This is not a fun cruise article, but we feel the need to address a topic too often misrepresented by the public and the mainstream media. Suicide is never painless, even at sea, but it still happens and we want to explore why.
We hope this article will ameliorate media reports about people “falling” from cruise [...]

Normally most of us (the cruise addicted) are very proud of our affliction. We don’t waste our valuable cruise dollars on psychiatrists or mood altering medication because we know all we need to keep us happy is to have a countdown clock set for our next cruise; the shorter the countdown the happier we are.
But [...]

Kuki’s recent blog, “Cruise Lines in Flux,” cites recently adopted onboard revenue enhancing techniques some cruise lines are now using in the face of lower cruise fares. One travel agent commented that there is a good reason for this - because his callers are only concerned about one thing – price. When the basic price [...]

The cruise industry is just coming out of the tumultuous efforts required to deal with the threats from the N1H1 (swine flu) Virus, and prior to that the hullabaloo caused by the outing of Royal Caribbean’s “Royal Champs” viral marketing campaign. And, of course, since last Fall the industry has been dealing with the myriad [...]

Carnival just announced its intention to reinstate cruises to Mexico based on the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, which is no longer recommending against non-essential travel to Mexico. The umbrella marketing group, CLIA, (Cruise Lines Industry Association) for the North American cruise industry also released a statement today (May 15, 2009) clarifying [...]

We are seeing an especially pleasing new trend in cruising, an invigorated focus on special interest cruises with featured speakers and entertainers adding a social element to cruises by interacting with passengers. Whatever your interests are, from the music of the 1960s to new millennium politics, you can find a special interest cruise for you.
We [...]

As my job is to follow and write about the cruise industry one might naturally assume I am an advocate for the industry. And it’s true in many ways. I am most certainly a fan of cruise vacations as I believe a cruise could easily be considered the best valued vacation purchase you can make [...]

Fighting pirates was one of the first challenges the United States ever faced, and the similarities between our earliest days as a nation and the situation today are surprising. 
Wyn Rolands was aboard the MSC Melody when hijackers attacked the ship just north of the Seychelles. A 63 year old Brit from Bangor-on-Dee in Wales picked [...]

Cruise #1 -Dec. 1994- Nordic Prince- Royal Caribbean announced the ship had been sold just prior to our sailing date.
When we were married I had promised Mrs. Kuki a cruise to celebrate our 10 th wedding anniversary. I had managed to avoid that commitment until our 14th anniversary. I finally caved in, and booked this [...]

The job of the CDC is to warn us of the worst possible outcome. Is it our job to be the voice of reason? if not us, who?
The CDC has a duty to protect us from diseases, especially deadly ones, and they do their job very well. Were they to mistakenly underestimate the H1N1 flu [...]