Oct 26, 2007
The staff of Windjammer Barefoot Cruises are currently advising passengers that they can't comment on any aspect of Windjammer's difficulties
Here, as reported in Cruise Critic News, is the text of responses made in October by staff of Windjammer Barefoot Cruises to requests for refunds by passengers on cancelled sailings:
Write and read comments about this post.
I am sorry that Windjammer has not processed your refund yet. I have been advised that accounting has hundreds and hundreds of refunds that they haven't been able to process in the past months due to operational issues.It doesn't look good.
Please know the company is in the process of being sold and until that process is completed, the employees of Windjammer are not able to take reservations. We are not able to answer any questions regarding refunds or reimbursements. Also, we are uncertain of any future cruises.
We have no answers for you at this time and until we are given further direction from the Operational Manager and are certain that the company will regain full operational capabilities under new ownership, we have no news.
Windjammer's situation is certainly at a critical stage. The employees (myself included) are truly at a standstill with regards to information and our hands are tied. I am truly and absolutely sorry for this inconvenience. I feel terrible about having to respond to passengers with such uncertainty but I don't have any other information.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: cruise, windjammer
An unspeakable tourist attraction of Amsterdam may stand on the verge of being phased out
It might seem odd to write about European sex workers on a travel blog, but a story that recently ran in the UK's Guardian -- about Amsterdam closing down a third of its brothels -- is truly tourism news.
For better or worse, Amsterdam's red light district is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Europe, as firmly on the list of Amsterdam's top sights as the Rembrandts in the Rijksmuseum, the canal boat tours, or the Anne Frank House. It's a standard stop for any bus tour, and it is not unusual to see these seedy streets teeming with families of tourists from around the world.
In fact, many have argued that these seedy streets draw as many if not more tourist gawkers (and their tourism euros) as they do actual customers who visit with an eye to purchasing services. This is what makes travel news out of the fact that the mayor's office is closing dozens of the infamous red light district "windows" in which lingerie-clad women advertise their wares.
The official line on the crackdown is that the neighborhood draws an unhealthy share of crime, from pickpocketing to money laundering. The local prostitutes -- who, under the Dutch system, are licensed, pay taxes, and receive free health services -- claim the officials are going after the easiest but least effective target, and that the real problems are the unlicensed brothels and street pimps which are attracting and abetting the auxiliary lawlessness.
I'm not taking sides.
Write and read comments about this post.
For better or worse, Amsterdam's red light district is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Europe, as firmly on the list of Amsterdam's top sights as the Rembrandts in the Rijksmuseum, the canal boat tours, or the Anne Frank House. It's a standard stop for any bus tour, and it is not unusual to see these seedy streets teeming with families of tourists from around the world.
In fact, many have argued that these seedy streets draw as many if not more tourist gawkers (and their tourism euros) as they do actual customers who visit with an eye to purchasing services. This is what makes travel news out of the fact that the mayor's office is closing dozens of the infamous red light district "windows" in which lingerie-clad women advertise their wares.
The official line on the crackdown is that the neighborhood draws an unhealthy share of crime, from pickpocketing to money laundering. The local prostitutes -- who, under the Dutch system, are licensed, pay taxes, and receive free health services -- claim the officials are going after the easiest but least effective target, and that the real problems are the unlicensed brothels and street pimps which are attracting and abetting the auxiliary lawlessness.
I'm not taking sides.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: amsterdam
This daily blog has just experienced some of the deliberate manipulation that is often directed at "user-generated" websites
Funny thing happened when I recently ran a post on the publication of a current best-selling book about medical and dental tourism. Almost immediately, eight or nine responses came in from readers, all of them singing the praises of the plastic surgery of a certain Dr. Carlos in Leon, Mexico. On investigation, it appeared that one of Dr. Carlos' former patients had placed phone calls to several other of Dr. Carlos' former patients, urging them to send in responses to this blog praising the merits of Dr. Carlos. And all of them dutifully complied.
Isn't that an apt example of how "user-generated travel recommendations" can be manipulated? And isn't it naïve to assume that this is not happening, massively, on the most popular "user-generated" sites? Although our own site has now taken down the excessive tributes to Dr. Carlos, which stood out like a "sore thumb," how likely is it that the giant user-generated sites can do the same? How in the world can the creators of those sites distinguish between spontaneous, honest opinions and deliberate manipulation?
Write and read comments about this post.
