The Greatest Cruises on Earth! 10/11-18/2010

Come One! Come All! Join the Celebration of National Cruise Vacation Month! The Celebration is in full swing! This year, Fantasy Cruise & Travel – Cruise Planners has put together the Greatest Cruises on Earth in order to bring to you exciting specials on the best cruise lines around. We’ve got reduced deposits and onboard coupon booklets to category upgrades, complimentary dinners, shipboard credits and more! And it’s all happening from October 11 to 18, 2010, so don’t miss out. Make sure and invite your friends. If you refer someone to me and they book during the World’s Largest Cruise Event you will receive a very cool gift card.

Join the fun at the World’s Largest Cruise Event by clicking the Big Button below! There are cool videos of many of the cruise lines! If you like what you see make sure and hit the Like Button! I would be honored!

If you’re interested in more information, contact me at 866-488-0526 or visit Fantasy Cruise & Travel. Travel Your Way!

Thursday Afternoon Toasted Fisherman 10/08/09

Wow! What a week this has been. Well actually two weeks. This College Football Dad going to a football game in the middle of the week last week has me a little screwed up. I am catching up though. Our weather is so bizarre right now. We had about six inches last weekend and most of my mulch has left my yard. I wonder if insurance covers that. I wish the cool weather would just set in and let fall be fall. The biz has picked up some. This coming week is the big grand daddy of all week in the cruise biz. Every cruise line has year end specials that will blow you away. You will probably see a ton of commercials from the cruise lines starting this weekend and continuing through the following week. Check my website out next week and I bet you will be surprised. I will also be hosting a Virtual Cruise Night on the 14th. Come learn about cruising! Cruise Planners will be giving away 3 FREE cruises. Make sure and check out the Six Degrees of Cruisitude during the week of October 12th – 19th and register for the cruise give away! If you are into social media networking check out my biz page when you have time. Ok, enough business! Let’s have a drink and some fun. With the upcoming week being the World’s Largest Cruise Event, I thought we would make a “Toasted Fisherman”. I have been a toasted fisherman before, but how in the heck do you drink one? Here is the scoop. Take 1 shot Crown Royal, 1 shot Amaretto, 1 shot Sweet and Sour. Then splash a little 7-Up. Mix all of the ingredients over the ice of your choice, stir and serve with a cherry! I can do without the cherry, but now you have a “Toasted Fisherman”. Our day is going to start in Fajardo (fah-HAHR-do). This is where our high speed people carrier will take us to the island of Vieques. We are going to spend a few days on this very little virgin island. Isla de Vieques is 55 square miles and has less than 10,000 inhabitants and not many visitors until now. The beaches are just gorgeous and the water is crystal clear. The Island is about 21 miles long by 4 miles at its widest point and it is located between Puerto Rico and St. Thomas, just 6 miles from the south-east coast of Puerto Rico. The reason you probably never heard of Isla de Vieques was because this magical island on the Caribbean was not a popular vacation spot since this small island was primarily under the control of the United States Navy. After years of protests the Navy finally discontinued their military practices of bombing and weapons’ testing and left the island on 2003. We had rented a van and a house on the island. We would have to make several trips to the rental house as everyone in our group with luggage could not go at the same time. We looked like the Beverly Hillbillies. We had stuff hanging out everywhere! The house we had rented was beautiful. It was two stories and sat on this magnificent cliff that overlooked the Caribbean. It also had this huge outdoor kitchen and this amazing infinity pool. We over looked the W Hotel which was located at the bottom of the cliff. This hotel is one of the very few on the island. One of the perks of the house that we rented was that we could use the facilities at the W Hotel anytime we wanted. We would spend a couple of afternoons in their pool drinking pina coladas and playing a little water vollyball! After we all got settled in it was time to get a cold one and hit the pool. All I can say is wow! After several hours in the sun, we decided to head into town and find a grocery store. The grocery store was an all in one food and liquor sort of place. We were able to get just about anything we needed to be able to keep the pickiest of eaters and drinkers satisfied. With our outdoor kitchen came this amazing outdoor bar area. As the sun was going down the first evening we got this awesome cloud display. I swear it looked like the Michelin Man. Really it did! The next morning we are going to go explore some of the hidden beaches. These beaches are so hidden I guess you could hang out naked if you wanted. I didn’t, but you could have. Some of the beaches on our list to try and find were Green Beach, Blue Beach, Red Beach, Esperanza Beach, Black Sand Beach and Playa Grande Beach. As I stated earlier we would have to find some of these beaches. You have to drive through jungle down dirt roads and hope that the map you have is giving you the right information. Once you find one and you make your way to the water you will be treated to the most amazing water and scenery. Every beach we found we were the only ones there. It was pretty weird. It was like we were stranded somewhere and no one knew where we were. We had our snorkel gear and got to see some wild looking fish in the very colorful coral. My youngest son Pod and a friend of my brothers (Kendal) decided to go out pretty far and around the corner of the rocks to where no one could see them anymore. It was pretty rough where they were and even though Pod was a lifeguard it still scared the crap out of me. Did they not remember that these beaches were used for weapon and bomb testing by our Navy up until just a few years ago? Who knows if all of those things exploded? After what seemed like a lifetime they reappeared and finally made it back to shore. We did not bring enough beer for that emotional rollercoaster. Our evening would take a major twist. We were going to do something that will scare the living sh*t out of you! Excuse my language, but it is true. It is so bizarre that I will write about it all by its lonesome next week. The next day will be our last full day before we head back to Puerto Rico. Since some of us are foodies we decided to make a very special meal with some local cuisine. A couple of us headed down to town were the fishermen were coming back in with their catches. We were on a journey to get some fresh hand caught Caribbean lobsters. Wow, did we hit pay dirt. This one guy had just caught 12 lobsters and we bought them all along with some snapper. It was going to be a grill off. These were the funniest looking lobsters. They do not have any claws, but they have this long antenna looking things. Since I was the griller tonight I was in charge of getting the lobsters ready. I would need an adult beverage before I could start this process that I really had no clue what I was doing. I had to de-head 12 live lobsters while they made very strange high pitched noises. As I struggled a bit in the beginning I started getting the hang of it. Kendal was in charge of taking each head one by one and throwing them off of the cliff. We could not stop laughing as he would use a towel and cover them while these antenna things kept moving. It was one of those funniest home video moments. The lobsters and fish are cleaned and are put up for safe keeping. The ladies made all sorts of appetizers’ to help us with our white wine. The fish and lobsters hit the grill at sunset. We also had an awesome shrimp alfredo pasta with salad and bread. What a way to end our last night in Vieques. After my belly is full I sit at the edge of the pool with a glass of wine in hand. I reflect on our trip so far and how lucky I am to be able to travel with family and friends! This island will stay on my list as one of my favorite destinations. I hope to come back and visit soon. I will end our journey here. Make sure and check back next week as my journey will take you into the darkness of no return. I hope you have enjoyed this ride with me in Puerto Rico/Vieques so far. I truly appreciate all of you who are reading and following. Please leave me a comment sometime so I know who is reading. I would be honored if you share this with a friend. You really are going to be surprised what happens next. Hang on for the wild ride. Until we unite again remember to always love your Travel Agent. He needs lots of love. Keep your Cruisitude in check and most important is to Travel Your Way!

