2010 Alaska itineraries on Princess Cruises take you places you want to go

Research consistently shows that passengers go to Alaska for glaciers, mountains, wildlife, Denali Park, the Alaska railroad and Inside Passage cruising.  Princess Cruises has studied their passenger demographics and found that 35% of passengers who cruise to Alaska are first-timers.  This is 50% more than the average cruisers on Princess Cruises.  Princess Cruises also found that another 45% of cruisers to Alaska on Princess are past passengers of other cruise lines.  Alaska vacations are a great option for families and multi-generational groups because there are age-appropriate activities for all.  There are 4 types of Princess itineraries for Alaska.  Read more…  2010 Alaska itineraries on Princess Cruises take you places you want to go

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Cruises: A Budget Vacation For the Family?

Carnival Cruise Lines has some incredible ships and programs for family travel.

An example of the Carnival program is on the Carnival Conquest. This ship has an expanded Camp Carnival and O2 Teen Program. The kids’ facilites is over 4200 square feet and has all modern entertainment and a children’s pool. Even their meal menus are designed for the age category – everything from hot dogs, chicken nuggets, pizza, macaroni & cheese, hamburgers and more. There are several new programs targeted to age groups and interests. The Edu-Seas program has a variety of fun activities that are also educational. The staff have experience and education in child-care so the kids enjoy their counselor and group.

In general the children’s programs on Carnival are exceptional no matter which ship you choose to cruise on.  Here’s a little I have learned about Carnival and their family-friendly programs:

CAMP CARNIVAL:  Carnival has broken the children’s program into 3 categories: Toddlers (age 2-5 years old) with age- appropriate activites – from finger painting to cartoon time, arts and crafts to puppet shows (good news for parents: Toddlers do not have to be potty-trained to be a part of the program- just supply the youth staff with diapers and toiletries for your child);

Juniors (age 6-8 years old) will have activities like Spin Art, dodgeball, volcano making as well as themed activities like prize bingo, water colors, jewelry making, foosball, air hockey and more;

Intermediates (ages 9-11 years old) play dodgeball, and pool parties to video games and scavenger hunts, making new friends and forging bonds with others their age.

For the Intermediates and Juniors there is an “evening After Hours” services from 10PM to 12AM and after 12AM they join the younger cruisers for a Slumber Party service until 3AM.Parents can have a “date night” or quiet time just for the two of them.

CIRCLE “C”:  For the 12-14 year olds there is the Circle C program. This is where children ages 12-14 can cruise, chill, and connect to others: Cool activities, awesome facilities and lots of new friends to add to their text-mail lists. Activities include games(video arcade, air hockey, foosball, karaoke), created and supervised by friendly, experienced staff. There are dance parties & outdoor movies, and they can even have an evening of dancing at the shipboard dance club. On some ships there are special shore excursions for kids to experience and explore exciting destinations.

CLUB O2: Teens, ages 15-17,  make new friends, hang together to watch movies, listen to music, play video games or join karaoke jam sessions.  On some cruises there are even teen-only shore excursions. They can play basketball or volleyball, ping-pong or participate in high energy dance and pool parties.  There is the Club O2’s dedicated lounge area onboard. This is a hot spot with cool colors, comfy seating, video monitors, and a state-of-the-art dance floor.  Teens can enjoy Coca-Cola products and other non-alcoholic specialty drinks as they watch movies, play video games and participate in this activity driven club.

And all this equals a great time for Mom and Dad, grandparents or friends. When the children have fun, the family has fun! (That is a Carnival Motto!)

If you found this interesting you might also want to read about the NCL Pearl with all the fun things to do on board there.

How Do Travel Agents Get Paid? A question I hear almost every day.

Through the summer I read about first the airlines, then the cruiselines and finally resorts charging their guests and customers “fuel surcharges”.  Now every day I read where airlines, cruise lines and other suppliers of hospitality services are (with some guidelines) reducing, or eliminating all together, the fuel surcharges they initiated during the summer of historically high fuel prices.

