Agents going Crazy for Caribbean!

Jo Mckenna, Regional Sales Manager for Complete Cruise Solution, went Caribbean crazy with 1st 4 Cruising on Wednesday 21st July. "We took over the call centre in true CCS fashion and put a fantastic incentive in place! For every Caribbean booking that was made on the day the staff member received a prize anything from Pizza Express vouchers to high street shopping vouchers (Gok would be so jealous!). Sarah and Sheryl the two call centre managers loved it so much they wanted to keep the incentive rolling for the rest of the week!"

HOLD ON TO YOUR COCONUTS AS COMPLETE CRUISE SOLUTION GO CRAZY FOR CARIBBEAN

Wednesday 1st July saw Complete Cruise Solution go bonkers for Barbados, Crazy for Cozumel and Mad for Mayreau! Launching free holiday spending money on selected Caribbean cruises for every brand for the whole month of July and even double on board spend for selected Ventura Caribbean cruises booked on either the 1st or 2nd July!

Leading the way for Complete Cruise Solutions Caribbean push was Victoria Simmons, Laura Crowley, Anna Baxter, Lucy Guy and Alyshia Bartlett. The ladies at CCS certainly made the 1st day of the Caribbean Free Holiday Spending Money plain sailing celebrating with a cocktail or two (non-alcoholic of course...)

Mark Pilkington was last seen under the limbo...

Carnival UK doing something funny for money!!

The Carnival UK call centre opened it's telephone lines on the evening of Friday 13th March between 7pm and midnight to take donations on behalf of Comic Relief.

We had an amazing response with over 100 volunteers giving up their Friday evening to help. We also welcomed Atul Kochhar (celebrity chef who will feature onboard Azura cooking in his retaurant Sindhu), Mayor of Southampton and Editor of the Daily Echo to help on the phones. Paddington Bear and Noddy also made an appearance!

As the evening started the excitement built, who was going to take the first donation, who would take the largest donation and who would eat the most Pizza! During the evening the call centre took over £100k in public donations.

In addition to taking public donations, Carnival UK raised an incredible £3177.51 for Comic Relief, with funds collected from a dress down day, silent auction, raffle and sponsored head shave!

Marco Pierre White Cruises into Thomas Cook

On Wednesday 11th February Complete Cruise Solution's Regional Sales Executive, Jonathan Davies escorted Marco Pierre White to Cruise Thomas Cook's call centre in Accrington.

Marco walked the call centre floor speaking to staff and posed for a few photos with the team. He then took the top sellers in January out for lunch at Traders Brasserie in Accrington.

The team made the most of their time with the famous chef, discussing P&O Cruises Ventura, his restaurant onboard, The White Room and his culinary experiences and skills to date.

Complete Cruise Solution Attend the British Travel Awards

Fiona Snow, Sian Crossey, Zoe Scott and Dink Ganatra from Complete Cruise Solution all attended the British Travel Awards. They were joined by Sarah Bolton, Maria Wade, Keren Bleich, Kerry Hannington, Dave Mills and Sarah Hall who had all won the opportunity to attend through Waves of Wisdom.

On Thursday 6th November at 4pm the team made their way, in all their finery, to Battersea Evolution.

Here is their account of the evening....

After getting lost in the taxi on the way, we arrived at the pre awards cocktail party with music of a Caribbean steel band playing. With over 900 guests attending, all looking forward to hearing the awards results, there was a brilliant atmosphere.

With the live band playing and presenter, Frankie Boyle, coming on stage, the evening got off to a great start. After the awards ceremony our dinner arrived during which the entertainment was a tribute band to the Supremes. Then, the highlight of the evening, Signature, the second place act in Britain's Got Talent, performed. After dinner we had more awards and then the Supremes tribute band continued to play as we danced the night away. The VIP area had a fantastic chocolate fountain which was drawing huge crowds and the hot dogs at the end of the night were also well received.

We would like to say a big thank you to all the WOW winners who joined us at the table. A fantastic evening was had by all and we are now eagerly looking forward to next years event.

Complete Cruise Solution attend Travel Counsellors 2008 Annual Conference in Marbella.....

Gill Smeal, Jo Cook and Caroline Moody from Complete Cruise Solution headed off to sunny Spain on Friday 21st November. After an early start (3am!) we arrived into Malaga along with 1200 others which included 800 Travel Counsellors, partners and other suppliers. On arrival at the top conference hotel the Gran Melia Don Pepe, we checked in and started making up 800 goody bags with flyers with all our Wave collateral and other goodies to give out at the Pow Wow!

