Plan for a Vacation Day

click images to enlarge

"Where do you want to go? I don't know. What do you have a taste for? I don’t know. How about going to … No, we went there last time.” 

Sound familiar? The last time you went out for dinner, did you have a conversation somewhat like that? I wouldn't be surprised if you did, since I've had several of these conversations myself.

Planning a vacation often sounds like that too. That's not a bad thing. It's actually very good to ask questions and get a consensus before planking down your hard-earned money on a vacation. You do want to involve everyone in your decision process, so that you will all be happy with the final plan. I also encourage you to get some professional advice.

Planning a dinner outing isn't that much different than planning a vacation. The questions are pretty similar: “Where do you want to go? What do you want to see and do there? Do you want to dress up for dinner? Do you want to relax at the beach? Do you want to go somewhere you haven’t been to before or go back to the same destination you went to last year? Where can we get good value for our money?”

Let me help you answer some of these questions. The last question is probably the easiest to answer. A cruise gives you excellent value. You are able to pay one price for all your lodging, food, and entertainment. From the time you board the ship, you are treated to a resort experience that you will talk about for years to come. Even in the most expensive ports of call, you have an option to keep your costs down by eating your meals onboard the ship instead of at some local restaurant. You don’t have to worry about the exchange rate if you don’t want to. You’ve already paid for your cruise in your local currency and all optional onboard expenses can be charged to your account in your local currency.

So, that brings us to the harder question – where to go. If you have cruised before, you have most likely been to some part of the Caribbean Islands and/or the Bahamas. The majority of first-time cruisers go there, so I think my odds are pretty good on guessing where you’ve been to before. There’s good reason why most cruisers go to the Caribbean – it’s a great destination, the weather is great, it’s a year-round destination with many cruise ships going there. Due to the supply, the cruise lines have no problem keeping up with the demand.

On the other hand, if you’ve been to the Caribbean several times before, you might be looking for something new this year. I’d like to let you in on some inside information which may surprise you. Europe is an excellent cruise value, especially in 2008. This may come as a shock to you. It seems that we are either in a recession or heading for one, so how could Europe be a good value? Isn’t the cost of fuel going up, so won’t it be expensive to get to Europe from the States? Yes, times are tough, fuel costs are rising, and there is a good chance that the airline ticket will be the largest portion of your vacation price. Repeat that you say. Airfare may be more than your cruise fare. There is a possibility that you can get a great deal from the cruise lines this year. Why is that? The cruise lines are over-deployed in Europe this year. There was such an increase in demand for Europe the past few years, the cruise line reacted and moved many of their ships to the European market.

Cruise ship schedules are done well in advance, so it takes quite some time to react to changing times. With all the ships in Europe, the cruise lines need to fill them up this summer. In order to do that, many of the lines are offering special pricing which combats the price of the airfare. In some cases, they even have special airfare if you book that through them. If you haven’t been to Europe before, or if you’ve been yearning to go back, this might be the best time in the next few years to do so.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the airlines also react by offering special airfares during the summer months. It is very costly to fly long-distance trips and the airlines want to have their planes as full as possible. So, the savvy cruise traveler can actually reap great rewards by taking advantage of special pricing. If Europe isn’t your “cup of tea”, I would encourage you to check other destinations beyond the Caribbean on our blog and website.

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Stained Glass Around the World

Searching #GreatINDOORS

for Stained Glass Art

 

Yusupov's Palace 

St. Petersburg Russia

In conjunction with co-hosting this week's edition of #FriFotos on Twitter, we've been on the hunt for images of #stainedglass to share. 

Our first stop is Yusupov's Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia.  The palace was once the residence of the wealthy and respected Yusupov family and which saw one of the most dramatic episodes in Russia's history - the murder of Grigory Rasputin.

 
Join Us Friday for #FriFotos #greatINDOORS

This week's Twitter  #FriFotos theme is #greatINDOORS. #FriFotos is a weekly photo forum by @EpsteinTravels @TravelDesigned @CharlesYap. Theme is revealed every Tuesday 12pm ET.

We are very excited to be guest Co-Hosts this week.   As avid followers and participants in this weekly photo adventure, we have enjoyed countless hours searching through our photo archives for those perfect representatives that demonstrate the given theme.   Equally exciting has been exploring the images of our fellow contributors.   We have virtually traveled around the globe and anxiously await each Friday's image collection.

YOU should participate.  It's easy - just tweet your images on Friday (any time / in your time zone - across all time zones if you like).   Simply add a description and include #FriFotos #greatINDOORS.  See all the rules here.

Where will our #greatINDOORS adventure take us next?   Visit us again to find out.
 
 

Having an AzAmazing Time Cruising

Experience the new Azamara Difference

Now there's more included than ever before.

