Arthur Frommer's Blog, page 17

Arthur's Blog: Readers' Comments Highlight the Important Issue of Avoiding Risky Activities When Traveling

If you will search the Internet for reports of accidents that have either killed or injured tourists who have gone parasailing, bungee jumping, or zip lining, you will find an uncomfortable number of such incidents. But those reports have now been greatly increased in number by phone calls from listeners to our recent discussion of the subject on The Travel Show and in comments to the blog in which I discussed the matter. I am now convinced that the problem is much greater than I had imagined. 

Though numerous readers and listeners have defended theme park roller coasters as being acceptably safe (even though injuries and fatalities have resulted from their use), almost every other comment has agreed that parasailing, zip lining and bungee jumping are simply too fraught with danger to be regarded as acceptable recreations.

One reader of this blog referred to "a woman from our area [who] lost her life parasailing in the Bahamas while on her honeymoon last summer. You can easily search online for 'Bahamas Parasailing Accident' if you want more details."

Another reader referred to zip lining and bungee-jumping in language that will certainly remain seared in your memory (and therefore needs to be repeated). He wrote: 

"While hundreds of thousands of tourists participate in these extreme sports without incident, all it takes is an unfortunate equipment failure or employee mistake to turn a vacation into a tragedy. Before sliding down the zip line or jumping off a bridge attached to a bungee cord, consider the unthinkable. Would you want to be hospitalized in the country you are visiting?  Do you have medical or trip insurance that would cover you if you are injured? What if you need to be evacuated for treatment? What if the worse happens; does your insurance cover repatriation of your body back to your home?"

Still another reader has written: "I have not considered para-sailing since the 1970s, when a neighbor ended his adventure on the fifth floor of a Holiday Inn under construction in Mexico. Lots of broken bones and a long stay in an iffy foreign hospital."

So I'm using this opportunity to re-emphasize a subject that is considered only infrequently in travel writing. The dangers of "extreme sports," undertaken by tourists, need to be given more attention than they usually receive.  

Arthur's Blog: Several Advantageous Sales on Mediterranean Cruises, Trans-Atlantic Airfare Included

I hate to constantly mention the cruise broker Online Vacation Center in this space, because its marked-down prices for cruises are matched by a great many other cruise brokers and cruiselines. Recently, however, OVC (www.onlinevacationcenter.com; tel. 800/329-9002) has included round-trip airfare between various U.S. gateways and the ports where cruiselines begin and end their Mediterranean cruises. Since we must assume that OVC is getting a speciallly-reduced price for those flights from the airlines with which it deals, the resulting values are really quite remarkable.
Take the 10-night, Mediterranean cruise sailing round-trip on November 8 from Barcelona of Royal Caribbean's  Serenade of the Seas . OVC includes, in its price, round-trip airfare from various U.S. gateways and Barcelona, and yet charges only $1,689 per person for the entire package (airfare plus cruise) in an outside balcony cabin. Since a round-trip to Barcelona in November needs to be valued at least at $900, you are paying only $789 for an upscale balcony cabin for a 10-night Mediterranean cruise. I regard that as a real value (especially since OVC quotes only slightly higher prices, including air, from Los Angeles, Detroit, Dallas, and Miami).
A similar bargain is OVC's 11-night Mediterranean cruise round-trip from Rome on the  Mariner of the Seas  in a balcony cabin, leaving Rome on October 9, and costing $1,999, including round-trip air from various U.S. gateways. This cruise includes stops in Israel, Egypt, Greece, and Italy, along a fascinating itinerary.
I have recently spotted trans-Atlantic re-positioning cruises (like Rome to Ft. Lauderdale) in which OVC is including extensive air privileges in the prices it quotes. And I would be amazed if its competitors are not quoting similar comprehensive prices (including air) in the cruises they offer. So why not try an experiment?
Go to VacationsToGo.com, click on Trans-Atlantic, and scan the various super-bargains offered by that other major source of cruise bargains (or go to CruisesOnly.com, probably the largest of the cruise discounters). Then place a phone call to the company you've chosen, and ask them to quote a price including round-trip airfare from the major U.S. city near which you live. I'm fairly positive that all these cruise brokers are able to get you an advantageously-priced airfare, and that they will quote -- over the phone -- an unbeatable air-included price (for one of those lengthy re-positioning cruises) at a level not much different from what you'd spend staying at home.
When you analyze those prices, you'll quickly conclude that both Mediterranean cruises in the shoulder season of September and October, and re-positioning cruises (from Europe to the Caribbean in the autumn months) are the big bargains of the current travel period -- and something for you to consider.