Friday Afternoon Fruit Basket 9/25/09

What a week! It has been crazy. After several months of triple digits we get this cold front that comes in with rain for several days. Don’t get me wrong I love the cool rainy weather, just not all at once. It is also great college football weather. Don’t worry, be happy! The biz has gone ok this week. I am still networking and marketing like crazy. I have been getting things ready for October 14th. This day is deemed as WLCN. In the cruise industry it is the World’s Largest Cruise Night. All cruise lines have super duper specials for those who book a cruise on that night. At Cruise Planners we do things a whole lot bigger. We have taken it to another level and are having a WLCE. Did you get it right? We are having the World’s Largest Cruise Event. It will start October 12th and last the full week. Not only will I have the cruise lines specials, I will also have exclusive specials only from Cruise Planners. I will be hosting a virtual cruise night on the 14th. Cruise Planners will be giving away 3 FREE cruises. Stay tuned for more information on the Six Degrees of Cruisitude, October 12th – 19th! Now that the business news is out of the way, let’s go have some fun. Since we are going to a party why not take a Fruit Basket! Here is what is in our Fruit Basket. We have 3 parts Crème de Banana, 2 parts Coconut rum (Parrot Bay) 1 part Triple sec, 1 part Blackberry brandy, 3 parts Orange juice, 2 parts Pineapple juice and 1 part Apple Juice. Mix all of this in a pitcher or fish bowl. Pour in to your favorite glass with your preferred type of ice. Garnish with any fruit that you have on hand and enjoy. Now that is one heck of a Fruit Basket. As I stated earlier we are going to a party. Since we are from Texas and we are in Puerto Rico why not have a Texarican Bash. Each family was responsible for making a dish and our dish of choice was grilled chicken wings several different ways. We named our cooking team “Team Lime in the Coconuts” We even made team shirts. The day started off with a trip to the local Wal-Mart to get our supplies. I know we have a lot of people coming to eat, but we filled up the back of the van with Wal-Mart bags. It was quite a funny site. We had one grill and Capt. Charlie would tackle putting a second grill together. For some reason it took a long time to put it together. He must have been missing some parts. HaHa! The cooking would commence inside and out. The ladies were making all kinds of goodies inside. First Mate Annie made these amazing salt cod fritters. It is a lengthy process and so worth the wait. Pea and Pod would eat most of these before they would come out of the kitchen. They are so good! Annie & Annie also made these cigar shaped corn bread and cheese things called Surullitos. They were awesome! The wings were marinating and the fire was getting hot. Homemade Pina Coladas are flowing and the wine is chilling. Let’s start the grilling. I filled the grill completely and still have more to cook. I guess we will have to eat as we go. I know this group all too well and there will not be much food left. Ricardo (Annie’s Uncle) would be my taste tester. It was a blast cooking cooking with him! We had a great day of food and just spending time with family. Manatí is such an awesome place. We cannot thank Capt. Charlie and First Mate Annie for opening up their home to us. Tomorrow is going to be a Sea Day. Swimming with the sharks! We are going to take a catamaran out of Fajardo. It will be fun to watch Capt. Charlie. He will have to be a passenger on this trip. I bet he sails her for a bit though. Fajardo (fah-HAHR-do) is the hub of the majority of recreational boating in Puerto Rico and a popular launching port to Culebra, Vieques, and the American and British Virgin Islands. It is also the home to the largest Marina in the Caribbean, called Puerto del Rey. We meet up with the rest of our party and get signed in with the Captain and crew. It looks like it is going to be a great day. The sailing will last about 5 to 6 hours and all of our food and adult beverages are included. We plan on doing some snorkeling once we get out in the deep blue yonder. Our ships name is the Barefoot IV. She is a 48′ Hatteras. I guess that is because our Captain sails her with his bare feet. This is going to be like the Pirates of the Caribbean. I wonder what treasure we will find? It’s time to board, the music is pumping and the open water is waiting for us. As we head out of the marina we get to see all of the other boats and some of the hotels up on the cliffs. It was just beautiful. We are headed for the small uninhabited Icacos Island. We will throw anchor here, swim and chow down on some food. The crew prepares different types of food while we are sailing and of course it is unlimited adult beverages. I will never forget Pea’s face when he took a sip of his rum with a splash of coke. It was a Kodak moment! The catamaran has steps that drop down at the end of the boat into the water. This is how you get in and out of the water. It’s called swim out and swim in. The water is crystal clear and so far there is not a shark in sight. After a swim and a trek around this very small island we board the boat and feast on the food that the crew has prepared. We had salads, sandwich stuff, local fruits, an awesome tuna salad and a few other island specialties. An open bar and make your own drink thing was very nice. They did make several batches of Pina Coladas for everyone during our lunch. The anchor is lifted and we head out to the open waters. After about 30 minutes of sailing around they drop anchor in the middle of the Atlantic. It is snorkeling time. I had an underwater camera and I hope I could get some good photos of Pea & Pod underwater. The fish where very colorful and the coral was very wild looking. Pea & Pod were crazy as they would dive down about 30 feet and look up to the top. Then it started raining, but when you are already wet what difference does it make? I got some great pictures and had an awesome time with my family. We load back up and fill our drink glasses with our favorite rum. It’s smooth sailing back into Fajardo. What a great adventure this day has been. The day is still young and we are going to go to Ricardo & “Pichi’s” condo in San Juan. They live here part of the year and have invited us to their home for dinner. Their condo is beautiful. We had more adult beverages and an awesome meal which consisted of these awesome appetizers, yautia soup, salad and filet of beef. Our family thanks you so much Ricardo & “Pichi” for being such gracious hosts. What a blast it has been so far. I am in love with Puerto Rico. Tomorrow we will leave Puerto Rico and head to the island of Vieques. You don’t want to miss the next few issues as I will run into my worst nightmare. Our journey will end here for now. I hope you have enjoyed this ride with me in Puerto Rico so far. I truly appreciate all of you who are reading and following. Please leave me a comment sometime so I know who is reading. I would be honored if you share this with a friend. You really are going to be surprised what happens next. Hang on for the wild ride. Until we unite again remember to always love your Travel Agent. He needs lots of love. Keep your Cruisitude in check and most important is to Travel Your Way!