It looks like the happiest of new years is headed our way in 2024—but despite the ringing phones and constant emails (or maybe because of them!) travel advisors seem determined this year to have a little fun, to set sail for far-flung destinations, or to take their parents and kids to somewhere they have never been.

After two good years, it seems, the travel industry is ready to travel Read the rest of this entry »

Lovers of milkshakes and mozzarella sticks rejoice: Norwegian Cruise Line has removed the upcharge for its comfort-food-filled specialty restaurant, American Diner, at lunch and dinner.

Available on six Breakaway and Breakaway Plus ships (but not the new Prima class), American Diner offers handheld favorites like pulled pork sliders, chicken pot pie casserole and meatloaf. Desserts include bread pudding, carrot and walnut cake and chocolate mousse.

The transition to complimentary service will include some changes to the menu—kiss those lobster sliders goodbye. New starters include smoked fish dip, white bean chicken chili, cheese nachos and Caesar salad. You can still get a milkshake, but it will cost $7.

The changes already are in effect on the January 2 sailing of Norwegian Getaway and the Norwegian Escape cruise beginning January 6. It will roll out across the other four ships through February.

Disasters are following one another in Japan, where two airports are closed and searchers are looking for survivors of a 7.5 magnitude earthquake that rocked the western coast on Monday.

Japan’s Tokyo Haneda Airport is closed following a crash between a Japan Airlines jet and a Coast Guard plane on its way to provide earthquake relief.

The coastal city of Wajima, home to more than 27,000 people, appeared to be among the worst hit; CNN reports 15 dead there, as well as smoldering fires and destroyed buildings. At Noto Airport, damage to the terminal and its access roads has left about 500 people. Officials say the airport will be closed until at least Thursday.

At Haneda Airport, meanwhile, all 379 people on the passenger plane, JAL flight 516, were safely evacuated, but five crew members on the second aircraft, operated by the Japan Coast Guard, were killed.

The majority of departures from Haneda Airport are now canceled and it’s unclear when flight services will resume, Japan’s NHK news reports.

Scott Austin had been with his host agency for only six months when things started to go wrong. A former hospital CFO, he signed up with Pinnacle Travel in 2022, and immediately immersed himself in learning about the industry first-hand. He traveled extensively with Pinnacle owner Annaliza Proctor to places like Puerto Vallarta and Cancun, and quickly came to consider her a “very, very good friend.”

When his first commission check failed to appear, he let it be. The second time, though, he called the supplier—and was told they had sent the money to Pinnacle 45 days earlier Read the rest of this entry »

Travelers knew Wednesday was going to be a mess at the airport—but they didn’t plan on the extra stress of pro-Palestine protesters blocking the access roads as well.

More than 60 protesters were arrested after two separate demonstrations closed roads leading to JFK and LAX airports, backing up traffic and forcing some travelers to get out of their Ubers and walk to the terminals.

No flights were delayed at either airport.

In New York, Port Authority Police officers arrested about 25 demonstrators who blocked traffic on the Van Wyck Expressway near the Terminal 4 exit for about 20 minutes at 11 am, and about 35 protesters who tried to block Century Boulevard near LAX with traffic cones, trash bins, scooters and debris, at about 9:30.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey dispatched two buses offering rides to travelers involved in the backup to allow them to reach the airport safely.

A few days earlier, a multi-car caravan blocked roads to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Police Department accused protesters of throwing a police officer to the ground and “attacking uninvolved passerbys in their vehicles,” without providing further details about either incident. Traffic was impacted for about two hours.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, protests have broken out in cities across the United States. In New York, pro-Palestinian organizers protested events, including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the annual tree-lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center.

At a news conference on Tuesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said, “I don’t believe that people should be able to just take over our streets and march in our streets. I don’t believe people should be able to take over our bridges. I just don’t believe you can run a city this complex where people can just do whatever they want.”

Always have a Plan B, travel advisors say. Pack your patience—and when you’re sailing the Atlantic in December, bring along some Dramamine too. But no amount of planning would have been enough to make my ill-fated cruise on MSC Meraviglia work last week. In the end, it was travel insurance that saved the day for me.

MSC Cruises today welcomed its fifth US-based ship, the Fantasia-class MSC Divina, to her new homeport in Miami.

