Travel guides for cruisers

by Chris Owen on

Sure, you could go to the library and do some research, check out a bookstore for the latest printed guides, but why? Everything you need is right here, literally at your fingertips. Let’s take a look at some of the online resources available to help plan our cruise vacations.

A good first stop is the cruise line websites themselves. There, you’ll find a bunch of good information about the ships, the cruise line and shore excursions they offer. To get more in-depth information about different ports and locations though, you need more than that.

Right here at Gadling we have a bunch of great people that travel the world, reporting on pretty much every aspect of travel on a regular basis. Travel gear and other topics that can totally be applied to cruise vacations are here too like airline information for that flight to the port, hotels for pre or post-cruise stays and restaurants in cities you might not be familiar with.

I like the easy-to-read blog format of this information with a bit of a personal twist to it way better than the dry, catalog-type you might get out of books.

Online travel guides like AOL TravelGuides are good too along with videos that give a clear picture of what you might see when your ship pulls into port. Actually, both Gadling and AOL Travel Guides cover many cities that are destinations for land-based vacations and ports of call for cruises. If your ship stops in Barcelona, you may not need a hotel but learning about the area adds great depth to your cruise experience and knowing what to watch out for, from an experienced land traveler who has been there, is good stuff.

Videos are another online resource that can be really good to consider. AOL has a bunch of them that really give you a good idea of what to expect.

There are other sources out there too. One I like is Insider Perks.com, a relatively new one that offers over 2000 videos from all over the world, many in HD. From Aruba to Vancouver, you can find a good video at Insider Perks.


If video is not enough cruise-related information for you, try the radio too. CruiseRadio.net has hours of interviews online, waiting to tell you all about everything from the latest cruise news to in-depth interviews with cruise directors, travel experts and more.


Not to throw out all the travel guides, iPhone users have a bunch of Aps that can be helpful too. A new one from the legendary Berlitz name, the Complete Guide to Cruising and Cruise Ships. At $12 from itunes it’s half the price of the book and updated throughout the year.

Flickr photo by Kenny Miller

Top 5 easy cruise tips: from you

by Chris Owen on

Submitted in the last month or so by readers who have “been there, done that” on a cruise vacation, these tips ring loud and clear as good advice. Regardless of where your ship is sailing to, from Alaska to Barbados, these tips are good ones to follow

“Get there early”
Arrive early in case you are able to get on board and begin becoming familiar with the ship. One of the keys to enjoying cruises is making the most of every moment. Be that spending most of your time doing nothing or attempting to do everything there is to do (you can’t) on the ship, getting on board early is a good idea.

“Luggage is important”
Keep in mind that you may have a long haul from parking to ship, so be sure large luggage is on wheels and keep carry-on’s as light as possible. Unlike a land hotel, your luggage will be delivered outsidee your stateroom in the hallway by your cabin. Be sure your luggage is locked and keep valuables in your carry-on bag.

“Get the right size cabin“
The cabins are small. Don’t try to cram too many people in one cabin. It is true that the third and fourth guest in a cabin are discounted and there is a reason for that; sharing a cabin with three others is hard to do. Also, if you are a big or tall person, the twin, sofa or pullman bed might not work for you, let alone the bunk beds.

“Use the safe“
Before determining if you want to take valuables along, check to see if the ship has safes in each stateroom. Usually, safes are equipped to hold jewelry, wallets and other small valuables. Best bet? Leave the diamond tiara at home unless you’re just too excited about the Royal Wedding and have to play it out in real life.

“Carefully consider dining“
Most ships offer more than just two dinner seatings each night, one early and one late. The relatively new “open seating” option is a good choice for those who don’t want to be locked in to a specific time. With Early seating being around 6PM and late around 8PM, one of those might not work for you. Open Seating allows guests to dine when they want and with whom they want.

Do you have tips to pass along? Things you do on a cruise that are set in stone must-do’s for you?

Flickr photo by Dennis from Atlanta

Cruise line scams: Shore Excursions

by Chris Owen on

Going ashore can be one of the best parts of a cruise and one of the reasons many travelers choose a cruise vacation in the first place. From the comfort of your floating hotel, you can see multiple destinations but only have to unpack once. Cruise lines offer a wide variety of excursions at each port of call and encourage passengers to join. Some are over-priced but carry an implied level of safety that might not be entirely accurate.

The potential scam-like claim here is “Oh, you don’t want to go out on your own on a shore excursion. If they’re late getting you back, the ship will leave without you”

Yes, they could do that. Will they? Probably not. How likely is that to happen? Not likely at all.

Often, the same companies and people that do shore excursions for the cruise lines also do them independently. Still, the cruise lines say they do investigate and follow up on excursion providers to see how they are doing, holding them to high standards.

Alternatives to ship-sponsored excursions. Shoretrips.com, is a third-party service that provides excursions world-wide. Owners Julie and Barry from Milwaukee, Wisconsin travel to each of the destinations and insure that their tours are safe and interesting. Often, Shoretrips.com excursions are less expensive and less crowded too. Booking more than 200,000 people a year, they have yet to leave someone behind.

