Re-Post from 4/18/09!

Good morning to everyone today! I hope everybody had a productive week and have had the opportunity to enjoy some of the beautiful weather we are having. As all of you are well aware, this 75 degree sunshine will only last maybe a couple more weeks here in Southeast Alabama. This week I am going to talk about the one topic that I feel has been touched on WAY more than others, but I have to do it again because every single week I have been in the travel industry I hear the same thing: Why should I use a travel agent instead of booking myself online?

This is a very fair question that 2 years ago I asked myself. Linds and I wanted to go to Walt Disney World for a few days during her Christmas break. So, just like I am sure most of you would have done I went to the Disney website and begin to click away. Two days later and what seemed like a million clicks, I had at least 10 different quotes on what I thought was the same trip and gave up and called a local agency. I told the young lady what we had in mind for our trip and she said to give her a few minutes and she would call me back. Sure enough, about an hour later she called with everything laid out for me along with a price that was a little bit lower than any of the ten quotes I had gotten online. Whew! How easy was that? Also I knew if there was a problem of any kind that I could call her, a local person in a local office with my issue. Trust me on this one...try calling an 800 # and understanding the language the person on the other end speaks. Plus if you do manage to master their language what happens if you get cut off? I know, you call back into a huge call center and no one has a clue what you were just discussing with the other guy. This one experience two years ago is where the idea of becoming a travel agent myself was born.

I am going to try to explain exactly what I do and how I get paid for my services as shortly as I can. First of all, let me explain my name sake. The name of my business is Wiregrass Travel, the franchise I purchased is Cruise Planners. I am assuming the reason the founders of Cruise Planners took on this name is because of the fact that they had worked in the cruise industry all of their careers and the fact that cruising has become the most popular, profitable form of vacation. To me, however, the name is very misleading. It tells, in my opinion, the customers that we only plan cruises. Cruise Planners is partnered with American Express travel and we have the same access to everything AMEX has to offer. I am sure all of you know that American Express has been the leading authority in travel for years and years. We book just about anything you can think of (European tours, hotels in NYC, Disney, all-inclusive, ski packages) at the same, or most of the time a few dollars cheaper than you can doing all the work yourself online! It does not cost you one penny more to use an agent, plus you get to talk to only one person, me. The only thing I would like to add to this is if you just need a standard hotel room for a couple nights in anywhere USA(not a major city or resort), yes it is easy and yes you may as well book it yourself.

Now here is the next question out of every one's mouth after hearing all that: Wow that's great but how much of a fee do you charge for your time? NOTHING!!!!!!! The tour companies, cruise lines, resorts, hotels, ect. pay the agents a percentage of the amount you spend in commission. Well do they raise the price to us the consumer to offset that percentage? NO!!!!! The vacation companies realize just how vast the travel industry is and they feel it is worth it to them to lower their amount of profit by the amount of commission paid to have us, the travel agents, help the customer sort through everything out there and recommend their form of travel. It is very literally a win win for both you and me.

Please do me a favor, if you hear anyone talking about any form of travel, tell them about this blog and how a travel agent can help. I promise it will help them feel better about their vacation and help me be successful. Like I said win win.

Have a great weekend!

Jeremy

A Little Catching Up!

