Autumn Maritimes II on Seabourn Sojourn

We are thrilled and excited that our September 30, 2011 group sailing of Canada and New England with Oceania Cruises sold out so quickly!  As we still have clients requesting this itinerary, we thought it best to find a similar trip to satisfy the itch of our interested travelers.

We are excited to add this new group cruise program to our travel schedule for 2011!  We found another perfect Canada/New England sailing with one of our preferred cruise partners: Seabourn.  Turns out, it departs the same day as our Oceania Cruise and out of our favorite destination city; New York! 

With Seabourn’s current newest ship, Sojourn, currently at sea, Seabourn has received some great recognition, including this February 2nd Houston Chronicle article by Harry Shattuck.  He discusses Seabourn’s famous luxurious service and exquisite cuisine created by acclaimed chef Charlie Palmer, making this ship the benchmark in luxury small-ship cruising.

We look forward to having you join us on this Seabourn sailing to New England and Canada, Fall 2011.As guests set sail on Seabourn’s current newest ship, Sojourn, they will enjoy the following fabulous itinerary.

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September 30th – Embark from New York, New York at 5pm

October 1st – Cruise the Atlantic Ocean

October 2nd – Boston, Massachusetts 8am to 6pm

October 3rd – Bar Harbor, Maine 12pm to 6pm

October 4th – Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada 2pm to

October 5th – Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada 1pm

October 6th – Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada 8am to 5pm

October 7th – Cruising the Gulf of St. Lawrence

October 8th – Cruising the Saguenay Fjord

Port Saguenay, Quebec, Canada  1pm to 6pm

October 9th – Disembark Quebec City, Quebec, Canada at 8am

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These fall foliage filled destinations are a hot topic this year, so don’t miss your chance to see the beauty of New England and Canada with their historical sites and famous lighthouses along the coast; call us for further details and pricing information.  Don’t delay as this sailing will sell out!

Oh, and if the above itinerary wasn’t intriguing enough, have a look at your surroundings while on board the ship…

Come join us on this fabulous ship that is like no other as well as enjoy over-the-top service!  Contact us or call 713-954-4825.

Take the hassle out of group travel; call us to plan your next group trip or join ours!

Marina’s Inaugural Sailing and Christening

Linda and Cindy had the wonderful opportunity to join Oceania Cruises for their preview sailing of Marina from February 5th-8th as well as be present for her Christening ceremonies complete with Marina’s godmother, Mary Hart.  Below you will see the wonderful spot Hart did for her show, Entertainment Tonight, about the festivities.

Oceania did a fabulous job and definitely pulled out all the stops for this Christening Ceremony.

A nebuchadnezzar $10,000 bottle of champagne was custom designed for the occasion by Armand de Brignac, and guests were permitted to sign before this bottle was used to christen Marina.  Of course, our ladies took the opportunity to leave their John Hancock.  This really shows just how large this bottle is!

Cindy and Linda were both highly impressed with the ship, and she far exceeded their expectations.  In waiting for embarkation and the christening ceremonies, Cindy got some great pictures of the ship in port.  She certainly is grand but still the perfect size.

After boarding the ship, the ladies learned that Marina is just large enough without being a challenge.  With a full ship, there are plenty of people to meet with lots of activities to do, yet still feel like you are on a small ship.  Speaking of meeting people, look who these ladies ran into!
It’s Chef Jacques Pépin himself!  If you are foodie, like our office is, then you’ll likely be familiar with him.  Otherwise, you may not have heard his name specifically, but perhaps you know of his work.  He’s fabulous, and he’s the master chef and inspiration behind the cuisine of Oceania Cruises, specifically his namesake restaurant, Jacques.

In further discovering Oceania’s brand new beauty, Cindy captured some great photos of some of the common areas of the ship. 
Delightful!  Don’t you just want to lay on a chair and bask in the sun?!
Looks like people did!
Compare this real photo to the artist’s rendering, but note the view is from the opposite direction.
The shallow lounge areas look so enticing, don’t you think?!