Let’s talk price. A pretty easy-to-compare excursion in Cozumel, Mexico, Swimming with the Dolphins is $129 for adults or children on Carnival Cruise Lines. Shoretrips.com has that dolphin swim for $79 for adults and $77 for children. That’s about 40% less than the cruise line. Prices vary among lines too. Royal Caribbean has that dolphin swim for $99. Their price is better than Carnival but not as good as Shoretrips.com.

Another option is to go with someone recommended by a trusted friend or a travel blogger you’ve come to know. Reliable independent operators know what they are competing with on the cruise line excursion offerings and almost always offer a better value. That might come in the form of a lower price or a similar price with a better experience.

Get good information. A good source for reliable travel information about specific ports of call is AOL travel guides. Good discussion and very current, personal information can be found at CruiseCritic.com. Your good travel agent/expert should have recommendations also.

I’m really not trying to talk you out of the ship-sponsored shore excursions. They’re good. Nothing wrong with them. But there are alternatives that are just as safe (or not) as third-party vendors.

Cruise lines have their share of problems with excursions.Going with the cruise line does not guarantee your safety. In 2009 18 cruise passengers were robbed at gunpoint in the Bahamas on ship-sponsored shore excursions. The passengers, sailing on Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas and Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Wonder, were held up by masked men who demanded money, passports, cell phones, credit cards and personal items.

Just last November, masked gunmen held up guests on St Kitts on a Celebrity Cruises excursion.

Cruise lines were quick to suspend tours and worked hard to increase security and scrutiny of tour operators in those cases. But that was a couple of incidents in thousands of tours, hardly something to keep guests on the ship for safety concerns.

Cruise lines will commonly skip ports of call where there are known problems with crime like in Mexico with drug cartels. In that case, the cruise line does not charge you for the excursion you obviously can’t take. Ships any where close to Tunisia right now would have taken a close look at unrest in the area before even docking. If booking separately from the cruise line, make sure you understand the tour operator’s policy if the ship does not call at a port.

Let’s break it down. Look at it this way; cruise lines contract with local operators who run the excursions. The cruise lines have to add on something to make money. Duh. So basically, its the same people, running the same excursions, but you pay more if you get it through the ship. If that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy then buy through the ship. Most people do. If you want to save 20% to 50%, do some research first. There might be a better value out there.

Like the cruise line Booze and Beverage Packages, whether shore excursions are an evil scam plotted by the cruise lines or a reasonable value depends primarily on how you look at them.

Flickr photo by Ha-Wee

5 tips for people who really don’t want to go on a cruise

by Chris Owen on

Maybe hiking, biking, backpacking or pretty much any other minimizing endeavor is more what you have in mind for traveling but someone is dragging you along on a cruise. There’s just no way you’re getting out of it. Is there hope for you? Yes. A little. Not much. But some.

Pace yourself- Food will always be available 24 hours a day on board. You might not be used to that with your triathlon training and all so do some stomach stretching exercises prior to boarding. You will need the extra room. Stop pouting that there are no granola bars or energy drinks. There are. On cruises they are called “shots” and you find them at the bars. You’ll enjoy the walk to get them and recent studies suggest those extra steps will help prevent diabetes.

No barfing- You are concerned about the possibility of becoming sea sick because the little path on your normal mountain hike doesn’t really move around much. Think of it like that and yeah, you probably will be. Prepare for shooting the rapids in Colorado with somebody who doesn’t know what they’re doing and you’ll be fine. It could be worse. You could have been invited along for a taping of Paris Hilton’s new reality show.

Know where you are going- Take time before the cruise to check out a travel guide on the places you will visit. Duh. Just because you don’t have any say in where the ship goes doesn’t mean you can’t meet fun and find interesting people. You probably won’t find any of them on the ship but maybe when you go ashore.

Careful with spending- The food is included in the price of your cruise but that’s about it. Beverages, both alcoholic and sodas are not included. Want a sip of water? You’ll pay $23.54 for that. This is why people smuggle booze on the ship. They do have beds so leave your sleeping bag at home with your tent. Bring your flashlight though, cruise passenger are fascinated by shiny things.

Relax. That may seem like a silly tip but you would be surprised how many people try to pack so much into every day that they need a vacation after they get back from their cruise to recuperate. Know this as a fact: There are way too many things to do and you can not possibly do them all. To be more accurate, there are too many things to do that you will think are stupid so bring a telescope and memorize the sky. Maybe you can find a 14th sign of the zodiac.

Flickr photo by Robbie Howell

Concorde supersonic jet to find new home in London

by Meg Nesterov on

Seven years after the final Concorde flight, one of the 11 remaining supersonic passenger jets may find a new home on London‘s South Bank, next to the London Eye. RHWL Architects, whose past projects include the British Airways headquarters and the Four Seasons Canary Wharf, are rumored to have planned a $35 million dollar double-decker display with a river boat landing underneath the plane.

The current Alpha Bravo aircraft is housed at Heathrow Airport by British Airways and not viewable by the public. Travelers can currently see a jet at the Concorde Experience in Barbados, the only Caribbean destination on the former supersonic route, as well as at these museums and airports. Earlier this year, a team of engineers began an examination of a French plane in hopes of bringing the Concorde back to the skies.

Travelers – would you pay to see the Concorde? Or better yet, fly the Concorde?

[Photo credit: Flickr user Beechwood Photography]