Cruise-Ships Books

I had to check the copyright date to determine this book was written and published currently. The sexist dialogue in this book was almost too blatant to be believed. The tough-as-nails heroine pretends not to know how to gamble to impress a man and then utters "Behind every great man there is a woman." This was just just a few of the chauvinistic attitudes conveyed in this book. I thought I was purchasing thriller, but instead got a romance novel with the little lady being saved by the knight in shining armor. Someone tell this author that women now have the right to vote.

"Majestic Descending" is one of those "can't-put-it-down" novels. I found myself staying up late just to see what happens next. It's a fast-paced thriller about a smart Atlanta lawyer, Katherine Adams, who finds herself caught up in a web of murder, intrigue, and betrayal - as well as being a passenger on a sinking cruise ship. "Majestic Descending" has the plot twists and action you'd expect from a novel like this, but it also has intelligent dialogue from adult characters who are believable and well-developed, not just caricatures for the action scenes. I hope Mitchell Graham writes more novels about Katherine.

This is 1 that I could not put down- it kept me up until almost 3AM but well worth it. If you hold the idea that all cruises are just "lazing around", this will knock that theory out of your head. Might make you think twice. It surprises me that a man wrote about the main character, a woman, and did it so well both sexes can enjoy it. Not too graphic, so it's a good read for everyone who likes a nail-bitting thriller. I'll be looking forward to the author's future books.

The book was fun and fast paced. It is somewhat predictable and tends to make some leaps that defy logic in order to move the story along, however it was enjoyable.

I agree with the reviewer who believed she read a different book from the majority of reviewers thus far. This book is almost good, but it's not quite there.

It would be a decent book to take on a plane trip or a visit to the doctor's visit, when you don't need a lot of concentration. It's fast paced, but the pacing comes at the expense of a solid story. Without giving too much away here, I wish that, rather than spending so much time on a hokey romance with hokey dialog, Mr. Graham had spent more time developing his villians, fleshing out why and how the different strands of villians came together and how the bad deeds were concocted and carried out. That would have been far more interesting to me than a story of love on the high seas.

One other thing for you English majors out there. The editing of this book left much to be desired. Words were repeated or missing, modifiers dangled, plural pronouns were used in place of singular nouns, and some stuff was just plain goofy. A flight from Europe to the US benefited from a 400 m.p.h. tailwind?!? Yikes! That sounds like the makings of a new disaster story.

I think this book was written in a decent fashion. I bought it as a gift for my sister before we went on our Alaskan cruise. The directions and visuals were pretty good. However, the "book" does look like it was hand-made and it definitely wasn't worth the money. This "book" cost WAY too much. It wasn't worth it!

I agree with other reviewers about the homemade quality of the book. The book itself was VERY thin and not what I expected for the $14+ spent on it. It's NOT the worst book on towel origami but not the best either. I'd place it somewhere in the middle. The author does explain things well so I have to give her some credit for that. Think the main disappointment was the thin and homemade quality of it. Wasn't the best first impression when I opened the box. I still find learning towel origami by the DVDs on the market the easier way to go. Looking at photos or illustrations in a book with a lot of text doesn't do it for me when learning the visual art of towel origami. I need to see it in action.

after studying the book, things began to get alot easier to do. really enjoyed the book

When I got this book it looked like some unprofessional company had made it. The book was bound only by sprial and the pictures were not in color. I would recommend not getting this book unless you really want to spend the money. The Lost Art of towel folding was a far better purchase.

I picked this up to surprise my wife every morning ! Makes her feel like she's on holidays every day. She looks forward to jumping in the shower every day just to see what critter awaits her that day. Only reason I rated a little lower was due to the fact the illustrations are a bit vague. But a great book just the same.

I too am disappointed in this book. It's all over the place with other destinations, format is terrible. Lots of info on nothing relevent. Pictures are good but not relevent! No information on current ports! No information on shore excursions, all info is short and vague. This book was slapped together from many sources and is not for people who are actually planning on a panama canal cruise.

Purchased this book for my mother-in-law. She seemed to like it. They are taking a trip there, so it made a good gift. Have not read the book myself.

