Overcrowded Venice may ban day-trippers

by Katie Hammel on

There’s no question that Venice is a city overrun with tourists. 20 million people visit the sinking city each year, yet only 60,000 Italians call Venice home. It’s no wonder then that the city starts to feel more like an open-air museum, a well-preserved relic of the past, rather than a living, and lived-in, city.

The residents of Venice put up with a lot (though or course, many of them profit greatly from the massive tourism industry too), and many are fed up with the overwhelming crush of tourists that descend on the town each year. And they aren’t above fighting back. Last year, the city created a (short-lived) locals-only vaporetto line from the Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco. Technically, anyone with a 3-year Carta Venezia pass could ride, but at 40 Euros each, most visitors wouldn’t buy one.

The latest tactic in the battle of locals vs. tourists is to ban day-trippers. Only about 30% of Venice’s annual visitors stay there overnight. The rest stay outside the city, stop by on their way to or from other destinations, or come for the day by cruise ship. The proposal would limit visitors to the city to those people who have a pre-booked hotel reservation.

Enrico Mingardi, the head of public transportation in Venice, is the mastermind of the proposal. He says that Venetians can “no longer tolerate the discomforts” caused by the influx of thousands of tourists each day. He didn’t say exactly how the system would work, what rules would apply to cruise ship visitors, and if those without proof of hotel reservations would be locked out of the city.

Proposals that would limit the number of Venice’s tourists have been brought up before, but always defeated. If the policy does take effect, I have a feeling Venice will feel even more like a historical theme park. What’s next – turnstiles and a ticket window?

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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Last Chance to Get to Greenland on the Cheap

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Okay, it’s not at the top of many people’s travel lists. Who thinks about Greeland? Well, I do, and I’ve wanted to go for a while. Hurtigruten is pretty sympathetic to this fact and has a new deal that makes it pretty easy to get it to one of the most remote destinations in the world … but, you have to act fast. This deal expires on August 31, 2009, and space is limited.

Hurtigruten’s new ship, MS Fram, has 318 berths and takes its guests around a seascape that hasn’t changed in 5,000 years. On land, much is frozen in time as well, with Hurtigruten’s passengers able to move among villages that have seen little of what the rest of the world would call progress. Eqip Sermia Glacier, icebergs in Disko Bay and Jakobshavn Ice Fjord (a World Heritage Site) are on the itinerary, as well as guided walking tours of Inuit towns, such as Qeqertarsuaq, Ukkusissat, Itelleq and Ilulissat.

Curious about the deals? Check them out after the jump.

“Three Countries – One Deluxe Ship” – a At a savings of 64 percent to 67 percent ($8,667 to $13,117 in savings), the voyage starts in a European country and ends in New York (by way of Canada). Along the way, you’ll explore one of the world’s most remote destinations (Greenland), and guests on the 18-day voyage aboard the MS Fram are treated to a unique historical perspective as they are joined by Benedicte Ingstad, the daughter of the famed explorer Helge Ingstad. Ms. Ingstad joined her parents, Anne Stine and Helge, on their expedition to L’anse Aux Meadows in Newfoundland in 1960, where they discovered and excavated what is believed to be the “Vinland settlement” of Leif Eriksson from around AD 1000 – 500 years before the Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of North America. Other highlights include visits to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites: L’anse Aux Meadows, Red Bay (provisional World Heritage list) and Gros Morne National Park. The September 22 departure ranges from $4,249 to $7,249 and include flights from New York/Newark, one night hotel in Copenhagen.

“25% Off + 2 Hotel Nights” – This deal results in a cost savings of $1,990 to $5,745 per person and comes with a pretty hefty perk: two free hotel nights in Copenhagen, Denmark. Guests will have a chance to poke around the medieval city. And, the stop in Denmark stretches the 8- and 15-day Greenland sailings into 10- and 17-day vacations. The reduced prices for the four August and September departures are $4,597 to $15,862 per person.

“Go Solo And Save” – Interested in checking out Greenland on your own? Solo travelers can pay the same rate as if they were sharing a cabin, a savings that can reach 47 percent ($3,065 to $19,034 off brochure prices). Single passenger prices are $6,129 to $21,149.

Airlines roll out last-minute sales for Labor Day

by Katie Hammel on

There are just two weeks left until Labor Day, but it’s not too late to plan a getaway for the holiday weekend. In fact, waiting until now to book your trip might even save you money with some of the great last-minute deals that are available.

