• Carnival Cruise Lines – Check!
• Pleasant Holidays - Check!
• Princess Cruise Lines - Check!

Tonight, we’d like to introduce a brand new vendor for the VERY popular Sail-A-Thon series right on our booking engine!

Please welcome MSC Cruises to the growing list of vendors that YTB Travel Network has highlighted over the years – offer incredible deals for you tonight, Tuesday September 14th from 6:00 – 7:00 pm CST. (Special rebroadcast that same night at 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm CST.)

Here are the details and specials you’ll find tonight;

• $599 Fall Balcony blow out. All sailings in fall except the Thanksgiving cruise.
• ALL Fall sailing early booking discount $50.00 per person
• Fall cabin upgrades
• Winter Caribbean cabin upgrades
• $599 Winter Mediterranean on the Magnifica
• More specials to be announced live on Tuesday, September 14th.

**All rates are Per Person.

Not familiar with MSC or know what’s offered by the cruise line? Now’s your chance to find out directly from MSC on this one hour webinar. It’s truly a very classy cruise line, and boasts the newest fleet of cruise ships sailing today.

MSC offers the perfect blend of European charm and modern Italian elegance. MSC Splendida and MSC Fantasia also offer the “MSC Yacht Club”, an exclusive ship within a ship offering the ultimate in luxury cruising. A haven of peace and refinement with exclusive butler service and a complete spectrum of private facilities to bring you an unforgettable luxury cruise experience.

It’s a class all by itself.

But don’t take my word for it, come see for yourself right from the comfort of your own home. All you have to do is join us tonight to find out more about YTB Travel Network and MSC Cruises.

Who knows – you could possibly book the best cruise of your life with us on MSC Cruises.

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Word must be spreading in the Travel Industry about YTB Travel Network’s Sale-a-Thon webinars. I can’t think of a single reason why it wouldn’t. It’s incredibly cost effective, (in fact it costs the supplier nothing but a little time) it provided suppliers a potential to reach thousands of viewers in one shot, and also enables the supplier to educate clients on the features, advantages, and benefits of thier company first hand.

Carnival, Princess, and Pleasant Holidays are all companies who have hosted multiple webinars with YTB Travel Network in the past because quite simply it works. (Why else would these others come back for more?)

Globus may be a new company to the growing list of suppliers and vendors that have joined YTB for these fun and informative events, but they’ve been around for more than 80 years. Their “family of brands” include not only Globus, but Cosmos, Monograms, and Avalon Waterways with itineraries covering Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Australia and Africa. They also offer several varieties or flavors of tours to meet the needs and demands of today’s traveler. From fully escorted tours, premium, independent, or river cruise vacations.

Clearly, there’s something for everyone.

Because of their vast array, Thursday nights Sale-a-Thon will offer the largest variety of tours and destinations YTB has to offer to date for one Sale-a-Thon. The live event kicks off at 8:00 EST, with rebroadcasts at both 9:00 pm and 10:00 pm right on your computer.

YTB Travel Network President Kim Sorensen will be hosting this event with Bob Black from Globus Thursday night right from our booking engine. A full list of the sales offered can be downloaded here.

With Globos being the largest tour operator in the business, they also have the largest number of “guaranteed departures” – meaning, there’s no worry about your dream vacation being canceled due to a lack of minimum bookings. Avalon Waterways also has the newest and most innovative fleet of riverboats in the industry. (We’re not talking paddle wheels here.)

If you’ve been thinking about a guided tour or want to head out on your own with an independent tour to do your own thing, you need to check out this Sale-a-Thon tomorrow night and see for yourself what Globus “Family of Brands” and YTB has to offer.

It will cost you nothing but an hour of your time, and you just might find the perfect destination and price for your next vacation.

Hope to see you online tomorrow night!

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Phil Mickelson was once known as the best player without a major title. When Tiger Woods exploded onto the PGA scene back in 1996, questions if Phil would ever win a major began to circulate even more.

For me, Mickelson has always been one of those players I’ve always rooted for. It seems like ages since Phil’s second place finishes were the major topic of conversation after major tournaments. His third green jacket yesterday put Phil an elite group of golfers with names like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicholas, Sam Snead, Gary Player, Nick Faldo, and Tiger Woods.

