I guess the internet really does change everything.

We’ve seen the effectiveness of wiki-sites like Trip Advisor and Yelp, so the actual sale of goods and services (in addition to advice, like on the sites noted above) was only a matter of time.

In the tourism and hospitality industry, there has long been websites such as VRBO (now HomeAway), and most obviously Uber for bringing buyers and sellers together.

But food?

Yep… there’s an app for that.

Originally launched as Vizeat, there is now a website to find your next meal: eatwith.com

You can use this when you’re at home, or when you travel.

The premise is very similar to ride-sharing. First you select your location. The EatWith people have a number of selected hosts. You then book your date and time, and if you want to chat with your host ahead of time, you can do so.

It’s quite possible there will be several travellers at your table, so you not only get to interface with your host, but others that have chosen the same time and place as you.

So I thought I should check this out. Many of you know our office is in Manhattan, but Bob and I don’t really get there very often. I love New York, and there is always something new to discover there. As you might expect, there are dozens of EatWith hosts there – so we’ll be making an EatWith reservation next time we’re there.

As a contrast, I thought I’d look up a place much smaller. How about La Grande, Oregon (pop. 14,000)? Yep… if find yourself driving between Boise, Idaho, and Portland, Oregon, there’s a place for you to share a meal. I’ll let you know how it goes.

In all seriousness, many times when travelling, the very thought of facing another non-descript restaurant meal was almost enough to make me cut my trip short.

Now there’s an app to deal with that.

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

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

We don’t often blog about specific cruises, unless it looks really interesting.

This one qualifies as “really interesting”.

Most people have bucket list trips in mind, and this particular cruise will enable people to knock off a number of things on their list.

It’s on the Oceania Regatta, and departs on May 1, 2019 (28 nights).

Here are the tick marks you can satisfy on your list:

• Sail on Oceania. Many of our Celebrity, Holland America, and Princess clients are wondering what else is out there, and the next step for many of those folks is to try a line like Oceania. The thing I really like about this cruise is that it is priced more like you would see on Celebrity, HAL or Princess, but you get to try something different. With 684 guests, the Regatta is an entirely different experience when you pull into port than ships with 2000 or 3000 guests.
• Havana, Cuba. There’s no denying that Cuba is now open for business. The all-inclusive beach resorts will have proportionally fewer English and Canadian accents as more Americans begin to visit, but the big changes will happen in Havana. You need to get there – soon.
• The Panama Canal. This cruise does a daylight full transit of the canal.
• Portland, Oregon. Maybe this hasn’t made your bucket list yet. Portland and the Oregon Coast are America’s best kept secret. If you’re a craft-beer person, then this is a particularly important stop.
• Alaska (4 ports). After you’ve seen the tropical rainforests in the Central America, then you should see the temperate rainforests in Alaska. The volcanoes in Alaska come complete with snow-capped peaks, too.
• Vancouver. The buzz around this city has risen since the 2010 Olympics, but on a nice day, there is probably not a prettier city in the world.

In addition to these bucket list items, this cruise also visits Costa Rica, Guatemala, three ports in Mexico, and two ports in California.

Here is the pricing breakdown:

• Inside Cabin: $6099 ($218 per day)
• Ocean View Cabin: $6499 ($232 per day)
• Balcony Cabin: $10699 ($382 per day)

These prices are per person in USD.

Unlike the mass-market cruise lines, Oceania includes a number of things that would normally be billed to your shipboard on other lines:

• Free Internet
• Your choice of:
  • All inclusive Beverage Package, or
  • 14 Shore Excursions, or
  • $1400 on-board-credit, or

With these inclusions, this cruise is better value overall than many cruises on the mass-market lines.

Plus, it’s a lot more interesting!

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

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

A “Gap Year” is what kids in every other Western Nation outside of North America do in the time between leaving high school and beginning their higher education (or a job). It is their chance get out into the world and discover its wonders before being burdened with children, careers and mortgages.

So, I read with interest that one of the new trends we are seeing amongst the Millennial generation in North America is putting off buying a house, and investing in experiences such as travel instead.

