Favorite of Luxury Home Design

for young couples who have a lot of money would want to have a dream house complete with luxurious facilities to live his life in the family, here we present some examples of modern luxury home design complete with all amenities including a family pool.

Apollo Management's Changes at Regent Seven Seas - Drinking the Kool-Aid

It has taken some time, but a change in philosophy by some and perceptions by others it seems is finally taking hold.

When Regent Seven Seas was purchased by Apollo Management and then folded into Prestige Cruise Holdings (which also owns Oceania Cruise Lines) there as uproar by Regent loyalists.  "Hedge fund guys are going to destroy our beloved cruise line!" "There are going to be massive cut-backs!" "The crew are going to suffer with being underpaid!" and the list goes on.

To the contrary, Apollo Management saw that the prior management had virtually run Regent into the ground with poorly maintained ships, abused crew policies, poor food and declining levels of service.  I first wrote about this in my June 2008 article, The Oceania-fication of Regent Seven Seas. 

But then I saw the beginnings of a turnaround because, as I predicted, a year earlier Regent's new sister was a better run company with a better delivery of product (both cuisine and service).  So, in June 2009 I wrote Oceania Cruises - More Like Regent Seven Seas Every Day...Or Is It The Other Way Around?

While this was going on, Apollo Management poured US$90,000,000 into improving the three ships, Regent Voyager, Regent Mariner and Regent Navigator.  The improvements were both long overdue and very well received.  More importantly, they were actually focused on doing what needed to be done:  Fix the ships; especially the Regent Navigator (which has such systemic problems the feat of correcting them was nothing short of incredible).

Shall we digress?  Why would a hedge fund spend $90,000,000 on fixing ships that were allegedly so wonderful?  It takes a long time to make back that kind of investment.  The reason was because it was the prudent financial thing to do.  And, thus, it is clear that the complaints (at least by me) were well-and-truly justified.  More importantly, they are a thing of the past.  (Note:  I do not believe the software is all of a luxury standard such as you find on Seabourn, but it most certainly is of a good standard and nothing that would cause one not to book a Regent cruise...as it might have in the past.)

With the provisioning and philosophy as to cuisine changing, there were/are grumblings that the dining choices were not as many as previously available and that some portion sizes were reduced (though I believe the portion in the Prime 7 alternative dining restaurant are far too large), the fact is that if your kitchen staff cannot produce proper quality and/or the diversity drives up costs and waste, the first thing to do is simplify the menu and each the staff to cook better.  This remains a work in progress, but the complaints do seem to be subsiding.

Service has remained a sore point as well because of inconsistency.  The concept of finding and latching onto a particular waiter is mind-boggling to me.  Some guests brag of this technique, but in fact they are damning the vast majority of the servers actually declaring them of inferior and/or insufficient quality. I know Apollo has, now that the ships are fixed, focused more closely on the service issues. 

And, alas, this is where the management onboard the ships just might be starting to "Drink the Kool-Aid".  I remember watching management play their afternoon shuffleboard while chaos rained supreme at the front desk and the dining room; leaving second or third tier staff to "handle it" while they, when available, gave guests nothing more than lip-service...blaming the home office for the problems. 

Well, folks, the home office is different now (you don't hear much from Mark Conroy anymore do you)...and the focus can't be shifted.  In fact, the home office philosophy is for onboard management to own the problems and correct them.

I have clients departing on a long voyage on Oceania in a few days out of Valparaiso, Chile.  With all of the uncertainty as a result of the tragic and devastating earthquake, Oceania has been excellent in providing emails and faxes with great explanations of what is happening and what is anticipated.  It has created such good will, not only with my clients, but with me.  Oh, for Regent to do such things!

(I will not comment on the "free", "free",  "free" marketing approach by Regent. As a travel agent I do not see the value in it when you look at the pricing versus other lines, but it most certainly has increased sales for Regent that was suffering badly with empty suites and disgruntled guests.  In the end that is the idea, right?  To sell suites so that Prestige Cruise Holdings shows profits and, eventually, can be sold as a well functioning entity at a premium.  (That affords Apollo to stay out of the day-to-day management for if it was involved there would be a discount rather than a premium.)

Well...on March 1, 2010 a poster on Cruise Critic (hondorner) wrote, in part and gently edited: 

"I can't help but wonder why you would automatically assume it was "evil" Apollo's decision, especially in light of the fact that other than a couple of members of Prestige Cruise Holding's board of directors, Apollo keeps a strictly "hands off" approach to the cruise line decisions.


Under the new corporate management, the ships are sailing full, which I understand is different than under the previous management; the cruise line is showing a profit and has record bookings, and more than $90 Million has been pumped into improvements, and the staff to whom I spoke in January were universally in favor of the changes. That doesn't sound very "evil".

I've been hinting at this, but I have to be frank -- while I enjoyed the all-inclusive nature of Regent, I find the service on Oceania to be just as good, the food better, and the overall ambiance to be superior to Regent. Why is this relevant? Because the management of Oceania that has brought it from nothing to one of the most successful cruise lines in less than eight years is now the corporate management of Regent."



Yes, it seems Drinking the Kool-Aid just might be something that is happening.

To be sure I need to see more consistency in cuisine and service and I do have some problems with the pricing being far to high for what I consider value, but HUGE improvements have been made at Regent and I believe it will continue to get better.  And, it seems, now there are guests that believe it too!

