Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Honored to receive "Star Trainer Hero Force 2015" from Human Trafficking Training

Flight Attendants Association Human Trafficking Awareness Training in Las Vegas

I was honored yesterday at a meeting, attended by 400 flight attendants at the Association of Flight Attendants conference. Airline Ambassadors International, a non profit organization conducted a Human Trafficking Awareness training for the attendees during their luncheon. At that time I received  The Star Trainer Hero Force 2015 Award. This was for conducting more trainings than any other in the organization since the inception of the training some years ago.
Thank you Airline Ambassadors!! www.airlineamb.org


Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Why You Are on Your Own Without a Travel Agent...lets discuss!

Enjoy  this important discussion on why using a travel agent can give you peace of mind and make your trip that much more memorable, with no extra costs!!...Sandy Dhuyvetter


Zane Kerby the American Society of Travel Agents President and CEO joins me on TravelTalkRADIO to talk about why travel agents are worth their weight in gold.

An informative discussion that will highlight the value of travel agents and how to best use their services.

We think you might be surprised at the demographics that are stepping up to the plate to use travel agents in mass groves! They must know something!

Join us and see why ASTA is truly the only organization in the world the best supports travel agents and their work. 

ASTA has also built a Web site where you can find your perfectly matched travel agent. Go to www.astatravelsense.org

Listen HERE: http://www.traveltalkradio.com/ASTA/zane_kirby_april28_15_8min.mp3 


Tuesday, April 21, 2015

The Trip to the Seychelles begins!

One of the worlds leading airlines, Emirates is my airline this trip and I am thrilled.
I have no idea who my hotel will be, however, that is the life of a reporter. It's all a box of chocolates... all good...Sandy Dhuyvetter




Carnaval of Carnivals opens this coming Friday in the Seychelles

The unique event in the world of carnivals is the Carnaval International de Victoria because it remains the only carnival that manages to bring all the best carnivals of the world to parade one after the other followed by cultural troupes from the Community of Nations.


This year is no different as carnivals from Brazil, Notting Hill from the UK, Dusseldorf from Germany, Italy, Indonesia and more will be part of the 29 countries represented in the carnival of carnivals in the Seychelles that opens on the 24th April.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Congresswoman Matsui & Senator Blumenthal Express Concerns with Coast Guard Rulemaking on Passenger Protections for Cruise Vessels

We have supported the International Cruise Victims Organization (ICV) and frankly very disappointed it has take congress all these years to make this wrong a right.
Let's finish the job and make all involved accountable!
Sandy Dhuyvetter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, April 16, 2015
CONTACT:
Jonelle Trimmer (Rep. Matsui) 202-225-7163
Sarah Zukowski (Sen. Blumenthal) 202-224-0335


Congresswoman Matsui & Senator Blumenthal Express Concerns with Coast Guard Rulemaking on Passenger Protections for Cruise Vessels
WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) sent a letter to the Commandant of the Coast Guard expressing concerns with oversights in the Coast Guard’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on the implementation of the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act (CVSSA).  Matsui and Blumenthal – sponsors of CVSSA follow-up legislation, the Cruise Passenger Protection Act – urge that the Coast Guard’s final regulations reflect the intent of the legislation and provide strong protections for cruise passengers.
“We appreciate this opportunity to comment as we are concerned with several items in the NPRM.  These items must be addressed in order to ensure that the CVSSA is truly improving safety on cruise ships and protecting the lives and well-being of all passengers,” the members wrote.  “Although we are pleased that many of the mandated items from the CVSSA were included in the NPRM – such as requirements for peep holes in cabin doors, security latches and time-sensitive key technology – there are several oversights in the proposed rules that bring us great concern.”
Specifically, the letter calls on the Coast Guard to address the following concerns:
  • A Man Overboard System should be required to be installed on all cruise ships, as the technology is now available.
  • The Coast Guard should certify Victim’s Advocates for the Cruise lines to make certain victims are informed of their rights and ensure the Cruise lines are in compliance with the laws.
  • Medical staff credentialing and certifying processes outlined and required in the CVSSA must be adhered to when treating all medical cases onboard a ship, not just in cases of sexual assault.
  • Cruise ships must add acoustic sounding devices.  A ship’s public address system is not enough because it was not designed to be audible at great distances from the ship.
  • The requirements of the CVSSA should apply to all voyages regardless of whether or not it embarks or disembarks passengers in the United States. 
A PDF copy of the signed letter is available here.
The full text of the letter is below:
April 15, 2015
Admiral Paul F. Zukunft
Commandant of the Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
2701 Martin Luther King Jr Avenue Southeast
Washington, DC 20032

Dear Admiral Zukunft:

We write pursuant to the United States Coast Guard’s request for comment on the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) published in the Federal Register on January 16, 2015 (80 FR 2350) regarding the passenger vessel regulations to implement the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act (CVSSA). The CVSSA became law in 2010, and as longtime advocates for stronger passenger protections on cruises and sponsors of the Cruise Passenger Protection Act, follow-up legislation to the CVSSA, we have a particular interest in making certain that the final regulations implemented pursuant to the legislation are in line with the original intent of Congress. 

