. With the finest ship afloat, a task easily achieved.

Our group aboard consisted of 68 clients some new to cruise and with this in mind I set about a ships tour to familiarize all with the vessel. There were gasps of pleasure followed with abject amazement of the standard of the vessel!

We sailed at 5pm and then the true nature of the vessel came to life, with all its array of entertainment and dining options tempting the fellow cruiser. The one thing that strikes me with this vessel is the varied array of live music aboard with jazz bands and Lounge singers, to classical groups and a great Orchestra to accompany the excellent loud and proud production shows in the theatre.

Dining has further been enhanced with the addition of a new eatery Qsine; a stunning fusion of tastes served in a very unique way and a must for all fellow cruisers.

The usual array of staterooms are provided with attention to detail that the finest land-based hotels would find hard to match.

Our arrival into Cork provided a great backdrop to the ship in the town of Cohb for our overnight stay.

The overall impression from our clients was of just amazement of the vessel and its service standard, and the real need to re-book on the product again for longer voyages.

This above all else is a message for agents really, as although revenue can be small on these showcase voyages, the future sales that are generated can be great, especially if you take the time to escort the trip yourself, as you have a captive audience and can provide that personal touch to your clients experience aboard with parties and a contact for new to cruise passengers to feel comfortable with..

Eclipse will be wowing guests from Southampton this season and returns next year for another season, so I would encourage all agents to look at the brand and enjoy!

Viking Spirit on the Seine - April 2010

2010-05-05T05:15:00.000-07:00

By Peter Ruck, GM of Baldwins Travel and ACE Ambassador.

While the skies over Europe were closed I had a window of opportunity to take my wife away while her parents were in respite. With Kim in Viking River Cruises reservations’ help, we suddenly found ourselves on a very late cruise down the Seine. Eurostar was very busy and quite expensive, but we made it. A guy with a Viking Cruises sign at the Gare Du Nord was a welcome sight and we were quickly transferred to the Spirit – our home for the next week. It spends the first and last night of the trip in Paris enabling you to see the usual sights of Paris or on one of their special (extra price) excursions to The Louvre at the beginning or Palace of Versailles at the end of the cruise. The British have all excursions (6 on this cruise) apart from these two included in the cost.

Cabins on board are sufficiently furnished with more wardrobe and drawer space than a lot of ocean cruises. The lower deck cabins having a closed picture window as it is only cms above the water line. The other decks having picture windows that can be opened. If you arrive too early to occupy your cabin, luggage may be left and you do your own thing ashore or enjoy the simple soup and sandwich selection provided. As there were a vast number of U.S. passengers stuck in the States, and others who could not fly out, Viking, very generously allowed some to stay on board and enjoy the cruise again – quite something, compared with stories from other River Cruise companies I’ve heard!

Meals on board are as you’d expect from an ocean cruise: Early mini-breakfast followed by a full buffet and service breakfast, buffet and service lunch, afternoon tea with pastries and then full service dinner. The British on board benefited by the number of Americans who had wine included with lunch and dinner, so it was just easier to include it for everybody. I took advantage of both the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage (Silver Spirit) package which covers all drinks on board, together with a bottle of champagne, and assorted gifts for an inclusive price. This differs depending upon the length of cruise.

We were blessed with good weather visiting Rouen, where Joan of Arc met her end at the hands of the English, the Normandy landings beaches, Les Andelys with its castle built by Richard the Lionheart, Conflans with its floating bargees homes and the delightful Vernon home to Giverny and Monet’s famous gardens – absolutely beautiful.
En-route we were given the opportunity to taste fresh French cuisine, scrumptious macaroons, take a watercolour painting class and discover the history of and taste French cheeses. Entertainment is low key with one performer mainly on key-board, although he sang and also played the alto-sax and a mean guitar! The quiz night on board went down well – we won!

This type of holiday is perfect for coach tour clients – except they only unpack once; mainstream cruisers as long as they don’t want to dress up on board, (these are very informal cruises) and they’ll like the shore excursions; city break visitors and it gives them all they need and more. The crew on board are really helpful and friendly. The standard of food and service is excellent as well. An all round thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Stranded in Paris

2010-04-22T03:50:00.000-07:00

Stranded in Paris
Natalie Budgen, Membership Services Executive, Association of Cruise Experts (ACE)

The first I heard of the Volcano eruption was after we had landed at Charles De Gaulle airport in the early hours of Thursday 15th April. We were so glad that we had chosen the early flight with easyjet as otherwise we would have not made it to Paris for our trip. We spent the Friday and Saturday enjoying our trip as intended as we hadn’t really grasped the magnitude of the disruptions or the impact that it had had all over the world. By the Sunday evening we started to realise that it was unlikely that our flight would be departing the following evening, we started to receive text messages from family and work colleagues and started to pay more attention to the French news. Charles De Gaulle airport was completely shut and the UK airspace was completely shut off. On the Monday am we started to search the Internet for alternative travel arrangements, which led us to panic! All of the ferry crossings were showing full for that day and the next. The Eurostar had availability but it came with a price tag of £350 per person (rather a lot compared to the £25 easyjet flight booked). They would rebook our flight but not until the Friday and put us up in a hotel. Sounded lovely but unrealistic with jobs to get back to. We realised that not only was it going to be a struggle to return home but it was also going to cost a lot of money.

After speaking to my colleagues at the PSA we decided to head for Calais. Unfortunately there were also problems with the trains due to strikes with SNCF however luckily we were staying with friends approximately an hour and a half outside of Paris and they very kindly drove us to the Paris Nord station where we boarded a train directly to Calais . This was not cheap for a 2 hour journey - it cost us €60 each.

When we arrived in Calais the mayhem properly began. There were herds of people queuing and pushing to get out of the station along with luggage, children and sports equipment such as snowboards and skis. We fortunately travelled light and only had backpacks. Once we made it out of the station it was a mad dash to get onto a transfer coach to the nearby station of Calais Ville, where we would then be transferred onto another bus to take us to the port. I really think that this could have been arranged better, direct transfers would have been a lot easier then everyone lugging their luggage onto one bus for a short ride and to then having to do the same again. Once we were on the second bus some people came around and handed us a typed piece of paper. I do not know who they were but this did not help the already panicked and frustrated travellers. It gave a warning to passengers stranded in Calais that large numbers were already stranded and that the response of the French government, Calais administration and the police was not positive.

