Alaska…NOW!

By Mike & Darlene Jordan

            In the never-ending quest to find the best deal on travel (and who doesn’t want a great deal?), we’re often asked when is the best time to book a trip to Alaska or the Caribbean, or Europe.

            Our short answer is usually “right now” since availability for a cruise or hotel or land tour won’t be any better (and will probably be worse) a week, two weeks, or two months from now. So, if the person we’re talking with really wants to go, they should book it now.

            This is especially true when considering Alaska for both cruises and cruise/land tour combinations. That’s because the cruise lines only have a specific window of time to sail and have to pre-arrange things like National Park permits, docking privileges, and hotel rooms. As it turns out, the best time to book an Alaska trip is…right now.

            It’s the end of the season in Alaska. The final trips have sailed and it’s getting darker up there by the day. But…the lines have announced next year’s itineraries and pricing, and the brochures for 2011 have been printed.

            Alaska is probably the most popular cruise destination after the Caribbean. But, the Caribbean has cruises 12 months a year; Alaska has only 4—mid-May to mid-September. For the best availability, now is the time to book.

            Most Alaska cruisers prefer the mid-June to mid-August time frame, the assumption being that the weather will be best, or warmer, anyway. The fact is, Alaska weather is virtually unpredictable. It can be sunny and warm on June 1^st and rainy and cold on July 4^th—or vice versa. Because of the popularity of the mid-summer months, though, the availability gets very slim very quickly. And, the price is higher—sometimes a lot higher. Hence, booking an Alaska cruise early is a must.

            Many people who cruise Alaska figure that their cruise may be the only time they’ll make it that far north and opt to add a land tour to their cruise to make the most of their time there. That’s very good thinking, since Alaska is so much more than just calving glaciers. The interior is breathtakingly beautiful and Denali National Park is truly a national treasure.

            A cruise/tour package has the same availability issues that a cruise does, except they are more severe. While an Alaska cruise ship might carry 2,000 to 3,000 people a week, a given cruise/tour utilizing the same ship might have a capacity of only 40. That’s because the tours are limited to the number of people that will fit on the bus, or in a rail car. The most popular cruise tours feature the Alaska Railroad traveling from Fairbanks all the way down to Seward or Whittier, the two cruise ports, with stops at Denali and villages such as Talkeetna on the way. As you might imagine, these tours fill quickly and the mid-summer months are favored by most travelers for these, too. For the prime months, book now.

            Many travelers don’t mind a little cooler weather on either end of the season. Consequently, they not only get the cruise or cruise tour they want, they also get it at a lower price. (Cruising is nothing if not a primer on the law of supply and demand.) Consequently, the bargain hunters are out early looking for the best prices on both cruises and cruise tours. So, even these sell quickly. For the fringe months, book now.

            Apparently, our short answer to the “when should we book” question is just as good as the long one. If you want to go, and you know when you want to go, call your travel agent and book it NOW.

            Until next time…get out the map!

Mike and Darlene Jordan are registered agents of Cruises Inc., and are based in Southern Colorado. You can contact them at 800-267-7613 or by email at cruisesinc@gojade.org.

Mike and Darlene’s Weekly DEAL! Luxury Italian Villa!

Good Morning Everyone, and Happy Friday! 

We’ve promised to bring you last minute specials, new itineraries, or really unique travel ideas in the DEAL, so this week we’re featuring a travel idea new to the DEAL-a stay in an authentic Villa! 

We love to cruise, as it is a great way to “sample” new places, cultures, and food, but if you want to really immerse yourself in a place, and live “like a native”, booking a Villa is the way to go. You can choose to have your own personal chef, or use the kitchen, shop in the local market and create your own culinary masterpieces. You can choose a place with a pool, gym, butler, you name it, or you can go for a more simple lifestyle…there are many options and price ranges to choose from. 

One great feature a Villa stay offers is that you can choose different sized properties to suit your travel style. Want to explore on your own or with your special someone? Book a one-bedroom. Love to travel with friends and share expenses? Book a three-bedroom or larger. Our best Villa supplier can book up to 42 bedrooms on one property! What a family reunion that would be! 

