The Co-operative Shine Magazine

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shine 10/2010

Luxury issue

KEY FEATURES Independence of the Seas vs Celebrity Eclipse Generation Y On board Norwegian Epic Brownhills Academy In association with

Brilliance of the Seas Whether you're after the perfect winter sun holiday, or the atmosphere of the traditional forts and vibrant malls. Or perhaps you want to experience the adventure that the desert, sea & mountain regions provide? Whatever you're looking for, a cruise aboard Brilliance of the Seas is the perfect way to create your own exotic holiday experience.

So wave goodbye to the winter blues and say hello to beautiful blue skies and one of our most beautiful ships.

Dubai Dubailand, the landmark leisure and entertainment destination in the region has a wide range of sports, leisure, shopping and live entertainment activities to choose from. Enjoy discounts of between 30-90% on your favourite fashion brands at the Dubai Outlet Mall or visit the Al Sahra Desert Resort for a taste of Arabic culture and a breathtaking show at the open air amphitheatre.

Fujairah The mountains run right up to the crystal-clear Arabian sea in Fujairah, one of the seven United Arab Emirates. It makes the perfect base to discover the mysterious red dunes and visit traditional stone houses and villages, and it’s also a major centre for watersports and home of the Power Boat Racing World Championship.

Muscat Capital of Oman and a port where West and East have met for almost two millennia, this city of low buildings is a treasure trove of history. Visit the two medieval Portuguese forts, the sultan’s ceremonial Al-Alam Palace, the museums and the Corniche, an arc of beautiful white buildings overlooking the sea.

Abu Dhabi The backdrop to the adventures of the world’s most famous female foursome earlier this year in Sex and the City 2, named the richest city in the world by Fortune magazine, Abu Dhabi is a cosmopolitan metropolis with a glittering skyline and a dazzling array of shops. Gold bangles from the Iranian Souk, Prada from the Abu Dhabi mall, and hand-woven or hand-carved bargains from the Old Souk – it’s a shopaholic’s dream.

8 night Dubai Fly/Cruise from just

£889 departing London Heathrow*

*Offers is applicable to 21/02/11 departure only, subject to availability. Terms & conditions apply, please ask for full details.

We reserve the right to withdraw these offers without notice.

Offers are correct at the time of going to print.

IN THIS ISSUE

Welcome to the latest edition of Shine, The Luxury Issue, which we’re delighted to be supporting.

It’s certainly a fitting issue for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines to appear in, as anyone who’s been on one of our ships knows – and if you’ve never been on a cruise, this issue should convince you to give it a try.

Let us whet your appetite because there’s a cruise out there to suit everyone.

COVER STAR

Keely Scanlon, Branch Manager, Rothwell Page 4 What have you been up to?

6 Mike Greenacre 6 Shining Stars 7 Travel Poll 8 Independence vs Celebrity 10 Generation Y 12 Eating in 14 Face 2 Face Retail vs CTM 16 The Look 23 Green Light with Zoe Fisher 24 Horoscopes 25 Win a ship visit!

26 First things first 28 On board Norwegian Epic 31 Letters 32 The Co-operative Academy 34 Gadget review with Neil Hardy

Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Azamara Club Cruise’s fleet has 35 ships around the world, 16 of which will be in Europe in 2011. Two of our best will even be sailing out of Southampton, Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas, all year round and Celebrity Cruise’s Celebrity Eclipse for the summer season, but which one would suit you best? Read our feature on p8 and find out if you’re an Independence of the Seas or an Celebrity Eclipse person.

Brilliance of the Seas is once again in Dubai, one of the world’s hottest holiday destinations, from January 2011. Last year was the ship’s first year in Dubai and it was a great success – the sky-high prices of Dubai hotels mean it’s much better value to take a cruise from there and get the best of both worlds! Take a look at our itineraries on the opposite page and see if you can tempt your customers to a double dose of luxury.

Also new for 2011 is Grandeur of the Seas, sailing out of Palma, Majorca with direct regional flights and a choice of packages: stay and cruise, fly-cruise and cruise only. And if you want to see one of our most innovative and exciting ships for yourself, enter our competition on p25 to win a bottle of champagne and a day ship visit, including lunch on board, in 2011. Have a go – you never know your luck!

You already do a great job selling our cruises to your customers, and next year we will be working even harder on training and incentives to grow our business even more. Choice is the name of the game for our passengers, and I’d like to think that in your branches, your choice of cruise is right for your client.

My heartfelt thanks to all of you for your fantastic support. Enjoy Shine!

Nicky Tempest-Mitchell Head of National Accounts Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines

GOING UP

All-inclusive

barometer

Staying in on a Saturday night New York

Take That with Robbie

Marrying abroad Christmas Decorations

Eurozone

Dumb summer movies

ATOL protection Music Festivals Strikes

WHAT

HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO? 1

Recognise her? Drag your eyes away from the boots, the tattoos and the whole rear view and you’ll see Paula McPhail, Travel Money cashier for our Gateshead branch. Paula is Miss March in the Girls That Dare To Bare 2011 calendar, raising funds for the British Heart Foundation. Order a copy from Paula herself or visit the girls’ Facebook group.

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She didn’t have the most successful stint in Big Brother – less than a week in the house before fracturing her ankle and being rushed to A&E – but Keeley Johnson, manager of our Oldham branch, apparently isn’t finished chasing fame, fortune and footballers yet. Look out for her in a lads’ mag near you soon…

Look who rocked up at Dartford Festival – The X-Factor’s big-voiced and bigbarneted 2009 finalist Jamie Afro Archer. Jamie tried to guess the number of beach balls in the Mini before signing one for travel adviser Claire Debens and branch manager Tina Porter.

Santa Claus is on the run again, and this time he’s doing it in Manchester and London. The Co-operative Santa Dash is being held on Sunday November 28th as a curtain-raiser for our 2011 Charity of the Year Mencap – and you know what Mike Greenacre really wants for Christmas is for everyone to sign up.

Who’s that girl? The one on the left is Coty Alexander, a professional Madonna tribute for 12 years performing as part of Legends In Concert on Norwegian Epic.

And on the right is Nicola Hardy, assistant branch manager in Talke, after Coty had transformed her into a Material Girl for a day.

