Paul Beale 'Gets Jiggy With The Wiggy'

Paul Beale, Account Manager fought off stiff competition to win the 'Get Jiggy With The Wiggy' award for 2007 at the Alternative Travel Awards on Thursday night.



Well done Paul!

HAPPY XMAS FROM THE NORTH WEST!!!

Click here for a Festive Message from the Great North West Team!!

Check out the latest & coolest place for Christmas parties!

The latest and coolest place for Christmas parties is onboard a P&O Cruises ship! Over the weekend Aurora was the venue for not one but two travel agent Christmas parties. 1st4cruising and cruise.co.uk both decided to take their staff onboard Aurora for a 2-night party cruise.


The ship set sail for Bruges at 17:00 on Friday evening, 1st4cruising had sailaway drinks in the Crows Nest, where we decided to Award the person that was most passionate and enthusiastic about our individual brands - P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Cunard and Ocean Village. These winners were awarded with a nice bottle of Champagne.
Both parties were on 1st sitting at 18:30, so after a few cheeky glasses of champagne we made our way to dinner and enjoyed a fantastic 6-course meal. After dinner people either headed straight to Champions for a few drinks and Karaoke or off to the Curzon Theatre to watch Aladdin.

The night was still young and with the majority of both parties heading to Masquerades, to dance the night away and most of the early hours as the last to bed was at 5:30!

Those that decided to brave the freezing cold weather and head off to Bruges came back bearing chocolates and beer, for those that didn't caught up on sleep and some even got pampered in the Spa!

At 17:15 Cruise.co.uk held their Awards for their staff and Cunard even won a prize for 'Overall Favourite Cruise Line to do business with'. With another 6 course meal and a few Vodka and Red Bulls everyone was up for another late night. with everyone heading either straight to a bar or to watch Frank Carson in the Curzon Theatre.

Looking around the ship on Sunday morning during disembarkation everyone looked very tired and I am sure they all had a Christmas party they wont forget!

Midlands Madness on Ocean Village Two Fam Trip

Georgina Morgan & Alyshia Bartlett escorted a Fam Trip on board the newest addition to the Ocean Village fleet. Read on to find out what they got up to....

4.45am a taxi picked Alyshia and myself up to meet 20 excited travel agents at Gatwick Airport, we were escorting a 7 night Ocean Village Two Caribbean cruise.

After an 8 hour flight we went to the muster drill, looking around at the faces of the agents and ourselves we were all very tired and I really didn’t expect to see any of them up on deck for sailaway drinks a few hours later. However I forgot what a shower and clean clothes could do for you! A nice glass of champagne to start our cruise and I could tell this was going to be fun. It was however an early night for all of us despite Sarah telling me ‘sleep was for geeks’. Then went to bed about 15 minutes after saying this to the group!

Our first day was at sea and Alyshia and I had our presentation to do! We started the presentation, by making everyone do a run-around task. We then started our training presentation talking about all Complete Cruise Solution brands. It was then time to set the team tasks, the group was divided into four and each group were set tasks to find out about either Families, Action Ashore, The Spa or ‘Cruise Virgins’ and present their findings back to the group at the end of the week. After our presentation we took the agents to a talk from the Action Ashore team, re everything they could do in the week. This was very informative and everyone booked shore excursions.

We next met for dinner – half of us dined in the Bistro and half of us dined in La Luna. I was with the Bistro crowd and we spent a very enjoyable two hours in James Martin’s restaurant. Having had an early night the night before we then made up for it most of the group didn’t see their beds till the early hours.

The following day we were at Isle of Margarita we had an early start as we took the group on the ‘Chiva Bus’. It started off very sedately; the tour guide gave us island history as we made our way to a beach. At the beach we all enjoyed some Rum Punch and Alyshia and Sarah got taken out by some big waves (this it turned out was to be a recurring theme).

After the beach the bus came alive with the sound of Latin American music and before you knew it everyone in the bus was in the aisles dancing like they were Ricky Martin! The guide gave us beer cans filled with sand so we could ‘shake’ as we moved. It is amazing how much fun a beer can filled with sand and some lively music can be! No one outside the bus was safe as we rattled our cans at everyone that we passed.

Grenada was for most people the favourite day for most. It started with most us hurtling through the rain forest on a circle of rubber (river tubing). I then went meandering around town with Sharon and Kelly whom needed a body guard (I think they were just trying to make me feel ‘important’!) The rest got a river taxi to a beach. As I didn’t go there I do not speak as an eye witness but the stories that have come from there are numerous. It turns out a lot of the group decided to get on a banana boat. It then appears that most of them fell off. Alyshia and Sarah apparently lost their dignity as they tried to get back on the rubber banana!! They were laughing hysterically. Carly was quite the hero of the hour volunteering to help people get back on. She also told the locals that she played for England which is not strictly true!!

