Richard's Cruise Ramble

I read an interesting article recently about the way that Viking River cruises charge their gratuities during their Chinese river cruises on the Yangtze.   Apparently any gratuities left to crew on-board are being charged to travellers accounts as "Shanghai Carpet Factory", this has certainly left some passengers feeling a…

Earlier this year Royal Caribbean had an all-inclusive deal which included free gratuities for all passengers, select drinks package for the adults and soda packages for the kids. What is great about this deal is that is covers everyone in the cabin, even cabin's with an occupancy of three or…

I thought I would share a story with you this week that one of my good regular passengers told me after she had recently sailed on the Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas.   She said that they were docked in Vigo, Spain and up on the deck where another…

There is no getting away from the growing ebola situation and the media coverage surrounding it. Naturally people are going to have general concerns about whether there will be risks to them and their cruise holiday so I thought I would share some information and my opinions on this.  …

I like to speak to many of my returning cruise passengers when they return to ask them how they got on and if there was any feedback from their recent cruise holiday. I have always had quite a few of my passengers book on the Royal Caribbean Independence of the…

Cruises these days aren't just there to satisfy your stereotypical professional or retired couple, dependant on the cruise line and ship they really do have something for everyone. Teenagers should find that these days, lots of cruise lines have some really excellent facilities and activities for them. I just recently…

Princess Cruises are just about to release a new messaging app this November on board the Regal Princess before they later roll it out to the rest of their fleet by the end of 2015. The application will be available for Apple and Android phones and will be free of…

One thing I often get asked by my clients is what the weather is going to be like on their cruise. This is always a difficult question to answer and is very difficult to judge.  Let's face it even the professional weather forecasters get it wrong a lot of the…

Some cruise companies are now stepping up their game when it comes to the internet connectivity options that they will offer their clientèle. Oceania cruises for example are going to offer free internet to clients staying in higher tier staterooms and Royal Caribbean have just announced their ultra high speed…

  I have just returned from a great family holiday in Gumbet which is near Bodrum in Turkey.  There were seven of us in total and we all get on really well together so we had a great time !  There was baking hot sun shine every day we were…