Choosing Cruising Blog

Here are the charges on a selection of the most popular cruise lines for the cost (including the appropriate tip) for a bottle of Becks 330ml beer.

Fred Olsen £2.20 , P&O £2.35 , Princess £2.51, Ocean Village £2.65 , Holland America £3.05, Costa £3.05, Cunard £3.41, Celebrity £3.59, NCL £3.61, Royal Carribean £3.95.

Interestingly the British Lines such as Fred Olsen and P&O were the cheapest and American lines such as Royal Caribbean and NCL the most expensive.

Here is a summary of the latest competitions run by cruise companies:

P&O Cruises is holding a running contest to find dancing stars to perform on it’s newest ship Azura during the VIP naming ceremony on 10th April 2010

For 3 years Thomson has been “Get Up and Dance” which starts again in January 2010 onboard Island Escape.

If you are a keen photographer, submit your photo of a Fred Olsen Ship/destination to www.fredolsenphotocompetition.co.uk with a camera as first prize, a watch as second and £75 onboard spending credit as third.

Are you a sculptor? Cunard is looking for a five-metre-tall sculpture to adorn the Royal Arcade shopping area of their lastest ship Queen Elizabeth. Judging will be decided in January 2010 by a panel including Charles Saumarez Smith, chief executive of the Royal Academy of Arts.

Opera singers have the chance to vie for €15,000 and a performance at the Vienna Opera house in the Hapag-Lloyd “X Factor” style competition

Black Watch

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The Mexican Centre for Disease Control & Prevention has now lifted the ban for non essential Travel.  Following on from this, here is an overview of the cruise situation in Mexico: (more…)

Cruising (as opposed to more traditional holidays) can offer alternatives when the unexpected occurs.  Recent examples such as pirate attacks, potential disease outbreaks or horrendous weather simply mean that the ships docks at another port or take another route.

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