WHERE DO I GET SOME OF THIS STUFF?

Q – I have read and re-read this as well as several of your sister sites. Love the information and the attitude. But you are a bit ahead of us readers. In one of your last Q and A’s you said that Korean Air was  a Four-star airline. Really? Well how do I find that…

OFF TO SEOUL AND NEED SMALL GIFT IDEAS FOR STAFF

Q – This is the coolest site so I come to you with a specific question. I’m flying on Korean Airlines to Seoul for a four-day series of meetings. My first time and I have no idea what to bring back for work colleagues. Is there anything they are famous for or you think would…

HOW DO YOU PROTECT YOURSELF AS A FEMALE BUSINESS TRAVELER?

Q – This may be a little out of your areas of expertise but I wonder if you have any advice. I have just accepted a new sales position in my company that will require about 70% domestic travel to major cities throughout the country. Given the Bill O’Reilly debacle, I suppose I am even…

HEADED TO MELBOURNE TO PROPOSE – WHERE TO STAY AND DINE?

Q – I am one of your followers in Spain. Although many of your answers seem tilted to Americans, we still find the responses amusing and interesting. Some of the questions really amaze us! So to my question: I am certain my fiance does not read this blog. I will be in Melbourne, Australia in…

THE MALDIVES BECKON BUT HOW BEST TO GET THERE?

Q – Based partly on your advise, we are moving up our plans to stay in an over-the-water bungalow in the Maldives. We are frequent Delta flyers and we have some miles with American. We are wondering how we should plan on getting there, Online it looks like a really long haul. Also, advice for…

DOING VIETNAM HOTEL PACKAGE AND WONDERING ABOUT BED BUGS

Q – The little woman and I are off on a land tour in Vietnam we booked with an online agency in the country. It will include two day cruises and four cities beginning in Ho Chi Minh City. We’re excited by my wife is a germophile and wants me to ask you the secrets…

LOOKING FOR A LOWER COST ALTERNATIVE RIVER BOAT LINE

Q –  We have been researching various river boat lines and we were wondering what you think of Emerald Waterways. They seem to be legitimate. We are looking for a line we can take to both Europe and France in the next couple of years. We are not drinkers and, to be frank, we are…

WHO SAILS VIKING RIVER BOATS?

Q – We have been looking over your reviews and, given our philosophy that we would rather take two river cruises than one ultra-deluxe river cruise, we are leaning toward Viking. We notice that you warn people that Scenic has mostly non-Americans on its ships. We wouldn’t want to run into that situation on Viking….

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF THIS EGYPTIAN SHIP?

Q – On the recommendation of our agent, who says she knows you, we are looking at a cruise on a ship called the Misr in Egypt. This is going to be a 13-Day trip from Aswan to Cairo and we’ve already worked out all the silly safety concerns etc. We live in Baltimore, we…

IS THERE A BEST TIME TO GET THE BEST PRICING ON MY CRUISE?

Q – We are, for many of the reasons stated in your reviews, anxious to take our first Crystal Cruise – likely to Scandinavia and Russia next year. My mother-in-law has taken ill and it could be a long haul. I am wondering about whether or not Crystal will be understanding should we need to…

MEMO FROM AN EXPERIENCED RIVER CRUISER

Q –   Thank you for the best independent source of information on European River Cruises.  My wife and I have booked our 4th cruise for 1 Aug.  We have cruised with Uniworld (twice) and Viking and were happy with both lines.  In August we are scheduled with Tauck.  I expect we will not be…

JUST A BIT OF PILLOW TALK

Q – This is for my husband. He works very hard in the construction business based here in Passaic. A cruise to him is an opportunity to catch up on sleep. Our agent, who I think is part-time, has us looking at some of the top lines on your list and we are wondering, between…

HOW MUCH PROFIT IS THERE BUILT INTO THE MAJOR CRUISE LINES FARES?

Q – When you look at the three largest cruise lines, NCL, Carnival, and Royal Caribbean, you see a lot of heavy discounting going on. At the end of the day, how much can they make per passenger? Is it 3% or is it actually higher? I’m just curious.  A – It really does vary…

WHICH CRUISE LINE HAS THE BEST RESTAURANT?