Arthur's Blog: Should You Avoid Bungee Jumping, Parasails, Roller Coasters & Zip Lines?

Press coverage of the London Olympics was so pervasive that it drew away attention from the fact that London's mayor, Boris Johnson, was stuck halfway across a zip line, in the course of a public relations effort relating to the Games. Luckily for him, he was eventually pulled to safety with a rope. Other unfortunate zip line riders have been rescued by daredevil zip line operators who have ventured out onto the line and pulled themselves hand by hand to the endangered passenger.

All over the world in vacation areas, various eager entrepreneurs in search of income have hung zip lines over deep natural gorges that bottom out far below. They join the operators of parasailing motorboats (found off the beaches of scores of tropical resorts), bungee jumps, and awesome roller coasters in recreational theme parks, all vying for the tourist dollar.

The theme park operators of the expensive-to-build roller coasters are presumably well-financed companies that have taken care to construct foolproof devices. One assumes that public officials are called in to confirm the safety of each roller coaster before they are permitted to operate. And yet, periodically, one reads of injuries from roller coaster accidents.

I suspect that the fly-by-night individuals who erect and operate zip lines, parasails and bungee-jumping platforms are subject to no such inspection. When did you hear of the Mexican government inspecting parasail operations off the shores of Puerto Vallarta? Can you really assume that the government of an African nation in which bungee-cords or zip lines are hung from high cliffs, has inspected those cords or their associated mechanisms? And yet a female tourist was killed earlier this year in Ecuador when she embarked on a zip line, and severe injuries have been sustained by persons jumping off a bungee cord.

Nothing could seem safer than parasailing, an activity offered off dozens of beaches in the Caribbean and Mexico. A motorboat tows a rope that pulls a young tourist strapped into a parasail high into the air, and then lazily carries that thrill-seeker along a circular route. But suppose the engine of the motorboat should fail -- and the boat stops. The tourist hanging from the parasail could very possibly plunge down into the waters, incurring grave injuries if not worse.

Read the statistics of accidents in each of these "extreme sports" and you'll be horrified. The mishaps in what is supposedly the safest of these activities caused four major cruiselines to cancel their offerings of shore-excursion parasailing in 2011. With respect to the others, it's clear to me that one cannot rely on the individuals who organize these sports in various vacation locations. The smart traveler passes them up.

Arthur's Blog: North to Iceland and the Northern Lights from $909, or South to the Maya Riviera from under $700

Perhaps the oddest bargain in travel is currently being offered by Icelandair to persons flying out of a wide range of airports across the country. If you think $900 is simply too much for viewing the celestial phenomenon known as the Northern Lights in the course of your four-night stay, perhaps learning that people from all over the world regard it as massively beneficial to one's health -- some believe it's conducive to conceiving  a super-healthy child -- will convince you to take in those evening beams (Japanese couples flock by the thousands to areas displaying the Northern Lights).

So let it be known that you can see the aurora borealis in Iceland from $909 per person, including round-trip airfare from any of five U.S. airports (JFK, Boston, Chicago, Denver, and Seattle), two nights in Reykjavik, a domestic flight to Akureyri on Eyjafjordur fjord to spend two additional nights relaxing at the geothermal pool and taking a nighttime Northern Lights tour. The $909 price is good January 6 to April 26, 2013, and is a bit higher in October ($937) and November ($977) of 2012. This deal is offered by Icelandair (www.icelandair.us; tel. 800-223-5500).

