Trip tips

By Associated Press | Saturday, April 12, 2008 10:08 PM PDT ∞

Cruise operator plans refund on fuel surcharge

MIAMI (AP) ---- Carnival Corp., the world's largest cruise operator, plans to give $40 million in refunds to customers nationwide who were assessed a fuel surcharge after they booked their trips.

It's the second cruise company to reach an agreement with the Florida Attorney General's Office, which received more than 300 complaints about fees added by several cruise operators last fall.

Customers said the charge was tacked on after they made their reservations.

The Carnival settlement, announced March 31, affects more than 1.1 million bookings, but the precise number of people affected was not available.

Carnival is the parent company of Carnival Cruise Lines, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and The Yachts of Seabourn.

Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., another industry leader, announced in November they would start billing passengers to offset rising fuel prices ---- $5 per person, per day ---- for voyages beginning Feb. 1.

After the attorney general launched its investigation, Royal Caribbean announced in early March it would refund eligible customers about $21 million.

Carnival said it will contact customers who booked trips before the fuel surcharge was announced on Nov. 7. People who traveled on or before April 4 will receive a refund in whatever payment form they used for the booking. Those on trips departing April 5 to June 23 are to receive an on-board credit. For trips after that, customers' bookings will be adjusted to remove the surcharge.

In March, Carnival reported a 17 percent drop in first-quarter profits because of rising fuel costs, a drag on operations that also led the company to lower full-year profit guidance. Carnival said the settlement will not affect these numbers because the company did not recognize the fuel supplement revenue while the attorney general's office was conducting its review.

Both cruise lines also agreed to clearly disclose the charges in the future in advertisements and while reservations are being made.

Newseum opening in Washington

WASHINGTON (AP) ---- A museum devoted to the history and practice of journalism opened Friday in Washington.

The Newseum, located at 555 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, is designed to be both fun and educational, with a goal of teaching visitors about the free press and the First Amendment.

One gallery features every photograph that ever won a Pulitzer Prize. Interactive kiosks let visitors try various journalism roles ---- photographer, editor, reporter or anchor. A theater shows what the museum calls a "4-D" film ---- a 3-D movie with seats that move and air gusts ---- that covers news events over more than 150 years. A memorial gallery is dedicated to journalists who died covering the news.

Facilities include a restaurant by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, a conference center and two broadcast studios, one of which is a new home for ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos."

While Washington has many free attractions, the Newseum is the latest museum to open with a hefty admission fee ---- $20 for adults, $13 for children 7 to 12, $18 for those 65 and older. The International Spy Museum charges $18 and the Washington location of Madame Tussaud's wax museum charges $21.

The Newseum cost $450 million to build, much of which was donated by private media companies, including Knight Ridder, The New York Times, and News Corp., which owns The Wall Street Journal, Fox News Channel and the New York Post.

The previous incarnation of the Newseum, which was in Arlington, Va., and closed in 2002, was free. Officials at its parent organization, the Freedom Forum, decided to build a larger center closer to the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall.

Visit www.newseum.org.

Pet travel awards honor NYC, Continental, Austin hotel, Arizona resort, Louisiana shelter

NEW YORK (AP) ---- A magazine for animal-lovers is honoring New York, Continental Airlines, a hotel in Austin, Texas, and a resort in Arizona with pet travel awards.

The Big Apple was selected as the pet-friendliest destination of 2008 by Animal Fair, a lifestyle magazine for pet owners. It's one of the seven winners of this year's Cesar Five Dog Bone Awards, voted on by readers.

In the city, visitors and their pets can enjoy "pampering at the many hound-hospitable hotels" and "dining at canine-cuisine restaurants," the magazine says.

The other six winners this year were:

-- Airline: Continental Airlines, whose PetSafe program allows animals too large for the passenger cabin to travel as cargo instead of baggage, ensuring their comfort and safety, the magazine says.

-- Automobile: Volvo, for its large interiors, great for carrying puppy gear.

-- Hotel: The Driskill Hotel, in Austin, Texas, which offers comfy pet beds, gourmet pet treats and chew toys. "There's going to be a huge stampede of vacationing pets and their owners visiting The Driskill," the magazine says.

-- Product: Sherpa pet carriers, considered stylish and functional.

