Many of us only have time for a three- or four-day cruise.  And, if you’re flying to the port of embarkation, you may use up some of the valuable sea days burned out from the ordeal of just traveling to the ship.   Air travel, which was once a no brainer, is frequently an obstacle:  delays, [...]

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Today on the Cruise Log, journalist Gene Sloan cites a report of a man getting kicked off a Carnival ship in Roatan, Honduras because he was sick.  The unfortunate passenger had to pay thousands of dollars to get himself home in order to get the medical care he needed.
That’s the way all cruise lines handle passengers [...]

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Few items can run up the final tab of a cruise like shore excursions.  A couple on a one-week Caribbean cruise spending an extra grand on activities they purchased from the cruise company?  No problem.
Cruise lines impose a huge markup in the tours they sell to passengers.  Don’t be surprised if you find a tour [...]

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For months I’ve been working to build a new web site, Cruising From New York,  which finally opened today!
After 15 years of traveling all over the planet, I’ve come to the conclusion that New York is the best city on earth.  And, the number of ships has mushroomed to the point two additional ports — one in Brooklyn, [...]

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Every ship’s officer I’ve queried has admitted that the most difficult cruise of the year is the Christmas cruise.   Not only are ships full of passengers expecting a fabulous holiday — hey, you paid enough! — but the staff and crew, who miss their own families, work overtime.
One year, aboard Celebrity Cruises’ Galaxy, I walked into the [...]

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My job is giving advice to cruisers. Hey, I’m the expert, right?  Now it’s confession time: I’ve learned everything I know first-hand, by making really dumb mistakes.
For example, packing for a cruise.  For 15 years I traveled roughly three months of the year and this makes me an expert on packing, right?  Wrong!  While it’s [...]

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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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