Carnival cruise line bans family for life

by Grant Martin on

You would think that it would take a pretty serious infraction to cause a cruise line operator to ban you for life — pushing the annoying commerical guy overboard, for example, or dumping soap in the water slide pool.

But surely not for getting a few scratches on your dresser. According to one Mr. Chris Harvey who took a cruise docking into Ft. Lauderdale this summer, however, that’s what got him and his family the boot. In addition to that, Mr. Harvey claims that the scratches were there long before the cruise says that they existed, suggesting that the staff falsely accused them of causing the damage.

In the end, Harvey signed a document accepting a life time ban from the entire cruise line, the only alternative to coughing up some cash for the damages. You can read about his experience at his website.

Since the ban, however, the plot has thickened. Harvey was able to produce a few photos showing that the dresser was already damaged before the cruise claimed, and now that his story has gained traction on his site, Carnival is reversing the ban.

In the end, the moral of this whole fiasco is to check your room before you move in. Like a rental car, you’re liable for any damage during your stay.

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Ten musical destinations that will rock your world

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Music has a way of taking you on a journey. Like any great trip, the songs that inspire us are filled with joyous highs and sobering lows, unexpected revelations and exotic uncertainties. It’s only natural then that each of us seeks out music during our travels. Whether it’s a CD stand in a bustling market in Morocco or a classically-trained violinist playing on a street corner in Paris, music offers travelers a visceral way to cut through the confusion of language and custom, revealing the true essence of a destination.

Wherever we go, melodies both familiar and exotic burst out of speakers, vibrate in concert halls, groove around city streets and drip off the walls in sweaty dance clubs. Yet it’s only in a few select spots around the world that the culture of music becomes a truly tangible attraction. These are the special places where a unique confluence of cultural cross-pollination, inherent creativity and a critical mass of kick-ass musicianship coalesces to create something truly special.

In the course of our journeys here at Gadling, we’ve uncovered some of the world’s most unique and memorable destinations for music. The following list is by no means the end-all-be-all of musical places to visit, but each of the ten spots we’ve chosen is without a doubt one-of-a-kind and a true musical hotspot. Did we choose any of your favorites? Click below for our picks…
Number 10 – Mali’s Festival in the Desert
At first glance, it would be easy to mistake Mali’s Festival in the Desert as a cruel mirage. Yet every year this wind-swept country in Northwestern Africa puts on one of the continent’s best musical events, featuring traditional Tuareg tunes as well as music from around the globe.

Number 9 – Pitch-perfect karaoke in Manila
Love it or hate it, Karaoke has spread its melodies around the world, from the drinking dens of Tokyo to the back streets of New York. But to truly experience Karaoke talent, head to Manila. Filipino cover bands are legendary for their pitch-perfect renditions of Western pop songs. In fact, if you closed your eyes, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference from the originals.

Number 8 – Concert hopping in Austin, TX
They like to say everything is bigger in Texas, and Austin’s annual South by Southwest music festival certainly doesn’t disappoint. Each March, over a thousand bands from around the world descend on the state’s capital for four days of drinking, dancing and music industry schmoozing. If you’re hoping to catch rock’s next great thing or simply looking for a good time, South by Southwest is definitely one of the USA’s best music events.

Number 7 – Tokyo Record Collecting
Tokyo, Japan is one of the world’s great cultural epicenters, consuming and re-creating pop culture trends at a furious pace. This intense consumption is particularly true of music, where the Japanese excel as the world’s consummate music collectors. If you need proof of Tokyo’s status as the crown jewel for record shopping, one need only stroll the back alleyways of Tokyo’s bustling Shinjuku district. Along the narrow side streets you’ll stumble upon hidden second floor record shops packed floor to ceiling with obscure vinyl and out-of-print rarities.

Number 6 – New Orleans gets Jazzed

New Orleans is known as the birthplace of Jazz music. It was the city’s unique mixture of French, Spanish and African traditions that allowed the city to develop this particularly unique musical heritage, one that is evident even today. One of the best ways to experience the Big Easy’s Jazz culture is the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, perhaps the world’s best showcase of this distinctly southern-tinged style.

