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cruising

Canada’s tourism industry can’t seem to catch a break. As if COVID-19 and tough travel restrictions for two years weren’t enough, now come summer wildfires. It was Alberta’s turn a few weeks ago, then Nova Scotia. Now we have wildfires in Ontario and Quebec that are sending smoke south into the U.S., causing American news networks to broadcast nightly segments about smoke from the Great White North. Those kind of news broadcasts, which are perfectly reasonable, seem to be having an effect on tourism. “We have had a few conversations with our members and we’re already seeing domestic and international Read more

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NEW YORK CITY – Viking has quickly established itself as a leader in ocean cruising. A gorgeous new ship will put an added shine to the brand. A naming ceremony for the Viking Saturn was held on the Hudson River in New York City on Tuesday, June 6, and I was on hand for the occasion. New York Metropolitan Opera chair Ann Ziff, the ship’s godmother, christened the Saturn by using a steel sword from the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Verdi’s Il Trovatore and slashing at a red ribbon, which sent a bottle of Aquavit crashing against the white hull. Read more

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Bad enough that we’re getting squeezed into airplanes. Now consumers around the world are facing skyrocketing airline prices. Bloomberg reports that corporate travel manager American Express Global Business Travel analyzed tens of thousands of client transactions on international flights to and from Asian destinations and found some serious inflation at work. A typical New York-to-Hong Kong flight in economy class cost more than twice as much this year as in 2019, and almost a third more than last year. “Fares have been bolstered by tight capacity going into travel’s peak season and customers are eager to book, often upgrading to Read more

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Cruise Critic®, the world’s leading cruise reviews site and online cruise community, has announced the winners of its 11th annual Cruise Critic Cruisers’ Choice Awards – naming the world’s most popular cruises, based on consumer reviews and ratings shared on Cruise Critic over the past year. The site boasts the world’s largest online cruise community with more than 650,000 cruise reviews, covering approximately 700 cruise ships across the globe. “While this is our eleventh year announcing our Cruisers’ Choice Awards, this year’s awards are some of the most meaningful to-date,” shared Colleen McDaniel, Editor-in-Chief of Cruise Critic. “Our awards were paused for the past Read more

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As cruise travel numbers rise around the world, several cruise lines say they plan to soon drop their COVID restrictions. A report in Travel Weekly says Ponant, which recently acquired Paul Gauguin Cruises, plans to drop its vaccination requirement for passengers on April 1. “After careful consideration of the lower incidence of Covid infections, combined with the higher rate of vaccinated and boosted guests, we have decided to relax our policy,” said Navin Sawhney, CEO of Americas at Ponant.  Travel Weekly said Cunard plans to drop vaccination requirements for guests on the Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2 beginning April Read more

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