Poison alcohol kills Russian tourists: three things they should have known

by Sean McLachlan on

Poisonous alcohol has been blamed for the deaths of three Russians on a cruise off the Turkish resort of Bodrum.

The Russians were part of a trip by travel agency managers exploring tourism possibilities in Turkey. In total, 20 Russians and one Turk were poisoned by the drinks. The $50 cruise included 10-12 mixed drinks. While some reported that the alcohol had a strange taste, it appears that didn’t stop them from drinking it.

Initial reports suggest methanol was added to the booze.

This tragedy could have easily been avoided if these travel professionals had followed three simple rules:

1. Be wary of alcohol in Muslim countries. I’m sorry if this offends any legitimate Muslim brewers or vintners out there, but the fact of the matter is that much of the alcohol produced in Muslim nations is substandard, and apparently in this case downright dangerous. A culture that frowns on drinking pushes drinking underground. This lowers standards both for producers and consumers. Also, consumers are less likely to know what’s good and what isn’t. I’ve traveled all around the Muslim world and have seen a lot of dodgy booze.

2. If it tastes strange, don’t swallow. This is standard travel health practice. One of my worst cases of food poisoning happened in India. It was a hot day and I bought a local brand of cola. I took a big slug of it and swallowed, only to wince at an acrid, industrial chemical taste. I spit out what remained in my mouth but it was too late. Within an hour my gut felt like I’d swallowed a dozen razor blades. I learned my lesson: taste first.

3. Don’t overdrink. The cruise included ten to twelve mixed drinks? That’s poison even if the booze is normal. Overdrinking overseas (or even in the wrong bar back home) can make you ill, get you robbed, or worse. Drink sensibly. You’ll enjoy your vacation more.

[Photo courtesy Georges Jansoone]

Floatels: not your mother’s cruise ship

by Chris Owen on
Cruise ships have so many onboard amenities that they have been called “floating hotels” by some. Carrying over 3000 guests along with fine restaurants, health spas and more, that’s probably not totally inaccurate. A new concept called “Floatels” launched recently and involves renting luxury houseboats that remain securely docked.
“Floatels are an ideal choice for families, multi-generational groups, gatherings of friends or couples seeking lake accommodations and an introduction to the houseboating experience,” says Forever Resorts in a press release.

Each 67-foot Floatel sleeps ten guests, is climate controlled, includes a living area, fully equipped kitchen, four bedrooms, a sleeper sofa, TV/DVD player, outdoor barbecue grill and a top-level sun deck featuring a wet bar and hot tub.

They make it sound good too and far from a cruise ship experience. “Houseboat vacations are all about charting your own course. Your schedule is quickly reduced to the calm quiet of sunrise, and the colorful sunset over the lake. Days again become your own. Night skies return to the way we all remember them away from the cities – glittering with stars and inky black

Introductory prices for Floatel rentals start at $190 per night for the first four passengers.
Additional passengers are $20 per person up to 10 total passengers. Pets are welcome; a $10 per night pet fee will apply. Contact Echo Bay Marina at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area’s for more information.

Bingo not available.

Photo: Forever Resorts

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Sicily in a day

by Chris Owen on
We have just one day in Messina, Italy to see what we can. The plan is basically the same as our last stop of Dubrovnik, Croatia on what we call our “sampling of the Med” tour that started in Venice, Italy and will end nine days later in Barcelona. We know we can’t see everything and would rather spend some quality time with something or someone of interest. Here the plan was to go to Taormina perched high above on Mount Tauro, which dates back to the 3rd century B.C. Again, flexible plans allow for a rich travel experience.

You could accurately say that Messina in the Sicily region of Italy is barely 100 years old. A massive earthquake pretty much leveled the place in 1908. That’s a sharp contrast from Dubrovnik which I will remember as the place that built a wall around it to keep away enemies, a veritable fortress against harm. Messina opens up right out to the ocean with few visible relics of a time when oceanfront defenses were a necessity.

To make the 45 minute drive we took a shore excursion offered by Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Magic that we are sailing on and reporting from this week. The excursion is basically a prepaid bus ride that will be sure you make it back to the ship on time. That’s important because ships leave at a pre-determined time, with or without you. Recent news of a pending strike by a transportation-related union in Italy caused concern. The cruise line had done its homework though and assured us that strike or no strike, their drivers would be operating.

