WallaceImmen

I’m writing this from a padded lounge chair in The Sanctuary, a personal hideaway at the top of Sky Princess. On a ship that can carry more than 3,600 passengers, two attendants are at my beck and call and there are no other guests in sight.

Sparking blue waters line a beautiful wave-free beach of fine white sand. Palm trees sway in a gentle breeze while friendly bartenders offer up as many cool drinks as you want. It’s the picture that appears in your mind’s eye whenever you think of an idyllic day on a Caribbean beach. That mental ideal seldom lives up to reality in many Caribbean cruise ports, as thousands of cruise passengers flock to the nearest beach at some popular cruise ports.

With the best pizza, pasta and coffee at sea and parties that last late into the night, cruising to exotic locales on Italy’s Costa Cruises is an immersion into European style, tastes and customs.

At every port on a cruise in the United Arab Emirates, it’s obvious that each of the Arab sheikdoms are playing top this with their newly built soaring skylines, their supersized yachts and their over-the-top palaces.

Oh, you poor puppy. I’m going to miss you! Don’t you wish you could actually take your sad-eyed pooch or pouting pussycat along with you as you pack up for a cruise?

The sex lives of seahorses are even racier than you could imagine. And believe it or not, the global intrigues that led to what became known as the Guano Wars are more fascinating than any spy novel.