September 2007 Archives

Regular contributor Brian Hordon reflects on Travel Weekly's Mystery Shopper feature as Cruise Month draws to a close...

It had to happen during cruise month: Mystery Shopper went looking for a cruise holiday. The result? An excellent outright winner and a variety of scores for the other agents.

As for the agents who scored lower, it is difficult to apportion blame - I certainly have sympathy for the sales consultants who were the focus of Mystery Shopper's attention.

Lack of knowledge, lack of awareness of cruising, lack of confidence, lack of training? It is easy to "point the finger", but I see the Mystery Shopper exercise as an opportunity.

How many travel agents actually incorporate the weekly Mystery Shopper feature into their in-house training? The script is in place, the subject is clearly defined; the discussion can be based upon:

• How would our front line sales consultants handle this question?
• What products would we have proposed?
• How would we have closed the sales discussion?

Mystery Shopper can appear a little harsh when reviewed after the event; but used positively, it can be yet another superb resource - especially for cruising.

And of course the feature included five selling tips by Andy Harmer from the Association of Cruise Experts - another invaluable resource for all levels of sales consultants.

Final point; I have every Mystery Shopper featuring cruise requests from the very beginning (yes, I know, how sad!), and with literally a couple of exceptions the score card remains very similar to the latest mystery shopper.

Don't despair, Luton, just adopt a positive attitude and learn from the experience.

Brian Hordon, Director of Training Development, Silversea Cruises (UK) Ltd

If you have stayed in a hotel, you probably would have noticed the neat folds in the loo roll.
One man, Stephen Gill, has photographed these pieces of origami from around the world. He tells the Guardian why . . .

Martin Couzins, online editor

There was more good news for UK cruising last week as Liverpool opened its new Mersey terminal.

It's been extended to cope with larger vessels, and expects to welcome 23 ships in the next 18 months.

Locals have been out with their video cameras, capturing the QE2, the arrival of which marked the terminal's official opening...

...and Seven Seas Voyager, which was the first ship to berth at the new terminal in early September.

This comes from our features reporter Janine Kelso...

I recently joined Thomas Cook's top 100 agents as they were flown to Antigua in recognition of their hard work.

Staying in the newly-built Mediterranean suites at Sandals Grande Antigua, we were wowed by the rooms - four-poster king-size beds, whirlpool baths and (big enough for two) rain showers.

The champagne breakfast has also went down well.

Eric Clapton and Giorgio Armani have homes on the island and Eddie Murphy (complete with embarrassingly-large entourage), 50 Cent and Danny Glover have all visited. But the agents got their own taste of fame this week when news of their arrival on the island was broadcast on local TV and radio stations.

Representatives from Thomas Cook and the Antigua and Barbuda Tourist Office told reporters that the incentive trip was beneficial to the island as it would help the agents to sell it with passion when they returned home.

Thomas Cook said it was the first time that one of their trips had drawn so much interest from the local press. The news report was screened at 6am and those agents who rose early enough to watch it were thrilled to see themselves on TV.

Ok, I'm blowing the Travel Weekly trumpet here but I think there is reason to. Today we launch our Simon Calder podcast. TV's Mr Holiday is taking his tape recorder (well, digital recorder) on his travels and reporting back for us. His first broadcast is from a cafe in Toulouse.

Click here to get your own player.

I'm sure readers will have seen the new British Airways ad set in Sydney.

It's a nice concept designed to emphasise service - BA staff turn up on the street to offer passers-by pillows, drinks and the like.

Aaaanyway, agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty has posted a making-of video which, in turn, is designed to emphasise that these are real BA staff and not actors.

Heartwarming stuff, although it's a pity BA's signature melody has sprouted a new verse to do with "diamonds in the sky". Or something.

Incidentally, it may interest readers to know that the original words to the iconic deeeee-da-da-dum tune are:

A dense dome of jasmine and roses clings together,
flowery waterside and fresh morning together call us.
Ah! Let us glide as we follow the fleeting current among the trembling waves.
Blithely steering, let us gain the shore, where a bird is singing.
The dense dome, the white jasmine together call us!

So not much to do with aircraft, though no less effective for it.

Price transparency is a big issue in travel. More often than not, what you see is not what you get. I was at the Travolution Question Time event last night and one of the panel pointed out that trust in offline travel sales had been eroded because of confusion around pricing (not sure online is guilt free here).

This issue is picked up today by Darren at Travel Rants who is running a poll on booking terms and conditions. Be interesting to see the results, although I'm pretty sure which way it will go.

A new version of the board game Monopoly is to feature British towns and cities. An online poll asked the public to vote on towns and cities they would most like to see. Not surprsingly there has been a lot of lobbying to get on the board - it's iconic and is played the world over.

Exeter took the most pricey spot of Mayfair while Liverpool took down at heel Old Kent Road - perfect PR as it prepares to become Europe's culture capital for 2008.

The Guardian story reveals which city/town takes what colour on the board.