Number 5 – The London Remix
London has a reputation as a musical chameleon, a city that takes on the world’s constantly evolving musical styles, remixing and reinterpreting in a uniquely British way. Whether it’s Punk or Techno, Indie Rock or Dubstep, London has something to suit the tastes of about every music lover. Check out this list of London music venues, this rundown of record stores, or top-notch dance clubs like Fabric if you’re looking to jump along to the beat.


Number 4 – Kingston sound system parties
Jamaica holds an outsize reputation in the world’s musical lore, having birthed world-famous artists like Bob Marley along with hundreds of other equally talented Jamaican singers, producers and musicians. Though the laid-back vibe of Tuff Gong has long-since morphed into the raw sounds of Dancehall and Ragga, you can still experience Jamaican music at its finest at some of Kingston’s weekly sound system parties like Passa Passa and Weddy Weddy Wednesday. These rough and tumble affairs take over Kingston’s parks and streets with huge speakers, raucous dancing and plenty of fun.


Number 3 – All night techno in Berlin
Something happened when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. As a divided city was slowly mended together, music fans began to take over the city’s abandoned buildings and spaces for semi-legal dance parties. It was the beginning of Techno, a music scene that would soon sweep the capital and most of Europe. Berlin today is ground zero for electronic music fans, with some of the world’s best DJ’s playing parties that can last all night and into the next day and beyond. Check out the events list at Resident Advisor for a good listing of what’s happening.

Number 2 – Shake to the rhythm of Brazilian Carnival
Much like New Orleans and Jamaica, Brazil is the product of a unique confluence of cultures, bringing together Portuguese, African and indigenous influences. Nowhere does this unique cultural history make itself better felt than during Brazil’s annual Carnival festivities, when cities across the country like Rio de Janeiro and Salvador erupt in wild displays of samba dancing and furious drumming. Check out this Rio Carnival guide to get started.



Number 1 – Find what’s new in New York City
It’s hard to even describe how important New York has been to 20th Century musical innovation. Jazz. Punk. Disco. Hip hop. Whatever your preferred style of music, you can find it here…whether its an Indie Rock show at the Bowery Ballroom or killer night of Jazz over at Blue Note, New York’s got it all. Spend a day browsing through record stores like Other Music and A-1 Records before catching a show at Mercury Lounge, S.O.B.’s or Lincoln Center.

Did we pick your favorite musical destination? Think we forgot one of the best? Leave us a comment below to continue to the debate.

Life Nomadic: Luxury Cruise Ships at Hostel Prices

by Tynan on


When I was a kid, my breakfast cereal of choice was Kellog’s Corn Flakes. The back of the box, which I relied on for breakfast-time entertainmant, sometimes had contests to win cruises on Carnival Cruise lines. I guess advertising works, because since then I had always wanted to go on a cruise.

I had no idea how much cruises cost. I never saw prices advertised, so I assumed that they were like first class air travel – too expensive to actually consider.

As I found out many years later, cruises aren’t expensive at all. In fact, if you know what you’re doing, you can stay and eat on a luxury cruise ship for less than a hostel.The one notable downside to cruise travel is that you only visit each place for one or two days at most. On the other hand, you don’t have to worry about meals, you don’t have to pack and unpack between spots, and the ship is a destination itself.

Before I became a nomad I focused on round trip cruises. Leave out of Houston, cruise around the Caribbean and Central America for a week, and end up back in Houston. Now I use cruises as transportation whenever possible, seeking out one way tickets. That means that the price of the cruise is counting against the plane ticket, meals, and lodging I would have paid otherwise.

The gold standard for a good deal in cruising is fifty dollars a day, including taxes and port charges. Except for a transatlantic on the Queen Mary II, I’ve never paid more than that. You will also have to tip $10 per day total to the waiters, maids, and cabin stewards.

The first place I look for cruise deals is the Cruise Sales on Travelzoo, particularly the exotic cruise section. Exotic is a euphemism for cruises with strange, long, and usually one way routes. This is exactly what I want, but such strange itineraries usualy don’t fit into the standard weeklong vacations that most people go on, so they get seriously discounted.

The next step, once you find the cruise you want, is to go over to Cruise Compete and put in a request. Cruise Compete is an amazing site where cruise agents fight for your business by offering private quotes. These quotes are always cheaper than you’ll find anywhere else, often times by half.

