Vacations Tips Western Caribbean

My wife and I just returned from a training/vacation trip to Tampa and the Western Caribbean.

Carnival Cruise Line hosted two days in Tampa, Florida at the fabulous Embassy Suites downtown for ship tours. We toured the Carnival Inspiration and Legend. The Tampa Visitors Bureau gave us a tour of Tampa Aquarium. Very nice! I had never realized how silky soft the flipper of a stingray felt until our tour.

If you have any cigar aficionado’s in your life then Ybor City, Florida is a must visit for them! Ybor City was once the cigar capitol of the world. If you like craft beers check out the Tampa Brewery in Ybor City.

Ybor City is rich in heritage and history. Actually on Nov. 21, 2009 an attempt at the Guinness World Record for the longest hand rolled cigar will be judged at the Ybor City festival. It will be 185 feet long.

We found the beaches around Clearwater, Florida to be to our liking. Powdery white sand, palms for shade and nice wide beaches.

After touring the Carnival Legend we boarded her about a week later, after spending a great week in Key Largo, and headed for Cozumel Mexico. Cozumel is an interesting port in that there is plenty to do but it is somewhat touristy. We have rented a jeep and driven around the island before while visiting beaches and ancient ruins.

This time around we discovered Cozumel Massage. This is wonderful place in the center of the downtowns main street. It is a professional massage studio located at Av. Rafael E. Melgar # 471 Col. Centro. Check them out at www.cozumelmassage.net (make sure you use .net and not .com) Fantastic massage for only $40 US! Veronica owns and operates it. We opted for the deep tissue massage.

Our next stop on the cruise was Grand Cayman Island. This can be somewhat spendy here. Several people we met on the ship took excursions. Some opted for the “beach party” excursion. They were taken to a public beach area with nice lounge chairs which also included a drink for a cost of around $40 US.

My wife and I jumped on the public bus system for $2 each and got off at the same beach. Put our towels on the sand and swam in the same beautiful water. We then asked the folks renting snorkel equipment where the locals snorkeled. They told us to walk up the beach about ½ mile to Cemetery Beach to a great reef. My wife brought her own gear.

We had a wonderful walk up a fabulous beach and met some nice people staying at a private condo. They pointed out some great spots to see tons of fish. After great snorkeling we caught the bus back for $2. When we reached the port we even found a spot to sample free rum. We ended up taking a couple bottles with us.

Our next stop was Belize. Belize is very famous for its reefs. There are amazing diving and snorkeling opportunities here. There is also zip lining here too as well as tours of the area.

We stayed fairly low keyed here and opted to head outside the “cruise village” to an inexpensive internet café we had heard about. It was a short walk and cheap. It only cost us $1.75 for 45 minutes of fast internet connection. Then we walked through the local straw market and had a couple Belize beers at the Wet Lizard Tavern and Restaurant. www.thewetlizard.com/

Our next and final stop was Isla Roatan off Honduras. We really enjoyed this stop and took the zip line excursion here as we had heard it was the highest, longest and safest in the Caribbean. We ended up booking through a company online called Island Marketing. We only spent $52 US apiece for almost 2 hours of incredible zip lining.

After the zip line portion they took us to a private beach club and bought us all a drink. We spent about an hour on the beach. This was a great price compared to the cruise line excursion offered in Belize at $150 US. We returned to the port with plenty of time to check out the straw markets and try some local beer.

To learn more about the zip line on Isla Roatan check out www.southshorecanopy.com Tell them Sally and Norm from SAND Travel suggested them. We loved it and will do it again!

Are the Planes We Fly in Safe?

Imagine you're a pilot, and you're flying a Boeing 737 filled with more than 100 passengers. Suddenly, the gauges show that Engine No. 2 is in trouble, so you shut it off and start flying the plane on the other engine alone.

To Cut Costs, Airlines Send Repairs Abroad Oct. 19, 2009
That's a troubling enough scenario. But what if it's worse than that: What if it turns out that a mechanic mixed up the wires in the cockpit, not long before you took off — so your gauges are reversed and you actually turned off the one good engine?

