I set up this site to create a web presence for my business because it was easy to maintain. I should add that it’s easy to maintain as long as I’m in the United States with a 6 Mbps DSL connection in my office. However, since I’ve deployed to Iraq, I realize exactly how much I’ve taken my high-speed internet for granted. Here, my 6 Mbps speed is reduced to 128 Kbps — that’s .7% of the speed I enjoy at home.

When I post a blog entry at home, it takes roughly 5 minutes to publish when you count the SEO tinkering and the “Share” button that appears on most blog pages. In Iraq, it takes me about 3 hours to publish a single entry. Nevermind the amount of time it takes to research the best deals, grab the pictures I need, and compose the entry with all the right links.

To that end, until I can find another solution (or my bandwidth opens up a bit), I can’t continue to update the Cruise Deals blog until I return from my deployment.

I want to let you know that I am personally disappointed in my inability to keep this up while deployed. As you can see, I’ve done my best to keep up for the past month, but it just isn’t working out. I may still post random deals, but until I return, it’s going to be a real effort to get them posted.

I appreciate your understanding, and I recommend you keep up with my deployment at my Iraq Blog, which is coincidentally titled Blogging Iraq.

Now that I’ve moved to a different provider, you may notice a few cosmetic changes to this site. First, I’ve added a cruise search form to the welcome page and have also given the form its own page. Second, I removed all the links to the other reservations system.

The new booking system is located at http://travelweens.agenthub.net, and most links provided here will automatically login to that system. Check out the new site, and don’t forget to check out this week’s Hot Deals.