Viking Cruises does a fantastic job of making cruisers out of non-cruisers.  About half the people we put on their river ships have never been on an ocean cruise, and in fact find the whole idea of ocean cruising quite distasteful.

Then the brochures start rolling in from Viking, many of which highlight the fact that Viking OCEAN ships imitate the atmosphere of their river ships… and the itineraries look so amazing.

The end result is that people who’ve always sworn they’d never get on an ocean ship enthusiastically sign up for their first ‘real’ cruise, with Viking Ocean.

In some cases, people consider Viking Ocean because of a destination that is not available, or is difficult by other modes of travel.  Alaska is one of those destinations – there are simply places in Alaska that you can only get to by ship.   And there’s no doubt that Alaska is a bucket list destination.

Given the number of Viking River Cruises we sell, you can imagine how pleased we were when Viking announced they were sending one of their Ocean vessels to Alaska for the 2019 season.

The only catch here, is that it is already completely sold out already!

So what do you do?

Well, you can look at 2020 if you want to wait that long – there is still some availability left on Viking Ocean for Alaska 2020.

Alternately, you may want to look at a different small ship cruise line.

Where Viking Ocean has a small ship vibe with 940 guests, there are other small ship lines with fewer than 1000 people aboard at the same general price point as Viking Ocean.  For example, Oceania, Regent, Seabourn and SilverSea all have small ships in the Alaska market, and there is still some availability for the 2019 season.

Bob and I are hosting a Seabourn cruise to Alaska in July of 2019.

We are leaving on July 2^nd, 2019, round trip from Vancouver for 12 nights, and we would love it if you could join us!

We always look forward to visiting Alaska, but this voyage will stand out for a few reasons.

First, even though we’ve been Alaska many times, we’ve never celebrated the 4^thof July there.  I figure that’s worth some bragging rights.

Also, 2019 marks the 60^thAnniversary of Alaska’s statehood, so there will lots of celebrations marking this milestone, and the 1867 purchase of Alaska from Russia for about 2 cents per acre or $7.2 million.   Even then, that wasn’t very much money – about $112M in today’s dollars.  Not bad for a land mass nearly 3 times as big as Texas (and bigger than most countries in the world).

Here’s what you can expect on our Alaska trip:

• Convenient flights – itinerary is Vancouver round trip, departing July 2^nd, 2019 (12 nights)
• No line-ups or crowds – maximum 450 passengers on the Seabourn Sojourn
• Be one of the lucky few to visit remote places like Misty Fjords, Wrangell, Sitka, Klemtu, and Alert Bay. Click here to see the full itinerary: https://www.seabourn.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/A9N12B/5932.html
• Relax in your spacious, luxuriously appointed stateroom – All staterooms are suites and have an ocean view
• Practically all-inclusive, so you’re not constantly reaching for your wallet and you won’t face a large bill at the end of the trip: Your fare INCLUDES complimentary beverages at all times including premium spirits, fine wines, and a mini bar stocked with your preferences; World class dining enhanced through a partnership with celebrity chef Thomas Keller (all dining venues are complimentary); and Tipping is neither required nor expected. Prices start at $7144 per person.

This is a hosted Virtuoso Voyage, you’ll enjoy these added benefits (as long as you book through my agency):

• A dedicated onboard host to answer questions and ensure everything goes smoothly (Bob and I are the onboard hosts for this departure date).
• An invitation to a private cocktail reception, where you can meet your hosts as well as the other Virtuoso travellers
• A complimentary, Exclusive Shore Experience (valued at $800 per couple)

Book before Nov. 13^th and take advantage of Seabourn’s valuable ‘Set Sail’ event.  You get:

• 3-Category Upgrade when you book a Veranda
• Complimentary Internet Package
• $500 – $1000 per person Air Credit
• $250 – $500 per person Onboard Credit
• 50% Reduced Deposit – refundable for any reason until 121 days prior to departure

We put together a video to highlight this cruise.  Click here to view the video: https://youtu.be/zbkRx2MuXXo

Enjoy!

If you’re thinking of joining us on this cruise,  click here to get in touch today.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

Every year in hurricane season, we end up with some disrupted clients. Most of them handle the changes to their trip well.

I am always sympathetic to the disappointment that an adjusted or cancelled itinerary may cause. I am NOT sympathetic to people who somehow think that the cruise lines have control over the weather.

There is a reason why August and September are cheaper than the rest of the year for Caribbean cruises – and it has everything to do with the fact that there is a fair to reasonable chance that your itinerary will be adjusted as a result of the weather.

And it’s not just the Caribbean. On a reasonably frequent basis Mother Nature likes to assert the fact that she is in charge.

