The Cruise Report With Cruise Specialists Cruise Reporter Ralph Grizzle

One of the great advantages of cruise ships is that experts frequently travel with you to help explain what you are seeing and visiting. When cruising in culturally significant places like Europe or in natural wonderlands like Alaska, the cruise lines will schedule sessions with experts who can add meaning and understanding to the visit.

Trista & Ryan Sutter of the reality series The Bachelorette christened Ruby Princess in Fort Lauderdale on November 6 as Carnival Corporation Chairman and CEO Micky Arison looked on.

Third in a series of superships that have tweaked the innovations of Princess’ Grand class, Ruby Princess will be familiar to those who have already enjoyed the Crown Princess or the Emerald Princess. Even so, this sparkling Ruby offers several new enhancements that many passengers will undoubtedly appreciate.

When he was but a nine-year-old boy, my son Alex reached into the Windex-blue waters on a sandy Bahamian beach and quickly withdrew his hand to proclaim, “Dad, I touched a stingray.” He furrowed his tender brow and added thoughtfully, “They’re nice.”

In doing so, he had ascribed a sweet, if somewhat inaccurate, characteristic to the stingray. Yes, the stingray was nice indeed, particularly with its barb blunted for safety. None of tragedy that befell animal lover Steve Irwin here. Off the coast of Australia, a ray’s barb had pierced his heart and stunned the world.

Alex, my daughter and I were in a friendlier place, a paradise really, free of danger and removed from the real world, an idyllic island created for us by a cruise line.