It went on to outline that travellers had been put into temporary detention for not showing ID on request. Others who had been camping on the beach due to not being able to find accommodation had been repeatedly harassed and in some cases had their belongings taken and destroyed and their drinking water poured into the sand. It also spoke of violent behaviour from the police during such operations. Some people had also been arrested for helping other stranded tourists out. It ended by saying that as many people were on a shoestring budget and therefore local charities had started to hand out food from a distribution point (see last page for full article).

So in the already stressed state I was in, this made me panic and I had images of having to sleep rough on the beach. Luckily my other half calmed me down, however if I had been travelling alone this would have been horrible!

We finally made it to the port at around 5.30 pm to be greeted by a long queue of people outside the terminal.

At this point we had no idea how long we would be queuing, how long the crossing was, when they were departing and how much it was going to cost. Some boards with information would have been helpful. Chinese whispers were going around the queue and all you could hear were unhappy travellers muttering €65! Initially this seemed a lot to pay out, especially for families travelling with several children. It is common knowledge that ferry crossings are usually a lot cheaper and everyone had already had to pay through the nose for travel to the port, we were feeling exploited for the unfortunate position they were in. However, when you think about it the ferry companies had to put on more crossings, bring across their freight ferries, have more staff and transfers and all of this needed to be covered. I therefore came to the conclusion that this price was fair.

The queue moved a lot quicker than expected and within two and a half hours of arriving at the port we had purchased our tickets at €65 each, gone through security, been transferred by bus and were in the restaurant onboard one of P&O’s freight ferries by 8pm having a much needed meal and alcoholic beverage and setting sail for our 90 minute crossing to Dover, this felt amazing!

Once we reached Dover we had to deal with the reality as with many others that our car was parked at Luton airport. So into another queue for a bus to transfer us to Dover Priory station to catch a train into Kings Cross St Pancras, we were very lucky with the times as a fast train was just about to leave, however we had to pay another £35 for the ticket – ouch! The costs were mounting up. One poor guy sitting close by on the train had to pay £208 per person (and there were 3 of them) for a ticket to take them back to Leeds, this was after having to hire a car to get them from Switzerland to France. Another lady had paid a large sum of cash in Tunisia to board a boat to Marseille and had then got various trains and buses to Calais and still had to get to Heathrow to retrieve her car and get home. She had already been travelling for 27 hours! It was at this point I realised just how lucky we were to have been close to Paris and that actually our extra expense had been a lot less than many others around us. We reached Kings Cross St Pancras and bought another ticket to Luton Airport another £13.50. Once we arrived at Luton we jumped straight onto the transfer bus to take us to the airport where our car was parked. It was good to get into our car and the car park very kindly gave us the extra days parking free. We then had an hour and a half drive home and eventually, after around 15 hours of travelling, we finally made it home in the early hours of Wednesday morning – Home Sweet Home!

Hurtigruten 'Seminar at Sea' FAM - in search of the Northern Lights

2010-03-18T02:33:00.000-07:00

Hurtigruten Northern Lights FAM
14-17th March 2010 - Norway
Flo Powell, Director, ACE

Our group of 28 met at Heathrow at 5.20am to fly to Oslo and then Tromso, we arrived at lunchtime and went straight to the RICA hotel for a 3-course meal. There was quite a lot of excitement about the snow and Fjords that we passed on the way - the scenery was quite spectacular; there had been quite a lot of snow before we arrived so it was all crisp and new and everyone secretly wanted to jump in it!

We had a wander around Tromso after lunch and noted the unusual style of housing with enormous icicles hanging off every ledge. We were then transferred to the Husky Farm in the evening for a traditional Sami meal of Reindeer stew around a fire then onto the dog sledging which was really good fun - the huskies seemed as excited as us about the whole experience! We were standing around 'cooing' at huskie babies when someone looked up and gasped - the Northern Lights had paid us a visit and a bright green strip of light was dancing across the sky above our heads. It lasted for around twenty minutes then began to fade away but came back later, interrupting our dessert of chocolate cake, beer and baileys!

We boarded the ship at around 01.30, I was expecting a pretty basic cabin as I knew the Hurtigruten ships are working vessels, taking freight to the remote Norwegian communities as well as passengers. However, I was surprised to find that my cabin was very comfortable, it came with a warm duvet, picture window and a heated floor in the bathroom!

After a hearty breakfast the following morning we trudged onto the coach for a half day sightseeing tour, we were blessed with excellent weather. Our tiredness soon waned as we took in the amazing views of Fjords and snow-capped mountains basked in sunshine. We were even treated to a local delicacy of 'brown cheese' on board a ferry, this snack is a kind of sweet cheese which they served on waffles - it was delicious!

We returned to the ship for a top-class buffet lunch with lots of fish, then toured the ship. The MS Midnatsol is a fairly new ship at only 7 years old and boasts two hot tubs on deck 9, single-sex saunas and a gym as well as a panoramic lounge, bar, cafe, facilities for disabled passengers and a number of suites with balconies.

The following morning I awoke to the announcement that we were passing the Arctic Circle so I rushed up to the icy deck 9 to take a quick snap before breakfast. Our FAM was a 'seminar at sea', so after breakfast we visited one of the conference rooms to meet the Purser, Camilla, who was a truly wonderful lady who had been on the ship since the beginning and talked excitedly about life on board, the different types of passengers and the services available including excursions such as reindeer riding and snow-mobiles, the option to travel with your car or bicycle on board, wine packages and an unlimited coffee option. Lucy from Hurtigruten then took us through the rest of the Hurtigruten fleet and destinations including Greenland, Spitsbergen and Antarctica and we learned that they stop at 34 ports on the Norwegian coast and at Kirkenes passengers can stay in an ice hotel!

