Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to the Travel Agent Disney and Beyond, your Canadian connection to theme park news, travel information, practical tips, and vacation savings. I'm your host, Stephen Payne. Today on the show, we will talk about the details of the upcoming villains planned in Disney World, Orlando. I'll let you know about discounts available for trips to Universal Orlando, Florida for the holidays. We'll hear from my son and his girlfriend about their experience on Celebrity Beyond, and we'll explore travel excursion and tour brokers. Plus, we'll finish up with a deal dish that relates to our Canadian compass travel tip. If you want more information about cruising and travel, including the latest cruise promotions and limited time offers, subscribe to my Expedient Cruises Personalized Email Newsletters. Simply click on fan mail and send me your name and email address, and I'll add you to my mailing list for the newsletter, as well as for show updates and information. You can also email your name and email address to the following email stephen at thetravelagent.ca. Stephen is spelled S-T-E-P-H-E-N, and make sure you spell agent with an E-H because we're Canadian. That email once again is Stephen at the Travelagent.ca. This information will also appear in the show notes. So welcome to the show once again. As I've mentioned previously, I will be traveling to Cedar Point in a few days, and so I'm looking forward to that. I will try to ride all the significant coasters and report to you on which ones I liked the most. I hear there's a lot of coasters there. Also, we're staying at the Express Hotel, and I'll give a little report about that too and tell you what the hotel is like in case you're considering a visit yourself. I also have an upcoming trip to Stratford, Ontario to see the musical Something Rotten, which I've seen before and highly recommend. This is Stratford's second time putting on the show because people enjoy it so much. It was part of the 2024 season. It's a hilarious take on a fellow playwright in Shakespeare's time who just wants to be famous too.

Mouse Minutes: Villainsland

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Now for most minutes, I thought I would visit Disney's plans for the upcoming Villains Land. Villains Land was announced with some more detail at D23 recently, and as I said in a previous episode, I would revisit some of the things that were announced and just give you some more details. So with Villains Land, I wanted to report about the details so that you know what's coming. It's kind of fun to anticipate what's coming up. So as you know, one of the key elements to Disney theme parks is the idea of storytelling. I mean, they were the ones who invented the idea of theme park, and everything was built around the idea of storytelling right from when Walt Disney first began his theme park. Now, Disney announced at D23 that in Villains Land there is a story underlying that land, and I thought I'd share that story with you. So like most fairy tales, the story begins with a wishing well. In Villains Land, there is a foreboding forest. In this forest there's a wishing well. Now I don't imagine the forest was foreboding when they first started or when it was first there, but it became foreboding. And that's because, well, as Disney puts it, the wishing well has been torn asunder. What once was a wishing well that was full of pure and good energy has been corrupted. Someone made an evil wish. So evil that it corrupted the stone and tore open the structure, spreading the well's poison magic through the whole forest. That's why the forest is now foreboding. Well, the villains have come to the forest to try to make claim to the last of this wishing well's power. And of course that's what all good villains do, right? They're always looking for power. And basically these villains have taken up shop, so to speak, in the land. Or in the forest, I suppose. And they've created layers for themselves. And what they do is they tempt guests into a tantalizing treasure trove of treats, trinkets, and more temptations. So if you visit villains land, you're walking into the lair of all the villains. Sounds like fun, right? Well, that's one of the things my son and I have talked about when it comes to villainsland. It's it's kind of funny that you know you're making an attraction out of villains. But people love the villains, I guess. And so you will enter into their lair, into the foreboding forest. And within that forest you will find two major attractions. So the first attraction is the Maleficent Coaster. Maleficent, as you might know, is a character who comes from the Disney story Sleeping Beauty, which was created many years ago. But there was a Maleficent movie starring Angelina Jolie that came out not too long ago as well. And so people are generally familiar with that character. And the Maleficent Coaster has you racing through an enchanted briar, which surrounds Maleficent's mountaintop fortress. And ultimately you come face to face with the mistress of all evil herself. According to the Imagineers, there will be elements to this coaster which have never been attempted before. So I guess it is a groundbreaking project, but they were reticent to reveal details on that point. This is the coaster that I saw a model of and mentioned in an earlier show, where it appears as though the coaster is a little more intense than what you might expect from Disney. It almost looked like there was a loop in it, or certainly a section that goes up high to the side. But I only saw the model through a picture or two, so it was pretty hard to tell. So anyway, we'll wait to hear more about that as it's being built. The other ride or attraction that they talked about when it comes to villains land is the Mirror Realm Dark Ride. And this is the Dark Ride featuring a whole array of Disney villains. And it's hosted by the Magic Mirror. The Magic Mirror is in the Disney film Snow White. So the evil queen from Snow White keeps this mirror down in the catacombs beneath her palace. Guests are transported by the mirror into the mirror realm, which is the realm behind the mirror. And then guests get to see what happens on the other side. Now, just thinking about this, um, maybe some of you have seen the attraction at the Magic Kingdom where Belle tells her story, and there's a moment in the attraction where you actually you're looking at a mirror, which then turns into basically a passageway. You can go right through the mirror onto the other side. I imagine this is a similar kind of thing where the magic mirror will be there, and then somehow you'll be able to go through the mirror to the other side. And what you'll encounter on the other side of the mirror are villains. And you'll encounter these villains through many special effects and physical set pieces, so the imagineers say. And that's all we know about the Darkrai, but it sounds pretty interesting. In the land, you'll also find present shops and restaurants themed around the Disney villains. And that's what we know about villains land so far. So if you like villains, this is going to be a fantastic opportunity for you to meet them and you know maybe have a conversation with a few of them and get to know them better.

