Sam's Sea Stories

For years 'All Inclusive' cruising was the limited to high-end brands such as Seabourn and Regent, offering an immersive product where just about everything, including your drinks were included in your cruise fare. More mainstream operators followed suit, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and MSC Cruises started offering All Inclusive Drinks Packages,…

So often when eating out parents notice the options available for the little ones, the dreaded ‘Children’s Menu’. Usually consisting of burgers/nuggets/pizza etc. all with chips. Well, Costa Cruises for one have taken it upon themselves to improve their dining options with a new eating program for children. The purpose…

I have written about the subject of wheelchair accessible cabins (or lack of them) before, but more recently the subject has reared it’s ugly head again. Just as an example, the Cunard Line Queen Mary 2 has 1310 cabins on board, approximately 30 of which are wheelchair accessible, that’s just…

Over the years I’ve organised many trips for many different clients to a host of places all over the world but only once have I ever been asked how much it would cost to take a dog on a cruise. Clients of mine were relocating to the USA and of…

We often hear about some of the negative aspects of cruising, particularly the effects of mass tourism and the environmental impact but much amazing work does go unnoticed. Were you aware of MSC Cruises' partnership with UNICEF? MSC Cruises and UNICEF have worked in partnership since 2009 and together established…

Ever embarked upon a full World Cruise? Ever wanted to? Those lucky enough to have done so would probably have cruised for somewhere between 3 and 4 months. One of the principle concerns for those booking such voyages remains the fact that you are away from home/family/loved ones for such…

We Brits as a nation have always been somewhat uncomfortable with the whole tipping scenario. Ok, in a restaurant environment maybe, but when was the last time you found yourself handing over extra cash to the nice lady on the checkout in Sainsbury’s or the very nice man who changed…

I’ve been inspired to write this week following a recent conversation with regular Cunard cruiser. We were discussing a potential fly cruise holiday for himself and his wife for this summer, and while being happy with both the price and the itinerary of the potential cruise holiday he had chosen,…

If you're a fan of Classic rock you are in for a treat. Grab your old spandex trousers, brush up on your air guitar skills and get yourself over to Miami for February 10th 2019. Why? Well Royal Caribbean have launched the inaugural 'On The Blue' cruise, a one off,…

With new 'Mega Ships' offering staggering innovations at sea such as glow-in-the-dark decking, cantilevered restaurants and 10 deck high waterslides with 100ft drops, I thought it would be fun to check out some of the previous 'cruise ship firsts' of years gone by. It wasn't always this way, the cruising tradition…