14 Things You Should Know about the Norwegian Breakaway
Posted on 05/10/2013, 1:15 PM
Norwegian Cruise Line has been feverishly building its brand for the past decade. What was once a side player in a big industry has evolved into a major name that's been betting it all on big new ships. . The newly built Breakaway leaves from the Hudson River in Manhattan, just a few blocks west of Times Square, and she will call on Bermuda, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean, depending on th...
With the Japanese Yen Now Selling at an Astonishing Rate of 101 to the U.S. Dollar, Japan Has Once Again Become a Moderately-Priced Travel Destination
Posted on 05/10/2013, 10:30 AM
Yesterday was the Big Day, the time when the Japanese unit of currency--the Yen--crashed through a longtime psychological barrier and begun trading at just a nano less than 101 to the U.S. Dollar. It sold at 80 the Dollar (a 25% difference) just two years ago. Following a course of deliberate inflation, a policy totally at odds with the one championed by various stodgy bankers in Br...
Four Vacation Packages and Cruises Lead the Travel Industry's Offerings for Departures in July of 2013
Posted on 05/09/2013, 9:30 AM
There was once a time when a bargain-hunter could point with excitement to packaged vacations costing less than a thousand dollars at the height of the summer season, like July. That's pretty difficult now. Though the U.S. rate of inflation is unusually low, the desire of overeas hoteliers to wallop the summer vacationer has never been stronger. Today, an eight-to-ten-day packaged vacat...
What's SUP? Perhaps the Hottest Vacation Activity on Water
Posted on 05/08/2013, 4:00 PM
Is stand-up paddle boarding, also known by the surfer-dude friendly acronym SUP (as in “wassup”), the fastest growing watersport in the world? Search engines lists everything from kite surfing to dragon boat racing as having that distinction. But proponents of this relatively new pastime—based on the ancient Polynesian boating method hoe he’e nalu, which involves a sailor standing on a flat...
Haven't Booked a Summer Cruise Yet? That May Work In Your Favor This Year
Posted on 05/08/2013, 3:30 PM
During “Wave Season” this year, a tsunami hit. Let me translate. “Wave Season” is the period from January from March during which the cruise lines try to pin down the majority of their yearly bookings. They do so by ramping up advertising campaigns and offering incentives to passengers and travel agents. But not even the sassiest TV ad could distract would-be travelers from the unfolding ...
Airlines Make You Miserable to Maximize Profits, And It's Unfair to the Crew
Posted on 05/06/2013, 9:45 PM
On U.S. Airways, boarding announcements are like a comedy sketch. Gone are the days when getting on a plane was a simple matter of passengers who need extra time, then first class, then everyone else. Nowadays, it's a ridiculously confusing, hard-to-hear, multi-tiered hierarchy of status level members, credit card holders, fare class purchasers, and beyond that, umpteen "zones". At U.S. Airw...
Giant New Roller-Coasters Have Been Added to the Nation's Theme Parks, In Addition to a Spectacular Penguin Exhibit at Sea World in Orlando, Florida
Posted on 05/06/2013, 10:15 AM
On yesterday's broadcast of The Travel Show (wor710.com, noon to 2, Eastern Time), the nation's foremost expert on U.S. theme parks--Robert Niles--was asked to name the most significant new theme park attractions for the coming summer--new facilities so important as to warrant a trip there. He named three: First, a remarkable new penguin pavilion in Orlando's Sea World--a struc...
Holiday Inn Pays Guests to Stay at its Properties..Sort Of
Posted on 05/03/2013, 9:00 PM
Holiday Inn will be giving a minimum of $25 in gift cards for either gasoline, train discounts or air discounts to those who stay for two-nights between now and June 30th. Stay 3 nights, and the chain will reward you with a $50 gift card, 4 nights nets $75 and if you can bed down for 5 nights, you'll be eligible for a $100 card. Does that make this a great deal? Not necessarily. Before you sp...
Holiday Inn Pays Guests to Stay at its Properties..Sort Of
Posted on 05/03/2013, 9:00 PM
Holiday Inn will be giving a minimum of $25 in gift cards for either gasoline, train discounts or air discounts to those who stay for two-nights between now and June 30th. Stay 3 nights, and the chain will reward you with a $50 gift card, 4 nights nets $75 and if you can bed down for 5 nights, you'll be eligible for a $100 card. Does that make this a great deal? Not necessarily. Before you sp...
Americans Were Recently Made Aware of How Much We Spend on Air Transportation As Compared With How Little We Spend on Rail Transportation
Posted on 05/03/2013, 1:30 PM
During the recent week when the dreaded Sequester caused flights to be delayed all over the nation, resuting in grave inconvenience to millions, we learned that the purpose of the hold-up was to save some 5% of the money the federal government spends each year on air traffic controllers--the people in the airport towers. That 5%, we were told, amounted to 637 million dollars, which means--...