Martin Couzins, online editor

TW Blog invited readers to tell us about their best and worst hotel room views earlier this week. What about restaurant views? Top this...

That's the world's only all-glass undersea restaurant, which you'll find at Hilton Maldives Resort and Spa. It is 16 feet under sea level and surrounded by a coral reef.

I've pilfered this from our Maldives resort feature, which you can read online tomorrow (or in print on Friday).

My faith in customer service and the human condition has been restored today. Following video work on MS Prinsendam yesterday, I managed to leave the bag of video kit on my train to work.

Once I had realised I rushed down to Sutton station where the staff called through to stations further down the line to see if the bag had been handed in. They also asked for someone to check the carriage when it had reached the end of the line.

No news from all that. It all went quiet for an hour or so and then Tony Louth called. He was the driver of the train who had found the bag, opened it up and clocked the large Travel Weekly stickers on the kit.

I was reasonably happy to take his call informing me he had the camera. Here is the man.

Thanks to Southern station staff at Sutton for all your help. And thanks to Tony for saving my bacon.

Here are a couple more shots from my ship visit.

Here's Andy Winstanley, director, Americas4u, on deck during our tour of the ship.

And this is the floor mat in the lift. They are changes each day so passengers don't lose track of time.

And how about this for a piece of watermelon carving? Found in the Lido deck restaurant.

Here's one for football fans - many of the guests at last week's Northern Travel Trade Ball / Agent Excellence Awards were staying at the De Vere Whites hotel, where the function was held.

Locals will know that the De Vere is part of Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium complex, and that some rooms have a great view of the pitch.

Travel Weekly's own Juliet Dennis (who did a sterling job of interviewing the award winners on video) had one such room...

What's the most interesting view you've had from a hotel room, whether good or bad?

Holland Americal Lines' ship MS Prinsendam was in Greenwich today and we have been filming the ship with TW Cruise Club member Andrew Winstanley. We will show the film on Travel Weekly later in the week, but here is a shot of the ship.

Travel Weekly Cruise Month has featured some statistics which are worth looking at. We are all aware of the year on year growth of the UK cruising stats produced by the Passenger Shipping Association, and of course the frequent exposure for the need for younger first time cruisers to develop the market; but is everyone aware that the percentage of these first time cruisers is actually slightly declining?

How many travel agents are aware that there are more than 40 new cruise ships on order right now?. Also, is everyone in your office aware that more than 50% of these new ships are projected to offer ex UK cruises?

Agents and cruise lines agree that a selection of mini cruises on all types of cruise ship are a recognised feature of creating visibility and ultimately business for a full cruise holiday, but I wonder how many travel agents uplift this different product and ensure that their customers are aware of this opportunity.

The short break holiday market is a boom market, so why not the short break cruise market?

But it is essential that agents do not lose sight of the cruise needs of the most important market - the mature market. Agents must remember the age and wealth demograhic profile of the UK population. It is this market that has time and money and that will continue to provide the volume for travel agents.

In her opinion column in 14 September Travel Weekly, Fay Thompson of Instant Cruise Holidays, summed up by saying, "So for all you budding cruise specialists, take heed; brush up on your product knowledge - there are big ships to fill".

My summary - there are lots of big ships to fill.

Brian Hordon, Director of Training Development, Silversea Cruises (UK) Ltd

I was filming at the Northern Travel Trade Ball (and Agent Excellence Awards) on Thursday night, which meant a Virgin train back from Manchester to London the following day.

While answering the call of nature I saw this ad, which is placed directly beside a toilet and promotes the onboard shop. Where they sell food.

Your eyes don't deceive you. Someone decided to associate the sandwich shop with a flushing toilet. That's an F minus, chaps.

Not sure how the Travel Weekly news desk got on to this, but just had a quick discussion on first wages - that's from proper full-time jobs not paper rounds.
I started on the picture desk at Doctor magazine on £9,000 (1993). Ed coined it in on £8,000 (in 2000) at the Plympton, Plymstock & Ivybridge News and Chloe started on £12,000 in 2005 at the Glasgow Herald. Juliet kick started her career in Folkestone Herald in 1995 and took home £7,500.
Kelly started in travel, working for Going Places on £7,500 in 1999, moving on to the Crawley News in 2002 and taking home £11,000.

Congrats to Kevin and Tricia on Travolution. The latest issue is an indepth look at how different age groups interact with travel brands on the internet and it includes loads of exclusive research. Well worth a read.

12:25pm: Well, what a journey.

Not sure what happened this side of the Channel tunnel but we flew from Brussels in well under two hours. 1 hour 43 and 53 seconds unofficial which makes it a record time.

Couldn't find my train expert friend unfortunately.

St Pancras station is nearly complete and looks magnificent.

There was a real buzz on the train. Congrats to David and Luc the drivers.

What a great day for rail travel.

More updates from Martin...

10:35am: Just whizzed through Lille...

11:27am: We are in blighty. I just walked the length of train with video camera. It took ages - a quarter of mile there and back.