Isn't that an apt example of how "user-generated travel recommendations" can be manipulated? And isn't it naïve to assume that this is not happening, massively, on the most popular "user-generated" sites? Although our own site has now taken down the excessive tributes to Dr. Carlos, which stood out like a "sore thumb," how likely is it that the giant user-generated sites can do the same? How in the world can the creators of those sites distinguish between spontaneous, honest opinions and deliberate manipulation?
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: websites
Oct 25, 2007
Some airlines are now trying to bilk their own frequent fliers
In case you missed my post on the subject back in May ("Attention, frequent flyers: you have big problems"), most airline frequent flier programs have begun instituting use-it-or-lose-it expiration dates on accrued miles. In some cases the deadline within which one must use miles has shrunk to a ridiculous 18 months. The financially strapped airline industry is understandably searching for ways to save money, but its seems to me that punishing their own most loyal customers by suddenly changing the rules of the relationship and revoking their frequent flier privileges may be entirely the wrong way to go about doing so.
Now at least one airline is compounding its actions with greed. A friend, who a few months ago saw more than 50,000 miles evaporate from her long-established US Airways account simply because she hadn't used them or earned more in the past 18 months, recently received an email from US Airways offering to reinstate those miles...for a price. It was entitled "Get your Dividend Miles back" and gave her three options.
Option 1: Sign up for a US. Airways credit or debit card, all but one of which carry and annual fee (and with the caveat that she would have to make a purchase with the card to get her miles back).
Option 2: Pay a service charge of $300.
Option 3: Purchase a ticket to fly First Class or Envoy Class on US Airways.
The kicker? The fine print on these offers to "reinstate" her miles carried yet another 18-month deadline.
Is this how airlines now reward loyalty? By taking away the rights and privileges their frequent fliers have earned and then holding them hostage with the promise to return them only in exchange either for a cash payment or for further shows of "loyalty." That's not customer appreciation. That's an abusive relationship. The airlines can do better.
Write and read comments about this post.
Now at least one airline is compounding its actions with greed. A friend, who a few months ago saw more than 50,000 miles evaporate from her long-established US Airways account simply because she hadn't used them or earned more in the past 18 months, recently received an email from US Airways offering to reinstate those miles...for a price. It was entitled "Get your Dividend Miles back" and gave her three options.
Option 1: Sign up for a US. Airways credit or debit card, all but one of which carry and annual fee (and with the caveat that she would have to make a purchase with the card to get her miles back).
Option 2: Pay a service charge of $300.
Option 3: Purchase a ticket to fly First Class or Envoy Class on US Airways.
The kicker? The fine print on these offers to "reinstate" her miles carried yet another 18-month deadline.
Is this how airlines now reward loyalty? By taking away the rights and privileges their frequent fliers have earned and then holding them hostage with the promise to return them only in exchange either for a cash payment or for further shows of "loyalty." That's not customer appreciation. That's an abusive relationship. The airlines can do better.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: airlines
It still pays to call a hotel directly when booking a room
It turns out that one old chestnut of a travel rule -- you will always get the best price by calling a hotel directly to book a room -- still holds true, even in this era of Web specials and so-called "lowest price guarantees " by online booking engines.
In an excellent piece of gumshoe travel journalism by Dion Lefler of the Wichita Eagle (www.kansas.com/news/story/200385.html), Dion has compiled the data to prove that hotel booking engines -- from Travelocity to Orbitz to CheapTIckets.com -- often add questionably high fees to the prices they charge for hotels.
Lefler found that even the booking engine's pre-tax "basic rates" were around $4.50 above the hotels' own "rack rates," the highest price you'd pay to book directly, before taking into account any discounts, low-season price drops, or sales. What's more, according to Lefler's research, taxes and fees pushed the booking engine's prices up to as much as $21.84 above the going rate. Add to this the fact that some booking engines charge taxes based on their total price of base rate plus fees, not on the base rate alone, which is all that is taxable by law.
Lefler also points out that when a booking engine shows a hotel as being "sold out," it doesn't mean there are no vacancies. It just means the booking engine has sold out its share of rooms.
In other words: caveat emptor. Online booking engines may make finding and booking a hotel easy, but it won't always be the cheapest way to get that room. Ever since chain hotels introduced toll-free numbers, I've counseled that you almost always get a better rate by calling the hotel directly. It seems that advice hasn't changed even in the dot.com age.
Write and read comments about this post.