We’re presently working with a friend who wants to experience a Villa stay in Italy. We’ve looked at several villas in Umbria, and here is a description of one of the top contenders; the 4-bedroom Seretina, in Umbria. Check out this description:

“Seretina is special. Its name suggests that it is ‘hidden’, and that is exactly how it appears, hidden amongst the fields in the green countryside, not far from the ancient village of Collazzone, at the bottom of a country lane. The unusual swimming pool which has been shaped to fit the idyllic surroundings has been built on a lower level, and appears as a water terrace overlooking the hills and fields. It is protected by a fence, with an access gate to the side of the house. The interior has a country-elegance, decorated with pastel colours, the colours white and beige appear throughout all the rooms. The guest house has the same high standards of furnishing as the main villa. The end result is a tastefully decorated and furnished villa, where much attention has been paid to detail. The main villa’s kitchen, which is spacious and well laid-out, extends out into a split-level lounge, to create one big room. The lounge opens up onto the villa’s portico, beautifully set up for ‘al fresco’ dinners. Equipment is hi-tech; there is a large plasma screen on the first floor. Great villa for quality and price!” 

The starting weekly rate for this great Villa is 3200 Euros* for 6 guests—that’s only $533 euros per person for a week! Call up some friends and plan a Villa stay, this is a much more authentic experience than staying in a hotel for a week or two, and can actually be much more affordable when you consider that you don’t have to buy all of your meals in restaurants. You can also pack less, as these places usually come complete with washer/dryer, and you’ll come away with a much better idea of what it’s like to live in the Italian countryside! 

Give us a call at 1-800-267-7613 and let us know where you’d like to immerse yourself, we’ll do our best to find the perfect Villa for you, too!

Until then, have a great weekend,

Darlene & Mike

 *Suggested price is subject to change and availability, taxes and fees are additional. Prices can be adjusted for length of stay and number of guests.

What’s Our Favorite?

By Mike & Darlene Jordan

Whenever we go to a party, meeting, or other gathering where we meet new people, the conversation invariably comes around to what everyone does for a living. When we tell people we’re in the travel business, we can bet that one of two questions will follow.

Do you get to travel a lot for free? Answer:  No.

What’s your favorite place to go? This one’s a little tougher, since it’s subjective and since it depends on what we want to do.

 The problem is that there are so many places to go, we rarely go back to a destination¬—even if we loved it the first time. In fact, we can probably count on one hand the number of U.S. and international cities we’ve been to twice, unless we had to go there to get somewhere else. 

So…favorites? Well, San Francisco is one. We’ve been a couple of times and would go back…if there weren’t so many places to go. Certainly, if there’s a meeting or a gathering of some kind in San Francisco, the fact that it’s there would influence whether we go or not.

We went to San Francisco for Christmas, once, taking the Amtrak train from Denver. The train was 8 or 10 hours late arriving in Denver due to cold weather in Chicago, so we arrived at our Fisherman’s Wharf area hotel in the middle of the night. It was still one of the best domestic trips we’ve taken. We spent Christmas Day riding bicycles across the Golden Gate Bridge, eating Indian food downtown, cruising on the Bay. It was great.

People who read this column regularly know that we go to Las Vegas every once in awhile. It’s not the place it used to be, but it’s fairly close (a day’s drive), and we almost always have a great time while we’re there. Here’s a tip…for a very nice Vegas experience, consider the Golden Nugget Hotel downtown. It’s been refurbished, has a great pool, some pretty excellent restaurants, and the price is very affordable.

Due to the nature of our business, we’re in Florida a couple of times a year. Last year, we spent a little more time than usual in Fort Lauderdale and really enjoyed it—much more than Miami. We stayed at two Hiltons; one on the beach and one near the port. Both were lovely hotels with interesting surroundings and excellent places to explore. 

Internationally, we’re both itching to go back to London. We spent almost two weeks in England/Scotland a few years ago and found London to be especially beautiful, interesting, friendly, and historically fascinating, but we didn’t have enough time to see everything the city has to offer. We’ll be surprised if we’re not back in jolly old England within the next year or two.

On our China trip this year, we just didn’t have enough time in Shanghai. It’s another fascinating city with a lot of history of its own, but since our plane was 7 hours late arriving, we didn’t have any time on our own to snoop. 

