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This post kicks off our series about our trip on Paul Gauguin's Tahiti & The Society Islands cruise. It's titled " How much better can it get?" because I kept saying this over and over during the first few days. So let me tell you why.
How do you protect yourself from bad travel agents? We typically only talk about really good or excellent travel agents on this blog. But recently I was quoted by a Travel Agent magazine in response to question about a really bad travel agent.
We've all seen the TV advertisements for Royal Caribbean or Carnival right? If you are a certain age, you're mail box is probably inundated with marketing materials from Viking and Oceania. And if you are looking at Bridal magazines, you're no doubt familiar with Sandals resorts. So as a consumer, the question is - who else is out there and how do you find them? For our purposes we'll use the term "alternative suppliers" as those that don't advertise direct to consumers.
Recently I got a call from a client that was interested in a mass market ocean cruise. She had the supplier, dates and ship all picked out. I had previously introduced this client to river cruising via AmaWaterways. She asked what the benefits of booking through a travel agent for an ocean cruise. The cruise line advertised quite a bit and she didn't think she needed much help from a travel professional. So I thought this would make a good posting since many of you probably have the same question. so here's how I responded:
Will I have time on my own? This is a very common question for those that have not taken a river cruise before. The short answer is - yes. But there is more to the story.
Where do I go to catch my river cruise?
Would you hand over a $1000 bill to someone you've never met with expectation that you will get something in return? Can you trust your travel agent? Can you trust the underlying travel supplier? After all, you may be spending between $5000 and $20,000 on a vacation so asking about trust seems pretty reasonable.
Today's post is called "The I's have it". Did I spell that wrong? No, I'm talking about three countries that start with "I": Ireland, Iceland and Italy. What do these I's have in common? They are all very popular destinations.
The author at Guinness Storehouse
Today we leave Galway and visit two breweries and a bar on our way to Trim. This is our last full day of the Joe Sixpack Irish Beer & Whiskey tour. You can start at our first day here.