An interesting, reply, Maureen What surprises me is the excuses regarding the storms. My cousin tried to book a Caribbean cruise in August and was told that the ships do not have cruises to the Caribbean at this time of year because of hurricanes. They do not start until later in the year! Cunard's first Caribbean cruise is in late November and I could not see any earlier ones with Royal Caribbean.

I wonder what they mean by "legitimate"! Have you asked to go to the Med instead?

Maureen H

I did say I would not insist on the Caribbean if they could offer an alternative but I am still no nearer to getting a cruise. If you remember I also asked about a second person price but they won't even quote for that. As that would mean a double cabin they can't use the excuse of 'no single cabins'

Another success story here tickets arrived for 12th september cruise was always worrying if they would after being let down at the last minute in march.
so keep at em all you that aint got there yet , you will

Hi all those waiting for a cruise, I was worried about the 'all readers who legitimately qualified for a cruise' as I had only received the letter in reply to one from me asking if I was on their list as qualifying. I realise that I can prove that I qualify with the original letter from Rise/DE offering the 12/03 cruise to Libya dated 26th October 2004 and I assume you are all in the same position. I have to admit my patience is wearing thin and I too might accept cash if it is enough to buy a cruise anywhere. Keep up the good fight all of you we have masses of support from those who have cruised. Those of you going soon have a fabulous time and drink a toast to us. Carol

Hi All

I know in the greater scheme of things my query is trivial but thought I would ask anyway!

In the original offer it stated that "selected soft drinks" were included in the £10 offer. Does any one know what this would include? I don't drink much alchohol and I don't want to embarrass anyone by assuming coke or mineral water is free.... do you think it's worth phoning Rise Trave?

Also - for those who have already been on MSC cruises, can someone advise me on tipping. I don't have much spare cash (not sure how many euros to take) but I don't want to upset anyone by not following protocols - how much do I pay - do I stick to the recommended £6 per day, & how do we pay tips - leave it in an envelope in the cabin at the end of the cruise or will it be automatically be added to the credit card account?

Many thanks for any advice. I sail this Saturday 10th - can't wait to meet you Mee - will see you at Heathrow at 5am ish - I'll be the one with my PJ's on!!

Will do a report when I return. Good luck to everyone still waiting.
Elaine

Hi Elaine - I'm off to Heathrow in a couple of hours!

Soft drinks means fruit juice in buffet, and I believe you can have orange juice as well as tea or coffee as room service - all bar drinks are paid for. There are free drinks at captain's 'do' and gala dinner.

Tipping is up to you, but they recommend €3 per passenger per day each for cabin and dining staff - they leave envelopes in your cabin day before you leave.

Hope you have as great a time as I intend to, Elaine!

Good Afternoon from the balcony

Just got in, It seems I now have to take the obligatory Sunday lunch, with Number 1; included is the obligatory cup of rubbish & vinilla tea number 1 caught me watering the chesse plant so I am now am sat at the other end of the table. (when did lunch take over from dinner, dinner time down here is tea time/or supper in the real world, as I remember it)
I am now collected at 11.30 and have to be showered shaved and dressed. What happened to my slob Sunday's

Dizzy, thanks for the reasurrance re the phone call you made to MSC, as you are on the list I will assume I am as well, I do hope your tickets arrive in plenty of time and that we all have a super time and will carry on this afterwards - althought in what context I do not know, perhaps we should have a waistcoat/blouse designed ? So that we are seen as Rise/DE survivers.

Carol R, you don't know the coven, they are now marking the bottles, and the bottles are not from Lildi or Tesco's so I cannot swap bottles and pretend not to have touched a drop; no these are obscure reds, so my mate gets me a supply from Lidi and they I have to hide the bottles, and then dispose of them via another mate (a bit like in a spy movie - hiding the transmitter - from the germans etc..)

Must dash now - kettles boiled and a good cup of Ceylon is awaiting (i even have to hide that in my bed, "Too much caffine dad".

Byeee for now

Phil

ps. Good LUCK to all who are sailing in the next week-I'm off to Amsterdam on Tuesday till Sat.

In the words of Victor Meldrew "I DON'T BELIEVE IT!"

I've just arrived back home from a weekend away and MY TICKETS HAVE ARRIVED!

I don't go until 26th September, someone up there must be looking after me.

I'm sooooooo excited. I've got an upgrade to a cabin on P deck - 2 beds. I'll alternate sleeping in them I think
R*** travel

I'm now going to go away and read all the paperwork. It came in a nice navy blue canvas folder with velcro fastening.

For all you others waiting for your cruise, just hang on in there.

