Hawaii Cruise – Intro

Humpback Whales

Hawaii, is an incredible destination for a cruise vacation. Hawaii has six major tropical islands you could visit: Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Maui, and Hawaii Island.

The most common way to cruise Hawaii is on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America. This ship was partly built in the United States and is flagged in the United States, so unlike foreign flagged ships, it can sail from US port to US port without having to go to a foreign port. It sails Hawaiian waters year around. Other cruise lines have ships visit Hawaii several times a year, usually while re-positioning to or from Asia or Alaska. Continue reading Hawaii Cruise – Intro

What happened to Wet & Wild Orlando?

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may have read Vickie’s blog entry on the water park,  Volcano Bay, that Universal Orlando is opening in May 2017. As part of preparations for the opening of Volcano Bay, Universal Orlando announced on its blog on June 17, 2015 that Wet & Wild Orlando would be closing on December 31, 2016 (http://blog.universalorlando.com/whats-new/wet-n-wild-orlando-closing/). This is not a surprise as Wet & Wild has been owned by Universal Parks & Resorts since 1998. Wet & Wild opened in 1977 and is considered to be the first water park in America, interestingly enough it was built by George Millay the creator of SeaWorld. Why close Wet & Wild? Because it was located on 53 acres of land on the opposite side of International Drive from the entrance to Universal not attached to the theme park. That land will end up becoming the site of more expansion so keep an eye out for more announcements. And when you visit Volcano Bay you may see rides from Wet & Wild.

Universal’s NEW Park

Universal Studios is opening a third park – a water park.  They have brought to life the culture and architecture of the fabeled Waturi islanders, eliminated lines and carrying inner tubes.

Opening on May 25, Volcano Bay will have 18 attractions – something for everyone.  In the middle of the park is a large volcano and some of the attractions travel through the middle of it.

Guests will receive a TapuTapu wearable (looks like a wrist band) that will stand in line for you — a virtual line, pretty cool.

For Thrill Seekers, rides include an Aqua Coaster, White Water Rafting, Body Plunge, Body Slide and Drop Slides.

Kids and Families will enjoy the beach, raft rides, tube rides, winding riving, lagoon and the reef.

The new park is on-property and Universal is taking reservations.

Call us for information on great vacation Universal Vacation Packages.

Epcot – Test Track

It has been a long time since I rode Test Track because we are line snobs and refuse to wait more than 30 minutes in a line but this visit we were able to get Fast Passes !!

Once again, in true Disney fashion, the wait is fun!  You get to create your own car for the test.  We started off creating a beautiful car and then we noticed that it had ratings on the top so we began paying attention to the ratings.  Then we noticed the countdown and had to hurry to complete the car.  Your magic band remembers your car.

While you are on the ride, signs show the car rankings.  Ours didn’t show because I didn’t press my magic band to the scanner at the correct time, instead I was moving out of the way so a man could take a picture of his wife on the ride.

Here is a ‘hidden’ gem.  Don’t just leave after the ride, more fun stuff awaits!

After you get off the ride, you have the opportunity to create a commercial using your car and it is emailed to you.  Here is the link to our commercial – warning, the car is not beautiful!  http://parklink.disney.go.com/media/ap/parklink/cards/testtrackvideo/video.html#testtrackvideo/2017-01-23/1f7522986a198095

After you leave that area, you can take pictures on cars and virtual cars – once again having them emailed to you.  Taking a picture with a virtual car is not easy.  Taking a picture with a real car is so much easier but still not easy!

Disney’s new Epcot Festival of the Arts — The Workshops & Seminars

This new festival celebrates the Arts and has both paid and complementary workshops.  I attended two complementary workshops – one on Henna and one on Photography.

Although the workshops are complementary, there are a limited number of tickets.  We arrived about 45 minutes early to get our tickets and had no problems getting a ticket but it was a Monday and they had waiting areas for tickets setup so it could have been more crowded over the weekend.

Both workshops were run by Disney employees who had worked with Disney for quite awhile and were very knowledgeable about their areas.  Both workshops were informative and entertaining and worth the time to attend.

Check out the remaining workshops for this festival here: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/epcot/epcot-international-festival-of-the-arts-seminars-workshops/

Disney’s new Epcot Festival of the Arts — The Food

Disney has a new Festival — Festival of the Arts.  It seems like they are always trying something new to get us to spend our day (and money) at Epcot!  This festival takes place Friday-Monday until February 20th.

This festival isn’t quite as large as the Food and Wine Festival but it is still fun.

Neopolitan — Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry — Beer that is.  Cost $9.  Just had to give this one a try.

The strawberry was very sweet and the chocolate had a hint of chocolate flavor.  My daughter thought it tasted like coffee but I did not.  Neither of us cared much for the vanilla.

We then walked around the World Showcase to see what the festival was all about.  There are pavilions set up all around featuring different artists and foods.  The art was varied and included the original piece and some less expensive prints.  It was quite windy so none of the artists were able to demonstrate their work but they were all out talking to the people.

The food, of course, was good.  We had some Mexican food with sangria.

The food was excellent (under $20 for both items ) but the sangria was very sweet. It took us so long to drink the sangria that we didn’t purchase any other food or drink until we had completed our walk of the entire showcase.

After a breezy walk where we teased each other about being from Florida and freezing in 45 degree weather, we found a coffee I could not pass without trying.  Although the coffee was good ($10), it was small and not mixed well.

The food is delightful to the eye and I wish we could have sampled more.  I will be going back and I will be trying some of their beautiful food.

