By Doris and Phil Davidoff
Freestyle 2.0 is Norwegian Cruise Line’s fleetwide initiative to further improve the guest experience. The enhancements include a major investment in the total dining experience, upgrading staterooms, new wide-ranging onboard activities for guests of all ages, and additional recognition, service and amenities for balcony, suite and villa guests. Fleetwide ...
By Bill Becker
Travel agents are critical partners in the cruise business. They are more important to the cruise lines, it is widely acknowledged, than to land-based lodgings. Studies from the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) have found that consumers prize cruise products, and have few, if any, problems using an ...
By Mimi Kmet
The Pacific/Asia region’s growth as a destination is evident in the cruise sector, which is responding to demand with more ships and new itineraries. According to CLIA, the total number of cruise line bed days in the region jumped from approximately 2.7 million in 2007 to 3.4 million ...
By Kate Rice
Celebrity Cruises is launching the third level of its multi-tiered Five Star Academy for travel agents this month. Agents can access the program through Cruising Power; each module takes about 30 minute to complete. Those who score 80 percent on each tier can move on to the next. Those ...
By Doris and Phil Davidoff
While Prince Rupert is not a well-known cruise port, it is definitely worth seeing. Its motto—“Where Canada’s Wilderness Begins”—tells the story. Prince Rupert is on British Columbia’s North Coast, a little more than 900 miles north of Vancouver. It is just south of the border with Alaska, about 85 ...
By James Shillinglaw
When Adventures by Disney was launched in 2005, it focused on delivering an escorted family vacation experience well beyond the theme parks that Disney is so well known for. Indeed, its mission was to popularize the tour to a family audience much as Disney Cruise Line successfully promoted cruising ...
By David Cogswell
Asia continues to be a strong region for tour operators. The value for the dollar is still strong, it is still a new discovery for most Americans, and it is perceived to be secure. Its infrastructure continues to develop and speaking English is no longer much of a ...
By David Cogswell
On Sept. 4, Ashish Sanghrajka was appointed president of Big Five Tours & Expeditions, a company started in Kenya 35 years ago by Ashish’s father Mahen Sanghrajka, and now offers a wide range of tours to Africa, Asia and South America. Mahen Sanghrajka remains in the position of CEO. ...
By Kate Rice
First Discount Travel, based in Cincinnati, was born just after the commission caps that heralded the end of airline commissions, then the lifeblood of most travel agencies. It was essentially a kindergartner when 9/11, SARs and recession hit. And now, in its “tween” years it is weathering an economic ...
By David Cogswell
To the uninitiated it might seem puzzling that a travel agent would want to book hotels, apartments, transfers, car rentals, rail, sightseeing tours and activities through Travel Bound instead of directly. After all, everyone is familiar with the conventional wisdom: “Eliminate the middle man, and save money.” But a ...
By Kerry Medina
This past October, PATA’s chief of strategic intelligence, John Koldowski, announced that forward indicators suggest that the next 12 months could be difficult for arrivals to the Asia Pacific region. But Koldowski affirmed that the Asia Pacific region continues to do well in international travel and tourism, reporting ...
By Kerry Medina
The Iberostar Group has been sending travelers on vacation since 1930, when the company’s founder, Lorenzo Fluxá, opened a small travel agency in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, where the business is still based. Today the group is still privately held and chaired by Fluxá’s son Miguel, with fourth-generation members ...
By Gena Reisner
Anyone who’s been to Waikiki Beach instantly remembers the Pink Palace the pink Spanish-Moorish hotel that is unlike anything else on the beach. Set on the chosen playgrounds of Hawaiian royalty, the six-story Royal Hawaiian (the palace’s real name) sits on the best stretch of the beach and in ...
By James Ruggia
The small population of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) is spread thin on large islands, and that helps maintain the sensation of virgin experience that earned the islands its name from Columbus in the first place. That almost empty windswept feeling is what you sell when you recommend this ...
By James Ruggia
What do Tahiti and Martinique have in common? Like Tahiti, Martinique is one of the 26 regions of France, both were homes to Paul Gauguin, and both offer sophisticated travelers a culturally complex and inspiring landscape. The French, having instilled their culinary values have made of Martinique an island ...
By James Ruggia
Long before the British came to India, Mughal conquerors came from Persia to usurp the thrones of the Rajput princes (there were 22 kingdoms). This clash left a region in northern India that is as compelling as any in the world for tourists with a love of culture. Rajasthan’s ...
By Jim Kerr
Swedes will tell you they love Stockholm in the winter, when they put on their skates and glide up and down the miles of frozen waterways that separate the 14 islands that make up this 750-year-old Baltic city. Looking at the robust and handsome inhabitants, you can almost believe ...
By James Shillinglaw
In the song “Atlantic City,” Bruce Springsteen, that perennial New Jersey icon, writes,: “Put your makeup on, fix your hair up pretty, and meet me tonight in Atlantic City.” Even though I live in the New York area just three hours away, I had never ventured to the famed ...
By Karen Goodwin
You may not know it, but the major car rental companies rent not only cars but drivers, too.
Chauffeur services are particularly helpful for those traveling overseas. Clients can be met and escorted to a comfortable car without hassle or concerns about being taken to the correct venue. ...
By James Ruggia
India is one of those destinations that is just a rail natural, because it’s the perfect compliment to a destination with widely spread attractions connected by rough roads and tiring cross country journeys. The train also helps assuage those timid travelers who are leery about security in this most ...
By James Ruggia
In the first half of 2008, some 28 million flyers chose Lufthansa, for a 5.4 percent increase over the same period last year. If you think that is only a reflection of Germany’s preference for its flag carrier, you might be surprised to learn that Lufthansa carries more Americans ...