Just passed Ashford, took 54 mins to get to the tunnel and around 18 mins to pass through it. Records looking good but no one is saying how we are doing.

Got to go back to carriage 4 to fnd Murray Hughes, consultant editor of Railway Gazette. He knows about trains, believe me...

11:29am: Way ahead of schedule. Just overheard someone saying we are going to do it in one hour 45 minutes. Woo-hoo if we do...

And here's our breakfast...

11:47am: We are in London...

Martin's on the first Eurostar journey from Brussels to London since the opening of the High Speed One line. He's been sending in pictures throughout the morning...

It's the first time anyone has seen this screen at the Brussels terminal...

All aboard...

Just met the drivers David Green and Luc Stockx. They swap under the Channel and David will be driving us into St Pancras. David has been driving Eurostar trains for 10 years. I didn't realise train drivers worked in a suit...

Here's Leger Holidays brand manager Marco Mori, who had the misfortune to spend this historic morning looking at me...

And here are Thomas Cook short haul scheduled product and commercial manager Katie Elson, and Eurostar sales national account manager Jeremy Turner.

I'm in Brussels for Eurostar's inaugural into London St Pancras. We are looking at shaving 20 minutes off the current journey time and making a little bit of history with a one hour and 51 minute journey. And we get to see the new terminal at St Pancras. More to follow . . .

Martin Couzins, online editor

A Luxury Travel Blog has posted about a design for an extravagant new seven-star hotel in Dubai (where else?).

The Apeiron, should the plans by architect Sybarite get backing, will be a huge funnel-shaped structure rising from the sea. Access would be by helicopter or sea only, with boats mooring in the centre of the structure.

My word. Sybarite describes it as a 'James Bond retreat,' which is of course right on the money. What's up with the name, then?

The aptly named ‘Apeiron’ hotel is derived from Anaximander’s 6th century BC cosmological theory. He believed the beginning of time to be an endless, unlimited mass, subject to neither old age nor decay, perpetually yielding fresh materials from which everything we can perceive are derived.

Aaaah. Of course.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

A look at currency sales from Post Office Travel Services provides a picture of the fastest growing currencies purchased by UK holidaymakers. Looks like Eastern Europe is in demand.

Here are the top 10 fastest growing currencies.

1 Polish Zloty
2 Hong Kong Dollar
3 Bulgarian Lev
4 Maltese Lira
5 Euro
6 Croatian Kuna
7 Thai Baht
8 US Dollar
9 Singapore Dollar
10 Egyptian Pound

While wandering around Google Earth (Just like Earth, but without the noise and odour^TM) TW Blog was astonished by the number of 3D buildings on display in Hamburg.

A few searches later I discovered that the 'virtual city' is the brainchild of Hamburg@Work, a 'joint initiative of the city and private business'. More in this Spiegel article (via Google Earth Blog).

A bit over the top? At least it guarantees accuracy. In most cities buildings are added piecemeal by independent users, and that's how mutant clock towers happen.

Eek. Should UK cities follow Hamburg's example, or is a well-crafted Google Earth presence sheer vanity?

This pic has just come in...

Two comments so far from the TW office:

1. Didn’t someone point out that left to right this picture reads, ‘Say no to say no to skyway robbery skyway robbery’?
2. A Travolution spokesman wondered if this was easyJet going for the Ryanair style of publicity. I won't repeat verbatim what he said . . .

And if you still don't know what the hell is going on, this is a pic of easyJet Chief Executive Andy Harrison and team posed as Highwaymen in front on the Houses of Parliament.

While here at Travel Weekly we are always writing about just how much travel agents still have to play for in the modern market, it is nice to see the proof of it too.

A recent requirement for return flights to San Francisco during the half term week (gulp!) left me spending time in the office searching numerous websites for a half decent price which would have been better spent in the pub.

So remembering my old friend Eton Travel Agency retail travel assistant manager Elaine Kane, who last year helped me out of a sticky situation in Beijing involving several large beers, two plates of kidney kebabs and a drunken member of the Chinese secret police, I turned to her for some help.

Not only did she source the flights quicker than I could but she made several changes without a single complaint, dealt with the airline’s demands for Advanced Passenger Information and most importantly got me the best price by more than £20. A result all round!

With flight consolidators like Gold Medal and Travel 2/4 still pledging to work exclusively with the industry I am sure there are prices out there for agents to access which the general public can’t and with a service charge (more than fair enough for the work put in by Elaine) we are left with both happy agents and customers.

Edward Robertson

Some interesting reaction to our odd client requests competition, a few of the responses to which appeared on the back page of last week’s Travel Weekly.

Alex Bainbridge at Tour CMS Travel UCD (Travel UCD is the company, Tour CMS the product - my mistake) acknowledges that the contest is 'a bit of a giggle', but worries that 'this attitude to client requests will be damaging to agents in the long run'. (For the record, TW isn't actually suggesting that you laugh clients out of the shop - but we think you knew that.)

