Where Are We Now: European River Edition

It’s the beginning of tulip season here and our port of call today is a town that is also a name of a cruise ship. Oddly, its second most popular tourist activity, according to TripAdvisor, is having your photo taken in native costume. Where are we? The first correct response – city and country both [...]

The Viking Invasion: 6 Riverboats Take Shape

For Viking River Cruises‘ new 190-passenger Longships, what a difference a day (week, month) makes. Intriguingly, Viking, which will ultimately build a dozen boats on the innovative Longship platform, is in the process of building six at once! During a visit to Amsterdam this week, we’re here to celebrate the launch of the first two [...]

Viking River Cruise Godmothers Get Pre-Christening Warmup

Imagine this: You are invited to serve as godmother to a brand-new cruise ship. Pretty spiffy opportunity, right? It definitely seemed that way to Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of PBS’ “Masterpiece Theater” and to Gail Wiswedel, chosen because she’s Viking’s most well-traveled cruise passenger. They, along with two others, were set to be part of [...]

MSC Cruises: A Mystery Worth Pondering

What is it about MSC? MSC Cruises, the Geneva-based big-ship line that’s been on a new-build tear over the past decade, announced yet another new-build on Wednesday. The 133,500-ton, 3,274-passenger Preziosa — a sister ship to Fantasia, Splendida and, debuting in May, Divina — will launch next year and bring this young but energetic cruise [...]

Cruising in the Danger Zone: Is It Worth It?

Is Mexico’s west coast, otherwise dubbed the Mexican Riviera, unsafe for cruise travelers? Even before last week’s news that passengers on a Carnival Splendor-organized shore excursion in Puerto Vallarta were held up at gunpoint by masked assailants, the region’s battled with perceptions that some of its ports of call are unsafe for tourists to visit. [...]

Getting to Know You: Meeting, Mingling and Mixing It Up

Azamara Club Cruises is one of Cruise Critic’s most enthusiastic partners when it comes to hosting onboard meet-and-greets for our members. But during my recent Singapore-to-Hong Kong voyage onboard Azamara Quest, the concept was taken to another level when I was asked to give a couple of enrichment lectures during the trip. I was momentarily [...]

After Concordia: Is Chivalry Dead?

If you had been on Costa Concordia when the ship capsized, I asked my friend Moustafa, an Egyptian-born U.S. citizen and a devoted family man, which escape strategy would you prefer: all families together or women and children first?

After Concordia: Is Cruising Safe?

In light of the capsizing of Costa Concordia over the weekend – a disastrous event in which 12 people died, more than a dozen are still missing and its captain is under house arrest on manslaughter charges — it’s not an unfair question to ask: Is cruising safe? It certainly wasn’t for passengers and crew [...]