Like many 70+ peers, a few years before the pandemic I chose to give up driving. I still have my driver’s license, but I would hesitate to get behind the wheel today for anything other than outright emergencies.

Cutting back on my driving was easy. I simply took Lyft or Uber about five times a week. In the evening, my wife, who is ten years younger than me, usually drove. If we planned to consume a bottle of wine in the evening, we racked up more Lyft or Uber trips.

Since I live close to LAX and most of my destinations are in West Los Angeles, a car was seldom more than 10 minutes away or cost more than $15.00. We got rid of our second car, which more than offset the costs of our Ubers and Lyfts. Read the rest of this entry »

The Centers for Disease Control is pondering an offer from the Norwegian Cruise Line that may avoid months of haggling. If the CDC accepts the deal, the other two members of “Big Three,” Carnival and Royal Caribbean, will likely go along; lest they lose the rights to sail this summer from American ports. Norwegian Cruise Line’s offer to CDC Is:

Permit Norwegian Cruise Line to begin cruises on all of our ships by the Fourth of July, and we will require that everyone on board (including crew members and children) be fully vaccinated two weeks before each cruise begins.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) consists of three cruise lines. The only one that usually sails from American ports—making their health and safety provisions fall under the Center for Disease Control’s authority—is the Norwegian Cruise Line. It features large resort ships that cater to American families. Read the rest of this entry »

Passengers are tired of seeing ads and press releases that praise airline ventilation systems for being so effective. Ventilation systems won’t help if there are infected persons, who aren’t showing symptoms, on the flight along with others who are unvaccinated and untested. All will be at risk if they share armrests, bathrooms, access the same luggage compartments, and eat and drink unmasked. Also, no one knows how long vaccinated fliers will be protected, especially against new virus strains. That’s why the CDC urges fliers not to fly until they’re vaccinated, and has started to mention booster shots. There is evidence that clients agree with this advice. Read the rest of this entry »

No one should buy an expensive home here in California without strongly considering both fire and earthquake insurance. Likewise, your clients shouldn’t book an international cruise or any other form of vacation without travel insurance. This has been especially true since COVID has ravaged the world. Hospital costs for treating the coronavirus and complications can easily exceed $100,000. Medicare and most private insurance are null-and-void when you leave the United States.

Medical evacuations to hospitals in the United States can also cost more than $100,000—especially if they involve private jets and nurses. Care in hospitals abroad can be expensive, if you’re not part of that nation’s health plan.

Here are some pitfalls of which you need to be aware. Read the rest of this entry »

For at least the past five years, Regent Seven Seas has been the leader in cruises that give a new meaning to the label All-Inclusive. To most travel advisors and experienced travelers, “all-inclusive” meant that the costs for all beverages, tips, fees, most specialty restaurants, concierge or butler services, and economy air were built into the price.

Using that definition, Regent, Silversea, Seabourn, and Crystal—and sometimes Oceania, Cunard, Celebrity and others—can proudly claim that they were all-inclusive; at least when certain promotions are underway and for some levels of accommodations (“Free economy air and butler service for all guests in penthouses & concierge suites.”) Read the rest of this entry »

The writing is already on the wall. For the demand for cruises and flights to take off, all guests and crew members will need to be vaccinated.

Vaccinations are projected be available to every American adult who wants one by May 1. If substantial numbers of people have “vaccine hesitancy,” we may be able to get everyone vaccinated by June who initially wants shots. People will be able to celebrate the Fourth with others this year. It should also permit flying and cruising to begin in July—providing everyone that boards the ships or flights are vaccinated. Read the rest of this entry »

Tourism for the rest of 2021 and 2022 will ultimately come down to one thing: How safe will travelers feel? Safety will include three key elements:

• Infection & vaccination rates
• Bucket list destinations
• Public safety and strong public health systems

We can’t look at these factors as they presently exist. We need to project how strong they are likely to be in June and November, when the two most critical travel seasons begin. Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations, Israel is one of the few nations that is well ahead of the United States. It has just passed the 50% rate for vaccinating ALL of its residents, not just only those who are senior, which is what we’ve achieved. It also has stockpiled enough vaccines to inoculate all Israelis over the age of 16.

