Travel Maven blog

Cruising on Disney's newest Fantasy

Fourth ship in fleet offers new twists

Imagine your drawing dancing on a wall

A child's makeover fit for a princess

The 80-year-old man had not drawn a picture of himself since childhood. That’s what his son said.

Aboard the new Disney Fantasy cruise ship, instructions made it easy: Here’s a magic marker. Imagine how you look.  On the paper placed at your table in the dining room, scribble in the white spaces, on the face, chest and tummy, shirt sleeves, trouser legs, and feet.

As his son tells the story, the old man sighed and acquiesced. He drew a simple line for a mouth, circles for eyes, some hair of which he had little, dots on the shirt, stripes on the pants. Finished quickly, he concentrated on his family in the Animator’s Palate dining room.

Then came the magic, and his eyes twinkled into a full grin.

To the music of a whimsical cartoon, the old man’s picture began to dance across the dining room walls, along with several dozen other characters from other tables.

Walking Wellington, comfy cruise port for eating, gazing, shopping for short pants

When travel offered me a second shot at visiting Wellington, I wasn’t going to miss a morning at Te Papa, a lunch of green-lipped mussels (right), and a pair of three-quarter pants that are all the rage in New Zealand and Australia.

Preparing a cruise ship for Aussies, Kiwis

Celebrity Century, a cruise ship that has spent most of its seagoing life in North America, is sailing around Australia and New Zealand this winter (summer in the Southern Hemisphere), getting a taste of what Aussies and Kiwis want to see and do on a cruise ship.

The Century is Celebrity’s first major investment into this part of the world, in preparation for one of Celebrity's newer and larger ships, Celebrity Solstice, which  arrives next fall.

That’s why, for instance, the Century has meat pies in the Lido buffet line and a jar of Vegemite next to the morning toast.

Rick Steves, Budget Travel magazine win top Lowell Thomas awards

WELLINGTON, New Zealand

Rick Steves, one of America’s best-known travelers as a guidebook writer, blogger, twitterer and TV/radio host, is the Journalist of the Year in the 2011 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition.

Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel magazine, the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle win top honors as the best travel publications in North America.

National Geographic Traveler wins five awards, including best travel website and best cultural tourism article. Outside magazine also wins five awards, including best adventure travel and best investigative stories.

Mingling with the mannequins: What the Dickens is Charles of England doing in Ohio

Cambridge, Ohio
As soon as Halloween is over, the Central Ohio town of Cambridge will have a festive Victorian look, not only among its buildings, but also its people, some of whom dress and act like Charles Dickens characters for two months each winter.

Through early January, downtown Cambridge celebrates all things Dickens, from carolers and well-dressed society types to street urchins, Bob Cratchit, and Tiny Tim.

If you stop by, you may also dress the part, borrowing for free some garb at Ye Ole Curiosity Shoppe on Wheeling Avenue and heading outside to mingle with the mannequins, which dot the downtown like extras in a huge performance.

For a sneak peek, here are pictures, taken at a local warehouse, of the many mannequins that soon will be stationed along downtown’s Wheeling Avenue at antique lampposts and benches.

"Puss in Boots" is this week's Allure of the Seas

Passengers aboard Allure of the Seas are getting a sneak peek with their cruise this week at the new "Puss in Boots," an animated 3-D movie from DreamWorks that stars the voices of Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek.

Royal Caribbean has an early copy of the movie that debuts nationally on Oct. 28 and will be showing it all week to passengers who left on Allure on Sunday for a week’s voyage into the Caribbean.

A red carpet premiere of "Puss in Boots" was held Sunday aboard the massive Allure, world's largest cruise ship and Royal Caribbean’s newest vessel.