Cruising. Get the Best Value
As a consequence of the growth in cruising during recent years, cruise lines have dramatically increased their capacity. Several new ships have been commissioned and capacity of others has been increased. What these companies did not foresee was the looming economic recession and its inevitable effect on the potential customer base. Eventually, capacity will disappear from the market place, but until that happens cruise lines will be fiercely competing for business by offering discounts and other incentives. Follow this link to read about cruising and the serious problems with Spirit of Adventure and its Black Sea cruise.
DO READ our travel features and travelogues for which there are links at the top of the page. We publish only genuine first-hand experiences. If you read travelogues in media travel sections, almost without exception they are based on trips PAID FOR BY THE TOUR OPERATOR. The writer is a guest of the company who roll out the red carpet and it is implicit in the arrangement "If you don't behave, this will be your last trip"! WE are never guests of the company and we write what we find. If we don't like it we say so. See Niuew Amsterdamreview.
The recent accident to the Costa Concordia will also depress market prices as the wary stay away. This should mean great savings. Our advice is to ignore the Costa disaster. Book a cruise now and you will never be safer!
Travel Regulation Care
Travellers must be aware that it is their personal responsibility to ensure that they meet all Visa and other travel requirements before commencing their journey. The consequence of not doing so can be profound.
Mr K's family recently travelled to Brazil without him, but when Mrs K and her children attempted to return to the UK, they were prevented from doing so by the Brazilian authorities who will not allow a lone parent to take children out of the country. In this case, not being aware of the regulations before travel has caused a great deal of distress and additional expense.
Expect travel agents and airlines to offer advice on such matters, but they do not have the final responsibility; YOU DO! Check with the visa section of the relevant embassy if you are not certain that you are absolutely aware of the requirements you must meet for your journey.
Beware Europcar on the Continent
Over the past couple of years we have had a number of e-mails about outrageous charges levied by Europcar for minor damage to hire cars. Europcar, owned by EURAZEO, is a franchise organisation with some very dodgy franchisees. Nice seems to be the worst place to hire from this company. The credit card of one customer was debited over €919 for a small dent in a bumper caused when they left the vehicle in a car park. More recently, another Europcar Nice customer's card was debited more than €500 for a dent in the steel wheel of a Peugeot and another in Malaga, €800 for a broken clutch cable! You can avoid such overcharging by using a credit card with a very low spend limit or avoiding this company altogether.
Stop being a 'sticky' customer
What is a 'sticky' customer? This is a term companies apply to those customers who either by design or ignorance can be relied upon to stay with the company. This happens where a company earns a reputation for being good value and despite market trends offering better value, the company retains its customers because those customers are too lazy or too foolish to research other opportunities.