He points out, with some justification, that

Standard bookings will, now and in the future, be handled by customers booking online. Therefore bookings with special requests or unusual questions will become the norm for high street travel agents…. so agents should be welcoming special requests

Cat Salt from advertising agency Orchestra emailed with a point that complements this nicely. Some odd-sounding requests, she observes, aren't odd at all:

'Finding out the size of the steps into the transfer coach' clearly identifies someone travelling with limited mobility. For people with a disability, the difference between 3 and 5 steps and between narrow and wide steps can be the difference between access, assisted access and no access

Good spot. Special requests, Alex continues, can expose a lack of product knowledge and customer service skills on the part of the agent – effectively driving the customer to the tour operator to book direct.

While the idea that all agents are poorly informed and just scrape by selling meat-and-potatoes product is at best a little patronising, the emphasis on knowledge and service is an accurate analysis of the challenges facing the trade – and one that Brian Hordon has frequently made in these very pages.

Still time to get your entries in – and why not tell us how you dealt with the request too?

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Travel Weekly is always on the look out for pics of our print title being read in unexpected places. But we have stiff competition from Travolution. Check out this film of a Travo reader taking the mag for a skydive. Kev, who is your crazy reader?

Independence of the Seas, the last of Royal Caribbean's three Freedom Class ships to be built, was 'floated out' over the weekend.

Translation: Its dry dock was flooded, and it was moved into a wet dock for the last phase of production.

Okay, it's not an official launch, but it's still a big moment for Independence, which knows a thing or two about being big - along with its sisters Liberty and Freedom it is the largest passenger cruise ship afloat.

I can't find any pics of the ceremony, but here's one of the Finnish shipyard where Independence is being... finished. There's also a fine image gallery on the Telegraph's website.

Independence will be heading down to Southampton when production finishes in May 2008 - another red letter day for cruising in the UK.

If anyone's curious about floating out there's a video of it happening to Liberty on the website of shipbuilder Aker Yards. Watch out for the balloons. And the cannon...

Tim Elkington over at Enhance Media is running a test to check a person's e-credentials. It's for a good cause so find out how E you are.

I scored 65 which makes me an e-vangelist but I only ranked 3,220th out of 11,325.

This post comes from Gill Hartigan, winner of the Agent Excellence Award for best sales consultant, small agency, in the Southwest and Wales.

Next week the Caribbean Tourism Organisation will be holding its ‘Courses for the Caribbean 2007’ event in Oxford.

I’ll be going along. I run the weddings and honeymoons department at Howard Travel, so I’m on the lookout for new wedding opportunities for both the company and my clients.

Meeting contacts from the various exhibitors is also useful, especially if you need some expert advice. And of course I’m also hoping to gain knowledge and information that will add to the pleasure of experiencing the islands myself.

Here are my three favourite Caribbean bookings:

• A wedding at the Radisson Cable Beach in Grand Bahamas. It was for 19 passengers with a total cost of over £23,000. I found it most enjoyable, challenging and very rewarding – and it sparked the idea for the wedding department within Howard Travel.



• Last year I booked a wedding at The Beach Club in Antigua for 20 passengers at a total cost of £22,000. The resort is a favourite of mine, in particular the superior rooms which have direct access to the beach.



• In November I have a wedding booked for 13 passengers at the all-inclusive Holiday Village Golden Beach in the Dominican Republic. Their child prices go up to the age of 14 years and they have four-bedded rooms, so I was able to keep the price down to £10,700.

What’s your best booking to the Caribbean? And if you attended the Durham CTO training event, what selling tips did you pick up?

Gill Hartigan, Howard Travel

A new post from regular guest blogger Brian Hordon (Silversea UK)

Travel Weekly Cruise Month is now in full flow with news features, product information, comment, and above all another platform which focuses upon the exciting world of holidays at sea.

My post of June 14 was titled "the new cruise era" and focused on how developments in the cruise industry would benefit the travel agent. Cruising really is now a mainstream holiday and offers volume business opportunity and profit.

Cruising now caters to clients of all ages and wealth profiles. There are ships which offer the perfect holiday for younger, active people; ships which deliver an all-round holiday for families; ships that recognise the special needs and desires of the mature traveller.

There is now no excuse - there is a cruise holiday for every market segment, nationally.

But the Travel Weekly Cruise Month must not be seen in isolation. The features, the thoughts and ideas, the ship visits and training opportunities should all become integral to your next business plan, which should feature your projected cruise targets and promotional programme.

The opportunities here must not be overlooked: they will contribute to the profitability of your agency.

Brian Hordon, Director of Training Development, Silversea Cruises (UK) Ltd.

I thought this was quite funny . . . which says a lot about my sense of humour.

A musician who joined an orchestra on a cruise ship was having difficulty keeping time with the rest of the band. Finally, the captain said, "Either you learn to keep time or I'll throw you overboard. . . . It's up to you, sync or swim."

TW Blog has noticed a strange phenomenon.

Editing some copy the other day, I came across the assertion that any attraction in England is 'right on my doorstep'.

