Arthur Frommer: Viewing Whales and Dolphins in Captivity Should No Longer be Seen as Ethical
Posted on 08/15/2019, 1:00 AM
A major step forward in the ethical treatment of large sea life was just taken by Sir Richard Branson. On behalf of all the Branson entities, he has announced that his companies will no longer participate in tours with or presentations of captive whales and dolphins, otherwise known as cetaceans. Those large animals are today found to be thinking creatures with emotions and tho...
Vacation Rental Law Hits Hawaii Hard—How to Navigate Tough Rental Regulations
Posted on 08/14/2019, 6:00 PM
Long before Airbnb was a twinkle on founder Brian Chesky’s browser, New York State had a law severely limiting short-term rentals. Called the "Multiple Dwelling Law," it has, in its many iterations, banned short-term rentals of less than 30 days in the state, including New York City, since 1929. The law was strengthened in both 2011 and 2018; today, it applies to apartments in buildings with mo...
Visiting This Australian Museum Will Require Flippers and an Oxygen Tank
Posted on 07/24/2019, 12:00 AM
Deep-sea divers with an interest in sculpture should mark their calendars for December, when the first installation of visionary artist Jason deCaires Taylor’s Museum of Underwater Art is set to be unveiled at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. (Image by Jason deCaires Taylor) The MOUA, which will eventually comprise works at several spots around Queensland, will debut with a coastal-bas...
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Now Streaming: A Social Media–Themed Water Park near Orlando
Posted on 06/24/2019, 9:45 PM
A new water park with a social media theme has just opened next to Margaritaville Resort Orlando in central Florida. Dubbed Island H2O Live!, the park has eight water slides with names like Follow Me Falls, Hashtag Heights, and Reply Racers. You'll also find the Chat Creek lazy river, Megabytes snack bar, and adults-only Private Domain pool. Seems like there should also be a Data Mine slide wher...
Richard Branson Touts His New Cruise, But What Is it Like, Asks Arthur Frommer
Posted on 06/13/2019, 8:00 AM
You can count on Sir Richard Branson to market his new ocean-going cruise ship, the Scarlet Lady, in an utterly unique fashion—and that’s what he has now done. Springing the funds for a costly, full-page New York Times ad, he has used that extravagant space to appeal to residents of South Dakota, of all places—because, he claims, South Dakota is the only state in America that has not yet...
Here Are the Major Cruise Lines' Policies on Cuba Cancellations
Posted on 06/05/2019, 6:00 PM
Tens of thousands of people are holding tickets for cruises to Cuba that, in a snap of a finger, the Trump Administration has said they now can't use. Here are the cruise companies' current policies—verbatim—on what to do if you have booked a Cuba-bound cruise with them. Norwegian Cruise Line As you know, yesterday the United States government announced new and immediate travel restric...
Trump Administration Announces Bans on Cruises and Tours to Cuba
Posted on 06/04/2019, 3:00 PM
The other zapato has dropped. In April, White House National Security Advisor John Bolton announced that the Treasury Department would soon implement new regulations to restrict non-family travel to Cuba. But I don't think anyone expected the roll-out of those new regulations to be as abrupt, messy, or sweeping as the ones announced today turned out to be. On Tuesday afternoon, the Treasury De...
Arthur Frommer: Seaweed is Invading the Mexican Caribbean, But There's a Bright Side
Posted on 05/30/2019, 7:00 AM
Among the current important news of travel is a sudden and mysterious drop in tourist traffic to the so-called “Mexican Caribbean” (Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Isla Mujeres, Tulum, the Mayan Riviera), an area which usually accounts for half of all tourism to Mexico. After several speculative guesses as to what is happening, scientists and Mexican officials have agreed that the cause is “sa...
Famous Thai Beach to Remain Closed Two More Years—at Least
Posted on 05/13/2019, 4:00 PM
Thailand's Maya Bay, which played the titular locale in the 2000 Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach, is currently closed to tourists and will remain that way until at least 2021. Officials first banned visitors from the scenic scoop of sand on the island of Koh Phi Phi Leh during the summer of 2018. The idea was to give the natural environment, particularly fragile underwater corals, a chance to ...
Unknown to Most Americans, Florida Now Has a Speedy Railway, Writes Arthur Frommer
Posted on 04/17/2019, 9:00 AM
When the current governor of California recently announced that he was discontinuing work on a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco, multitudes of train enthusiasts all but wept. How, they cried, could a poor country like Spain operate high-speed trains between Madrid and Barcelona, while wealthy California could not find the same resources in America? The god of trai...
This Spring, It Will Never Be Cheaper to Fly to Hawaii, Says Arthur Frommer
Posted on 04/10/2019, 9:00 AM
The biggest news in travel is the recent start-up by price-cutting Southwest Airlines of a massive number of flights from the U.S. west coast to the islands of Hawaii. Travel to those popular resorts will never be the same again. For several decades, the airlines serving Hawaii have zealously maintained the highest possible price level for flights there. Vacationers paid as much as $60...
This Rolling Hotel Moves to Wherever the Surf's Up
Posted on 04/09/2019, 7:15 PM
A new hotel makes traveling among the beaches of southwestern Portugal super-easy—because it's the hotel that does the traveling. The Truck Surf Hotel is just that: a cargo truck that has been converted into a surf hotel. The double-decker B&B on wheels features a kitchen, living area, bathroom, and large sliding doors on the lower level. Upstairs, hydraulic arms extend to make space for fiv...
South African President de Klerk's Retreat Becomes All-Inclusive Beach Lodge
Posted on 04/02/2019, 4:00 PM
The coastal retreat of former South African president F.W. de Klerk has been reborn as an all-inclusive, eco-conscious lodge overlooking an untouched, nearly 4-mile (6km)-long stretch of Indian Ocean beachfront. Set to open April 15, Lekkerwater Beach Lodge is located about a 3-hour drive east of Cape Town in a secluded area of De Hoop Nature Reserve, a landscape of sand and scrub between the oc...
Eat with the Fishes at Norway's New Underwater Restaurant
Posted on 03/25/2019, 9:00 AM
A new restaurant with what's being billed as Europe's first underwater dining room will soon open on the southern tip of Norway. The semi-submerged, aptly named Under is housed in a 112-foot (34m)-long rectangular building, one end of which sits on the seabed, 18 feet (5.5m) below the surface of the North Atlantic. The other, aboveground end looks kind of like an intermediate species dragging i...
