The rest of Q&A

Q – We are going to be staying in Athens prior to an upcoming cruise of the Greek islands and Turkey. Having been to Athens before, we understand that there are surprisingly  few boutique hotel options. The King George and the Grand Bretagne have great locations on Syntagma Square, but we prefer something on a side street with fewer rooms in a different neighborhood. Any recommendations would really be appreciated. Great site.

A – Athens likely had more operating hotels in the days of Pericles than it does now. Construction costs are quite high and then there is the problem of actually finishing the construction work. But there are three boutique hotels that we recommend. But please note these are less expensive four star properties – they do not compete with the King George or her big sister across the square:

The small Fresh Hotel has a nice bar and swimming pool on its upper floor. There are nine floors and 133 rooms that are rather minimalist and modern. It is located in the fashionable Psiri District about half a mile from the Plaka. But do be aware that the hotel borders a red light district that can get dicey at night.

The 65 room Classical Baby Grand is located across Kotzia Square.Ten international artists have transformed this property into a statement of modern art and graffiti. You enter through an impressive “art garden” and the check-in desk is a Mini Cooper that drives you to your room. Those who appreciate Urban Art and a younger vibe will like this property. Traditionalists will hate it. Again, this is not the best neighborhood and night walkers may bump into ladies jogging in mini-skirts.

The two best choices would be:

The New Hotel. Not far from Syntygma Square, this property is modern but not over the top and it would seem to meet the needs of travelers to Athens seeking a comfortable alternative to the five-star alternatives. It is generally regarded as the best of the new hotels in Athens and it has a name that is east to remember.

Periscope is a sixteen room find in the heart of the Kolonaki District. It is minimalist in design and the rooms are small. But the staff is cordial, the rooms are nicely decorated, and the upscale neighborhood is Greek Chic with lots of interesting shopping and dining options.

Q – I am a recently retired consulting engineer in the field of water collection methodologies. We have done some traveling and would like to do more. I think I would be the perfect part-time employee. I’d really appreciate a quick overview of the industry in terms of the issue of survival. I’d want to keep working from five to ten years. Does your firm have any openings? Hope I am not asking too much but this is the only place where I know I’ll get a straight answer.

A – In the mid-nineties, there were 35,m000 travel; agency locations in the United States. In some areas they were as prevalent as gun shops. Today, that number has shrunk down to about 15,000 travel agencies.That would seem to be bad news, but it is just the opposite. The result of the closing of so many agencies is that most of the finks, frogs, and phonies are now running tanning bed salons. They’ve left the business. Those who have remained, tend to be the better agents with real followings and niche specializations. Travel agents, who essentially, by definition, do airline ticketing and serve as “agents” of the airlines, are fast disappearing. They are being replaced by a new breed of consultant. The US travel market is currently generating about $285 billion annually. Travel agents and consultants generate about a third of that. According to a recent piece in the New York Times, agencies in the United States have posted two solid years of strong growth and good agents are very much in demand. Some actually have a waiting list for new clients. Part of this has to do with the fact that travel agents tend to be a mature bunch and members of the profession are dropping like flies with no one to replace their accumulated expertise. But what is really driving the growth in agency production is the growing tendency, as the Times points out, for travelers to seek personalized professional recommendations. Online searching is just so much blah for many and Internet stats for booking travel are actually down as a percentage and have been for 24 months. The fact is that few trust the web enough to purchase travel there.

We don’t hire based on openings. When we find an extraordinary applicant we try to create a job for them based on their personal preferences and our current needs.

Q – We’ve been following your responses to questions about American Airlines bankruptcy carefully. Just wondering if anything has changed or if you remain confident we face no danger in letting our miles grow in the account. We’re approaching 500,000 miles. Please try to do less cruise reporting and more on the airlines. We all fly, only a handful of us cruise.

A – The situation at American is changing rapidly since the company petitioned a federal judge to say yes to its plan to make all current labor contracts null and void while also terminating 13,000 jobs. American’s management feels that is what it will take for the airline to emerge from bankruptcy in a position to survive. A dramatic spike in fuel prices would be disastrous for American at this stage.

