The Aussie Cruise Show

Welcome to the glamorous and chic world of luxury cruising!

There are many cruise lines who call themselves luxury and it’s a bit of a subjective name. It really depends what luxury means to you.

A lot of higher end brands who kind of bridge the gap between mainstream cruising the top end, such as Azamara, Oceana and Viking. We also see some of the mainstream cruise lines offer luxury accommodation and exclusive facilities such as MCS Yacht Club and Norwegian’s Haven Complex.

However, in this episode we are going to focus on 4 lines and give you a taste of what you can expect on each.

First off, let’s look at:

What makes luxury cruising different?

The main things you will nice is the service. The staff to passenger ratio is way different to mainstream cruising.

Another noticeable difference is the space. Bigger cabins, a lot of them are all suites and all balcony.

Given that most of them are smaller ships you will notice that the itineraries are quite different to the mass market cruise lines as they can get to remote ports.

Although the prices are high there are a lot of inclusions.

In this episode we delve into 4 luxury cruise lines and talk about what makes them different:

I recently returned from a 4 night cruise on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth.

She is a beautiful ship with some great features.  However, I did feel there was room for improvement in some departments.

In this episode we will cover:

• Embarkation
• Cabins
• Food
• Service
• Entertainment
• On board activities
• much much more

In this week’s episode we go behind the scenes of working on a cruise ship.

This episode is answering your questions about life on board.

Here are the questions that we answer…

What was it like working on a ship?

Were you allowed in the restaurants?

Were you allowed off the ship?

How long was your contract?

Was it hard work?

Did you ever experience really bad weather?

Were you under the sea level?

How many shows did you do?

What were the cabins like?

Was the food amazing?

What was the toughest part?

What was the highlight?

What really goes on behind the scenes?

In this episode we are going to look at the weird, wonderful and very common cruise myths that are often said about the cruise industry.

This is a 2 part-episode so be sure to check out part 2 next week.

Let's start with the top 5.

You will hear in the episode that cruising is actually amazing value for money.  People often look at the pre-holiday cost rather than the post-holiday cost.

We do a break down comparison on a 9 night South Pacific cruise on Carnival vs a 9 night stay in a 3 star resort in Fiji.  You will be amazed at the results!  The cruise works out to be about half the price and that's before we factor in travel.

Did you know that 85% of costs that you incur on a cruise are included in the fare!

The reality is that this can happen but if you are prepared you can totally avoid this.

The cruising industry does everything they can to avoid bad weather and the ships are very stable these days.  However, if you suffer from travel sickness and you hit some unexpected weather, then you may have some problems.

In this episode we discuss some of the best remedies and I give my top tips on how to avoid getting sick in the first place.

I hear this one all the time and this could not be further from the truth!

Cruising has come such a long way in the last 10-15 years and the innovations on board are very very entertaining.

The truth is, there is something for everybody.  Maybe you just want to read a book in the library all day or perhaps you are the type of person who wants to watch a cooking demonstration, listen to a lecture on WW2, play water polo with the crew, fly across the ship on a zipline then round off your afternoon with a wine tasting.  You can do as much or as little as you like and there is absolutely no pressure.

Curious about Virgin Voyages?

The new ships and brand new cruise line from Richard Branson are certain making waves.

We were very honoured to be joined by Sharon Hando who is an expert when it comes to Virgin Voyages as she works for Travel the World - the company responsible for brining Virgin Voyages to the Australian public.

We do a deep dive into the ships, the food, the entertainment, the cabins and much much more.

Here are a few sneak peeks of what's in the episode:

• Did you know that the ships are adult only?
• We hear details about the fabulous overnight stops in Ibiza and the Caribbean
• These ships have wifi included, free soft drinks and access to all of the specialty restaurants in the price.
• The entertainment space sounds out of this world
• They certainly like to mix things up as they will have a tattoo parlour and drag queen bingo!

You will hear on the episode that the ships have something for everybody and they have left no stone unturned to give the 'sailors' what they want.

In this episode we delve into my 3 experiences on the Ovation of the Seas.

At the time of building this was the 4th biggest cruise ship in the world.

In my opinion, Royal Caribbean nailed it!

Have a listen to what I loved and what I think could be improved.