Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Swine flu – Hype or Health Concern?
Remember when SARS was all the rage? And the avian flu? Where did they go? Still alive and kickin’ (think Simple Minds, 1985) years later, here we are inundated with images of the swine flu – lines of Mexicans awaiting visits to their overworked doctors, tourists wearing masks on vacation, passengers quarantined upon arriving back to the U.S. from Mexico, cruise lines cancelling their port stops to Mexico. Is this the “big one”? Will this be the virus to weed out our overpopulated earth? Who knows?
All I know is that it is virtually impossible to turn on a television and not see Dr. Sanjay Gupta or a stern face of a newscaster preparing us for updates on the number of confirmed swine flu cases, number of deaths, and number of states in the U.S. where the virus has hit. It’s really hard to remain objective about the topic of leisure travel to Mexico when the swine flu is looming around us. Yes, I said leisure travel.
Is leisure travel considered essential travel? I think it is. I am of the belief that travel/vacation is essential to life, as much as vitamins, minerals, water, and the occasional cocktail with an umbrella and plastic monkey. In fact, people who take vacations at least once per year are expected to reduce their risk of heart disease by 30% (per the State University of New York at Oswego). That is HUGE! 30%! Wow!
Four days from now, Alex and I will be settling in nicely at our condo in Playa del Carmen (after having wiped it down with bleach wipes), smelling the salty air (through masks of course), nibbling on tacos (with our over-sanitized hands), enjoying the beautiful Caribbean Sea.
Ahhh, leisure travel. Does it get any better than that?
Monday, April 27, 2009
The Final Day of Alaska Airlines' Daily Discount - Puerto Vallarta
You can purchase your ticket to or from Puerto Vallarta for 30% off all day today, but the offer expires at midnight and travel must be completed by 6/19/09.
I think this is a great city, as there has never been a better time to find last minute resort deals in Mexico.
This was a fun promotion and I'm looking forward to the 14 days of deep discounts that Alaska Airlines runs!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Day #12 of Alaska Airlines' Daily Discount - Minneapolis
You can purchase your ticket to or from Minneapolis for 30% off all day today, but the offer expires at midnight and travel must be completed by 6/19/09.
The promo code you'll need to use is EC142609.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Sunshine on Earth Day -- It's what I'm craving!
From TravelGirl --
Do you ever have those days where you just daydream of sunshine and sandy beaches, and maybe kicking off your flip flops to let the waves grab them? Or, bellying up to the swim-up bar to order the perfect, refreshing foo-foo drink with an umbrella and plastic monkey? Well, I’m having one of those days! We had such nice weather – ok, 70 is NICE for
Ha! Now that I say that, a sliver of blue just snuck out! I think I need to venture outside and see if I can get a glimpse of it before it goes away. Happy spring. Happy Earth Day. What will you do today to celebrate Earth Day? If you ARE in the sun, how about using a biodegradable sunscreen? Or, how about something simple like working by daylight today? Keep the flourescents off! Instead of your usual latte order in a paper cup, how about you bring a coffee mug with you to your favorite cafe? Save a tree, save our environment, save the earth. Cherish it.
Wherever you are, enjoy whatever weather you are having, but deep inside I hope you are in sunshine, slathered with your biodegradable sunscreen, drinking your cocktail from a bottomless/reusable glass, and loving every minute of it.
We’ll be in Playa del Carmen in 10 days and will give you a full report so we can all feel like we were there together! (Villa rentals in Mexico are super inexpensive right now, so if you want to experience the Riviera Maya too, give TravelGuy a call. You'll be happier and more tan because of it.)
Day #9 of Alaska Airlines' Daily Discount - Edmonton
You can purchase your ticket to or from Edmonton, Canada for 30% off all day today, but the offer expires at midnight and travel must be completed by 6/19/09.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Day #8 of Alaska Airlines' Daily Discount - Cancun
I've had a couple people ask me what I think will be included in the remaining days. If I had to venture a guess, I would say the following:
1 more SoCal city (LAX, Burbank, San Diego, etc)
1 more city in Mexico (Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, etc)
Either Miami or Orlando
Austin, TX (because Austin is a relatively new route and I think they'll want to promote it)
Happy Flying!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Review -- Freedom of the Seas
I don't know about you, but I'm so impatient in waiting for summer to arrive. Sooooo, I'm posting a review I wrote September 2008, highlighting Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas. If this doesn't get you excited for your summer vacation, then maybe you're a snow bunny!