If you haven’t seen our previous posts about the excitement this office holds for the Bon Appétit Culinary Center on board, let us just bring you up to speed on how innovative and fabulous this enrichment program onboard Marina is.  Guests can take cooking classes while onboard their cruise to learn techniques and great recipes from Oceania’s well-trained and diverse chefs.  Classes range from single sessions of breakfast dishes or modern Greek to multiple sessions of Homemade Pasta!
Just as exciting, the staterooms were spacious, and the buzz about the bathrooms concurs in our office, too; the separate tub and shower with the extra square footage in the bathroom is a plus!  Oceania Cruises management team were right to make these bathrooms what cruisers have been asking for in a cruise ship.  This applies to every stateroom category.
To state it as conclusively as we can, Marina sets the new standard for what a cruise ship should be, and there is no way you’ll want to miss sailing on this beauty no matter where she goes!
Join us for one of our fabulous group sailings already scheduled onboard Marina, or call us about any other departure which provides interest to you. You’ll surely not be disappointed!

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Treasures of the Continent – July 29 – August 10, 2011
12-day Voyage – England, Holland, Belgium, France, and Spain

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Grecian Glory – October 1 – October 11, 2011
10-day Voyage – Greece, Turkey, Montenegro, Croatia, Italy

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Islands in the Sun – February 16 – 26, 2012
10-day Voyage – B.V.I., St. Barts, Antigua, Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos Islands

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Take the hassle out of group travel; call us to plan your next group trip or join ours!

The Benefits of Group Travel

No doubt, traveling with your spouse or significant other is fun and memorable.  Likely, traveling with your family is exciting, too. 

No? 

Ok, well, pretend it is! 

Even traveling with a friend has great benefits.

That said, adding to you and your spouse with several other couples, adding extended family members to your immediate family trip, and gathering a group of friends together for a trip makes for a wonderful and exciting time for all allowing multiple experiences and memories.

There are various benefits to group travel, but most often people find the greatest benefit is price.  Hotels, cruise lines, airlines, etc. are eager to provide group contracts with pricing at a lower cost because it’s less work for them.  We, your group travel agent, are able to pass those savings on to you!

Additionally, many people enjoy the opportunity of traveling with people of similar interest.  Joining a group for travel provides a greater energy and vibe than traveling with just your partner or small family.  In fact, we find many of our evaluations state that ‘this is the only way to travel.’

Enjoying a stress-free trip is a bonus for many as well, as there is little to no planning involved for each individual.  Allowing us, your group travel experts, to coordinate a trip for you permits you to sit back, relax and focus on the enjoyment of your trip instead of planning every hour of your journey.

This stress-free trip will likely come from having a group coordinator on your trip to travel with you!  Groups of a certain size (typically 20) will allow you to have a group coordinator on your trip!  Having this coordinator is key in ensuring that your group stays on their well-planned itinerary and is able to see all the sights and destinations that your group chooses to view.

With these great benefits, we trust you will want to join us for a group trip soon.  If you don’t see a trip you’d like to join us for, let’s create one for your group!

Below are some great ideas for groups:

• Large families
• Family Reunion
• Collegiate class year alumni
• All collegiate alumni
• High school class year alumni
• All high school alumni
• Destination Weddings
• Multiple couples and their children
• Bible study
• Girlfriends only
• Guys only
• Country club
• Garden club
• Tennis club
• Fitness club
• Golf buddies
• Anniversary with friends and family
• Birthday with friends and family

Take the hassle out of group travel; call us to plan your next group trip or join ours!

US Open in New York City August 30-September 2, 2011

We are thrilled to announce a new trip on the Beyond Group Travel 2011 calendar!  Join us as we travel to New York City for the US Grand Slam event of tennis; the US Open. 