Not Land's End, I thought. That's a seven hour drive. You can fly to Morocco in three.

Things got worse on this morning's Today show. A trail for Michael Palin's Eastern Europe travelogue ran through a couple of the odd places he is set to visit, and declared that they, too, are 'right on my doorstep'.

How before TW Blog's doorstep has been extended to the Middle East, China or Hogwarts?

If you come across any other examples of doorstep exaggeration, please pass them on.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

From TW supplements editor Emily Bamber...

I’m slightly embarrassed to say that I’ve been through the entire British education system and until this weekend didn’t fully appreciate the enormous importance of the D Day landings.

Crucially, I also had no idea that the Allies constructed two false harbours (the 'Mulberry Harbours') by towing ten-storey high blocks of concrete across the channel to build platforms for the tanks – all under fire and completed within 48 hours of the first landings.

The Americans suffered horrific fatalities at Omaha Beach, and walking among the 9,400 graves at the American Cemetery is an experience I will never forget.

Oh – by the way, I was on a cruise. Silversea’s Silver Shadow from Falmouth to Greenwich – Normandy Landing Sites excursion.

Emily Bamber, supplements editor

OK, he did Monty Python, has done some good travel books and TV programmes but does he deserve a fan blog for the run up to his new series New Europe, to launch on BBC1 at 9pm this Sunday 16 September?
If you need more info, try the BBC web site for New Europe.
Or Michael's own web site Palin's Travels.

On Monday I posted a 'wicked whisper' about a cruise community site that was inadvertantly publishing adult spam in its RSS feed.

That site, we can now reveal, goes by the name of Carnival Cruise Blog.

But hold your horses: it's actually nothing to do with Carnival Cruise Lines.

Kevin at Travolution investigated, and quickly found that Carnival Cruise Blog is run by an agent who sells the brand's product.

So Carnival hasn't been publishing anything untoward, advertantly or otherwise.

What is has done is fail to prevent an unaccountable third party from using its brand. A third party who clearly has little awareness of the pitfalls of user-generated content.

Take a look at the Carnival Cruise Blog and you'll see it could very easily pass for an official site - at time of writing there is still nothing on the hompage to indicate its independence from the cruiseline (and the mucky stuff's still there UPDATE: it has now been removed).

While Carnival is quite emphatically in the clear here, it will be wishing it had been more vigilant.

This raises lots of issues that are really Travolution's remit, so keep an eye on its blog for more. TW will be watching with interest.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Fred Pearce, New Scientist's environment blogger is off to see Climate Care to see how they work. Be interesting to see what Fred comes up with . . .he says it will be a warts and all look at the effectiveness of offsetting.

Several cruiselines - including Royal Caribbean International and Regent Seven Seas - have recently tightened their smoking policies or are about to do so, and USA Today has been running a poll on readers' attitudes to puffing at sea.

It seems to have struck a chord. The poll has 4,190 votes, and the associated news piece 210 comments. Here's the breakdown of what respondents want to see:

• Blanket ban: 49%
• No ban at all: 28%
• Smoking on cabin balconies only: 23%

Cruiselines have so far been singularly reluctant to kick smokers out. Only Oceania Cruises has a fleet-wide ban, with Disney's cabin balcony-only policy its only real competition.

Thing is, you can't just hop off a cruise ship for a fag. So a ban wouldn't just annoy smokers, it would remove them from a cruiseline's potential customer base altogether.

Not very appealing, particularly for cruiselines who want to capture a broad slice of the market and win round cruise virgins (awful phrase).

How about a number of no-smoking ships in each fleet, then?

Sounds good at first, but non-smokers are likely to avoid smoking ships if there are smoke-free ones available - and that limits the number of itineraries they will consider. They could end up feeling that they have less choice, not more.

The general tightening of restrictions is expected and probably to be welcomed - the majority of holidaymakers are after all non-smokers. But TW Blog would be surprised to see a blanket ban anytime soon.

How would readers have answered the USA Today poll? Total ban, cabin balconies only or no ban at all?

Nathan Midgley, web producer

It's Cruise Month in Travel Weekly (did we mention it?) so how fitting that one of the requests in our funny client requests competition is cruise related.

This is from Jodie Elliott at Co-op Travel. There's still time to get your own entries in - the winner gets £50 to spend in Marks and Spencers.

The strangest request I have ever received has to be from two elderly passengers who had booked an Royal Caribbean cruise. For dietary requirements I expected the norm such as gluten free, vegetarian, wheat free, but oh no, imagine my surprise when she requested it to be noted on the booking that her husband only ate peas!

As you can imagine when calling RCI to put the request on I did have to point out that in fact this was not a wind up and that the gentleman on the booking did in fact only eat peas! I can only imagine the fun they had on the cruise!

Martin Couzins, online editor

Many of the nationals are carrying the touching/weird story of two pensioners who have been living at a Lincolnshire Travelodge for over two decades.

This will have made UK readers think of either the Major from Fawlty Towers or Steve Coogan's Alan Partridge (right).