Once there, the tour group headed off to see the impressive Greek Theater and we headed the opposite direction to whatever might lie ahead. At this point we had about two hours before the tour group would make it back to the rendezvous point so off we went.

Granted, two hours is not a lot of time but it is amazing how immersed one can get in a culture just parking at a busy intersection of any given town. Such was the case for us today in Taormina.

Tourists who came off of three different cruise ships dominated the town square but local residents went about their business as they might any other day. Old ladies met for a glass of wine like they may have for years. Merchants chatted with customers in their stores and cursed those outside taking photos then moving on. (Apparently that is frowned upon) Neighbors, an occasional car, dogs and visitors came and went while we sat at the Mocambo Bar, drinking it all in.

The short amount of time we had did not allow any extensive adventures but our time was well spent as we looked out across the beautiful vistas that surrounded the area. The drive back to the Carnival Magic took us into Messina and a different kind of action, that of a modern world with all the noise, honking, and organized chaos of a modern city.

Back on the ship it took me a while to get it, what we had just seen up in the mountains. We had just walked on streets that has been there for hundreds of years, saw and talked to people who’s ancestors had walked those streets and sat watching it all happen much the way it might have back then.

As I looked back at Messina from the balcony of our cruise ship cabin and snapped a few last photos, I realized that the images I was taking were from an angle and elevation not possible when this city was first built. Ten-story-high cruise ships did not stop by back then.

But between volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and the sometimes angry weather that being by an ocean brings, here was an area that survived all that to flourish in today’s world. There’s got to be some lessons there, ones I hope to explore as we continue sampling ports of the Mediterranean.

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Chris is being sponsored by Carnival Cruise Lines on a nine-night Mediterranean cruise and is free to report anything he experiences on the journey without bias

Dubrovnik in a day

by Chris Owen on
We had just a few hours in Dubrovnik, Croatia and wanted to make the best of it. Arriving via cruise ship, time was limited. This was the first port of call on a 9-night Mediterranean cruise which looked to be a good sampling of the area. The plan is to hit each destination hard, see some highlights and capture enough information to decide if a return trip might be in the cards for future travel. It made sense, sampling these places we had never been to before, but right off the bat we had a problem: we fell in love with Dubrovnik.

What we call our “sampling of the Med” tour started in Venice, Italy and will end nine days later in Barcelona. In between we will also visit Sicily, Naples, Rome and Livorno, Italy as well as a stop in Monaco. That makes eight destinations in nine days. To prepare for Dubrovnik we started with a Google search for Dubrovnik and gathered background information. VisitCroatia.com was helpful as well as a host of other websites for the basic information we would need for entry requirements, infrastructure in place, etc. As far as what to do and see, we relied on a number of sources including Gadling and AOLTravel for specific recommendations.

The cruise ship we came on was the Carnival Magic (#CarnivalMagic), a new one on her inaugural voyage and staff there had some recommendations as well. The day before we were delivered to Dubrovnik, Carnival Magic’s cruise director gave a complete briefing on what to expect, see and do ashore. The ship offered shore excursions, packaged tours for a set price, but we wanted to try what we have done in other parts of the world here, go it on our own. Our normal plan when visiting a new destination is to first come prepared with a good working knowledge of what to expect, set some goals for what we want to see then make final choices on the ground in sync with what is happening there right now. In other words, our plans are rarely set in stone and offer a great amount of flexibility.

Approaching travel that does not have a specific date-sensitive event included with a good dose of flexibility has made for some fabulous travel adventures in the past. Still, our visit to Dubrovnik had an expiration date so efficient time management was important.

Money management here was easy. Currency in Dubrovnik is the Kuna which is about a five to one value to the US dollar. Euros are also accepted and some merchants take dollars as well. Unlike other ports we will call on for this journey, Croatia’s entry requirements for cruise travelers call for a valid passport to be presented before entry is granted. On other ports, cruise travelers can leave passports securely behind on the ship and be granted entry with only their ship identification card.