We appreciate this opportunity to comment as we are concerned with several items in the NPRM. These items must be addressed in order to ensure that the CVSSA is truly improving safety on cruise ships and protecting the lives and well-being of all passengers. Although we are pleased that many of the mandated items from the CVSSA were included in the NPRM – such as requirements for peep holes in cabin doors, security latches and time-sensitive key technology – there are several oversights in the proposed rules that bring us great concern.

First, the CVSSA requires a Man Overboard (MOB) System to be installed on all cruise ships as the technology becomes available. The legislation was enacted five years ago, and the technology is indeed now available for installation. Accordingly, the Coast Guard should require a MOB system on all cruise ships. This system should have both an alarm and video capture feature. The clear intent of Congress was for these systems to have the capability to immediately capture and detect a man-overboard event.  Video capture alone is insufficient because an alarm feature is needed to expedite a search for an overboard passenger and to prevent valuable time from being wasted reviewing camera footage. Thus, it is very important that the fall detection system should have both the detection capability to sound an immediate alarm and a capture system to record the event for documentation and evidence purposes for criminal investigations.

Second, the CVSSA gives victims the right to keep information confidential from the cruise line unless written permission is given by the victim to disclose such information. However, the proposed regulations state that the Coast Guard will train an employee from the cruise lines to oversee the handling of victims of a sexual crime. The proposed rules inappropriately designate such an employee to be the first point of contact for victims of sexual assault.  This is contrary to the intent of the CVSSA because potentially confidential and sensitive information would be given to the cruise lines without the victim first knowing of their legal rights. In addition, crime victims, under the CVVSA, were given the legal right to report crimes directly to a government agency rather than to a cruise line’s security personnel who have no legal authority to arrest, skill to provide care, or training to properly investigate or collect evidence. Moreover, the training of a cruise line employee to counsel a victim of sexual assault would also be a breach of the law not only under CVSSA’s confidentiality clauses, but also under the Victims’ Rights and Restitution Act. The remedy that we urge the Coast Guard to consider would be for the agency to certify a Victim’s Advocate to make certain the victim was informed of his or her rights and ensure the cruise line was in compliance with the laws.

Third, medical staff credentialing and certifying processes outlined and required in the CVSSA must be adhered to and considered applicable in the course of treating and caring for all medical cases onboard a ship, not just in cases of sexual assault. We believe that the proposed eight hour course prepared and issued by the Coast Guard, FBI, and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in crime prevention, detection, evidence preservation and reporting will not meet an acceptable standard. Outside experts including private maritime training academies have concurred that this course must be improved. This training should be mandatory and certified by an independent third party entity and not including in-house training by the cruise lines themselves.

Fourth, the CVSSA required that cruise ships add acoustic sounding devices. This would serve to enforce the Homeland Security requirement that no ship – such as a ship manned by pirates or terrorists -- should come within 500 feet of a cruise ship. For the proposed regulations not to consider terrorism a possibility in US waterways, ports and harbors, or that cruise ships are a terrorist target, is to deny the circumstances of September 11, 2001, and the recent terrorist attack in the National Bardo Museum in Tunisia, which left 17 cruise passengers dead. Acoustic hailing devices are a critical way for a cruise ship to confront small vessel threats at safe distances before those vessels become threats both domestically and in overseas ports. A ship’s public address system is not enough to satisfy this requirement because it does not have the technical capability, nor was it designed to be audible at great distances from the ship.

Finally, the requirements of the CVSSA should be applicable to all voyages regardless of whether or not a voyage “embarks or disembarks passengers in the United States.” There is no reason for any cruise ship to be given special dispensation or exemption from critical, life-saving measures simply because of a “temporary” visiting status.

We would appreciate clarification regarding our concerns with the NPRM and we urge the Coast Guard to consider these changes. The CVSSA was signed into law for the purpose of protecting those onboard cruise ships and we believe these provisions must be fully implemented as originally intended to ensure the safety of cruise line passengers. We look forward to your cooperation as we work together to strengthen the final regulations in order to prioritize the safety of travelers and victims onboard cruise ships.
###



New York City-based Battery Dance Company, America's leading ambassadors of dance, will collaborate with dancers and musicians from Jordan and Iraq, April 10 - 20, 2015, in Amman



The Company's program will be anchored by performances as part of The Amman Contemporary Dance Festival, April 16, 8 pm, at the Al Hussein Cultural Centre; and The Amman Jazz Festival, April 19, 7:30 pm, at the Haya Cultural Centre.  In the dance Festival, the Company will present 4 works from its repertoire including 'Observatory', a work created on commission by South African choreographer Theo Ndindwa.  At the opening night of the Jazz Festival, Battery Dancers Sean Scantlebury and Mira Cook will appear together with their Iraqi protege, Adil Qais Adil, whom the New York dancers have trained over the past 6 months via Skype, and whom they will meet for the first time live when they arrive in Amman on Thursday evening, April 9th.  All of the choreography for the jazz festival will be generated while the dancers are in Amman and will be performed to the live music of Jordanian singer/guitarist Hani Mitwasi, backed up by the local band, Black Ice.  

