Cruise Ship Safety Moving to New Level

Again, a sobering moment about cruising. Again, a news item that makes people nervous about going…anywhere. Again, a reminder about the world we live in today. In case you missed it, police in Germany questioned a 22-year-old Austrian who a year ago this month was returning from Pakistan and discovered — after weeks of breaking… Continue reading Cruise Ship Safety Moving to New Level

Solstice Ships Scholarship Source

I'm really not averse to art, despite what my family and close friends might think. I once had a bridge partner named Art. I've even been known to say a prayer that began "Thou art…" And last year when we were on the Celebrity Eclipse, on the top deck in the middle of the Atlantic,… Continue reading Solstice Ships Scholarship Source

Mexico Robbery the Latest Blow

The cry that you hear from people who love cruising and who love Mexico — that would be us — is this: “Somebody do something!” News on the weekend that 22 Carnival passengers were robbed, at gunpoint, while on an organized shore excursion in Puerto Vallarta, has taken violence in Mexico to another level. Until… Continue reading Mexico Robbery the Latest Blow

New Panamax Ships and the Canal

We were having lunch with our friend and colleague Phil Reimer, author of Ports and Bows, yesterday. Somewhere between the  breakfast burrito (yes, some people do have breakfast burritos for lunch but she doesn’t want to advertise it) and the Caesar salad, the subject of the Panama Canal came up (better the Canal than the… Continue reading New Panamax Ships and the Canal

Splendor in the Seas…Maybe Not

We feel a little sorry for the Carnival Splendor. She’s not even four years old and already she’s been rejected, isolated, burned and — while it may be stretching the analogy too far — placed in the cruise ship version of a witness protection program. She came out of cruising’s womb at Fincantieri, Italy’s most… Continue reading Splendor in the Seas…Maybe Not