Please fasten your seat belt, O.K. ?

We (Makarma Travel) encourage our friends to take every possible safety precaution while traveling. One of the ways we do this is by passing along important information provided by our travel partners. You'll possibly see the important in-flight safety video below the next time you travel on a Delta Air Lines B737-700, but here's a preview just the same.




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The many pleasures of food, wine and theater

The 1969 movie, "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium", comically portrayed what escorted touring used to be known for - visiting a maximum number of places, in a minimum amount of time.

Fast forward a few years, and you'll discover an amazing renaissance in the organized tour industry. We (Makarma Travel) are constantly asked about Theatre tours of London or New York. Imagine staying in a four or five-star property in the West End or on Broadway and enjoying your choice of hits such as Wicked, The Phantom of the Opera, Chicago and Les Misérables (now in its 23rd year in London!)

Not so long ago, one of our clients was interested in a Theatre tour of London AND New York. (Yes, something like that is very easy for us to set-up.)

Speaking of dinner......

Recently, Globus Vacations announced their new Food & Wine Tours. These escorted vacations include a wide range of experiences from touring the Sonoma and Napa Valleys of California's Wine Country to discovering the Tastes of Italy by visiting Rome, the Tuscany Region and Venice.

Dessert, anyone ?


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Customer Service 101

The last time we spoke, we (Mr. Makarma) mentioned we'd provide some examples of both good and bad customer service.

Unfortunately, examples of bad customer service are all too plentiful......

The coffee shop waiter who we finally flag down, after he's spent 15 minutes in animated conversation with three fellow waiters. When we complain that we haven't even see a menu yet, he shrugs and says "There are four of us." Yes, thank you, but we're aware of how many people you were conversing with, while you should have been providing customer service.

The tire salesperson who, rather than look up the price of an item, states, "Uh, those are around $250 each, plus mount and balance." That would be fine, if everyone else we contacted didn't take the time to look up the item and quote a price of approximately $160 each.

The (fill in the blank) who states they'll call you just as soon as something is done, something is available, etc. (How many of those calls have you later received?)

Unfortunately, today's two examples of good customer service are provided by automated programs (we'll get into a discussion of CRM another time)......

The restaurant which, accounting to information from its frequent dining program, alerts us that it's been a long time since they've seen us, here's a gift certificate to welcome us back and please let them know if they've done anything to upset us. Well, they hadn't done anything at all to upset us - we've just been one very busy omnivore. Anyway, their approach worked...we went back recently, enjoyed a terrific meal, and we'll be visiting them again soon.

The cellular phone company (yes, you read that correctly) that sent a message to our phone stating that a rebate request had been received. Two to three weeks later, another message notified us that the rebate had been processed and a check was on its way. And get this, a week or so later, we actually received the check!

We're not ready to say that cellular phone companies provide the best customer service but, not bad......


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The answer is: Yes!

In this day of rapidly diminishing customer service, those companies which still practice this soon-to-be-lost art deserve our attention - and business.

Our company recognizes the difference between good and not-so-good customer service, and it's not hard to guess which type of organization we prefer to do business with.

Saying "Yes!"......

We (Mr. Makarma) recently read about a luxury hotel chain which empowers each of its employees (not just management - ALL employees) to spend up to $2000 per day to make things right for the guest. Think about that for a moment; $2000 per day, per employee, is a lot of money. We'll guess that, because of the company's philosophy (of never saying "no" to a guest), that very little of that money is ever spent. Why? It's simply because that company's employees are trained to make things happen for their guests. Oftentimes, it takes very little money to do this.

(In our next TravelBlog visit, we'll describe some examples of good and not-so-good customer service we've experienced.)

You might be thinking that it's impossible to always say "Yes!" to every possible customer request. Maybe so, but is it possible to offer a good alternative, or explain a situation to a customer's satisfaction?

Yes !


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The new Makarma Travel CallBack Centre

Although our business hours are rather generous - 6 AM to 12 Midnight, seven days a week - we've taken yet another step to make it easy to communicate with us. It's the Makarma Travel CallBack Centre and it can be reached at:



Right about now, you might be asking, "But why, Mr. Makarma, would I ever ring-up the new Makarma Travel CallBack Centre?" Well, two reasons:

1) We don't have a toll-free number. The CallBack Centre allows you to leave us a quick message, with us then returning the call. (We'll go into more detail another time as to why we don't have a toll-free number. Briefly stated, however, it's to help save YOU, our customer, money.)

2) You may want to leave us a message during the few hours we're closed (12 Midnight to 6:00 AM). The CallBack Centre allows that.

Nothing else changes; you can still contact us via email or direct line. The CallBack Centre is just one more convenient way for you to contact us.

Makarma Travel CallBack Centre

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Been around these parts (i.e., dining rooms, lounges, cabins) before?

Many of you are probably aware that airlines have frequent flyer programs and hotels have frequent guest programs. These programs typically offer points/miles and other amenities to customers, with the amount of benefits increasing as your level of business with that company increases.

What some may not know is that many cruise lines offer mostly similar (and in one area, better) programs to their past passengers.

Past passenger programs are similar to other frequent traveler programs in that the benefits increase the more you sail with a particular cruise line. Benefits can include special parties, bon voyage gifts, discounts on future sailings and cabin upgrades.

These programs are better than other frequent traveler programs in that the status usually stays with you, rather than expiring at the end of the year. In other words, a cruise from a few years back will usually count toward your overall total.

One thing to remember when you cruise is that, while some cruise lines automatically tally your past cruises toward their benefit program, others require that you sign-up. We recommend you always sign-up (or ensure you're already signed-up) for any program which can lead to future cruise benefits. A great travel-related services company (that would be us, Makarma Travel) would ask if you're a past passenger of a particular cruise line, apply that status to your booking, and even sign you up for the program, if necessary.


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The latest on the changing U.S. passport requirements

As you may recall, U.S. passport requirements for travel to/from certain Caribbean countries were scheduled to change nearly a year ago. Although these changes were postponed, they're now set to be instituted in 2007. We don't know whether or not any additional delays will take place but, as before, we encourage our customers to get a U.S. passport at the earliest opportunity.

Here's the latest information we have regarding the upcoming changes in requirements related to U.S. Passports (MOST RECENT UPDATE: December 24, 2006):

As of January 23, 2007, United States Passports will be required for all U.S. citizens traveling via air from/to the United States.

As of January 1, 2008, United States Passports will be required for all U.S. citizens traveling from/to the United States via land or sea, as well as air, regardless of destination. (United States Passports are required currently for travel to many countries - please ask us for details.)


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