At this stage, we would recommend that you take 50% of your miles and convert them into a travel certificate which will be good for one year from date of purchase. That will assure that at least half of your miles are protected.

What has changed our mind? In a defiant and unusual move, American’s pilots, flight attendants, and transport workers actually signed a deal with rival US Airways that would secure certain pay raises and protect some job losses if the two airlines merge. The industry is filled with rumors of a pending US Airways and American merger but American is vehemently denying them.

The situation is fluid enough that we think you should take protective steps to insure your miles don’t head skyward.

As to your last point. Close to 12% of the adult population of the US has cruised. Ours is not a consumer cruise site but we are cruise-centric. We estimate, based on the responses we receive, that somewhere between 80-85% of our site guests have cruised, the vast majority on one or more of the Top Ten Rated lines. We’ll try to keep you posted on important consumer developments but there are much better sites out there that are totally devoted to airline news and information.

Q – We are frequent visitors to your site. In fact, we decided to get married and ask you about our honeymoon four days ago. Here is our dilemma. We are planning a June 2013 wedding date and we’d love to be legally married aboard a nice cruise ship. But we just don’t want to spend our cruise time on the Caribbean islands. Been there – done that. We’ve got about two weeks. Ideally, some of the immediate family would be with us for a week and the wedding. But what do we do then – throw them overboard?  We realize we are early to make arrangements but we wonder what you might suggest. We can’t seem to find anything.

A – For this one we went to our on-staff honeymoon specialist, named “World’s Best” by Conde Nast Traveler. She recommends that you look at a new program unveiled by Cunard Line. Beginning this summer, their Captains can perform legally sanctioned weddings on the New York to Southampton crossings of their “Queens”. So here is the plan: Have the family join you for the six night crossing, the ships are larger enough to hide from them, and have them disembark at the end of six days, flying home from London. This will give you seven or eight nights to enjoy London, Paris or a combination of the two. June in Paris is not a bad way to begin a lifelong friendship.

Q – We have friends in Portland who claim to have booked a Crystal Cruise for $2305 per person. They’ve been bragging about the great deal they got but we wonder if this is really the rate. I don’t know exactly where they are going but I think they are traveling in April or May. My wife and I find this amazing because we’ve always heard that Crystal was one of the top lines. Can you shed any light on this? Cruise pricing is just one dark tunnel as far as I’m concerned.

A – We know. The best way to handle pricing issues is to understand that cruise lines just don’t go around to different top-producing travel agencies with different price offers. Cruise pricing is a surprisingly level playing field. All of the top agencies get exactly the same rates for their clients. If they didn’t, they would refuse to represent the line.

Your friend was telling you the truth – but not the whole truth. They did find a fare of $2305 in an obstructed view cabin on the Crystal Symphony sailing from Vancouver to on April 29th. That is a truly amazing price for a seven-night inclusive cruise on one of our highest-ranked lines. But there is a little piece of the puzzle missing. This is a cruise that is repositioning the ship from Japan to Los Angeles. The seven-night segment your friends have booked sails from Vancouver to Los Angeles, far from the ideal time to be spending a week in the Pacific Ocean trying to hug the shoreline.

A much better deal can be had in late October when you can book a 12-Day cruise on the Crystal Serenity from Venice to Istanbul for less than $4,000 per person. That means you get a five-star inclusive experience at $334 per day. It should cost between $500-$700 per day. When the consumer media claims that “cruise prices have never been lower”, this is the kind of offer they have in mind.

Q – My wife and I like to gamble and we go on upscale gambling vacations twice a year. We’ve heard that there is something coming to Miami to be built by the Chinese that will be the largest casino in the States. Is there any truth to this?  As a suggestion, your coverage of gambling destinations is really inadequate.

A –  There are kernels of truth in the rumor but this is by no means a done deal. The problem any major gambling enterprise faces in Florida is that the current Chamber of Commerce Chairman is a top Disney executive. And the Mouse does not approve of gambling.

