Tour operators cancelling tours?

2009 has proven to be one of the most frustrating years in the travel business. Between the economy, swine flu, travel alerts and more, travel agents have been working overtime to accommodate clients whose vacation plans needed to be changed.

Now add to the mix- the tour operators are cancelling tours...
This week alone, I have been working on 2 issues involving tours being cancelled. The first is for an elderly client going on a 31 night cruise from Los Angeles to Sydney. They booked a 3 night post cruise tour to the Outback thru Holland America. I received an email on Tuesday saying that the tour was cancelled due to lack of participation. I'm not so sure it was lack of participation or rather Quantas cancelling flights that would make the tour operate smoothly.

The 2nd was from a friend of a client. She booked her Galapagos cruise with an online agency along with a post cruise tour. That tour was cancelled and now she is asking for my help to fill in the week that they now have open since their airfare was pre-arranged. This is much harder since they leave in 2 weeks.

More fun and joy in the life of a travel professional.

More Perks of Celebrity Captain's Club Membership

When you sail on Celebrity cruises and get to the Elite Status with Celebrity Cruises, there are many added perks not available to your Captain Club benefits.


"Our Elite members are true cruise aficionados and our most loyal guests. If you're a part of this special group, we're going to bend over backwards to ensure that each and every cruise experience offers you all the recognition and rewards you so richly deserve.

That means unprecedented levels of service, access and rewards. And as part of the new Captain's Club launch, we've added some rich new benefits designed to make your cruise with us even more convenient, exclusive and enjoyable.

For those interested in a quiet haven of their own, Celebrity is pleased to introduce the Captain's Club Lounge at Michael's Club, exclusively for Elite members and their stateroom/suite companions each morning and early evening. This new lounge will offer a casual coffeehouse-style experience from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., with complimentary espressos, teas and other menu items, a variety of reading materials, and, on Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Equinox, wi-fi access. Every evening from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Captain's Club Elite members and their stateroom/suite companions can return to the Lounge to enjoy socializing with fellow members, participate in a wine tasting event, or simply relax and enjoy a quiet, complimentary drink before dinner.

And this is only the beginning. So come aboard, and let us remind you once again how much our most loyal members mean to us.

Elite Member Benefits (*After 10 earned tier credits)

Existing Benefits
• Complimentary use of the Loyalty Desk member service center between cruises
• Complimentary access to the onboard Loyalty Host during your cruise
• A premium onboard discount booklet filled with special offers during each cruise
• Complimentary custom air request when booking your cruise
• Pre-sailing specialty restaurant reservations available before your cruise
• Annual member reunion cruises which include member events and dicounts
• One category upgrade prior to sailing (when available)
• Complimentary online Captain's Club newsletter with the latest program news and information
• Priority embarkation while boarding the ship
• Invitation to a complimentary wine seminar event
• Priority status on the shore excursion waitlist
• Invitation to the exclusive Senior Officer's Cockatil Party
• Access to the private shipboard departure lounge with continental breakfast during disembarkation
• Priority tender service status
• Priority waitlist status for dining room seating
• Invitation to attend the Elegant Tea Service event
• Complimentary use of the Thalassotherapy Pool. (Celebrity Mercury only)
• Ability to enroll in Royal Caribbean's Crown & Anchor Society Diamond Tier


Added Benefits (Available on All Celebrity Cruises EXCEPT Celebrity Xpedition)
• Exclusive Captain's Club Celebration event
• Complimentary pressing of 2 garment items*
• One complimentary bag of laundry (wash, dry, fold) on every sailing (**item counts may vary based on itinerary water usage restrictions)
• One standard bag of laundry (wash, dry, fold) at a discounted price of $20 on all Celebrity cruises of 12 nights or longer
• Complimentary dry cleaning of 1 garment item
• 90 complimentary Internet minutes (can be applied to any Internet package of equal or greater value)
• Access to the Captain's Club Lounge at Michael's Club for daily coffeehouse style breakfast and evening social hour
• Complimentary access to Persian Garden (port days only) "


I haven't reached Elite Status yet but do look forward to the benefits when I do.

Carnival to buy Royal Caribbean International?

Rumors are flying in the travel world that Carnival Corporation is trying to buy Royal Caribbean. If it does happen, Carnival would own over 80% of the cruise berths. Good thing or bad? Not a good thing in my eyes.