Were there any other helpful travel bargains that I overlooked in my recent review of the best deals for the coming autumn months? Well, just for sheer relaxation, you might consider the dirt-cheap price of $692 to $743 per person for an all-inclusive week of seven nights (room, all three meals daily, unlimited drinks, all else) in September and October on the Maya Riviera south of Cancun in Mexico with Saturday departures. Your hotel is the high-quality Allegro Playacar. The price includes round-trip air from Miami, with all fees and taxes thrown in, as well as all meals and drinks in the hotel's four restaurants and four bars. The tour operator is BookIt (www.bookit.com; tel. 888/301-9981). 

Arthur Frommer's 11 Best Bargain Vacations in the US and Canada

Why do we need still another list of travel deals?

Here's why. Although the internet has several websites that solemnly name their several-dozen low-cost travel discoveries, there's a big difference between their approach and mine. Many of them get paid by the tour companies whose deals are listed in their numerical rankings. My list is based solely on my own independent research, without payment from anyone, and with no contact between me and the organizations or facilities I list in these 11 selections.
New York: Religious digs in a costly city1. $125 per twin room at Leo House in New York City. In a town where hotels routinely charge from $250 to $400 a night per double room, the centrally-located, large Leo House is a life-saving (financial, that is) religious guesthouse/hospice operated by nuns, that asks no religious questions of its guests. Rooms have private toilets and wash basins but no showers (which are found "down the hall"). Go to  leohousenyc.com for details of location and reservations procedures.
San Francisco: A cheap standout in a costly town2. $95 to $129 per double room at HI International, a renovated hotel just one block off Union Square (at 312 Mason Street), in the center of everything in San Francisco; and those rates (the latter for a room with private bath) also include free breakfast every morning and a free daily sightseeing tour. Though technically a hostel, the hotel (open to all ages) has more private rooms (57) than dorm rooms. Go to www.hihostels.com or phone 415/788-5604.
California's Anaheim: Disneyland reborn! 3. $419 per person, for air and 3 nights' hotel at California's Disneyland. Revitalized by its new Cars Land attraction, Disneyland is booming, and the feisty Travel Themes and Dreams (www.travelthemesanddreams.com; tel. 877/870-7447) asks only $419 for round-trip air to Anaheim (on Southwest Airlines) from Phoenix or Las Vegas, round-trip airport-to-hotel transfers, 3 nights at the 4-star Sheraton Park Hotel, and a $75 food credit per person. Valid September through October. Modest air add-ons from other cities.
Orlando: Cut-rate living in theme park heaven 4. $60-to-$70 a night for groups of 4-to-8. While most families cram into hotel rooms in Orlando, the smarter ones rent kitchen-equipped, swimming-pool-equipped vacation homes, of which the very cheapest are at Tropical Palms Resort in Kissimmee, near Disney World, a group of tiny bungalows like mobile homes (they've seen better days) renting for $60 (one bedroom, sleeping four) to $70 (two bedrooms sleeping eight). That's at 2650 Holiday Trail, tel. 866/270-1821.
Las Vegas: Savings in Sin City5. $25 a night per room at Circus Circus Resort & Casino (in its Manor Motor Lodge, a half-block away), mid-week. You stay almost for free, in September and October. While other hotels charge only slightly more for mid-week stays (Sunday through Thursday), their rates skyrocket on weekends.  Not so Circus Circus, whose summertime weekend stays are a top of $83 per twin room per night on Fridays and Saturdays. Go to Getaroom.com or phone 800/468-3578.
Las Vegas in total luxury6. $130 to $140 per suite per night, in Vegas' posh-est hotel. Some might deny that the Vdara is Vegas' best hotel. But at worst, it's 2nd or 3rd. And yet on midweek dates (Sunday through Thursday) in September and October, it will charge from $130 to $140 for suites equipped with every luxury and convenience. It you ever wanted to live like a mogul, here's your chance.  Go to www.mgmresorts.com, pull up booking calendars for the Vdara, and you'll find those many $130-to-$140 per suite stays.
Yosemite National Park: America's loveliest park?7. $111 a night for a tented cabin with two single beds, at Curry Village in Yosemite Valley surrounded by towering waterfalls, giant redwoods, and granite mountains. Tents (427 of them) are with wooden floors, can house from two to five persons, and beds are cot-style and come with sheets, woolen blankets and pillows. You will have the vacation of a lifetime, in one of the most beautiful areas of America. Book online (www.nationalparkreservations.com) or phone 866/875-8456.
Miami Beach: A hostel that's more like a hotel8. $49 per person in a twin room of the Clay Hotel, in the trendy South Beach area of Miami Beach, two blocks from the beach and the sea. Technically a hostel, but equally a gracious, well-designed hotel with a dedicated and courteous staff, the Clay Hotel is one of the top budget values at a price of $98 per twin room, an excellent choice for enjoying all the pleasures and hi-jinx of South Miami Beach, Florida. Go to www.clayhotel.com phone 800/379-CLAY.
Low-cost cruises of Alaskan waters9. $349, $399, $449 and $499 for seven-day cruises of Alaska. In these remaining days of the Alaskan cruising season (the first half of September), cruiselines are frantically cutting their rates, even for upscale ships. Go to www.vacationstogo.com, click on "Alaska," and you'll find remarkable rates from these panic-stricken cruiselines. And you can fly round-trip to embarkation ports like Seattle for as little as $470 from cities like Chicago. Combine air and cruise and you have a real bargain.
A short walk to Waikiki Beach10. $867 per person for round-trip air to Oahu (from Los Angeles) and seven nights at the high-rise DoubleTree by Hilton Waikiki. From the largest tour operator to Hawaii, Pleasant Holidays (www.pleasantholidays.com; tel. 800/742-9244), this price valid from mid-August to mid-December is about as good as you can do, and includes a free Hertz car rental for the entire week, as well as a mini-fridge in your room.