I bought this book prior to a Panama Canal cruise not just for the cruise information but also because of the extensive amount of history covering the Panama Canal, including how it was built and the political involvement in making it happen. The details and background on the canal are outstanding.

What I didn't expect to find was not only information about the ports of call in Panama, but information about every possible port of call on a Panama Canal cruise. Whether you sail from Florida to California or any other path, your ports are covered in this book. Know what to purchase in Costa Rica, know where to sightsee in Cozumel, and know where the locals will be waving at your ship as you pass through the canal. A must have guide for every canal cruise, and a great guide for the Caribbean and Mexico as well.

Great coverage of the history and structure of the Panama Canal itself and a great deal of information about cruise ships in general. However, I was disappointed in the coverage of the ports. I would have preferred more details.

Our Holland America transit of the Panama Canal in May '07 included a veteran tour guide talking on the ships announcement systems. His description was very poor and the facts were just wrong. I knew that because I had read this book.

I recommend you buy and read this book before making your transit.

Its ok! This book was of little use to me but I do feel it would be useful to some others. I already own Frommers Alaska and Frommers Cruises and Ports of Call. So, I found the information in Alaska Cruises and Ports of Call to be totally redundant. Also, the first 150 pages or so are an intro to cruising, reviews of cruise lines and ships. Only in the final 100 pages are a discussion of "what to see, what to do, where to stay" in Alaska. If you don't have the others then you will like this book but if you have the others then you will find it a "cliff notes" of the other two.

This book is a good general overview of cruising in Alaska. It would be particularly helpful for first-time cruisers, as much of book is spent explaining how a cruise "works"-- dining, tipping, etc. I appreciated the recommendations on what to pack for Alaska, and they made several good suggestions that I wouldn't have thought of myself. The book was not as up-to-date as I would have liked (Norwegian Pearl had not sailed as of it's writing), but I guess that's understandable. There were some good suggestions for things to do at the various ports on your own, aside from the shore excursions. In all, a helpful, easy-to-access book.

This book was very helpful in determining which cities we wanted to include on our cruise port stops, BEFORE booking our trip. We were also able to plan ahead our list of "must see and do" in each port. This book will definitely be used as a guidebook to take with us to Alaska.

I just returned from a cruise to alaska and found this book to be very helpful. I work in a cruise related field and found it contained great reviews of different cruise lines. Port information was easy to follow. The "voice" of the book was friendly and eager to help. I recommend it to anyone who is considering or going to Alaska by ship.

I found the information in this to be generally helpful. I ordered the 2007 edition planning an Alaskan cruise in May 08. I did not realize that the ships changed from year to year. The Star Princess, on which we are booked, was not included in the 2007 edition. I was not able to find the 2008 cruise guide yet on Amazon. Live and learn.

Cruise section is more up to date than ports of call. Very useful.

As a person looking to take a cruise for the first time I found most of the info I was looking for in this book. It contains very detailed descriptions, especially of the various cruise lines and the type of activities, food and service that they offer. Of course, the opinions expressed are of the authors only and your taste may vary considerly. But overall they give a fairly objective assessment of the wide range of cruising experiences offered. Recommended.

this was a pretty good guide geared towards cruisers--only buy if you're interested on going on a big name cruise ship. port information was good for st. john, st. thomas, barbados, and aruba. the info on martinique was not good. the author described martinique's main town as cosmopolitan, people dress like paris, fort du france looks like new orleans. i don't know when he went to martinique. martinique was seedy and falling apart.

Whether you are a seasoned cruiser and are looking for something new or have never cruised before this book is very handy. I have cruised three times but was not sure where I wanted to visit next and which cruise line I wanted to take to get me there so I borrowed Cruises & Ports of Call 2005 from the library. I spent the greater part of an afternoon studying cruise lines, ships, itineraries, and cabins. It immensely helped me choose which cruise was right for me because it went into a very detailed description of the ins and outs of each port and line out there.

This massive book (691 pages) manages to touch on just about every major cruise ship and port of call that there is in cruising. You get a little taste of everything.