Beginning this weekend, MSC Divina will sail a variety of itineraries to the Caribbean, Central America—and Mexico—including 3-day trips to Nassau and MSC’s private island at Ocean Cay; 7-night trips that include Isla de Roatan (Honduras), Belize City (Belize), Costa Maya and Cozumel (Mexico), George Town (Cayman Islands), Ocho Rios (Jamaica), Nassau and Ocean Cay; and 11-night voyages that include Montego Bay (Jamaica), Cartagena (Colombia), Puerto Limon (Costa Rica), Isla de Roatan (Honduras), Oranjestad (Aruba), Cozumel and Ocean Cay.

A limited-time flash sale this weekend will give potential sailors a chance to try the ship, or any MSC ship sailing from Miami or Orlando, at reduced prices starting at $109. Trips must be booked by December 18.

Introduced in 2012, MSC can hold up to 4,345 passengers and 1,388 crew members. There’s a 4-D theater and four pool areas, including a 22,507-square-foot Aqua Park, as well as eight restaurants, 12 bars and lounges, an MSC Yacht Club with floor-to-ceiling windows, and a Thermal Suite.

Also sailing the Caribbean will be MSC Seascape, Seashore, Seaside, Meraviglia and Magnifica.

South America also will have six ships this winter: MSC Grandiosa, Seaview, Preziosa, Musica, Lirica and Armonia, sailing a series of itineraries to Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

MSC also will have a winter presence in the Mediterranean, the Middle East, North Europe, Asia, and South Africa.

The Lufthansa Group will be among the first carriers to return to Israel, with fights resuming on Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, Brussels and Eurowings airlines beginning January 8, 2024, the company announced on Friday. Bookings are available beginning today.

But US-based Delta Air Lines extended its suspension of flights to Tel Aviv through March 29 at the earliest.

The carriers halted service due to the Israel-Hamas war, which began October 8th. Delta previously flew to Ben Gurion Airport from Atlanta, New York and Boston.

“Delta is continuously monitoring the rapidly evolving security environment and assessing our operations based on security guidance and intelligence reports, including the most recent U.S. State Department travel advisory,” the airline said in a statement. “Our hearts are with all who are impacted as our people work to find safe alternatives for customers.”

Lufthansa will return to Tel Aviv on January 8, 2024, with four flights a week from Frankfurt and three from Munich, and Austrian and Swiss will provide 13 weekly connections.

“Safety is always the top priority for the Lufthansa Group airlines,” the company’s statement said. “The Lufthansa Group continues to closely monitor the situation in Israel and is in close contact with local and international authorities. Possible flight-plan adjustments must be expected as conditions change.”

Since the war began, almost all flights in and out of Israel have been on Israeli carriers El Al Israel Airlines, Arkia and Israir.

Last month, Delta and El Al requested authorization to extend their codeshare services beyond the United States and Israel, to include destinations like Sharm El-Sheikh, Frankfurt and London.

Lufthansa, Swiss and Eurowings also last week resumed flights to Beirut, Lebanon. Meanwhile, Etihad and Fly Dubai fly daily to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

• Flights to Beirut, which had also been suspended, were resumed on Friday by Lufthansa, Swiss Airlines and Eurowings, the airline added in a statement.
• Flights to Israel will be available for booking starting on Monday, Dec. 18, Lufthansa said.
• Air France-KLM, British Airways owner IAG , Ryanair and EasyJet did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on whether they would also resume flying to Israel. (Reporting by Paolo Laudani and Joanna Plucinska; Editing by Sarah Marsh and Jan Harvey)

You don’t necessarily have to love a niche to build a great business around it, says Corey Hargarther of Dream Vacations. You just need a great group leader and a unique spin that differentiates you from the competition.

That’s been Hargarther’s plan for his board gaming cruise group, and it’s working. Meeples at Sea, which began with 20 inside cabins on a four-night Carnival cruise out of Jacksonville, has grown to 60, mostly in balcony rooms, on Celebrity Apex.

“It’s not as much about finding a niche that appeals to the masses as it is finding some sort of differentiator Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a crazy December for travel advisor Debbie Sebastian, with sales up 30% over last year in what typically is a slow month. So, when a client demanded an immediate answer to her request for an Iceland itinerary, Sebastian turned to her new assistant, Toby, for help.

“Toby, I need you to write me an itinerary for Iceland that involves less than three hours of driving each day and includes the following list of activities and sites,” she said. In 30 seconds, it was done; Sabastian double-checked it for accuracy, found “it was nearly perfect,” and sent it off to the client.