Trip highlights include*:

• Roundtrip airfare from Houston. (other air cities available on request)
• Roundtrip transportation between the airport and hotel
• Deluxe accommodations for three nights including hotel taxes at the Hilton Times Square
• Welcome lunch with open bar
• One (1) roundtrip Metro pass on Subway to Flushing, NY
• Baggage handling upon arrival in New York City
• One Upper promenade seat at Arthur Ashe Stadium including grounds ticket to USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
• Gratuities on included package features
• Trip managed and accompanied by Beyond Group Travel, Inc.

As you can see, we are returning to the Hilton Times Square, the hotel we fell in love with on the Maggie Dixon Classic trip.

Furthermore, here’s a few more details on the itinerary of your trip with us to the US Open.

Tuesday— Upon arrival in New York City, we will transfer from the airport to enjoy a Welcome New York Pizza lunch with open bar at John’s Pizzeria in Times Square, a popular NYC restaurant featured on The Food Network and The Travel Channel’s Top 10 Pizzerias in the US. Following lunch, stroll to the Hilton Times Square with your room key in hand and luggage conveniently stored in your room. The remainder of this day is open for you to explore on your own activities.

Optional theatre performance viewing such shows as Jersey Boys, Wicked, or Billy Elliot. Beyond Group Travel can help you find the right one for you.

Wednesday—This is our full day of tennis—strap on your comfortable shoes as we will travel by subway to Flushing, NY. Your ticket today provides access to the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center as well as a reserved seat in the upper promenade section in Arthur Ashe Stadium for both the day and evening sessions.

Thursday—This day is yours to create. Choose from an optional second day evening ticket of tennis at the US Open or optional morning World Trade Center Site Tour by New York subway.

Friday—Before your return home this afternoon, you will have the morning free to enjoy shopping along Canal Street, take a walk through the world famous Central Park, or allow Beyond Group Travel to make arrangements for you to tour one of the many sights of NYC. Transfer to airport for flight home.

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Package Price:
$1,589.00 per person - double occupancy
$1,929.00 per person - single occupancy
LAND ONLY AIR CREDIT - $325.00 per person (transportation to/from hotel on your own)

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This trip is a great value!  Book by January 31, 2011 to receive this published trip price offering tremendous value. Rates will increase after this date due to ticket prices at the US Open.  Click here to view the brochure and contact us as soon as possible to reserve your space while you still can!

Additionally, we still have limited space available on the Mediterranean Mosaic sailing April 26, 2011!  If you are interested in sailing from Rome to Venice with ports of call including Portofino, Florence, and Amalfi, we would love to have you join us.  It’s not too late!  Deadline is Tuesday, January 25, 2011.

Take the hassle out of group travel; call us to plan your next group trip or join ours!

*Trip highlights subject to change based upon hotel, tickets & theatre availability.

Beyond Group Travel is 1 year old!

Above: Top, Krista and Henry Borchard. Bottom, Linda and Gary Triplett, Cindy and Dave Chambers.

Happy New Year to all of you and Happy 1st Birthday to us!  Tomorrow, we celebrate one year from our Incorporation date.  What a fabulous year this has been!

Cindy and Linda started the year off running and quickly built fabulous clientele, terrific quality trips, all while keeping a straight and organized business.  All the while working on 2010, we were able to build on 2011 and EVEN 2012!  That’s right; keep up with us to see the exciting details we have planned for upcoming years.

We were pleased to host trips with various collegiate alumni travel organizations, country clubs members, garden clubs and more to the following locations in our first year of business:

• Fredericksburg, TX
• Santa Barbara, CA
• Guiliano Hazan’s Cooking School in Italy at Villa Giona
• Annual New York Theatre Trip (Linda has had the pleasure of hosting this trip for 25 years!)
• Austin, TX
• Thanksgiving in New York (our annual bucket list trip!)
• Holidays in New York
• Maggie Dixon Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York

As you can tell, New York is definitely the signature destination at Beyond Group Travel, Inc.  2011 is already packed full with new destinations and, by popular demand, we’ve included more cruise groups!  If you are interested in hosting your group (family, friends or any other type of group) contact us to discuss the options available to you.  We are looking forward to an even better 2012!

Take the hassle out of group travel; call us to plan your next group trip or join ours!

