Anti-seasickness claims make glacier tour popular

Anti-seasickness claimsmake glacier tour popular
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A Prince William Sound marine tour company has found an eager audience for its guarantee -- no seasickness. "We get an awful lot of business because of it," said Brad Phillips, owner of Phillips' Cruises & amp; Tours, the only day-cruise company in Alaska that advertises an anti-seasickness guarantee. The company's refund policy works like this: If you get sick, you get repaid. A trip aboard the Klondike Express, a 137-foot vessel that can carry 342 passengers, is rapid but smooth. The triple-decker catamaran operated out of Whittier cruises at 42 knots, nearly 50 mph, and the trip is advertised as a way to see glaciers and wildlife. Catamarans tend to be stable because of their double-hull design, Phillips said. "The hulls are very sharp. They cut right through the waves," he said. The Klondike Express is also wide, 38 feet across. The girth stops much of the side motion, or rolling, that tends to cause seasickness, said Barrie Swanberg, vice president of sales and marketing for Phillips Cruises. "You'd be amazed at how often it sells a ticket," Swanberg said. Swanberg said fewer than a handful of the vessel's 30,000 passengers last year asked for a refund. For more information, visit www.26glaciers.com or call (907) 276-8023.
Snow resort aims to woocustomers after slow year
BOISE, Idaho -- Bogus Basin Mountain Resort wants to please skiers and snowboarders after a lean winter, as well as attract families to a new snow-tubing park. The Boise-area ski hill will operate seven days and five nights a week this season, and will offer skiers and boarders another shot at buying a discounted season pass on a layaway plan. The ski hill shut down Mondays and Tuesdays last season amid one of the poorest snow seasons in a generation. Bogus Basin finished up the 2002-03 season about $1.5 million in the hole. The spring season-pass sale was about $1 million below expectations. Bogus will spend about $100,000 to build an inner-tubing park, which could bring in $500,000 a year.
Norwegian Cruise Lineannounces new routes
NEW ORLEANS -- The Port of New Orleans has reached a three-year berthing agreement with Norwegian Cruise Line, enabling the 1,748-passenger Norwegian Dream to begin sailing from New Orleans starting Nov. 2. The Miami-based company's ship will make 21 trips a year to New Orleans on Sundays. The ship will make four ports of call on its seven-day itinerary, sailing to Cozumel, Mexico; Roatan, Honduras; Belize City, Belize; and Cancun, Mexico. In a separate announcement, Norwegian Cruise Line announced plans to sail four ships in Hawaii next year as part of an ambitious plan aimed at doubling the islands' share of the worldwide cruise industry market. The proposal would continue round-trip service to Fanning Island in the Republic of Kiribati some 1,200 miles southwest of Hawaii, and add interisland cruises out of Honolulu. Although the Norwegian Star and its 14 decks for 3,300 passengers is scheduled to leave Hawaii for Alaska next spring, the cruise line plans to bring in three other ships between May and October. The Norwegian Wind would continue operating round-trip cruises to Fanning Island.
Yoga moves offer reliefto airplane travelers
NEW YORK -- Your back hurts. Your foot fell asleep. You're terrified of getting a leg clot. And you're stuck in the dreaded middle seat of the airplane, with hours to go before you land. What's the stressed-out traveler to do? Pull out your handy copy of "Airplane Yoga" (Riverhead Books, $13) and try any one of 35 exercises designed to help the body and mind cope with the smallest of spaces and the most stressful situations. There are "Heavy Luggage Hand Stretches," "Take-Off Counting Meditations," "Long Line Leg Revivers" and "Mile-High Thigh Toners." Many of the exercises can be done inconspicuously, while seated; others are intended to be done while standing in line at the airport. The book is small enough to put in a pocket and comes with illustrations.
Combined dispatches