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   A recent story in the New York Times questioned the legitimacy of art auctions at sea. The story referenced Luis Maldonado, a businessman from California who sailed on a Mediterranean cruise in 2006 and bought two “museum quality” Picasso prints appraised at more than $35,000 each and three Salvador Dali prints valued at $35,000 for the set. When he returned home and had the artworks independently appraised, he found that they were worth far less than what he had paid.

So what’s the deal with art auctions at sea?

For the uninitiated, most cruise ships invite passengers to attend art auctions, which are usually held on sea days. The auctions are run by reputable art galleries who pay the cruise line to sell art aboard their ships (Princess Cruises is one of the few that runs its own art auctions). The auctions can be good fun and passengers have the opportunity to learn about art and discover new artists. Champagne is usually served at the auction, and the event is considered to be just one more of the many onboard activities that passengers can choose from for entertainment.

The issue that has arisen is whether the “appraised value” of each piece of art put up for auction on cruise ships is actually a legitimate value, or whether it’s an artificial value created to encourage bidding at the auction. In addition, some passengers have claimed that onboard sales agent have used deceptive selling practices and pressure tactics to sell high-end items. Given the limited supply of certain pieces of art, the fragmented market for resale, and the motives of different appraisers, it’s difficult to conclude that every piece put up for sale at sea is over rated and over priced.

But Mr. Maldonado appears to have paid more for the pieces he bought during his cruise than he would have paid on land. According to the New York Times, Mr. Maldonado paid $24,265 for a 1964 numbered “Clown” print by Picasso that Sotheby’s had sold for just $6,150 in 2004. And our reluctant art lover is not alone: residents in Florida and California have filed class action suits against one of the galleries running auctions at sea for misrepresenting the value of its artwork. (The class actions suits have not yet been certified, and even if they eventually are, they may not be successful.)

I’ve participated in several art auctions at sea aboard Crystal and Regent cruise lines, and I’ve purchased six numbered prints. I’m happy with my artwork – numbered and signed prints by Fanch Ledan, Linda Lekinff, Emile Bellet and Itzchak Tarkay – and I was delighted to discover these artists and their work while at sea. Their prints are now proudly displayed in our home.

The difference for us is that we bought economical pieces of art that cost us between $100 to $250 per print. And we bought them because we liked them, rather than as a great investment that would make us money.

The lesson here is that cruise ships are not the best place to buy expensive pieces of art at auction, especially if you have limited knowledge of how to value art work. First of all, you have little or no chance to comparison shop; second, most sales are final; third, you are probably too relaxed to ask the right questions; and fourth, if it was as valuable as the vendor claims, someone more knowledgeable than you would have bought it a long time ago.

So if you are looking to make a good investment, my advice is to put your money somewhere else other than art auctions at sea. And if you do find some art aboard a ship that is irresistible, don’t bid more than you are happy to pay regardless of what the auctioneer may say it’s worth.

 During our Mediterranean cruise in June, we visited “Ollie’s Last Pub” in Valetta, Malta where British actor Oliver Reed died during the filming of the Academy award winning movie, “The Gladiator.”

The quaint, tiny pub is a light-hearted shrine to the hard-living actor (see my blog of June 10 called “Arm wrestling with the ghost of Ollie Reed in Malta”), and it’s filled with photos and memorabilia related to his life.

After enjoying a couple of pints of good English draft beer, we bought a souvenir tee-shirt for our friend Nigel, who is actually a first cousin of the late actor and bares a slight resemblance to him. Nigel also shares some of Ollie’s better qualities including his love of life, people, good times, and the occasional bender. However, Nigel swears that Ollie’s penchant for disrobing in public in not a family gene he inherited.

Gail and I recently presented the tee-shirt to Nigel aboard his sloop while sailing in Lake Ontario. The front of the tee-shirt has a caricature of Ollie and a sailor arm wrestling at the bar, and the back features one of the actor’s many outrageous quotes. It looked perfect on Nigel, who is quite an “Ollie-esque” character around the yacht club where he moors his boat. In fact, the local bar stocks his own private brand of scotch and runs a tab for him.   

However, to date there have been no reports of Nigel arm wrestling at the bar. Perhaps that’s a habit best left to his late cousin.

 

I recently cancelled a Panama Canal cruise I had booked for January of 2009. I still want to go on a cruise through the Big Ditch, but I’ve had several friends ask if they could come along, so I decided to reschedule to a date that worked for everyone.