Mickelson’s victory and his moment with his ailing wife, Amy was a stark contrast to Tiger Woods’ behavior that was exposed to the public last November. Ironically, both the Masters win, his third Green Jacket, and his wife cements Phil Mickelson’s place in this era alongside Tiger Woods.

Phil’s dedication to his wife and family make him a fan favorite for even the part time viewer of major tournaments like the Masters.

There were so many shots during this tournament, but the one I’ll always remember was Phil’s shot off of the pine needles on No. 13 between two imposing trees trying to reach the green in two shots. A risky shot with Ray’s Creek protecting the green that could have eliminated Phil from contention. (Memories of The Shark back in 1996 and Nick Faldo winning ran through my head when Phil hit the shot.)

A stroke that will be overlooked because of his win however was back on the front 9 on hole No. 2 during his birdie bid. In the middle of the green, during his back stroke a seed dropped out of the sky from nowhere directly in line with the hole. As a result, the seed bumped the ball ever so slightly to the left which robbed him of a birdie bid early in the round.

He admitted during his press conference that the shot raised questions if someone was out to get him. Like a true Champion however, he put it behind him rather quickly with a birdie on the very next hole and he never looked back.

That’s what true Champions do. There will always be situations that appear to be beyond your control. You can’t let a little bump in the road ruin your main focus. 

Augusta National will always have a special place in my heart. It’s one of most beautiful places on earth for some of the world’s most elite golfers. Television, even HD TV doesn’t do this course justice. You have to experience the course for yourself to realize just how beautiful and majestic this course really is.

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Yes, prices went up today with Carnival, and I suspect we’ll see more increases with other travel packages during the year. There are some very real indications that the travel industry as a whole is experiencing growth once again.

That doesn’t mean that very real and substantial deals can’t be had however.

YTB Travel Network has partnered with Pleasant Holidays once again to offer substantial savings (up to $500 per booking) to some very exotic and attractive destinations. The live webcast will air right here on your computer tomorrow night, March 23rd, simply by clicking on the link found on BandBVacations.com. It all starts at 8:00 Eastern, with a rebroadcast again at 9:00PM and 10:00PM Eastern Standard Time. Phone lines will be open from 8:00 to 11:00PM Eastern toll free at 866-400-9382.

This is the perfect opportunity to invite friends, and family over to see if something might fit for their next vacation. What could be better than a tropical getaway to Hawaii, Mexico, Fiji, Tahiti, Moorea, or Bora Bora? You really need to see these exotic properties during this Sale-a-Thon to see how incredible these sale prices really are.

To give you a heads up on what kind of specials we’re talking about here Pleasant Holidays has produced a number of fliers for you to take a look at.

And here they are:

Special savings to Fiji – $500 savings per booking.

• Your vacation Includes: Air from Los Angeles on Air Pacific, meet & greet with shell lei, round trip Airport transfers, 7 nights’ accommodations at Sonaisali Island Resort Fiji, Beachfront room, two FREE nights, breakfast daily, complimentary welcome cocktail, free jungle cruise per person, special invitation to the General Manager’s Monday cocktail party, one scuba pool splash per person, FREE kids club & Travel Protection Plan.

Special savings to Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora – $500 savings per booking.

• Vacation Includes: Air from Los Angeles on Air Tahiti Nui, round trip inter-island air on Air Tahiti, Round trip airport transfers, 7 nights’ accommodations at Le Meridien Tahiti, Garden View room, two FREE nights & Travel Protection Plan.

Special savings to Hawaii – Free Hertz Rental Car.

• Free Hertz rental car with a minimum 5 night stay on the island of Oahu, Kauai, Maui, or Hawaii’s Big Island for travel through 3/31/10; 5/1 – 5/31/10; 9/1 – 12/15/10. Save $100 on a Hertz car rental with a minimum 5 night stay for travel from 4/1 – 4/30/10 & 6/1 – 8/31/10.

Special savings to Mexico – $100 savings per booking.

• Vacations Includes: round trip air from Chicago and 3 night accommodations to Cancun, Riviera Maya, Puerto Vallarta, and Los Cobos starting from just $262 for new bookings made through May 1, 2010.