St Lucia was the next stop and this was the day that I got to fly through the rain forest on a zip wire. Jen was the most nervous and yet she was the one that on the final zip wire was able to video it whilst holding on with one hand! It was exhilarating to say the least!

We had got week spa passes which most of us took full advantage of!! For me my favourite room on the ship was the relaxation room in the spa where I could go and lie down and watch the views from top deck whilst popping into the herbal sauna every now and again. Every time you went down there you found at least one member of the group. Several of the group had facials and haircuts and reported favourably back.

We all went to watch the Planet show up on deck which is one of the most incredible things I have ever seen – it was magical – we watched as acrobats flew threw the air and performed under the white arc. Set against the midnight blue of the sky and the tranquil sea it was one of the highlights of my trip.

St Vincent found some of us on a catamaran sailing thorough the Grenadines. We snorkelled and swam and just relaxed before sailing back to join the rest of the group. As presentations were the next day everybody was getting into their groups and rehearsing. The evening found us competing in the movie quiz in Connections before watching the Simply Red tribute in the Marquee.

We arrived at Martinque and it was presentation time! I was really impressed with how much everyone knew and they made their presentations really good fun and I was really quite sad that it was coming to an end. One of the best bits was saved for last as we all went up to the ship bridge to meet the captain and his officers. The captain did an informal question and answer session, where he was if he was in charge of the whole ship and even got a marriage proposal!

The last night saw us eating in La Luna and the Bistro again –I dined in La Luna. As it was Laura and Jens birthdays we had birthday cake , gave prizes to the winning presentation team which were the ‘Family’ team and watched a talented group of musicians playing in the square before going up to the disco to dance the night away!

On the final day we topped up our already considerable tans and got ready for the flight.


The following morning arriving at Gatwick was a sombre affair – we were all half asleep! We all had a great time but could not wait to get home to bed!

Queen Victoria Is Named In A Spectacular Ceremony In Southampton

It truly was a stunning & spectacular event!

After a very busy 3 days on board the Complete Cruise Solution team were incredibly fortunate to attend the spectacular naming ceremony of the brand new Queen Victoria in Southampton on Monday afternoon. Queen Victoria was named by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall and was witnessed by over 2,000 guests in a specially built auditorium next to the City Cruise Terminal where the ship had been berthed since her arrival in Southampton on Friday 7th December.

Famous names such as the London Philaharmonic Orchestra, the Band and Trumpeters of the Royal Marines, Sir Derek Jacobi, Katherine Jenkins, Winchester Cathedral choresters, the Bishop of WInchester & the three tenors - Alfie Boe, Jon Cristoc and Gardern Thor Cortez kept us all enthralled throughout the ceremony.

Alongside these famous names was a very special appearance by one of the local Southampton Beaver Groups who did a fantastic job of handing out Union Jack flags to the crowd & presenting flowers to her HRH The Duchess of Cornwall. Well Done Guys from all at Complete Cruise Solution, we thought you did you a great job!

See the First Pictures of Queen Victoria Arriving in Southampton

Queen Victoria has arrived in Southampton this morning from Venice in preparation for her inaugural celebrations & maiden voyage on Tuesday.

Taken this morning from Hamble Point by our very own Bob Dixon, we're able to give you a first glimpse of Queen Victoria as she sailed up Southampton Water around 8:15am this morning.

Southampton is now set for a very exciting weekend of events when over the next four days, Queen Victoria will play host to 7,000 guests from around the globe before she departs on Tuesday to Europe's Northern Waters. A spectacular firework display will wish Queen Victoria farewell as she sails on her maiden voyage.

Southampton 0 - Ipswich Town 2

Complete Cruise Solution's home team may have lost the match but a great time was had by all when some of the team were hosted by Reader Offers at the Saints v Ipswich Town match.

As well as watching the match, we were introduced to the Boat-iful game....Reader Offers & Ipswich Town are giving fans the chance to win an Ocean Village 2 week cruise for 4 people round the Caribbean. At half time through the season four Ipswich Town fans take centre stage on the pitch at Portman Road, testing their footie skills & their luck in an attempt to land the holiday of a lifetime. The fab four are asked to chip a ball through the funnel of an Ocean Village ship- all those who are successful will be entered into the Grand Final with the winner scooping the 2 week cruise thanks for Reader Offers & Ocean Village.