You may say it, but do you mean it?

You can normally spot a phony fairy easily; we (Mr. Makarma) certainly can. You know, that person/place/thing that really isn't what it portrays itself to be

There's an international sandwich chain which we won't directly refer to, but we will tell you their name rhymes with "Bubway". Now, whenever we visit the local Bubway, we (and everyone else) gets greeted with a very muted, solemn chorus of "welcometobubway". We have a feeling they really don't mean it, but they say it 'cause the dang boss says they HAVE to say it. They never remember our preferences from last time, because they weren't working there last time, and likely won't be working there NEXT time. Although we like their product, the overall feeling we're left with is blah.

We contrast the above experience with those of our occasional visits to the sushi kingdom. We always get a warm greeting there from both samurai sushi man and favorite waitperson/goddess. If manager dude sees us, he'll always go out of his way to say hello. Nobody waits for us to actually place an order there, because they already know what we like. No matter how long we're there, everyone always acts like we're leaving much too soon. We go home feeling terrific, and we can't wait until we have the opportunity to return.

What's your daily experience? We'll guess you deal with both Bubways and sushi kingdoms on a regular basis, and that you wish everything (and everyone) would be a sushi kingdom. Well (and here's where we seamlessly segue into the world of travel), we recently returned from yet another spectacular, spectacular cruise. We'll tell you about it next time, and note in-particular how it was just like a seven-night nonstop sushi kingdom.


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Size matters (when it comes to new cruise ships)

The past few weeks have seen the U. S. debut of a couple cruise ships that we (Mr. Makarma) have spoken about in the past. We'll guess though, that while you've seen plenty of media coverage about Royal Caribbean International's Oasis of the Seas, you didn't even know that Carnival Cruise Line's Carnival Dream had also arrived on the scene.

Why's that? Simple, Oasis is a no-holds-barred cruise industry game-changer, while the Dream is "only" the very best ship industry-leader Carnival has ever built.

Oasis is a headline grabber - largest cruise ship (by far), ziplining, ice skating, a Carousel for kids (of all ages), aqua theater, etc.

The Dream, on the other hand, takes the best of Carnival's tried-and-true formula, and enhances it a bit, adding a few features new to the cruise line.

Which concept do we prefer? Neither - we think both companies are doing a terrific job not only catering to their past guests, but also giving many thousands of travelers that have never considered a cruise vacation, two compelling new reasons to try one.


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Oh, what a (wonderfully) tangled web we weave

Well, well, it's been awhile, huh? Well, you need to know that we (Mr. Makarma) haven't spent our time sitting around watching cable or knitting a new quilt......

Although we (Mr. Makarma) are sorely lacking in spare time, we're currently in various stages of developing two new websites. One will make its appearance later this year, while the other won't show up until the first quarter of 2011.

First up will be a fun little website that's going to highlight the origins and history of fast food in the car culture of Southern California. What does this have do with travel, you may ask? Almost nothing, our dear friends, almost nothing. But, it's gonna be a lot of fun, and we'll all probably learn a thing or two about our favorite burger or taco joint. We'll have a bulletin board as part of the site, so you'll all have the opportunity to share a story or three. Who will the website appeal to? Only to those of you who have ever enjoyed a fast food meal.

We want that website to be up-and-running soon, so the initial look and navigation will be similar to that of the primary Makarma Travel website. This will be its "preview" mode, with a more extensive Web 2.0 site coming along as interest increases.

We'll announce the start-up of the fast food website on this Blog, and both that site and the primary site will, of course, link to one another.

Mid-2010 will find a complete upgrade to the Makarma Travel site. We'll freshen up the overall look, and change the navigation style. All this in preparation for......

Our Web 3.0 (has that even been announced yet?) cruise travel website that's about 18 months away. Unfortunately, we can't share too many details of it right now, but it'll be something that's not currently found anywhere online. Using the word "interactive" will not do justice to any description of this new site. To say the least, it will quite possibly change the way cruises are booked.

We're very excited about all three of these projects, but downright giddy about the third. We're not even sure all the technologies we're looking for are available yet, but we'll try to find a way to make this all happen between now and then. Stay tuned, O.K.?


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Happy New Year !

The above headline is about as likely as Sears rolling out the Christmas merchandise in the middle of Summer. Well, Sears IS selling Christmas merchandise right now, and we (Mr. Makarma) are busy at work planning for the new year. For example......

We're busy tossing out (actually, recycling) the 2009 vendor brochures and replacing them with those for 2010. The same is the case with the various guides we purchase on an annual basis to further keep up-to-date; we've already ordered next year's editions, and they'll start arriving early next month.

Back in the old days, before the recent economic downturn, people DID start planning the following year's vacations (especially to Europe and Alaska, popular Summer destinations) right about now. Today, people tend to book closer in, once they know they can afford a trip and hopefully also find a last-minute bargain in the process.