Now Israel is facing the problem that we will probably be experiencing in a few months: What do you do when you run out of people who volunteer to get vaccinated? To ensure that Israel goes from the 50% vax rate to the 75-85% rate that experts say is necessary to establish “herd immunity,” the Israelis have established a “Green Passport” program that will affect travel, dining out, public entertainment, and some jobs.

Green Passports will be issued only by the Israeli Health Ministry Read the rest of this entry »

Despite the high prices that everyone fears when cruising resumes this June, there are several genuine bargains that offer exceptional value when clients book immediately. Will these cruises be standouts, or will they be joined by many other cruises that offer significant value? Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to cruising, the sun is quickly rising. President Biden’s announcements that vaccinations will be available to every American who wants them, by this summer, will hopefully lead to a cascade of bookings.

But the news is even better. For many of us, going for close to a year without seeing a doctor very often has been an eye-opener. We’ve had to take more responsibility for our own health, decide when it was worth it to visit a doctor, go to an emergency room, or change our intake of some medications. Read the rest of this entry »

In sales, health, and politics, difficult questions are ones that don’t have simple answers. Here are the three questions travel advisors hate to be asked right now.

Will Vaccinations Be Required If You Want to Cruise or Eat in Quality Restaurants?

Today’s vaccines can prevent most deaths and infections from COVID-19. Once people are fully vaccinated, some will get sick and may be infectious—but very few will die.

Several recent polls have reported that 79%-85% of cruisers will get vaccinated if this is made a requirement; and that no more than 5% will refuse to cruise if vaccines are mandated. Most cruises are terminated if even a few persons become infected. Why would any captain, or CEO, risk seeing a half-billion-dollar cruise ship sitting idle if a combination of vaccinating, testing, and masking can largely Read the rest of this entry »

The Small Ultra-Luxury Ships (let’s call them SULS) are defined by their numbers.

They are spacious. The passenger space ratio is at least 65 for true SULS. We derive this figure by dividing the gross tonnage of the ship by the number of passengers. The passenger space ratio is the most accurate estimate of how crowded each ship is. Tight quarters are linked to how quickly a virus can spread among guests and crew members.

You can buy Berlitz Cruising & Cruise Ships (Douglas Ward) on Amazon for less than $20. It provides this ratio for the 300 cruise ships that serve the American and Canadian markets. If the calculated ratio is in the 30’s or 40’s, the CDC may demand that ship sail Read the rest of this entry »

According to the AHLA (American Hotel & Lodging Association), half of U.S. hotel rooms are projected to remain empty in 2021. Business travel is practically nonexistent, they say, and won’t return to 2019 levels until late 2023 or 2024. Leisure travel will return more quickly, but 56% of consumers said they see hotel stays as being linked to vaccine distribution.

One possible “cure” for this situation was included in an Executive Order released on January 21, the new administration’s first full day in office. It requires that quarantines, as well as pre-travel testing, be required of everyone who has traveled abroad, including U.S. citizens. Also, as of last week, 22 states also have imposed domestic quarantines requirements for people arriving from out-of-state, including their own state residents.

Virtually all the state quarantine regulations have proven to be ineffectual, since they don’t include any means of enforcement. No GPS locators, few checkup phone calls, few hotels with quarantine sections—only vague references to an “honor system.”

To make quarantine programs viable Read the rest of this entry »

Twenty years ago, I managed investment brokerages in Marina Del Rey, California. I relied mostly on technical analysis to guide my investment choices. This meant I’d examine the charts to see which stocks would make the best purchases. The stock market tries to predict a company’s earning, 6-18 months in the future. A good indicator is a stock’s performance during the past year. Since the event which has dominated thinking this year has been the pandemic, this might be a good way for travel advisors to recommend airlines to clients.

It’s lucky that The Motley Fool, my favorite stock pickers, also thought this topic was worth pursuing. They published an article last week, Investing in Airline Stocks. They included opinions and charts for Delta, American, United, and Southwest. They tried to tie the results to how the airlines are behaving during the pandemic. I added Qantas Airways to this piece, since their approach to the pandemic is entirely different from the U.S. carriers. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s early Spring. Most Americans will be vaccinated by summer, and outbreaks are being controlled. Most of the world is open for travel to anyone who is vaccinated and willing to be tested twice before arriving at a ship or resort. The pent-up demand for travel is triggering outrageous bargains, and most people haven’t a nickel on this in the past year. How do you ensure that you share in this good fortune?

