On 6th September I wrote a letter to the DE to basically remind them that I was still here waiting.
I had not heard from them since April 2005, and enclosed in my letter copies of correspondence I held confirming my entitlement.
To my pleasant surprise I received a letter from them today offering a choice of 10 different cruises, with dates available in September, October and November 2006. Yipee !

My letter states that I will have to pay a mandatory £ 40 fuel charge supplement, and can also purchase a £ 140 all inclusive drinks package.

Will spend the weekend deciding which one to choose.
As I have never been on a cruise before could someone please advise re cabins. At the moment my cabin will be Inside Deck on the lower decks , but can upgrade for less than £ 50 per week to either Upper inside deck or Lower outside deck with a sea view.
Is it worth the money to upgrade ?

Good luck to all still waiting to hear.

Congratulations Thommo, a result!

Check where the lower inside cabins are in relation to the facilites such as bars and restaurants. Personally, we now book a basic inside cabin as you really don't spend that much time there.

A porthole or window is nice to have and you can see what the weather is without leaving your cabin, but we have been equally happy with both inside and outside cabins.

Perhaps, as it's your first cruise, it may be worth paying the extra for an outside cabin as the cruise will still be a bargain. It can be nice to have some natural light.

Which cruise lines/ships have you been offered?

luci

Well done Thommo!
I am with Luci on this one. While I do prefer an outside, I tend to go for an inside because in general terms the savings are considerable and you genuinely do not spend a lot of time in your cabin. In your case, the upgrade is only £50 so you may find it nice to see daylight first thing in the morning. Regarding the AI option, it really depends what you drink! I would say that in general, most people do tend to drink more on cruises - not because they are alcohol freaks, but because the meeting points for most things tend to be in bars! Check in reviews for your choice of ships. You may find some useful information there. Enjoy your cruise!!!

When we had AI included I drank as much as I wanted, mostly cocktails, and when I counted it at the end of the cruise we would have just broken even or slightly less if we had paid for the drinks as we went. For us the AI would only be worth taking if it cost £99 or less.

luci

Congratulations on finally getting your cruise Thommo. I'm sure you will have a wonderful time. I had an inside cabin on the Melody last year and thought it would be fine, but must admit I missed seeing daylight in the morning, so for the fairly small extra charge I think you may find it worthwhile going for an outside cabin. I don't think the drinks package is particularly good value, unless you are intent on drinking the ship dry and it would probably work out as cheap, if not cheaper, to pay for drinks as you go.

Thanks everybody for your advice.

Luci, I have been offered :
1) Red Sea Magic on the Celebration (Thomsons)
2) Med Renaissance on the Spirit (Thomsons)
3) Med Jewels on the Spirit (Thomsons)
4) Colourful Coasts on the Destiny (Thomsons)
5) Med Isles on the Escape (Island)
6) Rivieras on the Star (Island)
7) Explorer on the Star (Island)
Spirit on the Star (Island)
9) Discovery on the Escape (Island)
10) Spirit on the Escape (Island)

At the moment I am keen on 1) above but will decide for sure in the next couple of days.

Thanks Thommo. They all sound great and you certainly have plenty of choice.

Personally I would choose on of the Thomson ones as I think they are slightly better than Island.

luci

Good Evening from the sunny delights of Bristol

Congratulations Thommo
I can feel a song coming on, but the gang might get upset !!
serioulsy well done and thanks for sharing the sucess we, who have been on the so called'£10' all know the experiance you are about to enjoy so go and spoil yourself and have an outside cabin, it will more than pay for its self by the secret you will have (the actual cost) against all the 'rich list' - but don't spoilt it for them as they will have paid full wack - just enjoy.
As for the booze as Luci says the savings are not great but even if you do buy the A1 it'll still be a reasonablly cheap holiday. As for my opinin on the offers go for Thompsons and if Iwere to choose I would go for the Red Sea and if poss go to Petra an experiance which you will NEVER forget. (sorry about the caps Luci - but it is trully wothy of a slap down).

Sorry not been on line for a while but time is at a preimum at present.

Take care, I will ring during the week Vivian

Philip Donefor

Thank you Donefor.

I have chosen The Colourful Coasts option on the Destiny.
I have upgrade to an outside cabin, and go on FRIDAY 13TH October from Glasgow to Tenerife.



I have never been away by myself before, but hopefully it won't be too daunting and I may meet some nice people.

As before good luck to all still waiting. I had all but given up hope of this happening, but now feel sure that the DE will honour their promises in time.

We've done that cruise twice and really enjoyed it. You may find some useful information HERE

Hope you have a great cruise. Look forward to reading your review.

luci

Hello, just read the message from Thommo, I too after all this time have just had the same letter with the offer of 10 cruises. I am however going to Sicily on Sat for a week, so some of the dates clashed or were too close. Fortunately I have a boss who didn't mind, so I booked the Red Sea as it had the latest dates. May see you there!

So DON'T GIVE UP, keep writing if you haven't had your cruise yet.

There was a paragraph in the letter about not telling anyone else about the offer!

I've always wanted to go to Egypt, am looking forward to it now.

PS Does anyone know if you have to have vaccinations?

Congratulations pammyd!

You may find some useful information HERE or by reading the Cruise Reviews.

luci

If I ever get an offer of a cruise I will not be keeping quiet about it. I will be shouting it from the roof tops.

I have now probably sabotaged what little chance I had.

Now we know why it sometimes goes quiet on here. They send you an offer and a gag to wear.

just back from cyprus it was good to see 2 peple have got cruises and how great to have a choice of 10!! any way you have waited so long so just enjoy!!how i wish the cruise companies would do no single supp even if it was just in the low season. where have the avatars gone????? carol

Congrats, Thommo...I was offered same choices as yourself and opted for your cruise choice on 27th Oct because the 13th was full!...The daft thing is...my wife, and son and daughter have been fed up waiting for my offer to land on the doormat and have booked a cruise for....u guessed it 13 Oct from Tenerife on "Colourfull coasts" cruise!...wot a coincidence!...I have been on the boat before, when it was Airtour's "Sunbird"...A lovely boat with really good amenities and a superb crew. Check out the "Chartroom" first thing in the morning (rear lifts about floor 9 or 10...not sure!..)with a couple of coffees from the back-deck restaurant just as you are coming into port!...wot a view!... Have a good one, Thommo and look out for a mother and (older) children from Blackburn!....say hello!...have a good one.
Peter Mariner

Thanks marinerpeter, and I will keep a look out.
Looking forward to it even more with this miserable weather at the moment.

Enjoy yourself on the 27th.

good evening cruisers
this time last year I was getting excited about my med cruise, meeting up with chris 63 and someone with a purple wig, we all had a great time. I wish I was going again this year, all who are cruising in the next few weeks have a lovely time. vivien

Don't we all wish we had another cruise to look forward to Viv! Well done to those who have now got cruises and 'keep at it' to those who haven't!

Finally a new answerphone message on the cruise helpline (after over 1 year of listening to the old message I had to listen to this one 3 times!)

Right, so collecting the tokens, receiving a confirmation of your allocated cruise does not mean you legitimately qualified for the cruise and there were several other steps involved (can anyone shed any light on this?)

So now we are to write again in order to find out our "status of our application"

Im so glad I wrote to the ASA about this crowd!!!!

Here we go again................................