I’m sure I’m not the only cruiser who occasionally worries about failing to reach a cruise ship before it sails.  So I can imagine how awful it was for a troop of girl scouts who couldn’t make their airline connection and missed their Carnival cruise.  Instead of spending a week sailing the warm waters of [...]

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I’ll show you mine if you show me yours!  Here are my cruise tips for saving wear and tear on body and soul.  I’d love to get a few tips from you as well.  And, because air travel is so unpredictable, several tips are especially important and noted as a NEW RULE.
1.  To arrive with wrinkle-free [...]

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I’ve been urging cruisers to arrive a day early in the port of embarkation, especially when taking a Europe cruise.   Not only do you not want your cruise disrupted by airline delays and cancellation, but if your luggage doesn’t arrive on the same flight it gives you time to track it down.  But perhaps most [...]

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While lounging on deck in Fort Lauderdale waiting for my cruise to depart, I had the chance to chat with the mother of a woman who had been married aboard the ship an hour earlier. She reported that the wedding was simply wonderful and her only regret was that her other daughter insisted on a [...]

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With each ship entering service, cruise lines introduce new features in an attempt to meet the changing needs of cruisers. However, nothing exceeds dining in terms of radical change and innovation.
A decade ago you had to take a pricey luxury vessel carrying fewer than 700 passengers to find single, open seating while today it’s [...]

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Duck and Cover:  According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 2010 should be a busier than normal hurricane season.   NOAA says there is a 70% probability for each of the following ranges of activity this season:

8-14 Hurricanes
3-7 Major Hurricanes

Should You Cruise During Hurricane Season?
The captain of a Princess ship once told me, “any [...]

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As one who spends an enormous amount of time trolling online cruise agencies to check out the best deals, I can tell you that it is a great deal of work. And, because prices change constantly it is nerve racking as well.  So when a new reverse auction company turned up promising to make bargain [...]

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*** More Bogus Cruise Ship Art? If you’ve been following the ongoing legal problems of Park West, the company which operates the ubiquitous art auctions on cruise ships, Gene Sloan reports the most recent problem in USA Today.  A Chilean artist is suing Park West alleging the company is printing and selling copies of [...]

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Oh dear.
I just returned from a cruising aboard the 5,100-passenger Norwegian Dream to learn that the head of Holland America admits he’s “thinking” of building a 3,000-passenger cruise ship.  You don’t say something like this to a journalist unless it’s  certain that the formal announcement will follow in a few months.
And while the biggest ships [...]

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Here’s a scenario many cruisers can relate to: you’re eager to take a seagoing vacation aboard the ship of your dreams. The problem is your spouse, sibling, child or best friend is dragging his or her feet because a cruise isn’t a vacation they’d ever consider.
They’d rather go hiking, play golf, photograph nature, take a [...]

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