Mike and Darlene’s Weekly DEAL!
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Good Morning Everyone, and Happy Friday!

Good grief-it’s almost March already! That means that if you haven’t yet planned your summer or fall vacations, it is high time! And we’ve got a great fall get-away for you this week: It’s the Celebrity Summit, sailing on September 11, 2011, from Bayonne (Cape Liberty), New Jersey. This is a round-trip sailing, which makes booking airfare easier and, most likely, less expensive than an “open-jaw” flight (two departure airports).

It’s also a beautiful itinerary, and with any luck, the timing will be right for viewing some of the spectacular color changes in New England in the fall! Look at all of the great places you get to visit…full of history, beautiful coastlines, great seafood and more. And, this itinerary includes an overnight in Quebec City, allowing for lots of time to explore the sights, visit museums, shop, dine, and generally get the flavor of this romantic city. You’ll feel farther from home than you are, walking down cobblestone streets and stopping in small shops selling everything from pastries and artisanal cheese to antiques and art.

Celebrity Cruises Celebrity Summit

14-Night Canada and Nova Scotia, Cape Liberty R/T

Sun 09/11/11
Cape Liberty, New Jersey – Embarkation –
05:00 PM

Mon 09/12/11 At Sea

Tue 09/13/11
Boston, Massachusetts – Docked
08:00 AM – 05:00 PM

Wed 09/14/11
Portland, Maine – Docked
07:00 AM – 06:00 PM

Thu 09/15/11
Bar Harbor, Maine – Tendered
07:00 AM- 04:30 PM

Fri 09/16/11
Halifax, Nova Scotia – Docked
09:30 AM- 07:00 PM

Sat 09/17/11
At Sea

Sun 09/18/11
Quebec City, Quebec – Docked
01:00 PM

Mon 09/19/11
Quebec City, Quebec – Docked
07:00 PM

Tue 09/20/11
At Sea

Wed 09/21/11
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island – Docked
07:00 AM- 05:00 PM

Thu 09/22/11
Sydney, Nova Scotia – Docked
07:00 AM- 07:00 PM

Fri 09/23/11
At Sea

Sat
09/24/11
At Sea

Sun
09/25/11 Cape Liberty, New Jersey – Disembarkation – 07:00 AM
Times are subject to change

Book now for best fares and availability, and remember, your fare is protected if prices go up, and if they go down, we’ll contact the cruise line and re-negotiate your fare!

Interior staterooms start at $1724.46 per person for this 14-night cruise, including port fees and tax. Ocean views start at $2024.46, and you can enjoy your own private balcony for only $2624.46 per person, including port fees and taxes*. These are great fares for a gorgeous itinerary…if you’ve ever wanted to explore Canada and New England, this is a wonderful way to do so, and have the luxury of a comfortable ship with great food, service and amenities to get you there!

Call us now at 1-800-267-7613 and we’ll help you plan a fall trip that will offer so many photo ops, you might want to take a spare camera!

Until then, have a wonderful weekend,

Darlene & Mike

*Fares are based on double occupancy and are subject to change and availability. Port fees, tax and gratuities are included. Airfare, transfers and insurance are additional.

Mike and Darlene Jordan are franchisees of CruiseOne, and are based in Southern Colorado. You can contact them at 800-267-7613 or by email at mjordan@cruiseone.com.

Good Morning Everyone, Happy Saturday!

A lot of you will have Monday off for President’s Day, and to help you celebrate, we’ve got an awesome DEAL for you! We’ve just received advance notice of a great sale on European cruise itineraries, and here it is:

On February 22nd and 23rd, call us to reserve any Royal Caribbean European cruise departing after April 1, 2011 and enjoy up to $200 to spend onboard!

3 to 5-Nights $50 USD per stateroom

6 to 9-Nights $100 USD per stateroom

10+ Nights $200 USD per stateroom

Here’s a great example of one of the itineraries you can book:

Royal Caribbean Intl
Voyager of the Seas June 4, 2011

7-Night Mediterranean Cruise, Venice R/T

Sat 06/04/11
Venice, Italy – Embarkation 5 PM- Times are subject to change

Sun 06/05/11 Koper, Slovenia – Docked
08:00 AM – 07:00 PM

Mon 06/06/11 Ravenna, Italy – Docked
07:00 AM – 07:00 PM

Tue 06/07/11 Bari, Italy – Docked
11:00 AM – 08:00 PM

Wed 06/08/11 Dubrovnik, Croatia – Docked
08:00 AM – 06:00 PM

Thu 06/09/11
At Sea

Fri 06/10/11
Venice, Italy – Docked
08:00 AM

Sat
06/11/11 Venice, Italy – Disembarkation

This is a wonderful opportunity to see Venice, since the cruise starts there, and also ends there with an overnight on the ship! You’ll get there in the morning, have all day to explore, and there’s no need to book a hotel, you just return to the ship after you’ve seen the sights.