Our last day was at Trondheim; the weather was not as bright as before but our tour guide took us through the sites with great enthusiasm and showed us the Cathedral and famous bridge, canals, university and rock music museum. We arrived at the airport a little sad to be leaving Norway, but the journey home was very speedy - two flights in only 3 hours!

This trip was a lot better than expected, everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we were all amazed at the breathtaking scenery, fantastic facilities on board as well as great food and service. We certainly weren't expecting waiter service for dinner, entertainment in the bar, comfortable cabins with heated floors, saunas and hot tubs! It was far more a cruise ship than a ferry and at times it felt like a river cruise as we travelled so close to the mountains on either side of the ship. This trip would be ideal for those looking for a bit of adventure, its not exhausting and those interested in wildlife and photography would be particularly interested, they just need to wrap up warm! We took in just a small part of the coastline on offer and itineraries are available in Spring, Summer and Autumn as well as Winter to showcase this fabulous country in all the different seasons.

Hurtigruten have a training module available on the ACE Academy to learn more! www.cruiseexperts.org.

ACE Antarctic Blog - Swan Hellenic

2010-03-08T06:06:00.000-08:00

ACE Antarctic Blog
by Peter Ruck, Baldwins Travel

For many years I had dreamed of visiting Antarctica, an untamed continent of heroic explorer fame and have now realised that dream! I decided to take my wife during our 35th wedding anniversary year on a Swan Hellenic Antarctic Peninsular cruise in December – it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Hurtigruten and Silversea were considered but we had quite tight travel dates.

We flew on BA via Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires for a 2 night pre-cruise stop, taking in a tour of the city, the Tigra Delta and a tango dinner show while staying at the centrally situated Sofitel Hotel. Bearing in mind the cost of an air fare, transfers, excursion and pre-post stays (£300 per room, rack), the add-on was extremely good value for money. A number of passengers had decided to ‘do it themselves’ – which caused problems for them on their return, following delays/cancellation of flights from Ushuaia and disruption of flights to and from Europe because of the European snowy weather conditions! After our brief stay we flew down to Ushuaia where we transferred to an alpine type lodge in the Tierra Del Fuego Parks area for lunch and a minimal-fuss check-in to collect our boarding/cabin key cards. Shortly thereafter boarding Minerva, starting our cruise adventure along the Beagle Channel with the sun shining over the Chilean Alps and awaiting what Drake Passage may throw at us. Although Minerva can accommodate around 350 guests, the Antarctic Cruises have a maximum 200 following guidelines laid down by the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators treaty. Only 100 of those passengers are allowed off ship at any one time using the 10 Zodiac boats available on board. The cabins are adequate with full en-suite facilities – just about room to house the complimentary parkas, landing life preservers and Wellington boots disinfected and returned at the end of the cruise.

As it turned out, Drake was a bit of a lumpy Force 4, but nowhere near as bad as it could have been. 2 days later we had made such good headway that we had the bonus of an early extra landing on the Antarctic Continent. The good weather continued through most of the next 5 days where we experienced totally stunning scenery – in Half Moon Bay, Deception Island and Paradise Bay. We had sightings of Minke, Humpback and a large pod of Orca (Killer) Whale. To be standing on those pristine, blindingly white ice beaches was both exhilarating and humbling! Viewing penguins at such close quarters – yes, you’re supposed to stay 15 feet away from them – but nobody bothered to tell the penguins! There is an aroma of very strong marmite – but I’ve encountered worse.
We encountered hundreds of Gentoos some with very newly hatched chicks, cute Chinstrap and Adelie penguins plus one poor King penguin who was obviously lost.
One could spend ages just watching all their antics. (see pics below)

We viewed Elephant seal pups, cute Weddell Seals and the occasional evil-looking Leopard seal. You have to be watchful when walking on land – that long rock could well be a seal!

It wasn’t all bright skies and sunshine glinting off the waters and glaciers. We entered the Lemaire Channel, so called Kodak Alley, in a Force 12 hurricane, but fortunately due to its steep sides, the wind didn’t affect the ship too much – the Captain just had to keep an eye on the icebergs, and if you were on deck it was hard to hold a camera steady – but we made it through without incident. The icebergs – wind and ice carved statues and glittering crystal, some coloured such a deep azure blue where over the centuries air has been compressed out of the ice returning it to its natural hue. There were also huge 27 kilometre length tabular bergs that had broken away from the ice shelf – incredible. The whole experience was really amazing.

We were treated to some interesting and landing-enhancing lectures from very professional marine biologists, geologists and ornithologists. We visited a US research station, Palmer Station, where they have just discovered a marine sponge that gives off a toxic substance that can kill skin cancerous cells without harming surrounding live cells. Having named it ‘Palmeroid’ they need to replicate it in the laboratory (you can’t just wipe out the sponges harvesting this toxin) and then trial it – may take 7 or more years and millions of dollars – but one day! Just goes to show the important research being carried out down there. After an unforgettable 6 days of cruising and landings we commenced our return through Drake Passage (or Drake Lake) – it was flat calm with a long distant view of Cape Horn – often some of the most notorious waters in our oceans!

The continent (my 7th now) was absolutely stunning. Although swimming in an icy cold caldera does raise questions of my sanity. It was supposed to be fed by geo-thermal springs but they must have been turned off for the Summer! At least the vat of hot coffee or chocolate together with your favourite tipple of rum or cognac etc welcomed us back on board each time.

I don’t know why Minerva only has 3+ stars in the Berlitz guide. The crew were very professional, the staff so friendly and the service excellent. All were very safety conscious, helpful and informative.

My next task to improve on this or at least equal it – something I believe will be hard to do.

Review of 5 Star Celebrity Infinity South American and Antarctica Adventure

2010-02-25T04:44:00.000-08:00

Author;
Jason Peters
Director Creative Cruises and ACE UK Ambassador.

