Sunday, February 27, 2011

Cruising is the Best Vacation Value...

I work as a Reservations agent for a cruise line and even though I have been with the company for over a year, I just recently I had the pleasure of cruising for the very first time and it was a great experience.It was something that I have always wanted to do and I used my birthday as the perfect opportunity to get time off from work. Since I work in the cruise industry, I was very knowledgeable of how everything works and also aware of the additional costs that would incur on vacation, such as gratuities, fuel charge and of course shore excursions. This background knowledge enabled me in planning my trip not only with detail but most importantly with a budget.


                            
                                      Courtesy of Celebration Cruise Line

                                                

I really enjoyed every minute of my vacation even though it was only three days and two nights. I have come up with five reasons why cruising is the best vacation value.

1. Your mind is at ease knowing that your cabin and your meals are already paid for. It felt great while I was on my cruise to know that I had a place to sleep for the nights I was onboard and also that I had the choice to dine at either of four great restaurants. This was a great feeling because with other vacations you would always worry about where to lodge, where to eat, what to eat and if it is within your budget. On the other hand with cruising, passengers feel more at ease knowing that they have paid in advance for their cabin and that it's just up to them to choose where they wish to dine.

2. You are never bored on a cruise. Many people develop a misconception that since you are on a ship, that you are confined and limited in activities and entertainment and you get bored easily, but that is not true. Cruising provides activities that caters to everyone whether young or old.While on vacation there was so much for my girlfriends and I to do that it was impossible to do them all. There were activities by the pool at designated times, a two-level nightclub, comedy club, Las Vegas style shows, a casino, karaoke and happy hour at the bar lounge. There were not only activities for adults as the children as well had their own fun. Some of which included designated areas for them depending on their age group, video game lounges, movie theatre, and pool activities.

3. Everything is in one location and you don't have to leave the ship for anything except when we dock for shore excursions. Again this puts your mind at ease because you don't have to worry about leaving the ship as all the amenities and facilities you would need are right there on the ship with you. There are no worries as to where you can go to get your laundry done, to go to the gym, the spa, to eat, to have a drink, to swim, to sleep, to gamble, to party, to shop or to get information on activities because cruising provides it all. It is like a one-stop shop.

4. You get to visit multiple destinations. Usually when I go on vacation, I am stationed at one particular resort or destination. With cruising however it provides the opportunity to visit multiple destinations, of course depending on the length of the cruise. You can find yourself on different islands or different countries day by day. You get to experience the culture of every destination, explore the area, go on excursions and when it is all over you return to the comfort of your floating resort. This I believe adds value to cruising and lays the foundation as to why cruising is the best vacation value. If you were to try to visit various destinations on land or to fly from one destination to another it can be very time consuming and costly.

5. You get so pampered by the staff that you don't want to go home. I have stayed at numerous resorts before where the staff checked up on me occasionally or only attended to me if I notified them of an issue or problem. With cruising however the staff, especially your waiters and cabin stewards provide exceptional service making the cruising experience a lot more luxurious and hassle free.  Our cabin steward checked up on us numerous times to notify us of the activities for the day, to see if we needed anything whether it was fresh towels or just ice for the room. The waiters were just as exceptional and they attended to us in a timely manner. They made me feel like the gratuities I paid up front for them wasn't enough.

The next you plan a vacation I urge you to consider a cruise and you will see it was a great investment for not only the reasons I have listed but much more. Happy sailing....

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Beauty and Brains....

Many of us have beauty but no brains and many of us have brains but no beauty. The ones who are blessed with both are very rare. My youngest sister, Katherine-Grace happens to be an 11 year old with this rare attribute of both brains and beauty.


Katherine currently lives with my mom in Jamaica and is now in the 6th grade. I recently received a copy of her report card for last school term and it made me smile from ear to ear. She has always excelled in school but I was really proud of her this time around.

The family has been going through some rough times and in the midst of everything, Katherine still managed to produce good grades. Everyday I feel more privileged to call her my sister not only because she is as cute as a button but the mere fact that she is consistent, goal-oriented, and hardworking.




I have no doubt in my mind that she will continue to produce excellent grades, especially since I reward her for her hard work every time. 

Say What...No More UberTwitter?

For all my Blackbery users out there, I'm sure a lot of you were disappointed when you woke up Friday morning to find that the popular Twitter client UberTwitter has been suspended. I was in disarray as I tried to greet my followers but my tweets repeatedly proved unsuccessful. I kept getting messages stating "forbidden"and I couldn't figure out what was wrong even after numerous attempts.

Later in the day I received a text message that UberTwitter was no more, that it had been suspended for numerous reasons and to download Twitter for Blackberry if I was still interested in using Twitter. Say what? No more UberTwitter but I love UberTwitter!

 Not only is it the best Twitter client for Blackberry users but it also has certain little perks that other Twitter clients don't. For instance, it allows users to personalize their Twitter pages with various background themes and font colors (mine was pink). But what happened? Why did UberTwitter vanish overnight?