Mechanics who had just repaired the plane at the Aeroman repair company in El Salvador had, in fact, crossed the wires on two engine indicators in the cockpit. NPR obtained internal US Airways documents that describe the incident, and a senior company executive confirmed it.

Mistakes In El Salvador

This is just one of at least three troubling maintenance mistakes that mechanics in El Salvador have made recently while fixing US Airways planes. There could be more. But airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration don't make maintenance problems public. NPR first learned about these incidents from mechanics at Aeroman and at US Airways.

Pressure To Hasten Repairs
"It's a great responsibility," one mechanic says, sitting under a cactus along a narrow road near San Salvador. "Our supervisors are constantly highlighting to us that our job is not a game. The life of 200, 250 people that are flying depends on us."

But the mechanics say managers keep pressuring them to fix the planes faster. For instance, if there's rust on a metal beam, but it's just a little over tolerance, "the supervisor says, 'Oh, just leave it like that,' " the mechanic says, through an interpreter. " 'There's no need to repair it.' "

Outsourcing Aircraft Maintenance

Nine major air carriers reviewed by the FAA's inspector general sent 71 percent of their heavy airframe maintenance checks to outside repair stations in 2007, up from 34 percent in 2003. Foreign repair stations got 19 percent of these major maintenance jobs in 2007. The work includes complete teardowns of aircraft.

The FAA requires that mechanics fix the planes according to the airline manuals — whether they're in the U.S. or overseas. But the mechanics at Aeroman say their supervisors often say that takes too much time.

One mechanic says that just a few days earlier, he and his colleagues were replacing a kind of rivet, commonly called a Hi-Lok, along the fuselage. The airline's manual said they should use a "shear" Hi-Lok that's carefully engineered to withstand a specific amount of pressure on a specific part of the plane. But the mechanic says Aeroman didn't have the right Hi-Loks on hand, so the supervisor told them to use "tension" Hi-Loks that weren't approved for that repair.

The mechanic says he resisted, because the wrong Hi-Loks "would cause, actually, a crack in the fuselage when there is turbulence." When the supervisor pressured him to use the incorrect part anyway, "I told him no, because the manual does not allow me to do that," he says. But the supervisor ordered him "to go ahead and install it, because we were in a hurry to turn around the airplane."

Another mechanic ticked off other problems at Aeroman. Some employees don't store glues at the required temperatures, he says. That means the glues could fail — which potentially means that parts of the airplane could fall apart.

And this mechanic says some workers can't even read the airlines' repair manuals. The manuals are written in English, but some mechanics at Aeroman can't read English including him.

FAA Inspections: No Surprise

In theory, FAA inspectors should catch these problems. The FAA is supposed to inspect every repair shop that fixes U.S. airplanes, in the U.S. and overseas. But the mechanics at Aeroman say FAA inspections are a joke, because the inspectors always tell management at Aeroman when they are going to show up — they do not do surprise inspections.

That means mechanics put the glues away in the proper temperature-controlled storage areas. They get rid of any unauthorized parts. "Then, the FAA won't ever find anything," the mechanic says. The inspector general's investigations have found that FAA inspectors never even showed up at some foreign repair stations, for as long as three to five years.

Legislative Action

Some aviation specialists and members of Congress say that as the industry cuts maintenance costs and other expenses, the margin of safety is getting thinner.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) is pushing legislation in Congress that would require the FAA to be tougher on foreign repair companies. "When you have a situation like this," McCaskill says, "and the company in El Salvador is going to make a lot more money if they can promise the planes out more quickly, then that is a dangerous stew that we are stirring."

In late September 2009, US Airways discovered another mistake at Aeroman: Mechanics mixed up the wires in the cockpit of another plane — the second case of crossed wiring in less than a week. Again, the gauges were connected to the wrong engines.

Here is a list of airlines that outsource their heavy airframe maintenance: AirTran Airways, Alaska Airlines, America West Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Northwest Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines. http://pamablog.typepad.com/pama/outsourcedcontract_maintenance/

Links to this story:http://www.npr.mobi/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=113877784http://search1.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113877784&ps=cprshttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113942431

Victims of Sea Art Auctions Speak Up!

It appears certain powers to be have "ordered" me to take down the post and link about Park West Gallary. I guess bad press means no press.

