Blogs

Recently, we had an opportunity to experience Long Beach, California, in depth – the transformation of this city over the decades is nothing less than astonishing.

What was an unremarkable middle-class town has magically morphed into an exciting convention and vacation destination that rivals the best of what other Southern California beach towns have to offer.

Note: Everything you will read about our Long Beach holiday is available for your enjoyment. We have provided links to each topic. Just

Travelers who are looking for a tropical destination on their next vacation might want to consider a cruise.

There are so many benefits to cruising. You get to visit multiple countries, islands or points of interest all on the same trip without hassling with transportation, border crossings or logistics. On a cruise, you unpack once and your floating hotel takes you from place to place. Dining, entertainment, recreation, and nearly your every want and need are taken care of for you.

Costa Rica has

by Max Pesling

When I spent several hours visiting Oasis of the Seas last week, I certainly shared the sense of being overwhelmed, described by fellow Tripatini member Marcia Levin in her recent post here. Yep, I do have to hand it to the designers — in spite of this 20-story behemoth’s mammoth size and complexity, it’s indeed surprisingly easy to navigate and classier in many of its features than I expected — the crushed-velvet furnishings in the Dazzles nightclub, the elegant design of the peac

by Marcia R. Levin

O…M…G…

Words almost fail. I’ve been covering the cruise industry for many years, but I can tell you right now that experiencing the beauty, sophisticated design, and of course sheer size of Royal Caribbean’s newest, largest and definitely most impressive cruise ship will forever be one of my bigger “wow” travel moments.

Yesterday I got off a two-day introductory cruise on the Oasis of the Seas, blown away not just by bells and whistles not long ago undreamed of, but also impr

For weeks if not months now, I’ve been driving past huge signs blaring, “MIAMI-DADE WELCOMES NORWEGIAN EPIC” — and let’s not even talk about the barrage of radio and print ads of what was sounding like The Innovative Cruise Ship Phenomenon of the Decade. It’s certainly a big enough deal for the city, as the Port of Miami’s first new cruise ship in three years. But would this 4,100-passenger, $1.2-billion extravaganza in fact outdo all the hoopla over other splashy recent de