Five Faves: Cruise Line Apps You Can’t Do Without
Porthole’s Five Faves Five Cruise Line Apps You Can’t Do Without. Unlock your ship’s secrets with this smart software. Some cruisers like to enjoy their vacation as an opportunity to disconnect from the digital world, a chance to take the smart phone, tablet, BlackBerry, and laptop and lock th
Five Faves: Insomniac-tivities (Why should all the cruise fun be had while under the sun?)
Porthole’s Five Faves Insomniac-tivities Why should all the cruise fun be had while under the sun? “…In heavy seas you feel rocked to sleep, the windows’ spume a gentle shushing, engines’ throb a mother’s pulse.” In David Foster Wallace’s beloved ode to cruising, he sho
Five Faves: Culinary Keepsakes – dining experiences at sea
Porthole’s Five Faves Culinary Keepsakes Five favorite dining experiences at sea Ask any cruiser and chances are they will admit that food is key to their overall shipboard experience. While there’s no doubt that today’s cruise ships serve cuisine that rivals top-notch, land-based restaurants
Five Faves: Cruise Soundtracks – These recent releases can take your next vacation to music paradise.
Porthole’s Five Faves Five favorite cruise soundtracks These recent releases can take your next vacation to music paradise. Sure, there’s all kinds of groovy music on board: piano standards drifting elegantly from the atrium, Broadway tunes belted from a stage, a calypso band crooning poolside i
Five Faves: 5 great movies about cruising … that have nothing to do with icebergs.
Porthole’s Five Faves There’s more to cruising on the silver screen than Jack holding Rose at the bow while the music swells. James Cameron makes big movies. There’s no doubt about that. Near, far, wherever you are, you’re bound to have seen his decade-spanning blockbuster. But he’s not th
Five Faves: Family Matters – When it comes to a group vacation, choose to cruise!
Porthole’s Five Faves Family Matters When it comes to a group vacation, choose to cruise! This summer, I spent a weeklong family vacation with 14 family members ranging in age from 4 to 71. We gathered in a five-bedroom house on Lake Tahoe for a week of sun and fun… and a crazy amount [&h
Five Fave Photos: Snap To It! Most Photogenic Cruise Destinations
Porthole’s Five Faves Five Fave Photos: Snap To It The world’s most photogenic cruise destinations Traveling the world is what I do. Whether for work or for fun, I’ve explored 90 countries and all seven continents. Lucky for today’s cruisers, so many of the world’s most beautiful desti
Five Faves: Rollin’ on the River – Things to Love About a River Cruise
Porthole’s Five Faves Rollin’ on the River Five Favorite Things to Love About a River Cruise I’ve been cruising for 35 years. I’ve sailed on hundreds of ships, from my first job as a cruise director aboard Carnival Cruise Lines’ Mardi Gras to today’s big, bigger, and biggest megaships pl
Five Faves: Coldest Cruises to Beat the Heat
Porthole’s Five Faves Coldest Cruises to Beat the Heat Cure the summertime blues in these cool destinations Christmastime in the Caribbean is warm and wonderful. There’s something extra special about sailing through the Med when there’s sleet and slush filling the streets back home. But this t
Five Faves: Favorite Beers to Cheers – cruising’s best suds at sea!
Porthole’s Five Faves Favorite Beers to Cheers Lift a glass (or more) to the best suds at sea! There’s the bubbly you tip back with one hand whilst the other is still wheeling a suitcase to your new cabin home. There’s that white-or-red dilemma just as you sit down for that first dinne
Five Faves: Theme Cruises for 2015
Porthole’s Five Faves Five Theme Cruises Stargazing, yoga, and rock and roll – some of our favorite theme cruises for 2015 From country music cruises to chocolate lovers’ cruises, from golf to Goth, there is a theme cruise out there for everyone. Set sail with like-minded cruisers for
Five Faves: And the Living’s Easy – Summer river cruise favorites.
Porthole’s Five Faves And the Living’s Easy With summer comes great reasons to river cruise! River cruises operate nearly year-round, stopping only in the dead of winter. Fall foliage sailings are popular as trees along the riverside show their brilliant colors. Turning colder, Christmas market
Five Faves: Cruise, American Style!
Porthole’s Five Faves Cruise, American Style! We crown the good… from sea to shining sea! One of the joys of cruising is getting to visit exotic places in faraway lands, whether tropical islands or icy fjords. But those distant ports of call are not the whole picture. In honor of Independence D
Five Faves: Lands of the Free
Porthole’s Five Faves Lands of the Free 5 Independence-Seeking Cruise Destinations For as worldly as we like to consider ourselves, Porthole is unabashedly American, loving our independence from sea to every-cruisable-shining sea! With our Independence Day a little more than a week away, we wante
Five Faves: Breakfast Buffet Items
Porthole’s Five Faves Start the Day Off Right! 5 Favorite Items at the Breakfast Buffet Who doesn’t love a good buffet? What about a gourmet breakfast? So what could possibly be better than when these two come together?! One of the best amenities of a cruise ship is the all-you-ca
Five Faves: Enjoy the Show – Five Favorite Performances at Sea
Porthole’s Five Faves Enjoy the Show Five Favorite Performances at Sea There’s something about that moment when the lights go dim, the audience hushes, and the curtain rises. Sometimes you might even forget you’re on a cruise ship. But make no mistake. From Broadway-style shows and worl
Five Faves: Theme Cruises
Porthole’s Five Faves Five Theme Cruises … From gourmands to ghost hunters, there’s something for every cruiser to love. Who doesn’t love a good theme cruise? Board a ship with other like-minded folks and set sail for a week of, well, anything you can image! From country music cruises to
Five Faves: Cruise Indulgences
Porthole’s Five Faves Five Cruise Indulgences … And the Science Behind Why You Shouldn’t Say No Inhibitions are like lighthouses — those things are best left on land! The next time you go on a cruise and start hearing yourself make up excuses for why you shouldn’t do something, remember th
Five Faves: Bands, ho!… with Carnival LIVE
Porthole’s Five Faves Bands, ho! Five favorite things to love about a Carnival LIVE concert cruise There’s something to be said about mixing a cruise with your favorite music. Let’s face it, we love to walk around the ship and hear music in the lounges and on the Lido Deck – it enhances your
Five Faves: The Old Cruiser and the Sea
Porthole’s Five Faves The Old Cruiser and the Sea Five favorite ways to enjoy reading Hemingway on board There’s something absolutely satisfying about a warm deck chair, a cool sea breeze, and a great book – it’s totally indulgent and totally good for you at the same time. Few writers