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.

Tips For Backpacking and Staying In Hostels

Backpacking isn’t complicated and can be a wonderful experience. In fact, it is the simplicity that makes it so attractive. With only your pack on your back, there are no limits to what you can do or see. Backpacking allows you to expand your horizons by taking excursions away from your original plan, the part of what makes backpacking so much fun. Planning a backpacking trip may seem trivial at home, but can become complicated when you are in a strange place. Essential gear for your trip will include Backpack, Fast Drying Towel, Walking Shoes, Socks and Underwear, Long Underwear, Pillow Case, Sleeping Bag, Passport, Spy Wallet, Day Pack, Sunscreen and a Camera.

One option with backpacking is the backpacker hostel. These hostels are usually very affordable. Many hostels provide self-catering kitchens where you can cook your own meals and some even have their own restaurants, cafes and bars. Some hostels even provide meals, such as a free breakfast, while many hostels provide internet access and laundry. You should book a room at a hostel early in the day or the day before rather than wander the streets at night looking for a room. It is useful to be able to compare room rates at a number of hostels in your preferred destination. Hot Tip: Book a room in a hostel before you travel so that you aren’t roomless on your arrival.

Generally, large city hostels are open 24 hours per day, while others may have shorter opening hours. During the daytime, there is usually a lockout time from early morning to late afternoon when the rooms are being cleaned, though the hostel custom is that all guests clean up after themselves. Today, many hostels are not unlike budget hotels where the only significant difference is the price. Many hostels provide access for wheelchair users, and specially adapted rooms are becoming more common. Many hostels in the country are so quiet you can hear the air move.

Almost all hostels offer lockers, either free of charge or for hire so that people staying in dormitories can lock up their valuables. Safeguard your important documents and money – Get one of those thin money belts that fit inside your clothes. That way you can carry your passport and money with you at all times. Common identification used to stay in hostels includes passports, photo driver’s licenses and state or country identity cards. Hot Tip: Many hostels give discounts to students, so you should always keep your student card handy, if you have one.

It isn’t only the young who use hostels. Many older travellers use hostels for cheap accomodation at their destinations. People from all walks of life and every corner of the world stay in hostels. There are hostels in castles, in teepees and in railroad carriages. Hostels provide a great way to meet new people and experience new things which is why they appeal to such a diverse range of traveler. Think about a backpack adventure and staying in hostels for a future vacation.

What is a “Good Deal”?

I usually do not try to talk about “Good Deals”, but these are extraordinary times and maybe starting to talk about what constitutes a “good deal” is appropriate – not only for my business (afterall, I, like so many others writing blogs, am in business) but for the consumer.

Take for example Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Now, I will grant you, these are not “cheap” cruises. But value? Definitely a good value. And a good value is a “good deal”!

So as an example: booking between now and March 31, 2009, if a couple want to go to Alaska this summer, and leave from Vancouver, BC for a 7 night cruise to Seward, they can get up to 2-for-1 savings with free air from selected cities and selected cruises and free unlimited shore excursions. NOTE: The shore excursions can frequently cost nearly as much as the cruise cabin when one decides to fully experience the ports of call. This is a huge value-added. And, if you have never sailed with Regent before, you may even qualify for some on-board credit.

The other really cool thing about Regent Seven Seas is this an “all-inclusive” cruise line: complimentary beverages, including fine wines and premium spirits, in-suite mini-bar replenished daily & onboard gratuities included (don’t you just “love” getting your bill at the end of a cruise and seeing anywhere from $10 to $25 per person per day in a gratuity charge?) Now I happen to think that the gratuity charge is a value and really ok – most of the time the wait staff, cabin stewards and all the other service people on the ship do a bang-up stellar job! However, it is the method of presenting this at the time of check out that can be a challenge for people to digest onto their charge cards. I love the concept of paying the gratuity up front.

So while there is a lot of fine print attached to the offerings, there is a lot of value-added to the “good deal”. And these kinds of offering come across my inbox every day, many times a day and from all the different vendors. If someone has cruised with a cruiseline before, they may get all kinds of special offers in the snail mail or their inbox. One of the value-adds of a travel consultant is that they can book these specials for you, be your advocate if necessary and possibly either beat the price you are offered, or get you additional “good deals” in shore excursions, on-board credit, gifts and the like.

As I see “good deals” and “value-added” opportunities over the next couple of months I am going to address them here. Regardless of whether you are in the market for a vacation in the immediate future or somewhere way down the road, watching the good deals come by us can be entertaining reading and certainly food for thought.