Enriched 2013 Azamara Experience 

 

EUROPE 2013 - AzAmazing Evenings

Beginning with the 2013 Europe season, Azamara Club Cruises will be offering guests a complimentary AzAmazing Evenings^SM event to remember on every voyage—a chance to really see the advantages of longer and later stays in port! Be it a night at the ballet at the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg or a polo match and reception in Saint Tropez, AzAmazing Evenings are perfect opportunities for you to experience the Azamara difference in some of the most incredible places on Earth.

The AzAmazing Evening event is complimentary, and is available on all sailings starting March 27, 2013 (Azamara Quest), and May 15, 2013 (Azamara Journey) except Azamara Quest’s November 13, 2013 sailing. A refund will not be offered if you do not attend or the event must be cancelled for any reason by Azamara Club Cruises. Cancellation fees will be applied should the quest not inform the line in advance that they won't be attending.  This is necessary  because there will  be costs to Azamara, associated with the event, based on number of passengers attending. 

Guests will be allowed to sign up for the evening events prior to departure and are encouraged to do so as space is limited.   Those failing to do so, will be given the opportunity to book onboard the morning of the event if space is available.

More Inclusive Amenities

In addition to the evening events, there's much more in store for passengers on the Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest starting with the Europe 2013 Season. Standard spirits, an international selection of beers, and red and white wines will now be available throughout your voyage.

• NEW AzAmazing Evenings^SM event on every voyage
• NEW Select standard spirits, international beers and wines at all ship bars
• NEW Selection of international beers plus wines at lunch and dinner
• Gratuities
• Bottled water, soft drinks, specialty coffees and teas throughout the ship
• English-trained butlers for suite guests
• Self-service laundry
• Shuttle service to and from ports, where available
• Concierge services for personal guidance and reservations

Related Blog Posts:

New Look for Azamara Club Cruises Ships
Azamara Club Cruises 2014 Deployment

Azamara couldn’t improve the destinations.
So they improved the journey.

Vision of the Seas 2011 Mediterranean

Ship Profile | Itineraries & Pricing | Deck Plans Dining Menus | Wine Lists | Kids Programs | Ship Reviews | 360 Tours | Photos

Vision of the Seas®

2011 MEDITERRANEAN DEPLOYMENT

14-Night Eastbound Transatlantic
Sao Paulo (Santos), Brazil • Rio De Janeiro, Brazil • Salvador De Bahia, Brazil • Tenerife, Canary Islands • Lanzarote, Canary Islands • Seville (Cadiz), Spain • Lisbon, Portugal

11-Night Lisbon to England
Lisbon, Portugal • La Coruña, Spain • Gijón, Spain • Bilbao, Spain • La Rochelle, France • Brest, France • St. Peter Port, Channel Isl • Paris/Normandy (Le Havre), France • Southampton, England

4-Night Amsterdam

Southampton, England • Amsterdam, Netherlands • Copenhagen, Denmark

5-Night Norwegian Fjords
Copenhagen, Denmark • Bergen, Norway • Geiranger, Norway • Copenhagen, Denmark

7-Night St. Petersburg & Baltics
Copenhagen, Denmark • Tallinn, Estonia • St. Petersburg, Russia • Helsinki, Finland • Stockholm, Sweden • Copenhagen, Denmark

3-Night Berlin

Copenhagen, Denmark • Berlin (Warnemunde), Germany • Oslo, Norway

5-Night Amsterdam & Brugges

Oslo, Norway • Brugges (Zeebrugge), Belgium • Amsterdam, Netherlands • Oslo, Norway

9-Night British Isles & Normandy

Oslo, Norway • Paris/ Normandy (Le Havre), France • Cherbourg, France • Dublin, Ireland • Liverpool, England • Edinburgh (S.Queensferry), Scotland • Oslo, Norway

7-Night St. Petersburg & Tallinn
Oslo, Norway • St. Petersburg, Russia • Helsinki, Finland • Copenhagen, Denmark • Oslo, Norway

7-Night St. Petersburg & Tallinn

Oslo, Norway • St. Petersburg, Russia • Tallinn, Estonia • Copenhagen, Denmark • Oslo, Norway

7-Night Oslo to Stockholm 

Oslo, Norway • Copenhagen, Denmark • Riga, Latvia • St. Petersburg, Russia • Helsinki, Finland • Stockholm, Sweden

RSSC Voyager Baltic Offers

Photos courtesy Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Regent Seven Seas Cruises
Free Business Class Air
on Scandinavia & Russia Cruises

2-for-1 Fares Plus an Additional Savings of up to $1,000 Per Person

Included Air and Complimentary Shore Excursions

Regent Seven Seas takes you to the Baltic this year aboard the 700-guest, all-suite, all-balcony Seven Seas Voyager. Take advantage of special savings now through March 31, 2010 on one of the most enjoyable European destinations.

