Stories
Now here's a novel way to help the stricken people of Haiti, still devastated by that 7.0 earthquake more than two years ago. Send a party to explore Haiti's rich history on its northern shore, where the cruise ships land, to see if shore excursions can contribute to rebuilding the country's equally devastated tourism [...]
Hands up, if you know somebody who has or has had cancer. Hands down, if you've thought about eating better because of it. We've never been vegetarians. One of us (hands up) is more of a carnivore than she is. Yet we have both felt the urge, or need, to become "more vegetarian" because, frankly, [...]
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 about Cruise Ship Safety Moving to New Level
Anybody who has been on a cruise ship and who has taken the time to find out already knows that cruise lines strive to be environmentally responsible, in as many ways as possible. Times have changed. Raw waste is no longer dumped into the ocean. Garbage from ships is no longer dumped into bins [...]
Only in the family of cruise ships can siblings be born 15 months apart and be called twins. As parents of boys born 14 months apart, it seems like a reasonable time to have an addition to the family, although we do recall the comments of well-meaning individuals that it was, er, a little [...]
Continue reading about Oceania Cruises: The Twins Are Alright
It's easy to find a good tour guide when you buy a shore excursion from a cruise line. These are professionals at what they do, and if they didn't do it well they just wouldn't last. Sometimes you just know when you've found one who is special. That was Sandy Cuadrado to us. The [...]
Continue reading about Cruise Tour Guide — This ‘Senor’ is Best
News item: It's estimated that more than one-billion people will tune in for this year's Olympic Games in the host city of London, and Celebrity Cruises has arranged the rare opportunity for guests sailing on its modern luxury fleet to be among them. Question: Does Jacques Rogge know about this? Monsieur Rogge is the [...]
Continue reading about Celebrity Cruises and the Olympic Way
Royal friends and the Grand Princess The people you see standing in front of the Grand Princess are special to us. They've been friend for 40 years and godparents to our three children, and they've always been willing to help in any way they can, because that's what godparents do. Friends, too. So here they [...]
On many of our cruises, we inevitably wind up talking about ship size with people who work in the industry. One such discussion with a ship's captain led to the revelation (for us) that there's a bridge in Germany where captains have to wait for low tide to make sure their ship can clear [...]
No cruise line tries to cover both ends of the age spectrum more than Norwegian. Last week, we told you that NCL is offering discounts for AARP members…now kids go free on NCL shore excursions. There is an asterisk (*), as there often is with offers of any kind of any product. In NCL's case, [...]