Apparently David and Jean Davidson just don't like housework, and have racked up a bill of around £100,000 avoiding making beds, cleaning and cooking.

They should stick around. Travelodge is doing up all its UK properties, so in a few years the couple will have got out of doing the decorating too. Result.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Our chief reporter, Juliet Dennis, has just arrived in the office and informed me that she doesn't want to be here right now. I didn't ask why but I did ask where she would rather be.

Answer: a beach in Cape Town.

Hmm, Sutton or South Africa. I know where I'd rather be.

Right now I'd rather be in bed as my son was up well before dawn. Where would you rather be?

More from Cruise Month - here's homeworker Andrew Fox, a member of the Travel Weekly Cruise Club, on a visit to Oceania Cruises' Regatta. Our Kelly Ranson was there with the camera.

Andrew makes the well-rehearsed, but no less true, point that ship visits are indispensable to successful cruise sales - and you can read more about how he developed his own travel business in Skills Zone.

More video, sales tips, ship reports and other useful stuff on the Cruise Month page.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

TW Blog was subscribing to a few cruise feeds yesterday when something appeared that made me choke on my tea.

Here comes a wicked whisper...

• Which cruiseline's community portal community site dedicated to a particular cruiseline is inadvertantly publishing adult spam in its RSS feed?

We will be contacting the company to notify them - there should be some follow-up in Travolution.

UPDATE: Kevin at Travo has contacted the cruiseline, who are naturally horrified but inform us that the site is run by an independent agent - I've altered this post and its headline accordingly. More soon.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Is Wastwater in the Lake District.

Who says? Those who voted in ITV1's Favourite View programme.

. . . the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall on 10 December at a ceremony in Southampton.

Sorry, my mistake - his royal highnesses will be attending the event. We will find out at 2pm today who will be naming the ship. Watch this space to find out who.

And the answer is the Duchess of Cornwall - here's the full story.

Thanks to John Heald's blog for the press release. He's Carnival Freedom's Cruise Director.

We are getting a lot of response to our funny customer request competition - it's amazing what some holiday bookers ask their travel agent for.

Here are some of the entries we've had so far...

A couple of years ago when I was working on the High Street I had a gentleman who came into the office and in all seriousness told me he would like to go to the Sea of Tranquility.

We had advertised a mystery coach tour in our window. The client came in asking where the mystery coach tour was going. Had to explain it was a mystery tour and he would not find out until he boarded the coach.

A customer who booked to stay in Orlando requested a sea view room. I had to explain that Orlando was quite a way from the sea.

If you're a travel agent, get your entry in - you could win £50 of M&S vouchers.

Martin Couzins, online editor

I refer to John Aldridge's I-can-barely-watch massacre of the Banyan Tree in Bahrain in today's Times.

The lavish property is, he says, 'comically awful' ... 'the silliest hotel in the Middle East'.

On the bar:

Gazing up at the red and blue spotlights and gawdy twinkling-star lasers in the roof, I felt like I had arrived at the Cinderella-Rockefeller's disco

On the spa:

With long, echoing, sterile corridors between the changing rooms, the hydrothermal pools and the treatment rooms, it felt more like a Victorian sanatorium

The spa treatments get a bit of praise, and Aldridge describes Banyan Tree chain as 'usually top class', but otherwise it's carnage all the way. Ouch.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Live in London and want to see a 120m long depiction of Scotland? Then get down to the London Gathering.

Billed as a two-day celebration of the very best of Scotland in London (catchy, eh?), the event will feature a very long poster of Scotland. The poster was due to be used in the London Underground but will now adorn Temple Gardens on Victoria Embankment.

Martin Couzins, online editor

Kevin @ Travolution has picked up on a nice idea from ProBlogger - post a photo of the place from which you (normally) blog.

But isn't that just a me-me-meme that guarantees ProBlogger thousands of links?

Yes, but it's Friday. Anyway, we can adapt it for travel. Travel bloggers:

• What's the farthest from home you've been when posting?

Got a pic/link? I'll start it off: Rotorua, NZ. Leave yours in the comments.

So here's TW Blog HQ...

Key

• Computer: Standard-issue. Ever seen that Fawlty Towers clip with the Morris Minor? Enough said.
• Animals: TW Blog's neighbour has an enthusiasm for beasts of the field that cannot be contained by her own workspace.
• Tea: Tea and Google Reader = the world's most popular blogging platform.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Running through the cruise blogs I posted about yesterday, I found this story about Hapag-Lloyd Cruises's Hanseatic crossing the Northwest Passage.

That's the semi-mythical channel between Canada and the Arctic - once a holy grail for explorers, who knew it would allow shipping to travel from Europe to Asia without the treacherous slog round Africa.

It is navigable by icebreakers, and The Hanseatic is apparently one of few passengers ships able to make the journey (this is its seventh trip).

But all that could change. The ice that normally covers the Northwest Passage receded to an unprecedented extent this year:

Image: NASA Earth Observatory

(When will I get tired of free satellite images? Try never.)

