Calgary Stampede coming July 2012

The 100th Calgary Stampede will be held in beautiful Alberta Canada. This province is known for big city excitement, the Canadian Rockies and Wild West Adventures. Sports Empire has put a package together for $2695 per person (based on 2 people sharing a room) that will give you all of the above including 2 nights in Edmonton, 2 nights in Jasper, 1 night in Banff and 3 nights in Calgary. If you’ve never been to Canada, this is the perfect time to go. They will take you on the Jasper Tramway giving you a birds-eye view of the magnificent scenery of this part of North American. Your hotel is Edmonton is next to the West Edmonton Mall which is the largest shopping mall in North America with 700 shops and 80 restaurants. It also houses the largest indoor amusement park in the world. Of course, they’ve included admission to a rodeo, Chuckwagon races and stage shows with a variety of performances. But, don’t worry; they won’t monopolize all your time. There is plenty of free time included to explore on your own. Give us a call or send an e-mail for your PDF copy of the details. You won’t regret going on this Calgary Stampede’s 100th Anniversary  and Canadian Rockies Adventure!

Hawaiian Air offers Non-Stop flight from New York

Good news for New Yorkers heading for Hawaii! Starting June 4 of 2012, Hawaiian Air will begin a non-stop flight from Kennedy Airport (JFK) to Honolulu (HNL). It will depart at 10 AM and arrive at 3 PM making it a 10-hour flight. Whew! The 10-hour and 50-minute return flight will depart Honolulu at 3:05 PM and arrive back in New York at 6:55 AM. The longest flight I’ve been on in recent years was 8 hours and it was long enough. But, when you’re saving yourself the hassle of changing planes and the possibility of loosing luggage, I say, “Bravo!” Hawaiian Air will be operating an Airbus A330-200 which can seat up to 294 passengers. Their introductory one-way price of $212 (economy) and $808 (First Class) is valid for travel from June 4 through June 30th and taxes and fees are additional, of course. Continental Airlines does have non-stop flights from Newark to Honolulu as well. So, if you’re looking for a non-stop flight from NY to HI, give us a call or go online.

How do new rules from DOT on airfare displays affect you?

We’re hoping these new rules on airfare advertising will be a good thing. The idea behind it is to make online airfare displays include all the taxes and fees associated with the ticket being purchased. It is very aggravating when you get so excited over a low airfare just to get to the final screen and the fare has now doubled after the taxes and seat or baggage fees have been added.  Check out the DOT’s full press release and how this will affect your travels. One of the best changes, in my opinion, is the fact that you can hold a reservation for 24 hours without putting in a payment. This change, incidentally, is how it used to be. Also, you can now cancel a reservation within 24 hours of payment without penalty – of course, certain restrictions apply. Double check the rules when you purchase a ticket. These new airfare advertising rules should make purchasing one less confusing – we hope.

East to West…Carnival has you covered

   And every spot in between, Carnival Cruise Lines has a cruise ready for you. Most of us live within a 5-hour drive of a departure port for one of their cruises. You have a choice of Baltimore MD, Boston MA, Charleston SC, Fort Lauderdale FL, Galveston TX, Jacksonville FL, Miami FL, New Orleans LA, New York NY, Norfolk VA, Port Canaveral FL, San Diego CA, Seattle WA and Tampa FL. These cities offer departures to the Bahamas, Bermuda, Eastern and Western and Southern Caribbean, Mexico, the Panama Canal, South America, Alaska and Hawaii. The possibilities are endless.

In spring 2013, the 2,124-passenger Carnival Miracle will shift to the West Coast to operate the Alaska and Hawaii cruises along with the seasonal Mexican Riviera program, currently offered on the Carnival Splendor. After being repositioned to New York following a couple South America voyages, the Splendor will take over the Caribbean routes. The Carnival Spirit will be deployed to Australia to operate the line’s first cruises from that country.

The fun ships have a cruise itinerary ready just for you – where do you want to go?

Disney Cruise’s Fantasy delivered

   Disney Cruise Line took delivery of their newest ship, the Fantasy, which was built in Germany. After a Transatlantic voyage to the U.S. beginning February 16th, the christening will be held on March 1st in New York. Following that, the 4,000 passenger ship will begin sailing out of Port Canaveral in Florida on March 31st. Give us a call at 618-687-2100 or toll free 800-437-8747 to book your next Disney Cruise on the Fantasy.

Reasons to use a travel agent

     In watching a show on Discovery last night regarding the embarkation of cruise passengers, I saw several reasons to use a travel agent. The most apparent one to me had to do with documentation. People were almost denied boarding because they did not have the proper identification papers to board the cruise.

