This deal on Fred Olsen ship Balmoral, round trip from Dover, arrived in my in-box literally within past few minutes.... pity about the weather although the law of averages says it must change by then!! Available with Gill's cruises and also Cruise Kings:

Gaelic & Celtic Adventure
Balmoral
26 August 2008 - 9nts
At this price drop everything and start packing!
This late summer cruise around the British Isles offers a rare opportunity to discover delights close to home and is your last chance to get away this August!
We are delighted to be able to offer the last few remaining cabins on this itinerary at an amazing
£495pp!
That is over an incredible £500pp reduction from the original brochure fare!
Dover - Invergordon - Kirkwall
Belfast - Dublin - Cork - Falmouth
St Peter Port - Dover

As a lot of agent move to focus on Oasis sales there may be the odd deal pop up direct with the cruise lines and not be pushed too much.

lookout for the specials on the Transatlantics,

NCL have a very low single sup on the Jewel in sept if any balcony cabins lefts
still not cheap but might be worth a look (US bookings) for the solo passangers.

http://www.bt-store.com for cheap one way flights back from the US.

Received these offers from Semple Travel (Cruise Kings) today: Fantastic prices for genuinely 5 star cruiseships, albeit off season!

Queen Victoria- 29th Nov 2008 - Connoisseurs Mediterranean - 12nts
Fly from UK to Rome, Naples, Sicily, Katakolon, Dubrovnik, Valletta, La Goulette, Malaga, Southampton
fly/cruise price Inside from £819pp. Balcony from £919pp
fly/cruise price + 1nts pre-cruise hotel stay in Rome Inside from £869pp. Balcony from £969pp
fly/cruise price + 2nts pre-cruise hotel stay in Rome Inside from £919pp. Balcony from £1019pp


Azamara Quest - 8th Nov 2008 - Ancient Empires - 14nts
Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy, Sorrento, Italy, Heraklion (Iraklion), Crete, Chios, Greece, Istanbul, Turkey, Canakkale (Kepez), Turkey, Bodrum, Turkey, Fethiye, Turkey, Antalya, Turkey, Limassol, Cyprus, Alexandria, Egypt, Athens (Piraeus), Greece
Inside from £1029pp. Balcony from £1389pp
Suite from £1839pp

Cruisekings, part of John Semple Travel, 139 Kirkintilloch Road, Bishopbriggs, Glasgow. G64 2LS, United Kingdom.

Also received a flyer from cruise1st.co.uk for "last minute availability" Panama Canal Cruise from LA to Miami on Monarch of the Seas 17 nights leaving 16 October, commencing with a one night stay in LA - inside cabin is £1199 including flights. Tel is 0161 772 2111

Could pick one every month....if only!!

These are fantastic offers and for me Cunard have a 75% single supplement and this would be on the room and not the flights. Sadly I am all tied up!.

Sue

Me too!

A question for those of you that have cruised the Med in November. Is it warm enough ? I know it wouldn't be in the high 20's C, but will it be warm enough to walk around without wrapping up in winter clothing ?

Bob

Haven't cruised in November, but we have friends who went on a land holiday to the Andalucian cities in Spain early November a couple of years ago. They had 70ish Fahrenheit (19ish C) and wall to wall sunshine, but that would not be typical. Shouldn't be too cold though. You can go into vtg, pick out the cruise and click on the destination ports to get average temperature high and lows for each month.

Thomsons Topaz, Nov 7 days in a storm.

All the outdoor decks were closed and roped off,
a door got blown away leading to the buffet.
everything was moving, shows cancelled.

Harbour looked a right mess on return and people had been killed in Palma

A hail storm caused Ice to delay the flight home.
(no de icing equipment at palma they had to use fuel)

Cruise made the "holidays from hell" program

B,day cruise,AI, still had great time, restaurants and bars were not that full.

I had pesuaded my parents and some friends to try it out lucky none of us get sea sick.

I have not been in November but friends do the last cruise in the Med on the Millennium X ships in November and have had good weather. The next cruise is the T/A one. I suppose it is luck. Mind you I just would love the ship so much and would always find things to interest me that the weather would not be everything. If the price was right!!

Sue

Windjammer

Just wanted to say thanks for your advice. We did indeed book our friends into an A3.

And we've also changed our booking to an A3. It took quite a bit of effort - because we'd booked through NCL UK, even if we transfered the booking to cruise365, they wouldn't be able to upgrade on the special pricing (it runs through a different NCL office). So it meant we have to cancel and lose the deposit. But a combination of OBC included, a discount and some extra OBC as a goodwill gesture from NCL, then we're no worse off.

We're all delighted. So thanks for putting the idea in my head.

Have to say, Anthony at Cruise365 has been excellent so far.

Thanks for the replys re November weather. It is a choice between a cruise or a couple of weeks in the Canaries

Bob

Bobstheboy, why dont you combine the two and cruise round the Canaries ?
Kath x

NCL adding some OBC for the cancelled/inconvenience is a great, was that a UK or "other office" thing. Did they say which "other office", I had a feeling it was the US one which means the pricing is really in $ and 365 may be adding some on top based on some numbers I saw allthough they still do not match US pricing patterns and there is still some UK based info you don't get on US bookings, so not so sure.

Might means we should not have the UK £35pp charge for any changes not that there are many changes you can do with these cabins.

Great that you managed to sort this out and your friends though the extra was worth it.
How much more did your friends end up spending to get from 2 insides to the A3?

