If you've been on a cruise you may have heard the captain explaining what time you'll be, "picking up the pilot", or maybe you've seen a small boat that says, "Pilot" pulling away from the ship. Maybe you've just heard me annoyingly mention them on my Periscopes. What is a pilot boat? Who are the pilots? Isn't the captain piloting the ship? We'll go over the answer to these questions and surprise you with a method of taking on a pilot that you've probably never seen.
While cruising is different things for different people, it's no secret that especially when it comes to Caribbean cruises, people like to kick back, party a bit, and drink. Even on Baltic or Alaska sailings it's a safe bet that the bars are among the most popular spots - and why not? It's vacation! For most of us though, there comes a time in our cruise planning that we start thinking about how to control our bar tabs. Some purchase drink packages (a topic for later discussion), others 'pre-load' their on-board account with cash to contain the damage, but frequently people resort to smuggling booze on their cruise.
This fancy green drink was bought with real green money.
What's the best way to sneak alcohol on a ship? Well, I'll tell you... read more
It's not too likely that many people talk to a travel agent about visiting Alaska and leave convinced that instead, they want to take a cruise...to the Caribbean. For that reason, instead of talking about destinations right out of the gate, I want to cover the question of which cruise line to try out. I so often see the question, "What is the best cruise line?" Well today I will share with you the answer to that question... read more
It's hot, humid, and nearly void of cruise ships. That is the Florida summer. It seems contrary to what you might imagine, but the summer time is not peak cruise season in South Florida. This comes up a lot when I'm out at the ports on the weekend and people ask how many ships are sailing out, so I thought I'd take a moment to explain. The short answer? Every cruise destination has a season.
Allure of the Seas was the only ship sailing out of Port Everglades this day in August of 2016
Cruise ships are frequently compared to hotels. This makes sense, in that they host people for short periods of time, and offer dining, entertainment, and rooms. A big difference is that many hotels in hot tourist spots have low seasons. If you have a hotel in Maine, you know the winter time is gonna be very slow - you might not even stay open. Ships however can follow the business. Sure, some stay in one spot all year, I mean, there isn't a bad time to lay on the beach in Barbados, but what about the people that want to go other places? Mostly because of weather (the weather in the destination, and also the weather others might be escaping), the seasons look something like below (there are certainly other destinations, this is just a sample).
CruiseHabit.com is a hub for those who make a habit of going on, talking about, researching, and dreaming of cruises.
In sharing my love of cruising over the years, I've realized two things; people who cruise *love* talking about cruising, and there are endless questions about cruising. In 2015 I began Periscoping* ships sailing out of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, FL. As a Florida local and a cruise lover, I thought it'd be fun to share my view with a few people. To my surprise, far more than a few turned out. I found myself answering questions about cruising, and gabbing out the 'vacation turned hobby'. During these chats people asked if I had a website with more information. While there is no lack of cruise information out there, I thought it'd be fun to share my take on things, spark discussion, and point out some of the great resources on the internet for cruise information.
This site will be a work in progress, but feel free to follow us on Twitter and check back to get your daily cruise fix.