But when I advised the travel agency that I had booked the cruise with (I had booked this cruise before Tripharbour.ca/Tripharbor.com was launched in May of this year), I was told I would have to pay a $50 cancellation fee. “What?” I told them. “You’ve made money from my bookings in the past, and this is the first time I have ever cancelled a reservation. Why should I be charged a cancellation fee?”

“Well,” they told me, “we incur administrative expenses in booking your cruise, and we want to discourage people from randomly booking cruises without any serious intention to proceed with the booking.”

Needless to say, I was insulted. After all, I did all the research to find my cruise, I checked out all the prices, and I decided what level of cabin we wanted and when we would depart; all the travel agency did was take my reservation over the phone and make the booking—a five-minute task. So why do they deserve a $50 cancellation fee? Where’s the value?

In my view, they don’t deserve it.

Firstly, I put down a $903.88 deposit in January of this year, and the cruise line has had the benefit of my money until July – that’s seven months use of my money interest free. Secondly, I’ve made money for the travel agency in the past and this was the first time I have ever cancelled. So, in my book, the travel agency is still well ahead in the profit column.

To make matters worse, the travel agency charged my $50 cancellation fee to me in U.S. dollars through my VISA card. So the cancellation fee actually cost me $51.39 CDN. In addition, while the cruise line refunded my full deposit amount without any extra fees, I ended up getting only $880 back due to the differing exchange rates charged in buying and selling Canadian and US currency. So I’m out approximately $71.39 just for reserving a cruise and cancelling well within the cruise line’s allowable policy.

With this kind of customer service, it’s easy to understand why the majority of people in North America are now booking travel directly online as opposed to through travel agents. In fact, more than 60 per cent of leisure travel in the U.S. and 40 per cent in Canada is now booked online. And it’s expected this trend will continue as online booking sites become more consumer friendly and helpful.

These statistics and future trend are not surprising. Online sites like Tripharbour.ca and Tripharbor.com provide huge inventories of cruise sailings for travel consumers to look at and choose from – in Tripharbour/Tripharbor’s case, more than 10,000 cruises per week. In addition, they provide a community forum so that people can exchange information and share views about individual ships, ports of calls, food at sea, shore excursions, and more. And there are no cancellation fees outside of the cruise line’s policy.

So when it comes time to re-book my Panama Canal cruise, it won’t be with my old travel agency. Frankly, I’m tired of being taken for granted.

Randy and Noreen are cruise newbies. The couple from Saskatoon, Canada had never cruised before, but finally took the plunge in March after many years of debating whether they’d enjoy a vacation at sea.

They had been resisting a cruise for the same reasons that keep many vacationers landlocked. They were worried about getting seasick; they were afraid the cabin would be too small; they thought there might not be enough to do; they thought the ship would look old and boring.

But the moment they walked up the gangplank of the 138,000-ton Navigator of the Seas to begin their four-night cruise from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Royal Caribbean had them.

“It was mind-blowing to see how beautiful the ship looked as we walked off the gangplank into the atrium,” say Noreen and Randy. “We were expecting an old-fashioned ship, but we were overwhelmed by how new and modern it looked. It was awesome.”

And their nascent love affair with cruising just kept getting better.

Noreen has mild claustrophobia, so after being escorted to their balcony cabin, she was pleasantly surprised at how large and beautifully decorated it was. “The cabin was beyond my expectations,” she says. “I thought we would be stuck in a cabin the size of a closet. But instead we had a bedroom, a sitting area and a large patio door that led to a balcony and provided a beautiful view of the water.”

After checking out the ship, they went top decks for the sail away party where they toasted their departure and met fellow cruisers. “It was an exciting beginning to our cruise,” says Noreen, “although it was so windy up there that my hair was standing straight up!”

The food was another winning feature aboard the 3,114-passenger Navigator of the Seas. Our newbies ate breakfast and lunch at the Lido deck café, and dinner in the main dining room which they describe as “fabulous.” However, while they were assigned to a dinner table of 12 people, they ended up dining alone every night.

“We wanted to meet new people, so we requested the largest table available,” says Randy. “But our tablemates never showed up because they ate in alternative restaurants. So every night we sat alone at the head of this long table, getting funny stares from people who must have thought we were the worst tablemates in the world!”

The entertainment was also a hit, particularly the casino. However, Randy made an important discovery about shipboard gambling: “The casino pays very well on the first night!”

They also loved the service aboard ship, which they described as 5-star. “We were amazed that our room steward always knew when we were out and he could make up our room,” says Randy. “We’re sure they have a hidden camera in every room!”

As for ports of call, their ship called at Ocho Rios, Jamaica and Georgetown, Grand Cayman on its way to and from Fort Lauderdale. Their first stop was a big disappointment.