Here is a link to look at the food options during the festival: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/epcot/epcot-international-festival-of-the-arts-culinary/

Why Cruise Alaska?

I have been on a lot of cruises. Most have been in the Caribbean but a few have been in other areas. I have cruised the Northeast coast of the USA and Canada and taken a Scandinavian cruise. But my family and I have cruised Alaska twice. Both times we chose Royal Caribbean International. The first time we were cruising with two small children and “Adventure Ocean,” RCI children’s program, was the deciding factor then. Our second cruise was a celebration of our younger daughter’s high school graduation and she picked the cruise and invited her Grandmother’s to join us. So our group totaled eight people ranging in age from 18 to 87 and everyone had a great cruise.  Take a look at the pictures below to see some of what we did and think about how much fun your family would have on their own Alaskan cruise. Then contact us about booking yours.

 

A Railroad ride into beautiful Alaska

A trip to Alaska is all about great scenery and wildlife. So far I have cruised Alaska twice and both times the focus on what we wanted to do has been see this beautiful land. So when you visit Alaska don’t miss the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad. This historic narrow gauge railroad runs from Skagway, Alaska to Whitepass, the capital of the Canadian territory of Yukon. Built in 1899 in a project considered so impossible that it is now a International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. When you ride this train you see why the project was so daunting. Most people spend their time staring out the windows or standing on the outside platforms between the cars taking pictures of the spectacular sites.

You board the train right at the pier and some of the cars are wheel chair accessible. Several different excursions are offered by most cruise companies. So based on how much time you want to spend on the train you can ride half way to White Pass where the train turns around and returns to Skagway, ride all the way to White Pass and back without stopping, or ride to White Pass for lunch and some shopping. You have to take your Passport for that one because White Pass is in Canada. Decide which one you want to take and book it before you leave home, as this is an excursion that fills up.

Living Intentionally

Vickie Travelz

I just finished a great book series.  The main character wants to build a community of people who LIVE INTENTIONALLY, what a great concept!

Living Intentionally — knowing what you want to do and then doing it.  I can certainly use more of this in my life.  Do I even know what I want to do? Sometimes I think that I do but then I spend lots of time reacting to life circumstances.

When we decided to become Travel Agents, Keith and I were dreaming about turning our hobby into our profession.  I never dreamed it would be so involved.  This is not easy!

My eyes have been opened to a whole new world of possibilities when traveling.  I am so excited to share some of the new things I am learning and I am even more excited to travel in new ways.  However, I am going to have to really be INTENTIONAL about where I want to go.  Just because it s a really good price and looks fun is not INTENTIONAL — I will be gone all the time and I won’t be earning any money for the next trip!  I will get tired of traveling very quickly if I do that.

My husband, Kevin, and I have wanted to take a cruise to Alaska for many years.  Wait until you see how many different ways there are to accomplish this trip!  It is going to be so much fun to choose!  Sign up for our email list so we can send you lots of great information on the different opportunities available.

The name of the series?  Hearthland by Chautona Havig.  I was able to get a special copy — the entire series for my kindle, I was so excited.  The only drawback was that there was no ending to one book and beginning of the next book.  It was hard to talk myself into putting the book down.  I am going to put an amazon link to the first book (which is currently a FREE digital ebook) at the bottom of this post so you can check it out for yourself.

Ten tips for your first Carnival Cruise

Vickie Travelz

Tip #1 Bring some money to tip the luggage porters when arriving at the port.

Tip #2 They are going to take your picture, alot.  It starts before you board the ship.  You do not have to participate but you should.  Just smile and let them snap your picture, it is part of the experience.  Every night you can go look for your pictures and toss the bad ones in the trash.

Tip #3. Budget some money for pictures.  There are lots of photographers on board and they are good at their job.  You will want to buy a picture or two or twenty.

Tip #4 Bring a corkscrew and a bottle opener.  On a Carnival cruise, you are allowed to carry-on one bottle of wine per person, good idea if you like wine, but if you forget the corkscrew you will be taking it home with you.  You can purchase a bucket of beer that holds 4 iced beers.  You can carry it anywhere on the ship with you.  But, you cannot open the beer without a bottle opener.

Tip #5 Bring sunscreen, bug spray and aspirin.  You might not need it but it is worth the space in the luggage if you do.

Tip #6 Don’t bring any clothes that are even the tiniest bit snug.  They wont fit after the 1st or 2nd day.   The amount and variety of food, drink and dessert available while in relax mode guarantees at least an extra pound or two.  Hot chocolate & BLTs via room service is a family favorite.

Tip #7 If you are a photographer at heart, bring your camera.  My daughter is a natural photographer and captures some amazing pictures with her phone but I need the camera to help me take some nice pictures.  I can’t capture the vibrant colors with my phone.

Tip #8 If watching people drink alcohol bothers you, consider a different vacation.  You can still have fun on a cruise if you don’t drink alcohol but there are bars everywhere and people drinking everywhere.  They give out free mimosas when you attend a 10 a.m. seminar.  Drinking is an all day activity for some.

Tip #9 Bring walking shoes.  You will be walking all over the ship.  Up the stairs, down the stairs, front of the ship, back of the ship.  You will have beautiful calves at the end of the cruise if you never take the elevator.

Tip #10. Ladies, bring the heels for dressing up at night but be prepared to leave them in the stateroom. Walking in heels on a ship is a bit different than walking on land in heels.   Also, your legs might hurt from walking all day or you might just be in a flip flop mood.
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