Park Pulse: Universal Holiday Savings

SPEAKER_00 7:47

In Parkpulse, I wanted to just go back to Universal Studios Orlando and their holiday celebrations and just mention that they have holiday discounts. Now, this topic or this idea could go under Deals Dish because it is talking about a deal, but I thought I would throw it into Parkpulse this week. So Universal has announced special discounts for the holidays at the Universal Orlando Parks. If you want to know what Universal has planned for Christmas, take a listen to The Travel Agent Disney and Beyond episode number five, where I spelled out all the things that are happening for the holidays at Universal Studios. If it's something you're interested in and you want to go, and you're planning to visit for five days or more, Universal Orlando is offering up to 30% off its holiday stays at any of its 11 resorts. So here are the specific discounts that apply to specific resorts. So if you were staying at Universal Cabana Bay Beach Resort, Universal Aventura Resort, Universal Terra Luna Resort, and Universal Stella Nova Resort, you could get up to 30% off your stay. If you're staying at Endless Summer Resorts, Surfside Inn and Suites, and Dockside Inn and Suites, you could save up to 25%. If you want to stay at the Universal Helios Grand Hotel at Epic Universe, or at Lowe's Sapphire Falls Resort, you could save up to 20%. And if you're staying at one of the three deluxe hotels that have been around for quite some time, the Royal Pacific Resort, Portofino Bay Hotel, or Hard Rock Hotel, you can save up to 15%. So take your pick, there's lots of choices there, and oh maybe in an episode upcoming we'll talk about the different resort options at Universal Studios, because of course there's quite an array, and some of them are incredibly affordable, and then they go right up to the much more expensive ones. But the deluxe resorts are a great place to stay as well because you get an express pass free of charge, so to speak, when you stay at one of the deluxe resorts. And I often recommend that option for clients just because if you have quite a few people staying in the room, it ends up being a good value. In addition, if you're planning on saving money by staying at one of the resorts for this 30% off discount or up to 30% discount, you can also save money in another way too, by purchasing one of the two promotional tickets that are available right now. You can buy a three-day park ticket with two free days added on. So it's actually a five-day ticket for the price of a three-day ticket. And that can be a one park per day ticket, or it can be a park-to-park ticket. Your choice. You can also buy the three-park adventure unlimited ticket. This ticket gets you 14 consecutive days of visits. And during those 14 consecutive days, you can visit any of the three parks, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, or Epic Universe. That's a pretty good deal if you're planning to stay for any length of time. I have bought a similar ticket several years ago, and it was fantastic because we could keep going back to the parks for over a week, and that was how we never had to use the Express Pass because we were able to just chip away at the different things we wanted to do over a series of days. So either way, you can get one of the two promotional tickets and you can get a discount on your stay at one of the resorts, and that is how you can save yourself a little bit of money at Universal Orlando during the holidays.

Cruise Contemplations: A Review of the Celebrity Beyond

SPEAKER_00 11:15

And now let's visit cruise contemplations. This week I had the pleasure of interviewing Amy Clermont, who went with my son on an adventure on the Celebrity Beyond. So here's the interview. Hello, Amy Clermont, and welcome to The Travel Agent, Disney and Beyond. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Oh, I'm doing good. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Fantastic. Are you ready to talk about Celebrities Beyond?

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Oh, I'm so ready to talk about this. This was a wonderful trip.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Perfect. Well, let's get to it and find out what happened to you and what you really enjoyed. So you were sailing out of Miami, is that correct?

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Yeah, we sailed out of uh Port Miami there. Um, and it was for the Seven Night Cruise.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

When you got to Miami and you boarded this ship, what were your first impressions of the Celebrity Beyond?

