A Modest Proposal: Why Not Simply Dock Those Giant New Cruise Ships to a Fixed Position in Their Port City, Never to Go to Sea?
Posted on 02/27/2015, 1:15 PM
The publicity machine of Royal Caribbean Cruises is currently churning out all sorts of exciting press releases about their brand-new, 5,500-passenger, mega-ship called the Harmony of the Seas, that will go into service in 2016. The humongous vessel will have every conceivable device to entertain its passengers: three lengthy water slides along its top deck. Six differ...
The Sometimes Hokey, But Still Potent, Charms of Monterey, California
Posted on 02/24/2015, 2:00 PM
The towns along the California coastline are somewhat like that line-up of starlets that was featured in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “That’s Entertainment” movies. Each one is supernaturally gorgeous, and with a kicky spirit to boot. They’re blessed with golden beaches, towering cliffs, quirky boutiques and gourmet eateries. Big Sur has its overabundance of nature sites, a surfeit of celebrities (hey...
As Disney World Tickets Break $100, There Are Signs Disney Vacations Are Now Only for the Rich
Posted on 02/22/2015, 1:30 PM
Disney raises its prices every year in advance of the big school holidays, and this year, its price hike has broken a barrier that seems impossible. As of today, a single day at the Magic Kingdom in Orlando now costs $105 plus tax. That's a 6% hike over the previous rate. The per-day price goes down if you buy more than one day of tickets, but of course, the total amount paid goes higher, ...
A Major Celebration in San Diego Makes It the Californian City to Visit This Year
Posted on 02/19/2015, 3:00 PM
In 1909, San Diego was a little city with really big ambitions. It decided to throw a world’s fair in 1915 to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal, which would make it the first U.S. city reached by ships after making the passage. San Diego would be the smallest city ever to host such an international event. And it would do so over the strong objections of neighboring San Francisco, which ...
Some Reflections—Both Hopeful and Dismal—on the Current State of the Cruise Industry
Posted on 02/18/2015, 5:45 PM
On Quantum of the Seas In the cruise ship world, January, February, and March are "wave season", the period of their heaviest advance sales when phones are ringing off the hook in vast offices of telephone reservationists. And as you'd expect, this has been an unusually successful "wave season" to date. With winter temperatures at unprecedented lows, large numbers of American...
Recent Wholesale Cancellation of Flights to Coastal U.S. Cities Has Caused a Great Many Would-Be Vacationers to Lose the Cost of Their Cruise
Posted on 02/18/2015, 5:30 PM
It happened all over America. People who had booked a cruise went to the airport, only to learn that their flight to the embarkation city had been cancelled--and no alternative flight was listed. A week or so ago, in some of the most bitter winter weather conditions on record, air transportation to the cities where cruises depart had simply disappeared. What to do? There w...
Consumer Choice Shrinks: Expedia, Having Just Gobbled up Travelocity, Is About Buy Orbitz, Too
Posted on 02/13/2015, 2:30 PM
As it is above, so it is below. Just as the airlines have been scooping each other up, swiftly reducing a field of 12 companies competing for American patronage to a field of only four, so have the online airfare bookers reduced themselves from a wealth of competition to a trio of giants. Last month, unnoticed by many, Expedia purchased Travelocity. For years, passengers looking for a che...
Companies Have Emerged that Claim to Double or Triple the Value of the Mileage or Points You Earn on Airline and Credit Card Programs
Posted on 02/12/2015, 9:45 AM
Its name is AwardMagic.com, and it's potentially the most useful travel service of which you've never heard. It is not alone in what it does--ThePointsGuy.com, FlyerTalk.com, and numerous others claim to accomplish the same substantial increase in the value of the travel you enjoy by earning frequent flyer mileage or credit card points. But AwardMagic.com was the company that firs...
Does the Recent Outbreak of Measles Mean that Enlightened Americans Should Cancel Travel Plans, and Thus Avoid Exposure to the Malady in Crowds?
Posted on 02/12/2015, 9:30 AM
When a traveler with measles paid a visit recently to Disneyland in southern California, he/she not only set off a rather small epidemic of the disease in the United States, but caused a great many Americans to cancel their vacation plans. In particular, some of our frightened fellow citizens felt that they ran a particular risk by going onto a crowded cruise ship, or into a bus wi...
Drop That Towel! Hotels Get Serious About Foiling Linen Thieves
Posted on 02/03/2015, 10:15 AM
Is hotel check out about to become a much more emberrassing ritual? It might if you're one of the 5 to 20 percent of hotel guests who steal towels, robes and other linens each month from hotels around the world. CNN is reporting that hotels in Miami, Chicago and New York City are the first customers of a new company called Linen Tracker that tags linens with waterproof, radio-transmitter chip...
