Do Your Research To Avoid Nasty Surprises

I always like a relaxing holiday at the end of November to escape the horrible UK winter weather and to re-charge my batteries before the Christmas festivities and the onslaught of January (which is peak booking season, so very long & stressful working days). I’ve reached that stage where I have narrowed down the choices for my next holiday & so now the research begins.  I have to admit that I am a little obsessive when it comes to researching the destinations & hotels or ships I intend to stay in. It pays off though as I have never had a bad holiday.

Without my research I would never have found this amazing little gem of a boutique hotel to stay in in Mijas, Spain.

Casa De la Iglesia

Neither would I have found such a fantastic safari lodge complete with watering hole view like this from my bedroom window…..

Kenya

In this day & age with so many resources at your finger tips there really is no excuse for not having at least a basic idea of what to expect. Of course things like freak weather, accidents and what your fellow passengers/holidaymakers are like can all play a part in your experience & are all things that you can’t plan for, but other than that you can get a very good grasp of what’s to come.

If I am going on a cruise I will always look at the latest reviews (click here so you can too), although I am in the fortunate position to speak to lots of customers and get the latest feedback from them as soon as they get back from their cruises. There’s nothing like first-hand information.

If I am staying in a hotel I read literally hundreds of reviews from Trip Advisor. My rule is never to book anything with less than a 4 rating overall and you have to weedle out the moaners. Everyone’s experience will be different and things like entertainment & food offerings can be subjective, but I always chuckle when in the middle of 30 four or five star reviews there’s a 1 star review poking through. These generally come from people who haven’t bothered to do any research whatsoever.

Forums are a fantastic way to learn about things (both good & bad) that you don’t see on the website or in a brochure. Our newly re-vamped forum has an absolute wealth of information on there as well as seasoned cruisers that you can pose questions to. The chances are if you are asking something it will have been asked before & the answers will be there at your fingertips. Here’s the link. This is the place to get secret hints & tips as well as recommendations that only people that have the experience can know.

I suppose in a sense all this information that’s available before you go away does take some of the pleasure away from discovering things for yourselves when you’re on holiday, however my personal opinion is that fore-warned is fore-armed.

So happy holiday hunting and don’t forget…the world is literally at your fingertips!