Is this a great way to lead a balanced, fulfilling life OR is it a frivolous indulgence?

If you’re over 35, you need to set aside everything you’ve ever been taught, and consider this question a bit more objectively. The conventional wisdom is that you start working when you’re 12 years old, save up for a down payment, and purchase your own home as soon as possible.

But is it really going to make any difference if you delay this a few years?

At the risk of appearing self-indulgent, I’ll use myself as an example. Travel has been a life-long passion, and when I was in my early-twenties back in the 1980s, I spent a year in Australia, New Zealand and some of the Pacific Islands.

For me, it was an easy decision – but many of my peers would ask me questions like:
“How much did that cost you?”
“Wouldn’t you rather buy a new car instead?”
“Isn’t that a waste of money that you could use to buy a house?”

Thirty years later, I don’t appear to be any further behind my peer group when it comes to the inevitable comparison of “who owns what”.

The one thing I do have that many in my peer group don’t, is the memories and the life experience that the trip provided. Being exposed to other cultures and people as a young person helped me form a system of values that I feel has served me well.

One of our failings in North America is not realizing there is a larger world out there. Many of the social issues of our time have been solved in other countries, but we fail to consider those solutions because we are ignorant to their existence.

Perhaps the Millennials are onto something.

While we have more ‘stuff’ than anyone else on the planet, we are well down on the list of the Happiness index, while countries whose people get out into the world more often rank near the top.

Of course, travel is not the ticket to happiness, but it appears as though buying a house when you’re 22 isn’t either.

So – what do you think? Are these Millennials who are spending all their money tramping around the world going to regret it in a few years, or will they cherish those experiences and memories?

Have something to say about this? Join the conversation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PamperedCruiser/posts/2077320439217126

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

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

If you’re like many people, you may have visited the far reaches of the planet, but failed to explore in your own backyard. So it is with that in mind that I suggest that Canada & New England might be worth considering as a bucket list trip.

First of all, it’s spectacularly beautiful.

Unless you live in the very far south of the country, you are likely exposed to at least some autumn colors when the leaves on the trees change. Now consider that beauty x 1000, and add the charming colonial townships and French Canadian ports that make up this particular cruise run.

This itinerary is only offered for a few weeks a year, and just about all the cruise lines have at least one ship in the Northeast in September and October.

One option that caught my eye is on SilverSea. They are offering Free Air for the Canada/New England run for those people who book before the end of March 2018.

SilverSea is a luxury brand with small ships, and is truly all-inclusive:

• Included shipboard WiFi
• Gratuities
• Specialty Dining
• Included wine, beer, and spirits
• Included Suite Mini Bar
• Port taxes
• Free Economy air, and Business Class upgrades for $199.

There are a variety of itineraries between 8 and 11 nights, and these cruises originate in New York, Boston, or Montreal.

The ports vary a little bit from cruise to cruise, but on each there are some typical port calls like Bar Harbor and Halifax, but also some smaller, less frequented ports like Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island, and the very French township of Sept-Iles in Quebec.

If you want to strike two ticks off your bucket list, SilverSea is also offering one cruise that leaves on September 29, 2018 from Reykjavik, Iceland. It then visits:

• Newfoundland – So you can experience the musical ‘Come From Away’ first-hand)
• St. Pierre – Most people are unaware that France still controls two islands in North America, with this being one of them. They use the Euro for currency, and they speak European French. This is very much visiting France, but in North America
• Baie Comeau – If you want to confirm that the French settled part of North America, this is the place to do so.
• Quebec City – North America’s only walled city is like nothing else in the New World
• Montreal – A great urban place where French and English collide regularly – sometimes in the same sentence.

Given the air inclusion deal going on this month with SilverSea, this cruise looked particularly appealing to me, and

Iceland has been on my bucket list for a while. If this one is of interest to you, this 10-night cruise is priced at about $5800 per person with all the inclusions (and air) mentioned above. Remember, you have to book by the end of March to get free air included.

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

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley