The Good, the Bad and the Ugly when it comes to Travel --

I thought it might be fun to share with you some personal adventures I’ve experienced while traveling the world.

When I was twelve years old, I convinced my father to take me on a Princess cruise to Mexico. This was still a few years before The Love Boat hit television screens, so cruising was still in its infancy. They had evening games where the Cruise Director helped the passengers get to know each other. One game was a sort of relay race where we popped balloons by sitting on other people’s laps. This was a great ice breaker that probably wouldn’t be politically correct today. Anyway, a very attractive girl my age popped a balloon on my lap. That eventually led to my very first kiss a few days later. After four years, I found the girl’s name in the phone book and we began dating. We dated on and off for six more years. One pop of a balloon spawned a friendship that has lasted for decades. Today’s cruises to Mexico are on ships ten times the size of the one we were on and they cost less than they did back then, but I bet there are still a few people who share their first kiss on a Love Boat.

You would think everything would go smoothly for professionals in the travel business, wouldn’t you? Well it doesn’t always happen that way! My wife and I took our kids to a top resort in Hawaii when our oldest child was only five. We did millions of dollars in business with the particular hotel and its parent company, but we were greeted by a desk agent with an attitude. The connecting ocean-front rooms we were promised were not available for us. We were told that our children could be in one wing and my wife and I could be in another wing, about a ten-minute walk away. This desk clerk was serious! When I asked for the manager, the same clerk did a 360 degree turn and advised me that she was the acting manager that evening. We ended up sharing a garden room with roll-aways that night. I was able to reach the president of the hotel chain the next morning, and our rooms were changed along with a big apology. Nevertheless, there was absolutely nothing I could have done to resolve the situation the night before. We were VIPs and treated like that! We now have much more empathy for what our clients occasionally go through, even at the best properties. That situation was one of the reasons CRUISE and RESORT became part of the Virtuoso Group. This group represents the majority of upscale vacation travel booked by people in the United States. We have special representatives at most properties to try to make sure what happened to us doesn’t happen to our guests. Even with that in our hip pocket, it doesn’t always assure our clients will never encounter a rude desk clerk.

My wife and I have been on over 60 cruises, so we know not to miss the boat! We were hosting a group on a Bermuda cruise that stopped in Norfolk, VA a little over a year ago. A few of our families got together and rented a van from a major car rental agency so we could take our kids to Williamsburg for the day. After dropping off some of our group at the ship, we returned the van to the agency just ten minutes away. This was two hours before the ship was supposed to sail. The rental car agency offered to drive us (myself, my 8-year-old son and a friend) back to the ship. Taking them up on their offer turned out to be a big mistake. After driving for about twenty minutes, the driver said she had just come down from the mountains where she had lived her whole life and she was totally lost. We ended up in a terrible traffic jam, stuck on a bridge, and going the wrong way on a one way street. The captain of the ship waited as long as he could, but alas, when we finally arrived, the ship had just departed. We made arrangements with the port agent to take a taxi to Virginia Beach, board a launch boat and meet the ship on the open seas. (This mis-adventure required a stop at an ATM so I could pay the launch operator $400.) A rope ladder was thrown overboard and we actually had to climb onboard the ship while it was moving. Not only was it scary, but the embarrassment was overwhelming. Hundreds of passengers were taking pictures and videos as we made our way up the ropes. We lost all anonymity on that cruise; we became celebrities! We even gained a few new clients who said we really knew how to find adventure beyond the typical shore excursions!

The above examples show that you never know what you might encounter while traveling. Not everything always goes according to plan. If you have an open mind, an open heart, and the willingness to roll with the unexpected, traveling really is a great deal of fun!

At CRUISE and RESORT, we would love to help you plan your next vacation, corporate meeting, or incentive. From individual trips to groups over 2,000, we are your best source for honest travel advice and great pricing. Moreover, we also have a sense of humor about traveling. You sort of have to!

Call CRUISE and RESORT at 1-888-652-6400 to talk about any travel destination. Our travel consultants will cheerfully plan discounted travel for individuals as well as groups up to 2,000. We value your business and look forward to the opportunity to assist you.