Introducing Karl Fulcher, travel adviser at our Newcastle Ridley Street branch and the winner of a Staff Spotlight award. Karl was nominated by his colleagues because he supports a local family and nursery school in Gambia, visiting them every year with books, stationery, clothes and medicines. Congratulations from us all Karl and keep up the good work.

Summer days

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GOING DOWN

After 28 years hard service with The Co-operative, working in Travel at our Westgate, Stockport branch since 1991, Maureen Goulden deserves a break. She’s retiring to spend some time travelling the world and then plans some charity work – those Co-operative values run deep.

What’s Lloyd Sceats of Gravesend up to? He’s performing for Retail’s Got Talent, but you’ll have to wait and see if he becomes one of our finalists after October’s Bognor boot camp or makes it to the December QRM final… watch this space!

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Send your stories to tom.whiteley@co-operativetravel.coop

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shining

stars

Every issue we highlight a staff member who’s shone at work. First up it’s Karen McGinn, a travel adviser and a Specialist Travel Adviser in our Speke branch.

Business Chatter Mike Greenacre Mike Greenacre, managing director of The Co-operative Travel, answers your questions…

Q How’s 2010 been so far?

A For trading? It’s been a tough year. For the travel industry? Recession, collapsing businesses, volcanic ash, BA strikes, riots in Greece and Thailand, a weak pound and a strong Euro – it’s been a terrible year. For us? Well, the half-year results showed a drop in sales of 6.6 per cent, but we’re still in profit. That’s the good news.

Q What’s the bad news?

A In the short-term, we’re selling less although we’ve held on to market share. In the long-term, we’re still in a business which is cutting margin and wouldn’t mind squeezing us out altogether. That’s why we’ve been pushing our in-house product for the last few years and it’s why we launched our own tour operation last year.

Q What’s happening with Co-operative Holidays?

A There’s no disguising that our joint venture with Cosmos has been a disappointment. Our range wasn’t wide enough, we didn’t get pricing right out of the gate, and we couldn’t have anticipated market conditions under the current economic climate. We’ve sold about 50,000 seats, which wasn’t enough but still positions us as the 4th or 5th largest tour operator in the country. We'll have more news on 2011 shortly.

Q Does Co-operative Holidays have a future?

A Yes, but not in the same form. The joint venture with Cosmos is finished, but the Co-operative Holidays brand name lives on. We’re on target to sell between 150,000 and 200,000 passengers through our in-house dynamic packagers at the Holidays Division, and in 2011 they’ll be selling under the name of The Co-operative Travel. Despite setbacks, we’re committed to developing our own products for our own customers.

Q What are your regrets?

A I have to regret sending the email which made its way to the trade press this summer. It was extremely blunt and uncompromising, but you know me well enough to understand that it was sent as a wake-up call to those branches that really haven’t given us their full support. However, I really should have made sure that message only went to them. I repeat my sincere apology to everyone who did a great job selling our holidays.

Successful businesses have to accept that they work in a constantly changing industry. They have to be prepared to move with the times, try new things and learn from their mistakes. We launched Co-operative Holidays for the right strategic reasons and we’ll continue on that path, but this time we’ll give our customers the flexibility they need.

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Michael Murphy’s dream holidays aren’t the same as everyone else’s.

He doesn’t want to go to the Maldives, Australia or Las Vegas. As a steadfast Catholic, Michael dreamed of visiting Lourdes, the Vatican in Rome, and Jerusalem. But as a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair he feared that dream would never come true.

That’s where Karen came in. She’d already arranged for Michael and his carer John Burns to visit Lourdes, which is exceptionally friendly to disabled travellers, when he asked her to arrange a trip to Rome.

She says: “I knew it would be difficult but contacted Can Be Done, our specialist tour operator partner. They hadn’t done Rome before but worked hard and came up with a hotel that was within walking distance of the Vatican.

“He couldn’t believe it when we contacted him and said yes, we can do this. We arranged all the assistance for him on the flight, he was met at the airport and had a special transfer to the hotel.

“He visited the Basilicas of St Peter, St Paul and St John, and on his return came back in and told us it had been the most amazing trip and that he'd been blessed by the Pope.”

John Burns, Michael’s carer, wrote a letter of thanks which said: “I cannot thank or show my appreciation enough, and most particularly to Karen McGinn for organising the trip. I was delighted, elated, and my confidence in The Co-operative Travel has been enhanced tremendously. I can thoroughly recommend them without any reservations whatsoever. A lifetime’s dream has been achieved.”

Karen says: “They had a marvellous trip and he’d bought me a crucifix that had been blessed, and I felt so touched. That meant so much to me. He’s passed our details on to other disabled people, saying we really listen to what they want, and we’re in the middle of organising his next holiday to Jerusalem.

“I’m proud of what we did and I’m so proud that we made his dream come true. That’s what means the most.“

Travel poll

shine

the next issue

What is the one thing that would have the biggest impact on your branches contribution this year?

Party 2% Better range of products

42% Faster, more efficient systems

44% Increase in marketing activity

13% More staff

In association with

What is the one thing you like most about selling Cruises with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines? Visit Travel Poll, on the Quick Links section of the intranet, to answer.

Disney Dine Competition

Lands December 2010

ED EXTEND TE ING DA BOOK

31 DEC 2010

1. What is the minimum duration of stay to be entitled to the Free Dine offer?

2. Which hotel category is NOT included in the Free Dine offer?

3. How many restaurants can guests use their Dining Plan?

A: 5 B: 10 C: over 100

Disne Goody B y the win ag to ne 10 runn r and er Disney up Soft Toys

4. You can save a family of 4 up to how much by selling them a Walt Disney World holiday with Free Dine?

A: £100 B: £200 C: over £1000 Answers can be found at www.disneytravelagents.co.uk

Please email the answers to shine@coop.co.uk by 31st October 2010 7

Independence of the Seas or Celebrity Eclipse? Take our quiz to find out.

They are two of the newest, biggest and most luxurious ships in Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s fleet, and they are both sailing from Southampton in 2011. But which ship is the right choice for you? Answer the questions below to find out if you’re the spirit of Independence or a natural born Celebrity.

