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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

We’re pleased to welcome back to the InsureMyTrip blog a great friend of ours, travel writer and icon Johnny Jet!  This week, Johnny is sharing his thoughts on cruising, a very popular travel choice among InsureMyTrip’s clients.  Next week, stay tuned for Johnny’s post about navigating the sometimes stressful experience of holiday travel.

In 2008 I went on my first cruise (Celebrity Solstice) in almost 1

You have got to go here...BCFerries - British Columbia, Canada.

Now this blog may throw you off a little bit as I want to encourage you to do something as opposed to just going somewhere.  You must ride on the BCFerries system!

I know a lot of people who have taken a ferry from Seattle to Victoria, B.C., but not a lot who have experienced the spectacular ride from Victoria to Vancouver, or to other Southern Gulf Islands in Canada - I am here to tell you it is a must do!

On a two-week road trip I w

A first time visitor to Egypt who wants a classical (pharaonic antiquities) experience would do well to book a Nile cruise. Of course modern airlines shuttle tourists to the southern region of Egypt, but historically the Nile cruise was really the only way to visit the temples and tombs located along this stretch of the river. It is still a popular means of visiting upper Egypt and has many advantages to other means of travel.

First of all, it is very nice to unpack once and have your hotel trave

by blogger BertBo 
Amsterdam,  Netherlands 

   It was GREAT! Luxury boat , excellent service, nice cabins, great program, fine sun deck with deck chairs, cool lounge, sunny clear weather and above all the stunning beauty of Halong Bay . 

  
Halong Bay is actually quite a risky location as is is often foggy

Apologies to my friends and colleagues in the cruise industry or who are cruise fans, but I’m just not that into cruising –  I’d much rather spend my time and money actually experiencing destinations rather than spending most of my trip on a ship (no matter how tricked out), with just occasional, usually frustratingly fleeting tastes of ports of call. There are, however, some cases where a cruise is clearly the best way to experience the most in the most efficient amount of time (unless you hav

I recently went on my first-ever transatlantic cruise. I've been to Europe more than a handfull of times but I'd always flown there in the past. I learned something about myself on this trip: cruising is much more my style. We were on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship and it was a remarkable way to kick off our YMT vacation in Europe. Two weeks on the high seas in the height of hospitality and luxury!

I can see the appeal of cruising; I've certainly enjoyed the other cruises I've been on. It's a verti

“God Himself could not sink this ship,” a  crewman of the Titanic said to one Mrs. Albert Campbell, as she boarded the ship in Southampton, England

In May 1911, the RMS Titanic gracefully slid  into  the bustling harbor of  Belfast, Northern Ireland, where she was built by Ireland’s skilled ship builders of the Queen’s Yard of Harland & Wolff
A crowd of some 100,000 people cheered the birth of what was then the largest movable manmade object in the world.

Fast forward to April 14, 1912.

Just four

“Our Team Travels” (OTT) by Voyages Groupe Ideal

On the day we left Venice there were seven cruise ships (7!) docked at the Porto di Venezia, a short walk from the apartment Jerry and I were renting.

The ships had names:

The Happy Dolphin,

Europa Palace,

Crystal Serenity,

Ocean Princess,

names that conspire to transport you away from the reality of being on a boat with thousands, all clamoring to get out and onto the slender, temporal islands of Venice.

The ships are massive: towering white behemoths out of all proportion to the delicate scale of th

La brillante carrera del capitán italiano Francesco Schettino podría tener un final de pesadilla. El que fue hasta hace tres días capitán del lujoso barco Costa Concordia está preso, y su cara reflejando una mezcla de sorpresa, angustia y ¿miedo? me impactó.

Lo conocí mientras hacía una travesía por el Caribe en el Costa Atlántica. Eran sin duda unas condiciones muy distintas a las que vive ahora. Al timón de la nave lucía en control total, y no era solo mi percepción, sino que así se sentía. Seg