Arthur Frommer's Blog, page 53

Mediterranean and North Sea Prices Continue to Drop for Spring and Fall Cruise Itineraries

Although I recently reported on the pricing weakness in cruises of European waters, the ongoing nature of that development is so important, so increasingly evident, as to warrant another go-around. Prices continue to drop. To determine why, I placed a call to Larry Fishkin of Travel Themes and Dreams ( www.travelthemesanddreams.com ), and based on my conversation with him, I have the following to report:

The deployment of cruiseships is done eighteen months in advance; cruise officials have to guess where they can best schedule their ships to be.

Eighteen months ago, cruiseline officials could not have predicted a.) the eruption of protests for regime change in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and Syria; b.) the skyrocketing price of oil, causing trans-Atlantic airfares to soar; or c.) the weakness of the Dollar against the Euro. And so, like lemmings marching to the sea, they all did the same thing: they assigned the overwhelming bulk of their fleets to European waters for the spring, summer and fall of 2011.

Putting almost all of their eggs in one or two baskets (the Mediterranean and the North Sea), they also could not have anticipated that because of turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East, some Americans lacking in geographical sophistication would be scared away from cruises focused on the coasts of Italy, Greece and Turkey. Amazingly enough, some would-be travelers point to the violence in Libya as the reason why they have ceased to book cruises in the Mediterranean (although I suspect that the high cost of trans-Atlantic airfares is a more prevalent reason).

The result of all this is that cruiselines like Carnival, Celebrity, and Norwegian find a dearth of passengers to fill the tens of thousands of cabins they are offering in the Mediterranean, particularly. Fishkin points to the following prices that he can obtain for persons booking the following ships through his website:

Celebrity Solstice: sailing 12-day cruises of the Western Mediterranean from Barcelona: $899 per person for inside cabins, $1,149 per person for oceanview cabins, and $1,249 for verandahs. These rates apply to the May 26 sailing, but there are similar discounts offered through and including the August 24 sailing.

Celebrity Equinox: sailing 10 and 11-day itineraries of the Eastern Mediterranean from Rome (Civitavecchia): $899 per person for inside cabins, $999 for oceanview, $1,299 for verandahs. Rates apply to departures from now through September 9.

Carnival Magic: Carnival's newest ship which launches on May 1, and then proceeds to sail through the Mediterranean. Inaugural Mediterranean cruises from Barcelona are offered for an astonishing $629 per person in inside cabins on 7-night cruises, $779 on 9-day cruises, and an amazing $849 on 12-day cruises.

Norwegian Epic: one of the largest ships in the world, sailing 7-day Mediterranean cruises from Barcelona through the summer and early fall. NCL is offering air/sea rates from New York (JFK) starting (in the fall) at an astonishing $1,399 per person, probably a bit more at other times. And that reference to $1399 is no typo; the price includes round-trip trans-Atlantic airfare.

Many more such cruiseships are currently offering similar rates for their summer sailings in the waters of Europe.

In gratitude to Larry for compiling these examples (he's been a cruise discounter for many years). You can reach him at tel. 877/870-7447.

Exercise Caution When Perusing the Travel Deals Offered by Groupon Clones

Based on the phenomenal success of the flash sales offered by Groupon.com, literally dozens of imitators are now appearing on the Internet, and some of them are offering travel products. Except for straight hotel and resort stays, I find most of their travel offers to be less than compelling.

The discounted sales of hotel and resort rooms are, to me, the one attractive product that many of them offer. Hotels and resorts have fixed costs, and it costs them very little extra to fill one of their rooms rather than let it remain empty. Accordingly, they can accept the formula offered by the Groupon imitators, which involve 50% discounts on hotel or resort rooms for midweek stays (when the hotel expects many vacancies). The public pays 50% less than the standard published rate, and the hotel or resort then splits that 50% of income with the internet service that advertised the offer: 25% to the internet service, 25% to the hotel or resort. Since it is better for these resorts to receive any income at all for a room that might otherwise remain empty, the resort is able to content itself with 25% of its normal room rates. And accordingly, as I have said, the advertising of hotel or resort discounts brings value to the public.

