The top cruise for intimate experiences
Posted by: blissholidays on: November 11, 2009
I found this information very valuable and would like to take the opportunity to thank our friend Aaron who is a travel agent who loves his job and has been kind enough to let us talk about his data to all of you. He hopes that we can take advantage of it and that it is useful to all of us. According to our conversation with Aaron the cruise that sells the most becuase of its intimate atmosphere is the Seabourn Spirit from the Seabourn Cruise Line. This ship welcomes cruise lovers who are accustomed to opulence; the Seabourn Spirit is well known for its impeccable service. The ships eight decks and all - suite accommodations house 208 guests who are attended by 160 crew members; total personalized service. Passangers also enjoy an open bar and complientary on deck massages. The Seabourn Spirit offers an exotic itinerary, some of the destinations include: Istanbul, Croatia, Bombay and Hong Kong. Another advantage of this ship is its size, as it is a small ship the size allows it to enter hard to reach stretches of striking waterways which makes an unforgettable adventure. Aaron also recommends the shore excursions which are completely out of the orninary, for example, when travelling to Alaska you musnt miss the flightseeing helicopter cruise over enormous glaciers and a Salmon Bake on the banks of Juneau. I am sure that couples who read this blog would love to experience this incredible ship. I personally would like to go to Alaska, I have always been curious about that part of the world. I would love to stay there for a couple of weeks and learn about peoples customs.
Top cruise picks
Posted by: blissholidays on: November 10, 2009
Hi there! here we are with more information that we kindly got from our new friend Aaron who happens to be a travel agent. He has shared with us some interesting information according to his working experience. He has so much useful data about all kinds of holidays and he has been kind enough to agree for me to share this in my blogs. Aaron has been in the travelling business for over 20 years, he has a lovely family and has been travelling since before he got married. He has always been interested in people; how they think, what they like, their motives, their ideas of relaxation etc. The following is a recap of the top cruise picks according to his reservation record. He advised that the following information is the type of info that his clients ask for, it is not intended to diminishing peoples likes or dislikes.
The first cruise we will talk about is the top cruise chosen because of the activities they offer; it is the Carnival Pride. People love this cruise, once they hop in the Carnival Pride the activities are never ending. This ship offers Caribbean cruises all year round departing from Port Canaveral, stopping at the private island called Half Moon Cay at St. Thomas and St. Marteen. If passangers are not island hopping or sunbathing on the great white sand beaches they are partaking in the cruise activities offerd from 9am to midnight. From morning aerobics, pingpong and shuffleboard to afternoon pool games and cooking demos. The ship offers something for everyone he says, for the competitive soul a nice bingo competition or how would you like to join a hairy chest contest! In the evening there are Las Vegas style shows, comedians or the choice to dance the night away. Another nice evening activity is enjoying dinner and entertainment at the Taj Mahal theater or hitting the slots at the Casino.
Some tips before you book a cruise cont…
Posted by: blissholidays on: November 10, 2009
As I was explaining to you in my previous blog, our new friend who happens to be a travel agent gave us some interesting tips before we book a cruise. I think they were interesting and therefore I am sharing them with you.
4. Shore excursions can be bought from the cruise or from an independent operator, you will be better off buying some excrusions on your own, do some shopping before you take the ship and compare prices with the ones offered at the cruise. If you are the kind who worries that perhaps you wont make it to the cruise on time after the excursion then you will be better off taking the cruise excursions. If no excursion seems to please you, just take a cab to the nearest beach and enjoy.
5. Shopping; there are many good bargains specially in the Caribbean but it would be wise to check prices in the US too, sometimes you would be surprised of the difference.
6. Dont let the hurricane season stop you from travelling; cruise lines do know in advance when a hurricane is forming, get information and hurricane policies before booking so you can make up your mind and decide if you are good to go.
My wife and I are really thinking of taking a cruise next year. We would love to experience the Oasis of the Seas. It is the largest ship in the world and it sounds so much fun!! There are some great reviews on the Oasis of the Seas right now, I think it must have arrived to Florida already. Well, I would love to cruise in it!
How to find the best vacation spots
Posted by: blissholidays on: November 9, 2009
- In: condos| cruises| hotels| resorts
- Leave a Comment
Call it a cruise or a hotel, a resort or a condo the question remains, how do I find the best vacation spot for me and my family? Well, if you read my blogs called ” Some comments from a travel agent” you will realize that looking for the perfect spot, the best vacation spot could be very time consuming if we dont have the time or it is not something that we want to invest our time into. We have two choices; run the risk of choosing and just being adventurous or put our travel dreams on the hands of the experts. If we try to be adventurous we might end up in a nightmare of a holiday and blame others for our choices, if we get recommendations from people close to us is still a risk as the travel agent said; ” travel planning is as much as match making like everything else” He also mentioned that guiding ourselves solely in testimoinals or travel reviews could be misleading. Therefore, the way I see it is; either we get a very good travel agent or we join a vacation club. If we have the time then we can do a lot of research and decide but the time factor is very seldomly found now a days, all of us are constantly in a hurry. If we contact the hotel, cruise line directly, they will only take our reservation but wont take the time to help us do our match making. As I mentioned before, you can take hours surfing the web and reading about certain destination, hotel or cruise line but that takes time.
