It was my good luck to be one of the guests invited for a one-night sailing on board the newest member of the Celebrity Cruises family, Celebrity Equinox.
This latest addition to the fleet is jaw-droppingly impressive in every respect, from the spacious staterooms and public areas, to the many restaurants and the entertainment. (You can see Maureen’s first impressions of the ship in our gallery of Equinox pics and videos. – Ed)
In his introduction chairman Richard Fayne said he had listened to customers and agents and the result was Equinox.
Travel Angels was there in strength with Peter and David our bosses, and Marion, Marina, Julie, and Claire from our Frome office, and Les from our Swindon branch. Their “oohs” and “aahs” were audible as we inspected the staterooms.
In the Ocean View stateroom I met Leon Hand, UK and Ireland trainer, who explained how the family arrangements worked. I know I should have paid attention to Leon but instead I wandered off to make a personal inspection with a view to accommodating my grandchildren on board.
I ended up misjudging and headbutting a sloping window. So much for doing your own thing!
The hospitality was overwhelming and the champagne flowed, as did the blue cocktails, which made Marion and Marina look like victims of bluetongue.
Not only was this a super, informative, experience but we all came away confident that we would have no problems selling Equinox.
Travel Angel meets Hell’s Angel
If Wild Thing had been playing in the background as she parked up her motorbike across the road from our office, it would have been a fitting soundtrack.
I sat, open mouthed as she swung her leg over the engine and took off her helmet, shaking out her grey hair as she did so. There can’t be many octogenarians belting about on Kawasakis.
In fact, to my certain knowledge, Honor Blackman is the only other one, and I think even she’s given up the bike in favour of a fast car.
She came into the shop and sat down; thankfully she wasn’t wearing leathers, so the only thing that creaked was her hips.
“I’m here to sort out this cancelled trip!” she announced.
She’d been due to take a coach trip with her friend to Austria, but the tour had been cancelled due to a lack of numbers. In its place, she and her pal, Doris, had been offered ‘Portugal’s Green Coast’.
“We’re happy to accept the Portugal alternative,” she told me, “but Doris wants to know if food is included.”
I checked with John at Clapton Holidays who confirmed that all food was included with accommodation, but there was no provision for the 18-hour ferry crossing.
“Oh, Doris won’t like that,” commented my client, “she’s diabetic. If she goes without eating for that long she’ll end up comatose.”
It was only when I reassured her that they could purchase a meal on board the ferry that she finally went ahead with the booking.
With the booking made, my client went to chat to Kirsty, our new part-timer, while I took a call from a client who’d earlier requested a surprise cruise for his elderly parents.
I’d left all the relevant information for him in an irritatingly long voicemail message and, as I’d heard nothing from him for more than two days, I was happy to hear him at the end of the line.
He apologised for not getting back to me sooner, but explained that he’d been busy helping his son fix the car he was taking to the Mongolian Rally.
“It’s a charity venture,” he explained, “my son’s is one of 500 cars that left Goodwood to cover 18 countries before they reach Mongolia. You can’t do that with dodgy suspension!”
I agreed that it would be reckless, and further conversation revealed that, once there, the drivers leave the cars and make their own way home on foot, making any dodgy suspension someone else’s problem, I guess.
“When I last spoke to him, he was in Prague,” said my client, “and it sounds as though everyone’s getting on and making friends because he said they were all suffering from hangovers from the drinking they’d done with the new Italian and Spanish drivers who’d joined them!” Truly it seems an exercise in international relations, this driving malarkey.
My 80-plus year-old client had been listening intently to my conversation and, at this point, interrupted me to ask if I would enquire of the gentleman whether or not motorbikes were allowed to join the rally?
Fearing that this might scupper the rebooking I’d just made for her, I improvised by saying a hurried goodbye to my cruise client and telling my old lady that it was too late for her to sign up to the rally and that even if she did, she’d be into cancellation charges.
“Oh, well. Perhaps next year,” she grinned as she walked out to wrap her legs around her engine. What a game girl!