First, you get about 100 pages on the basics of cruising - how to get a good price, what to wear, how a cruise ship works. That will get you started on what a cruise trip is all about.

Next, you get 300 pages on the actual cruise ships. While this seems like a ton of pages, they actually only do 1-2 page reviews of each ship in most cases. In many cases it's a review not just of that ship but of that ship class. For example if Carnival has 4 ships that are similar, you could get one review that covers all 4 ships, with small mentions of things that stand out on a given ship. Since no ship is REALLY identical to other ships, this isn't great.

That being said, I really found the information given here to be FAR more valuable than in similar books. They actually review based on real information from real humans, not just copying from the cruise line's book. They tell you about "ridiculous 108 square feet" cabins. They warn you that on the Promenade deck, you're likely to have joggers running past (and peering in) your windows. They warn you which areas are noisy, they point out which lounges are usually not found by the masses and therefore are perfect places to escape from the noise.

The rest of the book is a quite good write-up of the main port locations. Many people travel in to a port town and consider the port town part of their vacation. This area includes maps of the area, what to see, directions to the docks, and other information.

I was a little put off by the 2005 in the title, implying that you had to buy a new book every year. On one hand you want to get a relatively new set of information - but even with this being "2005" I found errors in pricing. Obviously they can't update every single page in this every year. So it's a trade-off. Again, the book provides good guidelines but should never be taken as absolutely true.

There is obviously no way that one book can cover ALL information on all towns, ships and ports!! Again, this is a sampler. You look through to find out which items appeal to you. Then you should get a full book on that ONE TOPIC. If you're going to Bermuda, don't expect this book to give you the full details. You should get a book on Bermuda.

However, for what this book does, it does it very well. It takes you from the point of not knowing about cruising at all to the point of knowing what your options are and having a top-5 list to persue further. At that point it's time to go to those cruise line websites, to go the forums, and to get some books on specific ports. That will get you the detailed information you need to make your final decision, and to enjoy your cruise!

The real mystery to me is why this book has gotten good reviews. I would have given this book 1 star, but I reserve that honor for books which really deserve no stars.

Lindy is a staff member at a privately-funded dance troupe which has been offered the job of dancing on a small cruise ship over the Christmas holidays. Lindy declines because spending the holidays with her family is important to her. Alas, she comes to the sad conclusion that her family could care less about it because although her son is home from college he spends no time with her, her daughter chooses to stay in Europe at school rather than coming home, and her husband chooses to work in Paris over the holidays.

She decides to go on the cruise and mayhem ensues. A music critic with plenty of enemies falls to his death at her feet. A bellicose and drunken cruise singer with a history of wandering eye, but whose act relies on the far-superior talents of his wife, drowns in a pool on deck. Meanwhile, a dance troupe member appears to be having problems of her own with her daughter (that subplot was so obvious they might have highlighted it in neon), shipboard staff are accused of thievery, her friend appears to be embarking on an affair with a newly-outed-as-heterosexual colleague, and a rock star on vacation is romantically interested in Lindy while exhibiting signs of what Lindy feels are drug use. Oh, yeah, and then there's a former flame of hers back home whom she calls upon for help in solving the mystery of what happened to the first dead body. By the time this overly-lengthy book was done, I felt like I'd spent a week becalmed on the high seas with this crew.

There were so many problems with this thin story stretched out over far too many pages that I actually made a list:
1. The murderer was obvious almost immediately
2. The 'main' characters were thinly drawn or laughable caricatures of types
3. There were far too many secondary/tertiary players
4. Lindy's apparent hotness in attracting multiple love interests is never really made obvious to the reader and so seems almost laughable, especially in regards to a rock star on board.
5. Her immediate assumption that one of those love interests was a drug user rather than suffering from an illness requiring medication was ridiculous and offputting. It also made her appear stupid enough that I wondered about her abilities to solve the murder. And in reality, she didn't solve the murder -- the murderer happened to confess in her presence.
6. The lectures about opera and dancing felt like...lectures.
7. Finally, the subplot involving her family's apathy about her existence was just completely unnecessary. And her drama over not receiving a New Year's gift was perplexing -- who exchanges gifts on New Year's?