Which male movie star’s style do you prefer? a) Sophisticated and classy Hollywood bachelor George Clooney b) Playful, full of fun and dynamic action leading man Johnny Depp Which female film star’s Oscar style do you prefer? a) The classical glamour of screen siren Gwyneth Paltrow b) 21st century cutting edge innovations from the catwalk as worn by Megan Fox What is your idea of a premium brand? a) A vibrant, centralised community to share with all on board, packed with bright colours and technical innovations that blow your mind b) Cosmopolitan with contemporary architecture, cool colours and 21st century style What would you be most impressed and amazed to find at sea? a) An ice rink b) A lawn club with real grass Where would you be most relaxed? a) A whirlpool suspended from the side of a ship, with 114ft of nothing between you and the ocean b) An adult-only Solarium where staff anticipate your every need while you relax and take in the tranquil surroundings What’s likely to make days at sea sail by? a) Fun, fun, fun! An incredible range of activities for adults and children like scaling a rock-climbing wall, playing miniature golf, messing around on the football, basketball and volleyball court, getting wet at the children’s waterpark with interactive fountains and swimming pools, or riding a wave on the FlowRider surf simulator b) Spa, spa, spa! Give me rest and rejuvenation in a fantastic Elemis spa, followed by a leisurely game of croquet or bowls with grass between my toes

Independence of the Seas...

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...or Celebrity Eclipse

How would you prefer to begin an evening? a) A little retail therapy goes a long way! Hitting the Royal Promenade’s shops and boutiques followed by restaurants, ice-cream parlours and bars whilst sipping a cocktail and watching a spectacular parade b) Embarking on the industry’s first self-guided iPad® Art Tour, viewing over 14,000 works of original, contemporary art, followed by a Martini or two and a show What’s your idea of the perfect meal? a) Something traditional, like a classic chop house offering fabulous steaks and seafood dishes b) Something quirky, like a one-of-a-kind restaurant featuring a unique and very different approach to dining with modern, playful approaches to familiar and memorable dishes from around the world What about a night out with friends? a) Meet everyone in the traditional pub the Dog and Badger for a couple of pints, and then a sing along in the On Air Club to your favourite 80s or 90s songs b) Wine-tasting at Cellar Masters, then retire to the Sky Observation Lounge to dance to live music surrounded by the sea If you could choose your cruise destination, where would you go? a) The A-list of European holiday resorts – Spain, Portugal and the Canaries in spring and autumn and the Mediterranean in summer, calling at Gibraltar, Barcelona, Lisbon and more b) Some off-the-beaten-track destinations you would never see on a typical holiday like Dubrovnik in Croatia, Venice and Florence in Italy, Helsinki, Moscow, and even a trip across the Atlantic to the Azores and Florida

ANSWERS: Mostly A’s – you’re Independence of the Seas, a Freedom class ship 339m long and 15 decks high carrying 3,634 passengers and sailing since May 2008. Packed with activity and entertainment day and night, you’re perfect for families who want that five-star traditional cruising experience on an all-new ship.

Mostly B’s – you’re Celebrity Eclipse, the newest member of the Celebrity fleet, 315m long, 15 decks high and carrying 2,850 passengers. A cut above other ships, you’re perfect for high-end passengers who want to spend a week or a fortnight living like the A-list.

Which ship are you?

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Kids today. What are they like?

No, seriously, what are they like? What do they watch on TV? What music do they listen to? And most importantly, where do they go on holiday and where do they buy their holidays from?

If you were born between 1980 and 1990, if you’re between 20 and 30 years old, then you’re a member of Generation Y. You’ve got a laptop and a smartphone so you’re on the internet all the time whether you’re at home or out. You watch TV online, you download music, you read blogs and write blogs, you probably used to have a Myspace or Bebo and now you and all your friends are on Facebook or Twitter. You’re what they call a digital native or a technological resident; you live online, and when you’re going away that’s where you book your holiday.

What else? Well, you’re into brands – Apple, BlackBerry, Nike, TopShop – but you don’t trust advertising. If a product’s good enough you’ll shout about it to everyone you know and you listen when your mates are doing the same thing.

And the good news is that Generation Y love their holidays.

The average 20 to 30-year-old takes two holidays a year, spending about £930 per holiday, and the holidays they take vary from fortnights in package resorts to weekend breaks in unusual cities.

If they’ve enjoyed their holidays, they won’t just write a postcard home. They’ll be messaging and tweeting about it and they’ll have all the photos of their sunshine paradise up on Facebook. They’ll be the proverbial best advertisement: word of mouth.

We’ve got plenty of Generation Y staff in our branches, in head office and in our Wholesale and Distribution businesses. The Co-operative Travel is a young company, but we don’t have young customers. More than eight out of ten of our branches’ customers are over 41.

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When young people think of high street travel agents, they think of package holidays, and they think they’re too cool for those. To book their own holidays they turn to the web, where they can research destinations, find out what’s going on when they get there, book cheap flights and hotels and plan their trip.

So how can we turn the younger generation into our customers? Helen Bollington, customer insight manager at our head office who put together the research on Generation Y, says: “We’ve already tailored our website to appeal to the 20 to 30-year-old market. You can like us on Facebook, you can follow us on Twitter, you can check out customer reviews on TripAdvisor, and soon we’ll have blogs, a forum and more. We've also entered into a partnership with the National Union for Students, launching a new travel section on their website with our offers on.

“But what Generation Y don’t realise is that the kind of complex, multi-centre holidays they want to take – for example, flying to Barcelona for a couple of nights, taking a train to the Benicàssim music festival, then heading back to the Costa del Azahar to chill for a few days – is exactly the kind of thing that you need a travel agent for.

“Try booking it yourself online and you’ll have a nightmare co-ordinating all the different bits and you’ll probably end up paying loads. Our travel agents are experts at pulling together different suppliers and add-ons for a good price, which is important to young people on tight budgets.

“What we need to do is get Generation Y customers into our branches, which is why we’ve got a campaign targeting them planned for next year. Then once we’ve got them, we’ll show them that The Co-operative Travel isn’t all about packages to the sun. We can take you wherever you want to go.”

