Cruise trends: Higher prices, single studios

If you’re planning a cruise vacation in 2010, get ready for higher prices, better entertainment, water parks, and one of the most innovative concepts to come along in awhile: Rooms designed for solo travelers on the Norwegian Epic, without the supplemental charge that single passengers on cruises have traditionally paid. “I think it’s genius,” said [...]

5 ways to avoid a la carte anarchy

It used to be so simple: The price you were quoted for an airline ticket, rental car or cruise used to be the price you actually paid. Ah, the good old days. Today, the rate you’re given is almost never the final price, which is considerably more. Travel companies stripped away many of the items [...]

Haiti cruise stops draw ire, support

When Catherine Jones recently booked a Royal Caribbean cruise that included a stop in Haiti, she never expected that her vacation would lead to deep soul searching and an emergency family meeting. Jones, who lives in Hickory, North Carolina, is scheduled to start the trip at the beginning of next month — a five-day getaway [...]

Before quake, signs of hope for Haiti tourism

Before last week’s earthquake, Haiti was just beginning to capitalize on the weather, location and tropical scenery that have turned many of its Caribbean neighbors into vacation paradises. New hotels, new attention from international investors and buzz among travelers who have visited in recent years seemed to signal a renewed interest in Haiti as a [...]

Conde Nast Traveler offers tips for port calls

The price you pay to book a cruise is only part of the cost of your trip if you plan on taking any shore excursions. In the January issue of Conde Nast Traveler magazine, consumer news editor Wendy Perrin offers tips for getting the most out of your port calls and land tours. First, if [...]

Survey finds travelers taking health precautions

More than half of adult travelers say they are taking more precautions against flu this year compared to last year, according to a poll conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health. Eighty-one percent of adults who traveled by plane, bus, train or cruise ship in the past year said they will sneeze into their [...]

Singles group makes history with first ‘cougar cruise’

It’s a trip that would make Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher blush. On Friday, the Carnival cruise ship Elation, sponsored by the world’s largest nonprofit singles travel group, will make history by hosting the world’s first International Cougar Cruise, and we don’t mean the animal. Defined by the Urban Dictionary, a cougar is “an older [...]