This was the first book I've read in this series and I plan to read many more.

Lindy Graham-Haggerty is the rehearsal director for the Jeremy Ash Dance Company. The company is hired to perform on a small cruise over New Year's being offered by Cameron Tyler. At first Lindy declines attending because she doesn't want to be away from her husband Glen over New Year's. Plus their son Cliff would be home from the holidays and even though he would spend most of the time with his friends, she wanted to be home to see him as much as possible.

Then Glen gets sent to Paris to work over the holidays and Cliff heads on a ski trip with friends. So, Lindy agrees to go.

She shares a cabin with Biddy McFee, the company's business manager. David Beck, rock star, is their neighbor across the hall.

Suzette Howard is in charge of the Stars of the Metropolitan Opera who will also be performing. Her daughter Dede is traveling with her.

Things start happening when they arrive. When Suzette sees Danny Ross and Adelaide Kyle, the married cabaret act, arrive with their son Richard, she freezes in place. Lindy can't figure out what that was about. Then the first night out, Suzette says Danny Ross was murdered and pushed down the stairs. Nobody is at the bottom of the stairs, and Danny Ross is asleep in bed. Lindy isn't sure what to think..

David Beck is another strange person. He appears to have multiple personalities -- man, child, and rock star.

Then there is a dead body at the bottom of the stairs. But, Cameron Tyler insists on telling everyone (even Lindy) that he just had a concusion and was flown to a nearby hospital. Lindy knows this can't be true; she saw him -- his neck was obviously broken.

More things continue to happen. There's another murder. Lindy befriends David and they begin to try to sort out what is happening.

I highly recommend this book. The dance company characters are just that, characters and Ms. Freydont has done a great job in building each one. They work well together, too.

The cruise as the setting is terrific as well. All the players are confined to a ship. Makes it a little easier to investigate.

This book puts Lindy Haggerty in the same class with top fictional sleuths.I could't put High Seas Murder down. Thanks Freydont for a suspenseful and titilating cruise.

Shelley Freydont draws from a rich history of "road" stories to weave a mystery yarn that not only takes the reader on a luxury cruise but also allows us civilians a peek behind the show business curtain. Her intellegent sense of humor and cache of details kept me turning pages trying to figure out who was who? I look forward to learning more about the world of dance and find the organizational insight quite helpful when trying to manage day to day.

The theatrical setting and back stage drama are the things which drew me to this series. This, the second book in the Lindy Haggerty Mystery series, certainly does not disappoint. Ms Freydont's characters are three dimensional and colorfully drawn. Here she combines, classical dancers, opera singers, cabaret performers and a rock star to achieve a fascinating group of victims and suspects. The plot has many twists and turns. The cruise ship is surrounded by a school of red herring. She mixes information about the art form skillfully with murder and soap opera. I highly recommend this book to mystery and theater lovers alike.

This is a good book that takes you on a Baltic sea cruise. The mystery is pretty good; I didn't figure out the murderer till about 2/3 of the way through. A couple nitpicks, a continutity issue when on one page a character comments on soaking up the sun and 2 pages and only moments later, a second character is on the deck wrapped in a blanket with a comment about the day being so grey. Also, in my experience, girls in their 20s are highly unlikely to wear their hair in "a sleek french twist" or "a neat bun". I doubt any of the 20-somethings I know would have any idea what those styles are! So, beyond those little details, a fun read that brings back a beloved character and lets you cruise the Baltic with her.

If you're a mystery aficionado, you'll know 'who done it' pretty much from the beginning.

Yes, you get all the clues, a red herring or two, but it's so obvious who the murderer is you have to force yourself to keep reading.

Nice travel descriptions. All her books have them. Makes me want to travel more than read these mysteries.

Maybe Carolyn should switch to travel writing. She sure does it better than murders, IMO.