Generation Y 11

Food KING PRAWN LINGUINE Ingredients 200g linguini 200g cooked prawns 2 tbsp olive oil half an onion, chopped 4 tomatoes 1 red chilli, de-seeded and chopped pinch of sugar salt and ground black pepper 1 tbsp chopped parsley

Method 1. Cook linguine as per packet instructions.

2. In a frying pan, add the olive oil and chopped onion.

Cook the onion over a low/medium heat until softened.

Add the chilli and cook for a further minute or so.

3. Meanwhile, cut the tomatoes in half, and then each half into 3 wedges.

Add these to the pan with the onion and chilli, along with the pinch of sugar. Cook until the tomatoes start to break down and soften.

Add the prawns and cook for a further minute, or until the prawns are warmed through.

4. Add the linguini to the pan and sprinkle over the parsley.

Season with the salt and pepper. Toss the pan to mix.

Turn into two warm bowls and serve.

King

Oliver Carey, marketing manager for Future Travel in our Burslem office, gave this recipe a try. He says: “This really is a quick and very tasty recipe – perfect when you want to prepare something fresh but don't have a lot of time. The chilli gave it a lovely kick. “My tip would be to add in a glass of a decent white wine after the onions have softened and turn the heat up so it cooks away. This burns the alcohol off so it doesn't taste like someone’s tipped a glass of wine into your dinner, it gives it a much more subtle and rounder flavour.”

of the sea

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£75 OFF per booking book before 31 October

Great for you...

...and great for them too!

Looking for a way to escape those winter chills or perhaps booking early for next summer?

Our big savings take care of the little ones too with a great range of holiday options for families.

Then make the most of this fantastic value-for-money offer on our most popular hotels in the sun-drenched Canary Islands.

From Lanzarote's golden sand beaches and incredible volcanic landscapes to Tenerife's cosmopolitan atmosphere and

lively nightlife, there's something here for everyone.

And if you're looking for something a little special, quality never goes out of style at Thomas Cook with our Style Collection. Great service, exceptional facilities and reassuring quality comes as standard.

Kids: Welcome to your club!

KidsWORLD and KidsWORLD Extra are the places to be!

If you’re 3 to 11 years old you can make stacks of new friends, enjoy a whole bunch of activities and have tons of fun.

Book a Winter 2010/11 Canaries Holiday and Win.

10 x £15 iTunes Download voucher up for grabs.

Make a splash, jump on in!

Thomas Cook Aquamania and Airtours Sunsplash hotels have an amazing range of rip-roaring slides, plummeting chutes and twisting flumes, plus the more laid-back lazy rivers and gentle wave pools too.

And if it’s entertainment you’re after Airtours Sunstar resorts have everything to keep your family entertained throughout your stay, with sports, a wide variety of activities on hand and KidsWORLD Extra.

Email your booking reference into trsalessupport@thomascook.com with the message title Shine Canaries Incentive. The first 10 bookings we receive will win the voucher. Please enclose the following information. Your name, Branch name, ABTA number, Postal Address for the voucher and the booking reference.

Booking must be Canaries Winter 2010/11 to qualify and booked between 1st October and 31st October 2010. No cash alternative available.

*This offer applies to all holidays for Winter 2010/11 and Summer 2011 for the Canary Islands featured in our main edition brochures. The saving is based on a minimum of 2 adults sharing for holidays departing 01 November 2010 to 31 October 2011 and booked between 9 September 2010 and 31 October 2010. Please note this offer is not available on ‘late holiday’ bookings made within 14 weeks of departure.

Two people are flying to New York. They both want the same things: airport parking, a low-cost fare, a decent hotel. The only difference is that one’s going for business and one’s going on holiday, but for the travel agent booking the tickets that’s no difference at all. Right?

“Wrong,” says Ilka Hudson, manager of the Stafford branch of business travel provider Co-operative Travel Management. “Booking a flight is where the similarity ends.

Exactly there. The jobs barely compare to each other.”

Ilka knows because she and Laurie Moore, manager of The Co-operative Travel’s shop in Stafford, swapped jobs for a day for Shine. Laurie stepped into the world of business travel and Ilka spent a day behind a desk dealing with holidaymakers.

For Laurie, the big difference is the absence of customers.

At CTM’s office, at a business park miles out of town, the customers are just a stack of unanswered emails that you spend the day working through.

Laurie says: “The amount of emails you get, the sheer volume, frightens me. Some of them aren’t in the least straightforward and can take an hour to get through and there are more coming in all the time.

“They use the Galileo system which we had years ago but is double Dutch to me now. To be honest it was then – I booked flights by accident – twice – and got banned from using it. And she’s so fast, going back and forth checking all the different options and prices.

“It takes seconds to book a flight that we’d have to ring Escape to sort out – we couldn’t book it on our system. But there’s no way we could be doing it. With customers in front of us we don’t have the time.”

In a single day, Laurie’s dealt with a client at Warwick University flying to America, another one going to Port Harcourt in Nigeria, arranged chauffeur transport from the airport for a client flying to Helsinki, chased passport details and even put together a dynamic package to Palma.

“It’s flights not holidays, it’s emails not face-to-face, and I like that customer contact,” Laurie says. “After the ash cloud customers we helped out were coming in with chocolates and flowers. You don’t get that here.

“Then again I work Saturdays, we work every bank holiday and in January we work Sundays. Working 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, like they do here, would be wonderful.”

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Laurie Moore Branch Manager

face

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Ilka Hudson Branch Manager

The next day it was Ilka’s turn to be a fish out of water, surrounded by brochures and point-of-sale in The Co-operative Travel in Stafford. Though she quickly spotted one advantage: “Being in town is great – I’ve had my Starbucks fix today,” she says.

“But it’s a totally different world, absolutely different. The back office, the systems, the whole approach to selling. And having people sitting in front of you while you’re researching their flights and hotel is so stressful.”

Ilka’s usual clients know where they want to go and aren’t too bothered about their hotel, as long as it’s of a decent standard. They’re more concerned about staff knowing a foreign language – Ilka is German, and her colleagues speak Italian and Spanish – than having first-hand knowledge of a resort.

So when a couple come in who, Ilka says, “said they’d go anywhere, that they wanted a six-star hotel on a budget of £400, and they wanted a friend coming with them to have a single room but no single supplement, I had no idea what to say. I’ve never dealt with anything like that.

