Travel Adventures

Seminar at Sea aboard the Carnival Paradise four day Catalina, Ensenada and a day at sea out of Long Beach lead by Kelly Balfour Business Development Manager from Oregon. Overall great experience well worth the time and money spent. Great ideas from Kelly as well as advice from some salted veteran travel agents are sure to make the seminar pay for itself. The following is meant more as a review of the experience than a summary of the training…

Monday: Arrived LAX from SFO about 10:30, Carnival Greyhound transfer to Long Beach, waited until about noon for bus. Arrived at port about 12:30. Long line at port. Went to the Queen Mary hotel and wandered around ship. The QM was a bit of a ghost ship midweek. Most shops and restaurants were open. No lines. Ate lunch at the Promenade Cafe. Clam Chowder was great. Pasta was salty. Line was down a bit by 2:30, but still took over an hour with line outside, line at counter, line for photos and line on gangway. Kelly suggested early check in at the Queen Mary available prior to 11:00 though supposedly was open until after noon that day. I realized later that if I had arranged my own transportation from the airport I could have checked in early and avoided a lot of waiting. (more…)