No matter how many alternative restaurants with added service charges there are on today’s new mega ships, the one thing you could count on was that the food in the main dining room always was included in your fare.
Well you can’t count on that any longer.
And maybe that’s the start of an unfortunate trend – [...]
28 February
Granted, on Monday morning I’m frequently cranky. So when I spotted another piece of irresponsible reporting about the cruise industry, this time on AOL News, I decided I’ve had enough.
In “New Law Targets Dangers Aboard Cruise Ships“, the lead grabs your attention: “Missing persons. Assault. Child molestation. Rape. Death. Those are some of [...]
29 November
(Note: Alas, this article, which ran in 2007 is still, unfortunately true. The advice is still timely)
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 [...]
03 September
Travel & Leisure magazine annually polls readers about their favorite hotels, airlines, destinations and cruise lines. In the cruise categories, cruise lines are selected by category: large ship, small ship and river boats.
Here are readers picks for large ship cruise line. (Note: Crystal, Regent, Oceania & Azamara ships carry fewer than 1000 passengers and, in [...]
16 July
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 [...]
18 February
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 [...]
28 November
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 [...]
10 September
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 [...]
16 June
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 [...]
17 April
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 [...]
16 January
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ShipCritic Blog is a labor of love by Anne Campbell, a journalist who has been covering the cruise industry since 1993. Why a blog? This newfangled technology is the best way of interacting with cruisers, both first timers and veterans, who also share a passion for seeing the world by ship.