"Cruise industry insiders are buzzing about a rumored takeover bid by Carnival Corp. & PLC for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. at a purported $35.00/share in cash and Carnival Corp & PLC stock.
At a premium of nearly 180% over it's current trading price of $12.60-$12.80 per share, the $35.00 per share cash/stock tender offer for RCCL represents a market value of USD $7.57 billion.
With the recent softness in the cruise market, this potential merging of the top two industry leaders would create a near monopoly with nearly 82% of the North American market, that is estimated to result in cost savings in excess of $300 million per year for the combined entity.
This offer will, most likely, force NCL parent company Star Cruises, Inc., to make a bid for RCCL. An NCL/RCCL combined company would be much closer in market share to the current Carnival Corp. and would increase competition in the industry.
However, Daily Cruise News wonders if the $35.00 per share will be enough for shareholders who have seen RCCL stock routinely trade in the $40.00-$50.00/share range over the past 5 years, and which has only been trading under $35.00/share for a little over a year. We would expect a successful acquisition in the $40.00-$45.00 per share range.
This merger of the top two companies in the cruise industry has been quietly discussed and supposed ever since Carnival Corp. & PLC beat our RCCL in the acquisition of P&O / Princess cruises in 2002. It seems that it has taken the current economic downturn to have all the players in this drama come to the table.
At Daily Cruise News, where our #1 priority is the travel agent and the travel agent distribution system, we vehemently oppose this CCL/RCCL proposed merger and would back only the NCL / RCCL option if it arises.
The former would damage the future of travel agents and would jeopardize the commission levels currently earned, whereas the latter would increase competition and solidify our distribution system."

More pix from the Occidental Grand Xcaret

WEDDING GAZEBO




SPORTS BAR




SNORKELING AREA




LOBBY




JUNIOR SUITE

More pix from the Occidental Grand Xcaret

KIDS CLUB
GARDEN VIEW FROM THE DELUXE ROOM
DELUXE ROOM
QUIET POOL ("CRAB" POOL)

ADULTS ONLY POOL

Occidental Grand Xcaret hotel review

As a vacation, cruise and honeymoon specialist, I am more critical of resorts than the average guest. I look at the resort in terms of how it would fit the needs of my clients so I tend to be very picky when I travel.

My husband and I spent 6 nights at the Occidental Grand Xcaret in mid June. They were running a fabulous special to entice travelers back to their resort after the much exaggerated swine flu problem. I actually booked this trip as a guest rather than a travel agent since the prices were so good. They were offering a buy 1 night get the 2nd night free promotion for June arrivals. With airfare and transfers, the price was so inexpensive that I couldn’t pass it up.

I have not sent a lot of clients to this property in the past due to what I had heard about it- that it was huge and had no beach. What I also heard was that it was attached to Xcaret Park, which is someplace that we didn’t get to visit on our last trip to the Riviera Maya. I purposely didn’t read any reviews so that I would be able to make an honest evaluation of the property.

I did email the hotel general manager prior to our arrival to ask for a complimentary upgrade (the same as I would do for all of my clients) and he responded very quickly to let me know that we had been upgraded to the Royal Club. Having seen the properties in Punta Cana and Cozumel, I knew the Royal Club was the concierge section of the hotel with extra amenities so I was anxious to experience this service.

The resort is about 1 hour from the airport and upon our arrival, we went to the front desk. Since we had been upgraded to the Royal Club, we were escorted to the shuttle to take it to the Royal Club lobby. Our luggage was sent on to our room separately. We were greeted by name upon arrival at the Royal Club and were told that we had the “best room in the house”. Not knowing what to expect, we went up to our room 31302 on the 3rd floor of building 31 and were amazed at what we saw. We were expecting a regular room or junior suite but what we were booked into was a 2 room suite with gorgeous ocean views, 2 balconies, separate living room and dining room and a fabulous bathroom with a separate Jacuzzi tub and shower (with views of the ocean!). We definitely had the best room in the house!