Freedom of the Seas Review (Western Caribbean itinerary), originally posted to Cruise Critic 9/2008
A MOOvelous cruise and UDDERly fantastic ship!
Pre-cruise:
We stayed at the Best Western on the Bay Inn & Marina in
Embarkation:
The cruise shuttle from the hotel cost us $10/person and dropped us off at the
Cabin:
We had booked the Ben & Jerry’s “Sweet”, also known as the “Cow Butt” cabin – Stateroom 6305 on Freedom,
Our cabin steward, Marcia from
The Ship:
Freedom of the Seas, currently the largest ship in the world, was big, but didn’t have the HUGE feeling we thought it would. We expected lines of people wherever we went, a long wait for elevators and the potential inability to visit every nook and cranny on the ship by the end of the sailing. However, none of that happened. The layout made the foot traffic flow nicely, and we rarely had to wait longer than 2-3 minutes for an elevator. Though the ship was full, there were only 421 children on this sailing which could have contributed to the feeling of not being overwhelmed with the number of people. Three weeks before our sailing passengers enjoyed the company of over 1800 children!
Food:
We ate in the Main Dining Room every night, as we weren’t really in the mood to splurge at Chops or
Our favorite after hours eatery by far was
Café Promenade, a bit different than the Café Lattetudes found on other RCCL ships, was one deck below and across from our cabin which made for easy viewing to check on the length of the line before venturing down for a morning coffee. Café Promenade did not offer a coffee punch card as does Café Lattetude on other ships, and the cost of a small soy latte is comparable to what I would pay on land. Plan to pay $3-$5 for a latte depending on size and any additions you may like. Two days into our sailing we realized that all of the cookies, pastries and sandwiches at Café Promenade were available at no additional charge.
Entertainment:
We enjoyed the Ice Show one evening where a featured guest (I really wish I could remember his name) performed acrobatics on a cylindrical device over the ice. Picture a hamster in a wheel, but with an 18-year old athlete rolling around inside, never allowing the wheel to lie flat on the ice. He WOWed us!
Eric Lydon performed on Adult Comedy night, and if you have a chance to see him, DO IT! I cannot tell you the last time I laughed for 30 minutes straight without stopping!
Other performers from dancers to a magician really performed like typical cruise performers, and were entertaining, but didn’t bring the WOW factor.
Nightclubs:
The Crypt is a late-night club that we visited on the first night, then not again. We really enjoy music and like to dance, however, only hip hop intermingled with some Latin vibes were played during the two hours (or so) we were in the club. A few in our group requested other styles of music – techno and 80s – but the DJ wouldn’t play them. We didn’t return to The Crypt and decided to spend our evenings at other locales because of it.
Other Activities:
The Quest – As usual, this is the most fun to be had on the ship! We thought our team had won (and so did the winning team), but I guess we came in second. We really don’t know what happened with the scoring, but our group had so much fun playing that it didn’t matter. If you don’t know about The Quest, just picture a cross between a scavenger hunt and a co-ed wedding shower taken up a notch to an R and sometimes X-rated level. If I told you any more than that, I may have to shoot you. You just need to go participate!
Name the Lyrics – This is a “finish the tune” type of game. Honestly, it was pretty boring, but we went to this because my husband is so good with music lyrics. If he had not been in the contest, continually advancing, and then WINNING it, I would have left from boredom. He’s such a ham and a showman that he kept it interesting. His winnings included a pen, luggage tag, lanyard, waterproof case, hat, and bag all branded with the RCCL logo.
Sexy Legs Contest – RCCL makes this a fun poolside event. This contest was won by a 7-year old which goes to show that you really don’t need to be “sexy” to participate or even win. I really think the crowd makes this game what it is, and contestants respond to the energy and start to get a little crazy.