In an excellent piece of gumshoe travel journalism by Dion Lefler of the Wichita Eagle (www.kansas.com/news/story/200385.html), Dion has compiled the data to prove that hotel booking engines -- from Travelocity to Orbitz to CheapTIckets.com -- often add questionably high fees to the prices they charge for hotels.
Lefler found that even the booking engine's pre-tax "basic rates" were around $4.50 above the hotels' own "rack rates," the highest price you'd pay to book directly, before taking into account any discounts, low-season price drops, or sales. What's more, according to Lefler's research, taxes and fees pushed the booking engine's prices up to as much as $21.84 above the going rate. Add to this the fact that some booking engines charge taxes based on their total price of base rate plus fees, not on the base rate alone, which is all that is taxable by law.
Lefler also points out that when a booking engine shows a hotel as being "sold out," it doesn't mean there are no vacancies. It just means the booking engine has sold out its share of rooms.
In other words: caveat emptor. Online booking engines may make finding and booking a hotel easy, but it won't always be the cheapest way to get that room. Ever since chain hotels introduced toll-free numbers, I've counseled that you almost always get a better rate by calling the hotel directly. It seems that advice hasn't changed even in the dot.com age.
Write and read comments about this post.
How you can obtain free-of-charge directory assistance from any telephone
In this age of the Internet, you can find pretty much any answer with Google. But what if you're on the road without a computer and need to find a phone number -- say to find that great restaurant your friend recommended, or the nearest Motel 6?
Once upon a time you could call directory assistance to get the number of any business for free. Then, in the 1990s, 411 started charging a modest fee of around 35¢. Now the charge for calling 411 has jumped to a ludicrous $1.25 to $3.49.
Enter 1-800-FREE-411 (tel. 800-373-3411; www.free411.com), a "free" directory assistance number. I call it "free" because there is a kind of cost: about 30 to 40 seconds of your time spent listening to brief ads, one before you ask for the listing and another before you get the number.
The system is not perfect. For one thing, the automated voice recognition software has a few bugs. I tested it by asking for the number of a favorite pizza parlor called "caserta vecchia." The automated system thought I had asked for "conservative party." A live operator came on to sort things out and I did get the proper number in the end. A test to find a residential number worked much better.
Write and read comments about this post.
Once upon a time you could call directory assistance to get the number of any business for free. Then, in the 1990s, 411 started charging a modest fee of around 35¢. Now the charge for calling 411 has jumped to a ludicrous $1.25 to $3.49.
Enter 1-800-FREE-411 (tel. 800-373-3411; www.free411.com), a "free" directory assistance number. I call it "free" because there is a kind of cost: about 30 to 40 seconds of your time spent listening to brief ads, one before you ask for the listing and another before you get the number.
The system is not perfect. For one thing, the automated voice recognition software has a few bugs. I tested it by asking for the number of a favorite pizza parlor called "caserta vecchia." The automated system thought I had asked for "conservative party." A live operator came on to sort things out and I did get the proper number in the end. A test to find a residential number worked much better.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: cellphones, tips
The prices plummet, and yet the partying picks up, during the month of December in New Orleans
For reasons hard to explain, travel slumps to Las Vegas in the month of December, and it does the same to New Orleans. But the Big Easy fights back by offering a program of hotel discounts known as "Papa Noel Rates" (Papa Noel being the Cajun equivalent of Santa Claus). These will be back this year, and in December it's possible to stay for well under $100 per night at fine hotels in New Orleans' most exciting neighborhoods.
The city's official tourism website, www.neworleansonline.com, lists 48 participating hotels, including 22 in the French Quarter. The Holiday Inn French Quarter, for one, located just a block from Bourbon Street, has free parking and promotional Papa Noel rates starting at just $69 per night throughout December. By comparison, a recent search for a random day in October revealed the hotel's best price was $120 a night. (Papa Noel rates must be booked directly with the hotel; call tel. 800/747-3279 or visit www.hi-frenchquarter.com for the Holiday Inn.)
Another excellent hotel brand, Hilton Garden Inn, offers special rates of $59 throughout December at two Big Easy locations: one near the convention center, the other on Gravier Street, two blocks from Bourbon Street (tel. 877/782-9444; www.hilton.com). Many boutique-style hotels are available for under $100, as are certain luxurious and historic properties. The InterContinental New Orleans has rooms for $99 (tel. 504/525-5566; www.new-orleans.intercontinental.com), and the four-diamond-rated Le Pavillon Hotel -- a member of Historic Hotels of America and Leading Hotels of the World -- starts at only $89 if there is availability (tel. 800/535-9095; www.lepavillon.com).
