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175 Years of Cunard: The Three Queens in Liverpool
As part of the fantastic 175 year Cunard celebrations, the three Queens – Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary II – were to meet in Liverpool for the May bank holiday weekend.
The first Cunard ship, the Britannia, set sail from Liverpool in 1840, so it was only fitting that the fleet met back in their spiritual home outside the Cunard building, with thousands attending this historical event.
Queen Mary II sailed up to meet Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth at the foot of the Mersey and the three sailed back down the river in formation, before performing a full turn alongside each other in a fantastic display of water ballet! The event finished with an amazing firework display.
The Queen Mary II is going to back in Liverpool in July, when she departs from the port to re-create that first-ever transatlantic sailing. There are still cabins available on this once-in-a-life-time journey and if you want to jump on this cruise in Southampton – so you are already in Liverpool to soak up the atmosphere on board – prices start from an incredible £999pp.
When should you book your cruise?
Picture the scene – you’re finally on your cruise ship of choice and settling down to dinner with your fellow cruise guests. Then someone utters that awkward question; how much did you pay for your cruise?
It’s often debated when is the best time to book to get the best deal, so we’ve given you some pros and cons of both, to help you decide when is best for you…
Booking Early
When booking early you will get early booking discounts and often added value offers, such as free drinks, port parking, gratuities etc. For some destinations, such as Alaska – which is hugely popular but has limited passenger capacity – booking early is essential in order to ensure you get the cruise and dates you want. The same applies if you are bound by travelling on specific dates, such as school holidays and this also can go hand in hand with needing a cabin which can accommodate 3/4 passengers. These all get booked up well in advance and you can be left disappointed if you leave it to the last minute. Remember also if you book at this stage you only need to pay a deposit, and when booking early you can often find that you can book on a reduced deposit basis too – so you can secure your perfect cruise but still not have to worry about paying the full balance until around 3 months before travel.
Booking Last Minute
As mentioned earlier, the full balance of a cruise doesn’t need to be paid until around 3 months before sailing. You will find that around this time, a lot of cruises may be heavily discounted if there is still a lot of inventory left. This is more likely in regions where there are a lot of ships, such as the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. A lot of these discounted cabins are offered on a ‘Guarantee’ basis – the cruise line will guarantee you a cabin in the grade you book (inside, oceanview, balcony etc) but they won’t actually allocate your cabin until a few days before sailing, when they know what cabins they have left and sometimes this can work in your favour. If you are flexible on dates and what routes you want to travel, leaving it to the last minute means a bargain can usually be found.
The downsides to both? Well, if you leave it to the last minute, chances are you might save on your cruise but could struggle to get cheap flights, or your guarantee cabin might be somewhere noisy, like near stairs or elevators. However if you book early and end up sat next to someone at dinner who booked a few weeks ago and paid half the cost you did and still got a great cabin allocated, it’s hard not to feel cheated! But then if you add up the costs on board, for drinks, gratuities etc – which you might have got for free as part of your cruise fare by booking early – you will probably find that someone who books last minute will probably end up paying the same as you, so don’t feel too disheartened if some is bragging about their fantastic ‘deal’. The bottom line is for some, the perfect cruise deal means being in a fantastic cabin, with some great added extras, but for others, it’s all about the price and bagging it for cheap. If you see a cruise and are happy with the price, we recommend you book it, you don’t want to miss out because you hold out too long, as prices can change quickly.
So tell us, when do you usually like to book your cruise?
LoveitBookit’s Top Three Things to Look Forward to in 2015
1) New Ship Launches
We are going to be really spoilt this year, with no less than three brand new ships launching and two of them are going to be based out of the popular UK hub, Southampton.
First up in March, is P&O’s latest offering, Britannia. Britannia will host a 1m art collection on board, as well as offering a cooking school at sea, where you can create mouth-watering dishes mentored by a variety of chefs, including celebrity-chef James Martin. The accommodation has had a face lift as well, with boutique-style cabins featuring bespoke artwork and the bathrooms will have pamper packs from The White Company. There is also a strong rumour that none other than HRH The Queen herself will be the ships Godmother, as the Royal calendar puts her in Southampton on 10th March, when the ship is due to be named. Coincidence? We think probably not!
Then in April we see the launch of Anthem of the Seas – sister ship to the impressive Quantum of the Seas and the 2nd of Royal Caribbean’s SMARTships. As well as all the usual Royal Caribbean favourites such as the FlowRider and the Rock Wall, Anthem of the Seas will also have the Quantum favourites such as the NorthStar, a viewing pod that offers 360 degree views 300 feet above sea level and other firsts at sea like RipCord by iFly, a skydiving simulator. It’s no surprise that the sailings are selling like hot cakes, so if you hope to experience it for yourself you’ll have to move fast!
Last but by no means least, Norwegian Cruise Line will introduce the Escape, which will be the largest ship in their fleet in the new Breakaway Plus class. If you are a fan of 80s movies you will love the new supper-club cabaret, featuring songs from hit John Hughes movies (something we are particularly excited about!) and continuing on with their successful Broadway show selection, After Midnight will be the resident musical. Plus if you are travelling with kids (or a just a big kid yourself!) then a game of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles themed crazy golf will provide you lots of fun. All this and more is coming in October 2015.
2) 2015 – The year of all-inclusive
Photo credit: Pilar Echeverria
Whilst cruising still represents probably the best value-for-money holiday on the market, one of the main requests by cruisers is they wished that all-inclusive drinks packages were more readily available, so cruisers weren’t hit with a huge bill at the end of their sailing. Cruise lines have been quick to respond and we have seen a rise in drinks packages being offered to passengers. In fact, lots of cruise companies such as Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line are offering them free of charge as part of their wave campaigns, so you can set sail and not have to worry that your cheeky evening cocktails are all beginning to add up!
3) Anniversaries
Who doesn’t love a good cruise line anniversary celebration, and this year we have a few! Celebrity Cruises celebrate 25 years of Modern Luxury this year. Whilst there isn’t any firm celebrations in place to date, 2015 looks like it’s going to be Celebrity’s best year yet if their fantastic 123 promotion is anything to go by!
Princess Cruises celebrate their 50th anniversary this year with a variety of things to mark the occasion. As well as running ‘Golden Moments’ through the year – a great promotion offering up to $50 on board spend PER DAY, they are having themed evenings with golden balloon drops, specially designed menus and cocktails, as well bringing some of the best festivals of the destinations they visit on board, in their ‘Festivals of the World’ celebration.
But the biggie anniversary wise is Cunard, who are celebrating a massive 175 years of sailing! On 25th May, all three Queens will be in Liverpool – which was home to Cunard for 127 years – to meet on the Mersey for the first time ever. Then on 4th of July, Queen Mary 2 will be back to recreate the very first Cunard crossing on the Britannia with Gala dinners and special speakers to help celebrate this momentous occasion. As expected, cabins are booking up quickly – with many grades already sold out – so if you want to be a part of this fantastic anniversary, you’d better act quickly.
Are you looking forward to one of these events, or something else entirely? Be sure to let us know!
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