Viking in St. Paul
The new cruise ship Viking Mississippi docked at Lambert's Landing in St. Paul on Sept. 3 to pick up passengers for its maiden Mississippi River tour from St. Paul to St. Louis. The 386-passenger ship will return to St. Paul on Sept. 17 to embark on its inaugural 15-day cruise to New Orleans. Tourism officials say it's been years since a cruise ship last stopped in St. Paul. The 450-foot Viking Mississippi was also the first major cruise ship to be built in the United States in about two decades. Tickets for the 15-day cruise are going for $13,000 or more, while the St. Paul-to-St. Louis leg starts at $4,500, with limited availability for 2023 and 2024.
Katie Galioto
1 in 22 million
How safe is air travel? Last year, when large commercial jets took off 21.6 million times throughout the world, there was just one fatal accident. Boeing's annual compilation of data about air accidents involving large Western-built jetliners shows a decadeslong trend toward safer air travel. In 1959, there were 40 fatal accidents per million flights. The rate fell rapidly and a decade ago was down to less than one fatal accident per million flights. Last year, it was less than 0.05 per million. The only fatal airliner crash in 2021 was the crash of a Boeing 737-500 operated by Sriwijaya Air in Indonesia, in which 62 people died. Among North American airlines, the fatal accident rate was zero.
Seattle Times
Reserve the Starcruiser
Disney World is extending reservations for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser into the fall of 2023. Almost every date for the first nine months of next year will be available for the two-night experience, although cabins are already available for many days through the remainder of 2022. Galactic Starcruiser, which opened in March, is an immersive experience set in the "Star Wars" universe aboard a luxury spaceship. Participants interact (and plot) with characters during their stays, which includes grown-up lightsaber training and an afternoon adventure at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disney's Hollywood Studios park. Disney lists the going rate for standard cabins as $4,809 for two guests for two nights (starwarsgalacticstarcruiser.com).
Orlando Sentinel
Carnival curfew
Carnival Cruise Line has begun a fleetwide 1 a.m. curfew for unaccompanied children ages 17 and under. According to CruiseHive, the curfew was enacted due to events during the summer, when several physical altercations involving minors have been reported on Carnival's ships. Reported incidents of breaking curfew are subject to investigation and may end in a warning or, depending on the severity, disembarkation at the next port and even banishment from the line. Parents or guardians will also be subject to these rules.
TravelPulse