I hope you realise that this could spoil you big time, those other cabins will never be the same again.
If there are just two of you in your A3 then you have a luggage room, makes it real easy to repack as you use stuff and not have the last day pack thing.

I would stick some money in your budgets to use the alternative restaurants, allthough we think that the Teppenyaki is now a little overpriced, consider doing the early 1/2 price special and eat early that night

Also consider using the butlers in the courtyard for things, if you are sitting having drinks(wine boxes travel well) then they will get you snacks drinks anything they can, the courtyard has it's own dinning area so you can eat there as well as in the cabin for b,fast lunch and dinner, ordering anything.

Make sure you get the bookings connected, there is only one upgrade path from these cabins and thats to a garden villa, with you having 5 pax(+?) and 2 A3s thats an ideal group to put in a GV if they don't sell it.
On our trip the GV prices are still very high compared to all the other A*(suites) cabins so I don't think they will sell.

Small things to consider, I forgot to say that in slightly rough weather the hot tub in the courtyard can spill over, on our North cape trip 14510 got flooded, also the upper viewing/sun deck is only on port side so the 140xx cabins give you a balcony looking the other way, 145xx cabins the same way. I also see you have booked cabins on opposite sides of the courtyard so you have balconies both sides which is good.

Keep us posted if there are any developments, we are on the trip before you.
Still no paper work from 365.

Next time I phone I am going to ask if they have the coupon books, handy for a 2-4-1 in the specials first night.

Cruise1st today11th Dec. 10 nts Canary and Morocco 1 nt in Barcelona free plus flights £399 this has to be a great deal even though I would not be interested in NCL myself

30th Nov 12 nights Jade Eastern Med £649 including flights Combine for BTB for £899 = 22 nights.

Sue

Sovereign Cruise club 29th Nov inside Queen Vic 12 night £809
outside £839 balcony£889. This is fractionally less than the CruiseKings deal. Sovereign seem to be a good Agent who advertise in the Daily Mail and have a very good web site.

Sue...Thats an excellent price for the QV cruise best i had seen for a balcony was £969
Do you know if thats on a GTY or cabin number?
Do you have 1 person whos you deal with there?

TravelMandy

No I don't althought I have spoken to them a few times. It is an excellent price and I am not sure if it is a balcony guarantee or not. I would't worry about a guarantee with Cunard as I was happy to accept up grades and although the final upgrade was further forward than I would normally book and also on a lower deck it was fantastic.

If you have the time and the money go for it!

Sue

bobstheboy wrote:

Thanks for the replys re November weather. It is a choice between a cruise or a couple of weeks in the Canaries

Bob

Hi Bob, the suggestion from Kath to "combine" by cruising the Canaries seems a good idea. Cruise365 are offering a 12night cruise on the NCL Jade into the Canaries via Morocco, although there are also a few Med ports. They fly you from either Newcaste, Bristol or East Midlands and give you one night in a Barcelona hotel pre-cruise so it is a 13 nighter in all. Details are:

13 Night Canary Islands Fly Cruise **Free Tips**, Norwegian Jade

Flights based on Newcastle, East Midlands or Bristol flights
Bonus Offers Free on Board Tips

Fly UK to Barcelona and stay overnight in a central hotel, following day join Norwegian Jade at Port, ship visits:-

Barcelona, Spain
Malaga, Spain
Casablanca, Morocco
Agadir, Morocco
Lanzarote
Gran Canaria
Lisbon, Portugal
Cadiz, Spain
Gibraltar
Palma, Majorca
Barcelona

Disembark Norwegian Jade and fly to the UK

Date is around Mid-November and inside cabin price is £749 and includes hotel, flights and gratuities paid as detailed above!!

One of the things that would have interested us greatly, if we had availability holidays/cash etc, is that one of the excursions is an overnight to Marrakesh in Morocco, coaching you from Casablanca and returning you to join the ship at Agadir the following day, We have been at both Casablanca and Agadir on different cruises and the day trip to Marrakesh involves about a 4 hour coach journey each way which, for us, would be a horrendous way to get 2 or 3 hours there.

UK guest services sorted out the OBC, but the trail led back to the same director that Cruise365 spoke to when they tried to transfer our deposit over. Cruise365 referred to contacting the 'tour operator' office to book the cruise (the system was down so there was a bit of backwards and forwards on the phone). But he had mentioned to me previously that the deal was priced in $.

Friends immediately recognised the value - even though none have cruised before. But for the couple it was a question of the extra £600 needed is still £600. Plus, while we're all great friends, there is a bit of history - so current and previous (long time ago) girlfriends both needed to think about sharing a suite. I sent them plenty of pictures so that they could see that there'll be plenty of space to get a bit of alone time.
So they're paying £800 each for cruise only with $150 OBC and including service charges. So all in all I think it's about £400 more than they would have paid if they'd got the two insides.

I've got two children in tow - son will be 2.5, daughter 11 months. Dining in our room or in the courtyard was a definite plus - will be nice to have some meals without kids. When we do dine in the dining rooms it will be early, but I'll wait to see how amenable our daughter is before ruining fellow passengers' speciality dining experience! But our son's going to love this - kid's crew, swimming pools, plenty of ice cream and friends across the way to visit.

We'll be in BCN for a couple of days prior and are planning to stock up on baby things. Would it be immoral to hide wine boxes amongst baby milk and water?

Thanks for the tips. Can hardly wait. We had to cancel our holiday last Jan and daughter's early months were all a bit traumatic, so really looking forward to this.