Travel Insurance: Yes, No, Why?

Every time  I work up an itinerary for a client, I include the cost of travel insurance.  If someone declines said insurance, I make them sign a waiver that I offered it and they declined it.  I have been fortunate that most clients have either taken the insurance or had no serious situations arise when they declined it.  I was just reading an article in the New York Times Travel section (I follow this on Twitter) and decided the article was worth a permalink here:  Stuck in Paradise, Needing Medical Help

This story only reiterates in my mind that accidents happen, usually when one can least afford them.  So no matter where you are going, especially if you are traveling outside the boundries of the country you live in, consider travel insurance.  Make sure you check existing coverage with your health insurance provider, the charge card company you book your travel through (you may want to use only one credit card so you can take advantage of the travel insurance they offer, however minimal it may be), and consider purchasing the travel insurance your travel consultant offers you.  It may be the best investment you make on your travels

“What does a travel agent do?”, they ask…..

When I tell people I am a travel consultant, they look at me blankly and then say, “I thought that travel agents no longer existed!”  And since I am there in the flesh and blood in front of them, all I can say is that we still exist.  Some even thrive.  There are some inside (and outside) the industry who believe we exist only to get free travel.  And is that ever a laugh and a half!  Much like any other entrepreneur, all the money I make gets poured back into my efforts to build and sustain the business.   

My business is the business of making people’s dreams come true.  My job is to help to make any bumps in the road to that dream get smoothed out.  People work really hard all year long for that 1 or 2 weeks of vacation.  Some people never actually take their vacation time and use it to rest or relax or rejuvenate.  That is so sad.  In Europe people get 4 or 5, even 6 weeks of vacation.  They understand that a person who has rested and rejuvenated their mental, physical and emotional selves make better employees.  People who broaden their lives with travel live better lives.  That is what I like to contribute to. 

So if you think travel agents don’t exist anymore or are archaic, think again.  We are here and we are thriving!

Internet Travel Research and Booking Trends- The Best Job In The World

I read an article today in one of my trade magazines about how people use the Internet to research and book travel.  Since I am a travel consultant and arrange peoples’ travels for them, I am interested in the stats that these kinds of surveys come up with.  This survey I was reading about was done byThe Conference Board (www.conference-board.org) and global marketing firm, TNS.

This study followed 10,000 households across the country, tracking Internet usage to make travel arrangements.  More women (21%) than men (19%) use travel sites for research.  Ease of use and availability are the reasons cited for booking travel online.  48% of those booking air online and 42% of those booking cars online said they were extremely satisfied.  More men(34%) than women (33%) researched and then booked travel online.  But only 30% of consumers expressed a high level of satisfaction with the sites used and 55% said they were somewhat satisfied.20% of the consumers said they had used the Internet more this year than last year to research travel arrangements but only 18 % have increased their online bookings.  Again ease of use and availability were cited as reasons, but also cited were past experience and promotions targeted at the consumer.  Nearly 25% said they used the Internet less this year than last year for travel arrangements.

In nearly 2 to 1 ratio, consumers will use the Internet to research travel over booking travel via the Internet.  Lodging has the most research online activity while airline tickets are the most booked online. 29% of women versus 27% of men intend to research lodging on line, while 27% of the women versus 25 % of the men intend to research air rates and availability online.  17% of both men and women plan to book their air online and 16% intend to book lodging online.  Close to 30% of those questioned do not intend to do any research or booking of travel online in the next 3 months.  Whether this means they just don’t intend to plan to travel nor to actually travel was not covered in the article I read.

Now what I derived from all this is, there are a lot of people out there who are finally tired of bogus ads and promos telling them they will get something fabulous for next to nothing(not true), or they have been burnt by making bad choices due to a lack of knowledge(or ignorance), or there are just more and better things to do on the Internet than spend half a lifetime trying to figure out the cheapest possible price for one of the most important events of their 52 week working life (the vacation).

In a nutshell it has never been more important than it is today to use a travel agent.  And then to refer your friends, family, acquaintances and clients to that travel agent.  These percentages tell the story.  There are a lot of people out there not using the Internet for researching or booking travel.  A great majority of those who do are less than satisfied, not just with their Internet experience, but also with their travel experience after booking it through the Internet. 

 A lot of travel agents are like me - self-employed.  When I tell people I am a travel agent, they are surprised that the job is still viable.  They think travel agents were a dying breed!  So I read these articles about the surveys and I think:   I may just have the best job in the world after all!