Good wet morning to all! I decided to write a rare mid-week blog to follow up one the previous one where I left you hanging. If you remember I abruptly ended that one due to the fact the hospital staff had brought my grandfather's breakfast in and he needed some help eating. As for an update on him, me and my grandmother went to the rehab hospital where he has been since that same Saturday and received some great news yesterday. He is doing really well and we get to bring him home tomorrow! As for today it will be catching up on as much work as possible because we all know how hospital discharges can seem to take ALL day, then we have to get him home and settled.
Boy, it is wet outside if you live in the great state of Alabama today. It has pretty much rained all night long thanks to TS Ida. We all should be very thankful because to the best of my knowledge there has been no damage from this storm. The one major concern I do have is for the cotton farmers. Some of you probably know that my dad manages a cotton gin and he was really worried yesterday that the heavy rain and/or wind would ruin what is looking like a great crop. Whether you good people from the Dothan area know it or not, even though there aren't that many farmers in the area percentage wise they have a HUGE impact on the local economy. I have been in several different type of businesses and in everyone of them there is a direct correlation between good crop years and upswings in business...not to mention the guys really need these "bumper" years to offset the bad ones.
OK I know you didn't come here to hear all about the economy. I want to run through some specials that are going on right now in the travel industry. Disney cruise lines are running their "kids sail free" promotion on select cruises for most of the spring. Walt Disney World has a buy four nights get three free promotion going for any of their moderate resorts and above as well as buy five get three free at their value resorts. As is the case almost always this time of year all the cruise lines are making their way to the Caribbean for the winter and that means prices are getting dirt cheap for sailings all the way through mid-May. I strongly encourage all of you who are on a budget(like most of us are) to seriously think about taking a cruise now while the prices are low, just to experience it once. I think you will fall in love with the idea. Alaska group bookings are in their prime right now through the end of the year and I have a couple groups blocked for late next season(Aug.-Sept.) so let me know if you are interested in those. Sandals all-inclusive has a 65% off sale going on now and if you know me you know this is one of my favorites! I have also been getting some really good specials via email from the ski resorts out west. And last but not least did you know you can have a four day weekend to Vegas in March and stay at the Bellagio for less than $600 per person including air fare and transfers? Just some things to think about this rainy day. As always thank you all for reading and have a great rest of the week.
Jeremy

Oh yea, I almost forgot...The week of Thanksgiving the office of Wiregrass Travel will be closed all week. Gonna have a little family time and I encourage you to do the same :)

Saturday Morning Coffee 10/31/09

Good morning blog world. If you actually follow this blog you have probably wondered what is going on because it has been several weeks now without a post. Well I will give my excuses but that is all they are because most of it is laziness combined with lack of creativity. For those of you who blog yourself you probably know what I am talking about when I say I get into a slump. Nothing will come to my mind and if something does it just sound all that interesting to me so I know darn well you don't want to hear it. On top of all that I have actually been really busy finalizing the largest group I have ever booked. 31 cabins and 62 passengers are paid in full and ready to go! Boy they have been a great group to deal with and a lot of fun, but all that said it takes a lot to track down that many mostly retired folks for payment. I have told just about every one of them that if I had the money and time I would go with them just to watch. They are an alumni group from Panama City that graduated HS in 1961 and seem to be a real close knit bunch. One of my favorites is a lady who chose not to eat with the main group @6P.M. because that is cocktail hour! Oh yea and she has about 8-10 that have chosen that route too. Also, today I am writing from a hospital on my Aunt's laptop because my grandfather had a pretty major back surgery on Wednesday and is still having a hard time mentally recovering from the anesthesia. I haven't had more than 2 hours sleep if that so if this all sounds senseless I will blame that and not my ignorance. I know today is Halloween but I don't really get all that into it, however being awakened @ 510AM to a freaking bunny walking into the room to take his blood pressure was just about the weirdest thing I have ever experienced!
As far as travel news goes I will run through the highlights pretty quick. Royal Caribbean is really pushing the unveiling of the Oasis of the Seas which will be the largest cruise ship afloat. I think all of you experienced cruisers out there really aught to consider giving this one a try this year. I really believe it will blow you mind, just the sheer amazing. Got to run he is awake, breakfast is here and so are the nurses.
Jeremy