“They have to be so nice where for us it’s more on a corporate level, dealing with secretaries and purchase orders, and it’s easier to be nice on the telephone than in real life. I prefer my little desk.

“The system here is comprehensive and they get all the options at once, but the paperwork Laurie has to do as manager is unreal. I don’t think I could keep up. But I do want the How Smart system she’s got that shows what each member of staff has booked, broken down into Co-operative Holidays, Escape, everything.

“From a manager’s perspective it’s perfect, you can judge and motivate the team far better. It would make my work so much easier. It’s a dream tool. I want it now, but without the paperwork.”

What have they both learned? Ilka says: “If I had the choice I would always do business travel. It’s a lot more complicated in some ways, flying clients to Hong Kong and Finland instead of Spain and Turkey, but what’s normal to Laurie is alien to me.” Laurie says: “It seems obvious, but it’s taught me that the customers are the most important thing about our business. When you’re managing a shop there’s so much else to do that sometimes it might be nice to lock the door and get on with it, but actually I think I’d miss them.”

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Fashion sponsored by

The Look (luxury on the high street)

Haughty, high-cheekboned, ice-cold clothes horses – but look again.

These aren’t professional models, they’re travel professionals Liza Samuel, travel adviser at The Co-operative Travel in Harrogate, Matteusz Duszczaka, Travel Money cashier at Leeds Albion Street, and Keely Scanlon, branch manager in Rothwell, starring in the debut of Shine’s new flagship fashion feature

Liza wears: Dress M&S Belt H&M Shoes Footloose Jewellery H&M and Topshop 16

Mateusz wears: Shirt Reiss Jacket Zara Trousers Zara Scarf Zara

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Fashion sponsored by

Keely wears: Leather Dress H&M Shoes M&S Jewellery Topshop 18

Liza wears: Jacket H&M Blouse H&M Skirt M&S Tights M&S Shoes Reiss Hat Reiss 19

Fashion sponsored by

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Mateusz wears: Polo Zara Jeans Reiss Black Scarf Zara Purple Scarf M&S

BEHIND THE SCENES

Professional stylists doing their hair and make-up, then posing in the intimidatingly big and white studio of a photographer who’s snapped Steven Gerrard, Lily Allen and John Terry among others… Shine’s fashion shoot wasn’t just another day in the office. Keely Scanlon, cover star of The Luxury Issue, says: “It was fantastic! It was such an experience, being fussed over by the stylists and then put in front of the camera and posed. It was hard work as well, getting that glammed up! I’ll remember it for a long time.”

Keely wears: Dress H&M Top Reiss Shoes M&S 21

The Co-operative Santa Dash Sunday 28th November 2010 For details visit www.co-operative.co.uk/santadash

Zoe Fisher gives you the Green Light Do green holidays and luxury holidays have to be opposites? Can you enjoy the finer things in life without having a carbon footprint like Godzilla? Cruising might offer the answer. UK holidaymakers already know that it offers hundreds of different destinations and exceptional value for money, which is why the UK market grew by five per cent last year.

Mile for mile, cruising and traditional packages don't compare too well.

According to Climate Care, a cruise liner such as the Queen Mary 2 emits 0.43kg of CO2 per passenger mile, compared with 0.257kg for a long-haul flight. Cruise ships don’t put their carbon directly into the upper atmosphere, which increases the damage it causes, and take days to cover the distance a plane can fly in a morning. But if you compare a Mediterranean cruise to Mediterranean package, there’s no doubt that the ship will have the higher mileage.

Cruises aren’t just methods of getting from A to B, either. Every ship burns energy to keep its restaurants, theatres, bars, and an industrial laundry running, mile after nautical mile. And sailing from Southampton saves carbon, but a Caribbean cruise means flying to Florida before you even start.

The good news? Cruising can be more sustainable than a package holiday.

Ships visit a lot of destinations and have a positive impact on the places where they drop anchor. Visitors bring money into the economy and mean that ports of call like Venice and Santorini can avoid the kind of development that has scarred Spanish coastlines.

And cruise lines are working to reduce their carbon footprints. Royal Caribbean’s new ships’ footprints are 30 to 40 per cent lower than ships built a dozen years ago, and ships recycle or burn waste rather than send it to landfill. They may not be green yet, but they’re setting sail for greener waters.

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What do the stars say? Behold, some of the 'best' minds in astrology have spoken. For the lucky few who's birthday falls in the next 3 months, find out what the stars have in store for you. Read in disbelief as expert astrologers reveal exactly what your personality is really like.

Travel will apparently be minimal unless it relates to family or work, but as everyone reading this works in travel that doesn’t mean a lot to you. Time spent at home is apparently still enjoyable, in case you were worried there’d be nothing good on telly until Christmas, and you’re advised to keep your financial dealings to yourself, in case you were planning to give out your account balance and PIN number to strangers.

Finally, the end of the year is a time for growth opportunities for you, so if you can’t fit into those skinny jeans by the end of November put them away until spring or you’ll just upset yourself.

Practicing your natural caution this autumn will bring you “all sorts of business opportunities”, which is good, but you’re advised to “throw caution to the wind” when it comes to affairs of the heart. Obviously the trick here is not to confuse the two or you could end up married to a business opportunity.

S A G I T TA R I U S

Unfinished business is going to rear its head by the end of the year and you might have some relationship difficulties too, always nice at Christmas. Apparently they’ll involve freedom or control issues, but if you “handle it properly you can turn it into something beneficial and growth orientated,” so it sounds like you’re already married to a business opportunity.

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SCORPIO

LIBRA

You’re warned this month to be “careful during the exploitation of a vehicle or any types of machines”, so don’t get drunk at the fair and poke around the innards of the Cyclone with a lit cigarette in your mouth.

Apparently you’ve recently been too vain for a friend who wanted your help, presumably not letting them borrow your mascara when their lashes lacked va-va-voom, so make sure you don’t do that in future. The sign you’ll most enjoy having fun with over the next three months is Aries, which is also the sign you’re most compatible with, but the bad news is that the sign you’re least compatible with, Gemini, is also the best sign for marriage. Basically you like a marriage with lots of fighting.