To Sebastian, in that moment, the fact that TobyAI isn’t human mattered not one bit. The travel-industry-specific version of ChatGPT does what she asks, when she asks for it—and in many cases, better than Sebastian could do it herself.

After a year or so in development at a sister company to Travel Research Online, Arqiteqt Software, Toby AI made a big leap this week when it was chosen by Travel Leaders Network to be offered to its 5,700 agency locations across the United States and Canada. A version of ChatGPT designed specifically to support travel advisors, it can craft itineraries, draft bios for agent profiles, compose letters and emails for clients, create engaging social media posts, and generate travel images through DALL-E 3.

“We’re very, very busy, but I don’t want my social media algorithms to fall off, so I utilize Toby a lot for posts,” Sebastian said. On a recent Virgin Voyages trip, she told Toby, “I swam with sharks and had Virgin’s great food,” and Toby created an amazing post. “I tweaked it, added some personal touches, and in 10 minutes it was post-ready.” She’s also using it to create customized “bumpers” that add the agency’s information to the beginning and the end of the videos in the Content Portal’s library.

Toby’s also a big help for writing quick emails and ad taglines, she says. “We all can use the ads from suppliers, but they all look the same. Toby gives it a personal perspective – you can set the settings on the tone to humorous or diplomatic; I just asked it to write some ‘humorous, casual and inspiring’ tag lines about escaping winter—and in 30 seconds, it came back with six lines like, ‘Turn winter blues into ocean hues with Thomas Travel Inc., let’s plan your sunshine getaway.’”

For Travel Leaders, “AI is not a fad; it’s a huge opportunity to help our members jump-start their marketing and be more efficient,” says VP of Loyalty Marketing Jim Nathan. “It will take a lot less time to do social media and itineraries—and allowing travel advisors to spend more time selling to prospective clients and servicing existing clients means ultimately they will sell more of our preferred suppliers, so all of us will benefit.”

Travel Leaders research found that less than 20% of travel advisors are using the new crop of artificial intelligence tools at all, Nathan said. And TobyAI is backed by live support from Voyager Social, TRO’s AI company.

“As far as we know, no one in our competitive space is doing this,” he said.

From a tech perspective, Toby AI “pulls on multiple large language models provided by the big players like Open AI, but we’ve trained it with additional knowledge and fine-tuned it specifically to help travel advisors in a wide array of tasks,” says Toby’s developer Ryan Earls. “And over time, we are increasing that to include doing proactive things for you on the Internet at large. We’ll slowly add services like posting on social media, sending an email, or building a full itinerary with photography and videos. So basically, we provide structure for the different tasks a travel advisor would want to do. Toby AI pulls information from approved sources we’ve set up and goes out to the larger Internet if needed.”

Because it can handle multi-step tasks, you could tell it to write a blog post, generate some hashtags, and write a short snippet to publicize your blog post on social media, all branded to your agency. The system also has access to AI-generated images like the ones on this page.

Travel Research Online has been creating tech tools and websites for travel advisors for more than a decade and closely monitors what

they need and want, he said. About a year ago, he and Voyager Social president Richard Earls decided AI was “functionally useful and economically available” enough to integrate into a product to simplify the workflows of travel advisors. “Toby is not ChatGPT,” said Richard Earls. “Toby is trained in travel, remembers the brand voice of the agency, and there is ongoing training and support. Our support team is on hand to assist with any problems. In addition, we have no fewer than 3 different AI models, including Open AI, Anthropic’s Claude2, and Google’s Palm.”

No one gets into the business of selling travel because they love posting on Facebook,” Ryan Earls says. “We wanted to remove the boring parts of running a travel business and let advisors get back to the parts they love.”

Rather than AI bringing more power to the big players like Expedia, Toby AI allows smaller agencies to compete on a new level “because now they can generate content and interact with a multitude of different platforms at the speed of a large company, and still retain the personal connections they have. It makes them more powerful than ever,” he said.

About 700 Travel Leaders advisors attended a three-hour live training session on Toby AI earlier this month; that content is still available in the TL training library, along with a 102-page guide.

Travel Leaders is offering TobyAI to its members at a discounted price; normally, it’s $450 a year or $45 a month, but there are promo codes available from existing subscribers that bring those rates down, basically providing a month for free along with a 7-day Free Trial.

