Miscellaneous cruise news

Tuesday is our bible study meeting morning.. I received notice yesterday that the article I sent out for pay was rejected. I don’t think the website was a good fit. I am going to try to find a website that pays for articles that is a better fit. I’m also talking to someone about booking a trip for them and have some work to do on that. So anyway, I need to get serious about work. So let’s get started on this. I think we are going to do something similar to what we did yesterday.

• Luxury cruises are becoming more and more popular. It might be that people are tired of the lower tier cruises and want to try something new. Or maybe they don’t want to be bothered with paying something every time they turn around.
• Paul Gauguin, which is a luxury cruiseline, now has its own private island. This sounds like a very nice place to go and just relax. You can swim and snorkel. You are going to be able to get massages. And for lunch there will be a very nice buffet.
• I’ve said this before, but it’s not too early to start making your travel arrangements for the holiday season. The American Queen Steamboat Company is offering some pretty big savings on some of their cruises at Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s.
• Showers are often tiny and inconvenient on cruise ships. But once again, Viking has remedied the situation for their ships without raising your costs much. It looks like these showers are on their ocean ships.

Please let me know what questions you have about any of this.

Enjoy being an adult on a Viking cruise

I’ve been having problems with my e-mail for a couple of day now. Today it worked like a charm. Hopefully whatever has been going on with my computer has worked itself out, and I can get some more done today than what I have been. I’m hoping to get into this writing thing more and start generating income that way as well. I have a lot of questions about that and plan to start getting some answers this afternoon.

I know you love your kids, but there are times you just need to take a break from them. You might feel the need to take some time with just your husband. Or maybe it’s time to get away with the girls for a while. Whatever it is, you may want to consider Viking for your next getaway. Sure, this is a higher priced cruise, but you are going to get a lot for your money. And to be clear, Viking allows children on board their ships, but they do not encourage bringing them. I don’t think they have any kind of children’s program, or if they do very low key. And their policy is, if you bring a minor you have to have an adult in the room, and it looks like you will also have to have two rooms. Let’s look at some of what you will get on a Viking.

• You will get one free excursion each day. On other cruises, you may get one free excursion per trip, but one free excursion each day is unheard of.
• Viking is going to offer you a much more intimate cruise, with them only taking hundreds of passengers instead of thousands.
• Staying on one of their ships is like staying in a very nice hotel. And since their ships are smaller, you are going to have the chance to get up close and personal with your destinations.
• Viking is going to be able to take you places that other cruise companies can not take you. You will get more of a feel of how the people actually live in the places you’re visiting.

I think we are going to stop here. I would love to know your thoughts aut this or any questions you might have.

Thanksgiving at Disney

There are several things I’d really like to look into for the business. I’ve submitted my first article that is for pay, and it is going to be up to four weeks until I hear back. I am planning on doing some more research on this group and hopefully figure out more of what they want in their articles. I’m also talking to someone about a trip. Do you know something? I actually love doing research on these trips, figuring out everything my clients might need to know. I would love to be doing more of this soon. Let me go on and do this so that I can get to some other things.

Let’s keep looking at some tips you might be able to use if you were to go to Disney over Thanksgiving break.

• Let’s face it. Big crowds and small children usually make for nervous parents. Try having everyone dress in the same colors each day that you are at Disney. My family also implemented a buddy system, where younger children got matched with an older child, and they had to stay together while we were out. Count your group before and after each thing that you do to make sure that everyone is together.
• You are going to get stuck in long lines. Just get used to that fact. These are actually great times to have conversations with your children and\or your spouse. Enjoy your time as a family rather than getting frustrated that it’s taking a while to get on the ride or whatever.

Okay, you can go to Disney and have this great time, but what about the traditional Thanksgiving feast? Disney is going to have several restaurants at each park that will serve Thanksgiving dinner the way we know it. You will want to make your reservations with the restaurant of your choice well in advance.

I would love to know that reading this has put you in the mood to go to Disney. Please let me know if I can help you book a trip.

Family fun in Cozumel

It is Saturday, but there are still several things I want to get done today. We’ll see how much energy I end up having.

From what I hear, Cozumel is still pretty much untainted by “tourist traps”, even though it is becoming a pretty popular destination. This sounds like the perfect place for a family to enjoy a fun in the sun vacation.

 

Just because it is a quieter place does not mean that there is nothing to do there. This is on the ocean, so you are going to have a beautiful beach to enjoy. There will also be a lot of water sports to enjoy for your family. You can snorkel or scuba dive. You can also swim with the dolphins.

One of the best places to stay in Cozumel is Sunscape Resorts. When you stay there, if you were to get tired of the water activities, you could take advantage of their full-service spa. You will be able to enjoy live music. They do have a kids’ club for your children to get to know other people their age. They also have a teens club if you have older children.

