Silversea have always stood for quality, they introduced all suite vessels to the market and have maintained an enviable reputation for creating an understated ambience and relaxed tasteful lifestyle.

It was with great interest therefore that we approached our visited to their newest vessel the Silver Spirit. This vessel is larger than previous vessels at 540 guests and 36,000 tons.

First impressions were that she maintains the quiet tasteful feel of earlier Silversea vessels, but with some contemporary touches. See pictures in our photo library.

Premium cruising, that band of quality ships rated above the mainstream vessels, but just short of the ultra luxury, are gaining a great deal of popularity with our clients looking for quality at reasonable prices.

The Eurodam falls into this category and further more makes several cruises in 2011 from/to Dover, our local port.

It was on a recent visit to Dover to coincide with the 2011 brochure launch we re-acquainted ourselves with the Eurodam. At 86.000+ tons, and holding over 2000 passengers she is a large vessel, but well broken up into interesting, varied and some times intimate areas.

Named in Dover on 4th June 2010 by Twiggy prior to her maiden voyage from Greenwich where we visited her. There are photographs of this beautiful ship in our photo library.

Slightly larger than the earlier yacht fleet at over 30,000 tons the Sojourn is our personal size preference, large enough to be very well facilitated with a variety of public rooms, but yet small enough to be intimate.

We loved the décor. We also loved the square area that replaces the traditional reception counters, internet rooms and shore excursion desks with a relaxed all purpose open plan lounge-cum-business and relaxing area. Brilliant innovation which will undoubtedly be copied. This ship is a winner.

Hapag Lloyd have roots back to 1889 and are often attributed to being creators of the first cruise.

Smaller luxurious expedition ships are the mainstay of today’s fleet. The itineraries are adventurous, varied, worldwide and exciting. These include: Arctic/North West passage, Antarctica, Indian Ocean, South Seas, Amazon, Far East , South America, Australia and Europe.

There are now a whole range of these expedition adventures created for the international market with full English speaking programmes throughout.

The above party have just returned from a week at Villa Avra and have called to say how wonderful everything has been.

Quotes like…..’just like staying at home’……’the best villa accommodation they have ever had’….was music to my ears.

They basically found the experience to be faultless and couldn’t wait to share their excitement with me.

They were particularly impressed by the furnishings, the hamper and the fact that all the ‘little’ things had been thought of…..like dishwasher tablets etc.

I will remind them next year how much they enjoyed this one as they have said that they must return.

Just coming down to earth after such an amazing educational.

It exceeded all my high expectations. The place is stunning – prettier by far than anywhere else I have seen in Greece. The villas are superb and as you know, it is just so good to have a feel for a place when you are with clients. I certainly hope it will translate into bookings to come.

I was delighted to see Oscar’s place (Akrothea) as we have the a family there in August. Lucky them.

Thanks again for such a wonderful opportunity.
Margaret Mathews
Winchester Travel Service
Take a look at the Lefkada website

Ian & Rachel visited Grenada in March 2010, and had a brief stopover on their return via Barbados.

Flights were in BA Club Class, both directions had aircraft with the new pod sleeper seats. Outbound we were diagonally adjacent, but inbound on the overnight flight we booked the two middle seats. The inbound seats allow the outer dividers to be raised, and then there remains an almost private double cabin, we both slept which is unusual.

After arriving from the Gulf Air flight via Bahrain to COCHIN, we stayed the first 2 nights at the Taj Malabar situated on Willingdon Island overlooking Cochin harbour and backwater area. A comfortable well presented hotel and is a short distance to the centre of Cochin (approx 15mins drive)

Our first day was spent doing a harbour cruise then visiting the synagogue in Jewtown and St.Francis church where Vasco da Gama was originally buried. We had lunch and site inspection at Malabar House Hotel which is a delightful ‘funky boutique’ hotel in the historical area of Fort Kochi, not far from the famous Chinese Fishing Nets. Although it only has a plunge type pool(see picture) it provides an ideal town based hotel.

I was lucky enough to visit these three most interesting cities in Italy during March 2009, although I was not so lucky with the weather! However, the rain in Siena could not detract me from the charm of this small historic town and an afternoon’s walking tour gave a good insight into the history of the people and its renowned annual horse festival, The Palio.

The hotels throughout my visit were all part of the Royal Demeure group. All 5 star properties and a style that reflects the local culture and Italian design – old and new. My first night’s stay at The Grand Hotel Intercontinental was not only comfortable but also had so much history I could not forget that I was in the heart of Siena.

I had often pondered the idea of going to Lapland, but for various reasons had always discounted it, but this Transun holiday to Northern Finnish Lapland sounded so good I began to think about it again.

It was a three night package, flying from Stansted and staying in the Hotel Ivalo on the banks of the River Ivalojoki and included full board and lots of activities – snowmobiling, a reindeer sleigh ride, Husky sledging, a Gala Dinner and, of course a visit to Father Christmas himself. Our family have always enjoyed visiting warmer climes, but we decided this sounded such fun we just had to try it.