“The moment we got off the ship in Ocho Rios, we were harassed by street vendors who were in our face all the time trying to sell us stuff,” say the couple. “We didn’t feel safe the whole time we were there.”

Fortunately, their experience in Grand Cayman was completely different – they were able to walk around on their own and enjoy the local surroundings. And they had a fantastic time on their shore excursion aboard the Trolley Roger, an open-air trolley ride conducted by a pirate that took them through Georgetown and along the coast to Hog Sty Bay.

And what about sea sickness? “We could hardly tell the ship was moving most of the time,” says Noreen, who is prone to motion sickness. “Even on our last day when the seas were a bit rough, we felt fine.”

Randy and Noreen do have some suggestions for other first-time cruisers. First, try everything there is to do on the ship at least once. Second, don’t request a table for more than 6 or 8 people. Third, if you don’t have kids with you, try the adults-only pool if your ship has one. And fourth, if you are worried about getting seasick, book a cabin mid-ships about half-way up like they did.

So what advice do Randy and Noreen have for people who have never cruised before?

Try a good quality cruise line on a reasonably new ship (the Navigator was launched in 2002). And take a mini-cruise of about 4 or 5 days just to see if you like it.

And what does the future hold for our newbie cruisers?

“Oh yes, for sure we will be taking another cruise,” they promise. “We’re currently thinking about Alaska.”

And that’s how thousands of cruise newbies have become millions of cruise aficionados the world over – one wonderful cruise experience after another!

 

On our recent family cruise in the Med, we caught our two girls sneaking away from their “boring” shore excursion in Croatia halfway through the trip. The excursion tickets had cost us $80 apiece, so it was a painful reminder that excursions don’t always live up to their advance billing.

The problem with selecting shore excursions is that expensive decisions have to be made in advance of visiting a port of call, and usually based on just a few lines of description in an online brochure. In addition, there are usually lots of options to choose from that range from city bus tours, train trips, boat rides and helicopter sightseeing, to scuba diving, hiking, cycling, kayaking, and hot-air balloon adventures.

Of course, you can always tour a port on your own. It’s a great way to save money, especially if you hook up with another couple to split taxi fares. But not every port of call lends itself to a self-directed tour. And in an unfamiliar city, it’s too easy to miss some of the best sites and the interesting descriptions of them that tour guides provide.

So what’s a family to do? How can we all improve our odds of getting good value for our shore excursion dollar? Here are some guidelines that I intend to follow in future:

• Don’t sign up for organized shore excursions in every port. It’s nice to have a break every few days to just walk around on your own at your own pace.
• Write down the time you have to be back on board and bring it with you. It’s amazing how quickly one day gets confused with the next when you’re vacationing.
• Pick shore excursions that are difficult or expensive to do on your own. For example, trips outside of the city you’re docked in, or tours that let you jump the normal line-ups at popular sites like the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
• If you tour on your own, invest in a guide book so that you can find the best attractions and learn a little about them.
• Try to avoid doing two shore excursions in the same day – it’s too rushed and leaves little time for lunch or shopping.
• Stay clear of day-long excursions unless they take you to somewhere really fantastic like Florence, Moscow or Marrakesh that are worth the expense and fatigue.

And no matter how you get there, what are the best things to see or do on land? I once asked that question of Gary Hart, who at the time was the shore excursion manager aboard the Crystal Symphony. After 17 years a sea, hundreds of ports and thousands of shore excursions, Gary said his four favorite shore excursions were glacier flightseeing by helicopter in Alaska, flying over the Iguazu Falls in Brazil, touring the Shrine of Borobudur in Indonesia, and visiting the Terra-Cotta Warriors in Xi’an, China (a pre or post-cruise excursion option). For sailors, I would add the America’s Cup 12-metre yacht race experience in St. Maarten, West Indies.

And what’s the most important question a passenger should ask before departing on a shore excursion?

“What time does the ship leave,” Hart told me with a smile!

I just booked a cabin on a cruise ship for $1,569 per person. And it’s not even the cheapest cabin on the ship – an inside stateroom can be had for just $1,349. Even with port charges, fuel supplements, and all taxes, my tab still came to a very reasonable $2,265.

Not bad for a 10-day cruise, right?

Wrong! This is a 14-day voyage which means my costs average out to just $161 per day. Try living that cheaply while vacationing in a major destination and Arthur Frommer will canonize you in a travel book.

So you think I’m sailing on some kind of rust bucket or freighter, and that I’m bunking in with the engine crew?

