blog post

Eva Greenwald

(203) 221-3171 or (888)499-7245

egreenwald@cruiseplanners.com

Call me today so we can plan your next vacation!

I love travel.  I have always been passionate about travel, especially cruises. 

 To me, cruises are the ultimate vacation: Relaxing, pampering, romantic, great family bonding, a lot of fun, great food and entertainment, wonderful shore excursions, meet exciting and interesting people, a wonderful value and I get to dance with my husband every night!  I have never once felt unsafe about cruising. I can't say the same about car travel and air travel. On those I always say a prayer.

I am shocked and very dismayed about the sinking of the Costa Concordia. It is inconceivable to me that this massive ship, wiith all of the high-tech navigation systems, could be run aground by "a rock" according to it's captain.  From my standpoint, he should definitely be charged with manslaughter and negligence and serve the rest of his lifetime in jail -- not just the proposed 12 years. The fact that his crew of 1100 tried rescuing everyone while he left the ship early is unthinkable to me! 

I will tell you some firsthand experience we had with the Costa line.  We traveled on the Costa Fortuna in the Mediterranean 2 summers ago.  It was the Costa Fortuna.  The ship wea beautiful, the service and food were wonderful, the ports were heaven, but we would never send any of our clients on the Costa line.  The ship was 90% Italian and we have never seen any people more rude and boorish than those on the Costa Fortuna.  Mark is from Long Island and I am from Brooklyn, so we have experienced rude, pushy people in the past.  But nothing like this, and certainly not on a cruise or a vacation.  They practically mowed Mark over several times, pushed past us, tried to cut in front of us on every line (of course, being true New Yorkers, we didn't let them).  Since there were only 100 US/Canadians and maybe 100 Brits, English was the last language spoken by the Cruise Director. A lot of the English speaking passengers were also in shock by the rude and boorish behavior and some of Italian crew apologized to me about their behavior. 

What is the future of cruising?  For the short term, expect to see some even more wonderful price deals on cruises (they are already wonderful but prices will probably go down evern lower). Hopefully any cruiseline that does not do their safety instruction on the first day will do it now.  All cruise safety protocols will need to be reviewed and revamped where necessary. But, there is no reason to cancel your cruise trip or not to book a cruise with us.

We are booked and going on the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas next month and I can't wait. I do not have any safety concerns, and anyone who knows me does know that I am a very cautious person who doesn't take safety and well-being lightly. I will report back on what safety changes the cruise industry is making and will continue to make.

And if you are spooked by safety concerns on cruise ships, please know that we sell resorts and tours to our clients (in fact, about one-half of our business is resorts and land tours).

I would love to hear from you with your comments, questions and concerns.  I hope that this begins a much-needed dialog.  Look forward to hearing from you.

Best,

Eva Greenwald