The situation is otherwise with respect to virtually every other travel product. I find the Internet prices offered for African safaris, tour packages, and other standard travel products to be ridiculously inflated to begin with, by the imitators of Groupon. Even with major discounts, the public often buys a product that costs them more than they would spend by simply buying the travel products offered by the companies that have been in business for decades.

Thus, I find some of these imitators of Groupon advertising a price of $3,000 per person for a short African safari, not including airfare to Africa, for a safari that the public is able to buy -- including airfare -- for $2,700 from well-known operators of such safaris. I find numerous other travel products that are marked up in price to an absurd extent, so that the Groupon-imitator can claim to offer a 50% discount. Even with that discount, they end up charging more than the standard price available in the marketplace.

So exercise caution in responding to these inflated offers. Most of the famous travel suppliers are specialists whose massive buying power purchases tour features at prices that no internet-johnny-come-lately can match. And because of the fierce competition in tour operating and other travel activities, these travel specialists mark up their costs so gently that it is virtually impossible for an internet-johnny-come-lately to undercut their prices with large percentage discounts.

I am usually astonished to learn that various imitators-of-Groupon claim to have sold hundreds of travel products to the public when their prices are higher than what the public could obtain by going to the standard sources of travel products, paying standard rates.

It's A Shame That the First Hotel Group to Offer Guaranteed Check-In at Any Time Is A Luxury Chain

We all know the situation -- and the dilemma. You've arrived at your airport destination at an ultra-early hour, say 6:30am, after an overnight flight. You then arrive at your hotel at 8am, exhausted, craving to take a fast nap, or yearning to shower and change clothes. The hotel advises, reluctantly, that you can't check-in until 2pm. All the rooms are still occupied, and those that aren't haven't yet been cleaned and made ready for you by the chambermaid staff.

One hotel chain -- and one only, as best I know -- has confronted that situation and solved it. How? By staggering the work shifts of their chambermaid staff. Let's say that ten rooms will be emptied by 7am Several chambermaids who normally arrive for work at 8 or 9am are instead re-scheduled to come in at 7am that day. They immediately clean up the vacated rooms, so that they can be ready for incoming guests by 8am -- something unheard of in all other hotels of the world.

The chain that has decided to do this is Capella Hotels, operators of some of the world's most expensive hotels, including the new Setai on Fifth Avenue and 36th Street in New York City. The president of Capella has announced that henceforth, all arriving guests in all Capella hotels will be able to enter their room immediately on arrival, no matter how early. The job of enforcing that guarantee is an enormously complex one, and yet he feels the goal is worth the effort. And clearly, there will be many well-fixed travelers who will choose Capella because of that guarantee.

So how about it, you lower-priced hotels? The first moderately-priced hotel chain to emulate Capella's initiative will be deluged with reservations, in my view. But is the guarantee feasible? I'd be happy to receive comments from readers who may work in the hotel industry.

If You've Been Troubled by Those Rumors of An Onerous, New Passport Questionnaire, Calm Down

The Internet is aflame with cries of alarm, anguished protests, extreme dismay, over an application by the State Department for use of a new biographical questionnaire to be filled out by some of the persons applying for an initial or renewed U.S. passport. According to the Federal Register, that document will require a listing of every job the traveler in question has ever held, including names and phone numbers of the employer. It also asks for every residence the traveler has ever lived in, together with names and phone numbers of the landlord or other property owner. And it contains still other demands for complex information that would require hours and hours of research to supply.

On its face, the new questionnaire would seem to reflect a State Department bureaucracy running amok, and various consumer advocates are emitting mighty screams over this interference with our lives. It would have been helpful if these advocates had first done a bit of research and if, in particular, they had read the so-called Supporting Statement that was filed by the State Department with the Office of Management and Budget, as required by law.