Saturday Morning Coffee 10/3/09

Hello from the back room of my house, also known as my office. The first thing on my mind today is the same thing I have seen on every one's FB status' and that fall is here! At least this week anyway for all of us Alabamians. It really has been like a burst of energy for me. I know by late February I will be just as ready for spring as I am now for fall but the biggest difference is there will be no football on and no major holidays right around the corner. Oh well, I am sure some of you get tired of my "pre-blog" rambling so I will get right to it. This week my home office, Cruise Planners/American Express, announced an extension of it's CP cares program and I am very proud of what we have accomplished. I am especially proud we, along with Royal Caribbean, have chosen Fisher House Foundation as our charity to donate to. Just last week I was at the VA hospital in Montgomery with my Grandfather so I have seen first hand the needs of some of the veterans. Seeing as how I am not the best blogger in the world anyway I am going to add the details below from my home office. They set this up for us to use as our own but I do not like to take credit for someone Else's' work so here it is.
Chances are good you probably have a close relative, friend of neighbor who served in our Armed Forces. Now you have an opportunity to assist the thousands of veterans and their families who require extended care at a VA medical facility through Cruise Planners’ Voyages for Veteran’s program. When you book a selected cruise on Royal Caribbean, we will make a $50 donation in your name to Fisher House which provides free housing to the families of veteran’s while they undergo extended treatment. This donation does not affect the cost of your cruise, so it is a “painless” way to donate. For more information on Fisher House you can visit www.FisherHouse.org To see a list of departures for this exclusive Cruise Planners/American Express program please visit my web site at http://www.getawaywiregrass.com/site/VeteransProgram

Saturday Morning Coffee 9/26/09

Good Morning Wiregrass and beyond! I hope everyone had a great week and are as ready as I am for some football today. Today I am copying and pasting an email I sent to several ladies this morning about some deals in Cancun this March. They all asked for the details on my fan page with Facebook yesterday so I figured that if there were three hand raiser's then there were many more that really wanted to know. Here is the meat of the information:
I am going to give you two resorts to check out that fall in the price range. I used the date on March 22nd-March 27th(Mon-Sat) flying out of ATL. I can't remember, but I believe the flights were direct and I know they were at decent times. Any way the resort that came in under $800 was the Oasis Palm Beach resort. It priced out including air and taxes for $777.74pp. The other was the Barcelo Tucancun Beach Resort. It was priced $832.76pp with everything else remaining the same. I will provide links to both at the end of this email. As with most, the web sites look great but sometimes you don't know what you get until you get there in foreign country. The good news is I have been to the Barcelo myself about 6-7 years ago. The resort wasn't by any means luxury but we were all very pleased. It was right on the beach and clean. The beach itself was actually a nicer beach than the one at Sandals in the Bahamas. The staff did a great job with activities both day and night. There was constantly something going on during the day(volleyball,kayak race,pool games, and even beer pong). Every night there was also some form of entertainment in their courtyard area. There were variety type shows to cultural Mexican dancing girls to a one man band singing Spanish songs we didn't know! Long story short, pending it is still the same, I would go again. The only knock I had was the food...it was pretty mediocre but still got the job done. Oh yea, it didn't matter to us at the time but your choices for beer, which is included, was Dos Equis or Dos Equis. Tip...after spending WAY to much time at the bar one afternoon me and another guy made friends with the bar tender and asked him if he knew how to make Sangria and boy did he ever. He only made us about 4-5 pitchers that afternoon!
http://www.oasishotels.com/WebOasis/EN/ficha_hotel/oasis_palm_beach/servicios/generales.jsp

http://www.barcelo.com/BarceloHotels/en-GB/Hotels/Mexico/Cancun/TucancunBeach/Home

