Disney Fantasy Cruise Ship Becoming Reality: A First Look

This week is National Cruise Vacation Week, a time for special offers and big discounts in the cruise industry. This year, it's especially fitting that Make A Difference Day (the fourth Saturday in October) closes out Cruise Week, because, as of late, increased social awareness has sparked a number of opportunities for cruisers to contribute to the communities they visit—and the volunteer options are still wide open for the last few months of 2011. Last January, Crystal Cruises began offering complimentary Crystal Cruises Voluntourism Adventure excursions as part of their "You Care, We Care" program. Projects still available in 2011 include grooming and feeding donkeys in the Donkey Sanctuary at the Antigua & Barbuda Humane Society, picking fruit for Israel's largest food bank to help feed the hungry, and assisting with daily care of turtles at the Turtle Rescue Center in Greece. Availability is extremely limited, so advance booking is highly recommended. Holland America has a similar program called Cruise With Purpose, which promotes environmental responsibility through tours and excursions. For visitors hoping to get their hands dirty (literally), the trip through Brisbane's Koala Sanctuary gives volunteers the chance to plant gum trees and to hand-feed kangaroos. Prices and availability vary, although their site indicates that several Holland ships through the end of the year will dock at Cruise With Purpose sites. Their Mexico excursion, departing from Acapulco, is from $50 for a four-hour tour that includes snacks, a drink, and the release of a baby turtle back into the ocean. A start-up called Hope Floats will make volunteer excursion arrangements for any visitor from any cruise line docking in Tortola, Antigua, St. Thomas, Barbados and St. Lucia. Activities range from cooking to beach clean-up, collaborating with 13 different charities including the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, and the Salvation Army. The administrative fee for many of their excursions is only $25 per group (up to six people), plus transportation. Founder Cathleen Huckaby has said that their website will be revamped before the end of the month, but online booking is still available. For more experienced cruise vacationers, there are plenty of resources to help volunteers design their own excursions. Together For Good has a list of organizations in popular cruise destinations all over the Caribbean—but recommend that visitors contact their chosen organization well in advance when planning their trip. —Chabli Bravo Have inside information on other voluncruising options? Tell us about it below. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL National Cruise Vacation Week Brings Fare Deals News for Solo Cruisers Your Money-Saving Cruise Questions—Answered!

Anyone who says it's about the journey, not just the destination, has never stood at an airport gate and learned that their flight is canceled. Last month, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report about whether airlines are canceling more flights now than before. The answer: Yes. Federal number crunchers looked at airline cancellation records for the heavy travel months of May through September of 2010 and compared them with the records for May through September 2009. The GAO findings: Cancellations have been becoming more frequent. Last summer, flights parked at the gate were 24 percent more likely to be canceled than during the previous summer. Even worse, flights stuck on the tarmac for about one hour were 31 percent more likely to be canceled. Airlines usually blame the weather because bad weather is a "get out of jail free" card for the airlines: government regulation allows them to do pretty much whatever they want with a passenger if the weather goes bad—or the airline claims that the weather goes bad. That said, only one out of every 100 flights gets canceled, on average, according to the Department of Transportation. Yet if you're in that one percent, you're out of luck, because most flights are fully booked these days: It can take a long time for an airline to find an open seat for you on another flight and rebook you. So, how do you avoid getting stuck on a flight that will get canceled? Some guidelines: •When shopping for flights, compare the on-time arrival statistics for the flights you're considering. If your online travel agency or airline website doesn't reveal that information, you can look it up flight by flight at FlightStats. Say you're planning to take American (AA) flight 1012 from Miami to Washington, D.C.,'s Reagan National Airport and want to see how often it is delayed. Punch in the airline and flight number, and voilà—flight 1012 was delayed last year an average of half the time and canceled 3 percent of the time (much higher than the industry average of 1 percent). Be willing to pay a little more for a flight with a better track record. Think of it as an insurance premium for a stress-free trip. • Opt for the nonstop flight, even if it costs more—because nonstops are less likely to be canceled Some past research by the academic Jing Xiong has shown that airlines are less likely to cancel longer distance flights. • The best time to fly domestically is nine in the morning. Because morning flights are less likely to be delayed or canceled than later ones, because you miss rush hour, and because you don't have to wake up before your dog needs walking. • Avoid flights at "feeder" airports. In Budget Travel's experience, major US airlines tend to cancel flights from smaller airports, such as Albany, NY, that head into major hubs, such as Newark, when they have had a backlog of flights at the major hub. • The best time to fly internationally is several hours before your departure airport closes for the night. Flying to Europe? Try and catch a flight leaving the US at 6 in the evening instead of at 10 in the evening. Because late night flights are more likely to be delayed than earlier ones. The reason: Some airports stop flying after a certain hour to lower the noise volume for local residents. • Be on a full flight with lots of business-class passengers instead of a half-empty flight with mostly economy-class passengers. True, this tip isn't all that helpful if you don't know much information about the route you're flying. Here's why this information matters: A doctoral student at the University of California at Berkeley, Jing Xiong, studied 8,269 delayed domestic flights and found that half-empty flights are much more likely to be canceled during foul weather than full flights. Your flight is even more likely to be canceled during a storm if you have fewer business class passengers on board than other planes at the gate do. If poor weather forces an airline to choose between flying two different planes, it will typically choose the one with bigger spending passengers. • Avoid hubs at "rush hour," whenever possible. Skip the peak travel times at America's largest airports—Atlanta Hartsfield, Chicago O'Hare, Boston Logan, Dallas-Fort Worth, and all three New York City airports. At La Guardia, for instance, airlines were recently scheduling dozens more flight operations in each 15-minute period during peak periods than federal authorities would allow air traffic control to handle. Despite following all the above strategies, your flight may still be canceled. (As the saying goes, "If I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all.") What do you do then? • Travelers with only carry-on bags will be rebooked more quickly. Don't check a bag if you want to be able to switch flights at the last minute. Because trying to get your bag off one plane and onto another is a hassle for the airline. • Be ready to call your airline. Savvy travelers know to program into their cell phone the toll-free number for their airline before their trip. (Traveling overseas? Know that you may not be able to dial a US-based toll free number, such as a 800 or 888 number, from a cell phone overseas and will need to know the special number the airline has for international callers.) Then, when you find out your flight is canceled jump into line for rebooking but also whip out your cell phone and call customer service for quick alternatives on other airlines. If all goes to well, you'll reach someone on the phone who isn't facing an angry mob and can rebook you before anyone else. • Insist on same-day standby. If your flight is cancelled, and you're told you can be booked on the same flight the next day, ask to be put on the standby list—even if you're told they're full for the rest of the flights that day. • Flying in Europe? Be sure to collect your full benefits if your flight is canceled from meals to phone calls to lodging. Last week, the European Union fattened the amount of compensation that airline passengers are entitled to as compensation for canceled flights to include taxi rides and housing their pets in kennels. • Stay polite. Outrage will get you nowhere when it comes to coping with cancellations. Have any thoughts on canceled flights and lessons learned the hard way? Share them in the comments. If we learn tips from each other, we will someday truly be able to say with a smile, "it's about the journey, not just the destination." SEE MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: World's Weirdest Hotels World's Weirdest Hotels, Part Deux World's Weirdest Hotels 3.0

