Tag: Cruising
Titanic Sank Faster Than Previously Thought
by Michael Yessis | 12.06.05 | 6:53 PM ET
Historians have long believed that the Titanic split into two major pieces and stayed afloat for a while before succumbing to its icy fate. But researchers announced Monday that they found evidence to the contrary.
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Yahoo! BuzzForget Taking a Seven-Day Cruise. How About a Luxury Cruise That Never Ends?
by Jim Benning | 11.29.05 | 1:32 PM ET
Say you like taking cruises. I mean, really like taking them. As in, afterward, you don’t want to go home. If you have boatloads of cash (at least a million bucks), you’ll soon be able to buy a condo aboard one of four luxury ships and cruise the world full-time. Seriously. Until now, according to a story in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times, there was only one ship offering such a thing: the 644-foot World that circles the planet once every two years with extended stops in far-flung ports. But all that’s about to change.
Was the Recent Attack on a Cruise Ship by Pirates Stranger Than Fiction?
by Jim Benning | 11.17.05 | 2:22 AM ET
Nope. As it happens, former Miami Herald reporter Sean Rowe wrote a novel called Fever, published in September, about the hijacking of a cruise ship by a band of thugs. So what did Rowe make of the recent cruise ship attack off Somalia? “This has me really freaked out,” he told the Miami Herald. “It’s just a bizarre example of life imitating art.”
Pirates Attack Five More Ships Off Somalia
by Michael Yessis | 11.11.05 | 12:50 PM ET
The bandits are being directed by a “mother ship,” according to today’s Reuters story by Daniel Wallis.
Fighting Pirates With a ‘Nonlethal Acoustic Weapon’
by Jim Benning | 11.09.05 | 12:30 PM ET
You no doubt heard about the cruise ship that fought off a pirate attack Saturday. Today’s San Diego Union-Tribune has an interesting story about the “nonlethal acoustic weapon” the cruise ship employed to fend off the pirates. It’s called the Long-Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) and was developed by a San Diego-area company for military use.
Does Cruising Plus Rock ‘n’ Roll Equal “Cruisapalooza”?
by Jim Benning | 11.07.05 | 2:39 PM ET
Spud Hilton suggests so. He writes in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle about rock-themed cruises, and particularly about two cruises Royal Caribbean has scheduled for February featuring a dozen groups, among them Dave Matthews and Ozomatli. (Groan-inducing headline: “Artists find rocking the boat a good thing.”) Writes Hilton: “If you’re concerned about Royal Caribbean ships taking on 4,500, um, nontraditional passengers, take comfort that Majesty and Sovereign are two of the company’s oldest vessels. At the pace of this trend, however, how long will it be before a Holland America ship hosts Burning Man? Hmmm.”
Cruise Ship Outruns Pirates Off Somalia
by Jim Benning | 11.05.05 | 8:16 PM ET
The cruise industry has been taking great pains to offer more action-oriented trips lately, but not even the wave pools that Royal Caribbean has planned for its ships could top the action on a cruise off Somalia today [Saturday]. Pirates carrying machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades attacked a Seabourn Cruise Line luxury ship carrying 140 passengers. According to CNN, the cruise liner managed to outrun the pirates, which were in two small boats. “There’s some minor damage done to the ship, ” one passenger told a CNN radio affiliate. “There’s no water right now, for instance, in some places, and I believe one of the grenades actually went off in one of the cabins, but everyone on board is fine.”
Hanging Ten at Sea
by Jim Benning | 09.09.05 | 1:24 PM ET
The cruise industry’s efforts to appeal to younger, hipper crowds have taken a new turn. Royal Caribbean announced recently that it is opening “surf parks” on the decks of future ships. According to USA Today, the parks will feature a 32-foot-wide FlowRider pool with an artificial wave. Future riders should start practicing now. I rode a FlowRider in San Diego earlier this summer for the L.A. Times. It’s not easy.
The Battle for American Values Cruise (No Liberals, New York Times Readers or Loofahs, Please!)
by Michael Yessis | 04.25.05 | 10:38 PM ET
Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly recently announced that he’ll be the featured special guest on a Battle for American Values Caribbean Cruise aboard Holland America’s Westerdam November 13-20. I will not be sailing with O’Reilly—his American values aren’t my American values—but you can for only $1,099. Too much money? Don’t worry. According to the brochure, the trip is “tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.”
The New Queen Mary 2: Just Too Much?
by Jim Benning | 02.26.04 | 9:05 PM ET
While some travel writers are complaining that the new $800 million Cunard ocean liner doesn’t offer passengers enough glamour—see the recent Los Angeles Times review below—others wonder whether the ship offers too much of everything. Boston Globe Staff Writer Tom Haines was on board for the maiden voyage, amid the champagne and foie gras, and the passengers paying up to $37,499 each for luxury cabins. “On its own, the QM2 would be but a ship of dreams, offering passengers the renovated past while taking them to nice places,” he writes. “But as the biggest, most expensive of all pleasure ships on the sea, the Queen Mary 2 becomes the loudest champion of a particular philosophy: that the world is to be consumed by the relative well-to-do, sheltered in comfort. In the words spoken by a silver-haired man from England as he enjoys a smoke in the ship’s cigar lounge and ponders a trip aboard QM2 to Rio de Janeiro: ‘I’ve always wanted to go to South America. But it’s just so dangerous.’”