Travel agents were the front line recipients of consumer complaints about these charges.  And travel agents were equally chargrined about the charges.  No one was exempt from paying them, including travel agents.  And, in the case of the cruise lines, while we had to tell our clients about the fuel surcharges, collect the fuel surcharges and take some heat for the fuel surcharges, we did not get paid a commission on any of the surcharges.  Fuel surcharges and non-commissionable fees & taxes often caused the price of a cruise to more than double from the advertised “cabin” price.  And the cabin price is what travel agents earn their living from.  Those surcharges, along with non-commissionable fees and taxes, moneys spent on excursions and activities, and money spent on goods and services while onboard a ship, are all non-commissionable moneys the cruise lines keep in their own coffers.

EXAMPLE:  So imagine that in a 40 hour work week, you were working 20 hours for free so that the company you worked for could show more profit, or have a higher stockholder return or make more money to take home to the family.    How good would you feel about that?

This pretty much describes the situation for a travel agent.  Roughly half the prices a client pays for their cruise is non-commissionable.   When agents ask the cruise lines to pay commissions on more of the charges, the cruise lines say that those additional moneys collected are profit centers for them and they are not going to give up any of that money to their front line sales force (travel agents).

Just as people would not want to work for free 20 hours each week for their employers, travel agents do not much appreciate the cruise lines asking them to work for free when helping people choose a cruise.  Today’s itineraries are more complicated, the choices for cabins more varied and the excursion choices downright confusing.  There are pre-and post-cruise hotel rooms needed as well as air reservations, shore excursions and good advice.  That is why people go to a travel agent or consultant to begin with, for the expertise, the knowledge, the assurance of having someone who cares about you and looks after your best interests.

So people ask me, how are you being paid?  The best way I can be paid is by word of mouth referrals.  In my business, it takes volume…and I mean lots of volume…to earn a living wage.  So the greatest compliment my clients can give me is a referral to family, friends, clients, co-workers, just about anyone you talk to.  And when you are planning that vacation or cruise, any travel that involves leaving home for a night, call your travel agent.  Do whatever research you want on the internet, but call a travel agent to do the actual booking.  It will cost you exactly the same (or possibly less) as going direct and doing it yourself.  And you will receive valuable advice, have an advocate and someone to turn to if things go south on you.  Your travel agent is just like me: trying to earn a living wage, while performing customer service and loving what they do.

NCL Pearl – Fun Things To Do On Board

Some of the best of a cruise is all the things you can do while on a cruise (besides eating and drinking!!).  The Pearl just happens to have some of the most fun things to see and do. 

There is “Bar Alley”, a multitude of restaurants, Like this picture of Cagney’s 

 

And nearby Cagney’s is the Star Bar, pictures showing here:

 

Then there are all the other bars, lounges and eateries.  Here are a few pictures of just a few of the others:

Entry to Mambo’s

Mambo’s

Mambo’s

Piano Lounge

Sushi Bar

Magnums

Cagny’s

Entry To The Star Bar

Star Bar

 Well, there is always another day on board the ship to look at other areas of the ship, to experience dining and drinking, to go on excursions, to bowl or climb the “WALL”, or play tennis with the Wii……until next time, boys and girls…….

 

 

If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy reading about the Carnival Cruise Lines Family-Friendly Activities 

NCL Pearl, con’t – Courtyard Villas

Still enthralled with the Pearl, today I am covering the Courtyard Villas.  Also on the top deck of the Pearl are the Courtyard Villas.  Sharing a common terrace, the suites are absolutely lovely. There is, of course, a terrace to be shared, but only with the Garden Suite, the Deluxe Owners and Owners Suites.  On the terrace you will find a private swimming pool, hot tub, covered Balinese-style lounge areas providing lots of shade, oversized comfortable chaise lounges, as well as a fitness area with steam room.  You also get a butler for personal service-just ask, your butler is there for all those little items and needs.  There is a retractable domed sunroof for year round comfort and a separate oceanview deck upstairs for more sun tanning.

Amenities include priority embarkation, butler and concierge  service, butler to unpack your luggage, sparkling wine, gourmet  hors d’oeuvres and bottled water.  

