Yesterday was a momentous day in the world of Places You'll Go Travel. I made the decision to attend Cruise 360 in Ft. Lauderdale this April. I am now officially registered, booked in a hotel and on a flight and have scheduled classes and ship tours for each day I am there.
I'll be touring 5 ships during my trip including 2 Royal Caribbean ships, 1 Princess, 1 MSC and 1 Celebrity. I'll have 2 - 3 hours on each ship and hopefully will be able to see most of the really important stuff. As details are finalized I'll give them to you so that if there is anything you want to know about each of the ships I'll be visiting you can send me your questions so that I can get you the answer you want. This will be my first CLIA event and the beginning of me getting my CLIA certification. I'm very excited about this. CLIA stands for Cruise Lines International Association and it is the be all, end all for travel agents who book cruises. They train you, send you communications regarding cruise industry news and just generally are the go to organization for travel agents who book cruises.
During the trip, I'll be attending classes on social media, marketing, the "new face" of luxury cruising and multiple other topics as well as attending three 2 hour long general sessions in addition to the 5 ship tours. It promises to be a very busy 6 days in Ft. Lauderdale. My major concern at this point is, will there be beach time???? I mean, really! It's going to suck if I spend 6 days in Ft. Lauderdale and barely have time to drive by a beach, right? Although this is going to be work, I am considering it my birthday gift to myself. After all, nothing makes me happier than all things cruising related.
There will be vendors there from all 26 cruise lines associated with CLIA North America. In fact, there will be more than 300 booths to tour. I'll get one on one time with cruise industry people to ask questions and just visit. Then at the end of each day, I'll be staying at the Hilton Marina in Ft. Lauderdale. You can't beat that. When it's all said and done, I get credits toward my certification. So, I'm calling it a win - win!
This will also mark my first time to fly Spirit which is a pretty big deal. I have booked a few passengers on Spirit and so I'm aware of their policies regarding luxuries, you know, like water. On Spirit, it costs money to carry on luggage, to check luggage, to eat a peanut or drink a glass of water. Nothing is free with them. But as we all know, you can buy bottled water or anything else you want to carry on to eat or drink once you pass the TSA checkpoint at the airport and make yourself a little picnic once you sit down in your seat. So that seems a pretty small price to pay for a $200 discount for the next lower priced airline. As long as I arrange for my luggage prior to travel on their website, the prices aren't extraordinary. One checked bag is $20 and a carry on is $25. I'm thinking I can probably do this trip with either one checked bag or a carry on and a personal item. I've kind of gotten out of the habit of checking luggage when flying. But since it is $5 less than a carry on, I'm thinking it might be an option.
So anyway, that's my big trip that I'll be going on in April. It will be filled with work, but since I have the funnest job in the world, I'm not going to complain about that. I mean, seriously... how could you complain about running around Ft. Lauderdale and Miami for 6 days from one ship to another checking out the amenities? Oh and by the way, I'm told that it is also very important for me to check out some of the excursions that are available there so that I can recommend them to clients.... hmmmmmm..... What should I try out??!?!?!?!
Have a great Wednesday! I'll be spending my Wednesday evening with Donny and Marie!
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