Mundy Carte Blanche Lightens the Load

Cruise News in September 2007

September 2007 ‘Cruise News’ from Mundy Cruising - the leading UK specialist in international, quality cruising, tailor-making luxury holidays to suit the needs of the discerning customer. Of the comprehensive travel destination features, ship reports, industry news columns and comment from Mundy’s knowledgeable Managing Director Edwina Lonsdale, content highlights this month include:

** Mundy Carte Blanche Lightens the Load (Cruise News page 7):

Conscious of ever-increasing stress levels now incurred when travelling through airports, Mundy Cruising has identified that the option of sending luggage ahead has become a more and more appealing choice. Avoiding early arrival times, queues, security searches and the worrying over whether or not cases actually arrive at their destinations, Mundy now offers the option of the Mundy Carte Blanche Luggage Service.

In advance of their trip, Mundy clients can pack their suitcases, which are picked up five days before their departure, and are safely delivered before travellers have even left home! During the transit, luggage can be tracked right through to the destination, whether at the hotel, or the port agent, prior to the cruise. 

Mundy Carte Blanche services are available exclusively to clients who have booked a cruise with Mundy Cruising.  Call  a Mundy Cruising consultant on 0207 734 4404, or for Private Luggage Delivery Telephone: 020 7292 2383

** New Builds (Cruise News pages 4/6/7):

Oceania Cruises has finalised the agreement with Fincantieri for two 1,260-passenger ships for delivery on September 30, 2010 and July 30, 2011; with an option for a third vessel to be delivered on May 30, 2012.   The 65,000gt newbuilds will be 782 feet long, 105 feet wide, with a draft of 24 feet, accommodating guests on 11 decks.

Key features of Oceania cruising are the quality of food – with six open-seating gourmet restaurants planned for the three new ships; and its range of unusual port-intensive itineraries.

Seabourn’s new 450-passenger, all-suite ship will be named Seabourn Odyssey and come into service in Venice in mid 2009. Bookings for the new ship will be open in Autumn this year.

Swan Hellenic, the unique discovery cruising brand purchased by Lord Sterling in April this year, is making a spectacular early return to the British scene. Lord Sterling has announced that Swan Hellenic has joined the All Leisure Group, a like-minded British company and operator of the cruise ship m/v Discovery.  All Leisure Group announced earlier this year that it had chartered the former 350-berth Minerva on a long-term basis, and it will undergo an extensive refurbishment, prior to re-introduction as a Swan Hellenic ship in May 2008.

** September’s Cruise News features renowned cruise and travel writer Gary Buchanan reporting on his recent experience aboard tall ship Wind Surf for 7 days in the Caribbean – read all about it on page 9.

** Destination Focus – The Italian Riviera (Cruise News page 10):

Still maintaining its popularity as a holiday destination, the Italian Riviera – the western coast of Italy – offers the most captivating choice of attractions to cruise travellers. Pretty little harbours and picturesque yacht havens provide access to some of Italy’s finest, historic treasures – Portofino, Sorrento, the island of Elba, the Tuscan countryside and Pompeii. 

Cruises itineraries in this part of the world may start in Nice, or Monaco and finish in Rome, or Naples. Flight and rail access from the UK is easy and Mundy recommend avoiding the months of July and August when the Italians tend to holiday and the weather is exceptionally hot.

** A Fond Farewell (Cruise News pages 3 & 5):

Queen Elizabeth 2, the most famous ship in the world, will be leaving the Cunard fleet in Autumn 2008. QE2 has sailed the world’s seas for almost forty years and has travelled over 5 million miles in the process – further than any other ship in history. She is the longest-serving ship in Cunard’s 168-year history and has outlasted all other transatlantic liners. She has been purchased by Istithmar, the investment arm of Dubai World and a wholly-owned company of the Government of Dubai. She will be delivered to Dubai in 2008, where she will cease her role as an ocean-going passenger vessel and be refurbished and adapted to become a luxury floating hotel, retail and entertainment destination at The Palm Jumeirah.

QE2’s final season will sell out fast – though many cruises in 2008 are full, opportunities do exist with Mundy Cruising to secure a farewell voyage.

For further press information; or additional copies of Cruise News in print or pdf format please contact

Jill Faulds, JF Associates, Telephone: 01795 890100

E-mail: jill@jfapr.co.uk

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