Club Med 2 visited Dublin port on Wednesday as part of the western and northern European cruise.  It is a smaller ship then we are used to in Dublin Port.  Fred Olsen's Boudicca passed by on its way into the port and overshadowed Club Med 2.  

This unusual liner has sails too. There are five huge masts that carry huge sails.  when the sails are unfurled it must look amazing. The picture certainly look great.
   
Club Med 2 carries 372 passengers in 186 cabins over eight decks. In terms of cruise ships, it is small.  It would be considered top of the brand in Club Med, and the price of around €2,000 per week .  The food was nice, we opted for the buffet which had a good selection of hot and cold choices.  Many of the guests arrived back for lunch after touring Dublin for the day.

However, a dull day in Dublin didn't do the ship justice, the sails were down,  the water sports deck was closed, it was hard to picture any guests doing any more than sightseeing or reading and blue and white really only works well in sunny places. 

Twice today I heard from people who had booked accommodation with clever-hotels.com only to discover that the company Navelar GmbH based in Germany had gone bust.  

In one instance a couple had the horrible experience of arriving in Barcelona and discovering that their hotel had not been paid for by clever-hotels.com.  The hotel was full and on a pissing wet day, had to go and find and pay for accommodation.  The other person has booked a hotel for the end of September and made the payment two weeks ago.  When she check with the credit card company, it seems she will get her money refunded but there is no indication of when.

Both customers found the deals for the hotels on clever-hotels.com via Trivago.  The price comparison website compares prices across a selection of websites and allows users to then book directly with the cheapest one.  But what is Trivago doing to ensure that the companies they use are going to honour the bookings they take.  Trivago has been heavily advertising in Ireland and elsewhere and being part of the Expedia travel conglomerate one would expect that they would ensure that customers funds would be protected.  

Maybe it is time to return to direct bookings with hotels, at least you know they exist and they don't always look for money up front.  Price shopping for hotels will show very little leeway between websites, usually it can just be a few euros in the difference. 
Recently I was in Murcia and the hotel I wanted to book was around 78 euros per night on various booking sites.  In the end I booked directly with the hotel, the Silken Siete Coronas and it was 51 euros including breakfast and a very nice four star hotel too.

See this story from the London Independent about what to do if you have a booking with Clever Hotels. http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/qa-i-booked-a-room-through-cleverhotelscom--what-are-my-rights-8783958.html

Hotel Weisler, Graz, invites you to try their signature dish, the Tomahawk Steak.  A ribeye cut from the finest Austrian mountain reared oxen and hung for 3-4 weeks. Chargrilled, the steak on the bone is served with home-made potato wedges, grilled vegetables and different dips. Costs €40, see hotelweisler.com.