Add to those values the December advantages of a much less crowded French Quarter, uncrowded restaurants, uncrowded jazz clubs, and a speeded-up schedule of events. Famous Jackson Square hosts free concerts on Tuesdays and Wednesdays leading up to Christmas, with local choirs performing jazz and gospel starting at 6pm. A special candle-lit night of caroling takes place at Jackson Square on December 16; everyone attending receives a song sheet and a candle, free of charge.
For more on New Orleans during the winter holidays, contact French Quarter Festivals, Inc., at tel. 800/673-5725 or www.fqfi.org. The organization lists all sorts of happenings, including free cooking demonstrations by renowned area chefs, assorted concerts, tours, book signings, steamboat rides, and even a day for decorating gingerbread houses. For New Orleans, December is a top month.
Write and read comments about this post.
The city's official tourism website, www.neworleansonline.com, lists 48 participating hotels, including 22 in the French Quarter. The Holiday Inn French Quarter, for one, located just a block from Bourbon Street, has free parking and promotional Papa Noel rates starting at just $69 per night throughout December. By comparison, a recent search for a random day in October revealed the hotel's best price was $120 a night. (Papa Noel rates must be booked directly with the hotel; call tel. 800/747-3279 or visit www.hi-frenchquarter.com for the Holiday Inn.)
Another excellent hotel brand, Hilton Garden Inn, offers special rates of $59 throughout December at two Big Easy locations: one near the convention center, the other on Gravier Street, two blocks from Bourbon Street (tel. 877/782-9444; www.hilton.com). Many boutique-style hotels are available for under $100, as are certain luxurious and historic properties. The InterContinental New Orleans has rooms for $99 (tel. 504/525-5566; www.new-orleans.intercontinental.com), and the four-diamond-rated Le Pavillon Hotel -- a member of Historic Hotels of America and Leading Hotels of the World -- starts at only $89 if there is availability (tel. 800/535-9095; www.lepavillon.com).
Add to those values the December advantages of a much less crowded French Quarter, uncrowded restaurants, uncrowded jazz clubs, and a speeded-up schedule of events. Famous Jackson Square hosts free concerts on Tuesdays and Wednesdays leading up to Christmas, with local choirs performing jazz and gospel starting at 6pm. A special candle-lit night of caroling takes place at Jackson Square on December 16; everyone attending receives a song sheet and a candle, free of charge.
For more on New Orleans during the winter holidays, contact French Quarter Festivals, Inc., at tel. 800/673-5725 or www.fqfi.org. The organization lists all sorts of happenings, including free cooking demonstrations by renowned area chefs, assorted concerts, tours, book signings, steamboat rides, and even a day for decorating gingerbread houses. For New Orleans, December is a top month.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: new orleans
Oct 24, 2007
An autumn oddity: cheap RV rentals for drivers who will bring them from place to place
Each fall, RV rental companies need to move vehicles from "summer" pickup locations to "winter" rental spots. Rather than incurring the cost of shipping the vehicles around the country, the companies rent them to customers willing to do the driving -- and offer remarkably good prices for their cooperative efforts.
Through December 15, El Monte RV (tel. 888/337- 2214; www.elmonterv.com) is renting RVs at half price for the first seven days on certain itineraries, including trips from Vancouver to Los Angeles, from San Francisco to Las Vegas, and from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, or Dallas. The company throws in 500 or more miles free with the deal, and of course the usual one-way drop-off charge -- normally $300 and up -- is waived. Rates vary depending on RV model, but with the half-price reduction, customers can expect to pay around the same as for an SUV rental.
Cruise America (tel. 800/371-8042; www.cruiseamerica.com), another RV renter, arguably offers an even better relocation promotion. Through the early fall, it offered RV rentals at $24 per for drivers picking up vehicles at various spots throughout the country and dropping them off in the Phoenix area. Unfortunately, that promotion is all but sold out now. But the company has announced a new one-way deal for later in the fall. After refurbishing vehicles in Arizona, Cruise America needs drivers to bring them to various locations -- including Denver, Orlando, Salt Lake City, and the San Francisco Bay area -- and again is offering rates of $24 per day, provided drivers don't surpass the time and mileage constraints. (You're allowed nine days and 3,000 miles if heading from Phoenix to Orlando, for example.) The offer is good for RVs picked up after November 5. Be warned that taxes and fees are extra, and hefty charges can be the result of going above the allotted miles and time frame.