One of the nice features about these webinars is that it’s designed to educate you with the best, most knowledgeable Managers Pleasant Holidays has to offer. They know their business better than anyone and can offer tips and insight on just how and why you need to take advantage of these special deals with them compared to someone else.

So check out Pleasant Holidays for your next vacation – they’re one of the largest tour operators in the business with destinations to Mexico, Costa Rica, Las Vegas, Caribbean, Europe, Asia and the South Pacific.

Hope to see you then!

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Most know that the largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade held in the United States is in the Big Apple.

Care to take a guess at where the second largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade is held?

Would you believe Savannah, Georgia?

No kidding! Anywhere from 300,000 to 700,000 people pack the streets of Savannah for its St. Patrick’s Day celebration. (And you thought Savannah’s biggest claim to fame was “Forrest Gump“…)

Most wouldn’t think of Savannah as a huge Irish Catholic town, and you’d be right. It was actually a Protestant group known as the Hibernian Society who held the first parade in 1824 to raise money for immigrants. (Savannah is still the 4th busiest port in the U.S., but today its containers, not people.) The biggest influx of Irish came between 1845 and 1850 during the Great Famine and new immigrants found work in the port there. It wasn’t until 1860 that over 20 percent of Savannah’s population was Irish.

True, St. Patrick’s Day in Savannah begins with mass at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, but the crowds start to line the parade route hours before mass even starts. Loyal fans can start forming along River Street as early as 6:00am. Believe it or not, they use to camp out days before hand. Too many started to “celebrate” early however and the city had to crack down due to all the complaints from local residents who actually live there year round.

Part of the attraction for hundreds of thousands is Savannah’s city ordnance which allows for open drinking in the area with “to-go cups” that are 16 ounces or smaller in the downtown area. Just remain inside Jones Street and, and River Street. That’s not just for St. Patrick’s Day, that’s all year long by the way.

Just thinking out loud here: Would it be wrong to think that’s an Irish Catholic’s dream?

I’ve heard Savannah’s St. Patrick’s festivities being called “Mardi Gras gone Irish” minus the “flashing”. (Although some still attempt to expose themselves, anyone who does will most likely be arrested.) But like Mardi Gras, the St. Patrick’s Day festivities in Savannah go on for days. It’s a great excuse to throw a week long party.

So, if you’re Irish, and even if you’re not and just want a change of pace in a quaint little town that plans all year long for this one party, try Savannah, Georgia. You’ll quickly find out that it’s one of the best St. Patrick’s Day celebrations you’ve probably never heard of.

It’s so big and so well planned with festivities, it makes most cities “green” with envy.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Wow! What a week!

Sorry, I haven’t been around much this week. My post on Monday got a ton of traffic and I appreciate the private messages, e-mails and phone calls. Every so often you write something that strikes a nerve and you learn to just ride that wave of traffic. I also enjoyed the break. It gave me an opportunity to do some additional reading, planning, and finish some projects that have been sitting on the back burner – but needed to get done.

As a result, I’m feeling pretty refreshed and eager to get going on some new projects that fell into my lap during the week. It’s amazing to me how you finish something up; something else opens up to fill that space. We’ll be writing more about them as the week’s progress.

I wanted to do a quick post today about a new program that I’m pretty excited about. I have a relative who’s disabled and this type of thing always peaks my interest because of it. Being disabled doesn’t mean you can’t experience life. Yes, it can make things a little more difficult, but as I’ve seen time and time again, it’s all about how you perceive things that can make a disability an obstacle or advantage.

It’s nice to see this type of program in our industry. While it’s not a niche that I’m actively involved with, I do know a number of people are. I did a search on it last night and only found one other link to it, so I thought I’d promote it, so all of you know about it in case it comes up in your dealings with clients.

Oh, and yes, that’s a real cat! (In other words, it’s not some Photoshopped prank.)

~ Guests of Beaches Turks & Caicos can now become Handicap Scuba Association (HSA) certified at the property ~

Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort Villages & Spa has expanded resort programming for persons with disabilities and now offers a tailored disabled scuba diving program. A team of twelve dive instructors from the resort, under the guidance of Mark Rausch of Poseidon Handicap Scuba Adventures, underwent an intensive training course that will allow guests to participate in three specialized programs. Through the Handicap Scuba Association (HSA), guests can become certified in the HSA Basic Open Water Scuba Diving, the HSA Junior Open Water Scuba Diving and the HSA Open Water Dive Buddy. The resort will continue to offer the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) certification in addition to the Handicap Scuba Association certification.