Ports of Call:
Labadee – We lounged in the sand near Dragon’s Breath to watch the zip lines. The sand was a bit more on the “reefy” side, with some rocks so we ventured about 200 yards away to
Ocho Rios – We took the ship’s excursion to Dunn’s
Before returning to the cruise port, the tour included a stop at a couple of shopping spots. Our favorite was Taj Mahal, as we were looking for a good deal on
After this excursion, we walked to
Cozumel – In this port we grabbed a cab with some cruise friends and headed over to
From Chankanaab we took a cab downtown were we walked through a few shops then found a plaza area where we grabbed a lunch. The plaza area was full of shops and eateries providing outdoor seating perfect for people watching. The area is very village-like and is only one block off of the main drag that takes you to the cruise ship. If you are sailing on Carnival, the ships dock in downtown. If you cruise RCCL like we did, you’ll want to take a cab to enjoy the downtown area.
When we got back on the ship we found out that Flowrider was having an “Adults only” session starting at 3:30 p.m., so we waited in line for about 20 minutes and boy was it worth it! The schedule for Flowrider is posted on the wall across from the Flowrider registration booth. I recommend reviewing it and planning accordingly to better optimize your Flowrider experience. We each enjoyed the Flowrider four times before we simply got too tired. Something to note is that the bottom of the Flowrider is padded, so falls really do not hurt. Important message for females: wear a tank top and shorts over your bathing suit. I lost my shorts and a portion of my bikini bottoms and many women were losing their tops!
Sea Days:
We had two sea days on this itinerary, which was just about right for me. My husband would have liked an additional sea day as he likes to relax a bit more. Sea days were spent at the pool deck in the water and simply relaxing in the sun. The sundeck immediately above the Sky Bar was an unofficial topless deck filled primarily with Europeans. There was no sign identifying this deck as a topless deck, but while we were there about half of the women had removed their tops for sunbathing. Nothing was said to them by other passengers or the Deck Patrol and cocktail servers who visited often.
This is the first cruise of our four where I have found lounge chairs any time I needed them. So, even though this ship is so large, and sailed full, there were ample chairs for anyone who wanted to enjoy the sun on the pool deck. The only exception to this being the Solarium, which was fully occupied nearly 100% of the time. Why? The padding on the lounge chairs was wonderful. We were also disappointed that the Solarium was not self-contained, and by that I mean that if you wanted to get something to eat, you needed to leave the Solarium. The only comparison I have is Jewel of the Seas where they served pizza, wraps, sandwiches and crepes in their Solarium.
Disembarkation:
Because we were in no hurry to leave the ship, we stayed in our cabin as long as we were allowed – until 8 a.m. We had a little breakfast in the Windjammer and then headed to the Champagne Bar where we lounged until about 9:30 or so. We were off the ship by 10 a.m., found our luggage immediately, and grabbed a cab for
Post-cruise:
Because of the flight schedule from
In Summary:
This was such a fun cruise not only because the ship had something to offer us during any given moment, and the ports of call were inviting and fun, but also because of the friends we made along the way. We are social people, but really connected with people on this cruise and already have plans to sail with them again on Oasis of the Seas! From the activities, to the ports, to the enjoyment of our fellow cruisers, this was a cruise we will always remember!
Day #6 of Alaska Airlines' Daily Discount - Eugene, OR
You have until midnight tonight to book your reservation to or from Eugene, OR on www.alaskaair.com using promo code EC144109. Travel must be completed by June 19th, 2009 and is valid to or from all destinations except Hawaii.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Day #5 of Alaska Airlines' Daily Discount - Long Beach
You have until midnight tonight to book your reservation to Long Beach, CA on alaskaair.com using promo code EC143709.
Travel must be completed by June 19th, 2009 and is valid to or from all destinations except Hawaii.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Alaska Airlines Offers 14 Days of Deep Discounts
Destinations which have been previously discounted are:
April 14th - Phoenix
April 15th - Newark
April 16th - Ixtapa, Mexico
It's impossible to know which cities will be part of the promotion, but cities of note which haven't been used yet include: Seattle, Boston, Washington DC, Miami, Orlando, Cancun, Mazatlan, Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta, Austin, Dallas, Chicago, Phoenix, the Hawaiian Islands, and most all of the Southern California.