Royal Club amenities include junior suites or the master suites (18 in all which was the room we had), concierge service, upgraded toiletries, Jacuzzi tubs, nightly turn down service, fruit basket, upgraded linens, free internet in the Royal Club lounge, DVD library, priority reservations at the a la carte restaurants and the additional restaurant exclusive to Royal Club guests. The Royal Club has its own pool area with a large Jacuzzi pool that is exclusive to the Royal Club guests. The young ladies who work in the Royal Club lounge were always pleasant, smiling and knew us by name after check in. They went out of their way to help make our stay as pleasant as possible and I would highly recommend the Royal Club.

We did see the deluxe rooms and junior suites in the resort and they are very comfortable rooms with garden or pool views. The 400 rooms around the Flamenco pool (buildings 18-22) are in the family oriented section. You will also find the Apple and Funjet Vacations representatives in these buildings. The rooms in the “Crab” section (#14-17) are more adult oriented. Their pool is the quieter of the 2 pools in the complex. The deluxe rooms have 2 doubles or 1 king. The junior suites have 1 king and some have a sofa bed. The bathrooms only have showers. The mini bars are refilled every 3 days but if you can always call for a refill earlier. There are some corner rooms that have a junior suite and a deluxe room side by side and have an exterior door that will close off the entry to both rooms so you can have 2 adjoining rooms for a larger family. These are on request only and can’t be guaranteed.

The resort is very large but not difficult to navigate. After the first day, we got tired of waiting for the shuttle (which circles the property every 10 minutes) so we ended up walking. The Royal Club rooms are closer to the beach but the furthest from the lobby, restaurants and theatre areas so we truly got our exercise walking all over the resort.

Food- is always a big deal in an all inclusive resort and we weren’t disappointed by the meals in the a la carte restaurants. We tried the Steak House, Mediterranean, Oriental and Seafood restaurants as well as the Royal Club restaurants for dinner. Since we were in the Royal Club, we got priority reservations and had no limit on the # of times we could eat in the specialty restaurants. If you are not in the Royal Club, there are limits (I believe 3 or 4 a la carte dinners per 7 night stay). We found the food and service in each of the restaurants to be very good to excellent. Our least favorite was the Oriental restaurant. The food was tasty but the air conditioning wasn’t working well and we had to leave because the heat was oppressive. The seafood restaurant is outdoors (part of the Beach Club Restaurant which is open for breakfast and lunch). Because it is oceanfront, the breeze was nice and kept us pretty cool. Dress code for the a la carte restaurants is long pants for men and some guests who were not dressed appropriately were asked to leave. We ate at the Beach Club for breakfast once and for lunch twice. The buffets were ok- pretty standard. For breakfast the line for the omelet station was incredibly long but there was the normal assortment of breakfast items. For lunch, there was a pasta station, with pizza, a grill, salads, hot and cold food as well as desserts with ice cream. The main buffet was only open for dinner since the occupancy was pretty low during our stay and we didn’t eat there at all. It is air conditioned and the dress code for dinner is casual. Had we had to eat at the buffet for ½ of the time we were there, I’m sure my review might be a bit different since I do not like buffets for dinner. I’m ok with them for breakfast and lunch but I like to be served for dinner.

Drinks and bar service- We are not big drinkers but we were happy with the bar service. For dinner, we were offered a house wine- either red or white and I liked the white but my husband didn’t. There was bar service around the beach and adult pool area and one of the waiters balanced a tray full of drinks on his head. Not an easy feat when walking on sand! Mixed drinks were always good- Miami Vice, Pina Coladas, Sombreros- were what I sampled. Club soda with lime and lemonade were my standard daytime beverages- both cold and refreshing.

Entertainment- Every night there is an evening show in the theatre at 9:30pm with a pre-show at 9:15pm. The pre show usually included audience participation. They were cute and fun but typically had some sexual innuendos made so they may not be necessarily appropriate for young kids. We saw about 3 shows during our stay. The first was a “Miss Flamenco” contest with guest participation. The other was “The Beat Goes On” and the third was music and dancing from around the world. The dancers were better than expected. They did lip sync to the songs but they were very high energy and entertaining. My complaints about the shows were that the sound system was uncomfortably loud and the theatre is very hot. Although there are fans, it is open air and there isn’t much of a breeze.

In addition to the evening show, there is a disco and sports bar which we didn’t go into. The lobby has some nice seating and in the evening it was used by couples and groups just relaxing and having fun. There is also a good deal of just outside of the restaurant complex with tables and chairs and a bar. This was an area that many guests hung out in the evening as well.

