Tag: marketing

VIDEO: Disney Cruise Line announces new itineraries and ports for 2015

Leave a comment

Today, Disney Cruise Line announced new itineraries and ports for 2015:

  • Norwegian Fjord sailings —a first for Disney Cruise Line—with stops in Norway’s fjord region, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Guests can experience the part of the world that inspired the Disney animated film Frozen
  • Northern Europe cruises, including Copenhagen, Denmark; Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland—as well as Russia’s cultural capital, St. Petersburg
  • Mediterranean sailings that visit popular ports of call, like Naples
  • Alaskan
  • Eastern Caribbean destinations, featuring stops at tropical islands like St. Maarten, St Thomas and Castaway Cay—Disney’s private island
  • Western Caribbean cruises to Mexico, the Cayman Islands and Castaway Cay
  • Bahamian itineraries departing from Port Canaveral, Fla. and Miami, Fla.
  • A Panama Canal crossing
  • A transatlantic sailing

Sooooo, I’ve never been on a cruise. But it’s definitely on my bucket list. And, if I had to guess, my first cruise will most likely be with Disney.

I mean, not only has Disney Cruise Line been ranked No. 1 for the past five consecutive years, but as a Disney Cast Member, I get a not too shabby discount. And I have a much better chance of not having to poop in a bag during my trip. Yes, I’m talking to you, Carnival.

I think if I had to choose from the list, I’d pick the Norway itinerary. Who wouldn’t want to see a fjord? I’ve always wanted to go to Norway, especially since I discovered a relative of mine emigrated from Norway in the late 1880s. AND the trip goes to Iceland and the Faroe Islands, which also look absolutely amazing. Not that the Bahamas don’t sound great and all, but this trips sounds much more interesting. Ahhh, let the daydreaming commence.

Have you been on a cruise? Any good stories or recommendations?

Beware of Referral Key

65 Comments

So when you’re in the process of looking for employment opportunities, you tend to pay a bit more attention to emails and your LinkedIn profile.

On Feb. 11, I received an odd email from one of my LinkedIn contacts about what sounded like a lead to possible work. Since it was from someone I knew on LinkedIn, I trusted the link and opened it.

Note: I removed the sender’s name and business.

To read the entire message, you need to join the site, Referral Key, which as we all know only takes a few seconds to do. The message itself included this YouTube video, which instructs the user on how to export their LinkedIn contacts to their profile.

However, the video does not inform you that completing the process will email ALL OF YOUR LINKEDIN CONTACTS.

For someone who has 730+ LinkedIn contacts, that created quite the mess. I’ve already had to email countless friends and colleagues who messaged me to see if I had been hacked. (Apologies if you were one of them…)

Mashable endorsement?

Mashable endorsement?

So was I hacked? Technically, no. Apparently this site is real. I’m still having difficulty figuring out what its exact uses are, though. All I know, is that a few clicks can easily damage your reputation, so I advise you NOT to join this site.

The same exact thing happened to poor Cathy Miller…”How Referral Key’s Spammy Practice Embarrassed Pollyanna.” AND this article is another one I wish I would’ve read before this happened – it would have saved me a ton of grief.

Needless to say, I have already emailed the site and deleted my account. I also messaged the contact who initially invited me to the site.

Have you heard of this website? Has the same thing happened to you? I’d love to hear about it. Definitely NOT how I intended to spend my Wednesday afternoon…

*Update (2/13/14)*

It appears the site has removed the “Contact Page,” which is where I sent my complaint. Instead, they now have a “Support” page, which gives a quasi-FAQ. It conveniently has buried the fine print that the user is “100% responsible” for how they use the site. However, none of this verbiage was even on the site before. And, not surprisingly, I haven’t heard anything back from them.