In that supporting document, the State Department estimates that about 74,000 persons per year will have to complete this biographical form. "With just shy of 14 million U.S. passports issued last year, this means that only about 1 in every 200 persons applying for a passport will need to complete this form." While the form definitely appears quite burdensome, it would appear that it is targeted towards that small subset of individuals who cannot provide adequate and verifiable information of their citizenship. These individuals currently have to go through some sort of detailed scrutiny to verify their citizenship, wrote one commentator on the new requirement.

It also appears that the new questionnaire will need to be answered if the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) has indicated that the applicant is not who they claim to be -- in other words, if a red flag has been raised about the possibility of a would-be terrorist seeking a U.S. passport.

What kind of red flags? The fact that the applicant has recently traveled to Somalia. Or that they have lived in the border areas of eastern Pakistan. Or that the applicant is applying for a U.S. passport despite the fact that they already possess a foreign passport. As such, these circumstances seem to justify the TSA's attempt to determine whether the applicant is really the person they claim to be.

Several months ago, there was an eruption of protest against the pat-and-search policies of the TSA designed to protect us from being blown up in the course of a flight. That controversy finally dwindled to only an occasional mention, in the wake of a realization by the public of the role that the TSA plays in protecting us from terrorism. The overwhelming majority of Americans is willing to suffer a slight intrusion on our privacy to thwart the effort to bring down planes.

The same with passport issuance. If one out of 200 applicants is asked to prove their citizenship and bona fides, through detailed biographical answers that can be checked and confirmed by either the State Department or the TSA, most of us would agree that the new biographical application forms are fully warranted.

ReidsItaly.com Is an Indispensable Travel Planning Tool for Italy

For several years now, friends and acquaintences in travel journalism have been talking about the Reid Bramblett's forthcoming Italy-focused website. Every time I spoke with Reid I asked how it was going, only to hear a labored sigh and a statement that he was chipping away, a couple of thousand words a day, at the awesome task.

Prior to the appearance of Reid's comprehensive discussion of Italy, the Internet possessed another example of a travel expert who had gathered into one website everything he knew about travel to a particular country. Turkey Travel Planner ( www.turkeytravelplanner.com ) by Tom Brosnahan was widely recognized as an important go-to site for anyone planning a trip to Turkey. It approached such a trip in a thoroughly logical and natural manner, setting forth the major questions that people ask on the eve of such a trip, and then answering those queries in the way that a travel expert speaking directly to you would do.

ReidsItaly.com ( www.reidsitaly.com ), which has finally been launched, follows much the same approach. Its format is totally logical: It approaches Italy by setting forth the major categories of knowledge that a traveler would want to consult, and then supplying advice in direct response to the questions that present themselves.

It deals, first, with the all the steps of travel planning for Italy and traveling both to and within Italy: Planning, Getting to Italy (including valuable tips on air transportation), Tours & Packages, Getting around Italy, Packing for your trip. It then discusses in depth seven major areas to which most American travelers go: Rome, Florence, Venice, Tuscany, Amalfi Coast and Capri, Campania and Cinque Terre. I assume it will eventually be expanded to cover Italy's secondary sights as well. But for the time being, it deals with the facts -- and makes the suggestions -- that would be regarded as important by 98% of all American travelers to Italy.

Reid Bramblett spent much of his childhood in Italy. He is fluent in Italian, has written several major guidebooks to Italy (including for Frommer's), has traveled there on scores of occasions, and has undoubtedly authored more newspaper and magazine articles on Italy than any other travel journalist.

If you have even a remote intention of someday traveling to that colorful land with its emotional people, its masterworks of art and architecture, its awesome history, its opera and theater, then you'll want to look at ReidsItaly.com, and after you do, you'll consult it whenever you are considering a trip there.

You've Heard About Cruise Discounts of 50% to 60%: Now Meet a European River Cruise Discounted by Nearly 80%

If you can make up your mind by Monday, April 25, and depart on either May 6 or May 7, then you can enjoy a two-week cruise of the rivers of Russia, from St. Petersburg to Moscow, in a deluxe cabin of a modern riverboat operated by the elegant Viking River Cruises (tel. 866/200-5395), one of the most fastidious of all the river cruise companies. Normally priced at $9,199 per person for one of its top category, deluxe cabins, Viking's 13-night "Waterways of the Czars" cruise is being offered at an amazing $1,995 (a discount of 79%) to persons occupying the very best of cabins and who can meet the above deadline to book.

