It was day 4 and my wife and daughter sailing on Norwegian Star visited Mazatlan, Mexico. Here is their report:

Mommy and Daughter Cruise Day 4

Mazatlan

It was a beautiful day in paradise. Let me tell you about our day.

We started early and headed to the main terminal to meet our guide, Elise.  She is from Vancouver and has been here for about 6 years.  We met up with another couple from Holland America which was also in port.  Elise guided us to a van and then we took a short drive where we picked up a water taxi to take us to our final destination – Stone Island.  The other couple travelling with us was celebrating their 10^th anniversary.

We want to use our blog to pass on this release from Travel Guard is an insurance carrier we recommend.
Travel Guard provides free assistance to travelers in Haiti

The devastating earthquake in Haiti this week has many in the travel industry wondering what they can do to help. We in the travel industry are especially impacted by the news as well as uniquely positioned to extend a hand to those in need through the resources we manage.

We want you to know that Travel Guard will be providing free emergency travel and medical assistance services to travelers and families affected by this week’s earthquake in Haiti. Services available through Travel Guard include coordination of emergency medical arrangements and evacuations, temporary lodging, cash wire transfers, passport replacement, translation services, message relay, emergency travel arrangements, and luggage tracking for items lost during the quake.

Travel Guard is also coordinating with its network of medical and evacuation specialists and air ambulance providers to monitor evacuation and assistance needs and facilitate evacuations from the area. Travelers in Haiti or their family members are encouraged to contact Travel Guard’s assistance coordinators for travel help or assistance in communicating with family members at home. If you know of anyone who may need assistance, please let them know they can call Travel Guard’s 24-hour World Service Center at 866-644-6811. If they are in Haiti or areas outside the U.S., they can call us collect at 715-295-1209.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with all whose lives have been devastated by this tragic event,” said Dean Sivley, CEO of Travel Guard North America.  “We have a number of Travel Guard customers who are in the area and we are diligently working to provide the assistance they need including medical case management, relaying messages to family members and coordinating emergency travel arrangements. We are also extending these services to any U.S. travelers and their family members who have been affected by the quake, because we feel it is an important part of our social responsibility as a global provider of travel insurance plans and assistance services.”

Here are some links we believe are legitimate to donate to Haitian Relief for this unspeakable tragedy.

Doctors without Borders

The Global Orphan Project

Laura and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

For the past year I have been writing for a trade website called Travel Research Online. About a year ago, I agreed to open up my business and show the readers a year in the life of a travel consultant. Every five weeks I would write a new “diary” entry for others in the trade to read. I shared trials and tribulations of my business in an effort to help others. If you are interested in seeing my journey, I invite you to read the following links at your leisure. They are presented in the order in which they appeared. Your comments of course are welcome. I look forward to serving you in any way I possibly can. Merry Christmas!

Chuck and Laura own The Flagg Agency in Canton, GA. They are currently touring Spain, France and Italy on a Royal Caribbean/Celebrity CruiseTour and Celebrity Century. We return on October 18th and will host our next post travel conference call on Thursday October 22nd 7pm EDT. If you want to ask questions or listen in on the call please email us (flaggmedcruise /at/ cruiseholidays.com) and we’ll send you info on how you can join the call.