As we boarded our British Airways flight in London for our second trip down to South America to Buenos Aires, I recalled our last voyage aboard the Infinity in the region 3 years ago. Then we travelled north to Rio for Carnival, so we were very excited to have ahead of us a voyage in the footsteps of explorers past, south to the Falklands and Antarctic region.

After an overnight flight with a crew change in Sau Paulo we arrived in BA and headed for our chosen hotel the 5 Star Hilton in the port madero area of the city. Fantastic location, very safe and provides an excellent base to explore this vibrant city.

Our cruise was a week away, so having spent 4 days immersed in Argentinean beef and tango and great wines we headed north to Iguazzu to the Sheraton which overlooks the falls for 3 nights .If you are planning a trip to this region the falls are a must, where you get really up close and personal with the most stunning falls on the planet. Our hotel overlooked the falls and as you sit on your balcony the roar of the power of nature in front of you never ceases to amaze.

After 3 days it was back to Buenos Aires for a night on a quick flight from iguazzu into the domestic airport.

Sunday 14th Feb arrived and there from our Hilton bedroom window stood the magnificent Celebrity Infinity. We had fond memories of the vessel from our previous trip aboard so we hurried our cases together and headed for the port area. Amazing when you consider the problems South America can present all cruise line but from leaving our hotel to walking up the gang way and accepting our welcome Champagne was just 50 minutes.

The Infinity was the second in the MILLENIUM SERIES of vessels launched in 2001. She is still looking good today with obvious care having been taken to keep her up to date. There have been some great changes to the onboard product at Celebrity with total revamp of menus under the new guidance of their corporate Chef Jacques van Staden .The re launch of the Captains club with wonderful benefits for the repeat guests including a club lounge where Elite and suite passengers can relax with fellow passengers over complementary drinks during cocktail hour.

We sailed and started our adventure towards the Falklands. Now, South America cruising is not for the faint hearted, nor for anyone without strong sea legs. You can and we did have all four seasons, sometimes in 1 hour let alone 1 day, with bright sunshine giving way to strong winds and rain, calm then rough sea swells, then bright again with sea horse waves surrounding the ship. Very exciting and a real sense of real cruising.

Amongst all the excitement comes an outstanding set of officers and crew who provide the most outstanding service and levels of entertainment, which represents the typical standard across the fleet. The best development is the introduction of a new production company from the UK called Qdos, who have taken the theatre shows to a new level with fantastic singers and dancers and bright new Broadway style shows.

We arrived in the Falklands just as it was being reported that Argentina were once again falling out with the uk again, so it was strange to come all this way to be in the thick of a dispute, very well covered on CNN live as we walked of the tenders ashore.

The main reason for this cruise was of course the visit to Antarctica. As we moved closer to the region, the temperature started to drop and we started to sea ice bergs slowly float by the ship. Fantastic skill of the Captain and his team to navigate such an area, with at times surrounded by bergs with seals and penguins sitting bemused as this shinny vessel slipped by as they basked in the Antarctic summer sun at minus 10 degrees.

We arrived in Elephant Island to a snow blizzard followed by bright sunshine, just amazing to witness the forces of nature on display around the ship. We moved onto Paradise bay next with even more stunning scenery to watch with the glaciers falling into the sea before us.

Wrapped up warm on deck with a hot chocolate it dawned on me that only 0.1% of the worlds population visit the region each year and we were lower than Sydney on the map and as far South as any ship can travel, all from a floating 5 star ship. A strange sense to experience in a land so full of history and extreme weather patterns.

After 2 days in the region we turned north and started our course towards cape Horn and then various ports back on our journey to Buenos Aires.

South America and Antarctica is possibly the most exciting voyage we have ever done, and to be aboard a celebrity vessel to experience the region is about as good as it gets. The Infinity offers voyages in the region each year from December till March with two sailings only per year to the Antarctic region.

For sheer adventure and a real different type of cruise to offer clients, it’s a must, but don’t miss the capital of Buenos Aires or the falls of Iguazzu, as it’s the finishing touch to a perfect cruise experience.

Silversea Silver Spririt Inaugural: 20-22 Dec 09

2009-12-23T05:50:00.000-08:00

With frozen roads and frozen planes I wondered if I was ever going to arrive in Monte Carlo for the Silver Spirit inaugural trip on Sunday 20th December! I finally made it and jumped in a taxi from Nice airport, 100 EUROS later and a very pigeon French/English conversation I arrived at the port terminal to be greeted by a red carpet and attendants with white gloves who ushered me through check-in and took my suitcase all the way to my suite.

The Silver Spirit does not have cabins, only suites! And almost every one of them has an outside balcony. Every suite has a private butler service who will come and introduce himself when you arrive and tell you about the 24 hour room service and pillow menu.

As I was late arriving I quickly unpacked and got ready for dinner, I was due to meet the rest of the trade guests and Silversea team in the Observation Lounge for a drinks reception then onto the restaurant for dinner. I discovered that the restaurant is a formal affair with waiter service as you would expect on a Silversea ship and has a lovely a la carte menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 400 guests at a time. Unlike many ships this lovely restaurant is all on one level and features a'slow food' menu.

That evening we were treated by a caberet act from a singer called Lorraine Brown in the show lounge, the ships theatre, which is nicely decked out with 2-seater chairs and red decor. Lorraine was fabulous and her act included songs from the Supremes, Oleta Adams and the Beatles and ended with a sing-a-long 'You'll Never Walk Alone' which had all the Liverpool fans in the room (including me) doing our level best to recreate the fever of Anfield!

The following morning I attended a press briefing in the Panoramic Lounge which is a gorgeous room on deck 9 with a terrace overlooking the pool area. I found out that the ship has 6 dining options including two speciality restaurants for sushi and fine wine but with only 24 places available at each, early booking is recommended and customers should expect an intimate dining experience with excellent service. Silversea boast that the fine wine is some of the best in the world with very little mark-up which has been impressing guests, the cover charge for the sushi restaurant is $40 but to have a fine wine menu included there is an extra $200. However the standard wine menu is also impressive with 20 white and 20 red to choose from.

