Category: Cruises

Cruise Lines Build Bigger Ships as Demand Grows

Royal Caribbean and other companies are aggressively building over-the-top ships. “Today’s cruisezillas make the Titanic look like a small fishing boat,” noted one sustainability specialist.
What to Know About Masks and Covid During Late Summer Travel

With U.S. Covid-19 cases at very high levels and new vaccines still several weeks away, we asked experts for their advice on when and where to wear a mask.
Can the S.S. United States Be Saved?

(The storied ocean liner, that is.)
Cruise Ship Ducks Are Traveling the World as Part of a Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts for rubber ducks hidden by cruise passengers have spawned a duck-loving community of “quackers.”
How to Charter a Boat

If you want to sail off into the sunset, at least temporarily, you need to understand how to get aboard first.
How Climate Change Is Changing the Mississippi’s Cruise Business

Though operators are building ships, and towns are investing in landings and other infrastructure, fluctuations in the river’s flow, exacerbated by climate change, are hampering sailings.
Off to Norway, With Three A.I. Travel Assistants

Can artificial intelligence devise a bucket-list vacation that checks all the boxes: culture, nature, hotels and transportation? Our reporter put three virtual assistants to the test.
Vantage, Our Cruise Company, Went Bankrupt. We Are Out $17,905.

A couple purchased an Arabian Sea voyage, but Vantage, the cruise company, went under. Their travel insurance was supposed to cover financial default, but the claim was repeatedly denied.
Standby Cruising: A New Option for Bargain Seekers

Are you a flexible traveler? Holland America’s standby cruises may be for you. The cost: $49 a day, excluding fees, taxes and extras. The catch: It might be a hair-raising, last-minute scramble.
In Kenya, Seeing the Sites by Dhow

The wooden boats, whose triangular sails create a distinctive silhouette, are used up and down the East African coast.
Jail Cells? Morgues? Your Cruise Ship Has Some Surprises for You.

Here are five unexpected features on ships, some of which you hopefully won’t discover on your own.
On Board Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas for its First Cruise

Our reporter joined thousands of passengers on the inaugural sailing of Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas. Yes, the water rides were wild. But the most surprising thing she found? Some actual peace and quiet.