You’ll have to forgive the sensationalistic headline. I don’t really believe that sexism is rampant throughout the cruise industry. But…I do think the value of the feminine side of cruising is extensively overblown.  Cruise ships are commonly referred to as “she”, yet there is no good reason for doing so; other than that’s the way it [...]

With literally hundreds of media outlets covering the cruise industry with almost microscopic coverage, there are very few secrets about the industry that are unexposed. However, in this article I will present some facts about the industry that I have no doubt you’ll never see anywhere else. For example, did you know that prior to a [...]

From step 1- choosing a cruise, to booking a cruise, to preparing for your cruise, to shipboard activities, to port of call tours, though it may seem complicated, cruising is actually quite a bit simpler than it used to be. At initial glance, with many more ships, and many more cabin categories on ships, and a seemingly cornucopia of [...]

Theme cruises have become a significant part of the cruise industry. There are all variety of music cruises; from rock and roll legends cruises, to smooth jazz and blues cruises, to even popular contemporary bands performing on full ship charters to the delight of their fans. There are culinary themed cruises, featuring up close and [...]

While every type of business depends on repeat business, I believe there are few with such a loyal customer base as cruising. On virtually every sailing of every ship, there are hundreds and hundreds of people who’ve cruised before; at least several times; often many times.’ Fact is, it is very infrequent passengers disembark a ship feeling as [...]

Winter comes and cruisers minds turn to escaping to the warmth of the Caribbean. That statement has been true for many years, and continues to be true. The cruise lines continue to bring the majority of their fleets to sail Caribbean itineraries during the winter months, and they continue to sail full, even with the [...]

On Jan. 26, 2012, in the United States, it became law that in the interests of public transparency, airlines publish pricing which includes all taxes. This law allows the people searching for airfares to see the total costs, rather than the airlines promoting seemingly low  fares,only for the consumer  to find the actual total cost to be considerably higher. From the consumers point [...]

Note : This blog post (below)  was written prior to the Costa Corcordia tragedy, and originally intended to run last week. I held it back a week because I felt I had to consider what, if any, hand the general topic of the blog could have had during the Concordia incident. As the cruise industry has grown, and [...]

I originally wrote a blog on a different topic for today, but due to the tragic events involving the Costa Concordia this past week, I’ve chosen to lighten the subject matter of my blog this week. So, let’s talk about the “Cruise Cult”. I think it would most certainly be wrong to have thousands of [...]

Over the years we’ve had quite a number of CruiseMates Group Cruises. They’re all great fun because of the comraderie, and the fun events that the host and groups organize. However, I believe the very best group cruise yet is coming up in 2012. It’s going to be a breeze… on the brand new Carnival Breeze. [...]