Bathroom plumbing is probably the last thing you want to think about on a Caribbean cruise. But Richard Schulman was so riled up about his stinky stateroom – and Carnival’s unhelpful crew — that he documented his woes on a YouTube video. Here’s the tale from the loo.
The brochure said it was a secluded balcony, so imagine one couple’s surprise when they discovered their private oasis came equipped with a set of stairs for the crew. Can’t the deck plans be trusted?
With the British pound’s favorable exchange rate against the U.S. dollar, travelers in the U.K. are wondering whether they should book their cruise vacations though travel agents in the U.S. Is it smart? Is it legal? Here’s the lowdown.
A group of 73 would-be cruise passengers feels cheated when their travel agent quits without warning and their cruise bill nearly doubles. What on earth happened? Here’s the tale of a travel agent, her bargain-hunting customers, discounts, rebates, card mills, legal threats and a booking agency dismissed by a major cruise line.
Last April, I told the story of an American tourist who spent $24,000 on jewelry for his wife while on a cruise stop in Santorini, Greece. When the couple returned home to Florida, two appraisers valued the jewelry at less than $9,000. Accusations flew, and after my story was picked up by MSNBC, the case assumed the proportions of an international incident. Find out how it turned out.
The jewelry in the shop in Santorini was beautiful, and the couple from Florida was dazzled. Yes, the jewelry was expensive, but the shop was a member of Celebrity Cruises’ “Guaranteed Shopping Program” — or so the sign said. So Courtney Thompson and his wife plunked down $24,000 and returned to their ship, where they were in for a rude awakening.
Enid Horowitz writes asking for advice on the best ships for travelers like her husband, who uses a wheelchair to get around. ExpertCruiser takes the opportunity to look at shipboard accommodations for a wide range of disabled travelers.
Cruise packing can easily go wrong, and the biggest mistake is overpacking. I know this from personal experience, having sat atop innumerable overstuffed suitcases, struggling to zip them closed. After dozens of cruises, and in the face of new airline rules limiting suitcases to 50 pounds, she has finally figured out the basics. Here are some tips for you.
Eva and Harry Berger just wanted to relax and enjoy their Hawaiian cruise aboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of Aloha last May. It was their 39th wedding anniversary, so the Bergers splurged on a balcony stateroom. But Stateroom 9229 turned out to be the cabin from hell.
The Mueller family was looking forward to their Alaska cruise aboard the Norwegian Star. Sue Mueller made a great booking for her family through Hotwire — or so she thought. She checked to make sure the family had all the necessary documentation, but when they got to the pier, the Muellers got a big shock.
Dave Tomasso had been saving for two years to take his family on a European cruise in 2008. While scanning Royal Caribbean’s Web site in March he found a “spectacular deal” on a 12-night Mediterranean cruise. He immediately booked two balcony staterooms. But a few days later, he learned the fare was a “glitch” and the cruise line was charging him $4,200 more.
Losing your luggage after a long flight is bad enough, but what would you do if the airline lost your luggage on the first day of a 10-day cruise? Cruisers tell their stories.
Stephanie and Kevin Hemphill were psyched about their upcoming family cruise to the Caribbean. It was a well-planned trip, and the Hemphills were aware of new passport rules, so they applied for their passports 11 weeks in advance. It wasn’t enough. Here’s their story.
You’ve paid all your government port fees in advance, but then your port call is canceled. Should you get your money back? Absolutely! But what if you don’t? Find out what happened when one passenger didn’t take “No!” for an answer.
It’s every cruise line’s nightmare — a norovirus outbreak aboard ship, and it happened on board Royal Caribbean’s new ship, Liberty of the Seas, in early June. So, what do cruise lines do to keep noroviruses from spreading? They go “Code Red.”
It’s the ultimate cruise nightmare: You miss your ship. Now what? Take a wild ride with one Canadian couple as they suffer a late flight, wait endlessly for their cruise bus, and then watch their ship pull away from the pier. Can this vacation be saved?
When Elliott Manning booked his dream cruise to Hawaii on Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL), he expected to pay a single supplement. What he didn’t expect was to be charged double port fees. “New policy,” says NCL. What’s going on here?
Gregg Samson just wanted to find a great cruise vacation deal for his family. He thought he had booked the perfect fares on Royal Caribbean’s Web site, but the cruise line declared a “computer glitch” and nullified the fare. Do the Samsons have any recourse?
I asked for readers’ feedback on a recent cruise column, and boy did I get it. The column told the tale of an amorous couple’s outrage when a window washer appeared outside their balcony cabin just as they were enjoying an early-morning tryst (yep, they’d left the drapes open). Four hundred e-mails later, here are some readers’ thoughts.
What’s a cruiser to do when so many ships pull into port that there’s hardly room to disembark — let alone take a tour? Here are some insider tips to help avoid passenger overload and the shore-leave crush.
What happens when an amorous couple gets busy in their balcony stateroom on the ship’s window-washing day? Everybody gets an eyeful. Remember, folks, the view from the balcony goes both ways.
All Michael and Terry Weadock wanted to do was take a three-day cruise to the Bahamas. Imagine their dismay when Carnival Cruise Lines turned them away at the pier in Miami. The problem? Terry is a Canadian citizen, and her papers were not in order. What went wrong?
All Lily Tan wanted to do was buy a cruise on the Queen Mary 2. Imagine her surprise when her travel agent told her she needed to sign a “limited power of attorney” so the agency could charge the cruise to her credit card. Is this usual?
The Gardners just wanted to enjoy their first-ever cruise, a trans-Atlantic voyage aboard Royal Caribbean’s Legend of the Seas. But when a stomach bug landed them in the ship’s infirmary, they were headed for a shock: a medical bill for $1,600.
When Rosemary and Ken Spencer booked their seven-day Baltic cruise with MSC Cruises, they considered it their “cruise of a lifetime.” But two months before the cruise, their travel agent called with some shocking news: The Spencers had been bumped off the ship to make room for a charter group.