I was recently on a Viking River Cruise on the Danube. If you’ve been following the weather in Europe, you will know that they’ve had a once-in-a-century summer. It didn’t rain for months, and they experienced crop failures all through central Europe, as well as record low water levels for both the Danube and Rhine Rivers.

Clients considering a river cruise quite regularly ask about the risk of high or low water levels. The reality is they don’t occur predictably enough for us (or anyone else) to be able to offer any consistent advice about it. I would suggest the better question would be “what contingency plans does the cruise line have in place in the event of high or low water?”.

So, while it was a little disappointing that my Danube river cruise was affected by low water, it was a great experience for me to see first hand the contingency plans that Viking River Cruises had in place for these circumstances.

The verdict?

I was incredibly impressed with how it was all handled, and I would suggest that 90% of those on the ship were of a similar mind. The last 10% of the guests were those who believed that someone at Viking Headquarters should have been able to put a staff in one hand, lift both arms to sky, and command the heavens to rain.

Specifically – we did not miss any ports of call, although we did have to take a motor coach to two of them. We slept on the ship every night, and ate all but one meal on the ship. The one lunch we missed, where it was too far to get back to the ship, Viking arranged for us to be fed in town. We were not charged extra for any of these (considerable) costs.

In fact, Viking offered all passengers on this ship a future cruise credit worth 25% of the value of this cruise.

If you check your contract of passage on any cruise line, you will know the company is not required to do anything for you in the event that weather disrupts your vacation. So it makes it that much more extraordinary that Viking contributed so much money and effort to compensating for the weather.

The first two days of my Danube River cruise were a bit more onerous than they would have been if the ship was able to get where it was scheduled to go. By the third day, the cruise resumed its normal itinerary. By the time we disembarked, most of the guests had forgotten all about the extra coach rides, and were instead basking in the glory of a great vacation experience.

Of course, there were a few that were still looking for the bearded guy, wearing (Viking logoed) robes and carrying a staff, and continued to air their grievances about the volume of the Danube River.

By the way, if you’re at all interested in following our recent cruise along the Danube, we posted daily video blogs, and you can view them here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA1r3eOMaDVFxRaTWvnN1x-8f9dFUpUIN

Enjoy!

Planning a Cruise?  I’d love to help!  Click here to get in touch today.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

One of the things they tried to teach me in Business School was that a key part of a business strategy was to clearly understand both what you are and what you are not.

I was thinking about this as I was completing a Viking Romantic Danube river cruise this month. We put people on a variety of different river cruise lines based on what they tell is important to them. Viking is the largest operator by far in Europe, but they are certainly not the only game in town.

So… given the overwhelming amount of marketing that Viking does in the United States, why would someone choose a different river line?   There are a variety of answers to this question, but I think Viking articulates it very well.

Here’s what they have to say.

With Viking, there are:

• No casinos
• No children under 18
• No umbrella drinks
• No photographers
• No art auctions
• No charge for beer and wine with meals
• No charge for alternative restaurants
• No charge for WiFi
• No charge for launderettes
• No entrance fee for the spa
• No sales pressure for spa services
• No inside staterooms
• No smoking
• No lines
• No formal nights, butlers, or white gloves
• No nickel and diming

To be clear, some of these things only apply to Viking Ocean, and some other river cruise lines have similar promises, but I really like that they are unapologetic about what they don’t have.

I’m particularly impressed they don’t have any of those offensive umbrella drinks!  Actually, I’m not sure exactly how this a differentiator, but apparently they thought this through enough to articulate it.

The absence of a casino is probably a better barometer of the type of client Viking is trying to attract.

It’s not that there’s anything wrong with the ships that have casinos and art auctions, it’s just that it not what Viking does.

By the way, if you’re at all interested in following our recent cruise along the Danube, we posted daily video blogs, and you can view them here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA1r3eOMaDVFxRaTWvnN1x-8f9dFUpUIN

Enjoy!

Planning a Cruise?  I’d love to help!  Click here to get in touch today.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

Virtuoso Travel Week is tagged as “The Fashion Week for Travel”.

This is likely an apt comparison, as 6000 luxury travel advisors (mostly women) descend on Vegas, to meet travel vendors, learn, and find out what’s new in the world of travel.

Bob and I attended Travel Week again this year, and had vowed to post regularly so you could share our experience.  However, there’s something about being scheduled from 6:00 in the morning until 11:00 at night that quickly forces everything else to become a second priority.

I have a few updates that I will share over the coming weeks, but first, a story.

Lindblad Expeditions is a company that does expedition style cruising very well.  They are best known for their partnership with National Geographic.

Their story of “Kevin” captured my heart last week.

The story starts with a short video taken by some Lindblad guests during their Antarctica cruise.