Travel Leaders Network advisors will soon be getting a travel-oriented version of  Artificial Intelligence, thanks to a new collaboration with Travel Research Online (TRO).

Travel Leaders’ parent company, Internova Travel Group, is a “big believer that Artificial Intelligence can be helpful when creating marketing materials and can improve efficiencies for members so they can concentrate on selling and serving clients,” Internova’s chief partner marketing officer Stephen McGillivray said in a press release announcing the partnership.

While nothing will ever replace the human expertise of travel advisors, AI can streamline work and help advisors run their agencies, McGillivray said. “We’re always looking for ways to innovate, and this tool does exactly that.”

An industry first, Travel Research Online’s “TobyAI” is a revolutionary artificial intelligence engine TRO designed specifically to support travel advisors. It allows travel advisors to easily craft itineraries, draft bios for agent profiles, compose letters and emails for clients, create engaging social media posts, and generate travel images through DALL-E 3.

“TobyAI is my new best friend,” said Debbie Sebastian, a Travel Leaders Network member who has been beta-testing the product. “TobyAI can take care of tedious tasks and frees me up to spend time on building my business. As a travel advisor, it is my role to build rapport with clients, understand their unique preferences, and provide thoughtful recommendations.”

Using TobyAI enables travel advisors to spend more quality time with clients and access resources to create custom travel experiences, she said.

While TobyAI rolls out across the 5,700 Travel Leaders travel agency locations across the United States and Canada in the next few weeks, Voyager Social, the TRO division behind Toby, trained three Large Language Models supporting the artificial intelligence resident in the system in the travel industry. TRO’s artificial intelligence engineering team is headed by Ryan Earls.

TRO president Richard Earls says the company is already working to expand its capabilities and integrate new features that will further streamline the travel advisors’ daily workflow.

Watch for updates on the technology and the people behind it here on TRO.

Coming summer 2025, Royal Caribbean’s third-in-line new ship, Star of the Seas, today is officially on sale. Bookings are expected to break records, as did those of Icon of the Seas when it went on sale in 2022.

The icon-class beauty will sail seven-night itineraries from Port Canaveral (Orlando) alternating to the eastern and western Caribbean—including Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis; Cozumel, Mexico; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Roatan, Honduras; and San Juan, Puerto Rico, with a stop at Perfect Day at CocoCay Its inaugural cruise will sail on August 24, 2025.

By the time the ship sails, CocoCay will offer its newest attraction, its first adults-only oasis, Hideaway Beach (opening January 2024), with a private beach, pools and cabanas.
The first Icon-class ship, Icon of the Seas, will debut in January 2024. In a hint at what’s to come on Star of the Seas, Royal Caribbean said there will be a beach retreat, a resort escape and a theme park adventure, across eight neighborhoods including Thrill Island, Chill Island, AquaDome and the popular open-air Central Park. There also will be four signature stages – air, ice, water and theater – and a lineup of activities for adults, kids, and teens.

There also will be cutting-edge entertainment, including a towering waterfall in the AquaDome, skaters performing against a digital backdrop in Absolute Zero, and Broadway shows on the main stage.

Other Icon-Class highlights on Star will be the Category 6 waterpark, with six waterslides, and Crown’s Edge “part skywalk, part ropes course and part thrill ride.” There will be seven pools, including a swim-up bar and a one-of-a-kind infinity pool suspended 135 feet above the ocean. The Surfside neighborhood is being designed for young families, with “new experiences that will be revealed at a later date.”

As far as design, Star of the Seas is expected to look much like its sister, Icon of the Seas—currently the largest cruise ship in the world. With 20 decks and 2,805 staterooms, it holds 7,600 guests and 2,305 crew. Star’s Orlando-based itineraries will provide an alternative to Miami-based Icon.

It was a Latin-style celebration in Miami last week, as travel partners, travel press and the greater Norwegian Cruise Line family—including Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. president and CEO Harry Sommer, NCL CEO David Herrera and new SVP of North America Sales John Chernesky, who joined the team in April—gathered for the official christening of Norwegian Viva.

Alaska Air Group Inc. on Sunday announced a plan to acquire Hawaiian Holdings Inc. Alaska’s $1.9 billion offer is almost four times the current price of Hawaiian shares, which have been pummeled this year by the Maui wildfires, high fuel costs and engine recall issues on some of its Airbus SE planes.