                                                    
According to the Twitter Support Center, UberTwitter was suspended because it was in violation of numerous Twitter policies and trademarks in a variety of ways such as the use of "twitter" in the application's name. They were allegedly asked on numerous occasions to make certain changes in order to adhere to Twitter policies, which they failed to. However, on Friday, Feb. 18 2011, Twitter took action and suspended the application.



"Today we suspended several applications, including UberTwitter, Twidroyd and UberCurrent, which have violated Twitter policies and trademarks in a variety of ways. These violations included, but aren't limited to, a privacy issue with private Direct Messages longer than 140 characters, trademark infringement, and changing of users' Tweets in order to make money." 

Over three million UberTwitter users were furious with the disruption in the service and many of them were very adamant in letting Twitter know how they felt about the situation. It was nothing but chaos! UberMedia, the company who owns UberTwitter has announce that they are currently working on resolving and adjusting the application to suit "Twitter policies".

They have to come up with a new name for the application and from now on it will be called UberSocial. No one can download the new app as of yet because it is currently awaiting approval from Twitter. For now I guess we have to  resort to Twitter for Blackberry until everything is back to normal.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Fun Manicures

I have always been so boring when it comes to manicures, as I always get a french manicure because to me  it goes with everything. Since recently however I have been realizing not many ladies have been getting the traditional french manicure. A new trend is in town ladies and yes I have been a fashion victim, as I have been rocking an outdated trend. Every girl I know is trying more fun stuff when it comes to their nails. Since we are approaching the Spring season I think I might give these fun manicures a try. I will not promise that it will be my new thing but I'm willing to try it at least once this season.



                                                

                                    

I was recently friend requested on Facebook by a local manicurist from Miami and she specializes in these fun manicures. Her designs were mind blowing and I really enjoyed looking at her photos online.  I urge you ladies to take a look at her page and support local talent if fun manicures are your thing. http://www.facebook.com/NAILMEbySierraStorey

I will be be making an appointment soon...will you?




It's my birthday...

Over the weekend I celebrated my birthday. Usually I get a daunting feeling during this time of year but this year was different. For the first time in about 10 years I was excited about my day and don't ask my age 'cause a true woman never reveals her age.

My birthday was on Friday, Feb. 11 and yes of course I had to work. I did not really mind and as soon as walked in to work, all the reasons became apparent. I had over 20 balloons at my cubicle waiting on me. Awww I thought to myself since I did not expect this from my co-workers. As the day went by it got better and better. I had money being pinned on me all day (at the end of the night was $92), I got gift cards, bottles of alcohol,flowers and two birthday cakes...yes two! I really enjoyed all the love and attention because it was sweet and unexpected. To top off  the night my boyfriend showed up at the job with flowers and a card; once again totally unexpected. My birthday was extraordinary but it didn't end there. What is a birthday without a party?

                                                

On Saturday I invited 15 of my closest friends out to party with me on the roof of Calder Casino and Race Course. We were treated like royalty and received VIP treatment from the staff. There were lots of alcohol, lots of entertainment, lots of laughter and of course lots of fun. It was truly a great birthday and no matter how many gifts I got the greatest gift was celebrating my birthday in the company of great friends...

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Kim Kardashian's Skechers commercial




Skechers has not been doing so great in the past years and it surprised many viewers when Kim Kardashian appeared in their commercial aired during the fourth quarter of the Super bowl game this passed weekend. I'm sure Skechers thought having Kim K in the commercial was a great investment to boost sales, but did it really?

Without a doubt, Kim looked fabulous as always but I didn't feel inclined to go out and buy some Skechers. I just thought the ad was just another 'sexy' ad that doesn't really impact sales but rather hormones.

Maybe I'm wrong but I would love to know if Skechers had an increase in sales on Monday after the Super bowl. How did you feel about the ad?

Free blood comes with a cost...

The other day I was at work and there was a blood drive being conducted. They asked a lot of people if they wanted to give blood and I realized that many people were hesitant. I wasn't sure however if they were just nervous about the needles or if they were just inhumane about the gesture. Nonetheless I always felt that if I can be beneficial and aid in maintaining human life, it is my duty to contribute in whatever way possible.


                                                  

                                                

So I went for the procedure, did all the necessary tests and gave God knows how many pints of blood. Even though the process made me weary I felt great about doing it because I knew my donation will help save another life. Something happened the other day though that really bothered me about the whole idea of giving blood. Did you know that the blood you donate for free, patients are charged to receive it?

When I donated my blood I gave it not only willingly but also for free. My boyfriend's grandmother was admitted to the hospital the other day and when my boyfriend's mother was going over the hospital bill she brought it to my attention that there was also a charge for her mother to get blood.I thought that was absurd and immediately thought about my donation. It isn't fair that the people who need blood have to pay to receive it when it was donated for free. If I donated my blood for free I want someone else to have it for free, I'm just saying!