When old flame Jimmy Lenox contacts Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins, otherwise known as Henrie O, her heart beats faster and her mind flits back to a time when she was the reigning queen of his heart. In spite of a great affection for Jimmy, Henrie O turned down his previous proposal of marriage. Jimmy is now married to the renowned documentary filmmaker Sophia Montgomery.

Unfortunately, Jimmy's life with Sophia is not all wine and roses. Sophia is the stepmother of four adult heirs to her previous husband Frank Riordan's fortune. She must make a decision regarding the future of the trusts set up for them. At present, all are receiving an income off the money in the trusts, based on Sophia's good will toward them. If all goes well, the trusts will be dissolved and each of the Riordans will receive full control of their fortunes. However, if Sophia decides otherwise, which is a definite possibility due to the animosity between the heirs and their stepmother, then the trusts will be set aside, out of their reach, and reviewed again in 10 years.

The problem is that someone is not willing to wait patiently for the money. Sophia recently had a near miss with a boulder, and while she refuses to take it as an attempt on her life, hubby Jimmy is suspicious that this rolling stone was no accident. When a possibly poisoned glass of sherry is struck from his hand before he can deliver it to Sophia, he becomes convinced that one of the Riordans is to blame. But which one?

In addition to the heirs, there is Auntie Evelyn to be considered. This unmarried sister of Frank stepped in to raise the children when their mother died many years ago. She loves them with undying devotion, but how far will she go to see that they receive the money that is rightfully theirs?

In spite of all the intrigue and high drama surrounding her, Henrie O manages to do some sightseeing when the Clio docks in a variety of beautiful and ancient cities. Copenhagen, Gdynia, Tallinn and St. Petersburg, and the ancient and exotic sights, call to Henrie O and she answers. After all, she'd be an idiot not to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime voyage.

It's a little hard to concentrate though when the mystery and intrigue deepen with each passing day. More attempts on Sophia's life occur, and it becomes obvious that someone is determined to get their money. Will Henrie O be able to solve the mystery in time, or will lives be lost while the one with malice in his or her heart hides among the innocent? Only time will tell.

--- Reviewed by Amie Taylor

Henrie O Collins, a retired newspaper reporter, is surprised to hear from her former lover, Jimmy Lennox. Jimmy has married a wealthy woman named Sophia Montgomery who is in charge of her step-children's trust fund. Sophia will soon make an important decision about her step-children's money and Jimmy is afraid that one of them wants to kill Sophia before she has a chance to make that decision. Jimmy invites Henry O to accompany the family on a Baltic cruise and to try to find out which of the step-children is threatening Sophia's life. Although this puts Henry O in an awkward situation, she agrees to help Jimmy try to protect Sophia. Author Carolyn Hart puts out plenty of red herrings, but I did figure out who the murderer is. Despite knowing the murderer, I enjoyed the book and found the setting of a cruise and the stops at various Scandanavian ports to be very interesting.

I had a hard time accepting the premise of this book, that an "old love" would ask Henrie O to come on a cruise and evaluate his family for potential murderers. As I read through the book, the one thing on my mind was that Ms. Hart, a wonderful writer, needed an excuse to take this marvelous trip to Scandanavia and Russia, and so wrote a book around it.

I felt the guilty party was fairly obvious, and the characters became so friendly with Henrie O so rapidly that it was a farce. Why on earth answer her questions? Old friend or not, she definitely intruded on this family gathering, and I was uncomfortable. This book is merely OK, but it comes from a five-star writer.

I ordered this book on 10/3 and still have not received it. I wrote to amazon and still have not received the book. I am very unhappy with the service I am receiving in obtaining my paid for book, that I have not yet received.

This lavishly illustrated book, with an included map of the inside passage, is sold on cruise ships to supplement the sights the passengers are encountering along the way. It adds much detail about the history and culture of the splendid land from Seattle and Vancouver northward, particularly for the myriad coastal towns and harbors where cruise ships call or sail nearby. If you are looking for a dry listing of hotels, restaurants, and trinket shops, this is not the book for you. If you want to expand the sensory impact of your trip to Alaska, your money will be well spent on this companion guide.