But that's not all. Viking will throw in, for no extra charge, almost daily ship excursions (consisting of 11 guided tours of the Russian cities and villages in which the cruise stops), all port charges, and complimentary wine with your meals. In effect, your only remaining expense will be the cost of round-trip air transportation to Russia, which Viking will supply (including all taxes, fees and fuel surcharges) for $1,695 to persons flying from New York, Newark, Boston, Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. The cost will be only $200 more -- namely, $1,895 -- to persons flying from Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, Orlando, Raleigh, St. Louis, Tampa or Washington, D.C. And the price will be only $100 more -- namely, $1,995 -- to persons flying round-trip to Russia from cities on the U.S. west coast.

Obviously, Viking is taking extreme measures to fill its May 6 and May7 departures from St. Petersburg to Moscow (for a 13-night cruise), and you can take advantage of that need on the part of the cruiseline by calling Viking and referring to "09 Echo," its designation for "Waterways of the Czars." To repeat a point earlier made, Viking River Cruises operates one of the most elegant fleets of riverboats, and no comfort is spared for persons occupying its highest-category deluxe cabins, as persons responding to this offer will do. $9,199 is being reduced to $1,995, as amazing as that may seem, on two different riverboats of Viking River Cruises leaving St. Petersburg on May 6 and May 7.

Recent Political Compromises Have Killed High Speed Rail -- And We Are All Poorer as a Result

A political development that has a direct bearing on travel was the recent elimination from the federal budget of $1.4 billion for high speed rail. In the negotiations between the White House and Congress to choose the appropriations to be eliminated, as part of a deficit-cutting agreement to shave $38 billion from the budget, high speed rail was apparently an easy sacrificial lamb.

What a terrible commentary on the decisions we make for the future of our country. As nations all over the world speed their development of high speed rail, directly benefiting their economies and growth, we remain wedded to the highway as the prime means of transportation -- and these are roads increasingly jammed and slowed with gas-guzzling cars. As countries like Brazil make the rail improvements that will eventually transform them into a super-power, we continue to slide backwards.

Whenever I write about the urgent necessity of improving our rail system, I receive comments from various world-weary readers, gently chiding me for my unrealistic adherence to discredited programs. America, they claim, just isn't suited for high speed rail. What works so well in China, Russia, and Western Europe, they claim, just won't succeed in our own, lightly-populated country of over 300 million (and soon, by the year 2040, to be 400 million) people increasingly clustered in great urban areas.

Those protestors might be interested to follow the recent decisions by U.S. governors of similar outlooks, who have radically changed their tune about the development of rail systems and high speed rail in particular. Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, who last year blocked a plan to build new railway tunnels under the Hudson River, is now seeking $570 million in federal funds to replace a century-old bridge over the Hackensack River that is a bottle-neck to the operation of high-speed trains. Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin is seeking $150 million to improve rail connections between Milwaukee and Chicago. Sooner or later, those critics of rail development see the light. How long will it be before the state of Florida seeks federal support for high-speed rail between Tampa and Orlando?

I hope you will join with me in urging representatives in Congress to restore high speed rail as an urgent goal of our nation. I hope that, as advocates of sensible travel, you will take the political steps necessary to restore a sense of urgency about the development of high-speed rail between urban centers in the United States.

For Just Over $1,000, You Can Get to India and Back With 5 Nights In 3 Famous Cities

It seems that on virtually a weekly basis, Gate 1 Travel ( www.gate1.com ) is creating air-and-land packages at a price lower than anyone else in travel offers. This week, it's an air-and-land sensation to India for $1,099, including round-trip airfare between New York and New Delhi (with all fuel surcharges also included). Departures from New York: July 20, August 31, September 7, September 14, and September 21.

