Beaches Resort Vacation Discounts!

Beaches Resorts have two super fantastic promos right now! 

{Beaches Turks & Caicos by Day}

The first one will give you $315 IN FREE AIR CREDIT when staying 6 nights or more at Beaches Negril located on Jamaica's famous 7 Mile Beach.

The second one is an early booking bonus for travel this fall and will give you $325 CREDIT TOWARD YOUR HOTEL STAY. This offer is valid at any Beaches Resort.

Beaches Resorts have long been known as the best family friendly all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean. They do an excellent job of catering to kids as well as adults. Beaches Turks & Caicos is my personal favorite - especially the Italian Section... all-inclusive family friendly vacations don't get any better than a week in a Turin Water's Edge Walkout Two Bedroom Family Suite. 

{Beaches Turks & Caicos at Night}

Our Caribbean Travel Specialists will be able to help you decide which Beaches Resort and which room category is best for your family. Call or email us today! 


{As with all promotions restrictions apply, please inquire.}

Caribbean Journey mentioned in the Wall Street Journal!

What a lovely late holiday present - a little mention in the Wall Street Journal!

A few weeks ago I gave an interview about the current status of the Caribbean Airfare Market - not my favorite subject, as reflected in the article. Even though many discount airlines, such as Jet Blue, are increasing their airlift to the Caribbean, it hasn't had enough of an overall effect to help bring down prices or create more seat availability. If you are reading this post, I likely don't need to tell you this because if you've tried planning a Caribbean trip in the past 12-18 months you know that there are fewer nonstop options, ticket prices are more expensive, and all of the extra fees are nothing but a headache. 

Read the full article here and contact me if you'd like help maneuvering the wild airfare market and planning your Caribbean Vacation.


{image from Cerulean Villa, Anguilla}

Enjoy,

Happy New Year!!!

2010 was a magical year for us at The Journey Group. Our business grew in a time when many small business were closing. We forged relationships with some wonderful new clients and a few amazing hot new hotels. Our agents were lucky enough to take more personal trips than any previous year. This year alone, we visited Antigua, Anguilla, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Turks & Caicos, Cancun, and Cozumel. We've already booked trips for 2011 to Barbados and Punta Cana and our annual trips back to St. Lucia and Jamaica.

We added two new permanent agents to our team - Christy Mackley a scuba dive specialist with a fantastic blog all her own and Linda Combs a social group travel specialist. 

For all of this, we are thankful.

 Thanks for reading this little blog and please stick around to see what adventures 2011 has in store for our Caribbean Travel Agency and remember, we'd be happy to help you plan your own Caribbean Adventure any time...


{image}

Best wishes,

Clients Return to Travel Agents

USA Today recently published a fantastic article reminding readers of the benefits of using a live human travel agent as opposed to taking on the responsibility of booking your trip independently online. 


Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the article:

• For some travelers, do-it-yourself booking is losing its luster. A study by Forrester Research found that in the first three months of this year, 28% of leisure travelers in the U.S. who booked their trips online said they'd be interested in going to a good traditional travel agent. That's up from 23% in 2008. Another Forrester report finds that the number of leisure travelers who enjoyed using the Web to plan and book their vacations dropped to 46% last year, down from 53% in 2007.
• In addition to getting clients special rates, upgrades and perks, a traditional travel agent can help passengers avoid the headache of figuring out varying rates and restrictions on their own.
• "A lot of people are finding that travel has become more complicated than ever and that they need ... the assistance of professionals that are going to understand," says Paul Ruden, senior vice president for legal and industry affairs for the American Society of Travel Agents.

Read the full article here and book your next trip with a Travel Agent! 

Enjoy,

How to get to Anguilla?

Most of my clients ask "How do we get to Anguilla?" before we even begin looking at Anguilla accommodation options. 

American Eagle does fly directly into Anguilla from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Flight times are limited and the price is high. This leads most visitors to fly into St. Maarten, and take a ferry or small plane over to Anguilla.

{The view from my June ride on GB Express!}

My preferred ferry provider is GB Express. They are very reliable and reply quickly to any questions you might have. Recently, I booked a clients to spend a week on Anguilla and a week on St. Barths and GB was able to assist me in coordinating the Anguilla ferry with the St. Barths ferry and made my job so much easier! {Thank you, Cara!} Rates for GB Express start at $35/per person, each way. Click here to view their schedule. 

I usually recommend my clients take the ferry one direction and if they can afford it, fly another direction. {as long as you aren't afraid of small planes} On my recent trip, I few with Anguilla Air Services and they too were super reliable and helpful. Rates start at $80/per person, each way. Check out their schedule here.

I highly recommend a small plane transfer because it will double as a sightseeing tour and give you a bird's eye view of the Caribbean. Below is one of my favorite shots - and click here for more. Stay tuned - I'll be posting a video of my flight soon! 

As a full service travel company, all of our agents at CaribbeanJourney.com are able to book your entire vacation package to Anguilla - international airfare to St. Maarten, ferry and/or small plane charter, and resort or villa accommodations. Just another reason why you should use a Travel Agent.

 We look forward to hearing from you! 866-236-1924 or info@caribbeanjourney.com 

Happy travels,

Anguilla Travel Specialist

After my amazing trip to Anguilla this summer, I decided I wanted to know everything possible about this little island. After weeks of study, I have finally completed the Anguilla Travel Connoisseur Programme and am now a recommended agent on the Anguilla Tourist Board website. I'd love to help you start planning your trip to Anguilla today!

Cheers,

CaribbeanJourney.com joins ASTA's Green Program

The first reason I like ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents) is because of their extreme support for the travel agent community. They have an informative consumer website - Travel Sense - where you can find all sorts of destination info and learn about what individual travel specialists have to offer. 

ASTA also does a good job of explaining to the consumer why it is important to use a travel agent.

We recently joined one of ASTA's newest programs as a GREEN MEMBER. This new program requires that our office practices "greener" internal operations - and we are. We've gone paperless on almost every transaction, replaced our old computers with more energy friendly products from Apple, and last year's office renovation included only non-toxic paint... just to name a few. You can read more about other Caribbean companies we support for their green efforts right here on our Green Travel page.

ASTA keeps their GREEN MEMBERS up to date on environmentally minded efforts by the travel industry as a whole through updated versions of their Green Report as well as monthly newsletters.

Best,

My Trip to Sandals Grande Antigua

I just returned from four splendid days on the island of Antigua. It was a lovely trip, albeit very last minute and I arrived much like a hurricane. Sandals Grande Antigua was the host hotel for my stay. It was my first time to the property since they completed the Mediterranean Village. Aside from the first two days of rain, I have only good things to say.

This is what you see when you first arrive. The hand painted ceiling of the lobby on your left and the picture perfect Caribbean Sea straight ahead:

I took time to wander the entire property. While I enjoyed my suite accommodations on the Mediterranean Village, I loved the lush look of the original Caribbean Grove section. If you are booked in the Caribbean Grove in a concierge room, this is where you would check-in:

While you walk to your charming West Indian cottage style accommodation, you will pass a few hidden pools... Sandals Grande Antigua has a total of 9 pools, not counting the private ones found in the villa accommodations:

Pure West Indian bliss:

If you do book a unit with a private pool, it will look something like this:

Before we move over to the new Mediterranean Side, I need to tell you that my favorite restaurant Kimonos, is located in the Caribbean Grove - seriously good Japanese fare:

This was the view from my room. Every day, all day beautiful seabirds would fly past my balcony and seemingly float in the air before then gracefully swooped on past and through the gardens below:

This is the main building in the Mediterranean Village. I stayed in a Mediterranean Honeymoon Penthouse 1 Bedroom Suite with Ocean View & Private Butler. It was amazing. I broke my wide angle lens so my photos are not that great - you can check out all the rooms online here.

My second favorite restaurant is Barefoot by the Sea... the amazingly fresh beer battered Mahi Mahi and the Grilled Swordfish Salad were my top choices:

More lush gardens on the Mediterranean side:

And then the beach - perfect white sand & turquoise water:

Facing West, each night ended with an amazing sunset:

A huge THANK YOU to the General Manager, Mr. Gerald Christ, for hosting our amazing stay!

Ready to go? I'd be happy to help you plan & book your trip! Drop me a line: Laura@CaribbeanJourney.com

To see more photos of my trip, go here.

Enjoy,

A little truth about hotel review sites...

As a travel consultant, clients often come to me with a short list of hotels they are most intersted in and want my professional opinion on which one is the "perfect match" for their vacation. When I ask how they arrived at their choices on the list, the most common response is that they spent a little time on hotel review sites, ruling out any property with negative reviews. Thanks to Christopher Elliott and the Washington Post for this overdue article which supports my feelings that review sites shouldn't always be trusted...

"Oh, the things hotels will do for a good review. It's not enough to ask guests for a write-up on a popular site such as TripAdvisor or Yelp after they've checked out. Lately, some innkeepers have been pressuring their guests to say positive things online -- in extreme cases, even before they've checked in. Take what happened to Pam Stucky when she recently made a reservation at a small hotel in Scotland. Before she arrived, the owner sent her an e-mail soliciting a recommendation on TripAdvisor, even though she'd never been to the hotel... read the full article here."