Explore Newfoundland's Viking heritage
11. $1,869 per person buys you a one-week self-drive tour of the Canadian Atlantic Province the Vikings called Vinland. The price seems a bit steep, but it covers a lot: round-trip airfare from Boston ($100 more from NYC), 7 nights at various hotels, B&Bs, and country inns, a 7-day car rental, a whale watching tour, ferry transfers to Labrador, admission to the UNESCO Heritage Site L'Anse aux Meadows, and a two-day pass to Gros Morne National Park. It's all available from Maxxim Vacations (www.maxximvacations.com; tel. 800/567-6666).

Arthur's Blog: The Top Travel Bargains are Alaskan and Mediterranean Cruises in September, China Tours in November

The so-called shoulder season of travel, the post-Labor Day weeks when people resume their normal lives after summer vacationing, is a time when the travel industry tries hard to persuade people to take trips. That period starts in September, continues all the way to November, and is known for prices that are much lower than usual to every destination other than the foliage-tinted forests of New England. 

Several weeks ago, I wrote about dramatic price reductions for trips to Beijing (six nights for $899, including air), or to Beijing and Shanghai ($999 for seven nights there, including air), starting November. Those have now been supplemented by an attractive, eight-night, air-and-land package to the "Golden Triangle" of China (Beijing, Xian and Shanghai) for $1,499, starting November, and first announced last week by Wilson Wu's China Spree (www.chinaspree.com; tel. 855/556-6868). (I've noted before that China Spree has now taken over China Focus' former role as the top source for China-bound bargains).

Beijing and Shanghai become a "Golden Triangle" through the addition of costly flights from Beijing to Xian (home of the terra cotta warriors) and from Xian to Shanghai. Such a trip, spending nine nights in China itself, is a spectacular value at $1,499, including round-trip air to China from San Francisco.

Among the trips that undercut China in price are cruises of Alaska and the Mediterranean that you can pick up for immediate departure in early September. Alaska from September 1 to September 15 is the chief draw. Go to www.vacationstogo.com, click on "Alaska," and you'll find several seven-night cruises reduced in price to $349, $379, $399, $449 and $499 per person (on Norwegian Cruise Line or Holland America Cruises) for those last remaining days of the Alaskan cruise season. Add a moderately-priced flight to the departure cities in the Pacific Northwest, and you have an extremely worthwhile vacation. I wouldn't be surprised if the cruise lines in question even placed you in a balcony cabin for those low sums.

