Royal Caribbean cancels sailings on four ships based in Florida
2022-01-11Royal Caribbean International canceled sailings on four ships departing from Florida this weekend, citing “ongoing Covid-related circumstances around the world.” Travel advisors and passengers were informed of the change on Jan 7. From Miami, the Symphony of the Seas canceled its cruise scheduled to depart Jan. 8, and the ship will be out of service […]
READ MORE
Righting the Ship
2022-01-11“We,” the cruise industry, know cruising is safer than any cruiser’s city. Atlanta the home of the CDC’s positivity rate is 9%, about 100x worse than on a cruise ship! Now, how do “we” get reality to replace perception? Personally, I think that messaging says it all. CLIA’s social media billboards are effective messaging, albeit […]
READ MORE
Omicron slows bookings, but tour operators are liking 2022 overall
2022-01-02Omicron ruined just about everything this holiday season, from thousands of flights canceled globally at Christmas to downsizing New Year’s Eve plans (not to mention the fluctuation of travel restrictions and tighter testing windows). And the variant looks like it will continue to upend plans as we head into 2022. But tour operators say that […]
READ MORE
Safest Place During Covid
2021-12-31About 16% of the US population has Covid, NYC is greater than 20%. What if there’s a place with only a 0.02% Covid rate and considerably more comfortable than isolating at home? Since June of this year, more than 1.1 million guests have cruised aboard Royal Caribbean Group ships, with 1,745 testing positive. Chairman and […]
READ MORE
The latest on travel to the Caribbean: requirements for U.S. travelers
2021-12-28Caribbean islands have reopened to international tourism. But many islands have adopted different restrictions and requirements for vaccinated and unvaccinated travelers, and protocols can change quickly. Here are the latest developments for travel from the U.S. to each Caribbean country. Please double-check requirements with the countries’ official websites. For more information, see our global travel map, […]
READ MORE
Camping, glamping sector builds beyond pandemic popularity
2021-12-20Campgrounds, glamping sites, recreational vehicles and anything else that offered fresh air, physical distance and a decreased chance of cancellation due to Covid-19 regulations saw significant boosts in bookings in 2020. Internally, companies offering those products believed it would be hard to keep up the rapid growth into 2021, but the sector’s upward trend has […]
READ MORE
Demand for airlines’ premium products soars as leisure flyers continue to trade up
2021-12-14Leisure flyers have increasingly purchased premium-seat products during the pandemic, a trend some airlines are betting will buoy the industry even if unpredictable developments, like the omicron variant of Covid-19, extend the timeline for business-travel recovery. “We believe that through the pandemic we’ve created kind of a new class of customer, which is the high-end […]
READ MORE
Fauci suggests South Africa travel ban could be short-lived
2021-12-07The ban on noncitizen U.S. entry from South Africa and seven other southern African nations might be short-lived, according to the Biden administration’s chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci. “In real time, literally on a daily basis, we’re reevaluating that policy,” Fauci said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” cable news show. The U.S. […]
READ MORE
Travel advisors urged to prepare for the luxury floodgates to open
2021-11-29The luxury segment has changed, and travel advisors need to keep up with the demands of their top clients, according to two luxury-travel experts. The smartest luxury travel advisors are getting even smarter, Angie Licea, president of Global Travel Collection, a luxury division of Internova Travel Group, said after the group’s conference in October. Those […]
READ MORE
The 17 Best Christmas Light Displays in the U.S.
2021-11-29Get in the holiday spirit at one of these dazzling Christmas light shows. Holiday lights – whether they be Yule logs or candles on Christmas trees – have been around for centuries, but it wasn’t until 1882 that electric lights made it on the scene. Plus, it took several more decades before they were widely […]
READ MORE