The rest of Q&A

Q – Dear Traveltruth – Greetings from Australia. I know that Aussies have a reputation for telling the truth in a direct manner. Hence these comments and question. I found your site by accident on the internet. But I sense I will get a truthful response.

My dear husband who is now in a wheelchair and I took the chance to see what cruising was like from Melbourne to New Zealand on the Dawn Princess a couple of weeks ago and were quite shocked by the experience.  Everyone said how great it was for them and how great it would be for us and we are left amazed that others see us as people who would like over salted food reminiscent of someones rather poor wedding reception; overzealous crew who push you daily to spend more than your pay packet would allow and elderly fellow passengers using more wheelie frames than I saw in all my 15 years working in aged care. 

Your excellent travel site doesn’t mention Princess Cruises, and I gathered there must be a reason.  I have since looked up a myriad of Cruise sites including an American complaints site and I have realised that not only are we not alone in our perceptions, but that many, many more travellers have had worse experiences.  I got really sick with a chest infection mid cruise and therefore could not drink as much as I wanted, I am no alcoholic, only we discovered it was the only way to cope with the lack of any activities of interest to us.  We are professionals in our mid 50’s, so carpet bowls, Barry Manilow concert movies and bingo are of no interest.  However, we were very much alone and I can see that this crusieline  must be making millions on the retirees of southern Australia.  They all loved it!  Our stateroom was good and clean and we had a balcony.  We ate at every port and survived on the bread rolls on board which weren’t bad. I see that things could have been much worse.  However, we were hassled by the waitering staff for the misdemeanour of complaining that we disliked the food, to the point of being followed! ( Yes, I realise that’s paranoid)

It seems from my reading and this experience that there is a lot of disparity between cruise lines and even within their cruise ships, however we also feel really ripped off by our travel agent who basically lied to us about the cruise to make the sale. Does anyone ever get any response other than to thank you for the feedback? Its not that we are money hungry, its just that awful sinking feeling of being taken for a ride (no pun intended).  Are there any cruise lines who actually have great food and good wines and don’t charge an arm and a leg extra to enjoy them?  Do they all cater for the elderly or the children whatever population is the biggest? 

A –  So sorry your first cruise experience was a net negative. This happens more often than you might imagine as the mindset seems to be “let’s sample cruising and not spend a lot to see if we really like it.” That leads to travel agent misdiagnosis, an industry problem of biblical proportions. Your case is a bit different because it sounds as though you were given the werong information from the beginning.

You are correct, there is not much mention of Princess Cruises on this site. We see traveltruth as a voice for the upscale consumer and we deal exclusively with the world’s top ten rated lines. Princess is not one of them, nor is Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Costa, MSC, or Norwegian Cruise Lines. Sadly, had you sailed one of the lines on our  “World’s Top Ten Cruise Lines”  list, you would have had a totally different kind of experience including beautifully prepared foods using fresh, local ingredients, a nice variety of alternative dining options, and a collection of chefs with true skills and the desire to cook each dish to order. Your cruise on the Dawn Princess was designed to be affordable and to appeal to a very mid-range cruiser with mass market expectations. In the States we would say it was a “blue collar cruise”.

If you write to Princess you may get some sympathy and a future cruise credit. We doubt that is what you want. You ought to share your feelings in writing with your travel agent but we doubt seriously that you will receive any financial compensation. We like your characterization of “complaint sites” related to cruising. There are a great many of them but virtually all of them have been seriously infiltrated by those with a vested interest in the outcome of their comments. For the future, we would recommend that you work exclusively with an Australian member of the Virtuoso or Signature travel networks. Their consultants work with a very high-end clientele and should be familiar with characteristics of the five-star fleet. Unfortunately, travel agents are unlicensed opinion givers whose advice can easily ruin a vacation experience. But if you ask the right questions, you will find a true,professional consultant fully capable of  turning your travel dreams into reality.

The average three-four star mass market cruise line is charging about $150 per day for an outside cabin without air. The Top Ten Cruise Lines, rated Five-Stars, are normally going to come in at $500-$700 per person, per day. You get what you pay for despite all the marketing hype and phony deals designed to make you think otherwise. If you wish to stick to mass market pricing, you will find better food on Celebrity.

