More Solo Supplements Waived!

Overseas Adventure Travel Offers Solo Travelers Free Single Supplements on All 2013 Adventures and Trip Extensions

                                                                                                                                                                               Just saw this on line, MORE good news  Note the increase in the number of solo travelrs!   We are everywhere!

Overseas Adventure Travel Offers Solo Travelers Free Single Supplements on

All 2013 Adventures and Trip Extensions

Read more about Overseas Adventure Travel Offers Solo Travelers Free Single Supplements on All 2013 Adventures and Trip Extensions - BWWTravelWorld by travel.broadwayworld.com       Thursday, Apr, 4, 2013; 8:34 AM; - by Travel News Desk
Related: Press Release, News

      To accommodate the growing number of solo travelers aged 50 and older, Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) is offering free single supplements on all of its adventures and pre-and-post trip extensions. With OAT, single travelers can save $500-$5000 over comparable vacations offered by tour operators that continue to charge single supplement fees.  "More than one-third of our travelers book solo these days," said OAT Vice Chair Harriet R. Lewis. "By waiving the single supplement fee, we've made it much more affordable for solo travelers to see the world. Offering free single supplements is just one of several actions we've taken to accommodate a fast-growing segment of older American travelers."

 In addition to free single supplements, OAT offers a free matching roommate program, a free online travel companion program, a Lowest Price Guarantee that refunds travelers if a departure is reduced in price after one books it, and a Solo Traveler Challenge that guarantees the best price for solos for a comparable international vacation. OAT also trains all of its Trip Leaders (guides) to welcome, integrate, and assist solo travelers on every trip and departure.  Solo travelers today make up 35% of OAT's travelers up from 20% five years ago. In the past two years, 78,766 Americans, aged 50 and older, traveled with OAT. Twenty-five thousand were solo travelers, including 20,000 women.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, an American turns 50 every seven seconds12,500 people a day. By 2015, the 50+ population will make up 45% of the U.S. population (AARP). According to statistics from Bowling Green State University's National Center for Family and Marriage Research, one-third of adults aged 45-63 are unmarried a 50% increase since 1980, when 20 percent of middle-aged Americans were unmarried.  OAT offers Americans 50 and older culturally-rich adventures in small groups of 10-16 travelers by land and 14-25 by small ship with per diems that begin as low as $93 a day and eight adventures that begin at less than $150 a day. OAT destinations include more than 30 countries, including Botswana, the Serengeti, India, Burma, China & Tibet, Vietnam, Colombia, the Galapagos, Peru,Costa Rica, Israel, and beyond. For more information, please visit

www.oattravel.com.  ABOUT OVERSEAS ADVENTURE TRAVELEstablished in 1978, Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) is part of Boston-based Grand Circle Corporation's family of travel companies, which also include Grand Circle Cruise Line and Grand Circle Travel. Since 1992, the organization's charitable arm, Grand Circle Foundation, has donated or pledged more than $92M USD to more than 300 humanitarian, educational, and cultural organizations worldwide, including 100 schools, in 50 countries.

  Read more about Overseas Adventure Travel Offers Solo Travelers Free Single Supplements on All 2013 Adventures and Trip Extensions - BWWTravelWorld by travel.broadwayworld.com

Crystal Cruises LOW, LOW solo supplements

       
      
     I heard in a podcast that Crystal Cruises were offering solo supplements on specific sailings at only 10%!             



       The two ‘solo’ cruise sites on Face Book had no mention of this sale so I sent a message to Crystal directly and received an answer today.  

Crystal Cruises wrote: "Hi Lee, we do indeed have a very special offer now. Please see the details at http://www.crystalcruises.com/OfferDetail.aspx?OG=199&intcmp=10000-OTHMB199&pos=O6&pgid=OFFERMAIN-*"

Enjoy limited-time special Solo Traveler Book Now Fares from $2,865 per person on select Crystal voyages that sail across the Pacific, the Atlantic, Europe and all the way to Rio. Come and experience the spectacular combination of the World's Best luxury and value including:

• Limited-time special Solo Traveler Book Now Fares for as little as $2,865 if booked by April 30, 2013
• All Inclusive: complimentary specialty restaurants, fine wines, champagne, premium spirits and non-alcoholic beverages
• Complimentary gratuities for housekeeping, bar, dining and Penthouse butler staff
• Award-winning entertainment, innovative enrichment, state-of-the-art fitness facilities and wellness programs plus so much more
• Plus, optional air add-ons also available

Whether exploring Kōbe or the Aleutian Isles, reveling in the charms of Old-World New England, appreciating the power of the hot springs in Iceland, visiting majestic cathedrals in Rome or taking in the spectacular beauty of a sunset atop Corcovado in Rio de Janiero, choose to embark on a journey of discovery and wonder aboard the World's Best cruise line and begin your new story unlike any other you've done before. With a myriad of choices from dining to entertainment and everything else in between, sailing solo, on your own terms, has never been this good.
Special Solo Traveler Fares: Crystal Symphony 


Special Solo Traveler Fares: Crystal Serenity

Technorati Tags: Low solo supplement,crystal cruises

Book your next adventure by April 30 to enjoy the best Solo rates on these spectacular itineraries!

Terms & Conditions
Special Solo Traveler Cruise-Only Fares are per person in U.S. dollars, based on single occupancy and do not include cruise port, security and handling charges of $255-$645. Special Solo Traveler Fares are applicable to new bookings only as of 03/01/2013 and must be booked by 04/30/2013 in category E only on Crystal Symphony and category C only on Crystal Serenity. Featured fare of $2,865 applies to voyage 3216 in category E on Crystal Symphony. Optional air add-ons are available from Crystal Cruises' designated gateway cities in the U.S. and Canada, and include all government fees and taxes. All offers may not be combinable with other promotions, are capacity-controlled, subject to availability, and may be withdrawn or changed at any time without notice. Click here for complete terms & conditions.
Crystal Cruises reserves the right to correct errors or omissions and to change any and all fares, fees, promotions and programs at any time with or without notice.