If you’re an experienced agent with a huge book of clients, it will hopefully be like “shooting fish in a barrel.” But what if you don’t have a huge following, and you need to try something different from how you’ve marketed in the past?

A very promising strategy, which I’ll be trying myself, is to sign up for free personal and business accounts on Snapchat Read the rest of this entry »

If you book one of the December Australian cruises we featured a few weeks ago, your cruise experience may take a few different twists. Here are how things may go.

Before You Leave

• When you place your deposit, your confirmation will notify you that a Health Passport number will be required, and the fare will include an inexpensive COVID-19 insurance policy. MSC has been charging about $25 a day for theirs.
• When you make the final payment in August, you will be sent a scannable Health Passport QR code. The first part of your ID code will always identify you; the last few characters will be added in real-time after your vaccination record is checked and verified with a selfie, fingerprint and State Department passport. Health Passport QR codes are able to be generated by a smartphone and in kiosks that will be similar to those used in airports for Global Entry.

Read the rest of this entry »

There are at least four effective methods for eliminating COVID-19 as an everyday threat.

1. Use travel restrictions and quarantines to restrict entry into areas you want to safeguard.
2. Use stay-at-home and masking regulations to prevent person-to-person spread.
3. Use technology to identify those who may be infected.
4. Use survey testing and vaccinations to provide long-term solutions.

In this week’s column, I’ll cover the first two of these topics. Next week, I’ll take on the other two. Read the rest of this entry »

It all started by the poolside bar, when a young guest who was traveling with her elderly grandmother tilted back on her bar stool and fell backward – crashing her head on the deck. Since she was semi-conscious and unable to stand, the ship’s captain requested an emergency evacuation from Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, through which the ship was sailing.

A small powerboat from one of the Aussie’s famed Sea-Rescue Squadrons met the ship within hours, and the woman was evacuated to a hospital ashore. The woman did not do well, and a few days later, the captain of the ship asked the grandmother for permission to have the hospital do brain surgery. The grandmother collapsed with a stroke and had to be evacuated from the ship by helicopter. When both were stabilized, the grandmother and the granddaughter had to be evacuated to the United States by private jet and transferred to local hospitals. Read the rest of this entry »

With Australia’s friendly people, engaging wildlife, pristine beaches, and only one case of COVID-19 reported last week; this is the nation the small luxury ships will visit in December 2021.

In the first half of December 2021 (just a year from now), you’ll have the choice of boarding the Viking Orion, Silversea Silver Muse, Seabourn Ovation, or Crystal Symphony — arguably the finest collection of luxury ships ever assembled anywhere – for 15 or 16 night “all-inclusive” Australian cruises. In this case, “all-inclusive” covers all essential expenses on the ship except for insurance, airfare, and shore excursions. On one ship, in which at least one shore excursion in every port is free, the calculated cost was reduced by 10 percent.

By next December, the ravages of the pandemic will be largely behind us, but we will still have to take precautions and be very cautious. It’s likely that masking, vaccination certificates, and COVID-19 tests will be required to cruise and fly, and certainly to enter largely coronavirus-free Read the rest of this entry »

For travel advisors, 2021 will be divided into two seasons: Pre-Vaccine (Pre-Vac) and Post-Vaccine (Post-Vac). The Pre-Vac season starts immediately and will extend until (as Dr. Anthony Fauci says) about 75% of the people in the United States, and in the nations that we visit on cruises, are vaccinated. The Post-Vac season extends from then through the rest of the year.

Let’s assume that the dividing line will be at the start of the Memorial Day Weekend, May 29, 2021. Selling cruises that leave before and after that date will be entirely different. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re a travel advisor or an agency director, why not give your clients and staff a Christmas present that demonstrates that you have their interests first in mind. Many of us have helped clients make complete payments and place deposits on cruises that were cancelled. In many cases, the cruise lines have refused to return your clients funds.

When the nonsense of compelling clients to accept “Future Cruise Credits” (FCCs) in place of cash refunds started last spring, the common wisdom was that ships would be sailing by Thanksgiving and the cruise lines really needed the cash. Now it appears that our estimates for resuming cruising were off by 6-12 months or more, and the cruise companies have met their cash needs by selling off ships, laying off crew, getting additional financing, and issuing more stock. Judging by last week’s increase in cruise company stock prices, all of the “Big Three” will be COVID-19 survivors. Read the rest of this entry »