Jan 2016
In This Issue
Last Month's Drawing Winner
FYI - WAVE SEASON
Sail w/ Al & Helen 2016
and a little humor to end with
QLQuick Links
For more information
click any link below

CONGRATULATIONS TO

 

Gloria Rowell 

of Garland, TX

whose is the lucky winner in our December exclusive Customer Appreciation Drawing.


 

Winner was selected by Yvonne Alex of Desoto, TX

 


Greetings!
  
A Happy & Healthy New Year to you and yours. 2016 has arrived and 2015 is now filled with memories of family & friends (and vacation experiences).

Our newsletter has a new look for 2016. It will be shorter and therefore easier for you to read and enjoy. Look at the 
Quick Links section to the left where the details of the many exclusive
Richman, O'Hare & Associates programs now reside.

Although cruises remain our main focus and area of expertise, did you know, we can also help you plan other vacations such as all-inclusive Caribbean Resorts? We have done this over the years for a few clients and know many of you may want to give an all-inclusive Resort Vacation a try. Let us know.

Over the years, our feature articles were mainly about the cruise lines, ships and port destinations. In the future, we will occasionally feature various resorts or other places of interest where you can create new vacation memories.

A few other surprises are in store. Stay tuned for an exciting announcement!

Sincerely,  

Al & Helen
Al Richman & Helen O'Hare

Email: Al - arichman@cruiseone.com 

Email: Helen - hohare@cruiseone.com
   Our Main number 561-899-3206
WAVE SEASON                    
January, February and March have always been referred to as
Wave Season in the cruise industry and all the lines will be offering many 
promotions to attract your next reservation(s).

You know we always tell you 'the Devil is in the Details' so when you see something or hear something that might be of interest, you should contact your agent immediately!

Let us check the "offer" for you to be sure you don't book something that is NOT really the best value (some look good on paper but.......). 

Remember, with Richman, O'Hare & Associates
Every Reservation Comes with a FREE Agent! It doesn't cost YOU any extra and many times YOU will save money by letting your agent do the research work for YOU!

Don't have your agents number handy? Go to qlQuick Links to find your agent (or call our main number and we will get it for you).

You might not be aware that we subscribe to a service that actually monitors most of our client's reservations for any price changes. We get notified 24/7 if your price goes down and we will lower your price when possible (not always possible after final payment or if a special restricted rate promotion when originally booked.)

We check the pricing notification we get against your current price and check to see if there are any current "value adds" to be gained or if any would be lost before making changes.
 
We want to make sure that by lowering your price you will not lose anything and/or that the lower price is really a benefit for you. Sometimes giving one thing up is better than keeping that "value add" if the price differential is enough. 

Recently when checking a price reduction for two couples, we gave up some of the complimentary specialty dinners 'which was the 'value add' offered at time of booking. By lowering the cruise price for the clients it saved them enough (approx. $320 per cabin). 
They could then just make reservations if they chose to go to any of those other restaurants during the cruise and simply charge to the on board account.
Sail with Al & Helen 2016
We decided on the MSC Divina cruise sailing April 23,2016 as a Sail with Al & Helen cruise some months back and have a nice group already booked but there is always room for more. 

We were fortunate enough to sail on her over Christmas and we were greatly surprised at many things. We knew from the video of the ship that she was nice but she is even nicer in person. The food in the dining room was very good and the staff friendly and very accommodating! The entertainment was incredible and we gave it more than a 10! 

If you are looking for a springtime plan, think about joining us on this 7 night cruise to the Eastern Caribbean (St. Marten, San Juan, and Nassau) from Miami.

MSC, although an Italian Cruise Line, is working it's way into the North American Market and have Americanized this ship. There is a smoking lounge but no smoking is allowed in cabins, public areas or casino which was really nice. There must be another smoking area on the deck outside somewhere but we sure did not look for it.

Only special important announcements were in multiple languages otherwise, only English. Another pleasant surprise, you are not bothered to death with people constantly pushing drinks in the buffet or theater. They did offer a great drink package for $84 plus 15% gratuity. A Coupon Booklet (COUPON is the Secret Word for January) with 18 drink vouchers which can be used for call brand spirits, beer, specialty coffees, and bottle water can be ordered all over the ship including the dining rooms.

Very important, there are several extra perks if you have reached loyalty levels such as Elite with Princess, Diamond with Royal, etc. They know that people stick with one line due to the loyalty level perks so they came up with a unique concept called Loyalty Match. They will grandfather you into their program at your equivalent level on another line by providing document submission of your level (a key card will work; see the one we submitted in the picture above.) 

There was something in our cabin every night - Champagne, chocolate covered strawberries, gifts, and fruit. We also received personal calls from guest services to be sure everything was going well and was there anything we needed. A VERY nice touch for their top Voyager Club Black Level Guests.

If you haven't watched the video before, Click here to tour Divina
Smiley laughing and a little humor to end with.......
                   
Senior Driving  Test
 
If you are a  senior and are required to parallel park.. this is how it is done. If you're not a senior, save this and watch it again when you become one.
 
Until next time, keep smiling.