My wife and I have had dealings with art auctions at sea. It is a fun exciting time on board ship but we are not pleased with the end experience. We will be advising any and all to beware of any at sea art auctions.

Save Money at Little Known Spas Mexican Riviera

My wife took a cruise on Royal Caribbean to the Mexican Riviera last October and came across to really great spas that were just too inexpensive to pass up.

Mazatlan
She and several of her traveling companions decided to check them both out while in port.

While in Mazatlan, Mexico they took taxies to the Aroma Spa. It is actually a massage school started by the world famous spa consultant Knute Berry.

The Aroma Spa is located at 320 Mariano Escobedo in Mazatlan about a block and a half west of Machado Square.

The place is a bit rustic compared to USA standards, but you are in Mexico go with it!

Most of the massage practitioners are female, although there are some males. Depending on the time of year you are there you can expect to pay from $15 – 25 US for an hour to an hour and half massage. I am a retired Licensed Massage Therapist and I can tell you these are amazing prices! You could easily pay from $80 – 125 US for the same service!

My wife and most of her friends went for an hour and a half massage and paid around $20 apiece. Not bad for walking in unannounced.

They have something called a twenty-finger massage that sounds interesting. Two practitioners work on you at the same time. It’s supposed to be very relaxing.
Check them out at http://www.aromaspa.ws/ I see they are running a special through December 1, 2009 and are giving away a free 30 minute massage! Looks like you have to email them for a certificate! Wish we were headed back there during that time instead of January 2010. I would add that on to the hour and half massage I already plan on getting! Yes I do love massages!

Travel tips here:
* Do pay cash and avoid credit card processing fees
* Do leave a decent tip as that’s how they make a little extra money

Puerto Vallarta
While in Puerto Vallarta my wife and a couple of friends were told to try out the Venus Sunshine Spa located in the marina close to the lighthouse.

Venus Sunshine Spa is probably more of what folks from the USA would be accustomed to. The prices are a bit more mainly because this is an actual spa and not a spa school.

You will be more in the old town portion which will get you away from all the tourist locations and vendors. In our book that’s very nice.

Expect to spend around $40-45 each for about an hour and 15 minute massage. This is still a great bargain based on US prices. Enjoy yourself and tell other cruisers about these great spots to relax and save some money!

Three of Seattle’s Undiscovered Gems

Seattle, Washington is truly a Metropolitan city. It has it all from its bustling seaport, business, entertainment, shopping and many recreational opportunities to its outstanding scenery.

When I mention gems some of you may be thinking diamonds, emeralds and rubies! What I’m actually referring to are the undiscovered places you may not hear about unless you live in Seattle.

First off if you are going to be staying a one night or a few you must check out a gem of place called the Cedarbrook Center just outside of Seattle near the airport in an area called SeaTac. Cedarbrook is the former Washington Mutual Leadership Center which is now open to the public http://www.cedarbrookcenter.com/ . It was built as a premium training facility. It has a main lobby with a theatre style conference room at one end on the main floor. On the lower level is a beautiful floor to ceiling stone fireplace with a bar and billiards table to one side. There is an excellent restaurant on this floor that also serves a complimentary full buffet style breakfast with omelet chefs and wait staff.

The guestrooms are large and well done. The guestroom buildings each have a common area with a kitchenette, sitting area with big screen TV. The refrigerator is stocked each evening with free soft drinks, juices, yogurts, fruits and sandwiches.

The Cedarbrook Center offers complimentary shuttle service to and from the airport as well as downtown Seattle.

The service and staff are excellent and make your stay memorable. They want you to enjoy yourself and come back. We left a tip for our waitress at breakfast and as we were walking back to our room the dining room host discreetly informed us that Cedarbrook was a non-tipping facility and quietly handed our money back! The rates for this amazing facility were very reasonable!

