Welcome to The Cruise Advisory Service
We are now in our 35th year as a Cruise Travel Agent, making us one of the pioneers in the UK of being an independent cruise-only specialist
We are not big. In fact we have never been big - we don't have fancy websites, don't do social media and rarely advertise. Nothing wrong with any of this stuff, just not for us, and our clients appreciate someone picking up the phone in a timely manner
There are no call centre wait times and no endless pressing of menu buttons on your phone
Yes, call it old fashioned, but it works
Enjoy this one page website. It won't tell you what the latest super duper deal is, but it will give you an idea of what we have been doing quite successfully over the past three and a half decades
If you would like our advice, help and guidance, this is where we are and how to contact us
The Cruise Advisory Service Limited
October House, Hightown Hill,
Ringwood, Hampshire, BH24 3HD
Telephone: 01425 485100
email: tony@cruiseadvisory.co.uk
Who We Are
Hello, I am Tony Ripper - may I extend a warm welcome to rather small website.
Along with Josie Clark, we founded The Cruise Advisory Service in 1989. Back then, cruising was in its infancy, but growing. However, there was very much a lack of impartial information and guidance about the cruise ships and how they operated. At that point, I already had nearly 20 years in the travel industry with Thomas Cook, American Express and Wakefield Fortune. With the latter I had the task of leading a 'hotel inspection team', publishing our reports on 100's of package holiday hotels. This was designed to 'strip away the gloss' of holiday brochures and tell it like it is. Some 35 years ago, Josie and I brought this same way of working to cruiseships, telling our clients the good bits and the not-so-good bits. The same way of working still holds true today and some straight talking, bundles of knowledge and decent honest service still go along way
As well as looking after our clients cruise holiday bookings, we also offer the following complimentary information packs and publications -
Ocean Cruise Lines Ratings Guide
Each year we publish our own ratings guide on selected cruise lines that we endorse. We give you an overview of each and tell you the bits we like and the bits we are not keen about. We keep it simple and informative. Our ratings are currently available for Regent Seven Seas Cruise, Crystal Cruises, Silversea, Seabourn, Holland America Line, Oceania Cruises, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara
If you would like to have a copy of our ratings guide, its free, so please just ask
CoastLines Email Newsletter
For our clients looking to cruise in the midrange and premium markets, we publish our CoastLines Email newsletter every fortnight. The newsletter brings you the latest news and gossip, tells you what we have been up to and includes the latest offers from Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Azamara Cruises, Crystal, Explora Journeys, Oceania, Celebrity Cruises, Holland America Line, Silversea, Seabourn and others
To receive our regular CoastLines newsletter, please send us an email or call and we will be happy to put you on our list
Alaska and Canada
For the past 30 years or so, we have been one of the UK market leaders in cruising to Alaska. Every May, we publish our Alaska and Canada Information Pack featuring Holland America Line, Celebrity Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Silversea and others, together with the Rocky Mountaineer, Denali Alaska landtours, Vancouver and Rockies hotel stays and much more. We also publish reports on each port of call telling you what to do and what not to bother with. We know Alaska, we know the ships and we know the in's and out's
The River Cruise Advisory Service
Ever fancied a river cruise? and found its been confusing to make a decision because of the swathe of choice. If so, ask for our River Cruise Information Pack. It features its own River
Cruise Line Ratings Guide telling you the good and not-so good stuff and the 10 Golden Rules about the nitty gritty bits of information you need to know. The guide features 9 river operators including our recommend preferred five, namely, AmaWaterways, Riviera, Avalon Waterways, APT Travelmarvel and Uniworld plus a Best of the Rest selection
The River Cruise Line Ratings Guide
Every year we publish our River Cruise Line Ratings Guide. The latest edition gives you an overview of 9 different river cruise operators, tells you what we like and the bits we are not so keen about. We also give each river cruise line our own rating
If you would like to have a copy of our ratings guide, its free, please just ask
A statement from us regarding the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
The General Data Protection Regulation is effective 25 May 2018. Under guidance from the Information Commissioners Office (ICO), we have to let you know how we comply with the regulation regarding your privacy and the information we hold. In simple terms, you have control of the information you provide to us, so the following will be of help to you
For clients that book with us
When putting your cruise booking in place we need to have your full names, address and contact details, email address, dates of birth and passport information. This is required by the cruise lines and airlines in order to process your booking. At any time you can request we delete any of this information and we will action this immediately. We do not share any of the information with any other organisations not related to your booking
For clients on our mailing lists that have yet to book with us
We hold your name, address and in some cases, if provided by you, your email address. Again, we are happy to remove your information at any time, immediately. Again, we do not share your information with any other organisations
Direct Mail and Email marketing
Regularly throughout the year we will send your our newsletters and marketing material by post or email. This is because you are on our mail list. You are on our mail list because you would have contacted us following either seeing our press adverts, seeing our websites or word of mouth. We never contact anyone blindly and we never buy mail lists or email lists. Again, please ask to be removed if you no longer wish to hear from us
Agent for atol appointed holders