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Families With Children Are Now Being Welcomed Aboard (Some) River Cruise Ships

By Arthur Frommer

Posted on 10/19/2016, 7:30 PM

The evidence is fast accumulating that the number of river cruiseships is now more than equal to the demand for river cruises. Accordingly, several of the river cruiselines are devising new lures to fill their ships, and one such tactic is to throw overboard the once-widely-held belief that families with children would not be permitted on river cruiseships. Certainly, families traveling with ...

The Strange Case of the Expired Passport....

By Arthur Frommer

Posted on 10/19/2016, 7:15 PM

There was once a time when Americans traveling to and from Canada could do so with little advance preparation other than a hotel reservation. Almost any form of identification would be sufficient to cross the border into Canada and then later to return to the United States. So it was with upset and anxiety that my wife and I recently learned we might not be able to board a cruise ship leaving...

Gigantic Cruise Ships Need a Different Approach

By Arthur Frommer

Posted on 10/19/2016, 7:15 PM

(photo: Royal Caribbean) The constant growth in the size of cruise ships—of which some now carry 6,000 passengers—has forced the cruise lines (and not simply the cruise passengers) to adopt a wholly different set of tactics and policies. And sometimes, these new experiments in cruising have failed miserably—as Royal Caribbean Cruisline recently discovered. When Royal Caribbean discov...

How You Book Rail Is About to Change

By Pauline Frommer

Posted on 10/04/2016, 12:15 PM

Train travel is a $300 billion market. Globally, more than twice as much was invested in high speed rail as it was in air transportation last year. And that’s how it should be. The world’s roads can’t keep up with population swells that are swamping them with cars. Our climate, too, needs some TLC, and rail is an infinitely greener mode of transportation than any other (with the exception of...

Its Currency Selling at Unprecedented Low Levels, Its Drug-Related Violence Subdued, Mexico is Positioned to Enjoy Heavy American Tourism this Coming Winter

By Arthur Frommer

Posted on 09/30/2016, 6:15 PM

There no longer seems any doubt that the Zika scare has wrought havoc with tourism to Florida. In a study conducted by Allianz Travel Insurance, advance air bookings for the coming winter to the entire state of Florida are down by 15 percent. And bookings for specific resort cities in Florida are down by a devastating 29 percent to Miami, 32 percent to Tampa, and 15 percent to Palm Beach. S...

Though the Timid Tourist is Frightened by a Number of Adverse Travel Conditions, the Value of the U.S. Dollar is Not One of Them. The Dollar is Today Unusually Strong

By Arthur Frommer

Posted on 09/30/2016, 6:00 PM

Perhaps the biggest travel news of the current season is that the U.S. currency remains unusually strong against virtually every other currency. When you travel abroad in the coming months, you will enjoy lower costs at your destination for everything you buy, thanks to a mighty dollar. While the dollar's strength may have adverse consequences for American companies that manufacture goods for e...

A New Hotel Booking Engine Emerges for the "Text Only" Crowd

By Pauline Frommer

Posted on 09/29/2016, 12:00 PM

Today, more than ever, the medium is the message….as much as the message itself. If you have a friend (or child) who refuses to talk on the phone, but wants to have every interaction by text, you’ll know what I mean. We are a people who are being conditioned to strongly prefer some styles of communication over others. So it should come as no surprise that the booking process for hotels has n...

Depending on Whether Authorities Have Reduced the Threat of Zika, Florida Might Otherwise be an Unusually Favorable Destination for Your Winter Vacation

By Arthur Frommer

Posted on 09/22/2016, 12:15 PM

Florida is feeling wild this year. No state has had worse recent luck than Florida in attracting tourism, and that might create better conditions for your own trip there. First you had the terrorist attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Then you had Hurricane Hermine. In between was the devastating announcement that Zika infections had been discovered in the Wynwood Arts District o...

Here are Four Important Travel Questions and the Answers to Them Supplied by Noted Travel Writers

By Arthur Frommer

Posted on 09/20/2016, 2:00 PM

In Iceland, the rush is on Why is Iceland booming? (Booming, that is, in incoming tourism.) Though the figures aren't official, estimates of the growth in its visitors this year are well over 100%. Why? According to a commentator in an important travel trade magazine, it's partly because new Icelandair flights there have been added from Chicago, and Chicagoans are filling...

The Current Autumn Season is the Best Possible Time to Enjoy Bargains on Cruises and Tropical Packages

By Arthur Frommer

Posted on 09/20/2016, 1:45 PM

Holland America Line's Veendam We are now in a time for travel when everything costs less than it usually does. That's because from now until Christmas, travel slumps. The autumn is when cruises, flights, and hotel rooms are so lightly booked that their owners get frantic and slash the price to fill those cruises, flights, and rooms. Nothing better illustrates this patt...

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