In a joint announcement, the airlines said the merger will allow them to compete effectively, expand destinations and entrench the newly combined carrier on the West Coast. The newly combined company will have a 25% share of the US domestic market. Alaska Air will remain the fifth-largest carrier in the United States, behind Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines — all of which grew to their current size with the help of mergers. Alaska Air will have 365 aircraft, 31,200 employees and 54.7 million annual passengers; it will be based in Seattle, and Honolulu will become an Alaska Airlines hub, where pilot, flight attendant and maintenance bases will remain.

Should the agreement be approved by antitrust regulators, the combined airline will be part of the Oneworld airline alliance, which Alaska joined in 2021. It will serve 138 destinations, including 29 international markets.

During a Sunday conference call with investors, Alaska emphasized Hawaiian’s long history of profitability. The carriers said the deal will offer travelers more opportunities to fly to and from Hawaii; now, Hawaiian mainly connects the state to major airports in the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, while Alaska flies throughout the United States, and to Mexico and Central America. Insiders noted that the combination of Alaska and Hawaiian will give the new company control of the Hawaiian market, one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations. Over the past year, Hawaiian sold about 22% of all flights to Hawaii, more than any other airline; that number would climb to 38%, more than double that of the next competitor, United Airlines.

United, the fourth-largest carrier, controls about 16 percent of the market, according to federal data. Alaska controls about 6.4 percent of the market today, a share that would grow to 8.2 percent after its acquisition. JetBlue controls about 5.5 percent of the market today, but that would nearly double in size if it is successful in completing its purchase of Spirit.

Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said consumers will continue to see both brands, but work groups from the two airlines will be combined under a single collective bargaining agreement.

The merger still must get past the Department of Justice (DOJ), which has successfully challenged partnerships between JetBlue and American Airlines and JetBlue and Spirit, citing antitrust concerns. But Minicucci said less than 3% of the network routes of the two airlines overlap.

A Latin Lineup of entertainers joined 1,500 members of the travel press, travel advisors and well-wishers to welcome the newest Norwegian ship, Norwegian Viva, in Miami on Tuesday.

“To christen Norwegian Viva in Miami is incredibly special to many of us at NCL, not only because Miami is our hometown, but also because we can share this moment with our local family and friends,” NCL president David J. Herrera said.

Harry Sommer, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., noted that Viva’s debut makes for a triple-header this year, with new ships joining all three NCLH brands: Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. In her just-ended inaugural Europe season, he said, Norwegian Viva’s guest satisfaction scores “have outshined any newbuild in the history of the NCL fleet, a testament to not only how stunning this ship is, but also the exceptional level of service and attention provided by our amazing crew on board.”

Luis Fonsi, best known for his hit song Despacito, served as headliner of the show and godfather of the ship, the second in Norwegian Cruise Line’s Prima Class. Joining Fonsi onstage were “Saturday Night Live” cast member Marcello Hernandez; the Queen of Latin Pop, Paulina Rubio; and recently announced GRAMMY® Award-nominated artist, Pedro Capó.

Unlike other newly built ships that debuted in the past year or two, the 965-foot Viva holds just 3,099 guests. Like its sister Norwegian Prima, it has a three-story Viva Speedway; an open-air Indulge Food Hall with 11 unique eateries; and an art collection that includes a 52-foot-wide interactive work of art by British digital artist Dominic Harris.

The christening party will continue for four days, sailing to Great Stirrup Cay. Then the ship will reposition to San Juan, Puerto Rico, on December 15, 2023, and sail seven-day Caribbean voyages through March 2024, visiting Tortola, British Virgin Islands; St. John’s, Antigua; Bridgetown, Barbados; Castries, St. Lucia; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, with no days at sea. In April 2024, she will return to the Mediterranean and Greek Isles.

“Prima class has exceeded my expectations from day one, “ said CLIA VP of trade relations Charles Sylvia. “What I love is the contemporary comfort—it’s fresh, clean, and I feel instantly at home onboard.”

Nexxion Travel Group president Jackie  Friedman said, “The ship is gorgeous. The spaces are just so well appointed that even though it’s a big ship, you never feel crowded.”

Sitting next to her at the christening, Signature CEO Alex Sharpe said, “all the new ships create a new buzz when they come out. And this category has proven to be a real leader. Everyone was so impressed when Prima came out. This class has the feel of a more luxurious product, but with the size and choice and fun stuff of a contemporary big ship.”

