Travel Tip Thursday: Tip 1

Travel Tip Thursday: Tip 1

Register All of your travel plans with the U.S. State Department.

Register all of your personal and business trips online with the Smart traveler Enrollment Program so the United States Department can better assist you in an event of an emergency.

This free system is available online at: https://travelregistration.state.gov/. This will help the United States government contact you if there is a family emergency in the U.S., or if there is a crisis where you are traveling. In accordance with the Privacy Act, information on your welfare and whereabouts will not be released to others without your express authorization.

This extremely came in handy for registered travelers who visited Haiti and Thailand. You never know when a natural disaster might strike or a civil uprising!

Insider Tips: Top 10 Reasons for Choosing a Destination Wedding

Top 10 Reasons for Choosing a Destination Wedding

1. You get to choose the weather for your special day.
2. You get more out of your wedding dollars.
3. You get a vacation and a wedding planning team.
4. You get to decide the scenery of your wedding.
5. If you are a creative type, a destination wedding package is perfect for a theme wedding.
6. You allow your guests to celebrate your special day and enjoy a unique vacation at the same time!
7. Destination Weddings are less stressful than traditional weddings which means the bride and groom look extra beautiful on their special day!
8. Many destination options to choose from whether you would like your destination wedding at an exotic tropical island to a snowy capped mountain. Decide to do an all-inclusive resort or cruise. The choice is yours!
9. Destination weddings make for a unique and memorable wedding.
10. Destination weddings are the perfect place to become one!!

Contact us today at DSWeddings@agentivorytravel.com to start planning the wedding of your dreams!

Insider Tip:Yo Amor Manuel Antonio

This is definitely my favorite city in Costa Rica thus far. It has a great nightlife, beautiful beaches, hot Ticos and plenty of nature. The upscale restaurants in the area are great. Restaurante El Negro Gato is a nice place to relax and enjoy the evening. El Avion has great views of the coastline but terrible service. They make up for this by making their restaurant out of plane which you can go in and take pictures.

Parque Nacional manuel Antonio deserves four stars natural beauty and expansive ecological system that is there. It has plenty of wildlife, twisting nature trails, four beautiful beaches, and high cliffs great enough to get a panoromic view of the Pacific Ocean and and Manuel Antonio

Agent Ivory Travel Insider Tip

The chairs on the beach rent out for 2,000 colones ($4). They are not free and you cannot just sit on them. You must pay the Tico who brought the chair to the beach.

Insider Tips: Monteverde is Above the Rest

Monteverde sits high above the rest of the cities in Costa Rica! Its great location gives you beautiful arenal shots of the cloud forest and lush valleys below. You will be intrigued to stop numerous times on your way up the mountain as you see endless mountains in the horizon.

Maravilla Restaurant has an affordable menu. I recommend the beefsteak plate with rice, beans, plantains and salad. Top it off with a pina refresco to drink. Hiking and zip lining along with the Tarzan swing are some of the highlights in this great city. If you love nature, than you will love Monteverde.

Agent Ivory Travel Insider Tip
Pack your poncho and patience as you travel up the bumpy roads to Monteverde.

Insider Tips: To Pay or Not to Pay Gratuities in Costa Rica

Being from America, I am used to the standard 15% for gratuity. Usually this is not added on at a restaurant unless it is for a party of 8 or more. I typically give 20% whether the service is good or not.

In Costa Rica, the impuestos y tipo (taxes and gratuities) are included in the price. Most menu's do not state this and when you get the bill you only see the items purchased and taxes. No gratuities are listed on the bill. Where is the tip? Should I pay or have I already paid it? A local Tico advised me not to pay since I was charged triple the rate for a Smirnoff ice. He says their tip is in the overcharge of the products you purchase. When I asked the server at one restaurant if the tip is included in the bill, they replied the tip is not included. At another restaurant, the server replied that the 10% (standard tip in Costa Rica) is included in the prices of the food. So that means sometimes I have giving as much as a 30% tip to the server unwarily!!!

Their should be a standard law in Costa Rica demanding that all menus list if the taxes and gratuities are already included. If one exists, their are many restaurants violating the law. Some Costa Ricans are cheating the system and getting over on the gringos. Sure the food, service, and ambiance of the restaurants are great, but do we have to pay for the owners greed too?

Insider Tips: To PrePay or Not to PrePay

All cruise lines provide you with two options for gratuities: 1. Prepay or 2. Have them automatically added to your bill on the final day of the cruise. So is it better to prepay or pay at the end for your gratuities?

After speaking with several workers (stewards,waiters, and other) for different cruise lines, I have been informed that they absolutely LOVE when the majority of the ship has prepaid their gratuities. This allows the cruise lines to cut checks in advance to the workers. Workers usually receive higher checks when this happens. They also secretly let me know that they provide better customer service to those who prepay because they have already been paid by them (technically) and they are not sure if the others (those who do not prepay) will actually pay in the end.

Some cruisers prefer not to prepay and to wait until the final day to pay their gratuities. Again, cruise lines will automatically charge you for gratuity for the length of your cruise. Typically around $10 a day. Patrons can actually dispute this amount on their bill. If they put up a good enough fight they can even get this removed. I really hate to see when this happens. Many of the workers on the ship do not get paid decently as it is, they have families back home they have to support and plus they usually go above and beyond when it comes to service and entertaining the ship.

Plus now you as the cruiser have to worry about another item added to your bill to pay. This could have been avoided if you purchased your gratuities in advance. Who wants to worry and pay for gratuities when you can spend your money on other things like souvenirs, drinks, casino plays, and pictures to capture your memories?

Put yourself in the shoes of the workers. Wouldn't you like to get a complete check or would you be fine with a 50% payroll deduction?