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Vol. 2, Issue 10 January 7, 2008
Happy New Year Wishes to All!
We thank you for your support of DisBuzz, CruisingCo.com and MouseEarVacations.com in 2007, our best year ever! We are celebrating our 20th anniversary this year and are very grateful for all of you readers: you are the reason why we are here.
Twenty years ago I sat down and made a plan for this new business. We included some simple goals that I wanted to meld into one vision:
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Provide a service to enhance people’s quality of life
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Make the precious vacation time of time-starved Americans as good as it can be
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Support people who wanted a “work from home” lifestyle
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Maintain top levels of professionalism and customer support
 I am proud to be able to look back and say that this wonderful team I work with has accomplished those goals and risen to heights I did not even imagine then. We are blessed to have an unparalleled low turnover rate of agents, and our Disney specialty team was recently honored at Walt Disney World for our stellar reputation and performance.
That same wonderful team has developed rich relationships with many of our clients, and they have joined our “family“ as well. This issue features comments from and about some of them. We just love to hear from clients about their travel interests or about their agent’s service to them. If you have a story or comment to share, please pop us a note at the address below.
As enjoyable as it is to look back on these past 20 years, our eyes are always on the future. Technology changes have allowed us innovations such as our recent series of Webinars on the various Disney vacation alternatives. Disney fans joined us online from their home computers across the US and Canada. Watch for more Webinars in the future, plus a few more surprises we will soon unveil!
Our 2008 plans include an all new division: UncommonCruises.com. There we will focus on international travel on non-traditional cruise vessels, many of which have custom land tour components as well. To learn more and be invited to our online opening ceremonies (with some terrific specials on uncommon journeys!), simply click here and provide your email address.
Thanks again and may 2008 be your best year yet!
Jami Sales
President, CruisingCo.com - MouseEarVacations.com
Managing Director UncommonCruises.com
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FEATURE ARTICLE
Magical Moments with
Newfound Friends
By Doris Thompson Akron, IN
In the course of our job as travel agents, we have the pleasure of meeting a wonderful array of guests from all over the country and all over the world. Over the months of planning special vacations with our guests, we form a bond with them and in some cases become almost like family!
A case in point includes a guest/friend named Beverly. Beverly is from Pittsburgh where she works as an office manager and assistant to a very busy chiropractor. She is also the secretary for her Red Hat group and makes time to go camping almost every weekend in the summer. Bev and her husband Jim are a very special couple. Along with everything else in their everyday life, they provide a home for Bev’s father and her special needs sister, Kathy. With Bev’s daughter Aimee and son Dan, along with their families living close by, this close-knit unit spends as much time together as possible.
A few years back, Beverly found an ad for MouseEarVacations.com on one of her favorite Disney fan sites and asked for a vacation quote for a 4-night cruise and a short stay at Walt Disney World. This quote request was forwarded to me and with that simple act of fate, my life has forever changed...Click here for the full story.
From Client to Agent – Sue's Story
By Sue Carr Ambridge, PA
When I talk to people about why I joined CruisingCo.com, I feel kind of like the guy from the Hair Club for Men, who liked the product so much he bought the company. That’s pretty much the experience I had working with Joann McGarvey and MouseEarVacations.com on my anniversary trip last year. Up to that point I had been a stay-at-home mom to a 2-year-old (still am), and had been doing some off-and-on freelance writing for businesses in my area. While I do have a passion for writing (I’m attempting to get my first novel published now), that passion tends to wane when you’re writing brochure copy about asbestos removal and industrial coatings. So as much as I enjoy writing, I was looking for something a little more “fun” to help pay the bills. Enter Joann and our amazing vacation to Walt Disney World last year. She was so helpful, so friendly, and so responsive, jumping through hoops, answering questions (and there were many), and offering to handle everything we needed. Because we are seasoned Disney travelers, some of the things she offered to do, like arranging dining, we handled ourselves, but it was wonderful to have the offer. The instance that really blew me away, however, was when she contacted us a week or two before our final payment was due to tell us we qualified for a new offer just released by Disney for the fall, and that we would be saving $700 on our trip! I was amazed. I had never booked a Disney trip through any agency before, but I have to believe there are very few, if any, that would provide that level of service and attention to detail to its clients – at the company’s expense. That was what sold me. I knew Joann worked from home, so I started asking questions, and the rest is history!…Click here for the full story.
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Going the Distance
By Diane Coffman Benicia, CA
In January of 2005 I received a quote request for a Walt Disney World vacation package. After some back and forth conversation I learned that the client lived in Australia and had tried to book her vacation through local travel agencies but had become discouraged. She kept being told to go to Disneyland instead as this was easier for them to book. She ended up booking her package with me and our relationship began.
She and her family had never been to the United States and they were very interested in life here. After some discussion I decided to send her a box of things that would be of interest to her. I sent her a Sunday newspaper, some real estate magazines, magazines with cars for sale and some other small Disney goodies. I also helped them with some of our language terms and tipping customs.
 Her husband contacted me on the sly to help him plan something special for his wife as she would be celebrating her birthday while in the states. I found out that she loves to shop and since they were flying into Los Angeles on their way to Orlando, I offered to fly down and take her to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and around L.A. to see some of the famous sights. He loved the idea and actually rented a limousine for us to ride around L.A. in. I brought their documents and some other gifts and we spent the day touring L.A. and doing some shopping...Click here for the full story.
From Client to Agent – Rebecca's Story
by Rebecca Saxe New Paltz, NY
In January 2005, my husband, daughter and I finally made the long awaited decision to try a Disney Cruise vacation. My husband and I have been huge Disney fans for years and thought it was time to try the open seas, Disney style. We were so blown away by everything the Disney cruise had to offer that we planned our next cruise the minute we got home. Through an online search for "great cruise deals" I came across the CruisingCo.com / MouseEarVacations.com website. After getting an unbeatable quote, we booked our second Disney cruise with an agent from the company. After my first phone call with her, I told my husband how genuinely friendly and personable she was. I remember feeling disappointed when we received an email saying that our booking had been transferred to another agent. I thought there was no way that the next agent we were going to deal with would be as sincerely kind as the first.
It wasn't long before we received an email from Jo Vagos, informing us that she would be taking over the other agent's responsibilities. Well, I was so impressed to learn that Jo was just as genuine and sincere as the first agent we worked with. When the day of our cruise finally arrived and we entered our stateroom, I was so impressed that a Tower of Chocolate, courtesy of Jo Vagos, awaited us. I felt like she was just as excited as we were to be on this Disney cruise. Her follow-up after the cruise was equally impressive. Naturally, when we considered booking a third cruise, there was no question as to which travel company we wanted to use.…Click here for the full story.
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to be a guest storyteller! We would love to read your trip experiences, and we are certain our readers would, too! 