Travelers entering the UK next week are being warned to expect delays at border control, as a result of a planned strike by Border Force officials.

The Public and Commercial Services union will be walking out next Wednesday in a dispute over pay. The stoppage is set to last through Thursday morning and will affect all international arrivals at UK air and maritime ports, and those arriving from Calais, Dunkirk and Coquelles in France.

The government has issued a statement urging travelers to prepare for longer wait times at the border during the proposed industrial action. It is recommended that those travelling into the UK during this period plan ahead and allow extra time at check-in to avoid delays or disruption. Furthermore, they have advised travelers to check their airline’s website for more information on their flight status before departing for the airport.

The strike will affect thousands of people across the country, with London Heathrow Airport likely to experience some of the longest queues due to its high volume of international passengers. This could have further implications for domestic flights, with airlines potentially facing staffing shortages due to staff unable to make it through border control in time for their shifts.

The government has urged both sides in this dispute to come together and agree an amicable resolution so that there is no disruption for passengers or businesses affected by these strikes.

 

“I’m as proud of many of the things we haven’t done as the things we have done. Innovation is saying no to a thousand things.” ~ Steve Jobs

We have a strange relationship with the word “No.” From childhood, we don’t like hearing the word, and as business people, “No” often signals the premature end to opportunity. Hearing a refusal can be painful.

Unfortunately, our dislike of the word too often means many of us have problems saying “No” ourselves. We have a bias to taking on tasks, of saying “Yes” when at all possible. As a result, we overcommit our time and limited resources. Trying to be positive and agreeable, we find ourselves increasing our own overhead beyond a safe point. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s always fun and educational—and sometimes quite rewarding, for prize winners—to listen in to Vicki Freed’s Coffee Talk webinars.

A sort of travel conference in an hour, the webinars were launched by Royal Caribbean senior vice president of Sales, Trade Support and Service as a way to keep in touch with, educate and inspire travel advisors during Covid. And even now that people are back to face-to-face, they have become such an institution that she continues to hold them, albeit just once a month.

Life At Sea Cruises, a spin-off of the 30-year old Miray Cruises, introduced a three-year cruise around the world for $30,000 a year. The ship for the voyage will be the MV Gemini, with 400 cabins and a capacity of 1,074 passengers. It will depart Nov. 1 from Istanbul and travel 130,000 miles, visiting 375 ports in 135 countries on seven continents. The stops include 103 tropical islands. More than 200 of the port stops will be overnight stays. The company is now taking bookings.

Earlier this week, AmaWaterways held a special Sip & Sail event to provide details about its new Latin America cruises. Beginning in April of 2024, AmaWaterways will offer a series of seven-night sailings, with optional add-ons, along the Magdalena River. The cruises will operate on two new ships carrying 60/64 guests between Barranquilla and Cartagena. The new ships, named AmaMagdalena and AmaMelodia, are wider than those operating in Europe, because there are no narrow locks to contend with on the Magdalena river.

View over lush valley and hills and Rio Magdalena

Rudi Schreiner’s dream of sailing the Magdalena River has come to fruition with the launch of two new ships that will sail the river in Colombia in 2024.

The AmaMagdalena and AmaMelodia will join the two dozen ships already in the Ama fleet, sailing itineraries between Cartagena and Barranquilla. Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s say one of your clients is a semi-retired couple living in Los Angeles. They’ve told you they think they’re in a rut now that their kids have left their home and they’ve lost contact with many former friends due to their moving away in the last few years. They eagerly await their annual cruises, but you know they are now seeking something more.

Ask them if they want to spend the next three years cruising worldwide. They reply, “We can’t afford it. We’re not millionaires.”

Sacre bleu, it’s not the kind of encore tourists were hoping to hear in Paris next week.

The latest in a series of labor actions has French union workers—including those in the aviation industry—calling for a weeklong nationwide strike from March 6-10, and warning travelers that flight disruptions are likely.

The strike follows a series of similar actions that have roiled the roadways and worried the tourists over the past weeks as workers protest over pension reforms.

Air traffic control workers will strike from 6 pm on Monday, March 6, until 7 am on Friday, March 10. Various unions representing Air France, French National Railway Company (SNCF) and the Parisien Public Transport Operator (RATP) also have called on their members to join the strike on Tuesday, March 7, possibly extending into March 8.

France’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) has asked passengers to “postpone their trip and to check with their airline to find out the status of their flight.” DGAC already has requested that Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) reduce its flight schedule by 20% and other French airports—including Paris Orly (ORY), Paris-Beauvais (BVA), Bordeaux–Merignac (BOD), Lille (LIL), Lyon-Saint Exupery (LYS), Nantes Atlantique (NTE), Marseille Provence (MRS), Montpellier-Mediterranee (MPL), Nice Cote d’Azur (NCE) and Toulouse–Blagnac (TLS)—cut theirs by 30%.

One union also has called for a demonstration at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport on March 7, and other demonstrations are likely throughout Paris.

I have been known to suggest that when somebody crosses your mind for no apparent reason, it would be in your (and their) best interest to contact them… sooner rather than later.

The mysticism in this advice escapes me, but I hold firm in my belief the effectiveness behind this practice. This past week, I was the recipient of such a contact when an agent from the west coast sent me an email with an article of supposed interest attached. In this case, the agent thought I might want to discuss the topic at one of my future workshops or podcasts. I opened. I read. I agreed. And here it is.

For the past two weeks, this column has focused on podcasting. We talked about why you might want to start one, and how to go about planning it out to maximize your success. Today, it’s all about the nuts and bolts—what do you need, in terms of equipment, to get started?

First, let me say that a podcast can be started on a shoestring if needed. The equipment can also run into tens of thousands of dollars. But there is a happy medium between using your cell phone and budling out a full-blown studio. Read the rest of this entry »

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated failures. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. ~ Calvin Coolidge

All manner of personalities take on travel consulting. Those who remain in the business more than a couple of years, however, share some common traits that serve to explain their ability to remain in place in an industry so challenging. As President Coolidge indicated, if you are not persistent, there is no other quality to take its place.  There are seldom any shortcuts, just the love of what you are doing and the determination to do it well, taking great pleasure in little successes and not being devastated by the many failures and disappointments. Many people cannot handle failure; they give up, switch course, and head off in a new direction. Even the best, most talented, graciously-gifted people require persistence to succeed. Read the rest of this entry »

That’s an ominous headline, I’ll confess, but I don’t mean it as apocalyptic or doom and gloom. It’s a concept I’ve been thinking about quite a bit for the past several years. It plays out something like this: Imagine that you are in your last good decade. How would you live it?

The possibilities are endless and dependent on what’s important to you. But essentially, it’s a call to action and a reminder to not put off what you want to do.

It’s kickoff season for the biggest year yet for American Cruise Lines, with more ships in more states than ever before. American Serenade, the line’s sixth riverboat, and the first two Coastal Catamarans will join the fleet. On the West Coast, American Jazz will be the first riverboat in 80 years to sail San Francisco Bay and into California Wine Country; on the East Coast, American Star will sail an eight-day Great Rivers of Florida itinerary roundtrip from Jacksonville.

I spoke last week to Jennifer Tombaugh, president of Tauck, the global tour and cruise operator. She’d just returned from Morocco, where she was attending the company’s annual tour directors meeting. That’s where Tauck pulls together its directors of tours, river cruises, and small-ship ocean voyages around the world. If you’ve ever experienced the gentle dynamism of a tour director in action, you can well imagine the sparks that were flying through the atmosphere in that exotic setting where Tauck had brought together hundreds of them for a conference.