A 23-YEAR-OLD woman has paid only £1.74 for a luxury cruise after winning a competition in The Northern Echo.

Emma Davidson, from Pry Rigg Farm, in Sproxton, near York, won the £2,000 holiday after making the lowest bid for it in a text competition.

She has never been on a plane before and it will be her first time abroad since a school trip to Germany.

The prize includes flights from London to Miami and a week-long luxury cruise around the Caribbean.

It was provided by Check-in Cruise Club, based in Crook, County Durham, and Carnival Cruise Lines.

Miss Davidson said: "It will be the first time I have been abroad apart from a German exchange trip when I was at school, so I am really looking forward to it.

"I have never flown before either, so I am excited, but a bit nervous as well. I couldn't believe it when my phone rang and someone said I had won. I said, 'Won what?'."

She was presented with the tickets by Jean Merry, of Check-in Cruise Club, and will take the holiday next month, accompanied by her brother.

The contest, run in July, invited people to text in their bids for the cruise. Readers were given the chance to have one free bid per day, with each bid after that costing 50p. About 1,200 people entered.

Carol Bellinger, promotions manager for The Northern Echo, said: "Emma is a lovely person and it is nice to see the cruise go to someone so deserving.

"It was the first time we had done anything like this. We wanted to interact with a younger readership and it was a huge success. We now hope to do more competitions like this in the future."