…Icons and legends that will be covered range from transportation like the Cunard Queen Elizabeth, Air Force One, Titanic, Orient Express through to travel icons like the Channel Tunnel. Get your free copy of the Travel Icons and Legends audio book podcast now. You can hear some of the chapters as they are being developed via the free audio book podcast series “Travel Icons and Legends”. You can subscribe to the audio book podcast for free and you…
…ut us off. We been on coming up for about 20 cruises since then. Mostly on Cunard that I adore. What do I love about cruising, and what makes it different from other vacations? Being at sea. For me the best part of cruising are the sea days, and will always choose cruises with a lot of sea days. The experience and pace of life with a series of sea days is amazing. You truly can unwind and relax, as it is peaceful, there is no-where to go, internet…
…he blog cannot miss, I am a big fan of cruising. I have mostly traveled on Cunard and P&O. I am now about to learn and find out more about the Italian owned cruise line MSC Cruises. I have been chosen to be one of three official MSC Cruise Bloggers covering the launch of one of their new ships called the MSC Preziosa that launches in March 2013. I got the opportunity after attending the Travel Bloggers Elevator Conference in Genoa earlier in the y…
…urchase on each island also prevail. I found it dissapointing that even on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, the port talk offered on board was run by a team of 2 “Island Experts” that were really just salesmen punting chain stores. In the talk they even dismissed, with some distaste I felt, islands like Dominica as it was a poor place for shopping, suggesting it was a port to plan to do tours to see the natural resources as you could not shop much. The impl…
…o passengers on a Caribbean cruise are the following. These are based on a Cunard Queen Mary 2 cruise I was on in the region at the time of writing this article. These are very typical of those offered on most cruises in the region: Collect 7 charms for a bracelet in 4 ports. You start your collection by getting the first one in a seminar about diamonds and gemstones on-board (to ensure you get the sales pitch). Then a further one in each of the 4…
…and maiden voyage of the MSC Preziosa cruise ship. Taking a 3 week trip on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, which included a transatlantic crossing from Southampton to New York and then a trip from there to the Caribbean and back. While on board I posted a number of articles, made 2 podcasts of observations and recorded interviews with a number of the senior crew that I will soon turn into podcasts and write up articles. Meantime to find out more about the…
…ered on a recent 2 week visit while cruising around some of the islands on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2. On this trip I was revisiting St. Kitts and St. Lucia, and was visiting for the first time the islands of Dominica, St. Maarten and St.Thomas. Discovery #1: Why so many islands in the Caribbean are called “Saint” something. Plus at least one Saint that is not a Saint! Many of the islands in the Caribbean are called “Saint” something. It seems that Chr…
…the Tips for Travellers audio podcast, you can experience being on-board a Cunard Queen Mary 2 Transatlantic Cruise / Crossing. You will hear the sounds and observations recorded while on the ship crossing the Atlantic in winter. In 2 episodes you will hear about, among other things: Safety at sea, and hear the Captain’s briefing of passengers about lifeboats and leaving the ship in an emergency. Norovirus, hear the Captain discussing the risk…
…rs Audio podcast, I find out more about cruise ship jobs by interviewing a Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 Social Host (Kevin Usher) and one of their Gentleman Hosts (Derek Stratton). I find out they got to these more unusual cruise ship roles, and just exactly what a Social Host and a Gentleman Host does. I found out some surprising and unexpected things about both these positions. For example, the Gentleman Hosts are not paid but are given free passage in…
…porations. The largest is Carnival, which own lines that include Carnival, Cunard, Seabourn and Holland America. The other is Royal Caribbean, and they own lines like Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. There is a lot of similarity of service across these brands on-board and increasingly the back-office and behind-the-scenes activities are being shared. As I believe so passionately in the importance of people behind creating a travel experience, I like…
…not something that other cruise lines that I have travelled on offer. Even Cunard, whose roots are in class based ocean travel, do not have a fully dedicated section of the ship for their premium Queens and Princess Grill offer. Their premium suites are dotted around the ship, as are the few limited lounges and deck spaces. The closest land based experience I have had is in Las Vegas where we stay at the Four Seasons when visiting. Similar to MSC…
