What an ‘OASIS’… of the Seas

Nov 22, 2009 – You know, we have been hearing about this new ship coming out… the largest cruise ship ever built, well it is GINORMOUS!

As we arrived at the pier, there were ooo’s and aaaah’s from everyone on the bus. Look how big it is next to that ship, oh it is beautiful, and on and on.

We were all wondering how embarkation would go, considering the amount of passengers for this monster, but the Port of FLL has built a wonderful new terminal and the embarkation was almost seamless. No pictures to share as of course they do not allow photos in the terminal or near the security areas. But there were many buses arriving at the same time and it took less than 30 minutes to get onboard.

Once onboard we took our things to our stateroom, which was an ocean view family stateroom with a balcony. Very nice room, with that still ‘new’ smell :)

Then we grabbed the camera and were off to explore. We had a list of cabins in many different categories that were open or inspection:

12175 Standard Inside Stateroom

12577 – Central Park View

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9244 Royal Family Suite

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11640 Owners Suite

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1740 Royal Loft Suite

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and my favorite… 9730 Aqua Theater Suite

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After seeing the staterooms, we walked around the other 17 decks, looking at the 7 neighborhoods, 34 restaurants and bars, the 6 pools, solarium, and the spa & fitness center.

This ship has 2704 staterooms, hosts 5400+ people, and 2100 crew… wow, what a ship.

The last evening we enjoyed the talent of Mosaic

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NACTA Conference 2009

Nov 20, 2009 – Well NEST Fest is over today, and we are on our way to the Sheraton for the NACTA conference. After checking in, we went to the Sweet Tomato for a quick lunch. Then this afternoon met some of the other agents and went to the Celebration Ship for a welcome reception and tour.

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This ship was previously a ferry in the Baltic, they have completely re-done it and although it is small 36,000 tons it is quite nice. The staff is great, and although the cabins are small they are clean and comfortable.

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Tonight we went to dinner with several other agents at the Fish Company, which is actually a restaurant inside the Bass Pro Shop. The food was very good! The company and conversation was GREAT!

Nov 21, 2009 - Up early for breakfast sponsored by Funjet followed by our first Sales seminar lead by Scott Koepf, president of NACTA. Penney, Kevin, Susan, Meloney, Andre’, Carol, Glenn, and Barbara all attended, however, i decided to hang out by the pool. Penney said she has been to this presentation several times but always learns so much so she went again.

Next was lunch, yummy… then General Sessions and 4 breakouts. We heard from: Globus, all about their wonderful tours as well as the Avalon cruises. Carl from Celebrity gave us all the new info about where they are going in 2010 as well as an update on the Solsitice, what a beautiful ship!!!! Then on to #3, with NACTA, a Q&A session which was very informative and finally Viking River Cruises.

This evening was a blast ‘from the past’, dinner was sponsored by Celebrity cruises and the theme was a 1970’s party. Many agents came dressed, Penney and Kevin did not :) But look at some of these folks!!

Nov 22, 2009 – Another early morning… starting with breakfast and general sessions #2. Good info from NCL, (that Epic is going to be an awesome ship), Yucatan Holidays, and Carnival.

On to lunch and the trade show, many suppliers came out to support this show and the agents!

Next we boarded buses and departed for our adventure aboard the NEW OASIS OF THE SEAS!!!

NEST Fest 2009

Nov 18, 2009 - Penney and I are departing this morning for Fort Lauderdale where she will be attending the FEST Fest. 

1:50pm – we just arrived at the Hilton Marina Hotel, it has recently been renovated.   We had a lovely lunch while watching the beautiful yachts coming and going.

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3:30pm  Penney, Carol and Glenn went to their first seminar, 101 ways to sell more cruises by Dave Stockert.   I decided to sit on the balcony of our room and enjoy the marina view while they were gone.  

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Penney said that the seminar was really good, they discussed marketing ideas and where to find group leaders.   This evening, Kevin arrived (he had to stay in Nashville today and work) we attended a welcome reception and called it an early evening.

Nov 19, 2009 – Up and out early for breakfast with Josh, from the Fort Lauderdale CVB.

Next was General Sessions, the President of NEST welcomed us and then Scott Koepf, President of NACTA spoke on The State of the Travel Industry.   He was great… he spoke with passion, humor and even sang to us :)

 

Then onto 3 breakouts, where we heard about all the booking and marketing tools that NEST has to offer. 

We had a fabulous lunch at China Grill….   wow, were we stuffed.  So I decided I would go back to the room for a quick nap while Kevin & Penney went to the trade show.   I did join them for the last seminar with Nolan Burris.  He was talking on social media, Facebook, MYSpace, and Twitter.

 

This evening the delegates were split into groups of 10 and each supplier hosted a meal.  Our supplier was  Alycia with Princess Cruises.   She was very generous and treated us to dinner at the Fishery.   We had a wonderful dinner, good conversation and lots of fun.

Well NEST Fest has come to an end… tomorrow we are going on to the next conference, NACTA.