For Coffee Aficionados, More to Hawaii Than Kona

KAUAI — For people habitually accustomed to wine tasting and not particularly motivated by rum tasting, coffee tasting is the appropriate alternative on an island that has become known for the bean and the liquid it creates. Where better to do that than at an estate where four million coffee trees each produce a pound… Continue reading For Coffee Aficionados, More to Hawaii Than Kona

Tips for Shore Stops on a Cruise That Includes Kauai

KAUAI — This is called research. Wouldn't you come to Kauai to dig up, along with some sand, information for a blog? Wouldn't you make a special trip down the road a few miles just to have a look at Pride of America, which would be called Hawaii's cruise ship if it didn't belong to… Continue reading Tips for Shore Stops on a Cruise That Includes Kauai

Change in Plans in Northern Ireland

With the number of places cruise ships visit, there's always a possibility one of them will be a trouble spot. Places like Northern Ireland. Specifically, Belfast. This week, passengers on the Caribbean Princess had their shore plans altered to avoid trouble (or possible trouble)  between Irish nationalists and the police. When the dust settled, there… Continue reading Change in Plans in Northern Ireland

Two Shore Excursions, Two Accidents

Earlier this month, a cruise passenger died when his kayak overturned on a shore excursion on Mendenhall Lake in Alaska. He was a passenger on Rhapsody of the Seas, but it was not a Royal Caribbean shore excursion. It was a private excursion…in fact, the Texas man and his friends rented the kayaks on their… Continue reading Two Shore Excursions, Two Accidents

Carnival Breeze's Three Island trip

  The newest ship on the ocean (okay, sea) these days is the Carnival Breeze, currently on its inaugural cruise in Europe, in the Mediterranean en route to Venice. This is the latest in a long line of ships from the world's biggest cruise line and, while it's not necessarily the biggest and the best,… Continue reading Carnival Breeze's Three Island trip