This is an excellent resource guide for anyone planning to travel to Alaska. I am a travel professional planning trips for clients and this book is a fascinating read and gives me some unusual insights to share with my clients:)

It is easy to read - lots of photos and interesting facts about Alaska!

Gabriele:)

Wow what a book! Loved it so bought 2 copies for friends. To take the included map and read the book as you go "mile by mile" up the coast is fantastic! Since we are cruising next year, we purchased the book to see the pictures and read the info! No better compliment than to purchase other copies for other cruisers!

I bought this book because I was looking for information on the best things to do in each port, including kinds of excursions. The pictures were beautiful and there was a lot of great information on the history, but details on the excursions was very limited.

I have sailed a few times in S.F. Bay being from the Bay area and I truely related to this story and since the Snark was being built by Jack London right before the 1906 quake. It amazed me and invariably he got taken advantage of by the various builders which led to some precarious sailing manuevers since they measured wrong on one side. Which Jack London didn't find out until out at sea. I could picture all the island stops and so enjoyed the old photos that were put into the Snark truly an interesting journey. It was interesting to me hearing of the staph infections were attacking the individuals when the crew would cut themselves and then end up with these sores they knew nothing about and how they had to heal themselves with virtually no medicines on board. This book is a captain's log which he wrote in daily. If your a sailor you'll love it or even if you've been exposed as I have you'll enjoy it, especially if you happen to be from the Bay area. I recommend it as an interesting and enjoyable read though at times I did feel he was just writing to keep his checks coming in to pay for his journey.

Sebastopolian Reader

I have a lot of mixed emotions about this book. I thought his book "Call of the Wild" was one of the best ever works by an American writer. That novel was the peak of the Jack London's career.

Just so we are clear, this is not a novel. It is a collection of related short stories. London wrote everyday for a few hours each morning during a two year sea voyage. He did this to make money to pay for the boat trip. He wrote and sent off a number of different short stories during the trip to different magazines and each chapter was published separately. Then later, he took some of the stories and simply arranged them in chronological order to make the present book.

The book and the trip grew out of London's romance with yachting, and his idea that he wanted to sail around the world in a boat that he made himself. He wanted a large boat - about 50' - that he could sail himself helped by a small crew including his second wife. There is a lot of optimism here, and less practical experience than what one might consider to be wise, and London made a number of errors. London did not actually make the boat. He hired contractors. In any case, we hear how London made the boat and then sailed it across the Pacific, finally stopping near Australia. His motivation was based on dreams from his youth plus the romantic inspiration from prior writers such as Melville, Rudyard Kipling, Frank Norris, and Joseph Conrad, to name a few.

We read what we assume to be is a non-fiction account of how he built the boat, and then the trip itself in pieces along with trips to various islands.

Overall, the writing is good, but some parts are a lot more interesting than others so the book has a slightly uneven feel. I found a few of the chapeters to be boring.

Interesting read, but not as good as I had hoped: 4 stars.

Even though I consider myself a London fan (starting when I read "The Call of the Wild" and "The Cruise of the Dazzler" as a boy), I have never felt the urge to read "The Cruise of the Snark"...until now. I must admit that is one easy, enjoyable read yet there are a couple of chapters which in my opinion seem to be "filler" material, possibly created when Jack was sick and do not seem to fit the adventure billing (Beche De Mer English for example). Regardless, most of this book is very enjoyable and you get a few chuckles when Jack interjects some of his dry, sarcastic humor into the reading (when he mentioned that the Snark was actually shorter than expected and suggested that "the builder was not on speaking terms with the tape-line"). Jack's life was an adventure and this was the culmination of an adventurous soul. It's a wonderful story and a prime example of Murphy's Law.

It has been said that the best story Jack London ever conceived is the one he lived. You need look no further than THE CRUISE OF THE SNARK to confirm that. In this book, all of London's passions come together: action, experience, sailing, foreign travel, writing and reading. It is a "real adventure" tale, a travelogue and above all a well-crafted book full of London's personal voice and vibrant outlook on life. One may say it is also full of his ego, but he earns the self-satisfaction by putting action and hard work behind his beliefs and words. He is fearless. He is the first to get the irony in a situation and the first to laugh, especially at himself.