If you enjoy incredible spices and curries that are fresh and even hard to find then you need to checkout a gem called World Spice just off of Pike Street. http://www.worldspice.com/home/home.shtml

They carry a large selection of pure spice, mixed spices and curries, leaf teas and some incredible peppers! They are located directly across the street from the Pikes Place Public Market, which by the way is a fantastic place to shop. http://www.pikeplacemarket.org/frameset.asp?flash=true

Across the street from World Spice and along side of the Pikes Place Public Market is a little Mexican Restaurant called El Puerco Lloron. This little gem of place is true authentic Mexican cooking! They only have about ten items to choose from but they are all nice portions under $7.25. http://www.elpuercolloron.com/

For all of you coffee lovers remember the original Starbucks is right in this area too.

Enjoy Seattle!

Vacation to Hawaii

Even though the Hawaiian Islands are part of the United States they are absolutely an exotic location to vacation. The culture is fantastic as is the weather and diverse landscape!

We escorted a group of 54 people to Hawaii. We flew from Ohio to Honolulu. Now at this time we had been using a third party travel company to arrange our group travel for us. They are out of NJ and will remain nameless. First class ground transportation was supposed to have been arranged for our group to take a short trip from the airport to the Marriott on Waikiki Beach. All we can say is never use a bus service by a person named Aunt Hattie! Seems our “used-to-be” travel company went on the cheap with our ground transportation. If you held your fingers near the window you could almost feel the AC in these vintage 1960’s buses. We ended up putting one of our suitcases on the ground for a step at the hotel because the hydraulics’ didn’t work and they couldn’t lower the bus closer to the ground.

Remember this blog is not all fluff. If we come across something you should be aware of we will mention it.

OK enough of that! The Marriott Resort at Waikiki was beautiful. The beach was spectacular as was our view of Diamond Head. Several of our group made the trek up Diamond Head the next morning.

We found there was a free concert at the open air bar every Sunday evening by locally famous Martin Pahinui and his band playing traditional Hawaiian slack key guitar, lap steel guitar and singing traditional Hawaiian songs. Very nice!

Waikiki is a vibrant and beautiful area. The prices are a bit spendy but that goes with the area. If you are a bit hungry or are just looking for small gifts to take home you will want to stop in the ABC stores. They are located everywhere. ABC’s carry inexpensive sandwiches and drinks along with basic needs like sunscreen, Hawaiian shirts and other gifts at better than gift store prices.

We did discover the International Market Place on Kalakaua Ave. This is a large open air market within walking distance of the hotel. There are many different vendors to choose from here. We also stumbled across a small open air breakfast buffet that was really great. Lots of fresh fruits, melons and regular buffet items. All you can eat for only $5. Our point being don’t be afraid to explore and ask the locals where they go.

From here we took a short ride to the cruise docks and boarded the Norwegian Cruise Line ship Pride of America.

NCL started the whole Free Style Dining experience for cruise ships. One tip I would pass on to you is: once you get settled in take a tour of all the restaurants and choose any that you want to have reservations in. Make your reservations the first or the second day in advance as the premium dining times do fill up. Just a tip to get you a head of the game.

Taking a cruise line, like NCL, is really the best way to see the Hawaiian Islands. All of your meals and lodging are already paid for. You don’t have to pay for inter-island transportation or any other extras, except maybe any shore excursions you want to indulge in. We took a couple excursions, but on two of the islands a group of us rented a van and shared the cost and driving and toured on our own. It was great!

Points to remember:

If you learn just two words in Hawaiian, learn these. They are two of the most important words in the Hawaiian language. Aloha and mahalo pronounced ah loh hah and mah hah loh.

The other thing you will see often is the unique wave. With your palm facing inward point your thumb up while curling your middle three fingers toward your palm and extending your pinky. Now flex your hand at the wrist up and down. That's it you have it!

You can view pictures of some of the sites we visited in Hawaii by clicking the link Hawaii Pictures to the left.

If you have interest in vacationing to the fabulous Hawaiian Islands please contact us at travel@sandtravel.com or visit our website at http://www.sandtravel.com/

Sally & Norm

Bermuda as a Destination

Thinking about traveling to Bermuda? Here are a few tips, highlights and pictures from a group we escorted there.

Bermuda is a unique culture blended with a proper English tradition and dynamic lively African natives, American and Spanish Caribbean people.

If you are fortunate you will catch a performance by a local Gombey dance troupe. They are unique to the culture. Dressed in colorful hand made customs and until recently having no written form to pass along their dance and music it was taught to very young children to carry on the tradition. For more information on the Gombey dancers you can easily Google them.