Closer in or further out - either works for us. You gotta roll with it sometimes, and that's something we can most definitely do.

We talked about our new love for antipasto salads last time; did we also mention we recently rediscovered frozen yogurt?


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It's not easy being us in the Summertime

It's been really rough around here lately, with both the local County Fair and the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale in full force. Throw in a short hike this weekend, and, here we are. We (Mr. Makarma) are survivors though, and we won't have our Summer days served any differently.

We may also be transitioning from sushi to antipasto salads. There are a couple reasons for this major lifestyle change, but we'll get into those sometime in the future. (O.K., we'll tell you now...we really like a good - we stress the word GOOD - antipasto salad, along with far fewer carbs in that delightful concoction. Can we now return to the seriousness of the TravelBlog?)

There are still some travel values to be found the next few months. Our recommendations include:

* Las Vegas (mid-week hotel rates are lower than we've seen in some time)

* Late season (late August/early September) cruises to Europe and Alaska

* Walt Disney World (an available free dining package makes this option an exceptional value)

We recently priced out a vacation to the Fontainebleau Resort in Miami Beach and were very pleasantly surprised at the package price. The Fontainebleau, as you may recall, appeared in the James Bond movie, Goldfinger, along with several other films. It's a classic resort that's been further improved in the last few years with a roughly $1 billion expansion/renovation. We visited the property several years ago and really liked it at the time. With the most recent improvements, we recommend it even more.


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Bigger will most definitely (maybe) be better

You may recall that we (Mr. Makarma) recently noted that both Carnival and Royal Caribbean will be introducing some unique features on their new ships setting sail later this year. In Carnival's case, the features will be more evolutionary, taking their current ship designs up a notch. Here, we're talking things such as balcony staterooms set lower in the ship than previously found, and family-friendly staterooms with split bathrooms.

In Royal Caribbean's case, we're talking about their introduction (yet again) of the world's largest cruise ship (Approximately 220,000 gross registered tons versus the current champion at roughly 160,000 GRT). Imagine, if you will, having a cabin overlooking "Central Park" and taking a spin on the first carousel at sea. (We just knew something was missing!) Oh, and did we happen to mention zip-lining at sea?

Yet another ship isn't going to be out until mid-2010, bit it's already creating quite the buzz - it's Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Epic. This particular baby's gonna be interesting in a number of ways. For example, it won't be the world's largest (please see above), but it will be significantly larger than NCL's existing mega-ships. NCL originally planned to have two ships in this newer class but, for reasons too detailed to go into today, the order was reduced to just the one ship. This means that, for quite some time, Norwegian Epic will be their flagship, the one that will likely receive their highest level of attention.

Along with its unique cabin design (more about that in a future post), Norwegian Epic will be different because it takes NCL's "Freestyle" motto to greater lengths (pun intended). The ship will have an unparalleled variety of dining and entertainment venues. On the company's current ships, some dining rooms are included in the base fare, while others incur a separate charge. Now, with Norwegian Epic, there will no longer be a main showroom; "main" entertainment will be spread out to a number of facilities throughout the ship. And, as you may have guessed by now, some of these venues will require a separate cover charge. We're not certain we'll like this format, but we won't judge it until we know whether or not a guest on this cruise ship will be able to enjoy the full cruise experience without reaching into a wallet (or purse) over and over again.

What we are fairly certain of, however, is that we'll be one of the first to sail on (and check out, and report back on) Norwegian Epic firsthand.


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Help save the classics by supporting the classics

Every now and then, something reminds us (Mr. Makarma) of how precarious the future is for our favorite old restaurants, tourist attractions or stores. Quite often, this reminder comes by way of announcement that one of these old-time favorites is closing.

It's funny how a place that's no longer popular finds that second wind only when its closure becomes imminent. We'll never forget our trip to the famed Chasen's restaurant near Beverly Hills soon after its closing date was announced - the place was jam-packed. The same is true of Movieland Wax Museum. We admit we hadn't been there in years, but we did wait in a long line to get in on the attraction's final day. Of course, if these places were always that busy, they probably wouldn't be closing in the first place.

A recent program produced by our local PBS affiliate highlighted a couple Los Angeles area restaurants that have been around since almost forever. They're both family run places, with owners that see absolutely no reason to sell, or even make significant changes to, their beloved businesses. Fortunately, many of these places still do very well. Both of our favorite Hollywood hangouts opened prior to World War II, and they're still going strong. Many other places from that era aren't around anymore, though, and we can point out several places where - as the song goes - they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

The lesson here? Support these places and help keep them around for years to come. The above examples are of places in Southern California, but these classics can be found almost anywhere. Seek them out when you travel. We've committed ourselves to help in this effort. When we assist our clients with their vacation plans, we make it a point to recommend places to visit while on their trip. We tend to avoid the "here today, gone tomorrow" hot spots; we'd rather point people toward those neat little classic diners that still exist right down the street.


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