American Airlines Flights
American Airlines has several destinations on sale for Labor Day. Buy your tickets to Belize by August 28th and travel Monday through Thursday, starting September 1st, for as low as $217 each way. Book a trip to Jamaica by August 24th for travel any day of the week after September 1st, and prices will start at $84 each way. Tickets to Cancun, booked by August 25th for Saturday and Tuesday travel after September 1st, start at $88 each way.

United Airlines Flights
If you can stretch your weekend until Tuesday (departing on Saturday), book tickets to destinations within the United States on United Airlines by August 25th to save. Prices vary by departure and destination cities, but sample fares include Chicago to New Orleans for $89 each way, Atlanta to Denver for $109 each way, and Miami to Washington Dulles for $69 each way.

Spirit Airlines Flights
Spirit is well known for its near-constant sales to destinations within the United States, Central America and the Caribbean. It’s like the Gap of airlines – never pay retail because, just as the Gap will knock 50% off those jeans in two weeks, chances are that Spirit will soon offer a better deal for the flight you want. Their current sale ends tomorrow, August 25th, and discounts some of their more popular routes to as low as $33.90 each way. As with all of their sales, $9 Fare Club members and those in hub cities like Fort Lauderdale and Detroit save the most and have the most options. But even the rest of us can still get some good deals for Labor Day. For example, New York to Medellin, Colombia is $138.90 each way, Boston to Myrtle Beach is $68.90 each way, and Atlanta to San Jose, Costa Rica is $128.90 each way.

Expedia.com Deals
Beyond flights, Expedia has deals on just about everything else – hotels, cars, cruises, package deals – for your Labor Day travels. Deals vary widely by location, but some of the highlights include discounts of up to 50% off hotels in Las Vegas, Orlando and Chicago (among other cities) and 3-night Royal Caribbean Bahamas cruises for as low as $262 per person for an inside cabin.

If these deals don’t work for you, there’s still plenty of time to plan your perfect Labor Day vacation at a great price. Check out Hotwire’s Travel Ticker, peruse the sale list on Travelzoo and follow your favorite airlines on Twitter. JetBlue and Southwest regularly post their top deals on twitter, so you’ll be the first to know about great fares.

Cruising the Northwest Passage

by Kraig Becker on

Global climate change has had an undeniable effect on the planet, with weather patterns changing dramatically, polar ice caps melting, and sea levels rising, altering coastlines and reshaping boundaries. For evidence of these changes you only need to look north, where global warming has caused arctic pack ice to break-up and melt, opening the legendary Northwest Passage for navigation for the first time.

For centuries explorers and merchants sought out a sailing route north of Canada that would link the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Such a route would have made travel to the far east much easier and faster, but all attempts to uncover such a path, which was dubbed the Northwest Passage, were met with thousands of miles of impenetrable ice. Famous adventures, such as John Cabot and Captain James Cook, risked their lives, and their ships, to find the Northwest Passage, but no one was able to complete the navigation until Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen made the voyage back in 1908 aboard a specially designed ice vessel. Amundsen’s journey took three years however, and was not commercially viable for merchant ships.

Fast forward to last year, when the route was declared navigable by the Candian Coast Guard, and the first commercial ship made its way through the Passage. By late summer, the waterway was said to be nearly completely free from ice, and safe for ships to pass through, and it remained that way until the arrival of winter, when the route froze shut once again.The cruise industry has never been one to miss a business opportunity, and there have been a number of tour operators that have begun offering Northwest Passage cruises for 2009. Most begin in Nome or Anchorage, Alaska, but others can be found departing such places as Ottawa, Canada or even Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. The cruises vary in length from two to three weeks, which is a far cry from Amundsen’s three year voyage, and they remain on the expensive side now, with most staring around $10,000 and up.

A Northwest Passage cruise is a true adventure into mostly unknown waters, and a travel experience that few have had the opportunity to witness. But with increased traffic along the route, and plenty of ice to contend with, we can only hope that the ships don’t suffer an accident such as the ones that have occurred in Antarctica, where several ships have run aground, and another has sunk after striking an iceberg. However, those that do take a cruise through the Passage are booking a trip into history, as they pass through a realm that has been, until now, off limits to all but the hardiest polar explorers.