Tips on transportation: if you come by cruise ship one of the best deals is to purchase from the excursion desk a two day transportation pass. We spent $20 apiece and were able to ride the pink public buses all over the islands as well as take the water ferries. It is by far the best way to get around the island. Do bear in mind since Bermuda was under British authority they drive on the non-American side of the rode. So you Americans traveling think of it like looking in a mirror. Your bus stops are on the opposite side of the road than you would normally think and the buses travel in the other direction! There are no sidewalks to speak of so don’t be surprised when you see a road crew member turn sideways and flatten against a wall to let a bus go by.

Another tip while traveling about, don’t just walk up to a Bermudian and ask a straight forward question. Make pleasantry’s first. As an example, don’t walk and ask, “Is this the bus that goes back to the cruise ship?” You may get ignored or you may get a lesson in Bermudian culture such as a come back, “Isn’t the sky blue today, isn’t it a beautiful day today?” Once you ask or answer that and are pleasant then ask away.

Bermuda is famous for its pink sand beaches. They really are pink! We rode the pink public buses to Elbow beach and spent a great afternoon exploring and walking. From there we hopped on and off the bus making our way back toward our cruise ship dock. We explored different bays and villages. We stopped at out of the way shops and had lunch overlooking a beautiful bay while sipping a local favorite rum drink called a Dark-n-Stormy! It consists of 2 oz of Gosling’s Black Seal rum and 4 oz of Ginger beer. Very refreshing!

Taxes are high in Bermuda. We found from conversations with locals that many of them will do major shopping on the U.S. mainland in order to save on taxes. Since we ate most of our meals onboard our Royal Caribbean cruise ship we were little affected by this.

You must be a Bermudian to own a car on the islands. There are no car rentals. You can however brave the roads on a rented Moped. The main reason for this is the limited road infrastructure.
Bermuda has no natural source of fresh drinking water. You will notice while traveling around the island beautiful well kept homes of all sizes with curious looking roofs. A very unique feature of Bermuda roofs has been their role in water supply. Water is collected on roofs where wedge shaped limestone glides are formed into sloping gutters. These divert rain water into larger gutters that lead into cisterns in the foundation. It is a fairly simple and ingenious system. Now they also convert seawater into drinkable water.

We escorted a group of 60 people on this cruise and all in all we had a great time on Bermuda. We would return again.

We have posted the Bermuda slideshow to the left. We have also posted a utube link so you may watch short video clips of Gombey Dancers in action. Click on each frame and its video will play for you.

If you are interested in booking travel to Bermuda you can find more information at www.sandtravel.com

Resorts Report Riviera Maya Mexico

A group of us were invited by Apple Vacations on a FAM (familiarization) trip to tour fourteen properties in the Riviera Maya just south of Cancun Mexico.

Apple Vacations and the fabulous Grand Sirenis Resort hosted us for four days. We worked hard but had a great time touring these outstanding properties.

The Riviera Maya is a beautiful and upcoming coastal resort area just south of well known Cancun Mexico. Riviera Maya tends to be more historical and considered by many to be the gateway to the Mayan ruins. Riviera Maya is quiet close to the famous Tulum region.

We found the people to be very friendly and hospitable, granted once you leave the resorts and venture into the tourist areas you will be treated like a tourist. This area tends to be quieter and less touristy. Inside the resorts hospitality is practiced to the highest degree.

We toured several well established resorts and some that were still under construction. This area is really becoming the new vacation hotspot with great beaches!

One of the main differences you will notice between the established and the newer resorts is the vegetation. Very simply put in a resort that has been there for a few years the vegetation has had time to mature and establish its self, while the newer resorts vegetation is still growing. On the other hand the newer resorts are very willing to please and work all that much harder to make sure you have a great experience in order to establish themselves as a place to remember and return to.

All in all we loved this area and recommend our clients travel here as well. One tip we do pass on to our clients is to use a travel agent that utilizes Apple Vacations or other such group. If you ever run into a problem at a resort Apple Vacations has a dedicated staff person at the resort to assist you. Not to mention the all inclusive nature of their vaction packages.

