When I first started working for a cruise line ten years ago, I can remember our trainer telling us that it was our job to make our guests feel welcome and make their experience memorable. This could mean something as simple as greeting them by name when they came for breakfast, or suggesting some good family activities that they could participate in.
Now, many years later, keeping the guests happy is still the words I live by. I am no longer a server in the restaurant, and I have been promoted many times, and now I am in charge of training the new hires. It is a rewarding experience, and for the most part things have gone very well.
One of the most important things that we teach the new recruits is the number of activities that we can suggest to our passengers. We cover everything from the best places to eat on and off the ship, as well as offshore activities such as how the guests can swim with dolphins in Tortola.
I know that I have done my job if these new recruits serve our guests with one goal in mind: keeping them happy. From the feedback that I have heard, I do my job well.
I can’t say that I have traveled many places in the world, but just recently I had the opportunity to travel to London. It was unexpected, though I am happy that I went there.
You see, I entered a draw at work for free airfare and hotel over in London. I thought that it wouldn’t hurt to try, and truth be told, I sure wasn’t expecting to win. But when I was declared the winner, there was no way that I was going to give the prize up.
The only thing that I had to do was find a rental car in London. Having never booked anything like that (especially so far away from home), I decided that the easiest way would be to find my solution online.
I did a simple search for London airport car rentals and came up with some results. Though there were a lot of options when it came to vehicles, I found one that would fit in my budget. It wasn’t the nicest of the bunch, but I knew that it would meet my needs.
Needless to say, the trip was amazing, and I had the time of my life. Just thinking of the trip puts a smile to my face.
A retired friend of my husband’s is quite the frequent traveler. He visits friends in California at least once a year, visits family in New Orleans a couple of times a year, and travels internationally off and on the rest of the year. He visits Europe probably twice a year, and Australia once a year — I think the latter is actually one of his all-time favorite places to go.
One of the advantages to traveling so often is that he gets a lot of special discounts. The most obvious one is, of course, that he gets lots of frequent flyer miles. He always flies with United, so he has VIP status with them — I believe he gets free upgrades to Economy Plus (a section of seating that provides extra leg room) and even first class if it’s available. His favorite seats are the bulkhead seats in Economy Plus, and he will often change his seat two or three times, upgrading to his third favorite or second favorite seat as soon as it becomes available.
Another advantage is that if you travel frequently and stay in the same hotel or the same chain every time, you can sometimes work out a hotel deal that benefits you both — you because you save money, and them because they get regular business from you. For example, our friend often stays in the same San Diego, California hotel when he visits his friend, so he was able to work out a special rate with the manager there.
Of course, the obvious disadvantage to traveling that frequently is that it costs money. Most of us can’t afford to live like that — more’s the pity. But if you can — well, do what our friend does, and take full advantage of it!
I was planning the vacation of a lifetime. My wife and I were going to Fiji. We had wanted to do a big trip before we had children, knowing that it would be harder to travel once we had children as a part of our family. The Fiji hotel we opted to stay at was incredible. It was actually a Fiji resort that had every amenity you could think of. The developers of this resort really thought of everything. They had adventures set up on a daily basis, like underwater diving and fishing expeditions. They also had a world-class spa for us to relax at after we had spent a day doing adventures.
When we got there we first spent time exploring the resort we were at. The grounds were impeccably taken care of from the gardens to the rooms we could not have been happier that we chose this as our destination for the vacation of a lifetime. We did not spare any expense as this was a place that we wanted to truly enjoy. The vacation was well worth every penny and more. People do not always get to take the vacations of a lifetime like we did and we enjoyed every minute of it.
People are trying to save money on weddings these days and one of the biggest areas where they’re cutting back seems to be in their honeymoon spending. Newly-married couples are finding that they can have a great honeymoon in destinations like Florida which may be more affordable than traditional honeymoon destinations like Hawaii or the Bahamas.
To make sure that a Florida vacation is special even though it’s cheaper, newly-married couples will want to plan activities that heighten the romance of the trip. It is best to do things that are couple-focused such as tandem bunjee jumping or tandem bike riding. Romantic dinners and walks on the beach are also great. Basically anything that you can think of to do that focuses on the two of you as a couple will improve the honeymoon.
Another key to improving the Florida honeymoon is to choose the right accommodations. Two great choices are the honeymoon suites of top hotels and the Florida Villa. Orlando Florida Villas are great because they give you a home of your own for your honeymoon where you can relax together without housekeeping dropping in and bugging you. Plus they’re more affordable than the honeymoon suite and saving money is a lot of the point of a Florida honeymoon.
I can’t say that I have traveled many places in the world, but just recently I had the opportunity to travel to London. It was unexpected, though I am happy that I went there.