SPEAKER_01 12:08

The first impression, and I think it's made pretty clear throughout the entire ship, is that it is so luxurious and it's very spacious as well. So like every space is very well thought out with the intention of holding a lot of people in one space, but also making sure that everyone has space from each other. So it still feels like intimate and luxurious and like it's your vacation, but you never feel uh overcrowded or like there rarely, rarely is a time that there isn't uh space for you to find like somewhere to sit that's nice with like your coffee or your drinks or your food. It felt very open and airy, especially in the Eden. It's got that three-level, very open area, and you just feel like they brought the outdoors, indoors, and just luxury throughout the entire ship. It was incredible.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

Yes, I'm remembering when I was on the apex, I think on the way to Eden that there was a hallway heading towards Eden, and it was all like, I don't know, uh marble floors and uh uh sculptures and and little seats you could sit in. And then when you got to Eden, it was all full of vines and leaves and all kinds of stuff. Quite pretty. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Ours was like uh was yours like mirrors? Because ours was mirrors with like rock sculptures in it, so it looked like an infinity room almost with like golden it kind of reminded me of like meteorites, I guess. Like it looked like it was rocks floating in the air, but you got to sit on them and it looked like an endless room because it was just mirrors everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

You know, that's different, but that sounds pretty cool, actually.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Yeah, I should have taken pictures, but it was really tough because there was always people in there, and I just felt bad, so I never took any pictures, but it was gorgeous.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Yeah. I know what you mean too, about like finding spaces. I found that too again on Apex, which is the sister ship to beyond. And uh we we were found found little corners where there were like uh you know beds on the deck, or like you say, Eden or the the coffee shop, that kind of thing. And uh, you know, it was nice that we would just find spots that we would just sit down and relax for a bit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Yeah, there was just there was always space. I think there was one time that there wasn't, but it was just because they were doing an event in the grand plaza that I guess everybody on the ship agreed was a really cool event. So it's hard to it's hard to fit, you know, a thousand or more people in one space like that. So that I I give them grace for that, but every other time, yeah, there was always if you wanted to sit in the grand plaza, you could. If you want to sit in the rooftop garden, you could. If you wanted a chair by the pool, there was one, like never had to fight over anything.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

And did you make use of um the solarium and the sort of adult-only pool area?

SPEAKER_01 14:54

Oh, all of the time. I think the solarium was probably our favorite space that we took advantage of. We just love that you walk in and it's so bright and it feels like you're outside because of how they maintain like the temperatures in there. But it's a very quiet space because it's an adult only space. So it's very quiet and it's relaxing, and they play that nice tranquil music throughout the the room as well. And we loved it in there. Like there was constantly people napping because it's just that relaxing in there, and it was just a great space to like have a drink and sit by either one of the pool chairs that faces the window as you sail, which was gorgeous, or you could have one that faces the pool. And they had two hot tubs in there too, which was nice.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Yeah, I found it hard to find space in the hot tubs, hot tubs.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Oh really?

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Yeah, when we were there. There's always there's always people in the hot tubs.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Oh really? No, there was like most of the time we'd go there, there'd be maybe at most like three people in there, and it's seats twelve. So we'd scooch in there, but oftentimes we'd get there and nobody's in there. It was nice.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

You would have uh caught me napping sometimes, I think, in the solarium. It's just too nice.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

There was like there's a couple people who took up like pretty much the same chair every day, and they were just always napping in the solarium, or like they would have their book and they were reading, but most of the time we'd walk by and they'd be napping. It was very sweet.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Yeah. The only problem is then you'd you feel like you're missing some of your vacation.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

That's how I felt.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

I took sleep.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

I took one nap this whole vacation. I think it was a two-hour nap. And when I woke up, I was like, Aiden, we gotta go. We're wasting time. He was like, Well, you're wasting time, you were asleep.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

