Carnival to remove automatic tips from Australian cruises

by Katie Hammel on

In many countries around the world, tipping isn’t practiced to the extent it is in the US. Here, anything less than 15% for a restaurant server is considered an insult. We tip hotel housekeepers, valets, even the people who make our coffee. We’re used to the system of tipping to supplement a worker’s wages, but in other countries, the average tip is much lower.

American cruise lines are having some trouble reconciling the American way of tipping with attitudes and customs around gratuities in other countries. It seems that Carnival‘s Australian branch, P&O Cruises Australia, had received complaints from passengers in response to the automatic tipping policy the cruise line previously had in place, so they’ve announced that they will be removing the automatic gratuity charge added to all accounts.

Other US-based cruise lines that operate in certain countries may follow suit in reevaluating their policies to accommodate foreign customs in tipping. Royal Caribbean, which does not currently add the automatic charge, said it is working on changes to its own policy because the British who cruise on its line out of Southampton don’t tip.

[via USA Today]

Online travel sales stay stable in France

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Despite a dismal global travel market, the online sector in France is still stable. A new report by PhoCusWright says that online leisure and unmanaged business travel activity will gain three percentage points this year, edging up to 33 percent of the total French travel market. Online bookings are projected to stay flat, but the overall travel market is forecasted to shrink by 8.7 percent, which is why online’s share of the pie will go up.

Carroll Rheem, director of research at PhoCusWright, says, “French consumers have adjusted their travel habits in line with the nation’s relatively modest recession in 2009 and French suppliers have suffered less than those in other large leisure market destinations like Spain and Italy.”

In France, traditional airlines have led the total market decline, expected to fall 14 percent this year. Hotels, on the other hand, are only likely to decline 6 percent. The online travel agency market continues to be fragmented. Growth will slow down considerably this year, but the online travel agencies will still gain some play from passengers looking for bargains.

Rheem continues, “In uncertain economic times, consumers need to feel confident that they are getting the best value for their money.” Additionally, Rheem says, “Online travel agencies are certainly benefiting from this trend, but competition between them is also extremely fierce. The line between ‘traditional’ and online travel agencies is murky, and French OTAs must compete in a multichannel landscape.”

Heathrow invites you to kiss under the world’s largest mistletoe

by Katie Hammel on

Remember that scene from the movie “Love Actually” that takes place in Heathrow Airport? The one where everyone is arriving and being greeted with big hugs and happy kisses from their loved ones? That may be what Heathrow really looks like now that the airport has hung the world’s largest mistletoe.

The 10X8 structure, which weighs 43kg, will hang in Terminal 5 through December (and according to the Heathrow press release), other giant mistletoe will be hung in Terminals 1, 3, and 4.

Heathrow officials expect nearly 3 million people to arrive at Heathrow in the coming month, with close to 500,000 of them coming between December 19th and December 24th alone. The airport is hoping that 2 million kisses will take place beneath the giant mistletoe this month.

Her Majesty the Queen no longer exempt from the hassles of airport security

by Scott Carmichael on

Queen Elizabeth II will soon become one of the last people on the planet to be subjected to the hassles of airport security. For some insane reason, her own government has decided that every single air traveler will have to be screened to be sure they are not on a list of known terrorists – and no exception is made for anyone.

The UK system is called e-borders, and is similar to current technology in place in the United States. Every single border passage will be logged, and travelers will need to provide their name, age, gender, date of birth and address.

How the Queen will be able to prove she is who she is will be challenging as she does not carry a passport, and is not required to. In the UK, all passports are issued “in the name of Her Majesty”. All I know is that I’d hate to be the one working the border crossing the day she passes through.

The new measures apply to anybody entering the UK – which includes all levels of VIP, including our own President. The measures even bring an end to the common practice of allowing VIP’s to travel using a pseudonym. Security experts are concerned that forcing high level VIP’s to use their own name will be a bigger security threat than the possibility of the Queen turning out to be a terrorist in disguise.

Amazing timelapse movies of the Alps

by Kraig Becker on

The Alps are one of the most beautiful and iconic mountain ranges on the planet. Stretching across the continent from France to Austria, and sweeping through Italy, Switzerland, and Germany in the process. The Alps gave rise to a culture of mountaineering that would eventually spread across the globe and spur the exploration of mountains in every corner of the planet, led by a host of European mountaineers who cut their teeth on peaks like Mount Blanc and The Eiger.

The very essence of those mountains has been captured very well in a series of timelapse videos by photographer Michael Rissi who shot them in the Swiss Alps this past summer and fall. The images are stunning and will inspire you to want to go there yourself, and the music by Beethoven, is a perfect accompaniment. Enjoy!

[via Boing Boing]

Timelapse movie: The Alps — part I from Michael Rissi on Vimeo.