Recently a reader posted a complaint about a cruise deal that quickly vanished –
“I was going to sail with Royal Caribbean but since I very rudely got the shaft by their sales department, I will be looking elsewhere. I called last night to check the availability of 2 cabins but needed to verify with [...]

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NOTE: A cruise industry executive, who wishes to remain anonymous, has written his opinion of Royal Caribbean’s new Oasis of the Seas, its effect on the cruise industry and the traveling public. Since the media has heaped superlatives over the 6200-passenger vessel, here is countering opinion.
Open Letter to The Editor from a Cruise Executive
Dear [...]

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According to the NJ Record, an angry mob 300 strong stormed the main area of the Carnival Miracle this week seeking cash and chanting “refund, refund” — furious that their eight-day Caribbean jaunt was instead taking a 1,300-mile detour to Newport, R.I.   Miracle left New York City Aug. 29, and had to be rerouted because [...]

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You show up at the reading of the will distributing the assets of your late second cousin twice removed.  Expecting little more than a few spoons from the family silver service, you practically faint when the lawyer says you’ve inherited a cruise line!  
This is both good news and bad news.  The good news is that you’ve [...]

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As editor of Cruising From New York , I’m astonished at the rapid resurgence New York as a hub of passenger shipping.  In fact, over one million people sailed from New York’s three ports (Manhattan, Brooklyn and Cape Liberty, Bayonne, NJ) in 2007, according to the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and that number is [...]

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If you take enough cruises, eventually you’ll run into a real dud.  Moreover, I think the chances of having a lousy vacation increase exponentially when traveling with a little-known company in a exotic location. 
My worst cruise experience was in China, a ten day Yangtze River cruise aboard a Victoria Cruises boat.   When I visited in 1999 Victoria Cruises was purported [...]

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According to an Associated Press article, experts predict that Americans will vacation closer to home in 2008 due to the slowdown in the economy, a weak dollar and higher gasoline prices.   I also think that negative publicity about airport delays and cancelled flights has caused many of us to rethink travel plans. 
I live in New York [...]

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“This Christmas, unsuspecting college students and their parents may discover dangers on some cruise lines including serious injury and death.”  Just one sentence in a press release from a maritime lawyer, put out over the Internet today.  Of course we’ve all read that taking a cruise is putting your life in jeopardy.  Over the weekend, [...]

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A friend once quipped that I’m a “shipaholic” and, yes, I plead guilty. Here are my picks for the ten best reasons for taking a cruise.
10. My steward brings breakfast to the stateroom and I sit sipping coffee on the balcony with no time pressure.
9. The ultimate freedom of days at sea, when I can [...]

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My blood started to boil the moment I picked up this week’s issue of New York Magazine with a timely cover story: “Airport Hell”.  If you’ve flown in the past six months without a delayed or cancelled flight, lost luggage or other airline mishap consider yourself lucky.  Locally, my three airports – JFK, LaGuardia and Newark [...]

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