by Jim Bellomo | Jan 21, 2019 | Uncategorized
A tiny bit of a European Christmas market taken by my good friend Bob. Read more about his Christmas Market River cruise a few years ago by going here: https://bob221b1.wordpress.com/2014/11/29/european-christmas-markets/
Do you plan your vacations in advance? I mean way in advance? Like two years or more? We do. And for a couple of reasons we recommend that others do too. It’s especially important when you want to go someplace that there are few openings for. Or if you cruise and you want a particular cabin. Let me give you some examples.
Over the weekend we (along with my brother and his bride) booked a Christmas Market cruise on Viking River Cruises for December of 2020. Why so early? Because we really want to do a Christmas Market cruise and we can’t go in 2019 because…Viking is pretty much sold out. That’s right. Most Christmas Market cruises in Europe are sold out for 2019 or there is very little left in the way of space. And the space that is left now, is pretty expensive. By booking for 2020, we got the stateroom we want, we got the dates and the route we want as well. Not only that but because we booked within this month (following our Viking Cruise night at the agency last week) we were awarded additional onboard credit. It was a great deal.
Another example. Last week I had a very nice woman come into the agency to ask about booking an Alaskan cruise for this July or August. It was her, her husband and her two boys in the same stateroom. But the real problem is that there are very few staterooms that will hold four people left on any of the most kid-friendly ships. Category after category are sold out. My suggestion…let’s look at summer 2020. Great deals and the best stateroom selection. Of course there are staterooms like that left, but they aren’t a bargain at this point.
Or…Tonight we had a great friend send us a referral for her brother and sister-in-law who want to sail to the Caribbean next Christmas. This is a GREAT time to book that cruise—during WAVE season (which is going on right now) when all the cruise lines have major specials. There should still be plenty staterooms in all categories available. But if they ask me in August or September, not as many.
Lastly, we got two of our best friends the exact stateroom they wanted for a February 2020 cruise that will stop in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. It was the last of this particular kind of very desirable stateroom. And the best part was that this weekend, that cruise line had a sale with a reduced deposit as well as some other great perks (because it’s WAVE season). If they waited even three more weeks, their deposit would have been 19 times higher. Seriously.
So the message here is, if you know your dates, or know that you can get certain time off, or you are retired and can go whenever you want, then book early! If the price goes down, you can always rebook for the new price. So…if you have any desire to join us on a Christmas Market cruise in December 2020, let me know and I will set it up. Or go anyplace else next year.
Plans are nothing; planning is everything. —Dwight D. Eisenhower
by Jim Bellomo | Jan 18, 2019 | Uncategorized
Just a short post tonight. From time to time at the agency we have a Cruise Night. The means that a representative from one of the cruise lines comes in with all kinds of cool info about their line. We had our first one about a year ago (our buddies Bob and Judy came all the down from BC for that one) and we had about 15-20 people attend. It was pretty cool. We have had about one a month for the last year. The attendance goes up and down but last night was a first. We were standing room only.
Viking Cruise rep, John Jerkovich did an outstanding job telling us all about Viking river cruises and Viking ocean cruises. Viking is known as THE river cruise company (well known from their sponsorship of Downton Abbey on PBS) and now they are totally into ocean cruising with six ships currently sailing and more than 10 planned in the next five years.
If you live locally, you should stop by our next Cruise Night next Tuesday night at 6:30. The topic is The Galapagos. Marilee Syme from Celebrity Cruises will join us to talk about their brand new (it launches in May) Galapagos-only yacht (really—a yacht) that you can sail on. If you are interested in coming, you can RSVP by clicking here. It’s always a lot of fun and there’s wine, goodies, door prizes and more.
by Jim Bellomo | Jan 17, 2019 | Uncategorized
A cruise should NOT have surprises!
Maybe instead of writing about reasons you should use a travel agent when you book your travel, I will just keep writing about what happens in the agency day in and day out. Today is another great example. Here’s the story of why free isn’t always free.
I have a client who came in last week after working out at the gym next door to the agency. She has never cruised before but thought it would be a great idea to take her family (her, husband and two boys) to Alaska on a cruise ship this summer. I got her some pricing and literature and we discussed different options. She had tons of questions. We finally settled on two possible cruise lines that sail out of Seattle that would work for her and her family. Let’s call them Cruise Line A and Cruise Line B. She took the literature home with her and promised to come back this week, which she did this morning.
And when she came in she had a lot of great questions. Her biggest was about the “free” internet package on Cruise Line A. She (unlike many people) had actually read the fine print on the brochures and it indicated that even though they were offering “free” internet, what that meant was 250 minutes on a seven night cruise and can only be used on one device at a time. That meant that her husband, who works for a software company and needs to stay in touch while on vacation, would only have 250 minutes of internet time out of the 10,080 minutes they would be on board on their seven day cruise to Alaska. And it meant that if either of her boys were logged in, dad would not be able to log in. Neither would Mom or the other son. This was a deal breaker for her family. They are connected at home and they want and need to be connected on vacation.
So I went out and did some research and found exactly what the cost is for full time internet connectivity for her party of four and I found out that buying complete internet coverage on Cruise Line B would cost less than adding on to the “free” internet offered by Cruise Line A.