During the day, the Fun Club staff tried to entice guests to join beach volley ball games, salsa lessons, and had a full array of activities. Again, due to the low occupancy rate, there wasn’t much guest participation.

There is a nice kids area for ages 3-12. We only saw kids in there once.

The resort also has a putting green, tennis courts, volley ball courts, air conditioned gym and spa but we didn’t use any of them so I can’t comment on them. The sauna and steam room are free of charge, but you need to make a reservation to use them.

Beach and pools
I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the beach area. Remember that I was told the resort had no beach. Not true- it is actually a man made beach/cove that is ideal for swimming and safe for kids. It is sectioned off from the open ocean so it is very calm. There are a lot of fish in the beach area and lots of guests were snorkeling right there. Since other guests were throwing bread into the water below from the Beach Club restaurant bridge, there were lots of fish around. There was another snorkeling area but the water was pretty rough during the week we were there and it didn’t seem terribly safe since this area was surrounded by rocks.

There are 2 large free form pools- the Flamenco and the “Crab” pools. The Flamenco pool is the larger pool with a swim up pool bar and this is the activity pool. The Crab pool had easy entry (good for those with walking issues) and whirlpools. The Royal Club pool was small and exclusive to the guests in this section.

In addition, there is an adult’s only pool right near the beach club restaurant. It is a salt water pool that refills from the ocean looks like it has 3 jacuzzi tubs in it but they are just for decoration. There are 2 sets of steps down to the water- no easy entry for people with walking issues, and please note that the stairs were VERY SLIPPERY. My husband fell on his way in the first time. We learned after that. Since the adult pool is oceanfront, it was cool and breezy, unlike the other pools which are very hot since they are further into the resort where there is less of a breeze. There are a good number of palapas around the beach and adults only pool for shade.

Resort and grounds
The resort is truly lovely. The lobby is open air with fountains and water features. There is a “river” going through the lobby, restaurant and shopping area that connects with Xcaret park. On the resort grounds, there are many parrots, a deer enclosure, lots of iguanas, Mayan “ruins” and beautiful landscaping. The resort was clean and the grounds were always being kept up by the staff.

Overall travel agent impression
I would have full confidence recommending this resort to qualified clients. Those who would enjoy this resort, I feel would be families with younger kids and multi generational groups, couples and honeymooners. The property also has onsite wedding coordinators for those clients who want to get married on site and their wedding packages are very reasonable.

I would not recommend this resort for the true beach lover since it is not a large beach or for those who like to walk along long stretches of beach. I would be a bit hesitant to recommend the resort for clients with walking difficulties since most of the pools do not have zero entry and the resort is large.

I would highly recommend upgrading to the Royal Club for the superior service and rooms.

My complaints about the resort- pretty standard in the Riviera Maya- are the relentless time share sales people who were constantly trying to get guests to buy time share units. Also, the beds were very hard- 2 egg crate mattress pads still barely helped.

If you have specific questions, feel free to email me directly at mindy@myvacationlady.com. I have many pictures of the resort and rooms as well.

Confusing airline policies

We just returned from a vacation to the Riviera Maya in Mexico and once again were baffled by the airline policies. Which airlines charge for checked luggage? How much do they charge? What carry on's are allowed and what aren't?

According to Continental's website, we were going to be charged $15 for the first checked piece of luggage per person. Not happy, but prepared to pay, we brought our luggage to the gate (since we couldn't print out a boarding pass prior to departure for some reason). The sign at the front and end of the line said we would be charged for our checked luggage and when we got to the front, they took our luggage, gave us our boarding passes and luggage reciepts and there was no charge. Not that I am complaining, but won't it make more sense to have it clearly stated on the carrier's website what luggage charges will be levied? It might be that to fly domestically, you are charged for the first piece of luggage but not if you are flying internationally.

Carry on luggage is always another source of contention. How big? How many? What is considered a carry on?

I found this link, which is basically a cheat sheet on the various airline's policies on carry on luggage. This is not gospel, so please always check with the airlines but it might assist you.

http://i.slimg.com/sc/sl/graphic/u/ul/ultimate-guide-to-carry-on-luggage.pdf