Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Cruises Inc National Conference raised more than $ $60,000 for Make-A-Wish®




Dreams really do come true at Disney®. And that was the case at this year’s Cruises Inc National conference, as they surpassed their $60,000 fundraising goal for our signature charity, Make-A-Wish.
 

From Oct. 14-21, our Home Based division held their land/sea National Conference themed “Creating Magical Memories” at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort and on the Disney Dream. There were more than 760 attendees at the annual event. The money was raised through a silent auction, 50-50 raffle and generous donations.

One anonymous donor gave $25,000 while

Celebrity and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines also gave donations.

 

During the General Session on Monday, October 15, WTH employee, Allison Daly, shared a heartfelt story of how Make-A-Wish helped bring joy to her family over the past couple of years. Allison’s daughter, Caroline, was diagnosed more than two years ago with Leukemia. Today, Caroline is in the final stages of her treatment and is doing well.


“Knowing that the money raised at this year’s National Conference will be able to grant even more wishes for children with life-threatening medical conditions is so gratifying,” said Dwain Wall, Senior Vice President of our Home Based division. “It is such a great feeling to see our franchisees and independent agents rally behind our company’s signature charity.”


One of the raffle items was a quilt made out of T-shirts from past National Conferences. Judy Raikes with CruiseOne, the winner of the quilt, so graciously donated the quilt back to the company where it will be proudly displayed in the Ft. Lauderdale office.

 
Last year’s conference raised $53,000, which helped Make-A-Wish grant 21 wishes.

 

A huge thank you to Make-A-Wish representative Ashley Gartland and everyone involved in the CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. National Conference fundraising efforts for Make-A-Wish.
 
 
 

Why Choose a Villa for your next destination. Why Villas of Distinction



Why choose a Villa for your next destination
http://www.villasofdistinction.com/about/why-villas/

Why Villas of Disctinction as your host

Villas of Distinction is a premier luxury villa provider that has helped travelers find their perfect vacation home since 1989. We pride ourselves on providing our clients with a quality product, excellent service, and great value.

Villas of Distinction represents thousands of villas in more than 50 destinations in the Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii, France, Italy, Greece, Tahiti, the Bahamas, and the United States. Our villas range in size from 1-20 bedrooms and most are equipped with pools, butlers, maids and chefs. We have villas for every occasion: weddings, vow renewal parties, romantic getaways, golf, tennis, and spa retreats, corporate outings, family reunions, and trips with special friends. Wherever your getaway brings you, Villas of Distinction specialists will provide you with a luxury villa and will take care of all of your accommodations and special requests. Many villas are located near restaurants, bars, nightclubs, casinos, boutiques, tennis courts, golf courses, historic sites, and art galleries.
With over 20 years of experience matching travelers to the vacation rental, our professional villa specialists have an intimate knowledge of not only the destination, but the villas themselves. Our agents will help you select the right villa for you. Our expert team of Guest Arrival Concierges will help you prepare for your vacation by arranging for items such as car rentals, grocery pre-stocking, chef services; they will make sure all the details are set for your arrival. Customer satisfaction is our top priority. We aim to provide great value and service, allowing you to relax and enjoy your villa vacation.

 

CNN Travel Article: Europe's 10 hottest destinations for 2013

New York Times Article - The 46 Places to Go in 2013

Carnival Pricing Becomes Even More Complicated – Possibly angered past guest in the near future



Just when I think, maybe I can talk about a subject, like Hawaii, or another destination, in my blog, another type complication comes up, which I feel, the value in sharing with cruisers.  Again, the topic is Carnival.

Yesterday, I was talking with one of my Top Customers, and explaining, that Carnival now has about 6-7 different rate options.  They in turn, told me, that the sailing they were currently looking at, showed six. 

My thoughts were, great to hear !  I didn’t really know, so many were shown, on Carnival’s site, since our agency doesn’t usually use Carnivial.com to get rates; we have our own computer system.
Of course, once I looked at the sailing with my client, on Carnival’s site, I began to think, Carnival really has more rate options than just 6-7 these days; there are sailings that will also have, senior rates, military rates, resident rates, which only names three more !

My clients topic, in calling me was, the VIFP offer received in the mail.  Of course, my thought was, ok, “past guest rates”, no problem.  Oh no, it was not that at all !  This was a special offer, and it was not in “our sophisticated computer system”.    Oh my !

Decided to look on Carnival’s travel agent website.  Once I put in the customers name and birthday, their past guest number went into place.  There on the right it said, “special offers”.  I opened up the folder and it said, LD4 offer.  I went further into the system and I saw, LD4 offer.  I had not seen this before, upon being in Carnival’s agent site.

Soon learned, if you do not put the past guest number into their system, before looking at rates, this offer will not come up !  OK, great lesson to learn !  Began wondering, how many Carnival past guest, who had bought a cruise from me lately, had not mentioned VIFP and this promo had not presented itself, when giving pricing (later, I went through folks bookings, and found one, and called Carnival and they gave me the offer !).

What I also learned, no matter if, others in your group, have sailed as many times as you had, or even your own partner, may not receive this same offer.  OH, do I see two problems that can take place down the road.

1.      Both husband and wife, or partners, or mates, must have their own past guest number, checked separately, to see if maybe one of them, has a special offered tied to their past guest number (in case the other one does not).  Know, that if each are offered different offers, they can not have both offers if rooming in same room !  Only one promo can be applied !

2.     When friends and family travel together, the same offer, seems to be, most often "NOT" offered, to all parties.  I did call Carnival tech support and asked if there was a way to force the promo LD4 to be offered, and was told No (I also have a call to my Carnival rep and hope to hear back from them soon - 1/18/13  - Heard back. All she suggested was, call the promo desk. FYI, Carnival does not offer their reps much power; not fair to the reps; not the reps fault; sad for the reps).

So … How much more complicated can Carnival make it ?  I hate to ask this, since there is always tomorrow !

Like I discussed with one of my associates yesterday … It’s almost like, such ideas are coming from folks at Carnival, that have most definitely, just have nothing else to do ! 

My feelings, why give some Carnival past guest folks the offer and not others !  I can understand, making the discount larger for cruisers who have cruised more with Carnival; but to not give folks, who have traveled equal, the same discount, to me, is absolutely crazy ! 

Yesterday, I was literally exhausted, from all the explaining of the different rate options, of Carnival, to cruisers calling yesterday !  Though Carnival believe they are doing a great thing, such as with all the promos that are non-refundable, this could be the added stress that agents and clients, just don't need !

I see angry past guest ahead !