Write and read comments about this post.
Through December 15, El Monte RV (tel. 888/337- 2214; www.elmonterv.com) is renting RVs at half price for the first seven days on certain itineraries, including trips from Vancouver to Los Angeles, from San Francisco to Las Vegas, and from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, or Dallas. The company throws in 500 or more miles free with the deal, and of course the usual one-way drop-off charge -- normally $300 and up -- is waived. Rates vary depending on RV model, but with the half-price reduction, customers can expect to pay around the same as for an SUV rental.
Cruise America (tel. 800/371-8042; www.cruiseamerica.com), another RV renter, arguably offers an even better relocation promotion. Through the early fall, it offered RV rentals at $24 per for drivers picking up vehicles at various spots throughout the country and dropping them off in the Phoenix area. Unfortunately, that promotion is all but sold out now. But the company has announced a new one-way deal for later in the fall. After refurbishing vehicles in Arizona, Cruise America needs drivers to bring them to various locations -- including Denver, Orlando, Salt Lake City, and the San Francisco Bay area -- and again is offering rates of $24 per day, provided drivers don't surpass the time and mileage constraints. (You're allowed nine days and 3,000 miles if heading from Phoenix to Orlando, for example.) The offer is good for RVs picked up after November 5. Be warned that taxes and fees are extra, and hefty charges can be the result of going above the allotted miles and time frame.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: american west, roadtrip, rv
A tour of Italy's three greatest cities for $999, including round-trip airfare, is truly a remarkable deal
A friend who travels to Italy several times a year was recently lamenting that he was thinking of canceling a planned two-week trip because he simply didn't have the $2,500 he knew it would cost him.
That's why I'm happy to share the recent deeply discounted price of $999 for a six-night escorted motorcoach tour of Italy's highlights, visiting Rome, Florence, Venice, Pisa, and Assisi, and including round-trip airfare to Italy, presently offered by Gate 1 Travel (tel. 800/682-3333; www.gate1travel.com).
I'm not normally a fan of escorted motorcoach tours, and Italy is a country where you can easily travel independently. But if you have never been and are looking for an inexpensive way to get a quick taste of its major destinations, this guided tour may suit your needs.
The price of $999 (expect taxes and fees to add about $90) covers roundtrip air travel from New York to Venice and back from Rome to New York. But departures from other cities are available; for example, add $92 for Boston, $123 for Chicago, $210 for Miami, or $238 for L.A.
In addition to round-trip airfare, the price also covers two nights each in Venice (in a hotel on the Grand Canal), Florence (overlooking the Arno River a few blocks from the historic center), and Rome (in a hotel on Via Cavour, a short stroll from the Forum and Colosseum), breakfast daily, and bus transfers from city to city. Traveling by motorcoach has the added benefit that it can include pauses at Pisa to see (but not climb) the Leaning Tower and its surrounding sights, and at Assisi to tour the Basilica di San Francesco. Two things this low price does not cover are airport transfers or the optional sightseeing tours (except in Pisa and Assisi).
There are, of course, catches. The price is available only on a handful of winter departures early next year: Jan 12 and 19, and Feb 9, 16, and 23. You must also act fast and book by Oct. 31. Also note that you have to use the coupon code TZVFR200 when calling or performing an online booking to bring the list price of $1,999 down to $999.
Write and read comments about this post.
That's why I'm happy to share the recent deeply discounted price of $999 for a six-night escorted motorcoach tour of Italy's highlights, visiting Rome, Florence, Venice, Pisa, and Assisi, and including round-trip airfare to Italy, presently offered by Gate 1 Travel (tel. 800/682-3333; www.gate1travel.com).
I'm not normally a fan of escorted motorcoach tours, and Italy is a country where you can easily travel independently. But if you have never been and are looking for an inexpensive way to get a quick taste of its major destinations, this guided tour may suit your needs.
The price of $999 (expect taxes and fees to add about $90) covers roundtrip air travel from New York to Venice and back from Rome to New York. But departures from other cities are available; for example, add $92 for Boston, $123 for Chicago, $210 for Miami, or $238 for L.A.