Maggie Dixon Classic

Back in October, we told you about our upcoming trip to New York with the Traveling Aggies and Aggie Women’s Hoops for the Maggie Dixon Classic at Madison Square Garden.  This trip departed on December 17th and returned home on December 20th; it was fantastic!

Linda was fortunate to be able to travel with the group of 25 fans that gathered to cheer on the Aggie Women’s team.  Jennifer Bohac, Director of Traveling Aggies at the Association of Former Students at Texas A&M University, was also able to join Linda for this trip.

Accommodations were at the Hilton Times Square, and this is definitely a favorite NYC hotel for Beyond Group Travel.  Providing our clients with the largest hotel rooms in Manhattan is a plus, and the staff is great as well.  We are very pleased!

Our group also enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Carmine’s on Friday evening with all of the Aggie Women’s team, their coaches, and their staff.  The girls seemed to love the family style of dining!

Saturday, the Aggie Women’s team received a touching and well-planned tour by Linda through some of NYC’s highlights and on into the World Trade Center site.  That afternoon, our group of fans and the team were able to see the Rockettes in the Radio City Spectacular.

Sunday, the reason for this trip arrived, and it was time for the girls to dominate Rutgers in the Maggie Dixon Classic!

Our group of fans thoroughly enjoyed their NEAR COURTSIDE seats!  They commented on the fantastic view they had for not only the A&M game but the UCONN vs. Ohio State game following.  The Aggie Women’s team did a terrific job and indeed won their game against Rutgers.  Great job ladies!

It was a wonderful trip and one we hope to repeat!  We look forward to other trips with the team and Coach Gary Blair.  Thanks for a wonderful time to our travelers and the Aggie Women’s Basketball team!

Take the hassle out of group travel; call us to plan your next group trip or join ours!

New Cruise Ships for 2011

Recently, MSNBC posted an article about the brand new cruise ships taking their inaugural sail in 2011.  We found it very intriguing as there are so many new cruise ships this year!  Several more are planned for 2012 as cruising becomes many traveler’s preferred method of travel!

One of our favorites, Marina, is actually mentioned 2nd in this article and is the newest ship in Oceania Cruises fleet.  As we anxiously await this ships completion, Cindy and Linda are preparing to attend the inaugural ceremony on February 5th!  We are even more excited about having travelers join us twice this year onboard Marina for the Baltic Treasures sailing as well as the Grecian Glory sailing.  Let us know if you want to join us on one of these fabulous sailings.  After all, how could you not be excited about seeing this?!

Also within this article, we are thrilled to see the Seabourn Quest debut!

Seabourn really does have a service in a league of their own, as Cindy and Linda have experienced first hand.  Now, with Quest, Odyssey and Sojourn in their fleet, they have new yacht-like ships that look like the service they provide.  Quest accommodates just 450 passengers creating a smaller cruise experience, however Seabourn does not incorporate “small” in anything the provide.  You want for nothing when you sail with Seabourn.

We are thoroughly looking forward to taking our travelers aboard both of these ships.  In 2012, we also anxiously await the debut of Oceania’s Riviera!

Take the hassle out of group travel; call us to plan your next group trip or join ours!

Last Minute Christmas Gift Baltic Treasures

Give the gift of travel this holiday season!  Still have someone you haven’t purchased a gift for?  Not to worry!  We can get you taken care of before Christmas and put your special someone on a cruise through the Baltic Sea.  This fabulous sailing makes ports of call at:

• Stockholm, Sweden
• Helinksi, Finland
• St. Petersburg, Russia for 2 days
• Tallin, Estonia
• Riga, Latvia
• Visby, Sweden
• Gdansk, Poland
• Ronne (Bornholm), Denmark
• Berlin (Warnemunde), Germany
• Copenhagen, Denmark

