Windies and Howlers

As you've seen on TV, the tropical washing machine known as The Caribbean Sea is churning all over the place. Welcome to September, the peak month historically for that sort of thing. It's one of the main reasons why we strongly urge people to purchase travel insurance, just in case plans change at the last minute due to Mother Nature. But if you have found yourself with some vacation days to use up this month, it might be a very good time to look at an alternate destination instead of just thinking islands....they are SO vulnerable to weather. I'm actually flying to Las Vegas in mid-September. It's not too overblown with conventions at that time, the worst heat of the Summer has passed, and my favorite part is it's FOOTBALL SEASON. And it's still baseball season as well, so for you sports enthusiasts (a.k.a. gamblers), September is the creme de la creme for visiting Vegas.

Yesterday the National media got into its "yes we wear suits, but we're just paparazzi" mode. I was glad to see Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain deflect reporters' requests to dig dirt on Sarah Palin's daughter. Whether you like or respect either man's politics, you have to respect the fact they have both ruled each other's families off-limits. As it should be. My brother and I are so totally different, I'm sure neither of us would be comfortable answering for the actions of the other, so hooray for sanity. It's been in short supply recently.

One of my favorite cruise lines for many years has been Celebrity Cruises. They provide an excellent value for the money, but over the last few years they have fallen behind most of the other cruise lines in one area - building new ships. It was ok for a year or two, but that stretched into 3 years, 4, 5, 6 and suddenly their fleet was growing a gray beard by today's standards. Not that their ships aren't still fabulous, but just like a car there is a difference between a 1996 BMW and a 2009 BMW. People like new and shiny. So it's great to see them coming out with new products at the end of 2008 and into next year....plus they are booking rapidly! Word is spreading that this excellent cruise line has new and shiny too, just like the competition. If you want to experience the new Celebrity Equinox or Solstice, don't wait thinking you're going to get a better value later on. 99% of the time that is mythology when it comes to brand new ships! Right now, you can get the maximum early-booking savings on many voyages, so grab your credit card and call or email me right away.

Yesterday Gustav missed a direct hit, and oil prices took another tumble. They're getting down near double-digits for the first time in a long time. Why is it that I still feel like a marionette in the hands of these oil-trading thugs? Next week, the threat of other storms is going to ping-pong the price up again, then hopefully down, but meanwhile some Wall Street snipers are getting rich playing with the pricing, and placing bets on the levels and speed of the up-downs. When everyone is struggling, that ought to be criminalized. I know, I just sound like a cranky old motor, but it ticks me off that the fortunate few are laughing at the unfortunate masses. What goes around comes around, and I hope one of them comes around my bow when I have this thing full throttle. We'll see who's a laughing hyena then.