In addition to round-trip airfare, the price also covers two nights each in Venice (in a hotel on the Grand Canal), Florence (overlooking the Arno River a few blocks from the historic center), and Rome (in a hotel on Via Cavour, a short stroll from the Forum and Colosseum), breakfast daily, and bus transfers from city to city. Traveling by motorcoach has the added benefit that it can include pauses at Pisa to see (but not climb) the Leaning Tower and its surrounding sights, and at Assisi to tour the Basilica di San Francesco. Two things this low price does not cover are airport transfers or the optional sightseeing tours (except in Pisa and Assisi).
There are, of course, catches. The price is available only on a handful of winter departures early next year: Jan 12 and 19, and Feb 9, 16, and 23. You must also act fast and book by Oct. 31. Also note that you have to use the coupon code TZVFR200 when calling or performing an online booking to bring the list price of $1,999 down to $999.
Write and read comments about this post.
Here's a site devoted to German-Americans to help them research their roots and plan a heritage-themed trip to Germany
Just in time for Octoberfest (it's over now), the German National Tourism Office inaugurated a new Web site -- www.germanoriginality.com -- aimed at the largest (but rarely singled-out) ethnic group in America, the some 42.8 million Americans who are of German descent. The first German-Americans were among the settlers of the Jamestown colony 400 years ago, and today some 15 percent of Americans have some German in them. As so-called "roots tourism" grows, sites such as this can prove invaluable to travelers wishing to discover "the Olde Country" whence their parents or grandparents came.
The site covers a variety of heritage sites in Germany (museums, moments, and memorials), tells the story of German emigration, contains briefs on more than 50 German destinations, most with a focus on emigration, lists famous German Americans from Dr. Seuss to Hugo Boss, provides links to genealogical research tools, and is interlinked with the general tourism site to help you plan a trip to Germany.
If nothing else, it is a fantastic cultural resource from which you can learn as much about America as you can about Germany. For example, did you know the Easter bunny is German? The story first showed up in German literature in the 16th century; edible Easter bunnies and baskets of colorful eggs followed in the 1800s.
The site also contains entertaining essays on many aspects of German culture -- besides the Easter bunny -- that have been incorporated into the American experience, from basic vocabulary (pretzel, kindergarten, poltergeist) to Christmas traditions (Christmas trees, of course, but also gingerbread houses, nutcrackers, Advent calendars, and most of the best carols: "Away in a Manger," "O Christmas Tree," "Silent Night," and others).
Write and read comments about this post.
The site covers a variety of heritage sites in Germany (museums, moments, and memorials), tells the story of German emigration, contains briefs on more than 50 German destinations, most with a focus on emigration, lists famous German Americans from Dr. Seuss to Hugo Boss, provides links to genealogical research tools, and is interlinked with the general tourism site to help you plan a trip to Germany.
If nothing else, it is a fantastic cultural resource from which you can learn as much about America as you can about Germany. For example, did you know the Easter bunny is German? The story first showed up in German literature in the 16th century; edible Easter bunnies and baskets of colorful eggs followed in the 1800s.
The site also contains entertaining essays on many aspects of German culture -- besides the Easter bunny -- that have been incorporated into the American experience, from basic vocabulary (pretzel, kindergarten, poltergeist) to Christmas traditions (Christmas trees, of course, but also gingerbread houses, nutcrackers, Advent calendars, and most of the best carols: "Away in a Manger," "O Christmas Tree," "Silent Night," and others).
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: genealogy, germany, websites
Oct 23, 2007
The main reason we travel is to encounter the new and the different, so why do giant new cruiseships try to make the experience so familiar?
In a recent post entitled What's it like to cruise on one of those new ships carrying 3,000 passengers and more?" I expressed the puzzlement I feel as to why anyone would opt to vacation on the new mega-ships resembling giant Las Vegas casino-hotels. A reader agreed with that view, and responded with language so apt, that I feel compelled to re-print her comment here:
Write and read comments about this post.
Why would someone spend money to be on a boat so vast that you don't even feel like you're at sea--and in fact, with so many amenities, activities and perks that are similar to what you could get in Vegas or at an all-inclusive land resort?Travel for the purpose of experiencing "something new, daring, unfamiliar and completely different from what I know." Isn't that the main point of travel?
This is the ocean version of an all-inclusive, escorted tour on land--tourists with their hands held the entire time they're visiting a region... ALL activities provided for them... driving around in gigantic air-conditioned tour buses that keep them 'safe' from the 'unwashed locals', the 'unusual smells', and the 'scary unknown experiences.'