There is a compromise. Try looking at Oceania Cruises, particularly their Marina and Riviera. They are not inclusive but the ships, Riviera has not been launched yet, are high-level four stars with some excellent dining options. The age of one’s fellow passengers is more determined by the length of the cruise. The crowd on a ten-night or longer sailingmay average as much as ten years older than the same ship doing a seven-night sailing. Many of those still working cannot or will not take off more than a week for vacation.

The reality for you is that you would need to spend about double what you spent on your cruise to experience the level of service and food quality that we think you really desire – and deserve. We would urge you to cruise again on Crystal, Seabourn, or Regent Seven Seas. But for the very best food, you may want to look at the Europa.

Q – OK here’s the deal. We’re in our mid-thirties, not all that well traveled, but we have a week and want to do a Caribbean island that has a nice variety of beaches. We are willing to spend up to $1200 a night for a great beach and we’d love a restaurant recommendation on the island for something romantic. Where should we stay and where should we set up dinner? 

A – There are several options but you sound right for Parrot Cay in the Turks and Caicos. It is a gorgeous property on one of the Caribbean’s best stretches of beach. Grace Bay Beach is also lovely. For a romantic dinner consider Parallel 23 in the Regent Palms Resort.

Q – We are headed off to Brazil in October for a two week custom-planned vacation. Our travel agent is recommending that we take out a new credit card just for this trip because she is concerned that the card could be compromised during our stay. Do you think she is being just a little bit paranoid on this issue?

A – No.

Q – We were referred to you by a serious world traveler friend. My husband and I are planning a trip to the Galapagos but we’re not sure that the Celebrity Expedition  Cruise is the way to go. There are land trips and other sailing vessels but we feel like the blue foot boobies. Help! We love adventurous travel and we want to sail with a company that caters to those seeking a real adventure not a cruise that just happens to take place in the Galapagos. Hope this question makes sense. Absolutely entrall

A – The Galapagos can be a tough call. The Celebrity product is somewhat downscale from some of the other options but the ships are beautiful. Celebrity attracts a fairly high percentage of its guests from the Celebrity cruise brand. They are larger 100-Guest ships and that is something to factor in as you make your decision. We think the guides and expedition leaders are key to the experience and for that reason we recommend Lindblad Expeditions first, then Abercrombie and Kent, followed by Tauck Tours.

Q – We are going to devote a portion of this weekend reading this site, but so far, we can’t find anything much about the Splendour of the Seas, the Enchantment, the Norway, or the Celebration. We’ve sailed all of them and wonder why these cruise lines, which I believe are the largest, seem to be ignored. I am sure that you are turning off large numbers of potential visitors to your site. We would like to meet others who may be going on our next Caribbean adventure.

A – There are literally hundreds of cruise sites that devote themselves to discussion of the largest, mass-market, cruise lines. Many of them enjoy advertising support from one or more of the lines. We are not a cruise site. But when covering the cruise portion of the industry, we devote 100% of our time to reporting information related to the World’s Top Ten Rated Cruise Lines. So yes, we would be of limited interest to those seeking information about the lines you reference.

Q – We are members of Marriott’s Vacation Club and we are thinking of going to Italy with them. They use a company called Collette Vacations and we’ve been trying to find ratings of the company. Any advice would be appreciated.

A – Collette Vacations is a highly reputable company that is family-owned and has been in business for ninety-three years. They are based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The company operated it’s first tour in 1918, a three-week trip from Boston to Florida that was sold for $61.50 per person. Collette is very much mass market, offering affordable tours in the low middle range. They are extremely active in the “clubs” and “organizations” market where they set up complete travel programs in coutnries around the globe. If you are upscale travelers you may well be disappointed at the choice of hotels and the travel backgrounds of your fellow travelers. If you are seeking good value you can travel with Collette in confidence. The company is so spread out geographically that a downturn in one area of the world, Egypt for example, would not dramatically impact the company’s financial strength. But let’s be honest – Marriott chose them, in part, because of the price.

Q – We are considering joining our church group for a tour our Minister is leading to Egyot and the Holy Land. As part of the trip, we’ll be spending nine nights in Egypt and we’re a little nervous. We’ve never been to Europe or the Middle East so this is kind of a big deal for us. We’re in our thirties and in great shape. It’s more the political situation that causes us, particularly my husband, to be nervous about this. We do need to make a decision as the deposit is due this coming week so a prompt response would be appreciated. Thanking you in advance for all you do. Please do not use my name.