You’re also advised to “put your energy into lots of joint projects” at the end of the year, because it’s a good time to share your dreams just like the contestants on The X-Factor.

Anything can happen and you’re going to be lucky, so why not sink your life savings into that squid ink farm?

sources: www.freeservice4u.com, www.horoscopes-love.eu, www.foreverhoroscopes.com

Win a ship visit and bottle of champagne!

For your chance to win simply complete the puzzles below.

Royal Caribbean Cruise Crossword Across

Down

3. Popular 1986 film Flight of the _____. (9 letters)

1. A _____ is someone who navigates or assists in the navigation of a ship. (7 letters)

1 2 3

4

7. Christopher Columbus was a famous __________. (8 letters) 8. _____is the power to attract or entice. (6 letters)

6

5 7

9. A corporate long-term goal is documented as a _______ statement. (6 letters) 8

11. _____ is an English rock band that formed in Manchester in 1991 by Liam Gallagher. (5 letters)

9 10

11

12. A story about mythical or supernatural beings or events is deemed a _______. (6 letters)

12 13

14

15

13. ____________ was the 4th album from singer Charlotte Church released in 1991. (11 letters)

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2. Our queen is our _________. (7 letters) 4. July 4th is ___________ Day in the USA. (12 letters) 5. A musical greeting performed for a lover is called a ________. (8 letters) 6. One of the most important factors when buying a gemstone is it’s __________. (10 letters) 10. Bohemian ___________ famous number one selling song by Queen. (8 letters)

16.Statue of ___________. (7 letters)

14. Star Trek ___________ is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe.

(7 letters)

17. ___________ of speech - is the right to speak without censorship or limitation, or both. (7 letters)

15. ________ of the Nile – 1985 film featuring Michael Douglas & Kathleen Turner. (5 letters)

17

18

18. Your _______, a greeting used for royalty.

(7 letters)

Know your Celebrities?

Match the Celebrity Cruise liner names with their pictures below

Xpedition or Eclipse

1.

2.

Send entries to The Co-operative Travel, Hamil Road, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, ST6 1AJ, all entries to be received by October 31st, winners will be chosen by prize draw.

Name

Contact Number

25

My first...

alistair rowland

Shine’s regular feature asking our management team about the firsts in their lives turns to Alistair Rowland, Director of Distribution, about his life and his day.

First memory – Appropriately enough, it’s of a family holiday. I grew up in Buxton in Derbyshire and back then families didn’t take foreign holidays so we went to British resorts - Blackpool, Rhyl, Towyn, Anglesey. Happy memories, but all a bit blurry. I didn't go abroad for a holiday until I was 13, when we went to Lloret de Mar on the Costa Brava.

First record – It was back in the summer of 1977 and it was a really awful record. I’m still embarrassed, 33 years on, so I’m not prepared to share it but trust me it was bad.

First job – I worked for a company called Wigfalls, an electronics retailer based in Derbyshire. Aged 15, I finished my O-levels on Friday at 12pm, started work there that afternoon and spent the next six months in the warehouse.

I’ve been in retail ever since.

First car – A red Vauxhall Chevette when I was 17, a red saloon with a white stripe down the side. It cost me £600 second-hand and I was incredibly proud of it. I bought my first new car two years later, an MG Metro.

First major achievement of my career – I was Wigfalls’ youngest ever manager at the age of 18 and then, when they got bought by Currys, I became their youngest ever customer manager at the age of 21.

First impression of The Co-operative Travel – I got into the travel industry ten years ago to support the rolling out of holiday hypermarkets, a joint venture with First Choice. In those days it was a lovely business and handling my retail portfolio for United Co-ops' travel business was just a pleasure.

Managing 100 profitable shops was a dream job, but it’s got a lot more complicated since then…

First person I saw today – I made an early start and earned brownie points by taking a cup of tea to my wife Max in bed, then took on the difficult task of waking up our six-year-old daughter Emily.

First priority of my working day – I oversee all the diverse businesses in our Distribution portfolio, from Co-operative Travel Management, who specialise in corporate travel, to the consortium of independent travel agents that make up the Freedom Travel Group and the homeworkers of Future Travel, to Cumbria Cruises and the E-Commerce team who manage our website portfolio. So first priority is always to check in with the heads of all those businesses to see where we’re up to.

First phonecall – Today it was to the Head of Web regarding the retail deal for dynamic packaging, shortly followed by a chat to the head of CTM about his business restructure – we’re closing the Loughborough branch and hopefully moving the consultants over to Stafford, and adding a new branch in the south.

First email – An update with the finance manager for distribution, who was in touch about budgeting for 2011 – with so many businesses, all going in different directions with different objectives in the current market, we have to start early. I also emailed the Head of Sport and Events, the newest addition to my portfolio, about their IS requirements and Cumbria Cruises about how their marketshare’s holding up during the world cruise launch.

First meeting – The head of Future and Freedom came in to see me to discuss how trading is going.

Freedom has 140 members, each of which is a travel business with its own issues, and more than 400 homeworkers who are increasingly operating as one-person travel agencies. Our job is to provide the support they need and that changes constantly.

First thing I did for fun today – Packing my case for a cruise around the Mediterranean on Adventure of the Seas. I’m on it for a week, booked with Spectrum Cruises, for a family holiday with Max, Emily and 14-year-old James.

First thing I’d do if I won the lottery – Business is my passion, so I’d become a Dragon and invest my capital in other businesses to help talented people with innovative ideas make money. And I’d probably better let my wife Max go on a shopping spree as well.

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Epic win Take a hotel – a big, five-star, no-expensespared hotel with a couple of thousand rooms. Then glue a theatre to it. Stick about 20 restaurants on there, 20 bars, lounges and nightclubs, a casino, a spa, a water park, kids play areas, a climbing wall, shopping malls and what the hell, let’s throw in the biggest chandelier at sea. Then let’s make it float.

Do all that and you’d be wasting your time, because the people at Norwegian Cruise Lines have already done it. The result is Norwegian Epic, the latest ship in their fleet, which hosted 400 of The Co-operative Travel’s assistant branch managers for two magical nights in June.

