10 Things You Didn’t Know About Cruise Vacations

Long time readers may remember that I reside in South Florida. When most people read that they immediately think of the great weather here. While that’s true, that’s only one of great things about where I live. 

One of the unexpected perks my family and I enjoy living here is access to the Atlantic Ocean. I’m not talking about the sugar sand beaches. Actually I’m referring to how close I am to all of the major sea ports that cruise ships dock at. 

You see I live within an hour drive of the most heavily trafficked cruise embarkation port…and I use it, a lot. Over the years I’ve learned to take advantage of this luxury. I am able to book last minute cruises all the time and save myself hundreds (sometimes thousands) of dollars off retail cruise vacation prices.  I’ve also come across some pretty impressive ways for other people, including those that don’t live in South Florida to do the same. 

We are entering the busy season for cruise liners. Northerners love to take cruises to the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Southern Europe in the winter months because of the great weather those places enjoy.  Right now cruise companies are trying to fill cabins and offering “deals” to entice you to buy. But these so called “deal” cruise companies offer are sometimes just full priced vacations. Their marketing is top notch so the scams aren’t always easy to spot, unless you have an expert eye. Before you book your next cruise vacation take down these notes and never pay retail again. 

Depending on who you listen to, you’ll get different answers on the debate over when the cheapest time to book a cruise vacation is—well in advance  or last minute.  Some will say that cruise lines want to condition vacationers to book their trips as early as possible so they start with the cheapest prices and then increase them as time goes on. Others will argue that these companies offer their lowest fares only at the last minute to fill up any unsold cabins because their expenses are the same if they have 800 or 1,000 people on board. 

I’ve tried booking at both ends of the spectrum and there are advantages to both. After trying both ways I prefer to book early, but I will say I’ve gotten cheaper pricing booking last minute. I like booking early because most cruise lines or travel agencies promise that if they lower the price down the road they’ll give you the lower rate. 

The trick is that you’ve got to be the one to ask for the reduction, the cruise line will never be the one who initiates the reduction. To make sure I am kept abreast of any change in rate after I book a cruise I sign up for the specific cruise lines free online newsletter as well as travel agents news feeds. That way all I have to do is check my inbox once a week for any news. 

I also like booking early because a fair amount of times when a cruise I’ve booked hasn’t sold out; the cruise line has upgraded my room or given me an on-board credit for free! I’ve never gotten any kind of free upgrade when I’ve booked my vacation at the last minute.
This is not to say that there aren’t advantages to booking cruises at the last minute, and by last minute I mean 30 days in advance. The words “last minute” doesn’t mean quite the same to a cruise line company as they do for me. 30 days’ notice is plenty of notice for me to go on a vacation. 

Like I said earlier if I am just talking cruise fares, I’ve gotten better deals when I’ve waited till the last minute to book a cruise rather than booking 3-6 months in advance. But what I gain in price cuts I lose in choice. Generally last minute bookings mean you don’t get your pick of cabins. There are limited rooms left and you might be stuck with an interior unit with no ocean view. 

Besides the timing of your booking, the destination of your cruise can also affect price in a significant way. If you aren’t too particular book a cruise to nowhere. Cruises that set sail without stopping at any ports or promise any kind of sights can be gotten for pretty cheap. When you are flexible about where you cruise to, cruise liners will reward you supreme service and cheaper fares. 

The same can be said though about popular destinations. The more exotic a locale you want to visit, the heftier the price tag. Choosing a cruise that stops in well-known, tourist attracting spots like Belize in the Caribbean can make your vacation more affordable.  Booking cruises that stop in more remote locations like Russia or Scandinavia will drive up the rate. 

Unless you live near me you will undoubtedly need to book a plane ride to get you to your ship. This is what can make a cruise vacation out of reach financially for some people. To alleviate this cruise lines offer air fare along with cruise packages. They tell you that if you bundle your services together you’ll receive a discount. 

I’m sorry to say this just isn’t true. Most times it’s cheaper if you book your air fare separately. You are much more likely to snag yourself a cheap flight. If a cruise line finds a cheap flight for you, you’ll never see that extra money. That’s why it’s better if you look online at comparison sites like kayak.com or at airline sites directly to see what’s out there. 

The only time it might be best to use the cruise line air and sea package is when you are flying internationally. International flights are much more expensive and don’t have as much variation in prices or flight times as domestic flights do. Also if you book your flight and cruise together through the cruise line company and your flight is delayed or canceled the cruise liner will take care of getting you to the cruise. You won’t have to worry about anything. If you book the two separately and your flight is delayed or canceled you won’t get any sympathy from the cruise liner, they’ll set sail without you and probably won’t give you a refund. 

