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!!