After the press briefing I took in a self-guided tour of the ship and visited the lovely internet cafe and library, pictured above, the poolside area with attractive deck furniture, the show lounge, the casino, the boutiques and the truly outstanding spa. Although rather high priced the spa offers treatments for men and women including wet-shaves (for the men), massage, hair & beauty treatments and even botox. There is also a steam room and a fitness centre.

The ship sailed to Barcelona early and the captain announced the seas were expected to get rough, the winds actually reached force 9 and I have to admit I hid in my cabin and ordered dinner service from my lovely butler and enjoyed the interactive TV menu with 56 blockbuster movies to choose from!

The following morning I caught the early transfer to the airport as I had heard about airport chaos in the UK causing many Easyjet flights to be cancelled, luckily my flight went ahead as scheduled unlike 178 others!

The Silver Spirit is certainly geared towards couples with no child facilities on board, the romantic two-seater theatre seats and truly luxurious cabins with possibly the comfiest mattress I've ever slept on. The dining arrangements are freestyle and passengers can dine in the main restaurant or the Italian 'La Terrezza' buffet between certain hours for breakfast, lunch and dinner and can sit with others or take a table for two. This offers the flexibility of sitting with whom you choose, whenever you like and with six dining options guests are not going to go hungry!

Happy Cruising and Merry Christmas!

Flo Powell
ACE Director
flo@psa-ace.org

NCLU’s Top 15 Students Birthday Bash in London.

2009-12-11T02:03:00.000-08:00

I began my studies at the Norwegian Cruise Lines University (NCLU) on the 03rd Dec2008. Every couple of months a new course would be launched and all students received25,000 points for passing each course plus 5,000 point for each of the Electives(mini training courses with the fun factor). All course points allowed you to claim 5points under your ACE membership. The goal to reach was 250,000 points and other points could be gained from blogging and asking the dean questions along with games and competitions. A few months ago all students were contacted by the Dean to advise that the first top 15 students with the highest points would be invited to London to The Jamie Oliver inspired restaurant “fifteen” www.fifteen.net for the University’s 1st Birthday party. I am delighted to say I was one of the 15 and on the 01st December I, along with another Northern Ireland Travel Agent boarded our 6.30 am Ryanair flight to Stansted. Once here we took the Stansted express to Liverpool Street and then a tube to Old Street, the address of the restaurant. Dress code for the day was smart casual.

Upon arrival we meet Jill and James from the Marketing department at NCL. Steve Dunlop was there to take the photographs (www.stevedunlop.com) and before long we had a nice chilled glass of champagne in our hands. We were asked outside to partake in the photo ceremony and the 1st birthday cake made an appearance in these photos along with the other students and props! Natalie from ACE was in attendance too, as was Debbee Dale. Lunch was a grand affair with lots of menu choices and plenty of wine. I was sat next to Nick Wilkinson (Director of Sales for NCL) and NCL’s General Manager Stephen Park thanked everyone and gave a great speech.

The icing on the cake (so to speak!) was a complimentary 2 night cruise aboard the new Norwegian Epic for all students prior to the ACE Cruise Convention in June 2010 in Southampton. We were all delighted. Check out the epic website www.epic.ncl.com for more information on this fantastic new NCL project.

It was time to say our goodbyes, so we hot footed it back to Stansted and flew back to Belfast City. A great day was had by all and I would like to thank everyone at NCL for their generosity and company on the day. I can now claim that I am truly “freestyle certified” (…and I have the badge to prove it!!!)

Warm Regards

Brendan O’Connor
Cruise Specialist – Bryan Somers Travel, Northern Ireland.

2009-12-01T08:36:00.000-08:00

The Oasis of the Seas Inaugural Sailing: 24-26th November 2009

I felt extremely fortunate to be invited on board the Oasis of the Seas for her inaugural sailing on 24th November. I was joined by Bill Gibbons, Director of the PSA, Penny Guy, PR Director, and Maggie Gibbons, PSA Membership Executive. We all flew to Miami with BA along with a whole host of industry partners, press and travel agents. Before leaving I realised that the ship, at double occupancy plus crew, will take about 4 times the population of the village I grew up in. It takes between 7,500-8,000 total!

It was all very organised when we landed, we sleepily boarded coaches for the hour long trip to Fort Lauderdale port. The Oasis of the Seas came into view and almost cast a shadow over Miami, there were audible gasps from the coach!

We walked swiftly through the enormous and modern purpose-built terminal and excitedly leaped up the escalator to board the ship. We dumped our things in our cabins then ran around like hyper children who've eaten too many smarties and tried to see everything!

My cabin was inside with a window overlooking the central park, which was a rather bizarre experience to wake up on a cruise ship to see trees and plants outside! The cabin was adequately sized with a nice window seat/sofa and an enormous bed which was very comfy. The width of the ship is really what shocked me, it is too enormous to really describe but I'll have a go.

We started from the top deck (number 17!) where the Windjammer restaurant is located for buffet breakfast and lunch plus an Asian restaurant and the Viking Crown lounge bar. We walked down to deck 16 to find the top level of the pool area, with an enormous amount of sun loungers, pools on each side and Jacuzzis. It took a good few minutes to walk to the other end, where we discovered a cocktail bar and three more Jacuzzis in a lovely, almost secluded area which looked gorgeous in the sunset light.

We also discovered the flowriders, where brave young men and woman were surfing happily away, occasionally showcasing a spectacular dismount! We also noted a very large basketball court, six table tennis tables, a very high zip line, and the 'wipeout cafe' (very aptly named as it caters for flowriders.)

The excitedness had not worn off but we now looked a little more slack-jawed as we wondered around open-mouthed at the wealth of activity available from the kids area near the pool to the teenagers area with playstations, a lounge and their own disco area.

We carried on and took a peek at the Royal Promenade on deck 5 which is essentially a busy shopping street including the entrance to the Opus dining room (over 3 floors, silver service for lunch and dinner), boutique and souvenir shops, an English pub, a nightclub, guest services and a champagne bar to name but a few.