Enjoy a picturesque funicular ride and hiking tour to the top of Mount Floyen with magnificent views and photo opportunities of surrounding Bergen and beyond.

Relive Estonia's turbulent past and fight for freedom from Soviet oppression. Spend two days in St. Petersburg, Russia, viewing the ancient city's top attractions including opulent rooms and galleries covered in gilt and carved plaster.

Explore the many bridges of Stockholm or take a ferry to Vasa Museum to learn more about the Vikings and their ships. See magnificent waterfalls as your ship sails through the Norwegian Fjords.

These are just a sampling of the European adventures that await you on the Seven Seas Voyager. <more details>

Azamara Cruises Becomes Azamara Club Cruises

Azamara Cruises Becomes "Azamara Club Cruises"
Newly refined brand unveils multiple new attributes for upmarket travelers

By Azamara Club Cruises
Miami - (December 08, 2009 ) - Azamara Cruises - the two-ship brand launched in 2007 with the 694-guest Azamara Journey and sister ship Azamara Quest - today became "Azamara Club Cruises," with a newly refined focus, and a series of new attributes designed for upmarket, experienced travelers.

"This isn't a strategy of going 'from good to great'," said Azamara Club Cruises President & CEO Larry Pimentel. "This is about taking an already great product and making it exceptional."

Tapped to take the helm of Azamara Cruises in July of this year, Pimentel spent several weeks talking with travel agents, past guests and press to determine how to make his great-to-exceptional goal a reality. He also tapped a small new team focused 100 percent on Azamara, including VP of Sales & Marketing Edie Bornstein, AVP of Hotel Operations Bert Van Middendorp, Director of Marketing Signe Bjorndal, Director of National Accounts Michelle Nevin, and an eight-member field sales team dedicated solely to Azamara.

Together, Pimentel and team shaped the new Azamara Club Cruises, whose most distinguishing new attributes will be in effect by April 2010.

"Today's cruisers have incredible new vacation options - like Celebrity's stunning Solstice Class, and Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas," said Pimentel. "Azamara Club Cruises will distinguish itself by delivering the destination like no other line."

Azamara Club Cruises will visit 140 ports in 50 countries in 2010, with itineraries featuring more overnight stays to allow guests to immerse themselves in communities and cultures. Among the overnight locations are Istanbul, Turkey; Sorrento, Italy, which offers a host of tour options along the Amalfi Coast and Capri; a full three days and two nights in St. Peters burg, Russia, on Azamara's Scandinavia and Russia itineraries; and multiple overnight stays in Azamara's Southeast Asia region, including Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong.

"We're going to slow down the tempo, and allow our guests to not just see the destination, but to live it," said Pimentel. "Consider destinations like St. Tropez or St. Petersburg, Russia. If you've experienced them only by day, you haven't really experienced them. With Azamara, through more overnight stays and late-night stays, you can."

The destination focus of Azamara Club Cruises inspired the brand's new tagline - "You'll love where we take you" - and will extend to its shore excursions, too, an essential ingredient to allow guests to truly experience a community and its culture. Azamara has created distinctive two-day packages tailored to the overnight destinations, to make it easy for guests to immerse themselves in each location, whether it's Dubrovnik, Croatia; Odessa, Ukraine; Livorno (Florence), Italy, Warnemunde (Berlin), Germany, or London, in addition to Sorrento and St. Petersburg.

Azamara also will offer experiences such as a two-night package from Bangkok to Laos; an overnight tour from Hiroshima to Osaka via bullet train; a three-night experience from Mumbai including a visit to the Taj Mahal; overnight tours in Israel between Ashdod and Cairo, and a Grand Egypt tour featuring the best of both Luxor and Cairo.

Among Azamara's specialty tours include a Ferrari driving tour in Civitavecchia, Italy; a walk down memory lane in Liverpool with the "In the steps of The Beatles" tour; a private demonstration of chocolate flavors in Dubrovnik; a "Theatre A La Carte" evening in London; Croatian liqueur tasting in Zadar; an Imperial Russian Court evening at Tsarskoye Selo in St. Petersburg; an evening gondola serenade in Venice; and high tea at the Burj al Arab Hotel in Dubai.

Praised for its dining experience since its founding, Azamara will continue to place a heavy emphasis on fine cuisine, and will expand its focus on wine to include vintages from boutique wineries around the world. Guests will have the opportunity to taste high quality wines that may be unavailable at home, because the selected vineyards produce a strictly limited quantity each year, distributed primarily locally. The featured wines will be offered complimentary at lunches and dinners on every sailing.

Wellness and vigor will be a core component of the Azamara Club Cruises experience, too, with onboard and land-based experiences designed to help guests feel and look healthier and more youthful. Azamara's aim in wellness and vigor is to help guests balance their physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual needs through massages, facials and other spa treatments, as well as acupuncture, yoga, Pilates, and enrichment programs.

