Q – I have gotten my golfing, Bloody Mary drinking, lazy retiree of a husband to agree to take me on a cruise in the Galapagos islands in January or February of 2018. I am wondering when I should make these arrangements? How far in advance should I start locking this in? A – The…
Q – We have dear friends who recently returned from a Private Jet Tour around South America and they absolutely raved about the experience, We’re in our early seventies and we’re at a stage in life where we want the details handled. Our friends said the private jet made everything easier with no overnight flying,…
Q – With all the terrorism over there, I am wondering where the Europeans themselves are now going on vacation. I know a lot of them used to go to Egypt but I imagine that has dried up. Are they now avoiding travel and staying home on vacation. A – The Europeans tend to be…
Q – In June we got caught up in the middle of the Air France pilot strike making it impossible for us to get home on time. It was an absolute mess but I won’t bore your readers with details, except to say that we had to triple connect from Paris to get back to…
Q – Three days ago I placed a call to an outfit called Quark Expeditions about a sailing to Antarctica. They have 10-12 day programs on an older expedition vessel operating through March. The salesperson I spoke with said that only a limited number of visitors can go ashore in zodiacs at any one time…
Q – We have just started planning a Baltic cruise taking in Scandinavia and Russia. But we are getting wildly divergent opinions regarding the best month to go. Please let me know when we should do this trip? A – The Scandinavians luxuriate in sunny days but they really love, along with the Russians, the…
Q – We are anxious to book an Antarctica sailing on one of two new ships supposed to be launched in 2018 – the Crystal Endeavor and the Scenic Eclipse. As we want to start reading and getting ready for this trip, which will you be recommending to us in terms of overall quality and…
Q – Just returned from a sensational Silverseas cruise in Alaska. You don’t praise this line enough as it is, based on our 13 prior cruises, the very best of the best. There was an interesting discussion one evening at our table about the rights of crew members like the lovely folks from the Philippine…
Q – We’re about ready to book our first cruise. We’re read the online reviews, your stuff, and looked at the line’s web sites. But now its time to pull the plug. Is there a way to work with you on getting this done? We live in Los Angeles and we are foodies and steak…
Q – We have been following your Q and A since you started and we thank you for such honest feedback. Our employment situation has changed and I’ve resigned from three Boards, so my wife and I can now start doing several cruises a year. Our plan is to start with one of the small…
Q – The online reviews have all been quite positive for the new Regent Explorer. We’re wondering if Regent will be ordering another one as I understand it takes three years to build? We missed the Inaugural of the Explorer but we may like to book the first sailing of any new ships they launch….
Q – We are already planning for a new life of cruising devoid of canned Gershwin tributes, scam art auctions, and silly dress requirements. We are active, adventure types and I suppose we are getting ready to “retire” from cruising (Crystal is our brand of choice) to something smaller and more adventurous. We love true…
Q – Cheers. My wife enjoys browsing boutique and secondhand shops, and we both enjoy a scenic or interesting walk. We live in a beautiful coastal town in Massachusetts so we don’t feel the need to do much traveling, and have never done a cruise. We do go to London once a year for a…
Q – We’ve just returned from a Sea Dream Cruise that your firm booked for us – thank you very much. While on-board, the crew was telling some of us that the line is building a new ship to be called Sea Dream carrying 200 guests, twice the size of the current vessels. What can…
Q – As we have learned,carefully reading (and enjoying) the information you have put together, what you see is not always what you get when you book a cruise. We are trying to figure out whether or not we should choose Windstar, Azamara, or Oceania. From your reviews, we are leaning toward Azamara, but are…
Q – We completed our first cruise on the Viking Star, which was highly recommended by our agent. Since this line does not appear to be in the Top Ten Ratings of cruise lines we were skeptical. We’re in our mid-forties and were told that Viking had a younger clientele. We boarded in Venice and…
Q – As a frequent cruiser, I’ve been on eight of your top-ten rated lines, I am interested in the financials of some of these businesses. It seems to me that it is extremely difficult, with all of the discounting, to really make money in the cruise industry. The new Virgin ships won’t be paid…
Q – Dear Sirs; I am writing to inform you that the politically correct have taken over Seabourn Cruise Lines. I sit here on my porch on a sparkling evening in Eugene, Ore. The stars are bright and I have a glass of cognac on the table next to me. In my hand I have…
Q – We have a friend who once worked as a stevedore on the Cunard Line. He is 81 and still reads all he can about the cruise industry. The other night he told us that there are now lines where you board the ship and the passengers actually vote on where they are going….
Q – Your travel advice is spot on with one rather glaring exception. We don’t subscribe to your theory that the earth is getting hotter and that travel to places like Europe should be reconsidered in the summer months. We just returned from a ten-day package in Germany and we found the July temperatures to…
Q – Most of my friends use and depend on TripAdvisor to develop their travel “expertise”. They mostly use it to justify the hotel they selected based on price. But I have learned, partly from this informative site, that these online reviews are often fake. So I wonder if you might share some ways that…
Q – We’ve booked a hotel in London for five nights and are currently in penalty. There is no agent involved and I did not take out insurance for this trip. We’re due to leave in 11 days. Is there any way to sell the room in London or to re-sell it in the States…
Q – Hi – just found your excellent site today. Some quick info before the question on heat. My wife and I are considering a cruise on AMA from Amsterdam to Basel plus the extra land days to Zurich/Lucerne in mid-July of next year. The date is fixed as we would be joining some other…
Q – We are booked on Viking River’s Elegant Elbe program on October 26th next year. The cruise goes from Prague to Berlin. It is our very first cruise of any kind and we’re excited. We got 2-1 rates and the people at Viking were extremely nice and helpful. One thing we are wondering about…
Q – We are really looking forward to booking a Seine river boat program with Uniworld that begins in Paris. But the flooding earlier this year and really given us pause- we’ve been speaking with our agent asking for some sort of guarantee or written policy so we will know that, in the event the…
Q – We are considering a riverboat cruise. My concern is that at 6’5″ I don’t want to stoop over as I walk around the boat and I certainly don;t want to have to worry about my feet hanging over the edge of the bed. Can tall people be somehow accommodated and are the ceilings…
Q – You probably get this question quite often but we’re rather new to the idea of international travel as my husband is about to take a comfortable retirement next month. Although we live outside of Charleston and could just enjoy the city we love so much, the world seems to be calling. At your…
Q – I lived in San Francisco for may years where I was a modest collector of watercolors I would buy at street fairs. I was particularly struck by these incredible mountain scenes, always covered by fog in the paintings and seeming quite mystical. Now, my wife and I are in a financial position where…
Q – I am a frequent flyer in the front of the plane who loves your site(s). The problem is I read traveltruth whenever I fly and sometimes the conversation about cleanliness makes me itchy. I know I’m a germaphobe and I don’t have any problem coming out of the closet. So I would ask…
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