In 1908, London and six others, including his wife Charmian, sailed out of the San Francisco Bay into the open waters of the Pacific on what was to be a lengthy circumnavigation of the world. They were leaving over a year later than originally planned due to hold-ups in the construction of London's "perfect" boat, "The Snark," which ate $30,000 dollars before they left harbor. It isn't long before leaks, sea-sickness and other banana peels come their way, and it takes 27 days to make Hawaii. In due course, London learns to surf, they visit the top of a volcano, hang out at a leper colony, and then head further south to the land of Melville's "Typee" and the scary Solomon Islands. The various captains hired for the trip all seem to lack the navigation gene, so London teaches himself and gets it down to a science. London, first by necessity and then overtaken by the intoxication of success, becomes a self-taught dentist, and thus his crew's savior and worst nightmare. He and the crew suffer a nasty list of maladies, as well. It is a testimony of the man's indefatigable spirit, that even when his own health puts an end to the "round the world" scheme, that he never characterizes the voyage and anything that did not go as planned as a crushing failure or disappointment. He just heads straight to Plan B.

London's voice is wholly engaging, his profiles of crewmates and people encountered are delightful. One only wishes that some of his perceptions of other cultures were more enlightened, though they were liberal for their time. The Penguin Classics critical edition is an excellent balance of original text, a non-spoiling critical introduction, and a selection of 4 other short pieces, including accounts of the voyage by crewmate Martin Johnson and wife Charmian, and two unrelated maritime essays by London that enrich the overall experience of the book.

I've recently arrived back in the USA from Suva and Nadi in Fiji, one of Jack's stopping points.

However, what he describes about the South Pacific is no more.

London's South Pacific was affected by European trade and commerce. For one thing, disease, in an era when its prevention was primitive, was rife and the inhabitants of the islands he visited were dropping like flies. Today, of course, the very same network has brought modern medicine and the major health threat to natives in the South Pacific is obesity: the only restaurant on Victoria Parade in Suva, allowed Sunday hours, was McDonald's, while Singh's Curry Shop had to close (I recommend the latter, around the corner from McDonald's on Gordon Street: try the goat curry).

London's natives were partly pagan. Today, ordinary people in Oceania are mostly fundamentalist Christian, and, in Suva, there is also a streak of Islam, petering out far to the west of Indonesia but echoing in the afternoon call of the Muezzin in Suva.

The fundamentalism means that the yachtsman is well-advised on shore to dress modestly. Of course, London and his wife did this naturally, long ago. I actually saw an Australian man warn a woman in shorts in Suva to put knickers on lest one of the local Methodists or Moslems be offended.

But any myth of escape has been so commodified in the South Pacific by tavern owners and tourist companies as to be sour and bitter to the taste.

London, while asserting his property rights thoughtlessly at Oakland's wharf, and while assuming he had the right to hire men to work on his boat and judge their hard work in print, also assumed, in the South Pacific, his right to wander at will.

Today, as the Rough Guide to Fiji advises the tourist, 85% of the land in Fiji is owned fee simple by chiefs. Sir Arthur Gordon decided not to repeat America's dispossession of the Indians and covenanted with the lads in Fiji in such a way that today, the natives form a land-owning aristocracy.

Their fair-mindedness (as on display from Steve Rabuka who backed down from being a military dictator) means that other lads from other mobs have rough civic equality.

London was the prototype, however, of the colonialist as rugged individual whose humanity is based on the unconscious deprivation of others' humanity.

London was the prototype of the soured Yank who when a lad thought the best of people, without a dime to his name, who now has everything, and thinks the worst of people.

London with a grin repeats texts from the hundreds of letters he received from individuals who wanted to sign on to the Snark and so escape their own lives of quiet desparation in an America already unbearable for the average city-dweller. Like him they yearned for a clean-limbed life but unlike London they lacked cash.

London essentially uses their texts to pad out a book that was obviously written not from the heart but to raise cash for a silly boat.