In Southampton, on the road down to the docks, the ship looks huge. There isn’t much that can make a 32,000 square foot Ikea look like a corner shop, but the Swedish store on West Quay Road is nothing compared to the Norwegian Cruise Line ship opposite. When you get close it’s so big you can’t even take it in – and it’s big on the inside, too. The 28

atrium, where the aforementioned chandelier hangs, has a huge, sweeping reception desk, a long bar, an enormous projection screen and a lobby which leads forward to an art gallery, a photo gallery, a French bistro… and if taking in the outside of the ship is tough, taking in what’s inside is a whole other story.

A pub crawl on Norwegian Epic is like flitting from city to city in a few steps. The Irish bar, O’Sheehan’s, is a magnet for the men who want to warm up the evening with a few pints.

Wander through the casino and up a deck, under the light of that chandelier, and our agents had slipped out of their orange and into their eveningwear to knock back chocolate vodka cocktails in the leather chairs of Shaker’s Martini Bar. A few strides onwards there were staff enveloped in the wood-lined clubbiness of the Malting’s Whisky Bar, or around the corner chewing fat cigars in the Humidor Cigar Lounge – and yes, you can smoke inside. And when it was time to soak up all that booze with some food, you could find assistant managers downstairs in Taste, a cool contemporary restaurant that doesn’t ask for anything as old-fashioned as a reservation, or up in Cagney’s Steakhouse, or watching the

chefs in Shanghai’s open kitchen whip up their Chinese.

The next day, nobody was quite sure when the bars stopped serving. But it hadn’t stopped the party. Half the conference ended up dancing hands-in-the-air at Ibiza-style open-air nightclub Spice H2O, and the rest were drinking in the red-hot atmosphere of the other club, Bliss Ultra Lounge.

At the opposite end of the ship in the Epic Theatre, something much odder was happening. Three men dressed in black with bright blue heads took to the stage. They don’t speak. Instead they play drums filled with paint, throw chewing gum into each other’s mouths, roam into the audience with a video camera, play tunes on toilet plumbing, and create a spectacle that mere words could never describe.

The conference – the reason everyone was on board, supposedly – happened in the Manhattan Room, a beautiful wood-lined Art Deco space. That afternoon, it was the home of presentations about data collection and Co-operative Holidays but by evening the entertainment level was ramped up for the big dinner with Madonna, Elvis and Tina Turner performing, or at least reasonable facsimiles as part of Legends cabaret.

They're like everything on board; Larger than life, legendary, spectacular... It's no wonder they call this ship Epic.

29

Letters A word from the

Editor

Dear Shine, Co-op ly a demand for There’s definite mers – sto cu r ou e with holidays out ther e tiv first Co-opera Nuneaton had its ly? A Ju rly booker in ea Holidays double ur to r ou of on one couple travelled ajorca departures, to M st fir s n’ io operat oked a bo d immediately on May 15th, an r fo l te e same ho return visit to th ys we had within a few da d An r.

Septembe uble doubles in another, so it’s do else? ne yo Nuneaton! An Yours, , Suzanne Thorpe er, ag an m ch bran e Travel, The Co-operativ Nuneaton

You like Shine – so why have we changed it?

Thanks to everyone who answered the survey with our last issue. It’s good to know that you all read Shine in your branches and offices around the country, and good to know that you’ve learned more about the Travel group and feel a part of it thanks to what you’ve read in Shine.

But you weren’t in agreement about our regular features. Quite a few of you hated fashion feature Anything But Orange, though even more of you liked it.

You mostly liked our Shine On! news pages and Shine Holidays, but you weren’t so sure about our palm-reading feature.

That’s why the new format Shine you’re holding in your hands is a real mix of the old and new. We’re highlighting a hero from the frontlines every issue in Shining Stars, we’re looking at the ethical issues that members care about in Green Light, and the fashion’s stayed, but it’s been transformed with a glitzy makeover – and every issue now has a theme.

Finally, you asked for more letters and more of your photographs – so get sending them in! The address is still the same, shine@coop.co.uk, and I’m looking forward to your thoughts on our new look.

Tom Whiteley - Editor Dear Shine, go before the There’s less than a week to put down their laptops and r este nch Ma m Web team fro nge with the real world for a cha smartphones to interface t, hen ee Peaks: Pen-y-G by climbing Yorkshire’s Thr m . The total distance the tea ugh oro leb Ing and , Whernside re we’ and es mil alf -a-h and of 17 will be covering is 24to raise money for Francis planning to do it all in a day ill pice caring for terminally House, a Manchester hos ting visi by us r nso spo to e children. There’s still tim erativetravelthreepeaks www.justgiving.com/coop d cause! please help, it’s all for a goo Yours, merce, Neil Hardy, Head of E-Com Manchester

The happy couple Dear Shine

e whole IS ions from th Congratulat Joanne in Burslem to department ield, who N ly m, former ha il ot eb fl uf Sh two years Ph boyfriend of ed ss ne it w , married her ng The weddi . ly Ju th 24 at on the ok place d friends, to d by family an Drayton, an t ke all, Mar e th at n Goldstone H oo by a honeym s, was followed the Maldive in a Sp d an ch ea B i lv he Olu ! ded by Kuoni as recommen Burslem The IS dept, 31

32

The Co-operative Academy at Brownhills We’re normally the opposite of school.

The Co-operative Travel is where you come to for a holiday, for when school’s out for summer and you want to get far enough away to forget it ever existed.

But for hundreds of kids in Stoke-on-Trent, starting last month, we are school. They used to be pupils at Brownhills Computing and Maths College, but now they’re pupils at The Co-operative Academy at Brownhills. Aged 11 to 16, they’re the newest and youngest members of the Travel family.

Why have we become the sponsors of a school? Are we just training up the next generation of travel advisers? Is the school uniform orange? Are we going to get rid of science and history from the curriculum in favour of GCSEs in Florida fly-drive breaks and how to use TARSC? No, of course not. The Academy is a state-funded school that follows the national curriculum and doesn’t charge a fee. The difference is that they manage their own budgets rather than the local council being involved, and they’re established and managed by a team of sponsors.