Okay, so um solarium was relaxing, and then that makes me think about the spa and your spa experience because I know you had signed up for that. So tell us a little bit about celebrity spa because truthfully that's something I've never experienced. So I need to hear about it vicariously.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Uh yeah. So what's interesting is that the spa is actually right by the solarium, and you'll often see a lot of the workers in the spa, like out in the solarium, you know, trying to promote like coming to the spa and such. And I think I even saw them giving like shoulder rubs and such to passengers in the solarium. I don't know what like if that was something that you had to pay for, or if it was just kind of like a free trial thing, but they're very friendly when you walk in. So I booked my spa treatment, it was a couples treatment for 50 minutes and I booked it on our first night, so on uh embarkation day, it was at about like 6 30. And I think that time was perfect. It really set the tone for the rest of the trip to be very relaxing because you walk in and it's all about wellness in that space. They'll have you fill out this survey. I think it has about maybe 12 questions on it. Um, and it's just kind of all about you, like how stressed are you, when you are stressed, like where do you feel it? How are you sleeping? How are you eating? What's your like medical history, all these things? Like what are some problem areas for you? If there's anywhere you want your masseuse to focus on on your body, let us know. So it takes about I would say five, maybe ten minutes max to fill out that survey. And then they uh took us to the room and they were very good about privacy, because I mean at the end of the day, it's a couple's massage, but you do have to remove all of your clothing and such, which can be pretty intimidating. But they do like they'll leave the room, they'll let you, you know, remove clothing, and then you put the blanket on over yourself. And if at any point during the massage they need to like move the blanket, they're very careful about how they move it to maintain your privacy, which is nice. So I felt very taken care of that way, which really helped me enjoy the massage and the massage itself. Oh my goodness, like I could have fallen asleep. I think they split it up because it's 50 minutes total, so they must have split it up about like 20-ish minutes in halves. So the first half they spent um with us like laying on our stomachs face down, um, and then they'll eventually have you roll over, which again they hold the blanket up like kind of like a wall so they can't see you. So you have a chance to roll over on the table, and then they'll put the blanket back over you, and then they just like piece by piece, they'll massage your arms, your legs, your back, your neck, your shoulders. They even gave a scalp massage, which was my favorite part, and they did it twice. Ugh. And uh we were just feeling so relaxed. It was, I don't know, it was just it was wonderful. Um, and what I didn't know that came with it is that they offer complimentary services for afterwards. So we finish the massage, uh, they come back into the room and they're like, Oh, because you pointed out like these things that you're having issues with. For me, it was like weight gain. So they said, Oh, we can offer you these detox supplements if you'd like. And then I think for Aiden, he said that like his skin on his face was his issue. So they were also offering like creams and cleansers for his face that he could purchase. And ultimately we said no to those things. But we got complimentary services afterwards. So Aiden opted for I believe it was um like a skin test on his face to see like what the problem areas were for him. I opted for what was called it was an in-body test. So it was like a scan of your body to see like you know, how much muscle do you have, your bone mass, um, how much fat do you have, uh, water weight, like how much you weigh, like just all this information that breaks down your body. Unfortunately for me, apparently the machine was not plugged in and not ready to go that day. So I never got to do it. Uh, they were really trying to get me to come in for the next day, which would have been fine, but I had already kind of set my heart into going to uh the art auction the next morning when our fitness guys that run the in-body test were opting for me to go do this in-body test. So I actually I never ended up doing it, but it it is available. I would have liked to try it, but I didn't get to. But it's included with the spa, which was something I didn't know when I was paying for it.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

So that's probably a great way to start your cruise, right? You're getting getting a sort of a relaxation treatment just to detox from all the stuff that you brought with you from the rest of the world and then you get on the ship and just relax, you know?

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Yeah, like because you're carrying all your bags around all day long and you're on that like long flight and getting onto the ship. So having a massage. On the first day, I highly recommend to everybody. Like that's when you should schedule it.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Yeah. Okay, that sounds pretty good. You didn't go to sleep afterwards, did you?

SPEAKER_01 22:10

No, we went to dinner afterwards. Um, we went to just one of the main dining restaurants because there's the four on the ship. And I believe that night we went to Tuscan, which is their Italian restaurant, is where we went right afterwards.

SPEAKER_00 22:25

I was gonna ask you about whether you had a favorite meal when you were on board. Was uh what was your best dining experience?

SPEAKER_01 22:32

So out of the four main dining restaurants, hands down, it was Cyprus, which is their Mediterranean Greek style restaurant there. And it was unreal. It was so good. Everything was fresh. The entrees that we kept coming back to was uh I kept getting their lamb shank, Aiden kept getting their braised beef short ribs. Both of those pieces of meat were just so tender. One of the waiters was telling us that they slow cook them over like eight hours throughout the day. They must do them in batches, but yeah, they slow cook them for eight hours. You can tell that they slow cook them, they're so meaty, so tender, so flavorful. And the starters were so good as well. You know me, I'm normally a French onion soup kind of girl. I did get that a couple of times for the main dining, but the Cypress restaurant converted me over to I think it was called Moroccan lentil soup. It was so good. I got it, I think, three times on the ship. It's delicious. Um, but Cypress was definitely a favorite of the four. Yeah, you gotta try the Moroccan lentil soup.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

I remember the Moroccan lentil soup, yeah. I was talking to Michelle Croft last week from Celebrity, and uh she was telling me she's gotta get me on Beyond, so maybe I'll get on it and then I can try the soup.