Any yachtsman knows in his heart of hearts that if the landlubber wants his experience, he has only to stand in a cold shower tearing up 100 dollar bills. The Snark was an expensive lark and, like modern yachts, unconsciously offensive at both its sharp end (where were the natives, giving London gifts and dying like flies) and its blunt end (where were the American laborers whose work London disrespects because it was not finished on his schedule).

The South Seas are overrun, today, by people who really ought to be paying more taxes back home. I traveled out there to work at global rates and learned much more about the REAL South Seas than any tourist might, and I'm afraid that Joe Conrad, who also worked for a living, in The Heart of Darkness is more reliable on the tropics than old Jack London.

I'm afraid that London saw, what he wanted to see: the Gilded Age struggle of man against man. However, as Hannah Arendt points out in The Origins of Totalitarianism, this defines rather a culture of hatred out of which were form racialist identities. London was for the most part free of any special form of racism but he did believe that Socialism was impossible because Alpha males (like Wolf Larsen) would take what they need.

Well, they might, and they do. Nonetheless, in the South Seas and elsewhere, Beta males and women continue some how to achieve more, and of more lasting value, by working in groups. Sir Arthur Gordon is forgotten save in Suva, because unlike Cecil Rhodes he failed to mind his own press-agentry but it appears he did lasting good with his land-tenure scheme.

London never learned the limits of his world view and his darkest book, Alcoholic Memories, is a testament to London's limitations.

My favorite yachtsman remains good old Tristan Jones, a British sailor who was trained in the Royal Navy and who paid his dues. Tristan would like me arrive back, from the back of beyond, without a dime and go willingly to work while living willingly in a doss-house. Tristan dragged his own boat across the Mato Grosso and talked back to tinpot Fascists in Stroessner's Paraguay.

In my experience it is relatively easy to learn the mechanics of a sailing boat but what is hard is endurance, not only of Nature but the Other. London endured Nature but has a tendency to be impatient in print with others, as shown by his insenstive near-mockery of applicants for service on his boat. Jones, on the other hand, mocks only people who deserve it, like customs agents in Paraguay.

We lack Tristan Jones' spirit in America with the result that the Third World is overrun with the worst of us, whining yachtsmen and CIA agents and their trophy wives. London I fear was despite his genuine greatness of soul a prototype for the worse that came later.

A wonderful, detailed view of the cruise business and of great interest, I would think, to aspiring executives in the industry. For the rest of us, its another matter. Way too much detail and information that the average or even enthusiastic cruiser would not want or appreciate, and some of the text is simply not that well written.

I read the book and am now waiting for my course credit.

This is a fascinating account of the US-based Cruise business. Now in its second edition, the authors contrast their views of a decade ago with where the business is today. The strongest part of the book in my view is the discussion of the different ways the cruise lines have built - and plan to continue to build their businesses. Interestingly the clarity of the strategic thinking varies from the clear and focussed (Carnival) to some other, weaker, waffle. Reading this it becomes clear that Carnival's growth to number one has been no accident. Other parts of the book are not as strong (the history section has some schoolboy howlers) or not as interesting to this reader (how to run a Travel Agency). Nonetheless, an invaluable insight into the cruise business, and a lot better than some of the other gossip-driven 'histories' out there.

Another hit by the authors whose book provides insight into the workings and the "goings on" of the cruise industry. This book should be read by all interested in the cruise industry to include practioners, travel agents and academics.

As a previous reviewer noted, thes is very much a business text book focusing on the cruise industry, probably aimed at people working in (or preparing for working in) travel agencies. There is some interesting general information in the early chapters, but then gets dry quickly.

This book provides a facinating behind the scenes look at the cruise industry, from the ship to the home office to the travel agent. I was expecially surprised on how broad based it was, although Carnival (Bob Dickinson is president of that company) does play a prominent role. For example, a section on advertising features old Carnival ads. However, the book does include quotes from presidents of all major cruise lines, and the book freely uses examples from other major cruise lines. That said, it is a great book if you want a behind the scenes look at the industry, or work in the travel industry.