At 8pm the Welcome Party started at Olivia Valere in Marbella, an amazing typically Andalusian venue opening its drawbridge to a magical world where our generous hosts from the Costa Del Sol showed us a little of what Spain has to offer with fantastic food, exciting entertainment and an amazing opening to Conference 2008!

After attending the welcome party we carried on with the CCS goody bags eventually finishing stuffing them at 1am! It was definitely time to get some rest....
The next day feeling somewhat refreshed after a good nights sleep, the main conference started at the Marbella Conference Centre including a welcome from David Speakman and our 8 minute CCS video which was shown to over 1000 people! WOW WOW WOW WOW.

The afternoon's main event was the Pow Wow where we had prime position at the front of the venue with a large stand and 800 bags to give out! This was a fantastic networking opportunity for us and we were delighted to see so many of our Travel Counsellors colleagues visiting us on our stand.

That evening was a free evening so we headed down to nearby Puerto Banus where all 1200 delegates had descended into Linekars bar as they were offering a discount for the conference, the evening turned into a typical travel Industry party and even Hugh Grant showed up! (need we say more!)

On Sunday the conference ended with a fantastic motivational speech from Annabelle Bond who climbed Mount Everest and then went onto scale all seven summits. That night we hosted 2 tables at the Gala dinner and awards where we were delighted that Caroline Howden who won the best Cruise Travel Counsellor 2008 was on our table - well done Caroline from all at CCS.
Finally on Monday after a busy but successful few days we bid a tearful farewell to our colleagues at Travel Counsellors as we headed back to Malaga airport for our return to the cold in the UK.

Thank you for a fantastic weekend Travel Counsellors - mucho gracias
We look forward to working with you in 2009.

Cumbria Cruises Get Raising for Children in Need

On Friday 14th November 2008 Cumbria Cruises joined in with the Charity fun in raising money for Children In Need.

The whole office dressed up in their Pyjamas for Children in Need, brought in their teddys and sold cakes to raise money for charity.

They raised a total of £56.54. Well Done!!

FIRST EVER CUNARD QUEEN VICTORIA CRUISE EXPERIENCE

Complete Cruise Solution Account Manager, Gillian Smeal led the first ever Cruise Experience onboard Cunard's Queen Victoria ship.

The cruise experience took place between 24th and 28th October and after the group flew out to Barcelona they cruised on to Monte Carlo, Livorno for Florence and Naples where they flew back to the UK. The group spent 4 nights on the ship and were wow'd with dinner in the main Brittania restaurant and Todd English Restaurant, visits to the exquisite Princess and Queens Grill, tours of the galley and bridge, afternoon tea in the elegant Queens room, shows in the spectacular Royal Court Theatre.

CCS set the agents a group task and the winning group of 4 were awarded with one of the west end style private Royal Boxes where they enjoyed a champagne reception prior to the show in their own exclusive lounge followed by champage and chocolates served in the box!

The positive comments below from the agents who were on the cruise experience show just how successful the trip was:

• Thank you so much for such an amazing trip. It was the best I had ever been on. And I am sure we have all made some friends for life. Amanda Bryan, Travel Counsellors
  I can't believe its all over, looking out of my window at the snow, not quite the same as Monte Carlo!!
  
• We all had a fantastic time and have some amazing memories that will stay with us forever, I just wanted to say a personal Thank you it was brilliant and I am truly converted !! Ann Spencer, Travel Counsellors


• Thank you so much for such a wonderful educational, I am not very good at saying too much but believe me this was one of the best trips that I have been on with some brilliant people.


• I can go on and on but I just want to say a very big thank you for being such wonderful hosts. Gina Embleton, Travel Counsellors


• Thank you! I had the best weekend of my life it was so much fun thank you so much. Rachel Varndall, Travel Counsellors

  

  

Noddy and Paddington Pay a Visit to the Complete Cruise Solution Team!

On Friday 24th October the Complete Cruise Solution team had some surprise visitors come to the office.
Noddy and Paddington Bear were in the area and wanted to pop in to see their favourite Cruise Sales team.
Noddy filled us in with all the news from the P&O Cruises ship Ventura and all the friends he has made onboard. He has been busy keeping all the guests entertained onboard!!

Watch out for more news from our cuddly friends!!

Complete Cruise Solution Win Big at the Travel Bulletin Awards

The Travel Bulletin awards were held on 15th September at the Landmark Hotel in London. Fiona Snow, Events and Training Coordinator, attended on behalf of Complete Cruise Solution and was pleased to be called up to the stage twice to accept awards.

P&O Cruises won the Star Mainstream Cruise Company and Waves of Wisdom won Star Online Training Course.

A great evening was had by all and a big thankyou to everyone who voted for us.