TRO is onboard Norwegian Viva to follow the festivities and get feedback from the travel advisors. Stay tuned right here for the full scoop on Norwegian Viva in The Rosen Report next week.

Celestyal is sprucing up its offerings for 2024, adding two ships, three countries and six ports to its Mediterranean offerings.

Just two weeks after acquiring its second new ship, Celestyal Discovery, the company announced new itineraries that include Croatia, Montenegro and Italy, with stops in Kefalonia, Katakolo and Corfu in Greece; Dubrovnik in Croatia; Kotor in Montenegro; and Bari in Italy.

Celestyal Discovery now will join Celestyal Journey in Athens, where they will both undergo multimillion-euro winter refurbishment programs ahead of the new season, which starts in March 2024. Discovery then will take over the itineraries of Olympia.

Celestyal Journey’s new seven-night “Heavenly Adriatic” cruise will feature full days in Kefalonia, Kotor, Bari, and Corfu, as well as a late-night stay in Dubrovnik. It is now on sale as part of Celestyal’s holiday promotion, with special deals from $579 per person, for bookings made through November 30, 2023.

Celestyal also will update two other sailings, replacing the Three Continents itineraries on March 9 and 16 with the popular “Idyllic Aegean” itinerary, round-trip from Athens, and calling at Thessaloniki, Kusadasi, Heraklion, Mykonos, Santorini, and Milos.

Free Cruise for Guests Impacted

For guests already booked on the Celestyal Journey itineraries departing Athens on March 2, 9, and 16, 2024, Celestyal is offering a free “Three Continents” cruise, which can be redeemed at any time in the next three years. Guests holding reservations on the updated March 2024 itineraries will be re-accommodated on the updated sailings on Celestyal Journey or another suitable option, and those who retain their booking dates on the updated itineraries will be eligible for the free cruise offer.

Celestyal also will “of course be preserving agent commission on all rebooked cruises,” said chief commercial officer Lee Haslett.

“Our team is set to make waves across the industry next season, with new destinations, a completely updated fleet, a fresh new brand identity, and a renewed sense of direction,” Haslett said. “As a business, we really do take the time to listen to customer and agent network suggestions—and Italy, Croatia and Montenegro came out on top.”

‘Tis the season to give thanks for family, friends and clients—and to show our appreciation by sending them a gift. So we’ve put together some suggestions of some the favorite things of our own staff and our travel advisor readers.

Happy gifting, happy getting, and happy traveling to all.

I’ll start with my personal favorite this past month, as I flew three times from 90-degree weather in the Caribbean to the 50s in New York: a soft, storable and eco-friendly jacket. My Jack Wolfskin Pack and Go jacket, specifically designed for travelers, is made of waterproof, windproof and 100% recycled polyester Read the rest of this entry »

As water levels in a major Amazon tributary drop to the lowest levels in recorded history, Viking has rerouted its cruises on the river and switched passengers to a fully Caribbean itinerary.

After months without rain in the Brazilian rainforest, tributaries to the Amazon have been drying up, leaving boats stranded. The port of Manaus, at the point where the Rio Negro and the Amazon meet, recorded 13.59 meters (44.6 ft) of water on Monday, the lowest level since records began in 1902.

“As you may be aware, historically low water levels along the Amazon River have restricted river traffic. We have been closely monitoring the situation to determine the impact on your itinerary. At this time, we anticipate that water levels will remain too low for your ship to safely navigate the affected area. Unfortunately, the situation prevents us from operating your voyage as planned,” Viking said. “We recognize that you may have chosen this particular itinerary to explore the Amazon River, and we share in your disappointment.”

Viking Sea now will add San Juan, Puerto Rico; Philipsburg, St. Martin; and Saint George’s, Grenada to its Amazon & Caribbean Adventure itinerary to replace the scheduled days on the Amazon. In return, guests are being offered a $500 per person shipboard credit and a future cruise voucher for 30% of their paid cruise fare.

For Avalon Waterways, which also sails the Amazon, the water depth is not an issue, as its ships carry just 44 guests. “Our cruises are still being offered, providing Avalon guests a full—and fully immersive—Amazon vacation,” Avalon Waterways president Pam Hoffee told TRO.

