Dodging the Ash Cloud

At http://www.idealcrusing.co.uk/ we had over 100 customers due to fly out on fly-cruises this morning. Most were fly due to fly from Gatwick to Venice and Verona, some with BA and others with easyJet. Bizarrely the two BA flights took off, but easyJet cancelled, even though Gatwick remained open for departures all morning. We were thankful for those customers who were looking forward to their hard earned holiday that they could get away on BA and it was not lost on us that tomorrow was the start of the BA strike, so they had been very lucky to get away! The great thing about a cruise is that it moves on to another location the next day, and those customers who were on easyJet we were able to fly them out to Dubrovnik this afternoon and overnight them in a what is a beautiful city where they can pick up their cruise tomorrow with little impact on their holiday. It's no surprise that the demand in the call centre today has been for ex-UK cruises. Cruising remains resilient to the Ash disruptions, and despite the criticism directed at the UK authorities from the airlines for closing airports, who can blame them for being over cautious.