Thursday January 30

Since we are still in WAVE season (although many would simply call it 'Heavy Rain' Season) there is still some great advice for travel agents in the press and blogs this week, including this from Cruise Adviser (that includes some comments from our very own Andy Harmer): read here

Let us start with river cruising - and the recent addition of river cruise products for Cruise & Maritime Voyages, and the take-over of TransOcean Kreuzfahrten in Germany that will see the company rapidly increase the amount of river cruise guests according to TTG: Read here

Over on the oceans, it was profit announcement time for Royal Caribbean who showed profits increased last year to $530.6 million from $432.2 million in 2012 largely thanks to strong late demand in Asia and Europe.  You can read more here

Talking profits and official news, the parent company of Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania are aiming to raise £250 million through the selling of shares – you can read it here

On slightly more non-legal terms was the Cunard announcement of a change to its in-room amenities to British perfumers Penhaligon: read here

Over on the general travel pages was a very interesting story of how cruising has become the 'must have' holiday experience for many luxury buyers - which is great news: worth reading here.  The announcement follows further research on how we are all eyeing exploration for our next holiday - which includes cruising according to Celebrity Cruises and Ben Fogle; and you can read that here

Meanwhile it has been a great start to the year for Giles Hawke who is now Executive Director for UK, Ireland and Australia for MSC Cruises: read here

The other big news for the week was our very own announcement of our theme for the 2014 Selling Cruise Conference that is Make It Happen: as reported by Travel Weekly (read here), and also by TTG (read here).

CLIA UK & Ireland have lots more announcements coming soon – so in the meantime... see you next week!