Cruise Show Olympia

[Cambschap]

Anyone going to the cruise show at Olympia next Weekend.

If So what insight do you hope to gain?

[Gilpet]

I'm hoping to go but not totally sure if I can make it yet. If I do I want to see what the different cruiselines have to offer. Up to now our favourite is Royal Caribbean but we also like P&O (3rd cruise with them in July), we hated Cunard and would only go with them again if they were the only cruiseline sailing from the UK :eek: but it would be nice to see what else is out there that we might not have thought of.

 

Having seen the 2014 schedule I'd also like the opportunity of speaking to somebody from Royal Caribbean to find out why they don't vary the itineraries sailing from the UK = Italian Med/Spanish Med/Canaries for at least four years with the addition of the Norwegian Fjords this year, all from Southampton and the Baltic from Harwich......we've done them all so if RCI want to keep our business they'll have to come up with some new offerings or at least change some of the ports!!

 

Has anybody been before? How likely am I to get what I want from the show?

 

The only thing left to decide is if I should use the free tickets I've received from RCI or P&O or Cunard lol :p

 

Gill

[speedwell]

Although there are usually some special offers, I have found that the venue becomes quite crowded and it is sometimes difficult to speak to a cruise rep.

 

However, it is probably worth going if you intend to book a cruise.

 

I can't go this year, but I have some free ticket vouchers if you would like to have them.

 

Alan

[the english lady]

We are hoping to go....hopefully not long after it opens, when it hopefully will not be too crowded..lots of hopes here!!!

It will be to see if there is anything that catches our eye for 2014. We know when we would like to go-but have not seen anything that grabs us yet....

[the english lady]

Well we were hoping to go, I had worked out the trains and everything-HOWEVER this morning when I woke up there was lots of white stuff on the ground and falling from the sky. End of march????? I know we have got off a lot lighter than other places, but we are in a little village in the Chiltern hills, so I think I will just have to stay snug and warm in here today.

[speedwell]

We were supposed to be going to Cambridge this weekend, but the snow has meant we have had to postpone our visit.

 

Might go to the Cruise Show tomorrow - if the snow stops.

 

Alan

[Cambschap]

We've got plenty of snow here in cambridgeshire. Always concerned returning on trains, I've already had severely delayed journeys this winter due to snow. So will probably give the show a miss this year.

It would be nice to hear what those committed souls who braved the weather thought of it.

Kind Regards

Terry and Sharon

:)

 

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[Gilpet]

Well we thought about not going when we saw the weather yesterday morning but decided as we were going by train we'd risk it. Four of us went and all felt it was a total waste of time - thank goodness for the free tickets, at least we didn't pay to get in :p. Basically it was just a lot of stalls with people wanting to sell you cruises!!! Ok, maybe I should have expected that but I really thought there would be more information available than you can get from a brochure and there wasn't. I came away knowing no more about the lines I haven't tried yet (but may want to in the future) like Holland America and Celebrity than before I went! They were offering 5% discount if you booked at the show but that's no better than you can get by shopping around anyway......having said that I did speak to a couple who managed to beat their best quote by £500 on a cruise for next year so obviously it was possible to get a good deal. Maybe my expectations were just too high.

 

I'm a huge fan of Cruise Critic and all the information that can be found on here so I was disappointed with their stand at the show - there really should have been signs/posters explaining exactly what they are about but there weren't so I doubt that anybody who hadn't heard of them would have bothered to stop. You really missed an opportunity there CC!!

 

On the plus side yesterday wasn't a complete loss - we had a lovely lunch at Victoria on our way home with lots of time to chat before getting our separate trains lol :).

 

Gill

[cruisemusic]

Well we thought about not going when we saw the weather yesterday morning but decided as we were going by train we'd risk it. Four of us went and all felt it was a total waste of time - thank goodness for the free tickets, at least we didn't pay to get in :p. Basically it was just a lot of stalls with people wanting to sell you cruises!!! Ok, maybe I should have expected that but I really thought there would be more information available than you can get from a brochure and there wasn't. I came away knowing no more about the lines I haven't tried yet (but may want to in the future) like Holland America and Celebrity than before I went! They were offering 5% discount if you booked at the show but that's no better than you can get by shopping around anyway......having said that I did speak to a couple who managed to beat their best quote by £500 on a cruise for next year so obviously it was possible to get a good deal. Maybe my expectations were just too high.

 

I'm a huge fan of Cruise Critic and all the information that can be found on here so I was disappointed with their stand at the show - there really should have been signs/posters explaining exactly what they are about but there weren't so I doubt that anybody who hadn't heard of them would have bothered to stop. You really missed an opportunity there CC!!

 

On the plus side yesterday wasn't a complete loss - we had a lovely lunch at Victoria on our way home with lots of time to chat before getting our separate trains lol :).

 

Gill

Yup we went there today. The Cunard rep knew far less than us [we have been on 2 Cunard World Cruises but that is all]. Could have found out more directly on Google.

[tom_uk]

We went to one of these shows at the NEC a year or 18 months ago, and like other posters found it generally disappointing. The only area where we got new information were in respect of river cruising, about which we knew nothing beforehand.

 

it's generally worth remembering, I think, that CC hangers-out will probably know much more, and be much more knowledgeable, than the 'typical customer', let alone a new customer. So we're not really the target market for these events.

[Cambschap]

Many thanks to tom and Gill for your feedback. I think I will give the cruise show a wide berth and peruse the generous insights gleaned from CruiseCritic contributors.

 

Kind regards

Cambschap

 

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[Nevleen]

I agree with Gilpet CC missed a trick by not pushing themselves forward bit more. We stopped and chatted but they did not seem to be very busy, since people didn't know enough about them!

The whole show was a glorified travel agent who was handing out brochures. Went to the Bournemouth one the Sunday before, while visiting friends and found it much more informative and varied albeit on a smaller scale.

Weather was bad and we wondered if that had kept visitors away.