[Alberg30] Cruising concierge

[Bill Blevins]

I'm heading out on an extended Labor Day cruise tonight down the Potomac and
then up to Solomon's Island for the weekend, ending up at a beach boat
burning party at Tall Timbers Marina, back on the Potomac Sunday night. I
know that many of you will be hitting the water this weekend too.

I have to tell you of a pleasant experience I had when making slip
reservations at the Point Lookout Marina. Their site links to another site
to make the reservations. It's http://www.MarinaLife.com

MarinaLife is located out of Baltimore and also have a marketing office in
Annapolis so ya'll might already know about this site and service. They've
been in business for 4 years.

Basically they are a "concierge" or travel agent Web site for boaters and
cruisers visiting marinas all over the country as well as the Bahamas and
the Caribbean.

THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE WAS AMAZING. They went above the call of duty for me.

The person who helped me (Julie) checked into several different places in
Solomon's when my first choice wasn't available. She even told me the
location of the slips that were available (and in one case, the proximity to
the pump out station so I could avoid that slip!)

Throughout the day yesterday, via e-mail I researched and planned my next 5
days on the boat with their help.

FREE!

(They do much more if you pay a membership fee or join as part of a group.
You can read all of that if you want on their site).

I was so intrigued with this site, that today I spoke with their president,
Joy, who filled me in on many other services that they offer to groups such
as the A30 Association, yacht clubs, marinas, etc.

Tonight they are launching a tool for boaters to research nearby attractions
to all of the marinas in their database. At the moment, 90% of their
planning is for the East Coast but their site contains most everything as
far as I could see.

Soon, they are launching a flotilla type cruise tool similar to evite.com if
you are familiar with that site but this one will be designed specifically
for groups (ie: planning a Labor Day type cruise).

They are mailing me an information package for "partner" groups. I can
forward to the appropriate A30 board member type person for you to look over
to see if it's something our group might want to do if you tell me which
person to send it to.

Anyway, I wanted to pass this on since I know that many of you go cruising
as a group often. I wish that I could get all the way up the Bay this year.
Maybe 2004? Have a great Labor Day. See you next week!

Bill Blevins
Alberg 30 #158 SABRINA
http://mysailingphotos.com/Members/Sabrina



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