It is with much interest that I read the letter “Web Booking Provided No Satisfaction” (Nov. ’04, pg. 36), regarding a reader’s experience booking a cruise through Travelocity. She booked a Category Y Outside Guarantee and was surprised to find that her cabin was obstructed. She found that for $50 more she could get what she wanted from the cruise line directly.

I will be the last person to say that Internet booking is never beneficial, but, being in the business, I know that many...

During a February ’03 trip, my pocket was picked in Santiago, Chile. The last time I was a victim of street crime was in 1966 when a band of street urchins stole my wristwatch in Saigon.

I’m an experienced traveler and have made many visits to big, dangerous, third-world cities, like New York and Los Angeles, so I was not only angry at the thief, I was angry at myself for becoming so complacent that I let down my guard.

We were starting down the steps into a subway when I felt...

After spending three months trying to put together a 3-week trip to Turkey, I was ready to throw in the towel. It seemed there was a choice of either packaged tours or backpacking but little in between. I knew I wanted a car and driver (but did not want to pay the small fortune I was being quoted — it would be cheaper to take my own car at those rates) and knew most of the places I wanted to see, but I was having severe difficulty putting it all together.

Then I found Credo Tours,...