This will be exciting news for armchair explorers, but rather less thrilling to the environmental lobby.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Take a look at the Association of Cruise Experts' diary and you'll see there are plenty of ship visits coming up this month.

This week travel agents got to take a look at MSC Opera which called at Dover on Wednesday. As a part of the MSC Cruises Sailshows went on a tour of the ship as well as a presentation from Claudia Baino, MD of MSC Cruises UK and Ireland, on the new 2008 brochure.

And here is a pic of the ship.

Walk on water? We know a man who can float on his back AND read a copy of Travel Weekly’s Israel supplement.

Pictured is TW regular Chris Coplans at the Dead Sea, where he’s he’s flat out researching this year’s guide.

Emily Bamber, supplements editor

You can always rely on Travel Weekly's Barometer page for the stats that matter. This top 10 stood out from this week's issue. Thanks to the Post Office for this bit of research.

My favourite is no 9 - which airport sells that?

The most bizarre items bought at an airport terminal .

1 Ceramic lobster
2 Leprechaun doorstop
3 China sombrero chip and dip set
4 Plastic Viking helmet
5 Wooden spoon set
6 Plastic camel
7 China jersey cow
8 Statue of Liberty dressing up set
9 Bag of local gravel
10 Stars and stripes dog raincoat

Martin Couzins, online editor

Cruise Month is up and running online - there are links to news, features, images and other resources on our Cruise Month page.

There's also an embed of our latest video, in which Fred.Olsen shop manager Sarah Beckinsale tells us how her agency is making a success of selling cruise.

Martin asks below whether there are any more cruise bloggers out there, and I've tracked down a few - so link love to...

• myCruiseblog.co.uk
• Cruise Info for Beginners
• O2 Cruise Blog
• Carnival Cruise Blog

Feedback is welcome - let us know how your cruise sales are going and what you think of our coverage in the comments.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Regular contributor Brian Hordon (Silversea UK) kicks off Travel Weekly Cruise Month...

The timing of the Travel Weekly Cruise Month could not be more appropriate.

Passenger Shipping Association stats continue to show excellent passenger percentage growth year on year, the new Association of Cruise Experts (ACE) goes from strength to strength, and cruise lines are putting plenty of energy into maintaining this success. They are all doing an outstanding job.

However, I still detect concern from many agents about whether the cruise market is factored into their company business plan.

Is this down to lack of confidence or product knowledge on the part of frontline staff? Or is agency management failing to create a plan for increasing local cruise business? (As we say in the Silversea Cruises Luxury Cruising Academy, "Your target is to own the cruise market within your area.")

Some of this may seem controversial, and I am happy to apologise if I have touched a nerve. But I am also happy to say that the solution is now available, this month, and in many forms.

Travel Weekly's focus on cruising throughout September, alongside its cruise roadshows throughout the UK, are resources that must not be underestimated. Reading up on the market is always important, but hearing it from an enthusiastic and professional cruiseline salesperson cannot be emphasised enough.

These people are good, so make sure that you leave each cruiseline discussion with all the features and benefits of their company - who buys, how to sell, going to market, training, agency support, ship visits.

All this first hand knowledge will strengthen your plan to "own the cruise market within your area." It will also provide the confidence that is too often lacking.

And that's not all: the new ACE programme and conventions; the online cruising training programmes; the cruise company roadshows throughout the country - it's all there. The amazing thing is that it is just for the travel agent.

Have a great and successful cruise month, and use all this new knowledge to make sure that the rest of 2007 and 2008 onwards delivers your best cruise profits.

Brian Hordon, Director of Training Development, Silversea Cruises (UK)Ltd.

The Guardian has a report on yesterday's inaugural journey on the new Eurostar line, which was apparently held up by the French - the very people whose high-speed network we've been jealous of all these years.

...the first passenger train to take the new high-speed British track from the tunnel into the revamped St Pancras International was all set to smash the two-hour mark between Paris and London until track maintenance at Calais forced it to slow down

It still made London in two hours, three minutes and 39 seconds, though, which is great going.

Pity the tube strike was on. Travolution ed Kevin May left this entertaining comment yesterday...

I'm laughing at the irony of all those hacks and VIPs arriving at St Pancras, following their record-breaking run on the Eurostar, only to find it takes another 2 hours and 3 minutes to get anywhere else in Central London today...

Nathan Midgley, web producer

A new post from regular contributor Brian Hordon (Silversea Cruises UK)

It might seem like a long term project, but travel industry employers should welcome plans for a Travel and Tourism Diploma with open arms.

The element which particularly caught my imagination was the focus on "customer service skills". Call me sad, but I often judge aspects of business upon the initial greeting.

Eye contact is in danger of becoming extinct in many retail areas. While I understand the necessity of focusing on the screen, the cash till or the ticket machine, there is still nothing that gets close to a warm, enthusiastic, positive greeting.

Having the opportunity to influence the way in which customer contact skills are taught - alongside other areas of the curriculum - is nothing short of spectacular.

