Travel Agents are often thought of as miracle workers. And often times we are because our main objective is to ensure our clients are as happy as WE can make them. But everyone must keep in mind that WE have to work with other people to make YOUR fantasy vacation happen.  We have NO control of airlines delays, tropical storms or over booked hotels.

We carry out your instructions as best as we can and repeatedly call our contacts to stay on top of your trip. Yet mistakes do happen, plans do fall apart. But not because we meant to cause them!


So why use a Travel Agent?

Instead of YOU:
* Dealing with a website and praying you did everything right

* When something does goes wrong you have the reassurance of dealing with one person INSTEAD of a 800# with multiple automation systems that get you to nowhere.  Or when you finally do reach someone-only to be told they can't help you!

With a Travel Agent WE make the calls, the changes and THE STRESSING. We jump into the situation and do our best to work our magic for YOU.  Yes, there are times that there is no super happy ending - i.e. you have to go to a different hotel, you have to shorten your trip, or another not so ideal ending. IT'S NOT THAT WE AREN'T TRYING but again remember that we have to work with our vendors and contacts and ultimately they basically hold the fate of your trip in their hands; but WE go to battle and AIM to win!

So YES indeed you NEED a travel agent!  Unless you like spending hours researching and talking to machines.

Chat with you soon!

   The Royal Travel Agent ®

© No part of this article can be used without permission from The Royal Travel Agent.©

Picture from Google Images

With Carnival Cruise Lines being in the news lately you would think that cruises are the most unsafe means of transportation and the best way to ruin your vacation.  But that is not so. Just as in every day life... things HAPPEN. Yes it's a little unfortunate that in the last month three of Carnival Cruise Line ships has had problems.

It started with Carnival Triumph engine fire which stranded  passengers at sea for five days, then Carnival Dream lost power in the port of Caribbean island of St. Maarten and recently Carnival Legend had technical problem that prevented it from cruising at its optimal speed -causing passengers to miss one port of call on their itinerary. 

It sounds like Carnival needs to make more scheduled reviews of their ships but they are a reliable Cruise Line with great service. Cruise ships are safe like planes and trains which have their technical problems as well.  It's unfortunate when a vacation is interrupted and you are extremely inconvenienced. Especially in the Triumph situation where they were without power, had poor sewage conditions and they had to deal with sweltering heat!  But the good thing is that the ships did not sink and everyone made it back to shore in reasonable conditions.  

Thinking of avoiding Carnival?  DON'T this could have easily been any cruise line it just happened to all be under Carnival.  So rethink  your hesitation some more, like I said things happen and you could be missing out on the best vacation!

What do you think?

Picture and information is from the Article: 
TSA Eases Carry-On Rules For Pocket Knives, Sporting Goods
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/178181/tsa-eases-carry-on-rules-for-pocket-knives--sporting-goods

Yipes!  I don't know about you but I'm a little on the fence about this new update. It's not okay to have sharp items but it is okay to have a small "blades can be no longer than 2.36 inche" (via article)  A few years back my mother forgot a small pair of manicuring scissors in her bag and they confiscated them, can she now travel with them since they are SMALL like the for mentioned blade? Oh wait, the scissors since they might be considered "fixed blade" may not make a come back...."Knives with fixed blades and knives that lock into place will not be allowed on board."*  Will other SMALL items be permitted or just THIS item?  Will we just go back to the way it used to be?

Are we safe with the 2.36 blade being permissible? Hmmmmm....

Well, if you haven't had time to acquaint yourself with the new updates I'll give you a few ideas from the article :

Any knife with a molded grip is also forbidden.*

Box cutters and razor blades will still be banned.*

Novelty baseball bats that are longer than 24 inches but weigh less than 24 ounces will be allowed *


   
    Oh yeah - and sport items like golf clubs can now be brought on! (ummm....where's the room?)


Well folks it's a quick read so run on over to the article and brush up on your do's & don'ts of TSA requirements. buff.ly/WJK9lo

And keep in mind these updates go into effect April 25!

                                                                                            HAPPY TRAVELING!




* mentioned straight from article