You will be be able to choose from a variety of nice places to eat. And of course, this is an all-inclusive resort, so most everything should already be covered. Don’t worry about how much everything will cost once you get there.

Please let me know if you’re interested in a vacation like this. I would be more than happy to help you plan it.

Packing tips

Packing for a trip. You may love it. You may hate it. But in order to travel, you have to pack. Packing right can be even more important when you are flying. But coming from a family of eight, I know that there is only so much room in the ca. So let’s look at some packing tips today.

• You may be tempted to pack everything you have and then some. You will want to pack toothbrush and toothpaste for sure, for sure. But if you are going to a resort or on a cruise, they will sometimes have things like shampoo and body wash. You will want to check with your specific destination on that.
• As far as clothes, it is best to pick out whole outfits at a time so that you don’t with too many pants and not enough shirts. Are you going somewhere where you’ll want to dress up? Keep that in mind as well.
• You may want to look into packing cubes if you’re someone who tends to pack pretty heavily. You can fit a lot in these things. But if you’re flying, you’ll want to keep in mind that you’re limited in weight as well as size..
• Shoes can take up a lot of room. Try to take as few pairs as you can get away with. Have one pair that will be good for walking and another for nicer occasions.
• You will probably not want to take a lot of time to do your hair while on vacation. Pack your e reader instead of print books. If you think you might want something, but are not quite sure, it is usually best to say no.

I would love to know your thoughts about this.

Traveling with the in-laws

Tuesday is the morning I meet with friends to have a bible study. I’m just getting a later start for today, and then had trouble figuring out what to write about.

In-laws… Even if we don’t have them because we aren’t married yet, we have siblings who are married or friends who are married.. I know sometimes in-laws get along great, others it’s best to keep them separated as much as possible. But like it or not, you are going to have to travel with them at some point. And traveling together can be difficult even when you love each other. Here are some tips that might help help everything go as smoothly as possible.

• You will want to figure out how they usually travel. Do they like doing things on the cheap, are they people who live for luxury, or are they somewhere in the middle?
• If you haven’t spent a lot of time with them yet, you might want to quiz your other half on quirks, forbidden subjects and things like that. You want to avoid stepping on toes if you can.
• And that works both ways. Try to get your spouse to tell his parents about you too? Are there things they need to know? You might be a morning person, but tend to enjoy being by yourself first thing. You may be uncomfortable when people stat telling certain kinds of jokes. Or maybe they aren’t really into anything green, but that is your passion.
• You will want to have some discussions about what this trip is going to be like before you are actually on the road together. Have a rough idea of your itinerary for the trip. Having plans already in place tends to lessen stress and hard feelings.
• And please discuss who will be paying for what on the trip. They may not want to pay for everything. Or they may feel bad if you don’t let them treat you. Again, your spouse may have insight into what the parents are really thinking or feeling.
• It is probably best not to spend the whole time together. Give yourself time to enjoy as a couple. You may also want to consider having the girls go shopping while the guys play golf or something like that.

Those are some of my thoughts. I would love to hear your own ideas, or any funny stories you might have.

Bachelorette getaway #2

I have several other things I would like to get to today, which  guess is pretty typical for a Monday. So let me do this first to make sure that it does get done.

Last Saturday we started talking about bachelorette getaways. Let’s continue that discussion today.

• It is always a good idea to get to know any new destination you are going to go try out. And this is something that I would be more than happy to help you figure out if I’m helping you put this trip together. Figure out some rough ideas of what you might like to do while you are on your getaway. Again, you may want to check with the bride to get her input. With everyone together, you might want to have your bridal shower, especially if you’re planning on doing a more intimate shower.
• You’ll want to plan your events around what the bride and everyone else likes. If most everyone likes to sleep in, don’t really plan anything until afternoon. Is the bride going to be comfortable with going out for drinks? Are there traditions your group has, like maybe you watch a certain movie every time you get together? Or maybe you like cooking together. Think of those things and include them.
• Sometimes all we girls really want is to have time to talk and catch up. You may want to get some nice foods for everyone. If a lot of your guests are on a budget, this may be a great way to go.Or maybe your group is just especially close, and you don’t want all the distractions of somewhere you don’t know well. Still, you will at least want to plan a nice meal out or a shopping excursion.
• Alternatively, if most of you are established in your careers and have some extra cash, you may want to check out an exotic location. Is there somewhere your group has dreamed of going together? Again, you will want to discuss these options with the bride and find out what works best for her.

I think I am going to stop here. Please let me know your thoughts on this.

