Ladewig.com

We’ve booked another cruise! What better way to follow our Alaskan vacation than with a Panama Canal Adventure? In exactly 180 days, we will be leaving San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Regal Princess bound for Acapulco. Cruise details= are available online at Princess’ web site.

We hadn’t planned on taking a cruise this early, but we found some pretty attractive pricing from Princess (how alliterative!) and we cashed in 30k miles with American to get the airfare for free. Using frequent flyer miles was the deciding factor since airfare would have cost us $1000 each otherwise.

We’re looking forward to combining a taste of the Carribbean with the Mexican Riviera and a Panama Canal to top things off. All of the ports on this trip are new to us, including Aruba, Puntarenas, and Acapulco to name a few. The only compromise we made is the ship. Regal is the oldest in the fleet and one of the smaller ships (though not the smallest), so she is missing some amenities. For example, she only has one dining room, so there is no Personal Choice dining option, only traditional seating. But the price for the cruise is significantly lower than it will be next season when Island Princess is used for this itinerary., Plus this is Regal’s last season with Princess, so this will be our last opportunity to sail on her. Should be interesting.

OK, explain this to me. According to Business Week, passengers who make a purchase at a duty free shop for a prohibited item, such as alcohol, will receive their purchase while on the plane. But if you buy a beverage in the terminal you can’t take it on the plane? If the duty free shop can be trusted to provide unaltered and safe products, why aren’t the other vendors in the terminal trusted as well? I guess the difference is the duty free products are in their custody until we are on the plane whereas the beverage we buy is in our custody. Are they afraid I’m going to somehow substitute an explosive for the beverage? Where would I get the explosive? If they are doing their job, then TSA should be able to keep those substances out of the terminal. Which implies they don’ trust themselves to keep the terminal secure. Isn’t it a bit disconcerting that TSA trusts the duty free stores more than they do their own people?

I just read another article where a TSA spokesperson said that the goods for duty free shops came from a “sterile area” so it was OK (assuming the flight doesn’t go to the UK, then no dice). What if the duty free shops sold toothpaste, deodorant, bottled water, etc.?