Q – We enjoyed your site – spent three hours on it last night. I suspect we are younger than your average reader and we have taste buds that are still in their prime. We work them out fairly regularly in the Santa Monica area. We are going to do our first cruise this summer…

LOOKING TO DO THE BIG LOUIE AND NEED SOME ADVICE

Q – We are drilling down to make a decision on choosing a ship for a 2018 Around-The-World sailing. Can we book this through you and can you help us decide? We’re looking for a sailing that might be really elegant, I’ve had a very good year in the market, a bit dressy from time…

OCEANIA TO CUBA: ARE THEY READY TO WELCOME THE BERNSTEIN’S?

Q  – Good day and thank you for your efforts on this site. It is wonderful.. We work with an Ensemble agency and they have us on some great mailing lists so we see a lot of the new offers. We just received one announcing a series of upcoming sailings that will go to Cuba….

SHOULD TEL AVIV BE ON OUR RADAR?

Q – We have close friends who want us to join them on a cruise that spends three days in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. We enjoy downtown Chicago, where we have retired, and, quite frankly, my wife has some safety concerns about traveling right now to Israel. I am wondering what your writers feel about…

BRATISLAVA BECKONS

Q – My husband and I are on our mid 70’s and still active. We are more nature-oriented travelers and love hiking and national parks. We dd one cruise with National Geographic up the Columbia River. But age is catching up with us and we need  a more leisurely trip. My husband is Slovakian and…

ARE THERE PHOTOGRAPHY THEMED RIVER CRUISES?

Q – My wife and I could be considered seasoned land travelers. We have been to Alaska and the Caribbean on cruise ships. We came tot he conclusion that we are land lovers. Too much time on the ship. Our main interest is photography and we found the photo ops are limited on a cruise…

IS THE 10% ADVANCE UNIWORLD DISCOUNT A GOOD DEAL?

Q – Our family has been following RiverBoatRatings for the past four years and we’re pretty much at the point where we feel like we know as much about this part of the travel industry as most travel agents. So thanks for that. We are going to be booking several cabins to celebrate my mother’s…

WHAT ARE ACTUAL COSTS OF BOOKING WITH AN AGENT?

Q – We have just booked our eighth cruise with Crystal. We’ll be sailing to South America next winter. We’ve never used a travel agent before and we are wondering if there is a way to use one now. The problem is that we booked this upcoming cruise while we were on the cruise out of…

WE ARE LOOKING AT A TAUCK PROGRAM USING A PRINCESS SHIP. DOES THIS COMPUTE?

Q – We are looking at a Tauck Tours Program called Grand Alaska. We love Tauck but notice that the program includes a seven-night inside passage cruise on a Princess Ship. Since Princess is not on the Top-Ten Cruise Lines list, we wonder just how luxurious our experience will be and whether or not this…

CAN THESE RIVER BOATS TAKE CARE OF SENSITIVE TUMMIES?

Q – There are four of us interested in doing a Rhone/Saone river cruise. The available itineraries and the experience of river cruising appeals to us but one of us has numerous food sensitivities that, while not life threatening, would make for a very uncomfortable, unenjoyable trip if certain foods are not avoided. these food…

WHAT IS BEING DONE ABOUT DANUBE WATER LEVELS?

Q – We were going to book a river cruise with another couple on our street until we found your site and started reading about the water issues – something our “former” travel agent had never discussed with us. We were concerned enough to click the link to your cruise site, which is terrific by…

NOT A DRINKER BUT – DON’T WANT TO FEEL PARCHED ON THE RIVERS

Q – We are going to be joining some friends for a nice river boat vacation in May of 2018. We want to start planning right away and we need to know which of the lines serves, or rather includes, all alcohol as opposed to charging for drinks that we might order. It isn’t so…

AQUA EXPEDITIONS; DO WE WANT TO SAIL WITH THE CEO?

Q – My agent is really pushing us to sail a four-night cruise on the Mekong River on a line called Aqua. I’ve checked them out and they seem to be fine. The CEO of the line will be aboard and I wonder if this is enough of a reason to select this line. I…