Italian line Costa Cruises has been named "Best Cruise Company" at the annual Virgin Holidays awards. Runners up were Carnival and Ocean Village.
Naturally managing director Marco Rosa is pleased - in fact almost as thrilled as when I saw him last week, racing high-performance cars at a fantastic day out at Thurleigh Airfield near Bedford with some of his top-selling agents and fellow scribes.
He now has to come back down to earth and get ready for 2009, when Costa has two new ships launching - the Costa Luminosa and Costa Pacifica - so close to each other they are sharing a naming ceremony.
Jane Archer