Enjoy the pictures we have posted in Links We Like section named Riviera Maya. Included are pictures of Grand Sirenis, Iberostar Grand, Secrets Carpri, Secrets Moroma, Secrets Silver Sands, RIU Palace and a map of the coast line to orient yourself.

If you find our blog useful please click on the Follow link or feel free to select our Newsletter link to the left of our page. Tell your friends and family about us, too!

Have an amazing day!

Sally & Norm
http://www.sandtravel.com/

Only a Six Hour Ride to Baltimore!

We had a fantastic time on the inaugural cruise out of Baltimore aboard the Carnival Pride!
Baltimore is an excellent gateway for this sailing. My wife and I decided to drive in a day early and check out the sites. We toured the inner harbor, rode the Light Rail and watched the excitement of the media as the event unfolded.
The Carnival Pride is really a ship all about art. The theme on board is “Icons of Beauty”. You will find reproductions of famous Renaissance paintings and statues by Raphael, Botticelli and even a reproduction of Michelangelo's David. Pride is also embellished with Renaissance style murals on the walls and ceilings.
The staff on board was great. We were well taken care of and the food was very good. Carnival has worked very hard to overcome the party ship image and has done that in our opinion.
We started out with two days at sea, which I really needed to just unwind and relax. We then stopped in Nassau. A group of us ended up catching a ride on the local bus service to the Royal Bahamian Sandals Resort. As travel agents we were invited to tour their resort and spend the day with them. When you go to Nassau this is a great stay or an excursion from aboard ship. I recommend the swim up bar! Our next day we spent on Freeport where we did some shopping then loaded onto a van and headed to a beautiful beach for the day. On our way back to Baltimore we had dinner at Prides signature supper club David’s. The food and service were great.
Carnival will be sailing year around out of Baltimore to the Bahamas and the Eastern Caribbean.
Since our return we have already put together a meeting with Rick Zimmerman, CEO of KHM Travel, Burt Kramer, Director of KHM Travel, Virgil Lengel, Lakefront Bus Lines and Sally Nyburg, SAND Travel to decide how to best offer ongoing trips out of NE Ohio roundtrip to Baltimore to take these great year round sailings. Sally has over 20 years expertise in group travel.
Just think of it no airfare to buy, no airport hassles, no long lines to stand in. Just a comfortable Lakefront Lines luxury coach to relax on all the way to the cruise dock!

We can offer family reunions, school reunions, vacations, incentives, fund raising trips as well friend’s get-a-ways. For all your travel planning needs visit us at http://www.sandtravels.com/

Inaugural Sailing from Baltimore!

I was work the other day, phones nearly ringing off the hooks when my cell phone rings. Caller ID reads KHM Travel. That’s usually Burt the director of KHM. I took a break and answered my cell and sure enough it was Burt Kramer, Director of KHM Travel Group the largest online travel agency in the country. He gets right to the point, “Norm I just got off the phone with Geoff our BDM (business development manager) from Carnival Cruise Lines and they have three cabins they have to give away. Do you and Sally want to go on a FREE cruise May 27th?” I said I needed to look at a calendar. I asked what the itinerary was. There was awkward phone silence for only a moment until we both kind of said at the same time, “Who cares? It’s free!” I told Burt it sounded really great, but I did need to check with Sally. He said, “Geoff needs to know in the next fifteen minutes or they go away!” Then he sealed the deal with, “Did I mention they were balconies?” Long story short, Sally considered it for about two seconds and had me call him right back.

Baltimore is a new gateway for Carnival. It should open up a lot more Northeast, East Coast and Midwest business for them. We were invited along to check out the new sailing aboard the Carnival Pride. Sally has been doing a nice group business with local bus companies from the Cleveland area for about twenty years and has some great contacts with them. We are hoping to put the bus companies, the easy trip to Baltimore, Carnival and local travel groups all together for a nice time.

Back to the trip, we are leaving a day early to explore the port area a bit before we board the Pride on May 27th. From there we have two relaxing days at sea, a day in Nassau, a day in Freeport and a return day at sea. All in all this will be a six cruise, wonderful!! If the timing is right we will get to tour the All-Inclusive Sandals Resort while on Nassau.