It’s tough to take a bad photo of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As it turns out, even when you’re not aiming your camera at the towers you can still get a great shot of them, as Flickr user BaboMike demonstrates in this long exposure of a reflecting pond near their base. The polish of the twin towers’ Islamic-inspired futurism is apparent from any viewpoint in the city, but in the pond they’re given a grittier, almost Gotham-like mood. If you’d like to see your great shots on Photo of the Day, share them with us in Gadling’s Flickr pool.
Cruise Lines Flee Europe, Blame High Airfare, Again
North American cruise lines really want to be friends with travelers from Europe. A number of times, various cruise lines have scheduled their largest deployment ever to Europe, only to pull back later when demand for their services was less than anticipated. Looking ahead to 2014, that trend looks to be continuing as major North American cruise brands cut back on European deployment. But there is more to this story than simply cutting back the number of ships in Europe, because the price of airfare for North Americans to fly across the pond is prohibitive.
Europe Out, Asia In?
Carnival Cruise Lines announced that it will leave the entire Europe cruise market behind in 2014, blaming the high cost of airfare to the region for its addition to an industry-wide exodus. Carnival will move Carnival Legend to Australia and leave the rest of its fleet in North America. Frankly, Carnival’s European deployment was mostly Mediterranean sailing and mostly in the summer as the line rolled out new ships Carnival Magic, Carnival Breeze and Carnival Sunshine. Those ships were going to be over there anyway because that’s where the shipyard is that built them. I always viewed Carnival’s European deployment as more of a deployment of convenience.
As a bit of a hint as to where Carnival may be headed, Carnival the corporation (which owns Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line and others) has officially launched its regional office in Singapore. That move signals a rock solid step towards developing these markets.
Tweaking A Good Thing
Princess Cruises is not entirely abandoning Europe. They will move Pacific and Crown Princess to Alaska in 2014, leaving five ships in Europe. This is where Princess’ long history of being destination focused is paying off for the line of the Love Boat. Princess has garnered a reputation for sailing around the world, to some of the most exotic destinations on the planet.Princess mixes it up every year to keep things interesting; they have drawn on experience from their many long-serving employees at various stops along the way. This year, Princess is featuring reduced-pricing airfare to offset objections by cruise travelers over the perceived high-cost of flying.
Royal Caribbean plans on sending eight ships to Europe next year, including sailing giant Oasis of the Seas to sail three times out of Barcelona while the ship is over there for some routine maintenance. That’s down from nine ships sailing European waters this year and 12 ships in 2013.
This year, families with children 12 and under who book a 2013 Royal Caribbean Europe cruise aboard Navigator of the Seas, Brilliance of the Seas or Serenade of the Seas can enjoy free shore excursion tours for children when two adults in their stateroom purchase the same tour during May 2013.
Unlike Carnival Cruise Lines, a North American brand that has their trademark FunShip experience producing a fabulous cruise vacation like clockwork, Royal Caribbean is a truly international brand. Sending nine ships to Europe says one of two things, maybe more:
- They have been at it long enough that they figured out which ships are the right size to make money in Europe.
- Royal Caribbean just really has their act together and has the ability to sail around the world, all the time, year after year.
Oh, should I have sailed in Europe last year then?
This is not the first time North American cruise lines have pulled back on plans to offer what they do for European cruise travelers. Cruise lines were looking for more profitable waters to sail in when the economic depression occurred several years ago. Boasting their “biggest European deployment ever,” cruise lines were quick to turn back when Europe sailings did not fill up as they had anticipated.
The good part of all this is that cruise lines have the ability to move their mobile assets (floating hotels) to different parts of the world when economic issues, safety concerns or other reasons say repositioning is a good idea. Hotels that do not float cannot really do that.
Thinking about a European/Mediterranean cruise vacation? Now would be a good time to either go or begin planning. North American cruise lines want to sail there, but they need passengers to do that.
Video: Red Bull’s Cliff Diving World Series Kicks Off In France
For its fifth year, the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series has begun, offering daredevils around the world the chance to compete for a championship title and bragging rights.
Held for the fourth time in La Rochelle, France, the competition lasts for five months and through eight separate competition events, during which the cliff diving elite will launch from almost three times the Olympic diving height (a total of 27 meters high) in venues all over the globe, showing their most spectacular and difficult tricks, and overcoming rational fear to impress the judges and spectators alike. And to spice it all up, the 2013 World Series comes to its scariest location first: La Rochelle, France.
The above video highlights some of the weekend’s craziest stunts and the winning dive by 29-year-old Russian Artem Silchenko. During the two-day event, nearly 70,000 fans watched jumpers take to the catacombs of the Saint Nicolas Tower, where they flipped, twisted and turned in a three-second free fall from a 27 meter platform into 12°C water below, falling at speeds up to 85 kph. This year’s competition was made even more difficult by the cold temperatures and the 50kph winds.
The tour has several stops with a select pool of divers moving to each next round. The next stop on the tour is Copenhagen, Denmark, on June 21 and 22, followed by Portugal, Italy, Boston, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Thailand.
Can you think of a more extreme vacation activity? We sure can’t.
‘The Simpsons’ Finds Home At New Universal Studios Theme Park
There’s a recurring joke throughout “The Simpsons” about where, exactly, the fictional town of Springfield is located. The exact location is still a mystery, but it looks like the animated series will soon find a real-life home in Orlando, Florida. Universal Studios has plans to bring the cartoon to life at a new section of the theme park opening this summer.
According to a press release from Universal, Springfield will be anchored by The Simpsons Ride, an attraction that opened in 2008. Around the ride, guests will be able to walk the streets of Springfield, complete with a Simpsons-inspired Fast Food Boulevard, where guests can dine on sandwiches at Krusty Burger or throw back a Duff Beer at Moe’s Tavern. Besides the boulevard, a new attraction called Kang & Kodos’ Twirl ‘n’ Hurl will take “foolish humans” on an intergalactic spin.
Although the exact geography of the Simpsons will likely remain a highly debated mystery amongst die-hard fans, this new theme park will likely become a new pilgrimage spot for fans of the animated series.
[via news.com.au]
TripAdvisor Dealt Another Blow: Hotel PR Exec Admits To Posting 100 Fake Reviews Online
Hotel and travel review site TripAdvisor.com has come under fire in recent years for the abundance of fake reviews on its website, but many travelers still see the platform as the industry’s leading place for “real” information about a hotel or destination.
But the site was dealt another blow this week when Peter Hook, a general manager of communications with Accor hotels in Sydney, Australia, admitted that he has posted 100+ anonymous reviews online in recent years, Travel Mole reported. Most of Hook’s reviews were positive reviews about Accor hotels or critical reviews of the brand’s competitors.
The company Kwikchex, which specializes in online reputation management, identified Hook, who wrote reviews under the name Tavare. Hook admits to writing the reviews, but claims that each “resulted from personally experiencing the product.”
A spokesman for TripAdvisor told the Telegraph: “It would clearly be inappropriate for a senior executive of a hotel company to review hotels within their own company. All hotel reviews posted by this member are being removed pending investigation.”