The Independent Traveler posted this sale today:

Crystal Cruises Sale on Single Supplements

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• Provider: Crystal
• Expiration: 04-30-13

• See more Cruise Deals
• Book a Cruise

The Cruise: Crystal Cruises is offering special solo traveler fares on select Crystal voyages, when you book by April 30. Prices start from $2,865, per person, for a seven-night cruise traveling from Istanbul to Rome, this July.

The Deal: Crystal Cruises has added more than a dozen new itineraries to its "Sole Occupancy" savings promotion for 2013. This promotion, ending on April 30, offers opportunities to sail in luxury from ports including Reykjavik to Rio. With single supplements of just 10 percent, single occupancy fares are now available on 26 different Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony voyages sailing in 2013, around the globe, from the Mediterranean, Baltic, South America, Caribbean, Western Europe, Black Sea, North Cape, British Isles, eastern Canada and transatlantic. In addition, low single supplements are available on seven- to 18-day cruises from June to December.

To Book: For information and reservations, please contact Crystal Cruises at 888-722-0021. This offer is valid as of March 28, 2013. The booking deadline for this deal is April 30, 2013.

Fine Print: Fares are per person in U.S. dollars, based on single occupancy and do not include cruise port, security and handling charges of $255 - $645. Special solo traveler fares are applicable to new bookings only as of 03/01/2013 and must be booked by 04/30/2013 in category E only on Crystal Symphony and category C only on Crystal Serenity. Featured fare of $2,865 applies to voyage 3216 in category E on Crystal Symphony. Optional air add-ons are available from Crystal Cruises' designated gateway cities in the U.S. and Canada, and include all government fees and taxes. All offers may not be combinable with other promotions, are capacity-controlled, subject to availability, and may be withdrawn or changed at any time without notice.

Hire Personal Help at the Airport

Something I saw today on http://www.smartblogs.com/ Smart Brief written for the Business Traveler:

 

written by Barbara Cockburn

 

Would you use a personal assistant at the airport?

 

Sounds like a great idea at some of the airports without English directional signs!

New ‘Airport Butler’ provides concierge service throughout Vancouver International

March 12, 2013

Passenger, Pre/Post-Flight

Negotiating your way through an unfamiliar, huge and busy airport terminal can be a daunting prospect if you’re a child, a senior citizen, a large group of non-English speaking people or a celebrity. That’s where the Airport Butler comes in. A new concierge service available at Vancouver International Airport (YVR), Airport Butler provides real hands on customer service.
Airport Butler ‘s assistant manager, Christine Glen – who says business is going “gangbusters” - explains how the new service works.

Who uses the Airport Butler service?
This is something that is for absolutely everybody. We have lots of VIPS and celebrities who use the service because they just want the reassurance of seeing a face who will help them in and through the airport and know that there’s a porter there waiting for them, somebody who knows their way through the airport.
Elderly people need that bit of assistance, and with the golf cart, they won’t have to walk the whole way through the airport. Parents will want someone to be with their children under 12, when they’re minors, and up to the age of 17. We charge less than what the airlines charge for looking after minors, and we’re with them the entire time.
We had helped a passenger who is visually impaired. We were able to assist him from the time he got to the airport, right to his departure gate and then up to the aircraft doors.
We have also looked after a popular singer here in North America who travels with loads of luggage and her child, and all the stuff that goes with that. Knowing she has some assistance takes a load off her mind.
A woman, who lives in Ottawa, whose father was coming to see her from Victoria, on Vancouver Island, called us to make sure he was looked after, to make sure he got on his flight and assisted through the airport, so that she didn’t have to fly to collect him.
We have looked after a woman who had dementia. Her daughter was concerned that her mother would be left alone and that her mother would not catch her flight so we sat with her mother for as long as needed, even with a flight delay.

What will Airport Butler do to assist a traveler?
We offer three levels of service; gold (without a golf cart), platinum (with a golf cart), and VIP.
We will meet [a traveller] at the curb, or right outside the priority check-in line, help them through check-in, help them with their bags onto the carousel [to be sent to the aircraft] and proceed through security. We will then either take them to the lounge, or assist them through duty free shopping and then to the gate.
For an arrival we’d meet those passengers right off the aircraft at the gate. We won’t fast track them through customs unless a passenger is mobility challenged or if they’re a high profile celebrity and customs has approved it.
We can put them on a golf cart and whisk them down to customs, which is helpful especially as it’s a long terminal. From there, they’ll join the customs line. We’d meet them at the baggage carousel, help them with their luggage and get them out to the ground transportation or we’ll take them gate to gate.
It [provides] a bit of reassurance [to travellers], a nice comfortable back up when you come into the airport. These concierges know what they’re doing, know how long it takes to get from A to B and they’ll do everything they can to help with that.

How would passengers avail themselves of the Airport Butler service?
The Airport Butler concierges don’t have a high visibility profile in the airport. Usually it’s prebookd by a phone call ahead of time.
We don’t get a lot of walk ins, but that said, if someone comes into the airport there is an information desk and there is always someone available. But we like to have as much notice for obvious reasons.
If it’s last minute we need to have someone to meet them at whichever gate and then another person available to assist a passenger in the terminal. If we have a heads up we have time to get someone to assist them.

What do you charge for the service?
x 1 person, gold service starts at $95
x 2 people – $130
x 3 people – $165
x 4 people – $200
Platinum service, with the golf cart, is $160 per person.