For true VIP living, the villas offer up to 572 square feet of serenity, luxury bathroom with tub  and shower, a separate guest bedroom  with bath, aprivate balcony and a flat screen TV with DVD &  CD library.

Additional privileges include an invitation to VIP cocktail party, 24-hour room service with special suite menu, a full in-room breakfast menu, hors d’oeuvres delivered once during cruise, fine linens, duvet and feather pillows, plush bath robes and towels, luxurious bath amenities, fresh flower arrangement and fresh fruit basket, mini-bar and an espresso/cappuccino  machine.  There is also priority boarding of tenders to shore and priority disembarkation. 

Here are some of the pictures  took while doing the site inspection:

Courtyard Villas – Terrace

Courtyard Terrace – Refreshment Bar

Retractable Dome Ceiling – Courtyard Villas

The Courtyard Terrace Pool and Hot Tub

 

Norwegian Cruise Lines – The Pearl

While it may sound like a cliche, in my opinion there was a reason NCL named that ship “The Pearl”!   She is truly a pearl of a ship.  I had the pleasure of doing a ship inspection  yesterday, Sunday the 8th day of June.  Under cold, grey and damp skies, the Pearl was shining.  I had actually done an inspection of her almost exactly a year ago at the Seattle “Cruise-a-thon” that travel agents attend every year in a port city.  If I am to sail a cruise, I want it to be on her!

There were about 100 travel agents, few from Seattle, many from the central and west coast of the US.  Doing a “fam” is grueling and exhausting, with lots of information imparted that has to be digested and soemhow communicated to our clients and prospective clients.  I was able to sleep in my own bed, but I had to negotiate my way home each evening.  Instead of climbing into a big, comfortable bus to return to the hotel each night, I trekked home up 6 blocks of steep hills to Belltown from the waterfront.

Back to the Pearl.  On the ship, at the top, is a private area that is wonderful for families to occupy, as well as, let’s say, 3 couples who are close friends, or a batch of executives from the same company who want to have privacy to talk about their goals setting/planning/stragetizing for an upcoming change in their business or planning for the upcoming year.  There is a large living area (complete with baby grand piano), three bedroom suites (each has their own door key and private bath) and a private terrace with outdoor seating areas.  All this is accessed by key card, so no one but those assigned to the villa can intrude.  It will, however, hold up to 100 people in a cocktail setting (in case one hundred of your closest friends happen to also be sailing with you).    Here are  some pictures: 

I can not imagine anyone saying they would not like to spend a week in a garden villa!  I have many, many more pictures and stories to tell of this weekend and have set a goal to do a blog entry with pictures every day this week.  Shall see, shall see. Until we meet again……

World’s Largest Cruise Night (WLCN) – October 17, 2007

So the WORLD’S LARGEST CRUISE NIGHT 2007 (WLCN ‘07)was held this past Wednesday night.  What, you may ask, is the World’s Largest Cruise Night?  It is a promotional opportunity for travel agents/agencies and cruise lines to promote cruising.  It happend every year on the middle Wednesday of the month of October.  There are deals galore to be had, onboard ship credits to be given, cabin upgrades with the bookings made on that day.  So now it is past and there are no more deals, credits or upgrades but now I am writing about it. 

What  I found the most interesting this year was that the sponsoring organization, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which is made up of 24 cruise lines, also offered a “virtual” cruise night.  That really got my attention.  I signed up as an agent to have my own website, I got to hand pick the videos shown on the website, and all my information is listed on it. 

I sent out an invitation to my closest friends, family, acquaintance, business associates and clients.  The invitation had a link for viewing the videos.  No pressure, no one looking over the shoulder of the viewer seeing what is being watched, no sales pitch.  Just an opportunity to view 5 different cruise lines: the itineraries, the destinations, what life is like on board each one of these lines.  I love it!  TopDawg Travel’s own virtual WLCN ’07 ! 

If anyone wants to check it out just click that link!  The only catch is that the link will only stay “live” until October 31, 2007.  Then CLIA will “knock it down” and it will be no more.  If anyone goes and looks at the videos, I invite you to come back here and leave a comment.