Michael Clark, Beaches Resorts Water Sports Manager, stated, “Scuba diving is the sport where gravity is not an issue,” he further stated, “we are delighted to be able to offer our disabled guests the full value of our ’Luxury Included’ facility including equal water sports opportunity that caters to their special needs.”

Handicap Scuba Association is made up of over 4000 underwater educators, with disabilities and supporting members, located in over 45 countries. Beaches Turks & Caicos is the first in the Beaches Resorts chain, as well as the island of Turks & Caicos, to receive HSA certification training and marks an important milestone in disabled programming at the resort.

###

How cool is that? (Thought you’d like it!)

Have an awesome weekend!

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

I’m guessing I’m showing my age here – but you can’t bring up Princess Cruises without “The Love Boat” Theme running through my head. Truth is, the show was partly responsible for me wanting to work in the travel industry. The show certainly portrayed a very glamorous lifestyle that I wanted to be part of.

Little did I know at the time what the future had in store for me with an opportunity like YTB.

Several years ago YTB came up with this idea of hosting a “Sail-a-thon” on the Internet to promote both key partners and destinations for our customers. The field loves it because it gives many an opportunity to host a party at the house. Partners love it because it costs them nothing. They simply piggy back on the technology and infrastructure YTB has invested in – giving them an opportunity to promote from a single location to thousands. YTB has been hosting these “Sail-A-Thons” for years with several companies and since they keep on popping up every couple of months – everyone involved sees value in the events.

Cruise nights aren’t new however. CLIA (Cruise Line Industry Association) actually came up with the concept five years ago with the “World’s Largest Cruise Night“. Hundreds of Agencies still get together in a collective effort each year in October to promote the joy of cruising to clients.

All YTB did was modernize the concept, making it easier for clients to become informed and educated, while at the same time saving Cruise Lines some serious money by reaching the same number of clients (if not more) from one centralized location over the internet. Most recently, YTB partnered the webcast with Facebook to make it even easier for YTB Agents to send a simple link to friends and clients to enjoy specials and promotions on the worlds most popular social networking site.

Adding Facebook into the equation makes it interactive, an element that was missing with a simple webcast. When YTB tried it for the first time with Carnival back in November, we had no idea the power it possessed and how much fun it could be. Thousands of people posted their favorite cruise pictures and some even won prizes! (Like yours truly. ;-P)

Thursday night, Princess Cruises gets into the act with a new twist called Trivia Night. The hour long broadcast will ask six Trivia Gold questions about Princess and/or Alaska to give viewers a chance to win prizes by answering the questions. In the meantime viewers also become educated on the value of cruising – and more specifically why Princess Cruises is the premier cruise line when it comes to an Alaska destination.

For example, a 7-night Voyage of the Glaciers cruise is followed by 5-nights on land featuring 1 night at McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge, 2 nights at Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and 2 nights at Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge. It’s the only cruise of it’s kind. Princess has invested millions into these lodges and you won’t find these type of amenities from any other cruise line.

This cruisetour offers the ultimate vacation for the entire family, ensuring you see all the best of Alaska by land and by sea. You just can’t get that with any other line. 

As an added incentive to “come aboard”, Cruise customers will see some great prices for all destinations with the following benefits:

• Up to $100 onboard credit per stateroom
• Reduced deposit of just $100 per person
• Coupons worth up to $325 in onboard savings

The entire savings package can be found right here, and you can pull up a direct link to Princess Cruise Lines here to investigate and price out your next Princess Cruise.

The Sail-a-Thon should be a lot fun. From what I saw, Facebook fans enjoyed interacting with each other during the Carnival Sail-a-Thon a few months ago.

Technology – aint it grand?

Hope to see you there and of course some of you will be singing it with me until then…

Love, exciting and new
Come Aboard. We’re expecting you.
Love, life’s sweetest reward.
Let it flow, it floats back to you.

If you’re too young to remember the song that’s okay. Just remember to join us tomorrow night!

Hope to see you then!

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

Book Your Travel & Vacations With