We decided we needed a pit-stop and headed for the rather serene central park and found the bar that rises, called the 'rising tide bar' that travels vertically between the Royal Promenade and Central Park neighbourhoods. We discovered another lovely little bar and sipped kir royals whilst being serenaded by an impromptu bagpiper.

Dinner was a lovely experience, our waiter and waitress, both from the Philippines, were a delight and the food was amazing. I was impressed by the choice; healthy-options and lardy chef recommendations for all types of diet!

The next two days were taken up with going along to business sessions where we were given the opportunity to ask RCCL senior staff questions; everything from smoking on board to gratuities were discussed, then lots of eating, drinking, and finally some sunbathing when the captain announced he was 'going in search of sunshine' having been disappointed by the rain.

I have barely touched on all the areas of the ship and activities available; we visited the loft suits and other cabins (the Royal Loft Suite was particularly impressive with a piano, mini library and hot tub on the terrace), the enormous spa with every treatment imaginable available, the aqua theatre with synchronised swimming shows, huge rock-climbing walls, an indoor theatre seating 1,380 with top-notch entertainment such as the musical 'Hairspray', the impressive casino, 'Comedy Live', a karaoke bar, jazz bar, 1940's style cupcake shop, burger bar, seafood cafe, fantastic speciality restaurants and a hand-whittled wooden carousel. Of course.

You've got to see it to believe it! A huge THANK YOU to RCCL for the invitation, it was truly breathtaking.

For more photos please visit our facebook group, called the Association of Cruise Experts (ACE).

Flo Powell, Director, ACE

A First Time Cruise Experience: Hurricanes and Champagne

2009-11-17T01:53:00.000-08:00

ON BOARD THE AURORA

DAY ONE

As the new Director of ACE I was delighted to be invited by P&O to join the Aurora’s Mediterranean cruise on 3rd November with my pal, Julie.

We departed from Hove to Southampton by train, watching the lashing rain with trepidation as we considered the journey ahead, in particular the Bay of Biscay which I was warned about. We arrived at the Mayflower terminal, handed our luggage to the helpful porter and were ushered through priority boarding; the whole process took about 10 minutes. We met Lorraine and Michelle from P&O at the ship’s reception which features a beautiful waterfall above the staircase. We were escorted to our cabin where bottles of champagne and chocolates awaited our arrival! The Aurora is very British in design and we found it homely and welcoming, Julie commented ’I feel right at home already!’ We met Suresh, our cabin steward who told us all about meal arrangements, the safety talk we had to attend and his hours so we could call on him for any whim. I was particularly impressed to discover the range of restaurants and options for different meals throughout the day and the 24 hour room service, all included in the price!

We unpacked and headed off to the lifejacket safety talk, then came back to the cabin, wrapped up in our fluffy bathrobes and slippers and sat on our balcony, sipping the wonderful champagne and waving goodbye to Southampton. The evening was kicked off with dinner with Philip Price, Head of Brand Marketing for P&O at Café Bordeaux, the on-board bistro style Marco Pierre White restaurant. The food was utterly exquisite.

Unfortunately the weather had started to turn and we became more than just aware we were on a large ship. We headed for bed and spent the night listening to the ship creak and the waves become larger outside.

DAY TWO

The announcement in our cabin in the morning announced hurricane force winds and to prepare ourselves for a full day of unpleasant weather. We took a peek outside and noted the enormous waves, lashing spray onto our balcony. We had lunch in the Medina restaurant, which was amusingly interrupted by diners squealing and pointing at the window as a 10 metre wave lurched threateningly towards our direction. It was all rather dramatic and I felt the need for a lie down! We received a lovely call that evening from David Shepherd, Head Purser, ensuring we were OK and inviting us to meet the Captain on Saturday evening for the Barcelona sail away. We managed to get up and have a small dinner and catch the evening comedy show before heading back to the preferred horizontal position at an unusual (for us) bedtime of 10pm. However the storm eased that night and we finally got the rest we needed.

DAY THREE

We ventured onto our balcony and were delighted by the sight of much smaller waves. We celebrated with spa treatments; a truly fantastic deal of £60 three treatments; I opted for the back massage, facial and mud foot soak, my spa room had windows out to the ocean. We also visited the steam room afterwards, by-passing the gym equipment for another day.

The evening was the first formal night, we headed to Andersons for a quick drink and sat with the ship’s singer, Lindsey and the excursions officer, Graham who advised us on the trips we had planned. We went to the Alexandria restaurant in our glad-rags, the food was sublime; three courses (including delights such as lobster), all included in the cruise package. Our waiters, Isaak and Savio were extremely lovely, full of smiles and easy to laugh with.

That night we met Philip Price again and a couple of other passengers in the sports bar and got chatting, after a few reasonably priced Bombay Saffire G&T's we headed to Masquerade, the ship’s nightclub and danced the night away, happily requesting tunes from the very accommodating DJ, Mark, and finally rolled into our cabin at 4am.

DAY FOUR

We woke late in the afternoon and were greeted by Savio at the lunchtime buffet restaurant, the Orangery. We treated ourselves to another steam room session then lounged once again on the sun deck until the sunset over the ocean - it was a sublime sight. That night we took it easy, knowing our first port of call, Barcelona, meant an early start for our first excursion.

DAY FIVE

Barcelooona! We woke at 7am and excitedly looked out at the twinking lights on the horizon, by the time we were dressed the ship was almost docked. We had time for breakfast then eagerly went off to meet our excursion group. The tour was led by a true Spanish tour guide who showed us three main sights; the Medieval walls, the Gaudi Cathedral and a village constructed for tourists designed to showcase all of Spain’s architecture in replica. The cathedral was truly bizarre and stunning, you have to see it to believe it; it looks both Gothic and Disney!

That evening we joined the captain for the sail away on the bridge which was a special treat and got to see the ‘behind the scenes’.

DAY SIX

Monaco was spectacular, again we had a fabulous local tour guide who took us on a three hour walking tour taking in the Royal Palace in time for the changing of the guards, the Grand Prix circuit and the Monte Carlo Casino.

