To Go or Not to Go—That is The Question (Confronting Americans Curious About Vacation Trips to Iran)
Posted on 07/22/2015, 6:30 PM
Tehran, Iran As recently as three weeks ago, only a small number of Americans were planning to make a trip to controversial Iran. Today, the phones of tour operators going there are ringing off the hook with potential passengers, following the agreement that releases economic sanctions against Iran in return for a halt in their nuclear development. Relations between Iran and the U...
Airbnb Now Recruiting Professional Vacation Home Companies—Is it Moving Away from the "Sharing Economy"?
Posted on 07/21/2015, 2:45 PM
Airbnb search results in Florida displaying two properties not by homeowners but by established companies This summer, Airbnb began slipping a new type of homes into its search results: Ones resulting from a partnership with professional home rental companies, not ones offered by everyday citizens with an extra room to rent. In what could be viewed as a departure from its original ma...
A New and Revamped Version of Condé Nast Traveler is Obviously Written for the Top One-Tenth of One Percent
Posted on 07/16/2015, 12:15 PM
In the waiting room of my favorite barber shop, a stack of magazines always includes the latest edition of Condé Nast Traveler. It is thus that I am able to read a periodical that I would never dream of buying. I harbor an animus to that elegant journal because of its slavish devotion to the travel interests of the undeserving, fashion-conscious rich. I long ago concluded that its articles w...
A La Carte Cruise Pricing To Become Even More A La Carte, At Least on Norwegian Cruise Lines
Posted on 07/15/2015, 4:45 PM
Start boning up on your math. You're going to need those calculating skills to determine which cruise vacation will now have the overall highest costs. I reported last week that Celebrity Cruises was drastically changing its pricing structure for all sailings through spring of 2017. Today, Norwegian dropped a bombshell of its own. It will be charging by the item at some of its a la carte re...
The New York Times Recommends a Honeymoon Hotel Without Once Mentioning It Charges $1,600 a Night Per Room
Posted on 07/14/2015, 8:30 AM
The travel sections of several leading American newspapers seem to engage in an alternating pattern of reality/non-reality. For months on end, they devote their pages to recommending ultra-deluxe hotels that no normal American could possibly afford, and then--when called out by critics--they spend a week or two on realistic expenditures before reverting to their normal, desired areas o...
War is Brewing Over the Queen Mary: Petition Alleging Mismanagement is Launched
Posted on 07/13/2015, 9:00 PM
The condition of the Third Class Dining Room, now used as chair storage, courtesy of RMS Queen Mary Facebook Community The RMS Queen Mary is a rare artifact from the golden era of transoceanic liner travel. It was launched in 1936, quickly set speed records, and for more than three decades, it crisscrossed the Atlantic Ocean, delivering passengers to the United States and the United Kingdo...
Carnival Cruises Announces It Will Be the First Major Cruise Line to Head from the United States to Cuba
Posted on 07/07/2015, 9:15 AM
Though I'm not sure how pleased I am that Cubans first up-close view of contemporary American culture will be the sight of a gaudy Carnival Cruise Ship floating into their harbor, the fact that licenses are FINALLY being given for the operation of cruises from the mainland of the United States to Cuba is, without a doubt, a huge victory. It comes on the heels of JetBlue starting its first regul...
Are Cruises Becoming All-Inclusive? Kinda. Sorta. Maybe.
Posted on 07/06/2015, 8:30 PM
While those who head to sea are no longer afflicted by rickets (too many citrus fruits on the buffet for that), they do sometimes have to handle noroviruses, seasickness, and that most invidious of miseries: the feeling of being “nickled and dimed” to death. But that may be about to change, thanks to a new program being instituted by Celebrity Cruises. Is this good news for travelers? You ju...
The Alamo in San Antonio Wins UNESCO Status, And It Couldn't Come at a More Embarrassing Time
Posted on 07/05/2015, 4:45 PM
The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, has just been inscribed with one of the most prestigious designations in international tourism: It and the four other San Antonio Missions now comprise a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's only the 23rd such site in the United States and the first for Texas. The Alamo, if you don't remember your grammar school history, was the place where American settlers ...
We Can All Aid the Suffering People of Greece by Including a Trip There On Our Next European Vacation
Posted on 07/03/2015, 12:45 PM
Whatever is the eventual, long-term outcome of the long dispute between the nation of Greece and the European bankers who hold its debt, one thing is clear: the Greek people are in for a hard time. Their per capita incomes, their pensions and retirement savings, their standards of living, are all bound to be cut. And this is happening to a noble people who achieved victories against the pro-...
