Just A Little Bit More About Cruising In 2018

Cruising Into Sydney Harbor

Three of the last four weeks we have been visiting with our listeners and readers about cruising. It's a great vacation subject....one of my favorite items to sell in our multi-varied catalog of vacation options. One of the reasons I enjoy selling it is because I vicariously travel with them on their vacations, especially planning some of the details. Another reason is that very rarely, over the 40+ years, I haven't had a dissatisfied cruise customer. That's a real plus in our business!!!

And, did you have any idea how valuable a travel agent is in selling and promoting the idea of a cruise vacation? Well, let me tell you!!!

A travel surveying organization, Phocuswright, has been publishing their findings about how folks are traveling nowadays and just who is helping them plan for their vacations, both tours and cruises. Their most recent findings have a little bit of good news for travel agents. In 2017, sales of traditional tours and packages by travel agents increased by 4% to roughly over $9 billion, representing 68% of sales of these products.

Cruises sold by travel agents saw a 5% increase, reaching the $11.5 billion mark being sold by travel agents. Cruise lines like us.....just think how much manpower they would have to hire to service those sales. Expectations are that those increases will continue on into 2021, which again is really good news for those in the travel business.

The personal touch and daily experience of helping our friends with their travel plans pays dividends in time and money compared to them having to do all that planning alone. And we can certainly see the increase in business the past couple of months, both in cruise sales and tour sales.

We often know of promotions that are going on that are not available on the internet or through television and radio advertising. One of those promotions I've alluded to in a recent report. It is The Travel Factory Gang Caribbean cruise out of Galveston on September 9-16 on Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas. Seven days of great food, excellent entertainment, loads of activities, and some special Western Caribbean ports like Roatan, Honduras, Costa Maya Mexico, and Cozumel Mexico.

We made reservations for this group last March '17, just a day or two after they opened the ship up for sale, and as a result received some fantastic group prices that can be purchased only through The Travel Factory. For example, a room on the Promenade Deck overlooking the wide promenade costs only $594 a person!!! An inside room is only $600 a person. A balcony room runs as low as $780 a person! Beside all that, if you are a part of our group, you'll receive $50 on-board-credit per room, a bottle of wine, and a welcome-on-board fruit plate. What a deal!!!

Those fantastic prices are available only until May 12. Royal Caribbean will take away all my unsold space at that time and sell it at the prevailing rate, which will be much higher, so for those who might be interested, make up your mind quickly and give us a call at 325-698-1421 or toll-free 800-760-4040. You can see the flyer on our website: www.thetravelfactoryabilene.com. It's our humpteenth time to take a group on a fantastic Caribbean cruise so please consider this getaway week from home.