SPEAKER_01 23:55

Highly recommend once I tried the Moroccan lentil soup, I actually didn't get the French onion soup after that.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

That's hard to believe. That must have been good, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

I it was it was I've been craving it. I've been actually looking up like how to make Moroccan lentil soup at home since I've returned.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

Interesting. Well, you try that out and then invite me over.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

Okay, and what um in terms of itinerary, what uh stops did you make on this cruise?

SPEAKER_01 24:22

Uh so the first stop was at Dominican Republic in Port of Plata. That port was actually beautiful. They must have recently built it because it looked pretty new. You walk out to the port and it's like a resort-style tourist area, but it's only for the people on the cruise. It's completely closed off. Like security stops anybody else from coming in. So even if you needed to catch a taxi that wasn't booked by like celebrity itself or whatever cruise ship you're on, they can't come in. You actually have to walk all the way out to go find your taxi, which is what we had to do because we had a private driver. But they had plenty of shops, they had so many restaurants that smelt delicious. They had this giant swimming pool and a lazy river that went around this the swimming pool, which is nice because I love lazy river. And it was just this gorgeous area. Unfortunately, we didn't really stick around to um shop around or go to any other restaurants, but it looked beautiful. And again, like everything was celebrity, there was just so much space for so many people, so it didn't feel crowded in there at all.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

Uh, what other stops did you have?

SPEAKER_01 25:34

Uh, we then went to British Virgin Islands in Tortola, and that ended up being our favorite stop, even though uh going into it, we really didn't know what we were doing. We didn't have an excursion booked, we had no plan. I think we just said we'll go to any beach, and how we get there, we'll figure it out as we go, like true adventure style. Um, and it turned out to be the most lovely time. British Virgin Islands are gorgeous, like geography-wise, people-wise, and like all the buildings and just the culture itself is just beautiful. I loved it there.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

Do you have one more? Was it three stops altogether? I can't remember.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

Yeah, there was uh the third stop was oh, it was St. Kitts in Bastare. I think that's how you pronounce it. Bestare?

SPEAKER_00 26:23

Sounds good.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Um Yeah, that was our third stop there.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

Okay. Okay, so and and your favorite was Turtle.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Tortola.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Um, I know you told me a little bit about that story, and you encountered a very friendly uh cab driver, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Yeah, we encountered Captain Carl, our best friend in uh British Virgin Islands, a very sweet man. Um he's just like a taxi driver that just happened to take us under his wing, and he really gave us a full tour of Tortola, and he's just uh he really, I guess, captured the heart of uh British Virgin Islands, which is just people are very laid back there. People love the island that they live on, and I think they're just very proud of it and wanted to show, you know, tourists, British Virgin Islands, the true island way.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

Yeah, that's pretty neat. And so you're able to see all the nooks and crannies and not just the port yard, which can be quite touristy, right? But then you get to see other parts of the countryside, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Yeah, he was wonderful because he took us just along one coastline and made sure to stop so we could take pictures at lookouts on our way to the beach. And then even after we were coming back, because I think we stayed on the beach for about two hours, and he stayed with us the whole time. And after that two-hour limit, we drove back, but he actually drove a separate way down a different coastline, and again, like giving us a whole tour and the history of the island and stopping at all these lookout points and letting us take pictures and just taking his time with us to ensure that we really take in and soak in the island. He was wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Yeah, it's pretty funny, eh? You make your plans and everything, and as you said, you weren't you weren't sure about Tortola, and that as you say, that seemed to be the most memorable for you. So that's kind of yeah, just goes to show you're you gotta be ready for surprises and and things that you weren't expecting, I guess. I know you had um you had the waterfall tour booked for where was that?

SPEAKER_01 28:15

That was the Dominican Republic, yes. Um, and that was that was a lot of fun, highly recommend. But I would definitely say you need to be, I would say a little bit athletic for it. There's quite a hike to get up where you need to go. It's about a 25, maybe 30-minute hike uphill the entire time. And you should also bring water shoes if you're gonna do it. You can rent watershoes there because they won't let you do this waterfall tour without water shoes. That's not an option. Or you have to have enclosed shoes. I saw some people doing it with their Converse on or their sneakers, which I thought was interesting, and they've got their socks on. And but uh yeah, you have to do this whole hike up this mountain, upstairs, up narrow pathways and rocks and dirt and such. So it was quite hot. By the time we got to the top, I was definitely ready to jump off of some waterfalls.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

Yeah. Did you have to did you slide down them?

SPEAKER_01 29:15

So the first two you slide down. There's no jump off option. And the guides are very helpful, and they'll let you know like how to sit, and they'll always say, like, elbows in, like, the more your elbows are in, the better.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

Are you sliding on the rocks?