Fares* are amazingly low right now; so don’t wait! Call us at 1-800-267-7613 right now to tell us what type of stateroom you’d like to book: Interiors for the June 4th sail date start at only $572.08 per person, including port fees and tax! We told you fares were low!!! Book an ocean view for $772.08 per person, and enjoy a private balcony for only $992.08 per person. Plus-you get a $100 shipboard credit!

There are many other dates, itineraries and cruise lengths to choose from (fares are variable, based on the sail date), so give us a call and let us know the best departure date for you, and we’ll check the DEALs and be ready to reserve your space first thing on the 22nd.

Until then, have a great weekend, enjoy your day off, and start planning what to pack for your great European adventure!

Darlene & Mike
http://ping.fm/lF6LA

*Fares are based on double occupancy and are subject to change and availability. Fares include port fees and tax. Airfare, transfers and insurance are additional.

Your reward for booking a cruise to Europe during our 2-day sale?? Shipboard credit! http://ping.fm/E5E86

Get Out the Map

You Packed What?

By Mike & Darlene Jordan

It’s pretty easy to become complacent. We travel a lot, we go through airport security a lot, we know what we can take and what we can’t. Every once in awhile, though, things slip through the cracks.

Take, for example, our recent trip to Miami. We were going to be gone 16 days and, in the past, we’ve found ourselves on a ship with out something as simple as a nail clipper. Yes, there was a time when nail clippers were forbidden on aircraft, but the TSA came to its senses and that’s no longer the case. So, Mike grabbed his little “wallet” that has nail clippers in it and tossed it in the carry-on.

At the airport screening, guess who was pulled out of line for a special search of his carry-on? Confident he’d done nothing wrong, we watched as his small computer case was opened and searched. What’s this? The agent pulled out the little clipper wallet, opened it and discovered a small cuticle knife Mike has never used, or even pulled from its holder. Red faced, he “donated” the little knife to the TSA’s box of confiscated items and was allowed to head off to our flight.

OK, that was an embarrassing oversight, especially since we should have known better. But, let’s contrast that with some other interesting items that have caused problems with security.

Normally, we don’t think much about our checked luggage, other than hoping it gets to our destination at the same time we do. But someone in the news just today must’ve had a lot more confidence in airport baggage handling than we do…

It seems they had checked a suitcase loaded with…almost $40,000…in cash. How do we know this? Because that’s what two TSA agents in New York are charged with stealing from their bag on January 30.

Now, there are lots of ways to transport large amounts of money around the world. You can transfer from one account to another electronically or simply carry a check to deposit in a local bank when you arrive. About the last thing we’d think of is checking a suitcase full of cash on an international airline flight. Have these people never flown before? They’ve certainly never lost a suitcase. Neither have we, but we know people who have. So…no cash in suitcases.

Most people who travel do so for business or pleasure. Apparently some also take their chores with them. Like the guy who actually tried to walk through a TSA screening area with a fully fueled chain saw.

One family even tried to avoid airline fees for transporting dead bodies by wheeling a deceased relative through security in a wheelchair. Did they think the gate agent wouldn’t require a boarding pass? Is buying the corpse a ticket cheaper than shipping it in the cargo hold?

Of course, it’s perfectly OK to bring chocolate through security, except that the chocolate must not be coating 7 pounds of heroin disguised as candy bars as was confiscated at New York’s JFK recently.

Also, if you’re a bird lover, do not try to smuggle two live pigeons through security by hiding them in your pants. JFK again.

9/11 brought about a lot of changes in airport security. It’s a lot tougher to bring weird things onto an airliner theses days.

But…does that mean it was a lot easier to bring your chain saw on board back in 2000?

Until next time…get out the map!

Mike and Darlene Jordan are franchisees of CruiseOne, and are based here in Southern Colorado. You can contact them at 800-267-7613 or by email at mjordan@cruiseone.com.
http://www.kdscruisesandtours.com

Great fares and complimentary upgrades on summer #Canada/#New England cruises!
http://www.kdscruisesandtours.com

Nothing’s Carved in Stone

Get Out the Map
By Mike & Darlene Jordan

One thing quite a few people don’t understand when it comes to travel, even the best laid plans are subject to change. Such was the case as we approached the island of St. Martin on our recent trip aboard the Azamara Journey.

We had been to this island that is owned by both Holland and France several times, but always Phillipsburg, the capital of St. Maarten, on the Dutch side. We were scheduled on this trip to visit Marigot, the capital of St. Martin, the French side. The port would require disembarking by tender, and we were looking forward to a part of the island we’d never really explored.