We’re the principal sponsor, working alongside Staffordshire University and Stoke-on-Trent Further Education College. Brownhills, a mile and a half from our Burslem head office, currently has around 650 pupils drawn from local primary schools. It’s got a long history – it opened in 1929 as a girls’ grammar school and the quiz team won Top of the Form in the 1960s.

The school now is very different from the school then. It hasn’t been a grammar school for almost 40 years and the pupil intake is mixed sex and mixed race, with almost half coming from ethnic minorities. But the commitment to success hasn’t changed.

It’s the second Co-operative Academy which opened in September, alongside The Co-operative Academy of Manchester, but work on this one has been spearheaded

by Travel and our managing director Mike Greenacre.

What will the change mean to the pupils? Well, to go along with the new name there’s a new logo, voted for by staff and students, which appears on the new uniform and is the centrepiece of an artwork created by pupils which will hang at our head office.

The school’s head is replaced by an American-style Principal, Andy Stanier, and the Academy will specialise in Business, Maths and Computing to give children the skills they need to thrive in the workplace.

Andy says: “The Academy is a great opportunity for

the best of the business world and the best of education to work together. We’re very proud to be working with The Co-operative Travel, a company that’s been based in Stoke-on-Trent for 46 years and a company with ethical values that will be an example to our children.”

The school's Community Groups - like the houses in Harry Potter - will be led by four of the Travel executive. Neil Hardy leads Discovery, Mike Yates leads Venture, Alistair Rowland leads Inspire and Jayne Webb leads Endeavour.

And though the Academy has opened in the building that Brownhills has been in for more than eight decades, construction has already begun on a new £21.4 million state of the art building designed to meet the needs of students in the 21st century. Set to open in September 2012, it will be fitted throughout with all the technology that today’s schoolkids need to become network engineers, web designers, business analysts – and if a few end up wanting to work in the travel industry, we won’t complain!

We asked pupils at Brownhills to create an artwork for Shine that shows how they feel about the Brownhills Academy and The Co-operative Travel. And this is the fantastic piece that Saima Begum, Nafeesa Khalil, Jessica Owen, Holly Forrester, and Rosalynd Key created with the help of art teacher Sarah Turner-Bradbury.

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Neil Hardy’s Gadget page in association with

Image courtesy of Apple

PureLuxury It’s not just a big iPhone. It’s not just a 21st-century Etch A Sketch. But we don’t really know what the iPad is yet, because it all depends what its users want it to do.

Three million iPads have been sold in the UK already, and as a gadget freak I was one of those buyers. I already had a crush on it from the launch, and the minute I had one in my hands I knew it was true love.

It’s so light, about the same size as those compact versions of FHM and Glamour you buy at airports, and it’s incredibly portable. You’d hardly notice the weight of it or the space it took up once you’d slipped it into your hand luggage. And the battery lasts a brilliant 10 hours before it needs to be charged.

So it’s perfect for taking on holiday, for work and for fun. Your iPad can be connected to your email, diary and contacts, so you can be on the deck of your cruise ship, drinking a cocktail, looking out at the Caribbean, and working in the office at the same time.

It’s an iPod so you’ve got endless music, movies and TV. Flipboard puts Facebook and Twitter to work creating an interactive newspaper matched to your interests. iBooks provides your holiday reading and any guidebooks you need, or for more personal recommendations there’s TripAdvisor.

Then there’s Shrek Kart for the kids, Trivial Pursuit for killing time when you’re waiting, strategy gaming for adults with Air Madness, or Talking Tom that replays everything you say in the voice of a cartoon cat…

In fact, the only problem with taking an iPad on holiday is I won't lie; this is my new favourite thing in the dragging yourself away from it long enough to enjoy the whole world. My family come first but after that it's the iPad all the way. It's the best ever. sunshine.

Neil’s verdict: Apple iPad

(((((

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Win a Holiday of a Lifetime to America’s Deep South and Cajun Country!

You could be visiting Nashville, the home of country music, Memphis, with a trip to Graceland and New Orleans for cocktails in the French Quarter and a Cajun cookery class. Just some of the exciting stops on this amazing Tour.

Thomas Cook Tours – The original Tour Expert Since 1841. Here are some of the reasons why…….

• ACROSS THE WORLD - 70 Fully Escorted Tours throughout the world including North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia, Australasia and Europe • MULTI INTEREST – Your customers can choose from a wide range of tours to suit all interests, wildlife, architecture and scenery • EXPERT IN TOURS - Expert Tour Managers will take care of your customers from start to finish • INDIVIDUAL SERVICE - Door to Door pick up service or UK domestic flights from local airports included • LOCAL DEPARTURES – For your customers convenience we have local departure points for our European tours • EXTRAS – Customers benefit from an Executive Airport Lounge on our Longhaul tours (excluding BA tours from Terminal 5) • TOUR OPTIONS - Superior tour options available, utilising some of the world’s finest hotels • EXCURSIONS – Customers can pre-book excursions including whale watching, Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon & hot air balloon flights and many excursions are also bookable locally with the Tour Manager • EXTENSION OPTIONS - Numerous extension options, both pre-packaged and tailor-made are available • UPGRADES - Upgrades are available on most International flights, many of our featured hotel rooms, overnight train journeys and cruises

PRIZE DRAW

• Departure dates available through to March 2012

Answer the following Questions correctly and enter our competition to win a Thomas Cook Tours holiday to the American Deep South.

Here are the questions, to be in with a chance please send your correct answers to trsalesupport@thomascook.com with the message header TC Tours Shine Magazine Competition before the 31st of October.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Name one of the key selling messages when promoting Thomas Cook Tours?

What type of cookery class do you experience on the America's Deep South & Cajun Country tour?

How many tours to the mainland USA does Thomas Cook Tours feature?

On which two tours are you likely to see Tiger's?

On which tour do you visit Chile, Argentina and Brazil?

Terms and Conditions: The prize is for two people sharing a twin room travelling on a 2011 departure date and will include local pick up or UK domestic flight depending on where they live, flying from London Heathrow Terminal 5. Entries must be received by 31st October. Entries received after this date will not be processed. Prize winner will be drawn

by Thomas Cook at random and notified by the 19th of November. Prize is non transferable and no cash alternative will be offered. Staff member must travel on the holiday. All tax and national insurance contributions are liable by you, the individual and will be assessed by your employer.