Shoulder season, n. 1. A brief period when weather conditions and travel costs fall between the highs of high season and the lows of low season. 2. In other words: nice weather, fewer crowds, great prices. 3. Start packing. There is no off-season in the cruise world, at least there's not supposed to be. That's why twice a year, in early spring and late fall, cruise lines move their fleets—from Alaska to the Caribbean, say, or from the Mediterranean to the Middle East—to ensure that it's always sunny (or at least warm) on deck. Ten years ago, these "deadhead" sailings rushed from one high-season destination to another, often without passengers. Now slowed down and known as repositioning cruises, they have become a leisurely genre for folks in search of unusual itineraries. You'll spend fewer days in port than on a traditional cruise—speed is still paramount, after all—but the trips are hardly bare bones. Lines often add special guest lectures and performers to keep passengers from going stir-crazy—Carol Channing sang on a Royal Caribbean repositioning cruise in 2009. And the reduced rates will give you a warm feeling, even if it is a tad chilly outside. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: Your Top 5 Money-Saving Cruise Questions—Answered! Introducing the New "All You Can Drink" Cruise Confessions of...A Cruise Ship Musician

This month you're probably thinking foliage and Halloween, not cruises. But the cruise lines are hoping to change that, declaring this month National Cruise Vacation Month. Yes, that's a marketing effort, so why do we care? Because during National Cruise Vacation Week, Oct. 17 to 23, a whole bunch of fare deals will be offered through travel agents in what's being billed as "The World's Largest Cruise Sale." If this sounds familiar, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the industry's main marketing group, used to promote with a 24-hour sale. Last year the agents sold $47 million in cruises during the month-long promotion, according to Bob Sharak, executive vice president of CLIA. This year the sale may be tougher with cruise passengers, like other travelers, tightening their belts due to economic uncertainty. But there will be temptations during the sale week including discounted fares, two-for-one deals, onboard spending credits (that you can use for things like drinks), spa credits (that you can use for a massage) and more. The offers apply to both ocean and river cruises in 2012, and in some cases beyond. So what kind of savings are we talking about? As a sampling, those booking a Celebrity cruise will receive a $50 to $150 onboard credit, the offering applying to nearly every sailing between Jan. 1, 2012 and Apr. 30, 2013. Italian line Costa is promoting fares from $749 for select 10-day sailings and from $399 for weeklong cruises. And Avalon Waterways is discounting select European river cruises by up to $1,000 per person on some dates. More than 4,900 agencies have signed on to do physical events during the sale week such as cruise nights — your agent invites you to a party to hear about cruises — and virtual events online, according to CLIA. A special CLIA web page has been set up to help those who don't have an agent find one. More from Budget Travel: News for Solo Cruisers Is Cruising All-Inclusive? Would You Prefer an Unlimited Drinks Package on a Cruise?