One place we will have plenty of time to snoop around is coming up in October of 2011. That’s when we’ll be leading a group on a transatlantic cruise back to the U.S. from Rome. Neither of us has been to Rome, so we’re planning at least a 3 day visit there before boarding Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas for the journey home. Along the way we’ll be visiting Palma de Majorca, Spain (for the 2nd time), Cartagena, Spain, Funchal, Madiera (Portugal), and the Canary Islands, along with a stop in Nassau, Bahamas, before arriving in Galveston, Texas. (Wanna go?  email us at cruisesinc@gojade.org )

Bucket list cities?  Singapore, Paris (Darlene’s been, Mike hasn’t), Cairo/Alexandria, Jerusalem, Mumbai, Venice.

Now that we think about it, that list is getting longer by the minute. Time to get out the map!
Mike and Darlene Jordan are registered agents of Cruises Inc., and are based here in Southern Colorado. You can contact them at 800-267-7613 or by email at cruisesinc@gojade.org.

My Name is Earl

By Mike & Darlene Jordan

We’re in that time of year that most travelers…especially cruise travelers dread. Take a look at the headlines; there’s no getting around it, it’s hurricane season.

Over the past couple of years, we’ve gotten off pretty easy with few serious hurricanes causing much damage or disruption along the southern and Eastern coasts. It looked like this year would be more of the same. Anybody remember Alex? Bonnie? Collin? For awhile it looked like Danielle might stir things up in Bermuda but, luckily, she curved back to the east and into oblivion.

Hello, my name is Earl.

At the time of this writing, Earl is zeroing in on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Tropical Storms Fiona and Gaston are right behind.

So…you love to travel, your only time off is during the summer, you love the ocean. What are you supposed to do?
The thing with hurricane season is, you cannot stop your life for it, and as discount seekers know, some of the best cruise fares to the Caribbean can be found during hurricane season, especially during the peak period, which runs from mid-July through early-October.  But do you take a gamble and plan a Caribbean cruise vacation during that time?  The answer is Yes!  For starters, the chances of your particular voyage being affected by a hurricane are very slim, but it is a possibility, so you need to be prepared.

There is always the potential that your cruise itinerary may be impacted by a storm, but there is not much of a chance you’ll be put in harm’s way.  Today’s modern ships come equipped with state-of-the-art satellite equipment to follow the paths of storms and head away from the storm track.  Of course do keep in mind, hurricane season is not the time of year to plan a wedding on a particular island or any event, for that matter, that must take place in a particular scheduled port.  Itineraries can be disrupted by even the mere threat of a storm. Passenger safety is the cruise line’s utmost concern. If there’s a hurricane in a certain area the ship is scheduled to visit, then the ship will go someplace else.

The most important precaution you can take when considering a cruise during hurricane season is to buy insurance, but make sure the policy covers disruption in case of weather-related events.  Insurance is your protection so you don’t lose the money you invested in your cruise, and it is worth the nominal amount it costs.

We’ve been saying that in this space almost since we started writing. Insurance is your protection against losing your vacation investment; not just to hurricanes, but to illness, injury, and, in some cases, other less dire circumstances like your boss cancelling vacations due to some crisis at work.

Most bargain airfares are non-cancelable. Cruise fares are non-refundable after a certain time period. The lowest hotel rates are often pre-pay and non-refundable. Why put your vacation at risk, hurricane or no hurricane? Travel insurance will preserve your investment and it will pick up the cost of putting your vacation back together in case of delays.

In 1998, we were on a cruise aboard the Carnival Sensation to the Eastern Caribbean and sailed in the wake of Hurricane Mitch. Mitch was the worst hurricane of that year, but had actually passed Miami before we boarded the ship. Yes, we had some rainy weather the first day or two, and some rough seas, but we never even thought of cancelling our trip. We had great stories to tell about our trip and never felt like we were in danger.

There’s no reason not to plan a cruise vacation during hurricane season, unless you absolutely have to be on a particular island on a particular date as part of your plans. Even if a cruise line does cancel your cruise, your insurance will cover it, they will probably offer you an incentive to re-book your trip with significant discounts, onboard credit and upgrade offers.

So, go ahead…get out the map!

Mike and Darlene Jordan are registered agents of Cruises Inc., and are based in Southern Colorado. You can contact them at 800-267-7613 or by email at cruisesinc@gojade.org.