Carnival Valor

I am getting ready to take a group of 24 people on the Carnival Valor on May 4,2008. The only problem is that the majority of the group is Cuban and speak Spanish and I only speak English.
We put this group together through a Homeowners Association. I met the Entertainment organizer for this community at Jury duty. We took an instant liking to each other and became friendly. She organized this trip and we had a "Cruise Night" to promote this sailing, on October 24, 2007.
One of the Woman who booked into this group is Cuban and her friends and relatives are the majority of the people who have booked this cruise. They are all really nice people and thankfully someone has always been able to translate for me.
It's one of the many times that I wish I would have taken Spanish in school instead of French.

Cruise Packing

Packing for a cruise or land vacation is always a chore.
I admit I am an over packer! I want everything that I need with me at all times. Unfortunately now that liquid cosmetics have to checked in my regular luggage and the weight of luggage is usually around a 50 lbs restriction by the airlines, this is getting to be a real task.
Here are some do's and don'ts for packing.
DO's
Take one basic color - this way you don't need a different color shoe for different outfits.
Take one sturdy pair of walking shoes.
You can wear something more than once. This took me a very long time to grasp. No one cares if they have already seen the outfit and chances are you will never see these people again.
Take a fanny pack instead of a pocketbook. A pocketbook can be torn from your shoulders but a fanny pack is more secure.
Use a diaper bag instead of a camera bag. Thieves are more likely to steal a camera bag than a diaper bag.

Antarctica Excursion

Here is an update to my husband's Antarctica Excursion. We sent a letter to Princess complaining about this excursion, and how we felt cheated and how we should not have been charged $1,000 for an alternate excursion that he did not want and had no choice but to take.
We received a polite letter back from Princess stating that they are sorry but they will do nothing to rectify this matter. We have never been told in such a polite way, that as an Elite past passenger of Princess, a stockholder and a seller of their product that we were so unimportant.
We sent another letter yesterday advising them that their answer was unacceptable. We will see what happens.

Working Girl

Ok so by now you have figured out that I am a Cruise Travel Specialist. I have to say that this was not my choice. In a previous profession, I owned an Insurance Agency and then designed jewelry and exhibited it in Arts and Craft shows.
My husband and I moved to Florida full time about 6 years ago. I was happy to be young, healthy, go to lunch with my friends, go shopping, and decorate the house.
My husband, on the other hand has always been a workaholic and worked from 5:30AM to 10:30PM. All of a sudden we are in Florida, and he is bored. He keeps looking at all different types of businesses and wants me to be involved. I tell him "I'm not the one that is bored".
So finally he looks into buying a Cruise Travel Franchise. I said to him "now that is something I would be interested in and I'll help out a little".
I'm thinking, ok, I love cruising, and I can help him a little (key word being little).
We both attend the training classes, so I can at least help him.
We agreed that he would do the marketing and I would take care of booking the customers. Little did I know that he would be so good at the marketing, that I would be so busy, that now I am working from morning until night.
I keep telling him, what's wrong with this picture? Now he's in the pool having cocktails and I'm working getting final documents out and booking cruises.
So the moral of the story is "have your spouse get a hobbie"

Gay Friendly Cruising

I have some friends that are gay and in talking to them it seems that this is not an easy world for them. Life is hard enough being straight.
Imagine a unique all gay environment has been designed for your absolute comfort and enjoyment. We have companies that have chartered the entire cruiseship which will be filled with incredible people from all over the world, from all walks of life. Together a community is created that simply doesn’t exist anywhere else in on land.The cruises are roughly half singles and have couples, representing a broad mix of ages. Some travel alone, some with lovers or some travel with friends. This vacation is what you make of it. You don’t have to imagine anymore....

