Review of the Carnival Pride

So way back in January Carnival invited me to cruise on the Pride out of Baltimore.
I have so many clients that love sailing on this ship due to the convenience of sailing out of Baltimore, but for me personally it has never been of interest. After all when I cruise I like it to be warm and sunny and spend my time at the pool or on the beach or exploring new ports of call. This cruise sailed in January.

And as you can tell from the above picture we actually had snow on the pool chairs

My second issue before with this cruise is I don't think it has a very exciting itinerary.
We sailed to Port Canaveral, Nassau and Freeport - although on some cruise they do skip Port Canaveral and visit Grand Turks instead

Surprisingly enough I loved this cruise. The ship is definitely older than a lot that I have been on but that was part of what I loved about it, yes maybe it was older but it was built better than the ships that are being built today and so it was designed to last longer.

Walking on board, the first thing I noticed is the atrium is not a wide open space like on most cruise ships

But on a cold winters day it did feel cozy. 

The ship itself in my opinion is quirky with a strong Renaissance feel to it,

One of the funniest things I heard on board was a fellow passenger in the elevator saying how she wouldn't recommend this ship to anyone as it had too many pictures of naked people on board!.

The big question I always ask myself after I cruise is "Would I sail on this ship/itinerary again?" and in this case I would give it a big DEFINITELY

Even though it was cold as we sailed down the coast we did have 2 beautiful sunny days in the Bahamas. The entertainment on the ship - especially the Piano Man was amazing,and the staff among the friendliest I have experienced in a long time

Since it was cold on board we spent a lot of time participating on the on board activities and meeting people. There is nothing like a 3 hour sea day brunch with some very friendly people.We never felt that we had to hurry up and do something or to get somewhere which really made it the perfect getaway

For those that wanted to spend time in the pool they do have a cover so it is not freezing - although I still thought it was too cold. There were a lot of people hanging out there and kids playing in the water

During the summer I think this cruise prices way to high but for a winter getaway, with the lower prices I think it is perfect.

I actually thought about checking prices to take my husband or a group of girlfriends in January 2015 but the Pride is getting a face lift and will be in Tampa until March so maybe I will hold off until the following year. I just hope that the "facefit" doesn't take away her charm and quirkiness 

What to do when the weather interrupts your travel plans

So since most of the East coast is snowed in right now I figured this would be a good time to talk about what you can do when the weather interrupts your travel plans.
For me the most important thing in any vacation is travel insurance. Travel insurance protects your investment in your vacation. If there is a major storm like today then you have the option of just cancelling your vacation and receiving a refund from the insurance company. Different companies have different policies, some allow you to cancel for any reason others will require you to wait until the airline cancels your flight before they will refund your money.
Don't forget its not just in the winter that weather can disrupt your travel plans, personally my vacation plans have been interrupted more from hurricanes rather than snow

Fortunately when major storms comes we do know ahead of time and to save your vacation it plans to be proactive.
I have a client who cruises every New Year. She takes insurance but wants the vacation so when we book the flight she goes down a day early plus we put a rental car on hold. If a major storm is due she just drives down in the rental car and then flies back afterwards. (Make sure you call the airline,first, if you don't let them know you will not be on the first leg of your flight they will cancel your whole ticket)

For this storm many airlines cancelled their flights for Thursday by Wednesday, be proactive - call the airline, tell them you are willing to leave early, can you fly from another airport? In situations like this the airline will work with you and not charge any change fees

Of course, the best advise I can give is call a travel agent when you book your vacation. Travel agents know what to do in a storm and know the shortcuts. Can you imagine all of those people trying to get through to a major on line travel agencies , who really don't have the staff to answer the phones on a normal day yet alone before a storm?

2013 Year in review

So 2013 was a year of change for me.
I started something new and meet a lot of wonderful people and traveled to some new places.
I officially started my company on 1st February 2013 after leaving the store front agency I was with. It has been quite an adventure.
I never knew there was so much that had to be done with running and promoting your own business. I am so thankful for all of my friends who have encouraged me and supported me on this journey. I am also thankful for those clients who were with me before who still wanted to work with me and tracked me down so I could continue to book their travel
I love working for myself but have figured out the one thing I don't like is marketing! Oh and changing my website, which if you look at it you will see that it hasn't changed since the company that designed it made it all up - well except for the special offers but they do that too.
It took a while but I found someone to design my logo and I think she did an amazing job

I do love my website and hopefully sometime this year I will have a section for photos and one for customer comments Who knows maybe I will even figure out how to have it featured easier on google and other search engines
www.griffinwwtravel.com

I was able to do more traveling in 2013 and look forward to doing even more in 2014. I have meet some wonderful people and visited some great resorts

I did my yearly cruise with a great group of friends who travel with me every year

I am hoping that 2014 will be even more successful than 2013 and I hope to send clients to places they have only dreamed about and to have experiences that will stay with them forever.
I am working with a friend to set up some special tours to England, Kenya and Israel and planning on taking a group to the Baltics in June 2015.
Heres to a successful and memorable 2014