For example, I put in a request today for a 23 day cruise from China through Japan and Alaska to Vancouver. The advertised price on Travelzoo was $1149, but I got a quote for $647. That’s $28 per day, including all fees, for a room, all meals, and entertainment. This particular cruise also happens to be on Princess, which is one of the best cruise lines.

Some of the very best deals can be had during repositioning cruises. Cruise ships tend to migrate, usually across the Atlantic, every fall and spring, and offer very low prices to passengers who want to go on a long cruise with a lot of days at sea. In fact, I’m on a fourteen day from the Dominican Republic to London as you read this.

If you can get past the slightly overdone tackiness on most cruise ships, you’ll really enjoy your time on them. For the partying types there are clubs and bars all over the place, as well as half a dozen pools and hot tubs. Many newer ships have attractions like miniature golf, rock climbing, and even ice skating rinks. I like these things, but my favorite part of being on a ship is getting away from the distractions of cell phones and constant internet access, and finding some peace and quiet to get work done or stare out at the sea and do some thinking.

My next post will be ten tips on getting the most out of your cruise, so start looking for the right one now!

Weirdest festivals from around the world

by Karen Walrond on

Seven years ago, when I became engaged to my now-husband, Marcus, I took him back home with me to Trinidad & Tobago to meet my parents for the first time, as well as participate in my country’s legendary Carnival. On Carnival Tuesday, as we were dancing in the streets, I said to him smugly:

“See how lucky you are to marry me? You get to visit my country and enjoy fabulous festivals!”

“Ah yes,” he agreed in his English accent, “but one day soon, I’ll take you back to my dad’s home in Gloucester, where we can go to the Cheese-Rolling Festival!”

I looked at him strangely, and attributed his odd response to the hot sun. Cheese-rolling festival? Jeez. Clearly, he needed to lay off the rum.

Turns out, the Gloucester Cheese-Rolling Festival is quite famous: according to MSNBC.com, “In a logic that defies reason, participants of this festival race down a vertiginous hill in pursuit of a 7.8-pound roll of cheese.”

Oookay.

Amazingly, this isn’t even the weirdest festival out there — you can check out some of the other oddball festivals around the world here. And let it be said now, I’m heaving a big sigh of relief that my Marcus is from a small town in England, rather than a small town in Spain, where revelers at one particular festival “parade around town and whip the townspeople, while a cow masquerader runs amok in the crowd.”

Wow.

Carnival celebrations around the world

by Anna Brones on

Vibrant music, zesty dancing, bright colors and more fun and absurdity than a lot of people can handle. Carnival anyone? For the pre-Lent partying season our minds tend to automatically think of New Orleans and Rio, but the event is in fact celebrated around the world. A few places to spice up a dreary winter before Lent kicks in:

Dominica: A small and happy island almost hidden in the Lesser Antilles, Dominica is not to be forgotten during Carnival season. Here, the local Creole expression, More Fete Less Twaka (more party less talk), rings true. Soca competitions, a Carnival beer garden, some street jams and a Miss Dominica Pageant. What more could you want from an early winter Caribbean vacation?

Munich: The Munich Carnival, or “Fasching,” is often referred to as Germany’s “Fifth Season,” when the local population truly lets loose. People crowd the streets, pretzel vendors run abound and beer runs freely. Think Oktoberfest but with confetti, masquerade balls and elaborate parades.

Venice: This year’s theme, Sensation: 6 sensations for 6 neighborhoods, says it all. Venice has been enjoying its celebrations for centuries, and through the years it has evolved into a well-known time for wild festivities. The main feature: masks. If you don’t have your own, not to worry, there are plenty of mask makers throughout the city ready to take your order.

Rijeka: Croatia’s biggest carnival was once one of the most important in Europe. Around 150 carnival groups from a dozen different countries attract over 120,000 visitors. One of the days is designated as children’s carnival, attracting 6,000 little ones. And don’t forget to check out the Zvoncari groups: men dressed up in animal skins, complete with horned masks, frantically dancing to the eerie sound of clanging bells.

Goa: India might not be the first place you would expect to find Carnival, but introduced by the Portuguese who ruled Goa for over 500 years, the celebration is still enjoyed today. Although primarily a Christian event, the Goa Carnival has absorbed many Hindu traditions, making it an extravagant event a true sight for the eyes.