Happenings SMC 01/22/10

Good morning blog world. I bet all of you located here in LA are glad to see our typical 70 degree weather return this week, I know I sure am. A good friend of mine and I have taken up a new hobby recently and we have already gotten in trouble with our wives! We have started playing tennis for a couple reasons. #1 We both want to get into better shape but do not have the discipline to work out and #2 we are both very competitive. Well yesterday our wives decided we should all go out to dinner last night which was fine with us but my friend PR called at lunch and suggested we go play about 4 and eat a little later. That was fine with me and after some low key griping from Linds all was well...until at 6PM PR and I decided we had time for one more set. That set turned into a back and forth battle for the ages and neither of us would be smart and say, hey we better just quit and go get ready for dinner. No way was that happening and we finished up about 6:50! Needless to say my shower wasn't much of a shower and Linds low key griping turned into no talking and an evil eye. She especially didn't like it when I explained how I had not had a hobby like this since we had been married and that I could be out in a bar somewhere like some husbands :). Anyway, she got over it pretty quickly as did KR(PR's wife) and we had a great time. BTW headed back to play today in about an hour and a half.
Now on the subject of travel, this weekend is the annual Bridal Extravaganza at the Dothan civic center. The Dothan Eagle puts it on and it is basically a trade show for just about any kind of vendor you can think of that would have anything to do with weddings. Last year was my first show and I had about 350 brides to be register at my booth. I hope this year is just as good or better. Of that number I did collect several new clients, referrals from those clients, and just today have quoted one of those referrals for the second time. The exposure is invaluable and I am really looking forward to it tomorrow. It is from 1-5PM so come by to see us, I would love to meet you!
On a personal note First Baptist Church Dothan(our church) is having a special day tomorrow. There will be a guest speaker who literally was blind for ten years but now can see! I bet you are singing Amazing Grace in your head now aren't you? Kevin Derryberry will be doing the special music too. For all of you who are 30ish and older you probably remember the band Telluride that used to play in college bars, well this was the lead singer who has now left that life behind to enter the ministry. I have heard Kevin's story before and it's a good one. I have told you all this to invite you to come visit us, we would love to have you! If you like to eat, in true Southern Baptist style, we will feed you after church for free :).
I think I have just about covered three of the most different topics I have ever talked about on this blog so I better quit while I am ahead. Have a great weekend and I hope to see you tomorrow, Jeremy

