Sunday, December 18, 2011

A Luxury Cruise with the Kids?


Since most of the luxury lines are not very family friendly what do you do if you want an upscale cruise experience with all the amenities of a big ship? Try one of the lines that have separate enclaves for suite categories. NCL offers The Haven, while MSC offers the Yacht Club. The posh suites are surrounded by exclusive amenities accessible only to guests staying within the complex.
Both NCL and MSC areas are complete with a private pool, sundeck and restaurant.
You will also have priority access to other areas of the ship like specialty restaurants, shows or the spa with reservations made by your personal butler or concierge. The MSC Yacht Club guests also enjoy unlimited complimentary beverages. (wine, cocktails and juices)

The concept of both is a ship within a ship, so you can have all the benefits of luxury cruising without giving up the activity of a larger ships like fun kid's clubs, Broadway style shows and late night discos.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Cheap Vacations! Hurry Up & Buy Before You Read.

$599 Cancun 4-Star Resort Vacation or $69 for 5 days in Hawaii. Don't these seem obviously too good to be true? Nope! There are always a few people willing to take the bait. Since part of my service is matching verifiable prices offered by the big online agencies I've seen my fair share of these ads. Google any particular destination or resort and you'll find thousands of cheap deals. I'm always surprised that people don't see right through these tactics. If this vacation typically costs $2,000 how in the world can someone offer is for 1/4 of the price? By obligating you to a timeshare presentation, of course! If you're on the hook for a decade of payments and fees, what's a little loss now?
Read the fine print on most of these unbelievable deals and you'll inevitably find a reference to some sort of timeshare pitch. They promise to only take a few minutes of your time, but search again for comments and you'll find hundreds of people who were held up on their vacation for hours or a whole day while subjected to high pressure salespeople or worse, stranded at another location after they refused to buy. Don't waste valuable vacation time, use a trusted travel advisor.