Thank you so much for reading, Jeremy

Saturday Morning Coffee 9/19/09

Good morning and I am way behind! As you all know two weeks ago I went up to Auburn for the day and we had a blast. Last week I had to take my niece to a birthday party followed by a Sunday school social. Well needless to say I haven't taken the time to sit down and blog. I do actually have some travel news to share with you this morning. After keeping you in the loop with the latest ship changes and one "interesting" new cruise, I am going to list at the bottom some group space I have blocked for this year's spring break for 95% of the Wiregrass area.
I received an email from my Carnival BDM yesterday letting me know that in May 2010 the Fantasy would be replaced in Mobile with the Elation. Wow, we have gone from the old Holiday for years to two new ships in less than six months. That's right you will have only about 5 months if you want to experience the Fantasy out of Mobile. The good news is the Elation is a sister ship to the Fantasy(same deck plan) but is a few years newer. The reason they are making this change is because Carnival is starting a year round itinerary our of Charleston, S.C. and that is where the Fantasy will be headed in May 2010. I really appreciate the fact that Carnival really does try to use as many ports as possible to try to give everyone the chance to cruise without the added expense of air-fare. If only I could get the rest of the cruise lines to get on-board! How awesome would it be if they ALL docked in Panama City or Destin? I bet my business would double or triple. Oh well, I can dream I guess.
As far as the interesting news goes, well it involves Carnival too. I spotted this on Fox news yesterday and Lind's and I had a good laugh. There is going to be the first ever "cougar cruise" coming soon! Yep, you are right, they are talking about that kind of cougar...over 40, single, and in to young men :). There are several companies out there that put together singles and gay cruises all the time but this one is a first. I believe one of the companies mentioned above has come up with this idea. As of the interview the cougars are heavily out numbering the "cubs" on this inaugural sailing so the odds are looking good fellows. Here is the bad news for us here in LA, it is sailing out of San Diego for a weekend trip. However, I am sure there is someone out there that would not mind making this trip. I know I have one friend in particular that will be counting his pennies.
Thank you for reading today and like I stated above I am going to list some specials for spring break in 2010. Jeremy

3/15/10-3/19/10 Royal Caribbean Bahamas cruise $364.90, including all taxes and fees.

3/15/10-3/20/10 Royal Caribbean Belize and Costa Maya $602.93, everything included.

3/22/10-3/26/10 Royal Caribbean Bahamas $364.90, everything included.

3/22/10-3/27/10 Carnival to Grand Cayman and Cozumel $473.67, everything included.

Saturday Morning Coffee 9/5/09

Early good morning,
I am excited today which would explain why I am up blogging at 5:20 on a Saturday morning. I am going to Auburn in a little while for the first time in over three years! I had really gotten burnt out from years past mostly due to it taking an entire Saturday and into Sunday, like tonight, to go have the game experience. I have said it before but is worth saying again, I would have told any one that they were nuts if they thought I would ever miss 3 years of Auburn football. I guess the simple fact is I am getting old and it sure is nice to sit in my recliner, in the air conditioning, bathroom within 10 yards, and watching all the other action before and after my game. Like I stated above I am really excited about the game today, but even more excited about who I get to go with and see. I have my college roommate and my may as well been our roommate driving up from FL to go with me. Getting back to the older issue above it will be nice to spend time with these guys since marriage and babies(for one) limit the amount of times we see each other in a year, esp. without any ladies around! I am guessing there will be at least one story that starts "do you remember that night when we were up here that..." fill in the blank. Also my brother-in-law is going up with us and he is one of the funniest guys I know. If he warms up to the other two pretty quickly he will keep us in stitches all day. We are leaving Dothan around 8:30 and headed to Buffalo Connection for lunch and some other games on TV before we head to the stadium about 2. Then I am going to set out to find yet another reason today will be a good day, John Nelson. I met this guy way back in Nov. at training for Cruise Planners. We were assigned seating in class and ended up right next to each other. Well it didn't take John long to figure out how much I loved college football and the Auburn Tigers. He told me that his son was a high school kicker from Ciblo, TX and was signing with La Tech this past spring as the starting kicker. He also said you have to come to the game and we will hook up/hang out. Well, I have to admit I knew he was a heck of a nice guy and I did believe his kid was signing with La Tech but I said there is no way he knows that his kid will be the starting kicker. Either Coach Dooley is blowing smoke and they believe it or he is just "one of those dads". Well long story short, he was named the starting kicker as a true freshman and has one proud papa. So not only do I get to spend the day with some of my best friends in the world, I also get to see one of my newest friends and watch his kid run onto the field at Jordan Hare for the first game of his college career. His name is Matt Nelson and according to CBS Sportsline he will be wearing #33. It also says he weighs a whopping 155lbs. As a friend of his dad and die hard Auburn fan I hope he kicks a minimum of three Field goals but Auburn wins 42-9! War-Eagle and Matt Nelson.
Jeremy