A – As you may have noticed, we protect the names of anyone who participates in our Q and A. The fact is that no one knows what the political situation will be in Egypt in six months. You have already failed our “Anxiety Meter” test and, on that basis alone, we would suggest you not do the trip. There are lots of places you can go to do humanitarian work or practice the involvement of you faith without placing yourself in an uncomfortable situation.

In the most recent parliamentary elections, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has made some significant gains.  No one in Egypt is expecting the strict enforcement of Muslim Law but there are political figures who are gaining favor in Egypt who believe that bikinis, alcohol, and anything else that smacks of vice, should be eliminated. The up side is that one out of every eight jobs in Egypt is tourism-related so we really think there will be a compromise as it affects rules governing tourist behavior. Tour groups are entering the country at the moment but we are wondering how experienced your Minister is at handling emergencies in the far corners of the world. Who, we wonder, is actually operating the tour and how tuned in are they to local disturbances on the ground? We do encourage the non-timid to continue travel to Egypt but only if they are aware of potential difficulties and only if they are being looked after by the best possible ground staff. Church groups, sorry, have a dismal track record when it comes to intelligent selection of on-site affiliates, and often choose tour operators based solely on cost.

Q – Cool site but we I wish you could tell us where we can find you on Facebook. We’ve tried several searches and we can’t seem to find anything.

A – Well first you have to sign in to Facebook. Then put our name, Churchill and Turen Ltd., or our web site name, www.traveltruth.com in the space before the slashmark. Then search. You will, of course, discover that we are not there. It isn’t so much the privacy issues, although they are rather serious, it isn’t so much that we are against enriching Mark Zuckerberg even further so he has a nice little nest egg for his digital retirement, it isn’t that we are afraid we would attract new “friends”, even though they are not really friends because our friends have to do more than click a finger on the word “like”. No, we’re not on Facebook because we think most of what we see there is  silly and juvenile and, largely, a form of social masturbation.

You will note that we have Facebook links and you can push any of our stuff into cyberspace to be read by “friends”. But we like you to push the buttons and initiate the action. We’re too shy to do it ourselves. We’re extremely comfortable just chatting with folks who call us on the telephone or write to us in this space. We don’t need to see your wall, know where you went to high school, or see pictures of what you ate for lunch. We just want to share some of what we think may help you travel more efficiently, more ntelligently, and more safely.

And yes, we do see the hypocrisy of our stance. We know this site is a form of social media. And we may have to go on Facebook at some point if enough of our “fans” insist. But for now, please allow us to stick with “95% of it is just silly.”

Q – My 18 year-old son and I will be spending a week in Lisbon as part of his graduation present. We’re pretty much set but were wondering if you had sources that could direct us toward a shop that sells the best hand-painted tiles in the city. We hear they are beautiful. My son is into photography. We’ll be staying at the Four Seasons and we have sightseeing planned but we were wondering if there is anything like a Photography tour of the city? 

A – There are several excellent tile shops in Lisbon but the best is currently thought to be Fabrica Sant’Anna. We would suggest that you contact the Hotel Concierge, Luis Miguel, and have him set your son up with a motorcycle sidecar photo tour. He should absolutely love it.

Q – I wonder if you can advise me if I can be assured that my new Verizon 4G LTE phone will work on an upcoming trip to Germany and Austria. The salesman in the Verizon store said it would but he was all of eighteen and told me he had never been to Europe.

A – Well he probably has spent virtual time there. Our guess is that you will encounter problems. If you absolutely need to have a phone that works in any particular country, you need to have a local sim card and a phone that connects to the local wireless network. 4G technology is an improvement but the fact is that  a smartphone that is going to work on a 700MHz in this country, will probably not work in Germany which uses a different radio frequency combination. That is the part they don’t normally bother to explain when you are purchasing a smartphone two-year plan. There are going to be tons of roaming issues because carriers in various parts of Europe are using LTE as the next-gen operating system but they have been slow to build the new networks after committing a lot of money to the old 3G system. While 4G LTE is the new standard, there are relatively few networks using the technology that have yet been deployed. Easy roaming in Europe is, we believe, as much as a decade away. Thankfully, there are some immediate alternatives to connectivity including so-called international universal sim card phones, satellite phones, which always work must must be used outdoors to get proper signals, or Skype and other cloud-based technologies. You can get hooked up anywhere with the right equipment. But walking into AT&T or Verizon and plunking down a few hundred dollars for a phone that “easily roams Europe” is putting your faith into a portion of the business world that does has done little to earn your trust.