A number of September sailings of the Mediterranean are also priced at low levels. If you will go to websites of any of the cruise brokers (the aforemention Vacations To Go, plus www.cruisesonly.com and www.onlinevacationcenter.com), you'll find numerous 7-night cruises of the Med for $429 and $568. Go to the longer-duration cruises, and you'll find a 12-night cruise on the Norwegian Spirit (leaving September 7) selling for $529 ($44 a day). Prices on Costa Cruises in the Mediterranean sink to as low as $382 for a seven-night cruise in October. Earlier, on a September 29 departures from Rotterdam of the Holland America ship called the Rotterdam, an 8-night cruise to Rome sells for as little as $499 ($62 a day).

So to the sharp-eyed consumer, there are numerous values available on shoulder-season cruises.

Arthur's Blog: A Conference to Improve Your Ability to Be a Successful Travel Blogger

A great many Americans seek to make a living (or part of a living) by writing travel blogs for the internet. While the effort is considerable, and the potential rewards perhaps debatable, the individuals interested in that activity would surely do themselves a lot of good by attending the annual course of instruction in travel blog writing offered by the folks at Tripatini.com. Their Travel Blogger Show takes place this year at the Los Angeles Convention Center on the weekend of September 8-9, when attendees will hear presentations from travel writers Don George, Matt Long, Ben Reed, Bethany Salvon, and Randy Kale, among others. The show is part of the annual, big trade show of the American Society of Travel Agents, and this year will include such topics as:

 

Essential Elements of Creating a Successful BlogBringing Your Passport to the WorldThe Fine Line between Blog and BluffIs Your Blog "Pinteresting"?

 

Participation in the Blog conference costs $79 per person, and includes access to the ASTA main trade show floor, parties, hotel discounts, tours, prize drawings, and more.  For more information, plus registration information, you should check www.thetradeshow.org/thetravelbloggershow.cfm.

Arthur's Blog: In the Month of September a Flurry of Special Deals to Costa Rica

 

As surprising as it may seem, round-trip flights to Costa Rica cost as little as a low $402 in September, from such gateways as New York or Miami. To that reasonable sum (that includes all taxes and fees) you can add the remarkable price of only $995 (specially reduced to that level in September) for a 10-night, escorted motorcoach trip from Caravan Tours to every important sight of Costa Rica, including quality accommodations, all three meals daily, and daily escorted sightseeing, making your total price as little as $1,397 for a fascinating, air-included, 10-night introduction to a Central American nation.

But doesn't the month of September fall within the hurricane season? It sure does. But the odds that your own trip will encounter a hurricane are surely minimal, and the low, low costs of an air-and-land package to Central America at that time surely justify the risk. The so-called shoulder season of travel is a time of remarkable travel opportunities.

If you're willing to take the risk, you make the arrangements by contacting www.caravan.com, or by phoning 800/CARAVAN. You can get the $402 price by going to any aggregator search engine, like Kayak.com, DoHop.com, or Momondo.com.

If 10 nights in Costa Rica are more time than you have, or you need to enjoy an even lower price, then you can take advantage of Gate 1 Travel's special air-and-land package to Costa Rica leaving New York or Miami on September 6, 20 or 27 for a total price of $649 per person, including airfare. For that unusually low sum, you'll receive round-trip flights (including all taxes), one night's accommodation in San Jose, two nights in Arenal, and three nights in Guanacaste, breakfast daily, and a seven-day car rental (manual transmission) with unlimited mileage. This one has to be booked no later than August 31, while Caravan's package has no terminal date for booking. Go to Gate1Travel.com, or phone 800/682-3333.