“It Appears Our Readers Aren’t Really Cruisers”
by Jim Benning | 06.17.03 | 11:24 PM ET
The poor New Republic magazine. Hoping to join the seafaring ranks of The Nation and the National Review, which both offer occasional cruises with lecturing writers and editors, the New Republic planned its first-ever Caribbean cruise for October. It advertised the holiday, which was to be aboard a deluxe Holland America ship, as an enticing mix of ideas and old-fashioned fun. Trouble is, few people were interested. “It appears our readers aren’t really cruisers,” publisher Stephanie Sandberg told Washington City Paper. So the cruise is off. Erik Wemple’s entertaining article about the cancellation includes a short, detailed history of magazine-sponsored cruises.
War—and, Believe It or Not, An Anne Lamott Story About Cruising
by Jim Benning | 03.19.03 | 9:22 PM ET
This business of war—the countdown to the deadline, the incessant flag-waving in some quarters of the U.S., the ever-dramatic “Showdown Iraq” theme music playing on CNN—makes me ill, and makes keeping up a travel weblog particularly challenging. It’s hard to focus on travel at times like this. Right now, the people of the world are taking a collective breath, it seems, fearing something awful, trying to imagine what the world is going to look like tomorrow, next week, next year. Nobody knows. I don’t know anyone who’s reaching for a passport. But for those who are in the mood or need a laugh, Anne Lamott has seemingly done the impossible, artfully weaving war fears into a tale about a Caribbean cruise.
“We boarded in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and headed toward the east Caribbean,” she writes on Salon this week. “I was a wreck. Everyone was. But I am the world’s worst traveler even under the best of circumstances. I am terrified of the impending war, and of snakes, sharks, undertows and group hugs. I am also afraid of VX gas attacks, huge amounts of food, and strangers wanting my e-mail address. I love to swim in warm seas but hate getting to them. I subscribe to the motto of travel agents Karl and Carl, ‘Trust no one; see nothing.’”
Dance Your Way Around the World—Tuxedo and Three Letters of Recommendation Required
by Michael Yessis | 02.13.03 | 4:19 PM ET
Cruise ships tend to attract a large clientele of older, single women. It’s a matter of demographics: Women tend to live longer than men. And, generally, these cruising singles like to dance. So what to do? Call in the Gentleman Hosts! Minneapolis Star Tribune travel editor Catherine Watson writes that single, dancing Gentleman Hosts—the term is trademarked—are in high demand throughout the cruise ship industry. It’s a great gig if you can get it. Potential hosts submit to a thorough background check and, of course, they must be able to dance like Astaire. They also need some high-end duds, including a tux and a white dinner jacket. Those who make the cut are rewarded with deeply discounted travel and, of course, they get to dance the night away every night of the week. One Gentleman Host, according to Watson, attracted about 10 regulars. “We’re your groupies,” one woman told him with a smile.
Cruise Ships: The New Homeless Shelters?
by Michael Yessis | 11.24.02 | 5:37 PM ET
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other local government officials are exploring whether the luxury ships tied up at city docks could be used as temporary housing for the homeless. One official says they’re “thinking outside the box.”
They’re not. It’s an old idea that dates to the 14th century Europe, at least, according to a New York Times story. It’s even been tried before in NYC. Writes Barbara Stewart: “In 1898, New York City put homeless men—or tramps, as they were called—on ships, after Theodore Roosevelt, serving as president of the Board of Police Commissioners, gave his officers two weeks to stop housing tramps in police stations.”
The Anti-Cruise
by Michael Yessis | 11.22.02 | 5:43 PM ET
Susan Wyndham recently took an unorthodox route from Newcastle, Australia to Hong Kong. She traveled with 23 Filipino crewmen, a Croatian chief engineer, a Filipino first mate, a Scottish captain, an English captain and a “Filipino Travolta in disco-yellow overalls” via cargo ship.
“Cargo travel is not for those who like casinos and beauty salons,” she writes in the Sydney Morning Herald. “We had a lifeboat drill one morning and the chief engineer gave us a tour of the ear-blasting engine room, the desalination plant and the food stores. I quickly got bored with the exercise bicycle and rowing machine. There was no pool.”
Traveling in Watercolor
by Michael Yessis | 03.13.02 | 12:41 AM ET
Photo illustration by Michael Yessis. Mr. Spencer built a boat in his backyard and then disappeared. Decades later, Michael Yessis tracks down his former neighbor and discovers an unexpected path to adventure.
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