Specifically, you'll receive: Round-trip air between New York and New Delhi (other departure cities are available for slightly more); airline fuel surcharges; all transfers in India; first class hotel accommodations consisting of one night in New Delhi, two nights in Agra, and 2 nights in Jaipur; breakfast daily and one dinner; sightseeing in a modern, air-conditioned motorcoach, together with the services of an English-speaking tour manager throughout; and all entrance fees in the course of the sightseeing tours.

The package must be booked by end-of-the-day on April 26, phoning tel. 800/682-3333 and citing discount code DLDAJ100 at the time of booking.

It's Hard to Find Vision Airlines on Airfare Search Engines, But It's Got Unbeatable Rates

It's an odd carrier that flies mainly out of a U.S. airforce base in Destin/Ft. Walton, Florida. Yet starting in June, Vision Airlines (tel. 877/359-2538; www.visionairlines.com ) will enable you to fly between major cities in the southeast of the U.S. for one-way introductory fares (via a stop in Destin/Ft. Walton) of as little as $78. And thus, if you're willing to fly between Ft. Lauderdale and Las Vegas (via Destin/Ft. Walton), your one-way fare will be an amazing $78. Ditto for trips originating in Orlando, or St. Louis, or Atlanta.

Vision Airlines began 15-or-so years ago as a charter carrier, its most important assignment being a trip for the U.S. government transporting Russian spies to Vienna, where they were exchanged for U.S. spies. Eventually, using space it rented from an air force base in Destin/Ft. Walton, it began operating scheduled service to odd locations. I learned about it this past winter when I realized that tons of Canadians from Toronto were using it to fly cheaply from Niagara Falls airport (to which they drove their cars) to that favorite Canadian destination of Ft. Lauderdale. That was a seasonal service only, to be replaced in spring by flights from Niagara Falls to Destin/Ft. Walton.

Though all but a few of Vision's flights go to and from Ft. Walton from major cities in the southeastern states, it is possible by using Ft. Walton/Destin as an intermediate stop to reach other destinations having nothing to do with Ft. Walton/Destin. Starting in June, Vision will be charging as little as $39 (probably an introductory fare only) for most of its flights going to Ft. Walton/Destin and then it will be charging as little as $39 all over again for flights leaving Ft. Walton/Destin and flying to other places.

If you'll go to the route map on Vision's website, you'll immediately see all the low-cost opportunities available to you. Specifically, if you live in Knoxville, Memphis, Little Rock, Atlanta, Asheville, Shreveport, Biloxi, Savannah, or other nearby cities, you'll be able to use Vision Airlines for a cheap, one-stop flight to Las Vegas, Orlando or Ft. Lauderdale -- or to one of the other southeastern cities I've named. Bear in mind that Vision's lowest fares are limited to trips in summer.

This is no mainstream airlines -- yet. It's clearly a carrier in its earliest growth stage. But it's obvious that it has ambitions to be a smaller Southwest Airlines, a low-cost champion of cost-conscious travelers.

Spend a Week on the Maya Riviera for as Little as $729 Including Air, Meals and Drinks

Stone broke? Got less than a thousand dollars to spend on an all-inclusive tropical vacation? CheapCaribbean.com ( www.cheapcaribbean.com ) has announced a deal with the five-star, 1,000-room, beachside, Gran Bahia Principe Coba along Mexico's Maya Riviera (its Caribbean coast) for stays taking place from July 1 to August 25. You receive round-trip air transportation there from Ft. Lauderdale (with flights from Newark only $200 more round-trip, from Los Angeles $320 more, from numerous other cities for just a few dollars more than from Ft. Lauderdale), you get excellent accommodations, all three meals daily, unlimited drinks -- as many Margaritas, for instance, as you can imbibe -- and unlimited sea sports and entertainment.

And the price for all this is $579 for five all-inclusive nights at the hotel, including airfare, with extra nights costing about $75 per night (bringing a seven-night air-and-land package to about $729). You've got to book by April 26, and you do so by phoning tel. 800/915-2322. Considering the quality of that hotel, which is one of the Caribbean's best, this is a top deal from a company that prides itself on its bargains.