The one that stood out the most was of a honeymoon couple where the bride was listed on the manifest with her new married name. Unfortunately, her documentation had her maiden name and she did not have a copy of her marriage license with her. If they had booked this through a travel agent (and I’m guessing they didn’t), the agent would have advised her to book it in her maiden name unless she had had ample time to get all her identification changed over to the new name prior to departure. Or, at the very least, have advised her to take a copy of their marriage license with her.

Another one, is where a family is traveling with a child (anyone under the age of 18) whose last name does not match that of the rest of the group. In this case, I would have advised that they needed a letter from her father stating that it was okay for her to travel internationally without him present. The cruise line could be held liable if that child is then reported abducted.

This is just one of the reasons to use a travel agent BUT a lot of little snaffoos and stress that can be avoided.

Slow WIFI signals at Sea

In this day and age when evey hotel, airplane, car and even buses are expected to have WIFI and/or a GPS - cruise ships have internet cafes and some have WIFI in your room too.  Unfortunately, I’ve seen too many complaints about how slow the signals are. But, here is a really good tip. You will usually get a much better and more reliable connection if you access the internet via your own laptop instead of an internet cafe terminal. With your own laptop or mobile device, you authenticate using your ID and password, but then the signal goes directly to the ship’s MTN (Maritime Telecommunication Network) dish, bypassing the server that controls the internet cafe terminals or PCs. This server can be a significant bottleneck. Imagine, if you will, several hundred or even a couple thousand people trying to cross over a river at the same time with only a single-lane bridge – oh, the frustration and the waiting! Bottom line — if you have a laptop or other internet capable device, bring it and use it!

Escallating drug wars in Mexico prompt new travel warnings

Replacing the warning that has been in place since April 22, 2011, the State Department updated its travel warning for Mexico due to the escallating violence spread by drug cartels. Nonessential travel within 16 Mexican states is ill-advised specially along the border areas. Read the full travel warning listed Feb 8th at http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_5665.html 

 However, no advisories are in effect for Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, Riviera Maya, Tulum, the Riviera Nayarit, Mexico City, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara and Guanajuato (San Miguel de Allende and Leon). Please stay within the tourist areas when traveling to Acapulco, Ixtapa, Mazatlan, Monterrey and Zihuantanejo. If you do venture out, go with a group (preferrably, an organized bus full of people). Stay alert at all times. These drug cartels and travel warnings don’t have to keep you at home or ruin your vacation.

Cruising post the Costa Concordia disaster

There are several changes to cruising already coming down the pike according to an article in Conde Nast Traveler magazine. The biggest challenge we face, as I see it, is the Maritime tradition that the captain has ultimate authority on a ship and cannot be questioned by anyone even if he is wrong. A smart captain would heed the warning or input of his officers.  However, when we have captains who are willing to play with the lives onboard his ship to show off – then, he does not deserve to be the unquestionable master of his ship. This issue is already being addressed.

The maritime boards will be taking a close look at how senior officers are trained and recruited especially with a strong emphasis on the psychological aspects of leadership. Sail-bys will be prohibited unless an emergency warrants such a deviation from the routine /pre-determined course of the ship.

 The most immediate change we as passengers will probably see is how safety drills are done. To date, ships have had a lot of leeway in determining how long the drill lasts and what information is covered as well as when it is done (as long as it’s within 24 hours of departure). These are going to become standardized as well as requiring this procedure to happen before the ship leaves the port. You are required to attend this demonstration as a passenger and I highly recommend it.

My biggest advice – no matter where you go, what you do or how you travel – stay alert! Be aware of what is going on around you. Ask questions if you don’t understand something or need clarification. Cruising is still one of the safest ways to travel despite ABC New’s scathing review of cruising. They do have a list of safety tips that you might want to check out before going on your next cruise.

Cruise ship runs aground off Italian coastline

The Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Italy’s Giglio Island (near Tuscany) late Friday night. It seems as though the captain was trying to perform some maneuver to impress the tourists and the people of the island. In the process, he took the ship too close and ran it aground thus capsizing the ship and killing 3 passengers with more missing. While this accident is tragic, please don’t go cancelling your cruise just yet. Cruising is actually the safest mode of transportation listed at this time. About 19 million passengers enjoyed safe cruising experiences last year without any incidents. Furthermore, the cruise industry takes the safety of their passengers very seriously and I am confident will make the appropriate changes to ensure this kind of thing does not happen again. For those of you with a future sailing on the Concordia, please check out Costa’s options. It was an isolated incident that grounded this ship off the coast of Italy and is not the normal operating procedure.