It was a cloudy day with rain off and on all morning. By mid-morning the rain slowed but naggy clouds looked like they would be staying around for a while. Armed with rain gear we chose to take a short (2.5km) hike to what is called the “Old City” (aka Stari Grad), a walled fortress that looks somewhat similar to El Morro in San Juan, Puerto Rico from a distance. Good public transportation runs all day and we could have taken a bus for a few bucks but would have missed out on some fabulous scenery. Dubrovnik was heavily bombed during the Croatian War of Independence from 1991 to 1995 and has some battle scars to prove it. Still, the people are warm and friendly in a real “I hope you come back again” way rather than a “we’re putting up with you” kind of way.

Stopping at a bar along the way as well as pausing about every 10 meters to take photos, that short hike took a bit less than an hour, leaving plenty of time for lunch and exploring the walled city. It did not take long to fall in love with this city and it’s people, a helpful and friendly bunch that did not mind answering questions or giving directions and suggestions on what to see.

Our waiter, Eliah, at the Sesame Restaurant just outside the gated city, told us English was a second language to many in Dubrovnik who chose it with dreams of visiting some day. He wants to be a Crime Scene Investigator and studied to be one in college. One problem with his plan is that there is very little crime in Croatia, especially in Dubrovnik, so not all that many of those jobs exist. But when he talked about visiting the United States for a possible job sometime in the future, Elijah’s face took on a dream-like look that I will probably always remember.

To Elijah we were not the Ugly Americans off the cruise ship, we were friends being served in his home. That warm and open demeanor of his would be experienced several times that day from others we would come in contact with too.

I mention this particular part of our hike for just one reason; because it accomplished one of the major goals we have for every place we visit: to make a friend. We have done packaged tours and shore excursions before and will later on this journey. Those are safe, guided ways to see a lot of things in a short amount of time. But we like to take our time and get to know the land we are visiting. A day in old town accomplished this very nicely.

Photos: Lisa Owen

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Chris is being sponsored by Carnival Cruise Lines on a Nine-night Mediterranean cruise and is free to report anything he experiences on the journey without bias

Carnival Magic debuts with familiar new features

by Chris Owen on
Carnival Cruise Lines latest ship, Carnival Magic, debuted Sunday in Venice, Italy. The sold-out inaugural event will visit six Mediterranean ports on its nine-night first sailing. But this story is more than just the latest launch of the latest big floating hotel from the latest cruise line currently in the spotlight. Carnival Magic was built on an evolving foundation of success that will carry her well into the future.

On board to christen the ship was unlikely Godmother Lindsey Wilkerson, cancer-survivor-turned-spokesperson for St Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Diagnosed, treated, then into remission at an early age, Wilkerson’s inspirational story had been circulated by the cruise line extensively prior to the event. But the story took on profound new meaning when veteran cruise director John Heald had Wilkerson’s family join her on stage at the ship’s christening event.

In a moment that defined Carnival’s clear commitment to family, values and the future of the cruise industry, Wilkerson’s adorable daughter (who might not have been) took the stage, bringing tears to the eyes of many in the audience.

3,690-passenger Carnival Magic also happens to be the 100th ship built by parent Carnival Corporation so opening festivities included a good measure of tradition that is reflected in on board offerings.

New features include Cucina Del Capitano, an Italian eatery celebrating the line’s Italian lineage, the Red Frog Pub, a Caribbean-inspired bar with it’s own micro-brew, and SportSquare, an outdoor recreation area that continues an industry-wide focus on fitness and health.

For fans of cruise vacations, there is nothing quite like sailing on the inaugural voyage of a shiny new ship. Cruise lines introduce the latest features and inaugural events bring global attention. Records are broken, memories are made and the mood is festive. This one looks to be all that. More importantly, onboard programming builds upon Carnival’s clear understanding of its trademark “Fun” element.

Placing even more emphasis on signature features like an expanded adults-only Serenity area and Waterworks aqua park, Carnival proves once again how well they know their customers.

What Carnival does not talk about is their ability to seamlessly integrate all the ingredients they offer in their recipe for a great travel experience. That recipe, when fully embraced, allows guests to leave behind their cares, relax and refresh then move forward, renewed with a clarity difficult to emulate with other travel options.

That’s probably for the best.

A good magician never tells how the trick is done.

Chris is being sponsored by Carnival Cruise Lines on this sailing but free to report on any and all aspects of the experience. Chris is available to answer any questions you may have during the voyage that concludes in Barcelona May 10.