All-inclusive versus Cruising SMC 1/16/10

If you are a follower of this blog you already know that I have now been to two all-inclusive resorts and been on two cruises. Just about every week, especially this time of the year, someone will call and ask which they should do. All they know for sure is that they want to be somewhere warm that's not here. I am going to try to put my answer to those clients in writing this morning. I haven't in the past because only having gone on one cruise I didn't feel I could give a fair assessment of the cruise industry base on one experience. Now, after our Thanksgiving cruise with Princess I feel I have a much better personal grip on cruises. For the record, I have done extensive training with almost every cruise line and travel company and have toured a couple ships I haven't actually sailed on.
Lets start with an all inclusive resort. The #1 thing I like is, just like the name suggest, it's all-inclusive! I am guessing the concept was born when an investor with my mindset went on a cruise. For people like me that watch their budget very closely and like to know what it is "really" going to cost to take a vacation. As with everything we will discuss today I am speaking in general terms, there are a lot of AI resorts and a lot of cruise lines...take that for what it is worth. With AIs the initial outlay of money will almost always be more than the initial cost of a cruise. The difference and the personal experience I have had is you literally do not need any cash with you while at an AI. Most everyone of them even include your gratuities in the initial cost. Food, drinks(alcoholic and non), entertainment, and beach activities are all paid for. However, I do suggest taking some cash for two reasons. One, some countries charge a departure tax before you are allowed to leave their airport(usually less than $20). Two, you know you are going to want to have a souvenir to bring back and it is just dumb not to have some cash on you at anytime because you just never know. On the negative side of the coin with an AI you are in one country, one resort, in one city/area for the length of your stay. If you do want to venture away from the resort itself it will cost you money, though usually not much in a cab fare plus what ever it is you want to do. Side note, another reason to use an agent is I happen to know a couple resorts right now in Cancun that are offering free tours to several ruins sites, zip line, and admission to a water park if you book with them. All in all if you have a relaxing beach get away in mind and not a lot of crowd or hassle, an all-inclusive may be just what the Dr has ordered for you.
Up next cruising: Number one like, price! The cruise industry is extremely competitive therefore extremely affordable. Now like with everything in life if you want the penthouse suite you better get your check book out. On the other side if you are willing to stay in an interior cabin(which I do not suggest and will be the topic of another blog) you can cruise dirt cheap...initially. I also like cruises for some more reasons. I really like the actual cruising part. It has its own unique draw just being on the sea and watching the sunrise over the next day's port from the ship or as you pull away that afternoon at sunset. I really enjoy the nightly entertainment on board the ship(it's way better than what you will get at an AI). Last but not least I like the fact you do get to see multiple countries and cultures on one trip without having to pack and unpack. Now for the not so good side. Remember how much cheaper the cruise is? Well from the time you get on board to the time you get off there is a sales pitch for something...if you know me you know that drives me nuts! If you would like a Coca Cola, that will be about $3. If you would like a beer, that will be about $5, and if you want a mixed drink you better really want one, that will be about $8...and we are not talking about a fish bowl, it's about four swallows. Want to just spend a day at the beach in what ever port you may be in that day,it will run you about $100-150 per couple to have the cruise line take you. If that isn't enough you will usually have to rent a chair, buy your lunch, and drinks there too. Oh yea, remember the gratuities that are mandatory on a cruise, that will be about $10 per person per day. I could go on and on but I think you get the point. Unless you do not want a drink outside of water and juice and do not want to do any excursions you are not really going to save any money at all. One more quick thing about this topic and I will move on, this is for the guys. I have been with my wife on three of the four trips above...she probably spent 1/10 the amount at the AI that she did on the cruises. Those stinking sales pitches on the ship, they aren't for us. They announce that tonight from 6-8 the XYZ store will mark down everything 50% and they go bananas! It's a feeding frenzy and your wife will do it too. Not to mention that every port has something they just have to have.
I hope this has been somewhat informative for you all because I know you are tired of reading about now. Let me wrap it all up by saying that I love them both. If you still can't decide which way to go, call me and I bet I can talk to you for no more than 5 minutes, ask a few questions, and decide for you based off your personality which you would rather do. My #1 suggestion is both :) Until someone comes out with an all-inclusive cruise the debate will rage on! Jeremy

I'm Back! Saturday Morning Coffee 1/9/10

Good COLD morning blog world, after a very long delay due to lack of desire to sit down and do this I'm back! If you are one of my regular readers I apologize for being lazy. A friend and customer of mine probably said it best several months ago in her blog, "blogging I have a new love and her name is Face Book." There is definitely something to the instant gratification that Face Book has to offer.
Well enough of that, how have you been doing? I hope you all had a great Christmas and a happy new year. We did here in LA, my mother bought us a Wii and we have been playing like elementary kids ever since. I am shocked that Linds actually enjoys it too! Since last blogging she and I have gone on a cruise with Princess Cruise Lines and had a blast. I have several blog topics that I took away from that to share with you one day. Princess and their sister company Cunard are the only cruise lines that offer agents a free cruise. All we have to do is spend some time taking and passing some training courses to qualify. Also it isn't like when you graduate you get to pick any cruise you would like. Princess releases limited space on certain cruises as they see fit. Long story short we ditched the family the week of Thanksgiving to cruise based on worry that we may not have another chance when we had the time to go. Princess only gives you 2 years to take your graduation cruise once you have completed the coursework. We traveled on the Crown Princess which is just 3 yrs old and very nice! It was a western Caribbean cruise, which I wouldn't have chosen had I been paying because that is where we went in March, but we still had a blast and I still want a vacation home in Grand Cayman :).
I better wrap it up right here for the day before I get carried away. On top of being a terrible typist, my mind really starts racing when I blog and one topic starts running into another. I wanted to keep the first one back short and sweet so as not to bore you right off the bat! Have a great weekend and I will be back soon, Jeremy

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