January 2022
Happy New Year, Friend!
I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year celebration with loved ones. Our wish for you… Whatever is beautiful, whatever is meaningful, and whatever brings you happiness… May it be yours throughout the coming year!
We had a wonderful holiday weekend with family and friends. Sadly, I did test positive for Covid in December. The good news is that this was nothing more than mild cold symptoms. As reported in the news, this new variant is highly contagious but is just mild cold like symptoms for those who are vaccinated.
We booked a lot of travel in December for 2022, including many cruises and several trips to Hawaii and Mexico. We’re also working on a fun custom group trip for 22 people to Cabo San Lucas.
We have sold our inventory for our exclusive luxury wine cruise to South America but if you’d like to join us (or know someone who does) we can get pricing and add them to this incredible exclusive adventure.
Here’s a link to the detailed itinerary, in case you’d like to share!
We have ten (10) confirmed for our Birding Adventure in Chilé, leaving only two spots available. This trip has a maximum of 12 birders, including our leaders, so the first to deposit will join us. Here’s the link to the detailed Itinerary, in case you’d like to share it with anyone…
We had to cancel our New Year’s celebration in Palm Springs with our BFFs because I tested positive. So, we’ve moved that back to mid-January. We’re looking forward to spending quality time with our BFFs which means, amazing food, good wine and cocktails, great friends, and fun games!
Bob and I are planning our first Holland America Cruise to the Caribbean. We’re excited to experience their new class of ship and have heard wonderful things about the Rotterdam. We’ll be visiting 3 ports that Bob has not been to before, so that will be fun. We’ll let you know what we think when we return, as I’m sure to blog about this one!
I’m sure you’ve heard, effective Dec 30th, the CDC has recommended avoiding cruise travel. You should know that this does not impact the cruise ships ability to sail and there have been no cancellations announced as a result of this. Nothing has changed in regards to the CDC’s Framework for Conditional Sailing.
Here are some facts, if you’d like to better understand the cruise industry:
Cruising is still one of the safest ways to vacation with 0.008% positivity rate as of December 2021. This is just a fraction of the current national positivity rate.
See the latest positivity rate.While there are exceptions depending on the cruise line, the vast majority of people over the age of 12 are required to be vaccinated on cruise ships making it a very safe way to vacation.
Also, all passengers must take a COVID-19 test prior to sailing. No other venue – air travel, concerts, etc. – require such stringent protocols.
Over 100 cruise ships have returned to U.S. waters, carrying nearly more than one million people from a U.S. port since late June 2021.
The cruise industry is the only industry in the U.S. travel and tourism sector that is requiring both vaccinations and testing for crew and guests.
The latest data shows that, even with higher rates of testing, the cruise industry continues to achieve significantly lower rates of occurrence of COVID-19—33 percent lower than onshore.
Unlike the airline and resorts, the cruising industry is one of the most heavily regulated industries and must meet rigorous testing and standards in order to operate.
We have traveled post pandemic, along with many, many clients, and we all have nothing but wonderful feedback. Traveling now is a personal choice, based on your own specific circumstances. We support your decisions and for those that choose to travel, it is important to have travel insurance and follow protocols to travel safely.
If you’d like more information, you can read CLIA’s response to the CDC statement by clicking here.
Look for our next newsletter in early February. And remember, you can unsubscribe anytime and we promise not to take it personally.
In the meantime, we wish you lots of love, laughter, and fun adventures in the coming month. As always, please reach out if we can help you with anything at all. You know we love to help.
Always choose adventure,
Imagine stepping into the Macca-Villacrosse Passage, sunlight streaming through its glass roof, casting a warm glow on the colorful cafés below, as your travel companions share a laugh over a plate of Nutella-filled papanasi. This isn’t just another city tour—it’s a journey into a vibrant, joyful world where every corner of Bucharest invites you to connect, discover, and savor the moment.