Another example of a good travel agent (I said modestly ?) knowing what to look for. If this client had taken her family onboard expecting “free” internet access they would have been in for a very rude surprise in either additional internet charges or sad Dad and teenagers. Either way, it would have really put a damper on their well-earned vacation.
Most things in life come as a surprise.—Lykke Li
by Jim Bellomo | Jan 16, 2019 | Uncategorized
This afternoon I was working in the agency when I got a call from a very nice lady who asked a question we get all the time. The first words out of her mouth were, “How much does it cost to have you book our vacation?” I was thrilled to tell her exactly what I tell everyone else—absolutely nothing. Not a proverbial red cent, not a single penny, not a dollar, not a hundred dollars—NOTHING! It costs you no more to book a cruise, a hotel, a rental car or in some cases a flight with us than it does for you to call the cruise line and book it yourself. In fact it may cost you more to book it directly. More about that below.
But first I want to explain why we work for free. The cruise lines and the hotels and the car rental companies and in some cases the airlines pay us commission. If you book directly with a cruise line, hotel or rental car company, you will pay exactly the same price, they just keep the commission they would pay us. As well they should. Because if you deal directly with a travel provider they have to pay someone to answer all your questions. The only problem is, once you get the answer to your questions, if you want to call that same person back to get another questioned answered—good luck. Those folks (who do a great job) sit in a big room someplace in the middle of the USA (or in some cases they sit in other countries) and answer phones. They take those calls, first-come, first-served so your chances of talking to the same person when you call back are pretty small.
So, since we (travel agents) don’t cost you anything (and in many cases can save you money) why aren’t you booking your vacations with us?
Here’s an example of what I am talking about. Today the caller who wanted to know if it cost more to work with us, told me she had called a cruise line the night before. She said all she wanted to do was ask some questions about cruising because she had never cruised before. The person wouldn’t even talk to her until she gave them her name and phone number. I explained I would want those too, but first, ask me the questions. She did. Before I ever knew who she was, I answered all her questions. She then told me that the cruise line had quoted her a particular price for a particular stateroom on a particular cruise. I told I could match that and I would take care of booking her airfare as well. She said, “WOW! That’s super!” And I told her not to forget she would need transfers from the airport to the ship and back again. She had not thought of that.
I then spent about 25 minutes on the phone with the cruise line, got the stateroom for less than she had been quoted (because she had never been on a cruise and I knew what to ask for) and got her a great flight and transfers as well. I emailed her the pricing and she replied with a few more questions and said she would call in the morning to book. I have already told her what I need to know when she calls and the call should take no more than five minutes of her valuable time (unless she has more questions), then I will be the one dealing with the cruise line and getting everything set for her. If there is a problem later on with any of it, the cruise line will contact me and I will deal with it. That’s the way a real travel agent should work.
Then at the end of the day, we heard this from another Expedia office: “Woot! Just obtained a new customer from (A Particular Cruise Line). They told us that (A Particular Cruise Line) is getting too expensive to book with now that they charge research / booking fees.” Not sure this is 100% accurate at this point but to be honest, I totally understand why they would do that. Since I can spend hours talking travel and getting info from a new client, I can see why they might feel the need to do that. Especially when it comes to new cruisers or inexperienced travelers who would have to have a lot of things explained to them. That’s our job and where you are concerned…we do it for free.
“Smile, it’s free therapy.” –Douglas Horton
by Jim Bellomo | Jan 14, 2019 | Uncategorized
What’s a typical day for a Expedia Cruise Ship Center Travel Consultant like? Isn’t that something you have always wanted to know? Today was a typical day. Did a bunch of paperwork at home this morning and then we went into the agency. Our agency is about a 20 minute drive from the house and the best part is that it’s opposite the flow of traffic so we get there with a minimum of effort.
No sooner had we arrived at the agency and got settled than my first appointment of the day walked through the door. The couple I had booked the Mediterranean cruise for (that I wrote about yesterday—the strange non-balcony) were coming in to go over travel insurance (a topic for another day), their airline seating, shore excursions, pre-cruise hotel and all the other parts of the (as we call it in the travel biz) “the complete vacation.”
The “complete vacation” starts when you leave your house and head to the airport and it ends when you walk back in your front door after your trip. I like to run an Excel file that lists every possible thing that could cost them money (other than souvenirs and lunch) during their vacation. This is also a great way to remember all the places you are going and things you are doing. And I really appreciate clients like these who are looking for that “complete vacation.” I promise much more on this topic in a coming post.
After our discussion with this wonderful couple (we spent about half the time just talking about all the amazing ports they will get to see on their 22-night cruise) they were off and I started on my to-do list for them getting all those things done that they now don’t have to deal with themselves. I still have a few more things I have to do to complete the list and it seems to keep growing all the time. About halfway through the list, a friend of a good friend gave me a call to see if he could arrange a birthday cruise for his wife and eight or nine friends. So I quickly got him some numbers and dates so he could start organizing the celebration.
While I was dealing with the to-do lists for our Med travelers and checking on the birthday celebration, Kathleen was doing all the paperwork for the Med travelers and checking up on some others we needed to update. There is quite a lot of paperwork involved in our business (with Expedia) and most agents have to do their paperwork themselves but Kathleen and I have a wonderful set up where I deal with the clients and do most of the research while she takes care of the invoicing, receipts, etc. It’s a perfect situation as we both get to work to our strengths and makes us a truly great team. I couldn’t and wouldn’t do this job without her.