Should you tip? On board, yes

Most cruise lines add tips to your stateroom bill. But a single trip to the purser's desk will remove the charge if you don't agree.

Cruising with teens: Which ship to take

Q. Do you have any recommendations for cruising with teenage boys? They will be 17, 13 and 11 when we are thinking of taking this trip.

COVER STORY

Caribbean islands want tourists back after storms

A week after back-to-back storms island-hopped through the Caribbean with varying degrees of severity, a tourism ad ran prominently in the main section of a major U.S. daily newspaper.

This year, no need to pay full cruise fare

Three years ago, with much fanfare, most of the major cruise lines announced that they would no longer permit travel agents or others to discount the price of their cruises.

CRUISE SHIPS | HURRICANE IKE IN THE CARIBBEAN

Hurricane Ike tosses Caribbean tourism for a loop

Hurricane Ike is lashing out at the Caribbean's tourism infrastructure and has forced cruise lines and airlines to redraw their plans.

The latest trends in cruising

What are the hot trends in cruising? How will fuel costs affect the prices you pay? And what sort of stateroom do the experts book?

Baltic cruise offers fellowship and flexibility for casual friends

The sightseeing boat was half way down the cafe-lined canal when the pilot started back toward the pier. ''We have to pick up more people,'' the guide said. As we neared the mooring, we started screaming.

WEEKEND CRUISE | ONE IN A SERIES

Making a quick getaway from the daily grind

Celebrity's cruise ship Century gets an early start with a Thursday afternoon sailing.

ON LAND

New shore excursions appeal to active cruisers

for the jump In Jamaica, Carnival Cruise Lines offers passengers a bobsled ride through a tropical forest. In Stockholm, Norwegian Cruise Line guests can take a rooftop tour of the city. In Key West, those sailing on Royal Caribbean ships can take a walking tour with a hand-held GPS that not only supplies directions but also provides facts, myths and legends.

Tough times for condos at sea

The press releases and fancy brochures glow with extravagant promise: round-the world cruises, plenty of time in exotic ports, rooms decked in marble and crystal, gourmet meals at sea and -- most important -- a permanent home on the ship.

CRUISING

Cruise safety means common sense

Passengers should treat a cruise ship like they would a strange city and take common sense precautions.

CENTRAL AMERICA

Small ship takes guests beyond well-trodden shores

On this Panama Canal cruise, the canal transit is secondary to more adventurous activities along the coasts of Panama and Costa Rica.

Fall Cruise Datebook

The following list includes includes cruise lines sailing to and from Miami and Port Everglades and Cape Canaveral, on overnight cruises between Sept. 15 and Feb. 7, 2009. This information has been provided by the cruise lines and is subject to change and cancellation.

Cruise ship review | Crown Princess

The Crown Princess wasn't my first choice of ships, based purely on its large size (almost 3,100 passengers.) That said, the experience exceeded expectations of nearly everyone in our group. In October, the ship comes to Port Everglades for fall/winter Caribbean cruises. Our review:

CRUISE INDUSTRY

Cruise ship crime concerns lawmakers

A woman who was raped on a cruise ship warned people that there is danger on the high seas.

Norwegian Cruise Lines appeals restitution ruling

Norwegian Cruise Line has appealed a federal judge's ruling that it pay almost $7.4 million in restitution to some victims of a boiler explosion on the SS Norway in 2003.

CRUISE LINES

Judge orders seizure of SeaEscape casino ship

The Port Everglades-based Island Adventure gaming vessel will be detained by U.S. marshals after crew members said they have not been paid wages.

CRUISE INDUSTRY

NCL lays off 145 shore workers

Norwegian Cruise Line laid off 145 shore employees globally on Thursday as part of a cost-control and reorganization effort as it grapples with higher fuel costs and a downsizing of its fleet over the next two years.

WEEKEND CRUISES | ONE IN A SERIES

Aboard Majesty of the Seas

As we watched the sun sink slowly behind downtown Miami's wall of skyscrapers, my wife and I toasted our good fortune. We were in the high-up Viking Crown lounge aboard Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas, sailing out of Miami on the first pure weekend getaway we'd been on in many years.

ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Cruise giant is sued over toxic gas

Royal Caribbean is being sued by a former captain who said he was injured in a 2005 accident in which poisonous gas escaped onboard a ship.

Cruise control: ships cut fuel cost

Squeezed by high fuel costs, Royal Caribbean Cruises hired a chief to put energy management on the front burner; other lines may follow suit.

CRUISE LINES

NCL asked to pay more for deadly boiler blast

In the wake of Norwegian Cruise Line's guilty plea to negligence in the 2003 explosion on the SS Norway, some want the company to pay more restitution.

WEEKEND CRUISES: ONE IN A SERIES

Family cruise to the Bahamas

''Mom, they look like dead people,'' one of my daughters whispers. It's 6 a.m. and my family is huddled on deck chairs in the pre-dawn chill aboard the Discovery Sun cruise ship. Other passengers sprawl around us under black rental beach towels, deep in slack-jawed sleep. The 20-something girl next to me is limp, her head resting on the arm of my chair.

Genuine innovation buried in hype about Royal Caribbean's Oasis

It's hardly a revelation, but new features on ships are rarely as earth-shaking (or water-churning) or revolutionary as cruise lines make them out to be. And, often, when they do live up to the billing, you know it's going to cost extra.

Sheikh-down cruise: Italian line sails Arabian peninsula from Dubai

I stared for a time at the museum-case model that portrayed early Abu Dhabi as a sandy flat with a loose scattering of mud huts, on which the most sophisticated architectural feature were the goat pens. I half expected to see tiny figures swinging crude stone tools.

Cruise contest | And the winner is ...

''Out of sight!'' That was Clint Pezoldt of Miami's comment on learning he was the winner of the random drawing for an NCL (www.ncl.com) weekend cruise. The three- and four-night cruises from Miami, aboard the 2,000-passenger Norwegian Sky, begin July 14.

WEEKEND CRUISE SERIES

Voyage proves more entertaining than destination

I was sitting at the bar in the karaoke lounge on the Carnival Fascination when a 30-something woman buying a glass of house red introduced herself.

EARNINGS

Carnival lowers forecast

Despite the rough economy, booking trends were solid at Carnival and revenue increased 17 percent, but expensive fuel costs are raising concerns.

RCL announces Oasis itineraries

Royal Caribbean International's 220,000-ton Oasis of the Seas will begin service Dec. 12, 2009, sailing 19 seven-night cruises from Port Everglades to the eastern Caribbean. Bookings for the ship, which will be the world's largest, will open Sept. 3, 2008. Ports of call will include Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; and Nassau, Bahamas.