I can understand some travelers' need to 'get away from it all' and to have everything taken care of for them, especially when they come from lives and professions where they must make choices, chances, decisions every day. I, too, love the concept of getting away and sometimes crave the personal massages, 4-star dining, and the hotel's attention to details (especially during particularly stressful days at the office.) But in sharp contrast, I also want travel to be an EXPERIENCE of something new, daring, unfamiliar and completely different from what I know... and I want to be THRUST into it! What's the point of traveling, be it by land or sea, if you're going to be involved in the fake, safe, dare I say, near Disneylandian version of another country or region? Or worse -- escape to an Americanized, commercialized, consumerized, sterilized, flashy, excessive, familiar, superficial and artificial getaway where your hard-earned dollars give you more of what you already know--but with a mint on your pillow, a brochure in your hand, and more thinly veiled 'opportunities' to take more of your hard-earned cash with a wink and a smile... for really not much else in return?
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: cruise
In looking for a cheap airfare, hotel or car rental, it always pays to seek out the foreign version of several travel search engines
It's not an original observation on my part -- several commentators have written about the tactic I'm about to discuss -- but the point is so important that it bears repeating. When you use an internet search engine, it pays to look not simply at the U.S./international version -- the one that ends in ."com," such as Expedia.com or Hertz.com -- but also the foreign versions of those websites set up for residents of the country to which you're traveling -- like www.expedia.fr in France, or www.hertz.es in Spain, or www.travelocity.com.au in Australia.Because travel is priced differently for different markets, the savings can be substantial -- and can result in a major reduction off the price quoted to you by the ."com" version of the site. The technique is fraught with difficulties, however, as some sites have a built-in blocker that keeps anyone who is not a resident of a particular country from buying through that country's version of the site (they usually verify this by the mailing address for your credit card).
Still, shopping around never hurts, and it always pays to know the lowest price out there. In some cases, you may discover that it would behoove you to wait until you arrive in a country, visit a travel agent (often clustered in and around major train stations), and have them book for you the low, low price available only in that country. The marginal fee they might charge can be more than worth it.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: websites
Oct 22, 2007
October 28 is (currently) the last date for booking the bargain of the decade, a round-trip price of $319 between New York and Rome, Italy
In a post of several days ago, I revealed an offer from Eurofly (www.euroflyusa.com), the trans-Atlantic Italian carrier, of a price of $319 for a round-trip trans-Atlantic crossing between New York and Rome, Italy, on Friday and Sunday flights between October 22, 2007 and March 14, 2008. Because the rate includes the now-customary fuel surcharge, it is undoubtedly the lowest price for a trans-Atlantic crossing in travel today, and offers a remarkable travel opportunity. The south of Italy enjoys mild weather for most of the fall and winter, and Rome itself is a delight to tour in those months of low tourism and un-crowded attractions.
Write and read comments about this post.
Write and read comments about this post.
France's programs of municipal bike rentals is spreading through the continent, and deserves attention from our own city officials
Though no U.S. mayor has yet suggested the same for downtown areas in America, the system of short-term municipal bike rentals launched in Paris several months ago, has now spread to multiple cities in Europe. In Seville, Spain, two weeks ago, I came upon a cluster of bike stations into which you inserted a credit card and thereupon obtained a bike to use for one or more hours. When you are finished with the bike, you take it to another cluster of bike stations, lock it to a modern-day hitching post, and your credit card is wiped clean of a $200 deposit needed to insure return of the bike. Obviously, multiple cities in Europe have now followed Paris' lead.
It's a fascinating new departure in municipal transportation, and last week Mayor Mike Bloomberg of New York City inspected one such cluster of bikes-for-hire in Paris, indicating that New York officials were looking into the possibility -- still fairly remote -- of emulating them in Gotham. Much more is required than simply installing metal stands for each such bike; clearly, a city needs traffic lanes reserved for bikers, of the sort that I saw in Seville.
But if your city would benefit from a similar system, enabling people easily and conveniently to make their way about the central area, you really should suggest that municipal officials contact Paris' city hall for information about the outcome of this interesting experiment.
Incidentally, the Paris system is now available to tourists visiting the city, as a result of a recent agreement honoring standard American Express credit cards as valid to use for such rentals. Prior to that agreement, only a credit card containing a chip in widespread use in Europe, not America, would work on the system, but this limitation has now been overcome. As of now, tourists to Paris are making a good use of the bike rental facility.
