Conservative Cruise With Rove, Bolton: $14,000 Per Couple

By GottaLaff

Holland America's Noordam (Courtesy Of Holland America Line)

Any chance one or more of them will be made to walk the plank? Who's supplying the Dramamine?

Republicans are said to be experiencing their winter of discontent, aimlessly adrift and trying to get their bearings after a couple of tough campaign cycles. So why not join like-minded folks and be literally adrift, on a luxury cruise ship meandering for 10 days in the Mediterranean and the Adriatic?

You'll be able to commiserate with and enjoy the grand company of luminaries from the conservative National Review -- Rich Lowry, Jonah Goldberg, Kathryn Lopez, Kate O'Beirne and others. [...]

Some of the guest speakers include Karl ("Permanent Majority") Rove, author Michael Novak, former U.N. ambassador John Bolton and ace political analyst Dick Morris, who appears fully recovered from that toe-sucking incident. Also on board will be columnists Tony Blankley, Cal Thomas and George Gilder. [...]

The cruise is conservatively priced as these things go, with 185-square-foot cabins for $5,000 a couple ($6,000 if you want a window, which you do). But the fiscally prudent will have to chance a waiting list for those rooms. The pricey suites, up to $14,000 per couple for one with a veranda, are still available. In times past, the plush accommodations went first. Must be the economy.

I'm already getting seasick... and I'm not even on a ship.

H/t: Ellen

Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Sea is pulling out of the Alaska market

By GottaLaff

How lyrical: Serenade of the Sea, lalala. But what isn't so lalala is this:

With the announcement last week that Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Sea is pulling out of the Alaska market in 2010, will other cruise lines do the same?

Travel agents are telling me that the sales numbers for Alaska are down compared to last year at this time, but Royal Caribbean is not blaming its pullout on the softening travel market: It is blaming the high cost of business in Alaska. The major cruise lines that serve this market have complained about high costs over the years, but Royal Caribbean is the first line to pull a ship out because of them.

The company singled out high head taxes charged for each passenger, high local taxes and fees, corporate taxes, gaming taxes and the cost of marine pilots.

It will be interesting to see how the other major cruise lines will respond to this move.

Interview-Me Palin's Alaska is awfully pricey and tax-y... too pricey and tax-y for cruise ships that carry tourists who help stimulate Alaska's economy.

And isn't it the Republicans who keep telling us they don't like all those nasty taxes? But, hey, that's our little Interview-Me, going all mavericky on us again.

H/t: Punky 36

South Florida Obama supporters are cruising to the inauguration

Hey, you've got to give them credit for thinking outside the box.

Unable to find affordable transportation to and lodging in the nation's capital for President-elect Barack Obama's Jan. 20 inauguration, one group of Obama supporters came up with a unique way to travel and stay in style: a ship.

Calling it the ''Yes We Can 2009 Inauguration Cruise,'' the group has rented a 500-room cruise ship to sail from Port Everglades to Baltimore, then take charter buses to the Washington Metro for the inaugural festivities.

''We were so caught up trying to get President-elect Obama elected that no one stopped to think about making any plans for inauguration,'' said Karen R. Phillips, an Obama volunteer who is helping to organize the Yes We Can 2009 Cruise. 'Literally the very next day it was all over the news that all the hotel rooms in Washington were booked. I got this whisper in my ear that said, `Karen, do a cruise.' ''

(snip)

The group is paying about $1 million for the eight-night cruise from Port Everglades aboard the Imperial Majesty line's MV Regal Empress cruise ship.