Fabulous itinerary, right?!  ***Well, as if that wasn’t enough, we are thrilled to have Giuliano Hazan onboard with us for this cruise!  Hazan, the only son of Marcella Hazan, began working as an assistant at his mother’s renowned School of Classic Italian Cooking at 17.  Now, Giuliano is an author, teacher, entrepreneur, and one of the foremost authorities on Italian cooking.(http://www.giulianohazan.com/about_chef_giuliano_hazan/)  ***Those who board this cruise with us will have the opportunity to take an onboard culinary class from THE Giuliano Hazan himself in the ALL NEW Culinary Center aboard Marina (taking her inaugural cruise February 2011).
***This private course with Giuliano is exclusive to travelers with Beyond Group Travel.
I’m sure we’ve provided enough reasons to board this cruise, but there’s more!  You’ll sail this fabulous cruise onboard Oceania’s newest ship, Marina.  This brand new ship is ultra luxurious, built with fabulous cuisine in mind, and more spacious than her sister ships.
Above: Marina’s Grand Staircase accented with Lalique Crystal.

Above: Marina’s NEW restaurant, Red Ginger.
Above: A view of the Owner’s Suite bedroom.
There are several staterooms available to join us for this cruise, so contact us today to ask your questions and make your reservation.
We have other sailings with space still available, as well.  Join us for one of the following:

• Mediterranean Mosaic – 10 day voyage – April 26 – May 6, 2011 – Marina – Rome to Venice
• Treasures of the Continent – 12 day voyage – July 29 – August 10, 2011 – Marina – London to London
• Grecian Glory – 10 day voyage – October 1 –11, 2011 – Marina – Athens to Venice
• Frontiers and Glaciers – 10 day voyage – June 7 – 17, 2011 – Regatta – Vancouver to Vancouver

Take the hassle out of group travel; call us to plan your next group trip or join ours!

***As of 1/11/11, Giuliano and Lael Hazan will no longer be joining us on this cruise.

Thanksgiving in New York 2010

Wow!  What a fabulous trip we had hosting the Traveling Aggies, Georgia Tech Alumni Travel, and Emory Alumni Travel Program in New York City November 24-28, 2010 for our signature Thanksgiving in New York Program featuring the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  After arriving via Continental Airlines, accommodations were at the fabulous New York Sheraton hotel which provided amazing views of the parade, excellent staff, and scrumptious buffets.  We were able to provide a memorable trip for families and friends that joined us for this terrific trip.  Porter Garner, President and C.E.O. of the Association of Former Students, joined Jennifer Bohac, Director of Travel Programs at the Association of Former Students of Texas A&M University, in hosting the Aggies this year; they each did a terrific job in ensuring a magical trip for all of the Aggies involved.  Don Chapman continued his talented service as host for the Georgia Tech Alumni.  This was Emory Alumni Travel’s introductory year traveling with us, and appreciated their involvement in the educational component of the World Trade Center site during our Manhattan tour.

Linda has hosted this trip for many years and is excited that this trip has continued so successfully with its first year under Beyond Group Travel!  This year, we were able to do:

• a welcome cocktail/reception party
• multiple theatre performances including, The Addams Family, Jersey Boys, The Lion King, and Wicked
• a Private Thanksgiving Day breakfast buffet with indoor PRIVATE parade viewing at the Sheraton

• performance of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular
• Football Game Watching parties for the Texas A&M vs. UT game as well as the Georgia Tech vs. Georgia game
• a cocktail reception and Thanksgiving dinner at Maloney and Porcelli.
• a Private NYC Manhattan tour
• a Circle Line cruise viewing Manhattan from the Hudson and East Rivers as well as an up close view of the Statue of Liberty.

We’ve received many gracious and thoughtful compliments thus far which really warms our hearts; it makes us proud to do what we do!  We are thoroughly looking forward to hosting the Flying Longhorns and Alabama next year for Thanksgiving in New York 2011!

Take the hassle out of group travel; call us to plan your next group trip or join ours!

Signature Spa Experiences announced for Marina’s Canyon Ranch SpaClub

Have a look at this article from Breaking Travel News on the fabulous treatments Canyon Ranch Spa will be offering on Oceania’s Marina!