Elaine

I don't recall any free drinks on Melody other than tea from an urn at tea time and tea/coffee after meals although you have to ask for the latter.

Don't worry too much about tips. Most of the people on theit own gave five or ten euros to cabin staff. I don't see why, if you are on your own, you should give as much as a couple. The main waiter shares the tips with his assistant so, I think I gave 15 euros in an envelope. Keep a check of your on board bill if you are on a tight budget.

Drinks (even tea) from room service have to be paid for so I did nor bother.

Have a good trip.

Maureen H

Great to see someone else has had their tickets But for the rest of us still waiting, its been long enough Still no reply to my emails, letters and voice messages Lets hope Watchdog takes up this this week

Elaine

If you go to Ayesha's introductory talk, she explains about tipping. Some people prefer to split the amount so the waiters receive something too. I think the recommended suggestion was about £5 total per day. But of course it's up to you!

Tea including mint, herbal - are you listening Phil plus coffee are available from room service 24 hours and this service is free. You can also have your ice bucket filled as often as you like and this makes a good source of free drinking water.

Have a super holiday everyone

Alli

good Evening for the Balcony
Allisu herbal tea, ug any one want my ticket when it arrives, I have suddenly gone off the idea :yuck. Seriousley though do they do the usual tea cup of hot to warm water and the tea bag on the side or does the tea come in a pot ? We need to know

Phil

Good Evening yet again

JennyL well done and congratulations - BUT beware of the tea it is of an umknown quailtiy & quantity as of yet (cup or Pot Liptons or some other dubious blend.

I am watching this space

Phil

Hi Phil

Typhoo, Tetley, PG Tips, Liptons - I'll drink anything.....especially if it's served with lots of lovely italian cakes and biscuits, they do nice almond biscuits but I can't remember the name of them.

Can't wait to get up that gangplank now.

Have a great cruise all of you on the Melody tomorrow and the 12th. Those of you on the 19th I'll be waving as you leave the ship.

Where is Magsy? Has she gone off with Luci?

Hi,

Firstly, great to see some happy outcomes from the cruise offer in the previous posts.

Not sure if this is the correct thread (subject would suggest it is) but I was just wondering if anyone else is still waiting on their flights from the Daily Express 'Fly to the US for £10' offer?

My last correspondence from them was on in January with a further couple of vouchers attached asking me to reselect preferred month and destinations. Also included a voucher for a free flight to Europe as a sorry for the delay.

These vouchers were duly completed and sent in before the deadline of 31/3/05. I've sent all correspondence by recorded delivery and the Royal Mail website confirms the vouchers were received on 24/3/05.

The letter advised they would contact me after June 2005 but surprise, surprise I hadn't heard anything.

Have now contacted them and was advised someone from the "relevant department" would call me within 5 days. I asked for a contact number for the "relevant department" and was advised they are a call centre so don't accept incoming calls - funny kind of call centre that!

So, has anyone managed to get their flights or in the same boat as me and still waiting?

Would be interested to hear from anyone in a similar predicament.

Hi All

Have not been on the site for weeks due to computer gremlins so have popped into the library to catch up. Couldnt understand about going places taking over will have to pop in here more often and keep up. Good luck to everyone planning to take action to kickstart the D E to get this sorted out .

Chris

hey luci"s back. welcome back luci hope you had a wonderful time. we have all been behaving while you have been gone

Just called DE was put through to marketing dept and yes youve guessed - they cannot comment as it is in the hands of the directers I am presuming S Myerson will be heading this - refused to comment any further and wouldn't put me through to SM (not surprising really) I just may go and knock on his front door if something is not forthcoming soon and say something my mother told me not to say

Hi JCL, I am in the same position as you with the flight offer. Three of us collected tokens for the New York city break for £10 plus taxes. After much delay MKM/Rise gave us a confirmed date for travel in May but then a couple of weeks before that date they wrote to say the "booking period" had now passed. There was no mention of a booking period anywhere . I had the same follow up letter as you offering a free European city break, the original offer but delayed a year and a promise of contact in June - I am still waiting .

I am one of the few lucky ones who managed to book a DE cruise with the help of this website and i am due to travel this week. I am certain nothing would have happened had i not found this site late last year. When i return i intend to get in touch with MKM/Rise or the Daily Express to find out what, if anything is happening about the flight offer. You may also be interested in the Gallo Wine and BT flight offers. They were also run by the same people and there has also been a lot of trouble with them.

Although our conversation will be of interest to the cruise offer folks maybe we should copy and paste these posts to a thread in the USA forum?

JennieL - I think you are thinking of amoretti biscuits