I will be sending out updates on this promotion daily via twitter if you care to follow: http://twitter.com/TravelGuyTravel
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Reviews
Since this is a new blog spot for TravelGuy Travel, yet we've been posting reviews of our travels for quite some time, I decided to go ahead and post some reviews of our travels over the past couple of years so you can enjoy them all in one spot -- right here!
From TravelGirl --
Ocho Cascadas Review
Alex and I had the fabulous opportunity to stay at Ocho Cascadas with three friends, April 10-17, 2008. The best word to sum up our week is “WOW”! It was probably one of the most relaxing vacations we’ve ever taken in paradise.
Ocho Cascadas is located in the Conchas Chinas neighborhood of
We rented Villa #3 directly from the owner. Villa #3 is the only villa with a sundeck, except the Penthouse, and some call it the “Lower Penthouse”. Other villas do have a nice area to relax and get the sun, but the sundeck of Villa #3 is HUGE! Villa #3 has two bedrooms, sleeping two people each, plus two sleepers out in the living area. Our single friend slept in one of those sleepers and while it was very comfy, the sound of the outdoors (the street noise from the house below our hill could be loud at night) was sometimes too loud for him to sleep through the night. In fact, anyone who is a light sleeper may have some challenges sleeping through the night here. The villa itself was huge – over 2800 square feet including the sundeck.
We spent every day enjoying our own plunge pool, then laying on the sundeck or relaxing on the hammock while sipping a mixed drink. The kitchen came stocked with all of the appliances we needed (especially a blender J). Ocho Cascadas offered a grocery shopping service where they delivered our requested groceries in advance of our arrival, based on a grocery list we had sent in advance. We ordered enough groceries to last us 3-4 days, then made another grocery store (and liquor store – La Playa) run midway through our stay to last us the rest of the week. This proved to be a very economical and convenient way to ensure we always had ample food and beverage on hand. Additionally, Ocho Cascadas offers twice-daily maid service. Josephina came in each morning and efficiently swept, mopped, washed dishes, and took out the garbage. She did an outstanding job; it almost felt like she was part of the family!
Though we spent most of our time relaxing in the luxury of our villa, we did venture out several times to visit the city and experience some great tastes! Pipi’s is a favorite of ours for inexpensive and fun Mexican fare, so we ate there again on this trip. Boca Bento was recommended to us by some friends as a really good Pan Asian eatery, and boy were they right! The owners are very friendly and the food is very, very good as is the ambience of the space itself.
On our third night we hired a floating chef. We placed our orders from a menu provided by the front desk, and though it is a really good deal ($25 total for five of us + the cost of groceries) the downside is that the floating chef doesn’t really know how to cook for vegetarians. Two out of five people in our group are vegetarians. Instead of cooking a real meal for the non-meat eaters, the floating chef simply removed the shrimp from their plates so their meals consisted of two side dishes – rice and vegetables – in addition to the appetizers (soup and salad). So, for anyone contemplating the floating chef – go for it only if all of your group will eat the same thing, and it involves meat or seafood. If so, it’s a screamin’ deal!
Head over to
Outside of
Another day we took the bus up to Sayulita for the day. We took a cab from Ocho Cascadas (cost was $10) to Wal-Mart, then caught a bus in front of Wal-Mart that took us to Sayulita (cost was $2/person). Busses to Sayulita run every 20 minutes. Once on the bus, it took about an hour or hour and a half to get to Sayulita, so be sure to leave
If I had to do it all over again I would only change two things – I would stay in the Penthouse next time (we got to tour it and it was amazing, with 3 pools and a bridge in the living room!) and I wouldn’t have more than four people in our villa. Even though the villas will sleep up to six people, the sounds from the lack of windows and doors can really be a detriment to anyone sleeping on a living room sleeper.
We loved Ocho Cascadas so much that we are already looking for a way to go back in 2010, hopefully in the Penthouse!
Alaska cruises out of Seattle -- WOW!
You've probably read the online ads or seen the television commercials, but if you've been sleeping under a rock then let me apprise you - the BEST value for your vacation bucks right now is a cruise to Alaska. Never before have Alaskan cruises been this inexpensive, and NOW is the best time to book your cruise from Seattle or Vancouver for as low as $449 per person, round trip. I might not be able to see Alaska from my house, BUT I CAN see that cruise fares to Alaska have never been this low.