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Yeah, it's like a natural rock formation um by the water, and they'll let you go one at a time. There's always a guide that's in the water waiting for people to obviously resurface, and then they'll send you down one at a time. I think we were in quite a large group though. There's about 50 of us going all at once. It was kind of crazy.

SPEAKER_00 29:49

It just makes me think of these uh fail videos I've seen on on YouTube with people going down going down waterfalls uh on the rocks, but it looks like it really hurts. And these ones uh I'm sure have been curated and are pretty safe, but yeah, I always wonder if it hurts when you're sliding along the rocks.

SPEAKER_01 30:06

Funnily enough, our uh Uber driver driving home uh to the airport, he let us know that he also did that excursion like a year or so ago. But he said that when he went, he went after a very heavy rainfall. So there was more water than normal, and the water pressure was harder. So he said after one of the slides, I think it was either slide number one or slide two, because there's five waterfalls in total, but it was one of the first two. The water pressure was so strong that when they slid down, you're supposed to raise your arm up as high as you can because you actually needed somebody to pull you up because the the waterfall would have kept you down even with your life jacket. And I was like, Oh, that's pretty intense.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

Yeah, yeah, it's not like that when we went.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

So I guess if check the weather whenever you go, see what the rain's like.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

Yeah. Okay, so waterfall excursion, a little taxi tour in Tortola, and uh what did you do in St. Kitts?

SPEAKER_01 31:05

St. Kitts, we had our hearts set out on uh going to a specific beach that had a lookout point about like a 20 minute 20 to 25 minute walk from this beach. Um and I'm trying to remember what the beach's name was called. Unfortunately, I can't remember. But um I believe the lookout is called like Timothy's Lookout or something like that along those lines, um, which gives you an amazing view of St. Kitts and then into Nevis, I believe, is the bordering country. And you can see like the Caribbean uh coastline against like the Atlantic coastline is very picturesque. Uh but yeah, we took a taxi over to the beach and then we decided to walk along the roads to go up to this lookout point. Wouldn't necessarily recommend that to anybody listening. You should definitely book a taxi that does both. Don't do what we did.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

A little bit of a grueling walk, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:15

Yeah, it was a very grueling walk up a very steep uh road that didn't really have a shoulder, and it's a winding road that just gets steeper and steeper as you make it up to the top. So it was quite the trek and the adventure, and it definitely made it memorable for us, and I think we'll talk about it for years to come. But overall, I would definitely recommend spending the extra money, take the taxi. Much more relaxing way to get up there.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

This is great for our listeners, eh? You're dropping in all these little hints along the way, right? And make sure you have water shoes at the waterfalls. Don't hike up, don't hike up the lookout point today in St. Kids.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Yeah. I mean, unless you want to, like if you're big into adventure, I mean, I still had a good time, and I think I'll laugh about it. In the moment, I was very tired and I think I wish we took a taxi up, but at the end of it, I was quite proud that we made such a trek up to this lookout.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

Yes, and for the listeners, they they did manage to get bottles of water, or was it water when you got to the top or soda or something?

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Yeah, at the very top, there's like a guy with a cooler selling waters, and there's a little souvenir shack, and you got the picture, uh the lookout pictures, which are I've seen them, they're very beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 33:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

Alright, so your favorite was Tortola. But it sounds like you had a good time in the other spots as well.

SPEAKER_01 33:32

Oh yeah, there was definitely memorable things about each spot. Tortola just, you know, overall being our favorite, but I mean definitely with St. Kitts, like the people were friendly and the hike up that uh road was memorable, and the the beach the beach was actually interesting in St. Kitts, I think because the sand wasn't white, it was kind of darker because I guess they have the volcano there. Um so it changed the beach and it made it very, very hot, which was interesting to navigate. I've never had that issue before. It was like you needed to walk up to the water with your sandals on and then take your sandals off, otherwise you'd burn your feet.

SPEAKER_00 34:15

Yeah, yeah, it can be so hot, especially in the summertime.

SPEAKER_01 34:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:20

Okay, that's good. Now that you finished the cruise, uh did you learn anything from the cruise that maybe you would like to share it with the listeners? Any ideas, any tips about cruising on Celebrity Beyond?