Jonathan Hollander, founder and artistic director of the company says, 'Our experience in over 60 countries tells us that the arts can provide hope to those in conflict and can engender unity across religious and ethnic differences and national borders. Battery Dance Company will put this belief to the test, moving farther than we have ever done before in marrying our art with humanitarian goals, in Jordan.'

Recent coverage in the Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Washington Post and BBC/PRI’s programThe World has brought unprecedented attention to the Company’s work in the conflict zones of the Middle East.  As an outgrowth of BDC's Dancing to Connect program in Iraq in 2012, the Company members have been training aspiring Iraqi and Kurdish performing artists long-distance utilizing Skype and social media. 

Their most promising mentee in Iraq, a creative artist of phenomenal ability and dedication, is the dancer Adil Qais Adil.  Although the media attention accorded to BDC's program has exposed Adil's artistry to  world-wide audiences electronically,  he is unable to practice his craft outside of his family’s home in Baghdad without inviting threats from extremists in the community.

Through a grant from the Prince Claus Foundation of the Netherlands and other private donors, Adil has boarded a plane and took the 90-minute flight from Baghdad to Amman, with life-changing consequences. 

Each day beginning on Friday of this week, before and after teaching classes to Jordanian dancers in schools and conservatories, Sean, Mira and Adil will rehearse for 5 hours at the National Centre for Culture and Arts in Amman, bringing to life their camaraderie and artistry after months of electronic interaction.  They will collaborate on new pieces of choreography for the jazz festival, but this is no standard artistic collaboration.  It is a fusing of their shared hopes and dreams for a future in which young people can pursue their artistry without fear.

Articles about Battery Dance Company's International Artists Mentorship Program:

Wall Street Journal article (and video) about BDC's work with Adil Qais Adil:  http://on.wsj.com/16Z3xGG

BBC/PRI program “The World”:  http://bitly.com/1Anz3cm


For more information, contact:
Jonathan Hollander


Press Release Distribution


Media Sponsor: Sandy Dhuyvetter

Monday, April 13, 2015

Michael Luongo on BusinessTravelRADIO this week.

On BusinessTravelRADIO

Always a thrill to have good friend, Michael Luongo, NY Times Travel Writer and professor of travel writing at NYU join me to discuss latest trends and what he is offering as advise to travelers and those that write or would like to write about travel.
http://www.traveltalkmedia.com/ERIC/apr12_15/BTR_michaelluongo_apr12_15_seg02_03_14min.mp3

Friday, April 3, 2015

Star Clippers is WAIVING the "Single Supplement Fee"on select sailings

Our good friend from Star Clippers, Greg Baxter has a great deal for you if you are wanting to experience a tall ship adventure! 
Take a look and call your travel agent!

The weekend is almost here, but I wanted to let you know right away that Star Clippers is WAIVING the "Single Supplement Fee"on select sailings for all three of our beautiful ships!  So if you have clients who enjoy traveling alone, this is the perfect promotion for them.  They will get saving up to 63% Off!  We have Cabins for Singles starting at only $1,310 for 7-night sailings.  It doesn't get much better than that! 
We all know that it can be difficult to find affordable travel when people are traveling Single.  So this promotion should be just what your clients are looking for.  Our ships are really great for Singles!  We have open seated dining at all meals so that Singles can sit with anyone they would to sit with.  Our ships are also very social, so Singles will have no problems meeting new friends from all over the world who sail with us.  Plus, they will be visiting small, intimate ports on true sailing ships that are powered by the wind! 
GROUPS & FIT:  This promotion applies to both Groups as well as FIT travel.  So if you have Singles Groups who like to travel together, please let me put a group quote together for you.  Or you might have a group that is a mix of Singles cabins and Double Occupancy cabins.  We can do that too! 
This promotion will only be available until April 30th, 2015.  So please contact your clients who like to travel Single and let them know about this great promotion!
Below are links that show all of the sailings available for this promotion on each of our three ships.  They will also show Maps of the itineraries as well as all Pricing:

Sailings Available on the ROYAL CLIPPER:


Sailings Available on the STAR CLIPPER:



Sailings Available on the STAR FLYER: