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When Will The Cheap Family Vacations End?

August 6th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

Isn’t it great?

If you are a family looking for a well-earned holiday - and you have some spare cash to pay for it - the deals on offer lately have been unbelievable.

From airlines to cruise lines, hotels to theme parks, everyone seems to be offering a deal. And until tourist numbers pick up substantially, it seems the deals are here for a while yet.

One note of caution though - if the tourist operator is offering such a cheap deal, will they still be in business when I come to take the trip I paid for today? That’s a valid question, particularly when record numbers of airlines have gone bust worldwide in the last 12 months. And that’s where the well-known business trade-off comes in  - you have to measure the risk (of the airline or hotel going under) against the return (the cheapest deals we have seen for a long time).

If you are looking to take the risk, here’s some of the steps you can take to reduce the risk of ending up out of pocket:

• buy travel insurance straight after you have paid for your holiday. It’s no use trying to buy it once the tour operator has gone bust!
• check the background of the company you are giving your money to. Are they financially stable? If they are listed on the stock exchange, check online to see how the analysts rate them.
• don’t book too far ahead. If you are paying now for a trip in a year’s time, that’s an awful long time in which the operator might buckle under the financial strain.
• pay with your credit card. You may have some recourse through the card company if things go bad.
• pay as little up-front as possible. For example, you can take advantage of those cheap air fares for 6 months hence, but leave it until much closer to the time of travel to book and pay for your hotels etc
• shop around - there are amazing last-minute deals going.

Getting to and from the Airport

May 4th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

Going somewhere new and not sure how to get from the airport to your hotel?

Well, there’s a great website which provides a wealth of information about hundreds of airports around the world, and all the various ways of getting to and from them. The website is http://www.toandfromtheairport.com/ , which is a pretty self-explanatory and easy-to-remember website address!

Apart from the obvious info on trains, buses and taxis, the page on each airport also has helpful links, such as to the main airport website, train company websites, etc etc.

If you are going somewhere you haven’t been before, this site is a must-see.

Air Asia Voted Best Low Cost Airline

April 6th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

Malaysian-based budget carrier Air Asia has been named Best Low Cost Airline in the 2009 Skytrax traveller poll.

The airline has experienced rapid growth in recent years, moving from 2 planes 8 years ago to currently operating 75 planes.

The airline operates out of Kuala Lumpur and operates scheduled services throughout Asia, and through its subsidiary Air Asia X also operates services to 3 ports in Australia and to China. This subsidiary has also just commenced Kuala Lumpur to London services, with 6 weekly return flights.

500,000 Free Seats on Air Asia

February 11th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

Low cost Malaysian-based carrier Air Asia has just released half a million free seats covering most of its destinations. By “free” they mean that you don’t pay for the seat, but do pay for the additional taxes and surcharges. While these add-ons can make a major difference to air fares, at least in Air Asia’s case they no longer have any fuel surcharge.

The seats are on sale from 10 - 15 February, for travel between 12 October 2009 and 31 January 2010.

By the end of the first day of the sale, many of the free seats had been snapped up. Routes such as Gold Coast (Australia) to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) sold out quickly, which is not surprising given that the return trip cost a total of A$130 inclusive of 15kg baggage allowance and a meal!

There were however many flights within the South East Asian region still up for grabs. Further details are available on their website: www.airasia.com

Survey Identifies World’s Worst Cruise Ships

February 9th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

THE world’s worst-performing cruise ships have been named and shamed in an online survey, with major companies coming under fire. Two Italian cruise companies fared the worst in the survey, conducted by www.cruises.co.uk.

The independent cruise agent collated the results from more than 12,000 passenger assessments.

Passengers rated their cruise under seven categories – food, entertainment, shore excursions, staff, provision for children, activities and cabins.

Of the major cruise lines, MSC, an Italian company, was voted the worst, achieving an average of 2.83 out of five, with a lack of activities and children’s entertainment the prime offenders in it receiving the title of the worst-performing cruise ship.

Costa Cruises, another Italian company, scored an average rating of 3.25 from 300 reviews with passengers slamming the onboard activities.

In brighter news, Oceania’s Insignia won three awards, while P&O’s family ship Ventura, landed in the top five for best for families.

How they rated:
1. MSC Cruises 2.83
2. Costa Cruises 3.25
3. NCL Cruises 3.56
4. Fred Olsen 3.90
5. Celebrity Cruises 3.93
6. P&O Cruises 3.93
7. Thomson Cruises 4.06
8. Princess Cruises 4.08
9. Royal Caribbean 4.15
10. Cunard 4.36

Financial Crisis Brings Cruise Bargains

October 19th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Plummeting share markets, sagging house values, an uncertain employment market, and other financial factors are causing consumers around the world to snap their wallets and purses shut.

 For those lucky enough to be relatively unaffected by the global financial turmoil, there are some great bargains to be had in the cruise sector.

There have been some recently-announced price reductions on cruises out of Australia and NZ, for late-2008 and early-2009 cruises. Discounts of over 60% are available, as cruise operators slash prices in the wake of significant falls in forward bookings.

For example, the Diamond Princess has a 12-night cruise from Sydney to Auckland departing 12 Dec 2008 for A$949pp per person, including a return flight to Sydney. The normal price is A$2500pp.

Check out this and other offers available at CruiseMart. Their website can be found here

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