No way. We’re talking premium cruise line here on Royal Caribbean International, and a relatively new and beautiful ship in the Radiance of the Seas. This is a 4-star vessel, and I’m sitting pretty in an outside cabin with a balcony. Yes, a balcony!

Okay, this must be some kind of repositioning cruise without any ports of call, right?

Wrong. This is a dream itinerary around Cape Horn from the west side of South America to the east. It will take me from Santiago, Chile to Buenos Aries, Argentina. And during the cruise, I’ll be visiting 10 South American ports, and cruising through the beautiful Chilean fjords and the historic Strait of Magellan.

Furthermore, my fare includes accommodations, meals and entertainment on ship. The only thing I have to pay for is booze, which I realize in my case, could raise the daily cost of cruising by more than a few bucks!

And that’s not the only deal being offered by major cruise lines. Just recently, Holland America had a 32-night South Pacific cruise with air on sale for just $3,206. And there are more great cruise values out there – just check out the line-up on tripharbour and you’ll find deals like a 3-night cruise for just $165, a 4-night cruise for $419, a 7 night Alaska for only $859, and a 7-night Caribbean staring at just $479.

Now compare these values to a land vacation. During my recent Med trip, I paid in excess of $300 a night for hotel rooms in Rome and Venice, more than $150 a day in restaurant meals, and plenty more in train, bus and taxi fares – never mind the cost of flying from Venice to Rome. As for entertainment, who could afford to go out after all those expenses?

The bottom line is that cruising is still a great value, even when we add in the cost of fuel supplements to reflect the high costs of oil. That’s good news for anyone who loves to travel, and even better news for those who love to cruise.

 

 

The first Commodore Dave Booster Rally took place in the National Capital Region on July 2 within full view of Canada’s Parliament buildings.  Unfortunately, the Prime Minister was unable to attend despite his great affection for cruising on the public purse. However, the Official Opposition was resplendently represented by two student Liberals who promised to exempt cruising from any potential “Dion” carbon tax. Unfortunately, they were referring to another type of cruising – one that involves bars in the nearby Byward Market area.

The event was organized by my daughter Lindsay at the urging of two friends who live across the street from her – Privateer Paul and Cannoneer Kyle.  The duo discovered the Tripharbour Community site when Lindsay started blogging with me about our Mediterranean cruise in June. They were soon hooked on living vicariously through the reports and photos of our 12-day voyage from Rome to Venice. So they decided a nautically themed pizza and beer night with the old Commodore would be a cool way to learn more about our trip and cruising in general.

Before the questions got underway, we assigned everyone (most of them students from the University of Ottawa) a nautical “nick name” to set the right mood. The nicks included Commander Caitlin, Master Merrick, Lido Lindsay, Admiral Andrea, Galley Wench Gail, Pirate Peter and one for Mike that we won’t mention here to avoid embarrassment. After a few beers, the questions flowed easily.

“What were our 3 favorite ports of call from the recent Med cruise?” (Montenegro, Capri and Corfu). 

“What are the 3 cruising regions that we’ve enjoyed the most?” (Greek islands, French Polynesia, the Med.).

“What are the cruise lines we like best?”  (Regent, Princess, Star Clipper).    

 “Would a cruise be a good option for a spring break?” (Yes, try Carnival or Royal Caribbean International in the Caribbean or Mexico).

Next came some advice on what type of themes would attract people under 25 like them to take a cruise. Film, fashion and sports themes were at the top of the list. “How about a cruise with Leo Di Caprio or Paris Hilton? What about a Zombie or Dracula theme cruise with a famous horror movie director?  Does anyone do a cruise with hockey players or racing car drivers?” (The latter might be a great opportunity for my NASCAR racing buddy, Pierre).

However, the most popular theme was the one where the parents pay to take everyone on a multi-generational cruise!!

There was some marketing advice. They said tripharbour was a cool site and that we needed to do more to promote cruising as a great alternative to the beach or a land vacation.

Finally, they had some advice for marketing Commodore Dave. “Start using the photo with the Captain Stubing hat more often. It’s you!” 

And then they came up with great idea for a running gag – the Commodore Dave fish ornament. 

“Fishy Dave” is an ornament we bought at a Christmas shop that features a white captain’s hat on a chubby, multi-coloured fish with a big smile. The Stewart Street squad thought “Fishy Dave” should become my personal icon and that I should take photographs of it in various spots around the world as we cruise.

By this time the beer was running out and the pizza was finished. In other words, it was time for Commodore Dave and Galley Wench Gail to return to our hotel. We gave everyone a big hug, grateful for the opportunity we had been given to meet some great young people, and confident that we had planted the seeds for some fantastic cruises in future.