SPEAKER_01 34:32

Cruising on Celebrity Beyond, I think the one thing that I learned was just take advantage of each part of the ship because it just might surprise you. They have so much to offer for everybody. There's lots of shops to shop at, there's different restaurants with different menus and different drinks. Um, there's theaters and shows that you can go watch, and every night they have a different show, they have different little events all throughout the ship. But the reason I'm saying this is because one of the things that stood out for me on my trip was the art gallery. I'm someone that appreciates art, and I'll go to a museum and I'll look at the art and I'll say, wow, that's really gorgeous, and then I never think about it again. But the art gallery was a lot of fun. The people that worked at this art gallery were tons of fun. They had contests going on, like, guess the weight of the sculpture. And uh the way that you found out if you won was you have to attend the art auction, which I never saw myself as being someone that attends an art auction, but I went anyways, and I had a blast, it's so much fun at this art auction watching people just like enjoy the art, uh, listening to the auctioneers is they're so much fun. They'll offer you a glass of champagne at the art auction. So it really just took me by surprise. So celebrity just overall has so much to offer. Take advantage of all of it, soak it all in, go to little events that you don't think would, you know, normally be up your alley. I think you'd be surprised. Everybody there has a really good time doing everything and they make sure that everybody is involved.

SPEAKER_00 36:15

Yeah, so be open-minded. I was thinking that probably some people avoid the art auction because they feel like they're gonna get roped into buying something, right? Which I guess is true. I mean, they're they are trying to sell you art, but uh you can certainly go and enjoy the event without uh feeling the need to buy anything, I suppose.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

Yeah, they definitely tried to sell me art the whole time. Um, and like as long as these are pretty steadfast. Like I did end up buying a piece, it was very small. We spent like two or three hundred dollars on it. And don't get me wrong, like at these art auctions, I watched people buy something for like twelve thousand dollars. So there's definitely buyers on these ships. But uh no, the auctioneers were great, they were definitely very playful, and yes, were they trying to sell you something? Of course, that's their job, but they were just also wonderful people that we ended up talking to every day. We'd walk through the art gallery because they changed their displays every day, and uh they're great people to converse with, so just give it a shot. You might have some fun, and maybe you'll get some small pieces of art to bring home, like I did.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

Yeah, that's great. It sounds like you had a really good time. It sounds like uh the uh the trip was a great success, which is great to hear. Do you have any ideas about where you want to go next?

SPEAKER_01 37:26

Um, I was actually just looking. Um so I was looking at celebrities' cruises, and I think um I was looking at like some of their transatlantic um itineraries, so from like Italy to Bermuda and then to Fort Lauderdale. That would be amazing. Yeah. Um, but I was also looking at um ones that are more like European. I think it goes from Spain to France or something like that. Yeah. So I'm definitely looking for a cruise on the other side of the world, I believe.

SPEAKER_00 38:01

That sounds like my next stop. Yeah, those transatlantic cruises often are a better price than you would think. They're they're often quite competitive. Yeah. It's transatlantic because they're moving the ship to go to uh a different location. I don't know. It seems like they uh they don't charge as much for that kind of a trip. I guess they figure it's not especially it's not a tour, I guess. So maybe they lower the prices, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01 38:26

But I wonder if they lower it because they're also longer too, right? Like they're 14 to 16 day cruises, which most people don't get that kind of time off at from work or wherever they are, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

Yeah, I've looked at those too. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:42

I need to be on one.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Yeah. Uh we're up against the clock, so thank you very much for sharing a little bit about your trip. And uh, you know, next time when you've finished your European world tour, uh, we'll have you back on.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

I'll let you know all about it. Yes, it sounds great.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Thanks for joining us, Amy.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

No problem. Thanks for having me.

