Since Disney's Latest Decision to Raise Ticket Prices Will Obviously Bar Entrance to Children of the Poor, Shouldn't We Use Public Pressure to Create an Exception for Low-Income Families?
Posted on 03/01/2016, 6:00 PM
Photo credit: Disneyland Resort Why am I so upset about the recent increase in admission prices at the Disney theme parks in Orlando and Anaheim? As you read on this blog, that organization has adopted a form of "surge pricing", increasing its already-high one-day ticket prices by about 20% on weekends and during periods of high demand. The result is that some parents bringing ...
Disney Parks Now Charge Up to 20% More If It's Busy—Tickets Cost Up to $124 a Day!
Posted on 02/28/2016, 2:15 PM
Early this month, I reported that Universal Studios Hollywood would charge less for quiet days for guests who booked ahead online, and I predicted that it was only a matter of time before Disney followed suit and simply charged you more to go during popular times. Today, Disney followed Universal's lead. Except where Universal's plan shows customers when they can save money, Disney's ann...
"Wild By Nature"—A Compelling New Travel Memoir—Upends Expectations
Posted on 02/23/2016, 3:30 PM
As a professional travel writer, I periodically have to deal with one of the hazards of my profession. It has nothing to do with airport security, or brain eating larvae. No, because of my work, I’m often required to read the latest travel memoirs. That may not sound like a hazard, or even a chore, but so many fall into the same pattern that it certainly can be a big bore. You open up the...
The Possibility That Those Extra Tall Cruise Ships May Be Top-Heavy Is Given Credence by the Reported 40%-to-45% Listing of the Anthem of the Seas
Posted on 02/22/2016, 11:45 PM
Several years ago, a modern cruise ship—one of those vessels with ten or more decks soaring high into the sky above sea level—was being steered by a junior officer who proceeded to make too sharp a turn. The ship keeled over to such an extent that passengers in a dining room were almost thrown off their chairs. The ship came close to capsizing (but didn't). At the time, I ven...
Unless a Strong Public Protest Stops Him, A First-Term Congressman is About to Abolish a Requirement for Honest Travel Advertising
Posted on 02/18/2016, 12:45 PM
A very junior, Tea Party congressman, Carlos Curbelo, representing a district in Miami/Dade County, has used his position on a transportation committee to insert an amendment into the annual authorization of funds for the Federal Aviation Authority. The amendment would eliminate the requirement that airlines and tour operators include government taxes and fees in the airfares they adve...
Tickets to Be Required To Enter Cinque Terre, Italy's Most Overloved Region
Posted on 02/17/2016, 7:30 PM
From a distance the sight is idyllic: five cliff-hanging fishing villages, their buildings painted colors usually reserved for blush and lemonade, the dazzling blue Mediterranean sparkling in the background, view-rich hiking trails leading visitors from one burg to the next. But step on the cobblestoned streets of Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, or Riomaggiore, and you'll en...
The Startling Plunge in the Value of the Mexican Peso Has Created a Vacation Destination Too Favorable to Ignore
Posted on 02/16/2016, 12:15 PM
San Miguel de Allende Too little attention has been paid to the enormous recent drop in the value of the Mexican peso--and to the favorable impact this has for American vacationers. While most travel commentators have focused on shifts in the value of European and Asian currencies, hardly anyone has written about the near-40% decline in the Mexican peso that has occurred within the pa...
The Budget-Priced Norwegian Airlines Continues to Disturb the Placid World of Long-Range Airfares with New Discounts, New Bargains
Posted on 02/11/2016, 11:45 PM
Though most avid travelers have already heard of Norwegian Airlines, that new. budget-priced, trans-Atlantic carrier, they haven't heard the most of it. Seemingly every week, Norwegian is announcing new initiatives that make it an ever-larger player in the world of aviation. The latest announcement: a new "base" in Rome, Italy, that will give Norwegian numerous new low-priced iti...
Their Sailings Sold at Major Discounts, the River Cruise Industry is Apparently Overbuilt With Too Many Ships
Posted on 02/11/2016, 11:30 PM
River cruises are perhaps the hottest current topic in travel, and you will find countless articles about them in newspaper travel sections, travel magazines and travel websites. But what you won't find, in my view, is a subtext: that river cruise boats are currently overbuilt, leading to an unprecedented number of discounts offered to the public by the river cruise ind...
Which City Has the Most Expensive Hotel Rates (and the Cheapest)? A New Study Tells
Posted on 02/09/2016, 5:00 PM
HRS, a Germany-based digital company that works in hotel reservations systems, has released the results of a new study that calls out the cities with the most expensive hotels. The exact methodology of the study was not revealed, but HRS represents a quarter million hotels around the world, so its results could be taken as a fair snapshot of the current international pricing situation. B...