For more information, visit our website www.lovemycruises.com

Ship tours vs Private Tours

We have been on many cruises and most of the time have taken the ships tours. One of the benefits of taking a ships tour is that should your tour be late getting back to the ship, supposedly the ship will wait.
On our recent trip to South America, I booked the ships shore excursion for the majority of the ports. Princess Cruises does not require that you prepay for the excursion and you can cancel up to 24 ours in advance.
The ship tours have buses filled with 40 people. The private tours have a mini bus or van with 6 to 14 people. The private tours will custom your tour and pull over to the side of the rode or stay in a location longer, if you are having a good time.
he ship is very strict on the schedule.
We met some really wonderful people at the beginning of our trip and decided to cancel the majority of the ship's excursions. We met our new friends in a common location and got off the ship together.
Upon exiting the ship, we always found a tour company holding up a sign, ready to take us where we wanted to go, often at a fraction of the price of the ship's tour.
If you are a nervous traveler and cannot go with the flow, I would recommend booking through the trip.

South America Star Princess Cruise

The flight to Santiage, Chile from Miami, Florida was about 8 1/2hours and those overnight flights are not easy.
We were able to upgrade our airline tickets to first class using frequent flier miles and a copayment of $300 per person each way.
The upgrade was available for the outbound flight but we were waitlasted for the return flight even though we had booked this 9 months in advance.
I called the airline every week and when it got nearer to the trip date, I called ever day.
I was thrilled the day I called the airline and heard the reservationist say "first class seats have been cleared and you can receive the upgrade".
We were boarded first on the plane, and as the coach fare passengers began to board, we were already drinking champagne or juice.
The seats were called "lie flat seats" with 60 inch legroom. The seats actually lie flat like a bed and the airline gave us nicely packaged blankets and pillows. Each passenger in first class received their own little care package of eye shades, socks, touthpaste, toothbrush, lip balm, hand cream, mints in a cute little carrying case.
The meals were served on black table cloths with real dishes and silverware and we had a real menu of food to choose from. Unlimited drinks were flowing.
Our flight was at 11:30pm and by the time we were done with dinner it was about 12:30am. Each passenger has there own headphones with DVR. You have a choice of movies or TV programs.
I chose to lie flat and go to sleep. The next thing I knew it was 6AM and the flight attendants were serving breakfast.
This is certainly the way to start a vacation.

This was the trip of a lifetime. We flew into Santiago, Chile and stayed at the beautiful San Cristobal Hotel. The hotel location was very conveniently located. We were met at the airport by the Princess Cruise Line representative.

Antarctic Shore Excursion

One of the reasons that my husband and I decided to go on the Star Princess South America cruise, was so that he could do the Antarctica excursion, that Princess offered.
The Star Princess docks in Punta Arenas, Chile and the passengers get transferred to the Airport, take a 3 hour flight to Antarctica, spend 3 to 5 hours on Antartica and fly 3 hours back. The cost of this excursion is $2200 per person.
Since my we live in Florida, we do not have extreme cold weather gear, and my husband bought some and borrowed some. He brought a whole suitcase to South America which only held his cold weather gear.
The day of the excursion, my husband had to be off the ship by 6:00AM. It didn't matter, as he was very excited in anticipation of this once in a lifetime opportunity. He awoke early, packed up all his cold weather gear, met at the arranged location on ths ship and off he went.
On the bus to the airport the tour company told the passengers that unfortunately Antarctica was fogged in and they would not be going. Instead of returning the passengers back to the ship, they were flown to Paine National Park in Chile, and were charged $1,000. Now Paine National Park is extremely beautiful and I don't want to take anything away from it.
However,my husband was very disappointed to say the least. He felt like he was held hostage by the cruiseline as they knew that they were not going to be able to go before they left the ship, as Antarctica was fogged in. In fact, in doing a little research, this excursion only goes about 20% of the time. This fact is not listed in any of the cruiseline literature.
The tour company had 44 people, charged $1,000 per person and made a whopping $44,000for the day. There was a family that paid $4,000 to go to a Park.
We complained to the cruiseline, and it has yet to be resolved, however they did say they would review it and it should take about 4 to 6 weeks.
On the positive side, the rest of the cruise was fantastic, and we had no complaints, with the ship, service or food.

South America Cruise

I will be going on the Star Princess on February 7 and will try to do a daily blog. We have been planning this trip for a very long time.