Canadian Compass Travel Tip of the Week: Tour and Excursion Brokers

SPEAKER_00 39:06

For the Canadian Compass Travel tip of the week, we're gonna talk about excursion brokers, or you could say tour brokers as well, because I am going to talk about a couple of options for you when it comes to booking tours or excursions. Excursions are, of course, trips that you might book when you are on a cruise and you've arrived at port. To take an excursion, you'd book the excursion and you're likely going to take a bus or a small van out to a specific location to pursue a specific activity within that port. So you can book your excursions through the ship. Every cruise ship offers excursions and you can book them using their booking tool. So the ship sponsors the excursion, and of course, the great thing about that is that you can get that tour right from the ship, and they guarantee that you'll be back to the ship on time. And in fact, the ship would possibly wait for you if your excursion came back late. But there are other ways that you can book excursions or tours, and I'm going to talk about a couple of those. So, first of all, you could use Viatur. And Viatour is a website or a company that has a website, and it's a company designed or sponsored by TripAdvisor, and the website is for booking all kinds of activities while traveling. It could be excursions or it could be any other kind of activity or tour. And they're kind of like a brokerage. They organize all kinds of different tours and offer them to you. They have apparently over 300,000 activities on their website. All of the tour operators that are offering these different excursions, they've all been vetted for credibility and safety by Viatur. And also, it's very helpful that you'll find reviews on their site for each of the tour or activity options. And one of the best things about this site is that for most of these tours and activities, there is a 24-hour cancellation policy. So you can cancel without penalty right up until 24 hours before your excursion or your tour or your activity. So when you're on the site, you can search by location. So if you have a port you're going to, or if you're just traveling on land and you're going to a specific city or location, you can search by that city or location. If you're cruising, you can search by port, then select tours, sightseeing, and cruises, and then click on cruises and sailing, and then choose shore excursions. And there are specific excursions designed for cruisers when they come in on the ship. Now, if you're working with a travel agent, it can be much easier because agents have the ability to send clients a link that will take them to a page that lists all excursions related to the specific itinerary of a specific ship and sailing in a very user-friendly format. Only travel agents can do that. So that's a good advertisement for using your travel agent to get that information. And yeah, you'll go to a site and all the excursions will be organized based on your ship and your itinerary. The advantage to using a site like Viator is it gives you options beyond the excursions that the cruise lines offer. So there's often more variety, more options, and the pricing can be much more competitive in many cases. So it's definitely worth taking a look. And then many of the shore excursions have worry-free guarantees about getting you back to the ship on time, and that is a concern for some people. You obviously want to make sure you get back to your ship. You wouldn't want to miss the ship after a tour. So you can access Viator through the www.viator.com. Viator is spelt V-I-A-T-O-R. Or better yet, as I've already mentioned, just send your travel agent an email or give them a phone call and they can send you convenient links to a page specifically designed for you and your itinerary if you're cruising. But even if you're not cruising, an agent can still send you a specific link with tours and activities that are specific to your location. So the other tour activity and excursion brokerage that I will often use is Shore Excursions Group. It's another excursion brokerage, but it's focused more on ship excursions. That's why it's called Shore Excursions Group, I'm sure. It's also a reliable website and a reliable company for booking excursions, and all the excursions are also fitted for credibility and safety with Shore Excursions Group. The excursion company is specifically designed for shore excursions for cruisers. All their tours are guaranteed to return before your ship departs, and they have a money-back guarantee. And you get similar advantages when it comes to booking with shore excursions. You'll get competitive pricing, and often another bonus is you can find smaller group tours through shore excursions, you know, smaller than, say, what the ships might offer. And that's true of Viator as well. You can look at the size of the groups and so on when you're exploring all the different options. Because they specialize in shore excursions, unlike Viator, they have a search interface where you put your cruise ship information into the search fields, and it returns with a page of excursions specifically related to your cruise itinerary. Expedia Cruises uses Shore Excursions as the main alternative to booking excursions with the cruise line itself. Again, your travel agent is able to send you this information from Shore Excursions directly, which is what I do for my clients by default. So those are your two options or two websites you should check out if you're looking for tours, activities, or shore excursions. So Viator or Shore Excursions. Of course, if you're on a cruise, you can look at the excursions offered by your cruise line as

Deals Dish: Viator Sale

SPEAKER_00 44:49

well. Now for Deals Dish, conveniently, serendipitously, I noticed that Viator is having a sale. And since I brought up Viator on this show, I thought I'd share with you the sale, which is on right now. And it lasts until September the 7th. What they're offering is an extra 10% off any tour you book. As many as you want, too. So you can get an extra 10% off up until September the 7th. The only thing is it's something offered only through travel agents. So you'd have to ask your travel agent to access this discount. They can either book the tour for you or send you a link where you can book and save the 10%. Either way, it's a little bit of money savings on your vacation, and who doesn't like that?

Outro

SPEAKER_00 45:34

Coming up next week, we'll take another look at Disney's Lakeshore Lodge, as they have announced an opening date as well as when bookings will begin. So that's important information for people who might want to take advantage of this new resort next summer. We'll talk about the room types available for booking so you can prepare your plans. Also, we'll debate about what is the best attraction at Islands of Adventure in Universal Studios Orlando. The rest of the show is a bit of a mystery right now, but do look forward to interviews about travel to Portugal and Hawaii, as well as solo traveling on the Celebrity Beyond in upcoming episodes. I hope you keep listening and supporting my podcast. If you're enjoying the information and inspiration provided in this show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or any other podcast reviewing platform. Links to the show's page and to Apple Podcasts can be found in the show notes. Also, feel free to follow me on Instagram. Just search up at the TravelAgent. And again, The Travel Agent is spelt with an EH because we're Canadian. If you want to respond to anything I've talked about on the show, or if you want to offer topic suggestions or ideas, please send an email to stephen at the travelagent.ca. You can be part of building the content for our community. Thanks for listening, everyone. Until next time, keep dreaming, keep planning, and keep exploring.