Unfortunately, due to high seas, the captain decided we would dock at Phillipsburg on the Dutch side rather than risk injuries trying to board tender boats from the ship in rough water. We were somewhat disappointed, but set out from the ship ready to make the best of it.

The port at Phillipsburg had changed considerably! Since our last visit it had been completely renovated. On our way off the ship, we overheard a woman telling a friend that her husband had rented a car from an agency right on the pier and we decided that was a good idea…and just $40 for the day!

Note to selves:  rental car agencies only have a handful of the cheap cars. It’s much wiser to get there early. By the time we walked up to the window, there was only one car left, a very nice Hundai, but it was 90-some dollars for the day.

We took it.

And we’re glad we did. Armed with the map from the car company and some suggestions on where to go, we made a complete circumnavigation of the island our goal.

The first leg of our clockwise journey around the island was mostly city-like traffic. It was a busy Sunday and we drove past a number of churches letting out, kids playing in streets and lots of closed shops & stores. We drove past the busy casino district with high-rise hotels we didn’t even know they had and past the airport, where flights come screaming in just above busy streets. Past the airport we finally reached some open land and scenery.

We were already hungry when we drove past the road to one of the island’s highest points, Pic Paradis. We made a note of the spot and drove past it looking for a place to eat. We found a nice spot off the beaten track right on one of the small beaches. The day was beautiful and we enjoyed some local dishes as we looked out over the surf crashing on the rocks below.

After lunch, it was back to Pic Paradis and the hair-raising, white knuckle ride up the steep, winding road to the summit. At the top, we parked and headed up a trail through the “jungle” to an open spot with terrific views of the island, the ocean, and the numerous other islands off in the distance. We didn’t have time for a long stop…we had a lot of island to see.

Our route sent us toward the north end of the island and Marigot, the town where we were originally supposed to disembark the ship. Almost everything was closed (Sunday, remember) so we continued up the coast and took a side trip over a couple of mountains on awful roads down to a Radisson beach resort right on the water. This place was amazing; nice beach, pool, lovely grounds, outdoor restaurant, and much more.

Daylight was fading. We headed south again along the main highway and deviated toward the eastern shore and a dolphin sanctuary (didn’t see any dolphins) and back into Phillipsburg over steep hills on some of the worst paved road we’ve ever seen. We were glad it wasn’t our car.

Sometimes change is good—we had a great time! St. Maarten is a beautiful island, and by taking the drive all the way around on our own we saw things most cruise passengers never see. Not to mention places to recommend to folks who want to just fly to the island for a getaway…heck, we might even go back!

Until next time…get out the map!

Mike and Darlene Jordan are franchisees of CruiseOne, and are based here in Southern Colorado. You can contact them at 800-267-7613 or by email at mjordan@cruiseone.com. 

Mike and Darlene’s Weekly DEAL!

Hello Everyone, and Happy Friday!

That awful weather we mentioned last week is still hanging around most of the country, so we looked for, and found, a great Spring Break cruise at an affordable price:

The Carnival Valor sails from Miami on March 13, 2011, and it has a great itinerary-

Carnival Cruise Lines
Carnival Valor 
7-Night Exotic Western Caribbean, Miami RT 
 
Sun, 03/13/11, Miami, Florida – Embark  
 
Mon, 03/14/11, At Sea  
 
Tue, 03/15/11, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Wed, 03/16/11, Roatan Island, Honduras
  
Thu, 03/17/11, Belize City, Belize
 
Fri, 03/18/11, Cozumel, Mexico

Sat, 03/19/11, At Sea
  
 Sun, 03/20/11, Miami, Florida – Disembark

 We’ve priced this cruise for a family of 4, and it’s a great value! Just $2338.24 for a family of 4 in one interior room, including port fees and tax! Upgrade to an ocean view for $2878.24 for the family, and enjoy a private balcony for four at only $2978.24!* That’s a balcony stateroom for only $744.56 per person, on a 7-day cruise! When you consider that that includes all of your entertainment, transportation, food and all of the amenities of a beautiful cruise ship, this is a great DEAL!

And there’s so much to do in each port, family members of any age will remember this trip for a long time, and it’ll be WARM!

Give us a call today at 1-800-267-7613 and we’ll get you all set for a nice, warm, family vacation! But don’t procrastinate…when fares are this good, they don’t last long. 

Until then, have a great weekend, stay warm and enjoy the football game. Hope your team wins (our team won’t be there, so we’re pulling for all of you)!

Darlene & Mike

*Fares are subject to change and availability. Gross fares are based on a family of four and include port fees and tax. Airfare, insurance and transfers are additional.