5 Cute Heart Themed Bedroom Ideas For Teenager Girls

This traditional teen room design examples include everything contemporary that and child needs. There are beds with high headboards, side tables, study desks, storage cabinets and chairs. Some furniture like beds has lot of extra accessories. Distinctive feature of all this design ideas are decorative elements in the form of heart. The heart symbolizes warmth and adds love and comfort to home, sincerity and concern for loved ones. Proposed room designs are cool mostly for girls but there are variations for boys too. You could change the colors to orange or dark blue and they could be good enough for boys.

Heart Shaped Bedroom Concept For Girls

Heart Shaped Bedroom Concept For Teen Girls

Heart Shaped Bedroom Concept For Girls

Beautiful And Cute Heart Shaped Bedroom Concept For Girls

Heart Shaped Bedroom Concept For Teenager Girls

Seabourn's 2011 - Early 2012 Itineraries Will Be Here March 23rd

Just a quick FYI that Seabourn's 2011 and Early 2012 itineraries will be released on March 23, 2010. 

The benefits to booking early are

1.  You secure the suite you want.
2.  You are assured the best price, because if you or Goldring Travel finds lower fare I do whatever I can to get you that fare.
3.  No matter where in the world you live Goldring Travel will never charge you a booking or cancellation fee if you change your mind.  (If you cancel during Seabourn's penalty period those charges apply.)
4.  Goldring Travel will discount your Seabourn cruise.
5.  Goldring Travel will provide you with exceptional service and advice.

Basically, you will be treated by Goldring Travel as you will be onboard...with the added benefit of great pricing in addition to the great value a Seabourn cruise offers you.

Modern Interior House Design of 2010

Today's real estate market is terrible. But; there are many ways to make your home more salable than many others. The best method is staging. This is a way of make the home more attractive to potential buyers; and it can help if your home needs some updating or re-organization! Here you will find all the information to make it easy.

This also is helpful if you just want to re-decorate your home.

Take a note pad and pen with you on your journey and take notes. The first thing to do is to look around your home. Go room-to-room and find all the things that are broken, not working or something you should have thrown out a long time ago. Write down the items for each room that need repair. This will give you an accurate record of what needs to be corrected.

Be sure to write these things down because you will forget!

Now that you have finished that chore start making any repairs and removal of junk or un-wanted items. This little bit of work may surprise you at how the home is starting to look...better.

Once you have completed that part of the project it is time to see which rooms need to be re-painted. Potential buyers like to come into a home that is clean and the walls (if necessary) need to be painted. Remove any wall hangings to see if the walls have faded or darkened with time. Keep the walls free of any pictures or items. This also makes the walls appear larger. Don't skimp on a few gallons of paint if it can bring you the sale.

Luxury Living Room White Decorating

Your home is your sanctuary and you’re getting tired of the boring atmosphere you’re living in. The good news is that you don’t have to spend all your money re-decorating your home. Here are five simple tips to help you jazz up and snazzy up your living room.

GET A FRESH COAT

There’s absolutely nothing like a fresh coat of paint to brighten up and old, boring room. There are great paint techniques that you can apply to completely change the look and feel of the room. Remember to keep the color calm and make sure it matches your things.

You can also go bold and daring by painting one wall dramatic and keeping the rest of the panels easy-going.

RE-ARRANGE

Play with your furniture and position it in different places to get a “new look”. If you have a long living room and your furniture looks lost in it, try moving the couches into a U-shape to make it seem fuller and also create a cozier environment.

NEW PAINTINGS AND DÉCOR

A new painting and some candles will make a world of difference to a bland and boring room. There are many stores that offer affordable decorating goodies. If you can’t afford all the décor you want, buy it in small batches, and get your absolute must-have item first.

Luxury of Interior Room Decorating

Kids room Decoration

Living room Decoration With White Sofa

Most of us care about our homes and tries to make them as nice as possible. If you want to decorate your home with success and really become clever in interior decorating you should know the basic interior decorating tips as well as the three elements of success that apply to any interior decorating program. This helps you to create rooms that are welcoming and harmonic for everybody. The elements I am talking about are:

the function,

the mood and

the harmony.

The Function

Any room in a house has to be functional. If not it will be of no use to anybody. Only if it functions according to its' purpose it will be enjoyed. Functional actually means that the room should serve a purpose and be comfortable to perform that function inside the room.

A living room is an example of a functional room. Some living rooms are so decorated and pristine, they are never used. It should not be like that. This is, to put it plainly, an interior decorating failure. A functional living room should be in a manner that it is used for greeting and entertaining guests and providing a space for family members to interact, relax and share quality time together. This makes it a functional room because it has a purpose and use. keep this function in mind while decorating a functional room like a living room.

The Mood

The next of the three elements of successful interior decorating is the Mood. If the mood of a room is to be relaxing and peaceful, such as a bedroom, then everything in the room will work toward this mood. If you want a room to be high energy, such as an office or game room, then the elements applied to the decoration and design will set this mood. If you want a room to be bright an airy, then colors and treatments will focus toward this mood. You should know the mood for which that room is created. Then accordingly you have to decorate it. The decoration should be in such a way that it brings the desired mood to the person in that room.