Travel Lady Blog

Disney Cruise Lines has just announced some magical news – a kids cruise free sale. This sale is for sailings in the caribbean on it’s 7 night eastern and western itineraries.

The sale is for 7 night Caribbean cruises from January 8th to March 5th, 2011 excluding the February 19th, 2011 sailing date. The sale is for verandas staterooms and higher. After the first and second passenger all children 17 and younger sail free.

Book with a travel agent such as myself, (Plus I have earned my ears and am a Disney Specialist) and you’ll automatically get a $25.00 ship board credit while on your cruise.

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1. Love yourself

2. Dare to dream

3. Live with purpose

4. Travel to learn and you’ll learn to travel

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Holland American Cruise lines has announced that it will again be sailing out of NYC again in 2011. The Veendam will return to NYC from May through October 2011 with a series of 24 cruises to Bermuda. These cruises have been very popular and marks the first time Holland America has had a ships depart from NYC 2 years in a row.

The 2011 sailings on the Veendam will also include ports of call in both Hamilton and St. George – Bermuda’s two most popular ports. This is a departure from what other cruise ships do as the stop at only one port and passengers use the ship as a hotel for several days.

Holland America Cruise Lines began offering cruises to Bermuda from New York City in 1930 with the lines original ship, also called the Veendam.

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Celebrity Cruise Lines will be offering Art Tours using iPads on it’s Solstice class ships. The three Solstice class ships are home to over 14,000 pieces of artwork. Most of the bulk of the art fall into the contemporary art genre. The iPads for the art tours will have floor plans of where guest can find the art. Once the guest finds the flagged works of art the guest then touches the screen to select a work of art and view all the details about the piece.The details include title or the name of the particular piece, artist name, medium used, a full description and image to match item being displayed.

The self guided tours began on Solstice on August 15th, 2010 , on the Eclipse and the Equinox on August 21st. 2010.

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Carnival Corporation has announced the order of a 71,300 ton ship from the German ship builder Meyer Werft for their German cruise brand Aida Cruises. The 2190 passenger ship and will go into service in 2013.

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Looking for the best deals for shore excursions while you are on a cruise?  Looking to have smaller groups hen booking a shore excursion?

Let me introduce you to Port Promotions. I have been recommending this tour company for over 15 years now…why?

* Less money

* Go on the excursion you want

* No Lines / smaller groups

* No planning

* Full refunds

You don’t even have to be taking a cruise to use this company. Have a time share you are using or found a great hotel deal? Plan fun filled tours from trekking a tropical rain forest to a helicopter tour of Alaska’s glaciers.

They even offer airport transfers to cruise ships or hotels for great discounted prices.

It is up to you to decide, explore and enjoy …so click here to start planning.

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It takes a bigger person to follow the high road morally but, enjoy seeking out all the different roads available when traveling.

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Recently Carnival Cruise Lines has experimented with banning smoking in more public areas on three of it’s ships. Ironically one of the areas tested with banning smoking was Carnivals Cigar bar. These areas were specifically designed for smokers, so it is backwards to think that they would experiment banning smoking the one place where smokers could go to light up.

The cruise lines have now set themselves up to see how the experiment was received by passengers and staff  by input, before making any final decisions to decrease the area’s where smoking will be permitted on board their ships. More detailed evaluation will be done before any decisions will be implemented – all experiments have been completed.

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No details, dates or names have been released yet but Holland American Cruise Lines has announced that is is negotiating to have American Idol performers entertain their cruise passengers on board their ships in the very near future. This is HAL’s newest move to expand on their entertainment on board all of their ships by adding a more personal experience for passenger by having them enjoy some of their favorite performers in an intimate venue vs. the mega stadiums where they would usually perform.

I’ll be announcing more details as they are provided by Holland America.

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When the state officials of Alaska started charging extra fees and taxes plus adding more regulations on the cruise lines, the cruise lines responded by pulling ships from the area. Alaska has always been a very popular cruise experience to travelers due to the diverse natural wonderment of the state, its wildlife and the culture. The major cruise lines that pulled many ships from this popular tourist area made up the increases in taxes and fees by increasing the cost of cruising.

The results? The anchorage Daily News reports that there has been a 20% drop in tourism. The decline in cruise passengers is being felt with the rest of the states tourism industry as well. The Alaska Department of Revenue has seen reported losses in hotel, car and railroad tourist revenue. Though legislators have been negotiating to rescind these imposed taxes, many businesses who depend on tourism dollars during its short summer season are suffering.

This will be a continuing hot topic for Alaska state officials while they experience the cooling down of one of their biggest industry’s – tourism.

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