Culinary Classes at Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World

If you can't find something from the 500 other things you can do at Walt Disney World, they recently added another option for fun.  You can now take a culinary class with a Disney Chef at the Contemporary Resort!

The entire class is broken into groups and each group is assigned the preparation of part of a big meal along with a Disney Chef.  At the end of the experience, you will receive a signed cookbook along with a white chef's hat!

Pricing is currently $175 per adult and $125 for children ages 9-12.  Each experience is limited to only 30 guests.  (seeems rather a lot to me).   Beer and wine will be available to those over 21 with the meal.  If you are not staying at the Contemporary resort, transportation is always available free of charge within Walt Disney World.  Reservations can only be made by calling the Disney Reservation Center.

To plan and book your next Disney vacation or any other dream vacation, please contact me, Matthew Dobeck at mattdobeck@outlook.net or call 954-798-6573

Crystal Cruises to Provide Free Wifi On All Cruises

Starting August 30th, Crystal Cruises will offer free wifi on all of it's cruises.  All I can say is "YAY", let's hope this is a start to good things to come regarding wifi and Internet pricing on other cruise lines.  Due to our constantly "plugged-in" lives, cruise lines have been cutting Internet rates quite a bit across the board.  Crystal, in the luxury line category is doing a wonderful thing!

To book your next cruise or other dream vacation, contact me, Matthew Dobeck at mattdobeck@outlook.com or 954-798-6573.

Walt Disney World Be Our Guest Restaurant To Serve Breakfast Permanently

Walt Disney World recently announced that the breakfast option at the extremely popular Be Our Guest restaurant in Magic Kingdom would now be permanent.

Be Our Guest is themed around the movie Beauty and the Beast and is hands down the most popular dining venue on the Walt Disney World property.  It has a unique distinction for being what's called a "Fast Casual" restaurant.   More upscale than a typical "Quick Service" restaurant, but not quite up to the level of a "Table Service" restaurant.  

Reservations can be made for breakfast at Be Our Guest starting at 180 days vs 90 days as it was in testing.  Another unique feature is that guests can opt to order their food online prior to the reservation.  The price range is high at $21.99 for adults (10+) and $13.99 for children (3-9).  Guests with a dining plan may use either a Quick Service or a Table Service dining entitlement for breakfast.  Walk-ins are possible, but due to the popularity of this restaurant, please try to get a reservation!

Some delicious options are:

Eggs Florentine in a Puff Pastry Shell
Vegetable Quiche
Croissant Doughnut
Cured Meats and Cheeses
Open-Faced Bacon and Egg (the way you like) Sandwiches.

To book your next Walt Disney World vacation, please contact me Matthew Dobeck at mattdobeck@outlook.com or 954-798-6573

Round The World Cruise In The 1930's

Can you imagine?  I wonder how this compares to today's round the world voyages?

Cuba Then And Soon To Be

Vintage Cuba Travel Ad

Thanks to Vintage Ad Browser.

Celebrity Cruise Lines Gives Glimpse Of Overnight Excursion Options

Back in early June, I reported Celebrity Cruise Line's announcement that they would be staying in select ports overnight on their Caribbean itineraries starting in 2016.  You can read about it here.  I couldn't help wonder what types of new and exciting shore excursions they might start offering with this change.

Celebrity has given us a glimpse into some of the offerings.  I'd have to say that the offerings are not too exciting and pretty much as expected.  They are branding the excursions as "Caribbean Evenings Around The World" and these are a few examples they gave out of 14 options so far:

- boat party in Cozumel (big surprise, right?)
- wine tasting at a winery in Willemstad, Curacao
- sunset cruise in Aruba
- horse-drawn carriage ride in Cartagena, Columbia (at night?)

These options come with a wide price range of $45 - $239 per person.

I'm all for change, and think this is an interesting move by Celebrity, but I'm not overly impressed yet.  I am looking forward to passenger reviews of these new excursions and itineraries.

Looking to book a Celebrity cruise?  Please contact me, Matthew Dobeck, Cruise Consultant at mattdobeck@outlook.com or 954-798-6573  I would be happy to help you plan your next dream vacation.

Go All In With MSC Cruises!

Matthew Dobeck              Mondrian Travel / Cruise Brothers Venice, Florida, USA  954-798-6573 mattdobeck@outlook.com

TERMS AND CONDITIONS **20 vouchers per stateroom valid for cocktails, draft and bottled beer, wines by the glass, spirits, liqueurs and non-alcoholic drinks (premium spirits and other drinks not included in this package are indicated on Bar and Wine lists with an asterisk). The vouchers are for consumption in bar, restaurant and self service buffet. *Rates are USD, per person, double occupancy, cruise-only valid for new retail bookings for U.S. and Canadian residents. Rate shown is for a Guarantee on the Oct 8, Dec. 16, 2016 sailings aboard MSC Divina. Government fees and taxes (GFT) from $97.82 to $116.07 per person for all sailing guests are additional. Passengers booking inside stateroom (category I1, I2) - receive $50 per person (max $100 per stateroom) SBC. Passengers booking ocean view stateroom ( category O1, O2) - receive $50 per person (max $100 per stateroom) SBC + $50 per person (max $100 or 20 drink vouchers per stateroom) beverage package; Passengers booking balcony stateroom (B1, B2) - receive $150 per person (max $300 per stateroom) SBC + $50 per person (max $100 or 20 drink vouchers per stateroom) beverage package; Passengers booking Aurea balcony (B3) or suite (S3) - receive $200 per person (max $400 per stateroom) SBC. MSC Club discount is applicable. A discount of up to 10% (not combinable with MSC Club discount) is also applicable to active and retired U.S. and Canadian military, civil service and interline personnel and their spouses, dependent children, parents, and parents-in-law. Qualifying guests must present an I.D. badge from their respective organization at time of booking. Offer is capacity-controlled, subject to availability, cannot be combined with any other discount or promotion and may be withdrawn without notice. MSC Cruises reserves the right to pass on any fuel surcharge without prior notice to all guests. MSC Cruises reserves the right to refuse to honor any prices/sailings that are erroneously printed or quoted. Other restrictions may apply. Ask for "All In " when booking. Offer Expires October 31, 2015. Ship's registry: Panama.