DAY SEVEN

It unfortunately rained in Florence but that didn’t stop us enjoying another walking tour with another fabulous local tour guide. The city was spectacular and we took far too many photos of all the sights including the statues of David and Hercules, then went off shopping and found some fantastic clothes shops. We managed to get quite lost and nearly missed our return but luckily made it back to the ship in time for more dancing in the evening!

DAY EIGHT

La Spezia looked amazing from the ship, we decided not to venture onto the tender but lazed about on board all day, we went to the cinema instead and watched ‘The Soloist’ which was great. It was our last night aboard, we went to the Pennant Grill for dinner where I had the best BBQ spare ribs I’ve ever eaten then it was back to the nightclub for drinks until late with three of the crew we had managed to befriend.

DAY NINE

After saying farewell to the crew who had taken care of us we jumped in a car to Fiumicino airport, left our luggage there and got a train into central Rome. After making a few enquiries we managed to get a subway to the Colusseum; it was a beautiful sunny day and we took in the amazing sights then stopped at a traditional café for the best pizza in the world. We managed to get quite lost on the way back and nearly missed our flight but we made it, Easyjet was an fairly unpleasant experience after been treated like royalty on board the Aurora!

In summary, I wasn’t expecting the cruise to be quite as brilliant as it was, just beware the Bay of Biscay!

Flo Powell, Director of ACE

New Director for ACE - Flo Powell's first 2 weeks in post

2009-10-22T06:31:00.000-07:00

I started as ACE's new Director on Monday 5th October 2009. On arrival at the lovely London offices behind Oxford Street I was given a whirlwind tour of the offices, the systems and the team by Debbee Dale who had been standing in as interim Director since June (and doing a superb job I might add).

My feet were barely behind the desk before I was flying to Barcelona for the ABTA Travel Convention on Tuesday! I felt extremely lucky and excited about the four days. Debbee and I chatted away for most of the journey, doing my handover and briefing whilst in the air. The flight was 80% occupied by other convention delegates, many of whom were catching up with each other much to the bemusement of the other passengers who probably all felt like a spare part at a wedding.

On arrival at Barcelona it was clear we'd left the wintry England weather behind, it was a lovely 25 degrees. The first night was taken up with bumping into old friends and colleagues at the hotel bar and meeting new ones at the icebreaker party including ACE's competition winners Gary Hudson, Martin Hay, Richard Rochester and Katherine Doyle.

The convention was a heady mix of interesting convention sessions, cocktail parties, dinners, drinks receptions, trade fairs, forums, ship visits and a lot of alcohol and networking! I collected a huge number of business cards as I met so many interesting people, all of whom seemed to be having a great time - I was delighted with the opportunity to visit three ships in Barcelona; the Thomson Destiny, Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas and MSC Fantasia.

The Cruise Forum on the Thursday was fantastic, we had over 150 delegates. The forum kicked off with a presentation from Debbee on ACE's achievements so far - over 3,000 travel agency members, 35 cruise line members and over 20,000 agents trained in 2008! I then gave a brief overview on my plans for ACE including revamping and rebranding ACE events, retaining and increasing membership and new training modules coming online for cruise line products and destinations. The forum included a great presentation from Carol Marlow from P&O, a Q&A with Michael East and Jane Archer and a panel discussion with cruise lines and agents talking about the sticky issues of gratuities on ships and discounting cruise holidays in the recession.

I learned a huge amount in Barcelona and came away extremely motivated and more excited than ever to get into the ACE job and start work! During my second week I met with some of ACE's cruise line members to discuss plans for the UK Cruise Convention in 2010, wrote an article for Cruise News and learned how to operate ACE's comprehensive online system so I could answer agent queries regarding training and logging in and send out the weekly e-newsletter, 'Watermark'.

On Thursday 15th I was invited to the Mail Newspapers' box at the Royal Albert Hall for the International Ballroom Dancing Championships; something I was not expecting to enjoy but was thoroughly riveted, especially by some of the outfits (or lack thereof!!)

It's my third week and I now have the website programmers and creative team on speed dial, I've briefed the ACE team with my plans, designed and sent out a membership survey for ACE members to let me know their feedback on our benefits, and emailed all cruise line members with a huge list of questions and requests!

I'm absolutely delighted to be working with such a fantastic team; Adele & Nat who work exclusively on ACE, as well as Bill, Kat and Hayley at the Passenger Shipping Association and Penny, the PR Director for both ACE and the PSA. The office is incredibly busy and I'm sure many of our members will be shocked to learn that ACE is run by just three people - we are a small organisation with a big ambition. It is my aim to improve our benefits to members and get even more travel agents trained in cruise lines, destinations, cruise products and services and business skills. I want to offer more benefits to our ACE Ambassadors who have managed to get 600 points through ACE training and cruise experience, host a fantastic UK Cruise Convention in Southampton in 2010, publish a programme of inspirational events including ship visits, EXPOs and fam trips for our members and make our online training resources even more interesting, exciting and accessible.

I will be going on my very first cruise on 3rd November, on the P&O Aurora ship to the Med so watch this space as I'll be twittering and blogging my experiences!

See you soon,

Flo Powell
Director - ACE

Fred. Olsen Cruises Travel Agent Educational.

2009-10-22T06:03:00.000-07:00

Cruise BD0918, 4 Night Mini Cruise 01st – 05th August 2009

My trip began on the 31st July when I flew to Edinburgh with Flybe and stayed at the Premier Inn, South Queensferry. This hotel was the nearest I could get to the port of Rosyth where we would be embarking the M/S Boudicca the next day.

After a comfortable night’s sleep and a great breakfast, I was met by Amanda Anderson, Area Sales Executive – Scotland & Northern Ireland and was taken to the Port of Rosyth. I was one of the fortunate agents as I was viewing the ship prior to embarking as a passenger. I was not impressed with the Cruise Terminal, there was no restaurant or bar for passengers to purchase food & drink, instead there were hot and soft drinks machines. My first impression of the ship was good; I liked it, its size and how compact it appeared. Below are a few statistics about the ship:

• The M/S Boudicca has 437 cabins
• The ship holds up to 856 passengers,(maximum of 900)
• Total amount of crew is 360
• It has stabilisers and was last refitted in 2006.
• The Boudicca is a sister ship of the Black Watch.
• Her gross tonnage is 28,400 and is 205 m in length.
• Email/Internet access is available 24 hours a day.