Holiday products will continue to do a great job of educating agents about destinations, hotels and attractions, and internet training programmes will continue to expand.

But when a customer when is greeted by a professionally trained travel sales person - whether in a store or on the phone - he or she has the feeling that this person really cares and wants to help. Can a screen or a script recreate that warmth?

If you think this new diploma is just another academic qualification for the travel industry, it's probably because you do not intend to accept the invitation to present ideas for course content - an invitation which as far as I can see is quite unique within the world of business.

Brian Hordon, Director of Training Development, Silversea Cruises (UK) Ltd

More Cruise Month action. The Travel Weekly team had a good meeting with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line recently. I learned a lot, including the fact that training manager Michelle Russell runs a blog called the Cruising for Excellence Blog.

And I thought there was a lack of blogging on cruise. Thanks for letting us know, Michelle, and keep us posted on what you are up to. We'll keep an eye on developments.

Any other cruise blogs out there worth a mention?

Martin Couzins, online editor

With the Travel Weekly Northern Agent Excellence Awards just around the corner – 20 September – it was heartening to hear the positive effect winning such an award can have.

Sally Beckinsale, branch manager, Fred Olsen Travel, Felixstowe, Suffolk won best manager - small agency in the Midlands awards. I met her today and she told me that as a result of winning she had been featured in the local newspaper and a local magazine. She also included news of the win in the shop’s regular email to clients and keeps the trophy on her desk in the shop.

She said the PR created a good buzz amongst the customer base and local community and that it has helped business.

I interviewed Sally for Cruise Month and you can hear what she has to say about cruise on the site later this week.

Martin Couzins, online editor

Breaking news - the Treasury came in for some criticism for the way in which the doubling of Air Passenger Duty was implemented, but Lord Justice Stanley Burnton ruled that the tax is not prohibited by the Chicago Convention.

Read the full story in the news section...

What better reason than a tube strike to saddle up and ride into town?

The highlight was riding over Tower Bridge. The low point was trying to find the cycle park at Liverpool Street station (it's next to platform 10 by the taxi rank).

The tube strike is taking its toll. There were long tailbacks on the road, huge queues at the bus stops and a lot of frustrated commuters at Liverpool Street.

And it's only day one.

Martin Couzins, online editor

Hurricane Felix was downgraded to a category four storm overnight, but there is potential for it to strengthen while part of it is still over the water.

Image courtesy of MODIS Rapid Response Project at NASA/GSFC

Felix is predicted to sweep over Nicaragua and Honduras, then move up through Central America, hitting Guatemala, Belize and Mexico.

Its path is more southerly than Dean's, so Jamaica and the Cayman Islands are likely to escape the storm. National Hurricane Centre's forecasts also show it should also pass south of the Yucatan Peninsula.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Hawaii is hitting the Japanese market with a new campaign called 'Smoking in Aloha', which reassures tourists that they can puff away throughout their time on the islands (thanks to Bill Geist for the spot).

This will chill the blood of Sunday Times deputy travel editor Jane Knight, who recently used her column to complain about smoking aboard British ships:

It seems bizarre that while pubs in the UK have been smoke free since the July ban, you can still get smoke in your eyes if you are off the coast of Britain or on a British ship.

Interesting one. As destinations stub out for good, smoking is becoming a niche interest - which makes it marketable. So it's no surprise to see a tourist board cash in.

See also SMINTAIR, the specialist airline for smokers - which claims that:

Non-smokers will find the cabin air more refreshing than on any other flight with any other airline, as SMINTAIR adds fresh outside air to the conditioning system!

I doubt there is enough fresh outside air in the world.

Anyway, if you want to find out how the law treats smokers around the world check out this smoking tolerance map from Budget Travel Online (via Tim Leffel).

Nathan Midgley, web producer

September is Cruise Month at Travel Weekly, so over the next few weeks we will be bringing together news, views, pictures and selling advice on this incredibly successful area of the travel industry.

We are currently building a homepage on the site which will be up and running in the next two days.

Good news that Brian Hordon, director of training development, Silversea Cruises has agreed to post regularly throughout the month and we'll be inviting other cruise industry figures to post.

Martin Couzins, online editor

Devon County Council has had its wrist slapped by the Advertising Standards Authority. Devon's claim to be England's greenest county simply did not wash and has been rejected.

Devon may well have strong green credentials but which county can now fairly lay claim to be the greenest of them all? And exactly how do you measure that?

The adjudication won't appear on the ASA web site until Wednesday 5 September. In the meantime, you can stay on top of ASA adjudactions courtesy of its adjudications RSS feed.

Yesterday I was at the Hard Rock Cafe in London to meet the six agent winners of our London Calling competition. The agents and their families were all having a great time following the itineraries they had created for the competition.

Video interviews with the agents will be posted on the Travel Weekly web site later this week.

Here is the Wauld family pictured with Ian Mounser, sales director at Superbreak.

Thanks to Superbreak and Visit London for sponsoring the competition.