Author: Cruiser Evan
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Dargal Cruises
Dargal Cruises is not a standalone company or cruise line; rather, cruises are one of the vacation types that are offered through Dargal Interline Worldwide. As their name partially implies, they focus on interline ticketing, which in essence is an employment benefit of working for an airline or other qualifying company. So, if people are searching for a Dargal cruise, they are searching for a discounted cruise that can be booked with the services of Dargal Interline Worldwide. Below we explain Dargal Interline Worldwide (or DIW for short) and the cruises you can book with them. Read more […] -
Thomson Cruises
Thomson Cruises, habitually misspelled “Thompson Cruises,” is a unique enterprise. It is technically a cruise line, but it only owns one of the five ships it sails, and moreover it is owned by a travel agency, Thomson Holidays, which is, incidentally, the largest travel agency in the UK. In contrast, most cruise lines are standalone businesses, or else are owned by a larger conglomerate that operates several cruise lines, like Carnival Corporation or Royal Caribbean Cruises. (In other words, it is unusual for a travel agency to own a cruise line, as these agencies are normally in the business of arranging vacations, not operating them.) Additionally, cruise lines generally own all of the ships they operate. As we said, Thomson Cruises is a unique enterprise. Because it is a somewhat unorthodox operation, we have explained the cruise line, such as it is, in greater detail below, giving you a better idea of what Thomson Cruises is. Read more […] -
Azamara Cruise Reviews
Founded in 2007, Azamara Club Cruises is a fairly new cruise line, and it is also rather small, with the Azamara fleet consisting of only two modestly-sized ships that can hold about 700 passengers each. As a consequence, Azamara is not particularly well-known, at least relative to the giants of the cruise industry, like Carnival and Royal Caribbean. (The parent company of the latter – Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. – owns Azamara, for the record.) Despite its lower profile, however, plenty has been written about the cruise line, and there are a number of Azamara cruise reviews, which is what we are currently focused on. Prospective passengers are always keen to read cruise reviews, so we figured it would be helpful to compile some information about Azamara cruise reviews for those interested in traveling with the small, upscale cruise line. Read more […] -
The Shipwreck in Italy: Boat Filled with African Migrants Sinks Near Italian Coast; Over 100 Dead
Over one hundred African migrants are dead and many more are missing after a boat carrying up to 500 people sank off the coast of Lampedusa, an Italian island between the coastline of West Africa and Sicily. An ongoing operation by the Italian Coast Guard has saved at least 150 people, who have been brought to Lampedusa’s main port, which has the facilities to treat them. Read more […] -
What is Parbuckling? With Special Reference to the Costa Concordia Recovery Operation
Parbuckling is the process by which a sunken vessel is rotated to an upright position by harnessing leverage. An instance of parbuckling is called a parbuckle salvage for obvious reasons: a ship is parbuckled so that it may be salvaged. This may appear to be an esoteric topic of concern only to engineers, which is essentially true, but parbuckling came to the attention of a larger audience with the raising of the Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that tragically sunk off the coast of Italy after rocks tore through the side of the vessel. The shipwreck caused 32 deaths, by far the worst cruise ship disaster in recent memory. Below is a brief explanation of parbuckling; we’ll leave aside technical details and instead focus on the amazing righting of the Costa Concordia. Read more […] -
The Costa Concordia: Ship Raised (Photos), Human Remains Found, and Other Updates
The sinking of the Costa Concordia was by far the worst ship disaster in recent memory. It captured the world’s attention, and for good reason. Modern cruise ships are remarkably safe, and even if they have problems, which they occasionally do (just ask Carnival), 32 people don’t die as a consequence. It is therefore not surprising that people have been following the Costa Concordia story closely, especially in recent days, during which the ship was raised successfully and human remains were found. However, there is so much currently happening with the Costa Concordia – each day seemingly brings new updates – that we thought we’d call your attention to the major stories. Below is all you need to know about the news swirling around the Costa Concordia, and we’ve also included some awesome pictures of the raising of the ship for good measure. Read more […]