The project you refer to is the 30-acre Resorts World Miami. This is a design by a Malaysian company called the Gerting Company. Their plans call for 800,000 square feet of gambling space, 5,000 hotel rooms, and 50 restaurants and bars.

We think that the gaming industry is going to be fascinating to watch in the next 24 months as strapped for cash municipalities, wrestle with the temptations to generate cash. Currently twenty-two states have legalized gambling. Miami may be looking at Clark County, home to Las Vegas. 2011 gambling revenues in Clark reached $9.2 billion last year.

If you feel our coverage of gambling issues is “inadequate” we’ll give you your money back. Oh, wait a moment, you didn’t pay us anything.

Q – My husband and I and our two children were looking forward to booking a cruise to the Mexican Riviera this year. But when we spoke to our agent, she told us that there just aren’t any cruises that would suit our needs and she suggested we look, instead, at the Western Caribbean. What is really going on here. I can’t believe that the economy is so bad that people can’t afford a one week cruise to Mexico.

A – If you look in any travel-related publication or web site, you will likely see significant advertising by the Mexico Tourism Board. As one of the industry’s largest single advertisers, they have the ability to influence public opinion and they are currently enmeshed in a verbal battle with some of the major cruise lines that have home-ported in Mexico in the past.

The view of the MTB seems to be that the cruise lines have pulled out of ports in Mexico as a result of Califronia’s recession. The cruise lines still offer a restricted number of cruises that call in Mexico but certain ports are being eliminated from current and projected itineraries. As Travel Weekly pointed out in their March 26th issue, the cruise lines clearly feel that they have pulled out of Mazatlan for security reasons, citing specific incidents in the port and current US State Department warnings.

The Tourism Board contention is that Mazatlan is being eliminated because it costs about $17,000 for a ship to use its docking facilities. When a ship uses Cabo San Lucas instead, there is no docking fee because passengers are tendered.

Disney, Carnival, Princess, and Holland America have all cancelled or curtailed port calls in Mazatlan. Last month, a shore excursion group in Puerto Vallarta on a Carnival Cruise Lines hiking excursion was robbed at gunpoint.

Given cruise line’s current view that Mazatlan poses too many risks, Mexican officials are trying to get the lines to consider calling at Guaymas, which is also located along the Sea of Cortez.

You can do a cruise to the Mexican Riviera. Your travel should have known that but we think her advice to consider the Western Caribbean has merit.

Q – I am desperate to take my wife to see relatives in County Clare, Ireland next summer. But she is absolutely afraid to fly. Any facts you might provide to help me convince her it is safe would be much appreciated.

A – We’re not sure she will care much about our “facts” but we’re here to help. The years 1994-1998 were relatively safe years in terms of air fatalities in the US. But the last five years have seen a 93% decline even in those rates. This translates to a US aircraft having a 1 in 49 million chance of being in an accident that results in fatalities. You literally are safer flying or cruising than you would be had you remained in your house with all of the doors double-locked. Our advice would be to drug her and drag her over.

Q – I am just wondering about the state of the US Cruise industry. With the economy, and all, are new ships going to be launched in the next several years or are they holding off?

A – Cruise brands based in North America have firm contracts to launch 10 new cruise ships between now and 2015 accommodating a total of 33,744 guests. The largest of these ships, accommodating 4100 each, will be launched by Royal Caribbean in 2014 and 2015. Norwegian Cruise Line will launch the 4,000 passenger Breakaway in 2013, followed by her sister, the Getaway, in 2014.

Q – A quick question about a lifelong dream. I have always wanted to surprise my wife with a lavish New Year Ball celebration, where we can waltz in the New Year in Vienna. Is this even possible? I know that it will not be inexpensive.

A –  Yes, you can attend any one of a series of almost 300 Balls held in Austria’s Capital New Years Eve and through Ash Wednesday. The best of these are the famed Opera Ball held in the lovely Vienna State Opera House and the strangely named Ball of the Viennese Coffee House Owners which is held in the Imperial Palace. The best way to book your dance is to arrange a custom vacation through a travel firm associated with an on-site office in Vienna. They will have access to tickets that a US-based travel agent may find challenging to obtain.  Live the Dream!