Bachelorette getaways

I’ve done something this morning that I’ve known some time needed to be done. I’ve redone my profile on this. Hopefully this explains how we can work together. I would love to know your thoughts about this. And planning this is usually the job of the Maid of Honor to make that clear.

• The first thing that you will want to do is to talk to the bride, and find out what she wants this getaway to be like. Yes, this is for everyone, but it is her special time. She’s been trying to balance work, planning her wedding, and everything else she needs to do. Having a vacation with the people she considers her closest friends will hopefully relax her before her big day. She is going to have contact information for everyone she wants to have at this gathering.
• Find out how much of the actual planning she wants to do. Some brides know exactly what they want and want to make sure everything is exactly how they want it. Others need someone else to handle all of the details.
• Decide on the dates that will work best for everyone. If everyone is relatively close by, you might want to do this pretty close to to the time of the actual wedding. If people are spread out farther, you might want to have it farther out so that everyone is not worn out from traveling right before the wedding.
• Planning these events can take some time. Decide if you want to do all of the work yourself, or if you want some help doing this. You can get other friends to help put everything together. Or you can have your friendly travel agent help you.

 

I think I am going to get back into this on Monday. I would love to know any thoughts or questions you might have about any of this.

Why a Couples’ Resort is the perfect place to vacation

I’m usually talking about taking vacations here. [Since I’m a travel agent, that’s pretty much expected.] I believe in work\life balance. I believe it is good and right to work, to find a job we love and pour ourselves into it, but making sure we make time for our family and friends. And of course, I believe in taking vacations when we need to.. If it is time to start planning your next vacation, I would love to be the one to help you through that process.

For those looking to take a romantic getaway, a Couples’ Resort might be the ideal spot. Today we are going to take a to look at some reasons why that is.

• First, all inclusive tends to be a word that is used a lot when we talk about vacations, but each travel vendor defines exactly what that means with their company. With Couples’, you are going to probably going to get everything you’ll want at the up front price. You are going to get all of your meals covered any time that you want to eat, day or night. You’ll get to take part in their nightly entertainment at no charge. You’ll also get free golf, I do not see many places that say that. You’ll also get to participate in off-site trips.
• You will also have access to a “romance conceirge” who will help you line up everything that you will want to do on your vacation.
• Let’s look some at their accommodations. It looks like a lot of their suites are actually little bungalows which give you a lot of privacy. These are quiet retreats which will give the perfect place to relax with the one you love. Itlooks like a lot of these units will not have tvs.
• Okay, I said earlier that all your meals are included, but what kind of food experience ? It looks like you can choose from a little bit of everything. There is a grill which will be opened 24/7. They have a place where you can get sandwich. They also have a nice breakfast place. hey have a nice Asian restaurant they also have several nice places for you to do dinners.
• But maybe you have gone and explored all day, and all you really want to do is relax in your rooms. They will accommodate you. They will also serve you breakfast in bed. Looking to rekindle those sparks? Try having dinner in the moonlight here you will enjoy a nice three-course dinner, complete with wine.

I would love to help you book a vacation at one of these resorts. Please let me know if you are interested.

Some hotel deals for the end of summer

You can’t imagine how good it feels to be back to work after being gone for a little more than three weeks. Part of my “vacation”, if you want to call it that wasn’t much fun at all , my communication device had to be sent off to be worked on. I had to wait about a week to get my loaner. In the grand scheme of things I know a week isn’t maybe, but it felt like a long time. When I had gotten the loaner, I had two days where I had internet before I was going out of town. I had problems figuring out the e-mail I had connected to this. I couldn’t figure out the password and was getting pretty frustrated with all of that, and then I tried a different way to get in. I should have tried that in the first place, but anyway. Live and learn.. And I guess I said a lot of this in yesterday’s post, but I’m so glad to have everything working again.

If unlike me, you haven’t taken any time completely away from work, there’s still time. Labor Day is still a little  over a month away. And for us who e in the South, it should still be pretty warm until the middle of October. Vacationing when most other people have already had their break is nice, especially for those who who hate crowds. In fact, many hotels are going to give you better deals so that they will have some money coming in during this slower time. Let’s look at some of these deals.

• The first deal that we are going to look at today is in Atlanta, which is near where I’m from and I have several siblings in that area as well. There is a really nice hotel in the Buckhead area called the St Regis Atlanta. Here you will find butler service available. This hotel has a great pool and a spa.
• Next we are going to take a look at something in the city of brotherly love. The Logan Square sounds like an excellent place to explore. Here you will find several nice restaurants as well as a nice place to picnic. They also have some nice museums in this area. Hilton has a nice hotel called simply The Logan Hotel. You will be able to collect points from this hotel.

Please let me know if I can help you book any trips. I would love to help someone book a trip any time..