Dear hard-working Luci,

What has happened to me? I know I'm an aged codger who dreams of being young, handsome and highly fanciable, but I seem to be in a strange time-warp!

I'm in a banned zone. We're not allowed to know what went on on this site pre-February, yet my latest posts are dated 24th Nov. 2004!!

What's happened?

Old Cruiser

hi every body i see i have a STAR i feel so good i will now have to rush to a bargain shop and see if there is any gin or better still champagne i need you all to come round and drink it i wil just have to put the site up and raise my glass to the screen cheers.carol.

Count me in if there's a whipround, Luci.

Those still waiting for replies to E-mails, I did not receive replies to mine which is why I telephoned and mentioned "Watchdog".

Maureen H

Hi Cruiser

I'm in a banned zone. We're not allowed to know what went on on this site pre-February, yet my latest posts are dated 24th Nov. 2004!!

What's happened?

Old Cruiser

Dunno what you're on mate, but your posts are reading today's date for me!

luci

No, you're right. Should have PM'd you instead - or opened my eyes!

I feel really stupid. Must be the thought of Vivien's Bells, again. Perhaps an early night is what I need!

C

Must be the thought of Vivien's Bells

You leave Vivien`s bells out of this!!

.......or does she have her own distillery??

Hi all, the atmospher is warming up on the balcony cruise tonight

I must blaim Vyvien - the ringings bottles were £12.25 in the Wine Vaults, well it's nearer than Tescos I feel like singing 'come fly with me come lets fly away...........' shhhhhhhh got to be careful the neighbours are all under the spell of the coven (if you know what I mean). i even suspect the neighbours cat - it is not normally so friendly - maybe it's got used to being kicked.

The problem now is getting up from the lounger , whereas I could recycle the empties before - now I've got to keep getting up. hic hic

Just a thought have any of you wonderful people looked up companies house web site - for our friends it is very intresting indeed they have a web site, well one part of the trading company does and it is endorsed by a certain individual from the T.V. company that first only operated many radio stations.

Sorry Luci and Van if this is censored - but it is hard to write and not name the certain companies or individuals

Anyway I am off to Timperley tomorrow and then off to Sri Lanka again on the 27th. March Not on a £10 cruise
So you lot behave yourselves I do not want to come back and find we have all been grounded again.
(I wish the coven could be)

I'm off to warm up the bottle, by holding it.

Byeeee for now and Good night

As anyone given it a lot of thought why there is a shortage of cabins to give us all cruises? could it be that the ships are going round and round in the Bermuda Triangle.

Just to clarify, you can mention Rise Travel and the Daily Express by name, however please do not mention any of the Rise employees by name.

HTH

luci

Phil,

I hope you have a fun time in Timperley - several people said they'd go there, but we haven't had any reports on successful visits.

When you mention a famous personage - you and your secret bottle weren't thinking of this article about how to run a customer-loving company were you: Evans, S., (2000) Insights into Customer Delight?

Remember how exited Manchester Online were about a local travel promotions firm? They're at it again: Manchester Online

Oops. Not quite!

However, the current issue of Incentive Today has a profile of MKM, with a nice group photo of the managers and staff. The article explains that the company has been hit by a series of misfortunes - hurricane, ASA, Watchdog and, now, the tsunami but that it will survive. Incidentally, they consider Express cruisers to be "a different type of applicant" and, once again, we learn that they have been unwilling to buy the tempting extras on offer.

There is a statement from the DE that the T&Cs permitted them to pull the whole offer, due to the hurricanes. However, they've been nice and allowed the promotion to continue - with 'disappointed' applicants being offered valuable vouchers.

see: Incentive Today

So count your blessings, everyone!!

Edit to shorten links, luci - HT Mod

Thanks Cruiser for your links
Laugh.... I couldn't stop " maturity and depth"
sums it all up
Phil
Hide anything that children can berate you with in the cleaning cupboard. No decent child even knows where that cupboard is

Luci, Help What's happened to the page, it has suddenly expanded widthwise. I know I have been having pooter trouble recently but I really don't think it is me this time

Hi Aslemma

It's not pooter trouble, your monitor has just shrunk.