Write and read comments about this post.
It's a fascinating new departure in municipal transportation, and last week Mayor Mike Bloomberg of New York City inspected one such cluster of bikes-for-hire in Paris, indicating that New York officials were looking into the possibility -- still fairly remote -- of emulating them in Gotham. Much more is required than simply installing metal stands for each such bike; clearly, a city needs traffic lanes reserved for bikers, of the sort that I saw in Seville.
But if your city would benefit from a similar system, enabling people easily and conveniently to make their way about the central area, you really should suggest that municipal officials contact Paris' city hall for information about the outcome of this interesting experiment.
Incidentally, the Paris system is now available to tourists visiting the city, as a result of a recent agreement honoring standard American Express credit cards as valid to use for such rentals. Prior to that agreement, only a credit card containing a chip in widespread use in Europe, not America, would work on the system, but this limitation has now been overcome. As of now, tourists to Paris are making a good use of the bike rental facility.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: active, cycling, paris
When it comes to giddy journalism about super-elegant travel, The New York Times ranks high
Although less than 5% of the American population is able to afford the ultra-luxurious travel lifestyle described by publications like Travel + Leisure or Condé Nast Travel, our friends at the Sunday travel section of The New York Times continue to imitate those worshipers of wealth and join in their ecstatic applause for the travel expenditures of various playboys. In its October 7 issue, the Times starts its coverage for the week (page 2) with breathless reviews of the opening of a new luxury resort in Bali whose room rates start at $400 a night, and of the new MGM Grand in Detroit charging a more sensible $300 a night and up. Then, in an article about how European travel in autumn costs less than in summer, Michelle Higgins cites as her key examples the fact that in the autumn, the Four Seasons Hotel in Prague reduces its room rates to $345, while the Ritz Carlton in Berlin charges only $320 a room. What a revelation!
It gets worse. In its next issue (October 14), the Times runs an article on traveling to Sao Paulo, Brazil, commercial capital of a nation where as many as 40 per cent of the population lives in poverty. What should a traveler see and do in Sao Paulo? Seth Kugel answers as follows in the first paragraph of his article:
Are there no grown-ups on the travel staff of The New York Times? Is there no senior editor to call a meeting of its junior writers to discuss what is and what isn't of relevance to average-income Americans?
Write and read comments about this post.
It gets worse. In its next issue (October 14), the Times runs an article on traveling to Sao Paulo, Brazil, commercial capital of a nation where as many as 40 per cent of the population lives in poverty. What should a traveler see and do in Sao Paulo? Seth Kugel answers as follows in the first paragraph of his article:
Sip caipirinhas at a glamorous bar surrounded by the city's upper crust, accessorized with $10,000 Panerai watches on one arm and a fashion model on the other. Shop at obscenely luxurious stores like Daslu, a boutique so exclusive that customers often arrive by helicopter. Or sit in a café on Oscar Freire Street and watch the rich and the beautiful pass by.Later in the article, Kugel cites three hotels for one's lodgings in San Paulo, of which the first, the Unique Hotel, charges $430 per room, while his second choice, the Fasano Hotel, charges $440. In Brazil!
Are there no grown-ups on the travel staff of The New York Times? Is there no senior editor to call a meeting of its junior writers to discuss what is and what isn't of relevance to average-income Americans?
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: travel guides
Those "card-mills" selling I.D.'s to phony travel agents (members of the public looking for discounts on travel) are experiencing rough weather
I've written before about the "card mills," the "multi-level marketing companies" selling pyramid-like schemes that appoint members of the public to be supposed travel agents supplied with an I.D. that will enable them to book flights, hotels and cruises at big reductions. This week, one of the largest cruiselines suddenly disenfranchised YTB Travel Network, one of the largest of these card-issuing companies (YTB denies that it is a "card mill"), announcing that they would no longer give a penny's discount to people showing up with such I.D.'s. The action has been applauded by various travel trade groups, and to the extent that any big airline, hotel chain or cruiseline is still recognizing the credentials of such companies (and very few of them are), the practice is about to end.
So don't be a sucker. Don't pay out big sums to obtain a card stating that you are a travel agent. The only person benefiting from such cards is the person selling them.
Write and read comments about this post.
So don't be a sucker. Don't pay out big sums to obtain a card stating that you are a travel agent. The only person benefiting from such cards is the person selling them.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: scams
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