You can also find deals when you book a large number of rooms together. Think of cruise ships as floating hotels. And just like when you book hotel rooms, the more rooms you book the cheaper the rate you get. Cruises are great for family reunions, vacations with friends, weddings and other special events. In these instances it makes sense to book a block of rooms so that everyone will pay the same price and be near each other. In these instances you might be able to get a group rate which should give you a respectable discount. 

If you are willing to go out on a limb and book all the rooms under your name and then collect the money from the rest of the people, you might even be able to get your room for free. People that organize large group bookings often receive their room for free if they book enough rooms. Before you book call your travel agent or the cruise line directly to see how many rooms you need to book before they’ll give you a room for free as each company sets different amounts. 

You should also look for discount rates like you get on land. If you typically get a discount for meals or theater tickets, then a cruise line will probably offer you a discount as well. People who are 55 or older, EMT’s, firefighters, policemen, teachers, military or members of certain union groups are all likely to get a reduced fare price. Just be prepared to show proof of your age or occupation in order to receive such discount. 

A lot of people put too much stock into the age of a ship when deciding which cruise to book. They believe a ship built back in the 90’s or early 2000’s will not give them the same level of luxury as a newer built ship. This isn’t true. The only thing that will be better is the decor. Older ships actually offer better deals for this reason. Look for ships built 10-15 years ago, they’ll typically be a bit cheaper and still offer all the same luxuries as newer built ships. 

Getting a good deal on a cruise vacation is about more than just ticket price. Don’t limit yourself to looking at just the initial fare price. Remember that discounts come in many forms including pre-paid gratuities, on board credits and discounted shore excursions. If you see a full priced cruise vacation that offers one or more of these other types of discounts you can rest assured that you are still getting a good deal. Most of the time these alternative discounts add up to hundreds of dollars in savings and make your trip even more enjoyable. 


Keeping Money in Your Pocket, 

Nancy Patterson

Advice Experts Needed!

Let's say you have a very unique, maybe eccentric, hobby. I'll use taxidermy as an example.So let's say every spare minute you have, every hour you're not on the clock at your regular job, you devote to taxidermy. Over the years you've developed certain skills and knowledge that only a few people possess. And, until recently, unless you owned a taxidermy business, your hobby would have remained just that: a hobby. 

But since we're living in the Information Age, this highly-specialized training you possess has some currency to it. It has become a commodity.No matter if it's taxidermy or how to install custom lighting in your home or how to setup a great home theater or how to create beautiful jewelry from piles of brightly-colored beads, you can bet that any specialized knowledge you've accumulated can be turned into practical advice. And those people just starting to learn about whatever it is that you are an expert at will seek you out and reward you for your help. 

Identifying Your Commodity 

Before I tell you how to make money giving advice, I'd like to help you focus on your own area of expertise. First, here's a list of subjects I advise AGAINST: 

-Relationships 
-Love life 
-Law 

The reason I think you should steer clear of these areas is because unless you have some official specialized training - like you're a licensed counselor or a lawyer, for example - there isn't much of a market for your opinion.Because, let's face it, we all have relationships (parent, spouse, sibling, etc.), and we all have dealings with the law (even if it's just a parking ticket) but unless you bring some "inside" information to your advice-giving, your opinion isn't going to hold much currency. Even if everybody in your family and all your friends come to you for advice… that isn’t enough. 

Also, the market is already flooded with Dear Abby-style advice columns. We don't want you wasting your time in a saturated marketplace.Not to worry! Here's a list of the kinds of subjects I wholeheartedly recommend you base your little business on: 

-Home repair 
-Car maintenance 
-Gardening 
-Electronics 

These are hot markets. But remember that your advice business can be anything you have a special interest in and a special knowledge of that is of interest to enough other people to make a viable business. 

Remember my taxidermy example above: not exactly a mass-appeal area of expertise, but you can bet that the people who do enjoy it form a very loyal and interested niche willing to pay to access your expertise. 

And that's really the key to success in becoming an advice expert: finding your niche, your own corner of expertise where your opinion will carry an enormous amount of respect. 

Finding that sweet spot is a matter of research. Scan the Internet for other websites. See how many books on the subject are on sale on Amazon. Frequent forums dedicated to that niche and ask people what information they’re looking for.If you get good results in those areas, feel free to proceed. 

Getting Paid for Giving Advice 

The first step in becoming a money-making advice columnist is to establish your credibility. You can do this by starting a free blog and writing a few articles about your niche market. Once you gain a following, you can add a forum where people can ask you questions and you can dispense advice. A few tips for writing and running a successful advice blog: 

-Write regularly 
-Research the tough questions, don't ignore them 
-Promote your blog through social media 
-Use good SEO practices 
-Keep an editorial schedule 
-Solicit questions through email, Twitter, etc. 