Brad Tolkin is a guy who watches the cycles in the travel industry, always on the lookout for those seismic moments that may rock the boat of success for his company and the travel advisors affiliated with it. His take on 2024 for travel advisors? “Buckle up and go get ‘em,” he says. “It’s going to be a busy year.”

Indeed, Tolkin told the 1,000 attendees at the Dream Vacations/CruiseOne annual conference last week, “today we are witnessing another tremendous seismic moment,” the result of “the tailwind the pandemic has left us, plus the ability to work from anywhere, and the acceptance of this from employers. And this genie is never going back into the bottle.” Read the rest of this entry »

With more than 15 million people expected to descend on Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic games, tickets—and hotel rooms—will be tighter than ever. To help travel advisors put together amazing packages, luxury villa company Rental Escapes is offering up packages that include beautiful private accommodations and tickets to the games.

The Rental Escapes collection in France includes:

Pompidou, a 19th-century building built by Gustav Eiffel that has been transformed into a loft with two lounge areas, four bedrooms and a kitchen with a mobile island.

St Didier, a two-bedroom duplex apartment with views of the Eiffel Tower, a library and a luxurious living room with lots of natural light in the 16th district.

Villa BB, in an exclusive residential area of Saint Tropez, a new five-bedroom villa with a private terrace and balconies that accommodates up to 10.

Bastide Des Chenes in Provence, a 17-acre farm with a main house and an attached farmhouse.

Fleurs De Provence in Avignon, a private estate with fruit trees, fountains and streams that can accommodate up to 24 people, with a heated swimming pool, a well-equipped gym and fitness room, a tennis court and plenty of outdoor seating.

Rental Escapes’ concierge service can help arrange a private chef or massage, exclusive tours or special amenities. And for the Olympics, they can provide tickets and transportation, as well as unique experiences like sitting with an expert or an athlete.

As always, Rental Escapes will pay a 10% commission and one reward point for every $1 travel advisors book. And under a Thanksgiving promotion announced this week, advisors who book a client in November for travel before 12/31/2024 will earn a bonus commission via Amazon gift cards valued at up to $5,000.

“Attending the Olympics is a bucket list, once-in-a-lifetime experience, and the dedicated support Rental Escapes provides will ensure a vacation surpassing those in dreams,” said CEO Brian Schwimmer, co-founder of the Montreal-based company. But, he cautioned, “we encourage travelers to plan well in advance and begin booking now.”

“In response to a significant increase in customer cancellations,” Celestyal Cruises today announced that it is canceling all of its December 2023 sailings.

Guests on these affected itineraries are being offered refundable future cruise credits of 100% of the total amount paid, plus an extra 25% for any future cruise they book that departs in 2024.

Celestyal Cruises operates two ships, Celestyal Journey and Celestyal Olympia, which sail 3- to 14-night itineraries in Greece and the Mediterranean. Reservations have been impacted by concerns over the Israel-Hamas War that broke out in October.

It’s good news for travel advisors, who have been concerned about their customers who want to cancel, when most travel insurance will not cover cancellations due to acts of war (for more on this, see Travel Advisors Caught in the Crosshairs as Cruise Lines Cancel Middle East without Refunds or FCCs | Travel Research Online).

Celestyal has promised to preserve all travel advisor commissions on future re-bookings. “We sincerely apologize for any disruption this may cause to your business and would like to express our gratitude for your understanding and ongoing support,” the company said. “Your partnership is highly valued, and we remain committed to providing exceptional service to you and your clients.”

Policies of other cruise lines

Norwegian Cruise Line has canceled all port calls in Israel through 2024. MSC has canceled visits to Israel in 2023 and early 2024 and moved two ships out of the Middle East.

Caribbean canceled its plan to have Rhapsody of the Seas sail out of Haifa, Israel, in October and November, and instead volunteered the ship to evacuate international travelers trying to get home when hostilities broke out. No ships will sail the Middle East until August 2024.

Windstar Cruises has canceled the inaugural season of Middle East cruises on the Star Legend through April 2024; the ship will sail the western Mediterranean instead. Windstar now plans to launch its Middle East season of sailings from Dubai and Muscat in November 2024.

Oceania Cruises has replaced calls in Israel, Egypt, and Jordan in its 2024 schedule with alternate ports in the Mediterranean.

Viking has canceled pre- and post-cruise Jerusalem extensions on its Nile River cruises, but all departures in Egypt are operating as scheduled on the Viking Ra, Viking Osiris and MS Antares.