Perhaps you left it out in the rain/snow?

Just leave it to dry out for a couple of days and everything should be all right again!

Graham

There is no beginning to my talents!

PS You're right - the width has increased, but I don't know why.

Fascinating reading, Cruiser.

It had attracted a slightly different profile of applicant than MKM had anticipated, which means it will earn less revenue from travellers arranging extra places or add-on services. "It has become apparent that the campaign has produced a very different booking requirement from that anticipated using management's experience of previous promotions," MKM said in a statement.

Surely we should have understood that, '£10 cruise for every reader' and 'I've never seen a travel deal this good' actually may have meant 'you can have your £10 cruise, so long as most of you take someone with you paying full fee or pay to upgrade their cabins'.

Surely we should have understood that when we read, "For the price of a round of drinks you could soon find yourself island-hopping in the Caribbean, visiting historic sites in the Mediterranean or exploring the wonders of South America" what we should have understood was, "You should get a £10 cruise if you're lucky or early, or if Trading Standards or Watchdog push it for you, or if you're a member of a pesky website who keep making trouble for us, but if not, our vouchers are great."

Has ANYONE had a South American cruise?

Forgive me, Luci, Van and mods if that's too strong - remove it if you want. But I feel so angry for all those people whose dream holiday is still unresolved.

A clause in this promotion gave Express Newspapers and MKM an opportunity to nullify the offer through "force majeure", which excuses promoters from liability if some unforeseen event beyond their control prevents it from performing its obligations - in other words, an act of God such as a hurricane.

Thanks Cruiser for links - very interesting.

It would seem that the 'force majeure' clause is in the contract between DE & MKM. There is no specific equivalent in our T&C's and anyway becomes irrelevant once the Allocation Letters were issued with a specific cruise date and offer.

Wonder how Phil will get on tomorrow - do let us know Phil.
Edit to remove unsubstantiated comment. luci - HT Mod

The page width was due to the long link that was posted, Luci has now fix this.
Another nice find Cruiser.

Smokey this link will take you to the picture thread then click on the links there for William's pictures
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=25151

The site also has a good computer help forum
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=53

Questions R*** need to ask is why do HT legal team need T&C and information of who's got what?
Aren't they just surpose to be looking for libelous posts?

Could R*** be the ones facing action for libel when the lawyers read R*** posting that HOLIDAYTRUTHS weren't being truthful?
And wasn't it on the radio (link in old thread) that a certain website was intent on causing trouble?

Need our old thread to quote from R*** postings/ radio

For the price of a round of drinks

sounds like a pretty good profile to me!

There is an 'unspoken consenus' that as R*** stopped us from posting numbers, names etc that we would stop posting R*** etc

Peter

ps. Count me in too for that collection.

Hi Wallecan and everyone,
You are 100% correct in what you say about the 'force majeure' clause. It was certainly not in the terms and conditions between the applicants and the Daily Express and Rise Travel. The full Terms and Conditions were printed on 19th May 2004 and there was no such clause therein.

I was just looking at William's pictures and all of a sudden a picture of a cow in Goa appeared!

Don't remember any cows on our cruise - just camels.

Did I go wrong somewhere, I know it is early in the morning but I haven't been on the Bells like Phil

I'm still suffering from my cold and the coughing is keeping me awake - it didn't do me any good wandering around Prague this weekend (freezing!) and having to stop off in bars to keep warm (any excuse will do) - I can recommend the rum/honey and hot milk - very tasty

That made interesting reading, though it could be said that their view of Daily Express readers may appear somewhat libellous

Regarding 'force majeure' this is a common 'get out clause', but unless the hurricanes or whatever extended to the Med or South America as well as the Caribbean, I hardly think it would have covered the situation.

Edit to remove unsubstantiated comment. luci - HT Mod