The newly refined brand also is intensely focused on offering an intangible attribute essential to a successful upmarket product: exceptional service.

"Extraordinary service is paramount with Azamara Club Cruises," said Pimentel. "We know every travel and hospitality organization proclaims it's committed to great service, so what will make Azamara stand out? First, our butlers will be trained to be true English butlers, to offer that fine balance of anticipatory, pampering, yet non-intrusive service to guests in every suite." Guests in staterooms will be served by the line's host of experienced stateroom attendants.

Azamara Club Cruises also will offer many inclusive amenities, with the following included in the cruise fare beginning with the first voyages in April 2010 on Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest: a specific brand of bottled water offered at no charge throughout the voyage, whether in public venues or in staterooms; specialty coffees and teas; housekeeping and dining gratuities; shuttlebus service to/from port communities, where available; destination-influenced entertainment and enrichment programs; most meals and room service; house wine at lunches and dinners; and self-service laundry. Specialty dining in Azamara's intimate Prime C steakhouse and the Mediterranean-influenced Aqualina will be complimentary for suite guests for the duration of their cruise. Cruisers who can't get enough of Azamara will be invited to join the line's new loyalty program, "Le Club Voyage," with specific features and benefits yet to be announced.

For more information, call your travel agent, dial 1-877-999-9553, or visit http://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/.

SOURCE Azamara Club Cruises

For information about the ships and itineraries, click here.

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Cruising Beyond the Caribbean

"Where do you want to go? I don't know. What do you have a taste for? I don’t know. How about going to … No, we went there last time.” Sound familiar? The last time you went out for dinner, did you have a conversation somewhat like that? I wouldn't be surprised if you did, since I've had several of these conversations myself.

Planning a vacation often sounds like that too. That's not a bad thing. It's actually very good to ask questions and get a consensus before planking down your hard-earned money on a vacation. You do want to involve everyone in your decision process, so that you will all be happy with the final plan. I also encourage you to get some professional advice.

Planning a dinner outing isn't that much different than planning a vacation. The questions are pretty similar: “Where do you want to go? What do you want to see and do there? Do you want to dress up for dinner? Do you want to relax at the beach? Do you want to go somewhere you haven’t been to before or go back to the same destination you went to last year? Where can we get good value for our money?”

Let me help you answer some of these questions. The last question is probably the easiest to answer. A cruise gives you excellent value. You are able to pay one price for all your lodging, food, and entertainment. From the time you board the ship, you are treated to a resort experience that you will talk about for years to come. Even in the most expensive ports of call, you have an option to keep your costs down by eating your meals onboard the ship instead of at some local restaurant. You don’t have to worry about the exchange rate if you don’t want to. You’ve already paid for your cruise in your local currency and all optional onboard expenses can be charged to your account in your local currency.

So, that brings us to the harder question – where to go. If you have cruised before, you have most likely been to some part of the Caribbean Islands and/or the Bahamas. The majority of first-time cruisers go there, so I think my odds are pretty good on guessing where you’ve been to before. There’s good reason why most cruisers go to the Caribbean – it’s a great destination, the weather is great, it’s a year-round destination with many cruise ships going there. Due to the supply, the cruise lines have no problem keeping up with the demand.

On the other hand, if you’ve been to the Caribbean several times before, you might be looking for something new this year. I’d like to let you in on some inside information which may surprise you. Europe is an excellent cruise value, especially in 2008. This may come as a shock to you. It seems that we are either in a recession or heading for one, so how could Europe be a good value? Isn’t the cost of fuel going up, so won’t it be expensive to get to Europe from the States? Yes, times are tough, fuel costs are rising, and there is a good chance that the airline ticket will be the largest portion of your vacation price. Repeat that you say. Airfare may be more than your cruise fare. There is a possibility that you can get a great deal from the cruise lines this year. Why is that? The cruise lines are over-deployed in Europe this year. There was such an increase in demand for Europe the past few years, the cruise line reacted and moved many of their ships to the European market.

Cruise ship schedules are done well in advance, so it takes quite some time to react to changing times. With all the ships in Europe, the cruise lines need to fill them up this summer. In order to do that, many of the lines are offering special pricing which combats the price of the airfare. In some cases, they even have special airfare if you book that through them. If you haven’t been to Europe before, or if you’ve been yearning to go back, this might be the best time in the next few years to do so.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the airlines also react by offering special airfares during the summer months. It is very costly to fly long-distance trips and the airlines want to have their planes as full as possible. So, the savvy cruise traveler can actually reap great rewards by taking advantage of special pricing.If Europe isn’t your “cup of tea”, I would encourage you to check other destinations beyond the Caribbean. My websites should give you some more ideas. I’ll share some additional ideas with you next time.