After the ship tour and lunch it was time to meet the other 20 agents and Fred. Olsen Staff in the terminal to check-in for our cruise. We were issued with our cruise cards and met up with whom we were sharing with. I was allocated cabin number 4035 and while I found it very spacious although I thought the television and wallpaper dated the cabin and felt that this was the only part of the ship that let it down. The bed was comfy and we had a bath (not that it was used) and shower combo, which is always nice to have the option. A wee tip, not all cabins have this bath/shower combo so make sure you check this for your client.

Waiting for us was a folder introducing us to the Boudicca and our Daily Times advising us what was on and where, an introduction to Captain (Master) Bjarte Roksund and his Senior Management Team. It was 6pm and we were setting sail for Lerwick. After welcome drinks in the Lido Lounge we made our way to the Tintagel Restaurant; our dining room for this evening (and every evening) and the smiling waiters and waitresses were ready to look after us. They were all so friendly and courteous and extremely efficient throughout our stay. We had a different menu each night and the food was glorious and Amanda very generously treated us all to wine or whatever our poison was.

After dinner we congregated in the Neptune Bar for some after dinner drinks and chit-chat. After a comfortable night’s sleep, I awoke to the views over Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. Breakfast was taken in the Secret Garden Café and the crew were at the entrance with the compulsory hand lotion for all passengers to scrub up before touching any of the utensils at the buffet. (This lotion was given to you each time you dined and when you came back onboard the ship).

After breakfast we all attended the compulsory lifeboat drill and we were taught the SOLAS Regulations (Safety Of Life At Sea) and informed of our muster station in the event of an emergency.

We then went ashore, and as this was a Sunday I was surprised to find so many shops, bars and restaurants open. Lerwick is a very small town but quaint all the same. After torturing the locals in one of the pubs it was time to go back to the ship, I think they enjoyed the banter though?

We were setting sail now for Bergen. I had not been to Bergen before and was so looking forward to it. I was not disappointed, it was beautiful and Amanda had arranged an excursion for us (Introduction to Bergen) so we saw the town in great detail. The tourguide spoke fluent English, the whole area was pristine clean and the sun was shining - we were blessed with the weather. After the tour we had lunch onboard and lay by the pool for the rest of the day and entertained the other passengers – it was a great day and we did not set sail until 11pm.

Our final day was at sea and at this stage in my report I should point out that the amount of activities onboard all Fred. Olsen Ships, whether in port or at sea are extensive. Please contact me for a list of these. The Boudicca Show Company kept us entertained with the swinging 60’s and sensational 70’s plus Elvis “Love me tender” presentations, they were excellent.

After breakfast we had a business session with Amanda and the rest of the Fred. Olsen team. This lasted for only 2 hours and after this we all hit the shops and the bazaar for those last minute bargains and souvenirs and paid our extras’ bill. Although the weather was good it was breezy on deck and some dined inside and others at the poolside café. Tipping onboard Fred. Olsen Ships is a matter left to the individual at their discretion. It was so wonderful to finally see one of Fred. Olsen Ships, the group we had were fantastic for a large group and Amanda Anderson was an exceptional hostess.

For more information on Fred. Olsen Cruises please visit www.fredolsencruises.co.uk
I have almost 200 photographs and if you would like to view these, please contact me. Enjoy the read.

Warm Regards, Brendan.
Compiled by Brendan O’Connor, Bryan Somers Travel.

CELEBRITY EQUINOX LAUNCH VOYAGE TO NORWAY 31 JULY 2009 REVIEW

2009-10-22T05:46:00.000-07:00

After all the excitment of the celebrations around the launch where the trade and selected consumers and prize winners had the chance to marvel at this second in the series of five Solstice class vessels, it was now time for the Equinox to WOW its first passengers.

I was lucky enough to be aboard for the naming, so it was great to be able to stay aboard and sit in the Cafe on deck 5 and watch the first passengers board. Many had clearly never sailed with Celebrity before having sailed with other cruise lines from Southampton so it was great to see the amazment on their faces as they boarded, promptly offered a glass of chilled Champagne and look into the stunning central atrium.

The vessel offers a premium cruise experience with varied amount of bars and restaurants and stunning public areas and an amazing top deck area complete with 14,000 SQ FT lawn set high on deck 15.

We sailed at 17.00 and excitement filled the ship as people found there way around and settled into the varied stateroom options aboard.

Cabins are large with good space for all those bits and bobs people take away with them, together with flat screen tv systems which offer every aspect of entertainment and information needed on the voyage and shipboard facilities.

Dining aboard is offered across many outlets with main dining an outstanding affair within the best restaurent I have ever seen afloat.

The speciality restaurants consist of French,Italian and Asian fusian together with the Blu restaurant offering for guest chosing to stay within the Aqua Spa cabins. This is complemented by a wonderful Ocean view cafe on deck 14 .

Entertainment is as always first class with three big production shows and headline singers to entertain an expectant crowd.A great touch is the live Celebrity band which plays with all the shows,a refreshing change to some of the other cruise lines taped music with their shows..

The whole onboard experiance is pulled together by the most respected and well know Brothers at sea the Weir Brothers. Nick Weir (Cruise Director) and Simon Weir, (Hotel Director). Their style and attention to detail is across the ship with the most amazing crew under their command providing outstanding service.

The fjords were just stunning as seen in the pictures below, which seemed to match our onboard experience. The chance to sit on the lawn on deck 15 as we moved up the fjords was quite surreal, but outstanding .

Both the trade and consumer have now a real alternative to more traditional cruise line offerings at Southampton next year aboard a truly stunning product.

Full details of all the Cruise options can be found on the dedicated website of www.celebritycruises.co.uk and the usual Advantage intranet.

Jason Peters
Advantage Cruise Consultant