That may seem like a lot to keep in mind, but the first bit is the most important: write regularly. Set yourself a schedule of answering, say, five questions a week. Keep up with it. Update regularly. Develop your own voice. Publish a new advice column on a certain day of the week, every week. By doing all these things, your readership will expand by leaps and bounds. 

Which brings me to how you're going to monetize your advice. Here’s the trick: all those articles you’re writing and questions you’re answering? You hold back the best information for your paid products like guides, ebooks, how-to videos, etc. 

Using taxidermy as an example, you could have an ebook called 101 Ways to Stuff a Walrus. If you offer advice on visiting Disney World, your guide could be called Money-Saving Tips in the Land of the Mouse. If you’re a fisherman, How to Catch Bonefish in the Florida Keys would be an option. 

Do you get the idea? 

List those products on your site’s home page prominently with banners and be sure to have a Products page. And also mention these paid products and include a link to the Order page at the end of every blog post and article. 

You can also make incremental income through advertising. If you have a large enough - and dedicated - following, you can contact companies who specialize in your area of advice-giving. If you're not there yet, but would like to put advertising up, look into Google AdWords. It's free and they will actually customize the ads to your website. 

You could also make money by making a members-only section of your website where folks can pay to access certain content. This could be anything from videos, to lengthy and detailed guides, to audio.Put a little hard work up front, and pretty soon you'll become the guru of your own kingdom. 

Good luck! 

John Hollister 

P.S. I just gave you the rundown on how to start turning a profit by giving out advice. But here are a few more resources to help you succeed beyond your wildest imagination! 

Resources 

Start-Up Tips 

http://hope-wilbanks.hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Start-An-Advice-Column-Online 

http://www.ehow.com/how_2242443_make-money-giving-advice.html 

http://www.blogstash.com/get-paid-to-answer-questions/ 

Advice Sites Doing It Right 

http://observer.com/2011/01/the-internets-9-best-advice-columns/ 

http://www.healthytippingpoint.com/2011/06/my-favorite-advice-columnists.html

http://touringplans.com/ 

Places to Practice, Build a Reputation, and Get Inspiration 

http://www.justanswer.com/ 

http://www.keen.com/ 

http://www.chacha.com/ 

http://www.liveperson.com/ 

http://www.ether.com/

The Vulture Culture

Welcome back, friends, to this circle of sanity, this cabal of clarity, this… you get the idea: once again it’s my task to IMPROVE your existence so you may join the ranks of the rich. This is my base assumption each time we speak: that you want to be wealthy. If you don’t wish to become wealthy, then, as they say in government, I just work here… 

But the rich are in the tiny minority of people, so how could little ol’ you join them? Do they have something you don’t? Do they have an unfair advantage over you? 

Your suspicions are correct. The rich DO have something over you, an unfair edge. It’s not a college education (many successful people are high school dropouts). It’s not inherited wealth (most started from nothing and often began as dirt poor). 

So what edge did they have?
How can we say its all “unfair” when most rich people started from nothing and often didn’t have higher education? And so follows the inconvenient question: what’s your excuse for not joining them?? 

The “edge” they have is a follow on from past discussions on the human mind and how you think. I want to talk about two obstacles you face in this regard: thinking small and not having a coherent logic about money. First, thinking small… 

Most people think in terms of “chump change.” They have miniscule goals when it comes to money. For modern proof of this, take a look at what people evidently want to watch on TV: reality shows about pawn shops, bidding on abandoned storage units, rummaging through mud in search of an old coin, searching through the attic in the hope of restoring something, buying stuff you don’t want with coupons and cheering about it… it’s a frenzied craze of late. 

We are clearly in what I call "The Vulture Culture."

People have become obsessed with, and are celebrating, breadcrumbs on the floor of the banquet hall. We are developing into a scavenger-race like something out of a ‘Mad Max’ post-nuclear holocaust.

And while most people are playing in the dirt, the rich man plays a different game -a faster game- and he never gets his hands dirty... 

It’s because he thinks on a different level and because he has a coherent philosophy about money. 

It’s more about a question of how you think, and on what level. If your entire day is spent obsessing about small things and ‘chump change’, you’re not getting a good return on your thoughts. As Donald Trump famously once said, “You have to think anyway, so you may as well think big.”
So I must ask you if you’re "big minded"… or "small-minded." 