-- Resort: Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, in Scottsdale, Ariz.

-- Animal shelter: Humane Society of Louisiana.

The annual Dog Bone Awards recognize the roles that pets play in people's lives and the establishments that cater to them. Winners are selected based upon their excellence in pet-friendly travel and product services.

Season starts for Chicago architecture cruise

CHICAGO (AP) ---- Tickets are on sale for Chicago's architecture cruise, which starts running again for the season beginning May 3.

The 90-minute tour, organized by the nonprofit Chicago Architecture Foundation, highlights 53 historic and architecturally significant sites including the Trump Tower, Merchandise Mart, 333 W. Wacker, the Wrigley Building, the Tribune Tower, the Sears Tower, River City, Marina City and the site of the Spire.

The cruise also includes significant buildings, sites and developments along the North Branch of the Chicago River such as The Montgomery, formerly the world headquarters for Montgomery Ward; the Chicago Tribune printing press plant; Goose Island; Kinzie Park development; Riverbend and the clustered glass River Cottages.

The cruises take place on Chicago's First Lady Cruises 1920s-style yachts. They depart from the lower level and southeast corner of the Michigan Avenue Bridge at Wacker Drive, just north of Millennium Park. (Look for a blue awning.)

The season runs through Nov. 23. Tickets are available at (312) 902-1500 or www.ticketmaster.com/rivercruise. The print-at-home option allows quicker check-in for passengers at the dock. Tickets are $28 a person weekdays and $30 weekends and holidays. They can also be bought at the dock or at the Chicago Architecture Foundation shop at 224 S. Michigan Ave.

The Chicago Architecture Foundation has offered the cruise since 1983. The guides are all volunteers, and what they say on the tours changes with new developments and construction around the city. "They do not have a script," added spokeswoman Susan Ross. "They are so well-educated, they are extemporaneous."

Saints in the city of angels

LOS ANGELES (AP) ---- A museum exhibit in the city of angels is looking at the legends of saints.

"All the Saints of the City of the Angels," at the Autry National Center through Sept. 7, looks at L.A. streets named for various saints and how life on those streets relates to the saints' legends.

The artist, J. Michael Walker, researched the topic for eight years and created 50 paintings of saints, incorporating stylistic aspects of Spanish religious art but using as models contemporary city-dwellers ---- workers, indigents and other ordinary people.

The exhibit looks at sacred space, neighborhood life, local history and religious traditions, with text panels in Spanish and English, video clips and an altar where visitors can reflect. The show also features 18th- and 19th-century devotional objects from the Autry collection, including artifacts from the Museum of the American West and the Southwest Museum of the American Indian.

According to Walker, a few of the streets featured in the exhibit date to the Spanish-Mexican era, like San Pedro Street in Little Tokyo, which was originally the road to San Pedro Bay; San Fernando Road, which starts in Lincoln Heights and runs northwest to the San Fernando Mission; and Santa Monica Boulevard, which starts in Silver Lake and goes to the ocean in Santa Monica.

But, Walker says, most saint-named streets in Los Angeles were actually named by Anglo Easterners in the late 19th century, such as San Julian Street in downtown L.A., San Ysidro Drive in Bel-Air and Santa Ana Boulevard in Watts.

The Autry National Center is at 4700 Western Heritage Way. Visit www.autrynationalcenter.org.

New Sydney-Los Angeles route aboard Virgin

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) ---- Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd., Australia's second-largest airline, has announced a new budget service between Sydney and Los Angeles.

The new flights, under the title of V Australia, would begin in mid-December and be up to 16 percent cheaper than existing services, the company said.

British mogul Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Group, said the new services were a logical extension of the company's existing air operations.

"With Virgin Blue flying within Australia and to New Zealand and the South Pacific and Virgin Atlantic between Australia, Hong Kong and London, V Australia flights to the United States are the obvious last piece of the puzzle," Branson told reporters in Sydney at the launch.

The announcement comes eight years after the launch of the budget carrier and weeks after the Australia and U.S. governments signed an open skies agreement, allowing Australian or U.S.-owned airlines to fly freely between the two countries.

The Brisbane-based airline will offer return economy fares from $1,740, a 16 percent discount to the current lowest available published fare on the route, Virgin Blue said.