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Arthur Frommer Online

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

In an Unusual Move, Princess Cruises Develops New Musicals with the Writer of "Wicked" and "Godspell"

There's a Broadway arms race raging in cruise ship entertainment. It started nearly a decade ago when Norwegian mounted a chopped-down version of the lesser-known musical Smokey…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Norwegian Airlines is Fast Emerging as an Acceptable Option for Flying at Low Cost to Europe

If you have recently sought to buy tickets for a transatlantic flight—let's say, to London or Paris or Rome—you are probably still reeling from the impact of the news you…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Several Well-Financed Firms Have Now Gone into Competition with Airbnb, Supplying You with Alternatives for Renting Low-Cost Apartments

By now, Airbnb.com has become a "household word" in travel. Most Americans are aware that the bearer of that name is today valued at billions of dollars, and that its…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Hotel Bait and Switch: Throttled Internet is Unethical, So Why Aren't People Angrier?

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Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The One-Percenting of Disney: Who Loses, Who Wins

Every few months, American news outlets erupt with a new round of rueful Disney coverage. Every spring, admission ticket prices shoot skyward, and this week, it hiked its annual…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Gifts You Should Give Yourself This Holiday Travel Season

In the next couple of months, most of us will be spending a lot of time in stores, and online, shopping for gifts for our loved ones. If you’re going to be traveling to give those…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Have Airlines Deliberately Made Flying Uncomfortable in Order to Collect Extra Fees?

Fees for "priority boarding" of the planes. Fees for extra legroom. Fees for wider seats. Fees for choosing seats. Fees for snacks served aboard. Fees for checking luggage.  Fees for…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

A Sharp Reduction in the Number of Important, Independently Owned Travel Websites is Threatening to Harm the Quality of Their Advice

Based on the ground-breaking research and analysis of travel expert Reid Bramblett, I recently wrote in these blogs about the shocking consolidation of what used to be three large…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Though Not the Equivalent of Maho Bay Camps, Concordia Eco Resort is an Adequate Substitute for Ecologically Minded Vacationers

For some 30 years, the world's most ecologically sensitive vacation resort has been Maho Bay Camps on the exquisite but lightly developed island of St.…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Death By Selfie: The Dangers of Taking Too Many Selfies While Traveling

With every technological advance, there’s also a step backward…and sometimes that step can be a fatal one, in the case of selfies. The modern smartphone, with its ability to not…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Two Little-Known Upstarts—WOW Airlines of Iceland and Norwegian Air of Scandinavia—Are Currently Offering Bargain Rates for Off-Season Crossings of the Atlantic

We are about to reach the slowest days of the European off-season, which starts as we approach the month of November and continues until mid-March.  It is then that European…

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Meteorologists Predict Changing Weather Will Make This Year's Fall Foliage Different

First the bad news: leaf-peeping along North America’s eastern seaboard, and in the inland areas of New England, may not be quite as vivid an event as it usually is in 2015.…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Driver Licences From Four U.S. States May No Longer Be Accepted As I.D. at Airports in 2016

And those states are: New York, New Hampshire, Louisiana, and Minnesota.In December of 2014, the first phase of the Real ID Act from Congress and the Department of Homeland…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

As Travel Destinations Jockey for Position, It Becomes Necessary Periodically to Revise Our List of 10 Favorites

Which, currently, are the ten-or-so most-promising  destinations for your own next vacation?  Though any such list is unusually subjective (to put it mildly), I'm willing…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Colonial Williamsburg, in Virginia, Comes Close to Being an Indispensable Place to Visit for Americans of All Ages

Travel is a constant process of self-education.  As we visit more and more destinations, we adopt new favorites, replace former cities and resorts with new and more…

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A New App Promises to Make Travel More Safe for Solo Vacationers

Men and women travel differently. And that’s not a comment on shopping habits or boozy pub crawls. For women, especially solo travelers, safety is always front of mind,…

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International Airfare Wars Make It Much Cheaper to Vacation Abroad This Fall and Winter

I reported roughly a week ago that airfares for the summer took a sharp dip; and that experts were predicting that fall fares would also be low.Sometimes it's sweet to be…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Advance Reading is the Key to a Successful International Trip; Failure to Prepare via Reading is to Virtually Guarantee Disappointment

If you arrive overseas without any foreknowledge of the history, culture or politics of the country you are visiting, you are bound to have the most superficial…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

In Addition to Sampling the Cultural Riches of Europe, The Smart Tourist Will Cast An Eye at The Fairly Uniform Social Legislation Adopted by Nearly Every Country on the Continent

The overwhelming number of tourists to Western Europe go there with cultural visits in mind. For Europe itself is like a vast, open-air museum--a treasure house, first, of art,…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

A Strong U.S. Dollar Means Transformation (For the Better) of the American Travel Experience in Many Countries

Contrary to the predictions of numerous conservative politicians who felt that the Administration's policies would weaken the dollar, the exact opposite has occurred: The U.S.…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The Sky Isn't Falling But Airfares Are: Air Pricing Sees the Biggest One-Month Drop in 20 Years

For months, the second most popular travel question that's been lobbed my way (after "is X, Y or Z safe?") has been: "Why, with the cost of gas so low, haven't airfares…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

In the Wake of China's Recent Devaluation of its Currency, Get Ready for Cheaper Prices than Ever for an Air-Included Trip

Having attempted unsuccessfully to contact the top executives at America's several leading tour operators to China, I've concluded that they are all on the way to China…

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Massive Changes at Disney Parks: Two 14-Acre Star Wars Lands and Toy Story Land Coming, and More

Two of the biggest tourist attractions in the world are about to see extreme changes. Disney Parks has announced that it is planning two epic Star Wars-themed expansions for…

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In Summer, The World of Travel Continues to Change in Small but Significant Ways

New travel developments are rare in the summer months, as travel hits peak traffic, but if anything is new and significant it's the awesome number of Americans choosing…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Herewith: A Number of Additional Observations on Important, Current Opportunities in Travel

Galleria Vittoria Emanuele, Milan, ItalyIf you haven't yet made your summer/fall vacation plans, you might want to note that a sort of world's fair will continue operating…