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If you’ve followed our cruise blogs this week, you might be tempted to sail on a transatlantic cruise for only $34 per night. That is, if you can afford to take off for 13-nights but if you could, then I would urge you to book right away because it is selling fast.
Today I want to talk about FAM trips. FAMiliarity trips are strategies that travel suppliers provide to inform travel agents and promoters about their product and service. A hotel for instance, would discount their best room in the house for travel agents to come visit and to take in the amenities. The hotel does this in hope that the travel agent would recommend travellers to stay at their hotel in the near future.
Recently, cruise ship operators decided to offer FAM trips to people like you and me. FAM trips are usually short and sweet, giving you just enough time to experience the service and amenities. To classify a sailing as a FAM trip, cruise ship operators will offer nowhere cruises or coastal cruises. Nowhere cruises start
and end from the same port, usually for an overnight sailing or for 2 nights. Coastal cruises sail between two cities, possibly three ports for longer sailings. An example of a nowhere cruise available is one that leaves San Diego and returns to San Diego on an overnight cruise. A coastal cruise is one that leaves from Los Angeles and sails to Vancouver, Canada.
Note that you will not find the word FAM anywhere but it is there behind the scenes. It is a travel term and marketing ploy used to provide familiarity to their offering, but it does not matter to us since we can benefit from FAM trips because they are affordable.
One of my favorite deals can be found here that leaves from Vancouver, Canada and ends in Seattle, Washington. If you live in either places then I recommend you to take your mom along for the ride and a night of pampering. This would be a great Mother’s Day gift in May. She would enjoy it and so would you.
If I lived in Vancouver, I would take the cruise and sail to Seattle then take a shuttle bus back. If I lived in Seattle, I would take a bus to Vancouver and sail back. But I would not rush it because there is so much to see and do in either places.
If you are not from the area then you can fly into Vancouver, BC (site of the next Winter Olympics in 2010) and take in the sights before departing on your cruise. If you live in Canada, WestJet flies between your airport to Vancouver. You can book WestJet from our site and check if there are any air specials. Last week, our readers took advantage of a saving of 50% off airfare when they booked WestJet from our site.
Sailing from Vancouver, you will see the majestic North Shore mountains on one side of the ship and the serenity of Stanley Park on the other side. The ship will sail under the Lions Gate bridge before making a left turn towards the Gulf Islands where you can experience a romantic sunset. When you arrive in Seattle, you will see the Space Needle along with Seattle’s skyline. There you can disembark and explore the city. Visit the famous Pike Fish Market and see a flying fish as fish mongers hurl their prized catch across the room and over the heads of curious tourists. Visit the Science Center and ride up the elevator at the Space Needle to get a commanding view of the city.
Other 1-night and 2-night cruises leaving from more exotic places such as Hong Kong can also be found on our site. If you have not been on a cruise before, this is an excellent time for you to try one. One more thing I should tell you, these FAM trips are only offered when cruise ship operators are preparing for a season of sailings. In this case, cruise ships are getting ready to serve the Alaska cruises that usually begin in May.
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