 

Arthur's Blog: Are Cruiselines Exposing Crowded Conditions that Crimp Enjoyment of a Cruise by Selling Special Privileges

Last week, Carnival Cruises announced a price of $49 for enjoying special privileges aboard its cruises: the right to board the ship ahead of other passengers, to have your luggage placed in cabins right away, to obtain your table assignment in the main dining room before other passengers get their own, and to enjoy the right to board lighters taking passengers to shore in the course of port stops. Forty-nine dollars will win these rights, avoiding the delays and lines that are frequently encountered on ships carrying thousands of passengers.
Is it possible that by publicizing the advantage of paying another $49 to obtain such privileges, that the cruiselines (because other companies will obviously copy Carnival's initiative) are inadvertently publicizing the problems that some cruise passengers encounter?
At the very least, the new $49 package will accelerate the trend toward re-introducing different classes of cruise passengers. Already, on some ships, the passengers booking deluxe cabins are often given their own exclusive deck areas, and sometimes given the exclusive use of whole decks, are granted other perks delivered to them by the equivalent of butlers assigned for their comfort. The $49 adds another layer of privilege -- and of difference. Let's hope that free-spending passengers are not given the right to enter lifeboats ahead of all other people in the event of emergencies (62% of all first class passengers on the Titanic survived the tragedy, while 75% of all third class steerage passengers perished.)
The Carnival announcement also reminds me of the increasing tendency of cruiseships to impose extra charges for services and products: extra charges for hard and soft drinks, extra charges to eat in upscale dining rooms, extra charges for certain spa facilities or treatments. Already, some observers are claiming that the average all-inclusive hotel is far less expensive than cruises of the same duration. Most prominently, guests at all-inclusive hotels receive unlimited drinks, are not expected to pay gratuities, receive other privileges free of any extra charge. I would suggest that cruiseline executives might want to be cautious about continuing to add these often-unexpected extra charges, at the risk of discouraging the growth of cruising. Too many cruise passengers believe they are constantly being nickle-and-dimed, and unpleasantly so. The growing refusal to buy port excursions sold by the cruiselines may be evidence that the public is digging in their heels.
In the meantime, I for one would not buy Carnival's $49 package of perks.

Arthur's Blog: Pauline and I will be Discussing Several Controversial Issues on this Sunday's Travel Show

At the start of this Sunday's Travel Show, Pauline and I have planned to take up several brand-new travel issues that have recently come to the fore.
We'll start by discussing the obvious intention of the cruiselines to keep adding extra fees and charges to the basic price for a cruise. Not only do you now spend extra for enjoying both hard and soft drinks on a cruise, and for gratuities at the end of the cruise, shore excursions, special dining rooms, special spa treatments, and the like, but Carnival Cruises is now offering an extra-special and optional package of cruise amenities costing $49 per person. That expenditure on your part will enable you to embark on the ship (on departure day) several hours earlier than usual, to use several amenities hours earlier than is usually the case on departure day, to enjoy priority in choosing your table assignment in the general dining room of the ship, to disembark earlier on days when the ship is in port, and so on. Are we returning to the time when shipboard passengers were carefully herded into special groups (first class passengers and steerage passengers) based on their willingness to spend money?
We'll next discuss the recent decision by two major airlines to prohibit the seating of male adults next to minors on board their planes. Recently, a wholly respectable male passenger was asked to give up his seat to a woman in order that he not be seated next to a 12-year-old. He has bitterly complained over the discrimination to which he was subjected, based on the airlines' fears that pedophiles and other improper types may be seated next to children. It's a difficult question, and one to which we'll devote a short amount of attention, including (maybe) our own views.
And finally, we'll be discussing the factor of age as it bears on travel decisions. What sort of travel programs and travel facilities are best to be booked by young people aged 18 to 35. Which are best for young couples? For families? Which travel programs and travel facilities will be most enjoyed by people of mature and older age? Do most mature people want to go on trips with their peers, or do they enjoy the presence in travel of younger people?
We'll be taking your phone calls at 800/544-7070 between 12-2pm ET on the WOR Radio Network on these and any other subjects or issues in travel, and we hope to hear from you. (There are lively discussions between ourselves and our listeners on every program.) You can hear the show live by tuning in around six minutes past the hour (the news starts each hour) on www.wor710.com. If you miss the live broadcast, you can always catch it later in the week (and for a couple of months to come) on the podcast of each show carried on wor710.com. Go to that website, and then scroll down all the way to the bottom to a complete list of all shows on the network, and simply click on "The Travel Show."