If your financial goal consists of a running battle from day to day, scavenging what you can here and there like some crazed biker in Mad Max, it’s time to take stock of your situation, and most of all, your THOUGHTS. Take a "time out" and evaluate where you are and where you need to be… 

The rich man was once dirt poor. But back then he didn’t participate in The Vulture Culture, he wasn’t HAPPY with breadcrumbs from the banquet. He said, “Screw this! I want to get me a seat up there on the banquet table!” 

So how about you? 

Will you give me a big, loud, “Screw this!” too?
Picture yourself on that cold floor of the banquet hall… the smell of the roast beef… the laughter and chinking of glasses… while you fight with the other rats for that bone that just landed on the floor… 

That’s your first step. You have to make a decision to think bigger, to not be content with what you have, and to actually do something about it. 

You see, what most people do on the floor of the banqueting hall is find reasons why they can’t get up on the table. They’ll complain about the system or try and change it (good luck with that). They’ll pin all their hopes on winning the lottery or a self-serving politician saving them with his empty promises of throwing a little more meat on that floor. 

Which brings me onto my second point: having a coherent philosophy about money… 

Most people are extremely confused about money to an oxymoronic degree. On one hand they crave money, and on the other they feel wealth and wealthy people are somehow corrupt, immoral, and that ‘money is the root of all evil’. You can see this in some of the postings we get on the website. I mean, it beats the crap out of me why some people are reading a newsletter specifically about making money and then they complain about ‘the system’, capitalism, how unfair everything is, yada, yada, yada. This is pure nonsense. I have more respect for a communist than someone like this- at least a communist knows his own mind! 

That is NOT a coherent logic. You have to make a choice, because this confusion in your mind is stopping you growing rich! So which is it? Are you here to make money? Yes? Great! If so, it’s time to clear out all that garbage in your head that’s holding you back- the cynicism, the laziness, the negativity, the confusion, and guilt you feel regarding wealth. 

Look, money is indifferent to you. It’s like a beautiful and sophisticated woman who doesn’t need men, and she’s repulsed by desperation and inconsideration. She doesn’t care one way or the other what you think about her. If you want me, come and get me, she says. And if you don’t, that’s fine too, because plenty of others will if you don’t.
The guy with the balls to approach her is the one who’ll get her. Do you think she gives a hoot if you go and complain about that outcome if you didn’t approach her first? 

She’s been around as long as civilization itself, and she’s here to stay. And throughout history, any time humans have tried to share her equally among the masses, she went into hiding. Just ask anyone who lives in Cuba. 

The man who has a coherent philosophy about her, the man who knows what she is, accepts her as such, and respects her… he’s the one who’ll take her home. 

Be discerning about what nonsense fills your head each day, because you’re exposed to a lot of anti-wealth propaganda on a daily basis, thanks to what is predominantly a covertly socialist media campaigning for a ‘fairer’ society. Most Hollywood stories are just as guilty- notice how the bad guy is the rich guy in movies, and how the dirt-poor underdog is the one with virtue and victory. And of course, Hollywood does this because most movie-goers ARE that working class ‘hero’, and it’s what the masses want to hear, it appeals to their mental coping mechanisms that justify their financial inadequacy. 

Compare that to the person who lets nothing but quality information into his head, someone who reads books on growing rich instead of watching reality shows about scavenging. Which person will be wealthier in the next five years? 

Don’t think all that stuff going in your mind isn’t doing anything to you! It’s the equivalent of a junk food diet slowly destroying you. Your body is a temple, and so is your mind. 

On one hand you want wealth, and you KNOW that way too many rich people didn’t have a privilege over you. But on the other hand, there’s a conflict inside you based on what society and media feeds you: that wealth is corruption and rich people are evil. This all adds up to a paralyzing affliction and an incoherent philosophy regarding money that will keep you scavenging for breadcrumbs in The Vulture Culture instead of banqueting with that beautiful woman, money. 

And if you truly don’t want to get up on that table, that’s fine too, as long as you get out of the way of others who do. At least you have a coherent philosophy now. Just make a decision and end the conflict in your mind. 

In other news… 

The world has decided that the European Union is doomed, if you’re wondering why the stock market just keeps on tanking down to oblivion. 

AND any time the whole world thinks something is about the time when things change. My view: the selling has gone way too far, and you can expect a violent pop upwards soon. How so? Because I see a contradiction that nobody else seems to be commenting on. The VIX is a measure of volatility in the market, and it’s currently quite low. Now, if the Euro really was about to come to an end, why isn’t the VIX showing as much? 

The VIX is a reliable indicator because it measures the actions of sophisticated investors, not the herd. So my money’s on the VIX being correct, and that the market surges upwards very soon, if it hasn’t happened by the time you get this letter (I’m writing this a few days before you get it).

Until next time, 

Jim Sheridan