I’m afraid that I can’t adequately describe the tension-filled drama with words alone, so if you’re interested, you can watch the video for yourself, here: https://youtu.be/2J8BUXV_VTk

The video shows a pod of Orca Whales attempting to knock a seal off a piece of ice.

The whales work in unison to try to dislodge the seal, but every time they manage to bump him off the ice, he scrambles back on before they have a chance to rip him in two.

After watching the first few attempts, I wondered if the fine folks at Lindblad were going to show us first-hand how the food chain works.  I watched the video with horror, spellbound.

Although the video footage is only a couple of minutes long, it was edited down from about two hours of live action taken from the deck of a Lindblad ship by sympathetic passengers.  The passengers nicknamed the seal “Kevin”, and cheered for his ultimate survival.

After some time, Kevin makes a successful run for it, and escapes the aggressive Orcas once and for all.

Disaster averted – and none of us city-dwellers actually had to witness Mother Nature doing what she does best (thank goodness).

But that’s not the end of the story.

The Lindblad folks concluded their video presentation at Virtuoso Travel Week by handing out “Go Kevin Go!” buttons.  In a stroke of marketing genius, they leveraged the ‘Kevin’ story, and promised us that every time they spotted one of us wearing our Kevin button, they would scan the barcode on it… and the person with the most scans at the end of the week would win a trip to Antarctica with Lindblad Expeditions.

Of course, this meant I spent every unscheduled moment of Virtuoso Travel Week stalking the Lindblad folks (sorry Lesa).

I was told that some people would even follow them into the restrooms looking to have their Kevin badges scanned (ewwwww).  I opted instead to sleep in the hallway outside their hotel rooms – ‘cause the toilet thing is just a bit too creepy.

If you see me blogging from Antarctica in the New Year, you’ll know I was successful. Cross your fingers!

Thanks Kevin.

Planning a Cruise?  I’d love to help!  Click here to get in touch today.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

Many people love to lament how cruising has changed in the past couple of decades, and long for what it used to be like – the ‘good old days’ of cruising.

Back in those days, a cruise was a real treat, and you could expect a stellar dining experience at every meal, top-notch entertainment, and attentive and personalized service.

I don’t disagree that cruising has changed, but I will offer two observations:

1. High quality food, service and entertainment are still available; you just have to pick the right cruise line.
2. Cruising is far cheaper now than it was in the 70s, 80s, and 90s.The way they have made it cheaper is to build bigger ships, and to make some of the services user-pay.

First let’s talk about food, service, and entertainment. 

If you’ve sailed on one of the mass-market cruise lines, you are already familiar with today’s levels of quality.  Many people express concern with the size of the ships, and diminishing quality of food and entertainment.

This may be true, but it still represents tremendous value compared to any other form of packaged vacation.  Many Caribbean cruises are well under $100/day for all your transportation, accommodation, food, and entertainment.  At this price, the value per dollar spent is very high.

For those who want more, you should be aware that the fastest growing segment of the cruise industry is on the luxury ships.  These ships are smaller (fewer than 1000 passengers), and feel much more like cruising did in the old days.  You can expect to pay between $250 and $500 per person, per day on these ships.  For some people, the added expense is well worth it.  Others will want to stay with the mass-market lines.

Next, let’s look at historical costing for cruises.

As mentioned above, you can cruise the Caribbean for less than $100 per day, and many other global destinations aren’t much more than this.  Put in its historical perspective, cruising has never been cheaper.  In fact, the cost of a luxury cruise now, is even cheaper than a mass market cruise in the 80s!

Stay with me….

I came across a copy of Cruise Travel Magazine from 1985, and here are some of the “deals” being advertised.  Remember the price advertised is the base fare, or the lowest possible price to get on board that sailing.  In other words, this is the price for an inside cabin at the front of the ship. The number in brackets is the cost in 2018 dollars:

Cruise Deals in 1985:

• HAL Rotterdam, 17-days departing Miami $2930 ($6563)
• NCL Norway, 7-days to Eastern Caribbean $1195 ($2677)
• Carnival Carnivale, 3-days to the Bahamas $290 ($650)
• RCL Sun Viking, 14-days to Eastern & Southern Caribbean $2265 ($5074)
• Sun Princess, 7-days to Southern Caribbean $1526 ($3418)

The average base price per day for the above sample-set:  $367.  A quickly run calculation on the average base price per day of a Caribbean cruise in 2017: $77.

Cruising is exponentially cheaper than it was a generation ago.

So, the bottom line here is that you CAN have the high quality food, entertainment and service that you used to get.  You can also get it for substantially less than it cost back then.

However, if you want to pay $77/day (which works just fine for lots of folks), you can expect the levels of quality and service that you get now on the mass market lines.

Planning a Cruise?  I’d love to help!  Click here to get in touch today.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley