| 
A Key West Bed and Breakfast....
Boasting an incomparable location at the midpoint of Duval Street, The Tropical Inn is a quiet and private island compound. You might walk down Key West's most famous promenade a hundred times and not notice this romantic hideaway, tucked unassumingly away just steps from all the bustle and excitement |
|
|
| The Unofficial Guide to Cruises (Unofficial Guides) | 
 enlarge | Author: Kay Showker
Creator: Bob Sehlinger
Publisher: Wiley
Category: Book
List Price: $22.99
Buy Used: $3.14
You Save: $19.85 (86%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 327085
Media: Paperback
Edition: 10
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 690
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.5
ISBN: 0470087919
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.202
EAN: 9780470087916
ASIN: 0470087919
Publication Date: August 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Cover creased and some bent pages; the rest in good condition!
|
| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 20 | | NEXT » |
 OK guide, but much information available elsewhere. November 5, 2007
The book is okay for people who haven't booked a cruise before, but I found that much of the information they offer as an "unofficial guide" may be found at various discussion sites that are easily found through a web search.
 Too much work! August 2, 2007
I was looking for a cruise to Europe--so I bought this book. Save your money. This book is poorly organized. My husband and I wasted several hours trying to figure out how this book was organized. Then we realized it was not organized at all. I actually gave up and bought another book.
Very shallow overview with little critical information May 28, 2005
28 out of 29 found this review helpful
We all love books with titles like these. They are going to tell us the "real" truth behind the corporate line. How well does this book live up to its promise?
First, the basics of the book. The first 130 pages holds background information - why cruises are cost effective, maps of key cruising regions, and so on. The rest of the book - which is about 660 pages total - is a ship by ship review of the main ships that you can choose to cruise on.
I bought this book, so obviously I was keen to hear the "secrets" :) But unfortunately, even though this version of the book came out only a year ago, I already see a large number of inaccuracies in it. It's not really a surprise - as much as they claim to be "unofficial", there is no way a group of reviewers (or especially the 2 who claim primary credit for writing this book) can go back and visit every ship listed, every year. But that means that either 1) the information is therefore inaccurate, or 2) they fall back on what the company reports, meaning they are no longer an unbiased 3rd party.
In addition, just what information are they giving you? I turned right to the Norwegian Majesty as I am looking to cruise with them shortly. They give stats like cabin count, draft, beam, etc. Undoubtedly they got those from the cruise lines, and didn't measure them themselves :). They list the decor colors, the names of the restaurants, the items in the cabins (desk, TV, etc.)
Really, the entire review (which is about 2 small pages long) is a transcript of information found on corporate pages. It says things like the Sky Deck has lounge chairs, rest rooms and showers. It really doesn't have any subjective information at all.
With the thousands of reviews available online, from people who DO go into the good, bad and ugly of each cruise line, I have to admit I was disappointed. Let's say I wanted to choose between the several cruise lines running to Bermuda, I don't know that these write-ups would really help over the official information found on the cruise ships' websites. With the information in the book not necessarily being accurate or up-to-date, even what they do show isn't something I could rely on fully. And given how much the price is for this book, it's really not very price-effective given how few pages are actually applicable for a given person.
That's not to say that the book is "bad" in any way. The beginning section is quite helpful, if basic. It talks about planning ahead, making sure you're in town a day early so that you don't risk missing your ship. It gives general advice on what to pack.
But again, you really do far better with web offerings - because instead of giving general advice on packing for "all cruises everywhere" (which has to include both Alaska and Jamaica), the web can give specific advice for specific lines going to specific destinations. Even two ships both going to a single island can have vastly different dress codes.
If someone doesn't have a web connection, and wants a general quick-reference book for scanning (say in the waiting room of a travel agency), this might be a good book to have. But if you're a cruiser who has a destination in mind, or a specific cruise ship in mind, this information is really far too brief.
Very Good Source For Cruise Information November 23, 2003
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
"The Unofficial Guide to Cruises 2003" is a well written book that is a quite complete guide to virtually all cruises that you might realistically be interested in. The detail on different ships and lines is excellent, though I personally think that the Berlitz book "Ocean Cruising & Cruise Ships 2003" is more detailed on the ships themselves, and is generally easier to use than "The Unofficial Guide to Cruises 2003," though both have strong and weak points. The strength of this book is in the complete and clear explanations of every aspect of a cruise for someone new to cruising. Some people like the breakdown by separate quality and value scales, but I didn't find it particularly user friendly, and often was scratching my head trying to resolve the grades received with narrative about particular ships. Once again, I think Berlitz has a more straightforward numerical system where it is clear why each ship got the overall score that it got. While I prefer the Berlitz book marginally, this is also an excellent book with it's own unique viewpoints and strengths. My strategy has become to use the two books in tandem, as together there is a complete picture that neither book completely captures on it's own. Overall a noble effort and in the end this book is recommended for anyone considering a cruise, especially first time cruisers.
Not as complete as the "Frommer's Carribean Cruise" book January 18, 2003
11 out of 15 found this review helpful
I had already booked my cruise when I purchased this book. I was looking for details on shore excursions, shipboard info and how to get to the port of Miami. Frommer's Carribean Cruise book had more of the information I was looking for. This "Unofficial Guide to Cruises" would be good if you were trying to decide which cruise to take. But again, there wasn't any information on what I was looking for in shore excursions, sightseeing, maps, etc.
|
|
|
Powered by Our Keywest | |