Some comments from a travel agent
Posted by: blissholidays on: November 6, 2009
Hello everyone! Here we are, still looking into this issue in regards to testimonials and travelling reviews. My friends and I went to dinner last night and they invited a friend of theirs who is a travel agent. We had a great time, my wife didnt want to stop talking to this guy, he was very interesting and funny. He seemed very sincere and was really willing to share with us his experiences as a travel agent. He has been doing this job for about 20 years and he has enjoyed every minute of it. One of the many things he mentioned was that in order to become a really good travel advisor you really need to care for people. You need to get involved in their holiday expectations as if they were your own. If you are only after the commissions then that is certainly not the place for you, you can really ruin peoples holidays and also lose credibility in a matter of seconds. For travel agents, word of mouth is very important. We asked him how he got to be so successful? How did he become the crystal ball holder for every families vacation dreams? He smiled at this questions and then sharply said, I talk the truth! I and every travel agent earns money by commission; commission by the hotels, cruise lines etc etc but let me tell you, he said, if a hotel or cruise line cannot work with me in solving a complaint I simply place them at the bottom of my list, and they will do the same for me. It is imperative that we work as a team.
Some comments from a travel agent cont….
Posted by: blissholidays on: November 6, 2009
As I was sharing with you before, last night we went out for dinner with some friends and they invited a friend of theirs who happens to be a travel agent. His conversation was very interesting, he seemed very professional and one of the things he mentioned at the beginning was ” I am not trying to sell myself with you guys, this is simply the way I am” We were all astonished at his comment but later on we understood where he was coming from. My friends who won a cruise in a contest asked him ” which is the best cruise?” The travel agent said that he gets those type of questions every day; which is the best cruise? which is the best romantic resort? which is the best family friendly resort? which is the best beach resort? which is the best skiing resort? which is the best spa resort? which which which?? His reply really astonished us, he said: ” the cruise that is best for you as a couple, the resort that its best for your romantic life, the resort that is best for your family and on and on.. we were speechless and thought his answer was a bit out of place, he saw our faces and said: ” I am not trying to be nasty or avoid the questions but, lets take for example the best romantic resort for a couple who just got married might not be that same resort if they are to stay there when they have been married for 10 years. Couples, like resorts, they all have their own personalities. Travel planning is as much as much match making like anything else. Very often, couples, singles and families can get overwhelmed with brochures, internet and resort choices not to mention online reviews that my or may not be misleading. This is why it is often best to seek advise and service of a travel agent who specializes in family travel, couples and single travelers in order to help them make the best decisions for their next holiday.
Where to find the best travelling testimonials
Posted by: blissholidays on: November 5, 2009
I do bet we have many ideas of where we could all find the best travelling testimonials; neighbors, friends, siblings, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, sisters in law, brothers in law, in laws, grandsons, grandaughters, the friend of a friend, my uncles friends, my aunties sister, you name it! All this type of testimonials come from “trustworthy sources”, we firmly believe in all the advises we can get from all the people mentioned above, but how can we be sure that their experiences will match our expectations? All these advises are full of emotion, how can we get a neutral advise from a trustworthy source? We might think, well, if I call the hotel/cruise line in question they will vanish all my fears just becuase they want to get my money, I wouldnt generalize but yes, we run that risk. Some people just pack their bags and go regardless of what they hear or read but some of us would like to know a bit about the place we will be travelling to, so, the question rises again, where can we get this type of information? How about going back to basics and just look for the web page of the hotel or cruise line that we are pretending on visiting and let it be? That is the way I have always done it and I have had good and not so good experiences. How about reading about the place we are about to visit; the town, the city, beach,or country? I am sure there must be other sources, do you have any idea?
Where to find the best travelling reviews
Posted by: blissholidays on: November 5, 2009
My friends have never traveled in a cruise and I have been trying to help them to find information as it will be their first trip and they really want to enjoy it. We have read some reviews which are actually scary, some others are good. They have talked with the cruise reservation manager in regards to some of the reviews we have read and she keeps on repeating that whatever she is listening to is odd as “that is the best cruise they have and have hardly received complaints” so where do we go from here? We have been searching more information about cruises in various cruise pages that sell all cruise lines; cruise.com cruises.com etc etc. We read all the reviews about certain cruise ship and then make our minds up, for instance, we were reading about the Liberty of the Seas and we found that the food sees to be an issue. We are not talking about food poisoning, just about food being repetitive, not much of a selection, the presentation of the dishes is poor; it seems as the food had been standing for days in the kitchen. There is no midnight buffet anymore nor the little chocolates they used to get before goinf to bed. It seems that the standard of this ship has gone down in regards to food. In regards to entertainent, these people mention that this ship is great for teens. Another issue sees to be that the ship was very crowded, I really dont understand this one. The Liberty of the Seas in its Eatern or Western Caribbean itinerary is capable of taking on 4,375 passengers, yes there is a lot of people but this is just normal, so, what did they mean by too crowded?
Reviews and testimonials versus reservations reps. information
Posted by: blissholidays on: November 4, 2009
Hi! as you well know I have been reading some holiday testimonials and reviews in regards to cruises and hotel experiences. I have found interesting information about what people think in regards to their travelling experience. Some people might have a reason to complain but other people, I am not so sure about. When we make our cruise/hotel reservations do we ask enough questions to the service representatives in order to feel secure that the holiday which we have in mind will be enjoyed at the hote/cruisel we are thinking of going? Are there questions we are missing asking and then get disappointed upon arrival at the cruise/hotel booked? If we read a testimonial where things dont sound too good why dont we go back to the reservation reps. for clarification? We must remember that there are many cruises and hotels and that they all cater to different people, that is the eason why there is a vast choice of the same. If we are not having a good experience at the cruise or hotel we arrived to why dont we look for the customer service department in order for them to assist us? Going back home with a bitter taste in our mouths becuase our holiday was not “nice” is really pointless, we need to talk at the time things are happening. It seems to me a bit unfair to go back home without voicing our concerns and just simply say ” I will never go back to that place” I also believe that when reading reviews and testimonials one needs to be objective and try to separate emotion from the facts. What do you think?
blissholidays
Recent Comments