UK keeps top spot as biggest cruise market in Europe!

It's been announced that the UK remains Europe's biggest cruise market, so a big hooray for us! We know that cruising is a big part of the travel industry and is growing every year, for every person who has never cruised before, taking their first steps on board a ship we salute you! 

Having a 27.2% share of passenger number in 2013, the number of UK passengers who took an ocean voyage increased by 25,000 from 2012, hitting 1.72 million last year - pretty amazing right! 

Southampton Cruise Port

The port of Southampton retaining its position of Europe's most popular cruise port, with the total number of passengers embarking and disembarking rising by 7.5 percent reaching 1.64 million last year! In the second top spot was the port of Barcelona which had a higher number of passengers from day visits, but fewer embarkations and disembarkations. 

Also the number of UK and overseas passengers joining their cruise at a UK port has passed the one million mark, this is a first! It's good to hear that the UK has an increased number of tourists. 

With the cruise industry generating more than £2.5 billion to the UK economy last year, it's definitely a positive thing. Many cruise lines are currently building state of the art cruise liners, with everything that you can imagine on board, from cooking classes to sky diving!

If you know someone who hasn't tried cruising yet, then tell them all about the great experiences you've had on board. The easy of boarding and starting your holiday as soon as you step on board, with no airline baggage restrictions you can pack that extra pair of shoes on problem! 

Lets hope that this year is as successful as last years, and keep on cruising the only way to holiday! 

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Day 4 - Docking in Naples & Pompeii Adventure!

Today was the day I was looking forward to the most! Having been fascinated with archaeology since I was a child this was sure to be a real treat for me! We docked in Naples a little bit later than scheduled but not a major issue, all the tour guides wait for you anyway. As soon as we docked you can see Mt Vesuvius looming in front of you, pretty dominating!

Our tour guide Fernando looked like an ex-Mafia member with dark sunglasses and a air of mystery about him, he was friendly though and spoke excellent English. We had a short drive through Naples into the Centre, I'm glad I didn't book a full day excursion to Naples from what I saw it was pretty dirty and I would of been rather disappointed. Onward to Pompeii driving with Mt Vesuvius on our left and the sea on our right, a leisurely drive with a lovely commentary from our guide. Arriving in Pompeii there were people dressed in Roman costume for photographs which was a nice bit of fun! 

Entering into Pompeii was pretty simple and we climbed into the grounds straight onto the cobble streets with stepping stones so you could cross the street without getting your feet dirty, pretty clever really!  Venturing through the numerous houses, courtyards and streets seeing stunning mosiacs that were almost complete, we moved onto the bath house where you got a really good feel for all of the fancy décor and style that the people of Pompeii would of enjoyed. 

Our guide took us into a newly redone house that had only been open to the public for a few months, it was off the main tracks and we wouldn't of found it otherwise as you can see below it gives you a really amazing feel of how Pompeii would of been. Here many of the wall painting were very well preserved with still bright colours, and portraits this would of been a very lavish home for sure!

 After venturing we were taken back down to where many of the artefacts are kept (mostly copies for show) but you can see the peoples bodies which left cavities in the ash and these casts were made from. Truly amazing, very humbling experience, frozen in time at that moment Mt Vesuvius erupted. 

Luckily as our tour was coming to an end we missed most of the rain, the souvenir stalls are pretty good at Pompeii, I always like little mementoes to take back with me, mainly keyrings! :) I found it wasn't too over touristy but I think that is more than likely because our guide took us off the main path to see some of the smaller more interesting sites.  I must admit this was the most memorable place on the itinerary so far and well worth seeing and getting a guide! 

Mt Vesuvius dominating the skyline

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Family Cruising with Royal Caribbean!

When it comes to our children they are the most important little monsters in our lives, so it's essential that you know they are in good hands when you're trying to relax on your well deserved cruise holiday. With Royal Caribbean you won't have to worry they cater for all ages, from 6 months to 17 years, with loads of activities and events for them to join in with.  

Engaging Activities

The kids clubs themselves are broken down into Aquanauts (3-5 years), Explorers (6-8 years) & Voyagers (9-11 years). As you can see the clubs try and seperate the children so that they don't get board whereas on other cruise lines you will have groups from 3-8 years. With younger guests Royal Caribbean offer Royal Babies & Tots Nurseries which is available for 6 months to 36 months. And it's not just through the day there are services available throughout the night starting from only $6 per hour per child, which I think is pretty good considering the highly qualified staff. 

Top of the range toys

For the Teens there are two separate age groups 12-14 and 15-17, these groups include great activities like pool parties, sports tournaments, karaoke, Nintendo Wii sessions, guitar lessons, and much more! 

H2O Zone

Not forgetting the general on board activities for children like the H2O Zone which has lots of space for kids to be kids. You've also got Character Meals where kids can dine with their favourite Dreamworks characters, and Dreamworks parades, In cabin movies and 3D cinema too!

Royal Caribbean also offer complimentary Family Dining time where kids get served quickly and they are whisked off to the Adventure Ocean Clubs where they can enjoy an evening of fun and games whilst mum & dad relax and enjoy each others company.

There's also lots of family friendly food options to get your taste buds tingling like Johnny Rockets which is a 1950's style all American diner where you can enjoy tasty hamburgers, and amazing milkshakes - Yum! There's also Cupcake Cupboard where almost any cupcake you can imagine can be found, kids can also take part in cupcake decorating classes - pretty amazing!

There's one thing for certain kids won't be board with Royal Caribbean, the fun is endless! Makes me kind of wish I was a kid again! 

:)

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