Three consecutive years as Celebrity's Home Based Partner of the Year

Brazil is not one of the places that we see a lot about in travel magazines or on the web. It is a place that offers much for the traveler. My husband had talked about seeing the "statue" in Rio for quite sometime. Last year while cruising with Princess they highlighted a repositioning from Rio to Fort Lauderdale. That was made just for us. We left Houston on the long flight to Rio to board our Princess Cruise ship.

Jaffa, Tel Aviv's twin city, offers a food lover's walking tour of delicatessens, specialty markets and street stands.

The ancient, annexed port city is a favorite haunt of Janna Gur, editor of the popular Israeli food magazine Al Hashulchan (``On the Table'') and author of The Book of New Israeli Food (Schocken, $35).

``Jaffa's a culinary melting pot, with remnants of a disappearing culinary world,'' she said as we headed down the main drag on a sunny Sunday.

The factory, in the Fremont neighborhood, occupies a building that was once a trolley barn and later a brewery. Tours of its production line are conducted several times a day. With frequent samples to keep us focused, we were instructed at length by our guide, a pipe-thin woman dressed in funky hand-sewn clothes, on the origins of chocolate, its cultivation and, naturally, the virtues of Theo’s environmentally conscious method.

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (May 6, 2010) – The Princess Cruises  Medical Departments have once again been credited with meeting the quality health standards of an internationally recognized healthcare organization.

By: Johanna Jainchill

May 03, 2010

When Royal Caribbean International said last week that it was pulling the Mariner of the Seas off its Mexican Riviera itinerary, the blow was painful but familiar to the ports along Mexico’s Pacific coast and in Southern California.

The region will see a major reduction in cruise traffic over the next year.

BY ANNE KAZEL-WILCOX

SPECIAL TO THE MIAMI HERALD

I've been a scuba diver for over 20 years. My dive travels have spanned Baja and Bali, the Mediterranean, Australia's Great Barrier Reef and more. But give me the Caribbean any day for its amazing diversity of underwater attractions.

New cruise ship Celebrity Eclipse has cancelled the first leg of her launch celebrations - scheduled to begin on April 22 - in order to assist U.K. travelers whose return from their Easter break has been halted due to the impact of ash clouds from the eruption of the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in Iceland. Celebrity Cruises is working with U.K. tour operators to collect these stranded vacationers affected by the airport closures and subsequent flight cancellations that have affected travelers in Northern Europe. 

Mar 19, 2010

Cruise Planners/American Express, the nation’s largest home-based travel agent franchise network in the cruise industry, was recognized by three top travel companies with awards reflecting dedicated corporate partnerships and support to the cruise travel industry. The awards include the “Globe Award” from American Express Vacations; the Globus “Top Producing Premier Partner” award; and recognition in Oceania Cruises’ Cruise Connoisseur Club.

MIAMI, FL – February 24, 2010 –Cruise Planners/American Express, the nation’s largest home-based travel agent franchise network in the cruise industry, donated $18,000 to the Fisher House Foundation as part of its CP Cares initiative. The funds were collected at the company’s annual convention late last year through Cruise Planners t-shirt sales and a silent auction.

Summer Price Increase Effective March 22

Only 6 days to go to the big inauguration event for the Costa Deliziosa (www.costadeliziosa.com), the new jewel of the Costa Cruises fleet,  which will be held in Dubai on February 23 in a unique and innovative ceremony staged by the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) together with Europe’s n.1 cruise line.

Peter Vincent, Chief Executive of Papua New Guinea’s Tourism Promotion Authority, announced today the adoption of a comprehensive cruise development strategy for the nation. The strategy will be released in full on March 30. Key elements will be available to cruise lines and others for whom PNG is destined to become a focus of interest over the next five years.

Windstar Cruises, which operates a three-ship fleet of luxury yachts that explore hidden harbors and secluded coves of the world’s most treasured destinations, unveils its new dining experience in Wind Surf’s Degrees restaurant