Cruising out of Florida? Travelzoo and Priceline are Your Friends

Ok, so whenever we cruise out of Florida there is one website I visit immediately: Travelzoo. This wonderful website shows several regional deals for hotels, entertainment, and even whole vacation packages. I love the hotel section. The benefit of checking out Travelzoo is they often have promo codes for hotels that you can use to book through the hotel's actual website. That way you can save money, AND score the hotel's loyalty points since you're booking direct. Love it!

I'm planning one precruise night in Fort Lauderdale for our cruise in October. I wanted to stay at the Hyatt Regency Pier 66 so we could watch our ship, the Allure, pull into port the morning of our cruise, plus catch the Water Taxi right from our hotel. We wanted a Tower Room since reviews say they're a little nicer, with balconies; a suite would be the icing on the cake. Looking on the Hyatt website, the rack rate for a Tower Room is $199. The Tower Junior Suite is $239. My AAA discount doesn't even affect those room rates. 

Going to Travelzoo, I found a fantastic deal. The package includes a Tower Junior Suite with a King Bed, two free cocktails (I'll enjoy a Shirley Temple lol),  free parking (don't need that but it's nice anyway), two all-day Water Taxi tickets ($40 value), and early check-in for just $129. Yes, you read correctly- $129! A fantastic deal!

Now if there's nothing that strikes my fancy on Travelzoo, I head to Priceline to bid on our hotels using the 'Name Your Own Price' feature. Check out BetterBidding to discover the techniques you should use, as well as see actual bidding results from other users. Use Tripadvisor and Yelp to read reviews on the hotels you're likely to win before bidding, to make sure you're comfortable with any result you may receive. I've won beachfront resorts in Puerto Rico for $90 a night, as well as beautiful properties in Boston and Philadelphia for prices in that range. 

Use these tools and do some research. Does it take some time? Sure it does, but if you want your money to go far when traveling, you should invest some time into tools that will help you do just that. You'll save some money and get excellent value for your travel dollars. 

Happy travels!
~Chrystal

Losing Weight While on a Cruise? It's Possible!

..who knew?! 

So when I was packing for my cruise, I tried to limit my luggage to one carry on suitcase. With all the things I needed for the vacation, it took me about a week to decide whether I was going to include my workout clothes and sneakers. I go through this pattern whenever I cruise: I pack the workout gear, then use it for maybe one night in the hotel, and then for like 20 minutes in the ship's gym the whole time we're cruising. Why I think that will cancel out my unabashedly gluttonous eating when cruising, I have no idea. 

So why was I kidding myself? I decided to be honest with myself and not pack the gear. I would deal with the results when I got back home. 

Imagine my surprise when, at the end of the cruise, Rae and Crystal looked at me from the side and said, "Girl, you lost some weight!" I was shocked, but I did notice that my jeans were practically falling off on the way back home. I just wasn't expecting there to be a VISIBLE difference. When I got back home, I realized that I DID lose a couple pounds!

How did I do it? Well....if you read my latest review, you'll see that we spent almost every night dancing! We had to have spent at least two hours each night shimmying on the dance floor. In heels!

So if you're like me and don't want to pack a bunch of workout gear that you're not going to use (let's be honest), free yourself and leave it at home! Just be sure to take a couple nights on your trip, grab your honey (or get a circle of your friends), and get your groove on! It can do more for your body than you think :)

Photo credit: http://www.freeismylife.com

Happy sailing,

Chrystal

Vacation Countdown...

OK, so I'm a little obsessive about travel planning....