Four Oceania Ships Are Getting Gorgeous Cabin Updates And More

Oceania is planning big things for its fleet in the coming years, and it all starts with four of its ships, which will be undergoing major renovations over the next few years. Oceania is dedicating $100 million to brightening up its four oldest cruise ships with fresh new looks and some modern conveniences.

This exciting news comes from Cruise Critic, who laid out a number of plans in store at Oceania, which are all part of a multiyear project called OceaniaNEXT. The fittingly titled project will begin with major refurbishments to Regatta Class ships Insignia, Sirena, Regatta and Nautical. According to Cruise Critic, they’re starting with Insignia, which will undergo its updates this year with an eye to be complete by December 7, 2018. Sirena will be next, wrapping up its makeover in May 2019, after which Regatta will be updated (September 2019) and finally Nautica (June 2020).

The new look can be glimpsed in the video Cruise Critic shared (above), which talks about some of the updates the luxury cruise line is set to make and shows off a few stunning glimpses at the updates they have in store for their cabins and public spaces.

Oceania cabin updates — Image Credit: Cruise Critic Video

It looks like they’ll be brightening up their cabins and common areas to give the ships a more modern feel. The cabins will lose their dark-wood and brown hued look in exchange for a sea and sky-inspired theme, aiming for a lighter, more modern style. Updated technology will also be incorporated into the staterooms, including USB ports and an interactive TV system which will offer movies on demand and weather forecasts. Updates are also in store for the cabin bathrooms, including a bit more room to spread out inside Suite-level bathrooms.

Oceania Cabin — Image Credit: Cruise Critic Video

The fact that Insignia is the first ship set to get its big makeover should be exciting for those who are boarding the ship in January of 2019 for its 172-day World Cruise, which sets sail out of New York. Getting to stay in a recently updated cabin and relax or mingle in refurbished lounges and dining areas is exciting for any cruise, but it’s likely to be an even bigger deal for those planning to spend more than 170 days aboard a cruise ship as it travels across the globe visiting dozens of ports along the way.

Oceania renovated common llunge — Image Credit: Cruise Critic Video

From what Cruise Critic reports. These renovations are just the first phase in a series of updates included in Oceania’s OceaniaNext project. Down the line, they’re planning updates for their dining program and an eventual focus on destination, so we’ll hopefully be hearing more updates from Oceania as they move ahead with this project.

Tourist Killed Trying To Photograph Hippo In Kenya

Hippos may look adorable — like overgrown pigs with sarcastic little eyes — but they can be incredibly aggressive. This past weekend, two Taiwanese tourists in Kenya learned the hard way how deadly these enormous vegetarians can be.

Chang Ming Chuang, 66, and his colleague Wu Peng Te, 62, were attempting to photograph a hippo at a wildlife resort on Lake Naivasha at the time they were attacked. A popular destination for wildlife enthusiasts, the lake and surrounding game reserve are about 56 miles northwest of the capital, Nairobi.

Chang and Wu encountered the hippo near the Sopa Resort, where such sightings are familiar. The resort’s website actually advertises the hippos’ presence, noting guests will see them “when they leave the lake every night to come and trim the grass on our expansive lawns.”

However, according to witnesses, Chang and Wu got too close to the creature, which responded by biting Chang in the chest.

Hippos can weigh anywhere from one to four tons, with jaws strong enough to snap canoes in half. Despite being herbivores, they are responsible for as many as 500 human deaths in Africa every year.

Chang initially survived the attack, and was rushed to hospital with severe bleeding. He later succumbed to his injuries. Wu was fortunate to escape with only minor bruises, as relayed by the official Tweet on the incident from the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Kenya Wildlife Services’ Tweet about the incident.

The KWS erroneously identified the men as Chinese, possibly because the Kenyan government maintains no formal ties with Taiwan, instead recognizing Chinese sovereign claims over the island. Taiwan’s foreign ministry subsequently confirmed that the men were in fact Taiwanese nationals.

According to David Kilo, chairman of the Lake Naivasha Boat Owners Association, rising water levels have forced hippos to come further inland in search of places to graze. The result has been an increase in encounters between hippos and humans, which are often acrimonious.

Six people have already been killed by hippos in the region this year.

Update: KWS was tracking the hippo who attacked the tourists. On Monday afternoon, it was reported that KWS staff had shot the hippo dead in a local wildlife park.

Thinking about heading out on safari? Read How To Choose The Best Safari.

10 Reasons To Visit Fairbanks, Alaska In Summer

The city of Fairbanks in the interior of Alaska is, somewhat surprisingly, a year-round tourist destination. The captivating aurora borealis, the sport of dog mushing, and other winter activities such as snowmobiling, snowshoeing, ice fishing, and skiing bring visitors in the dark days of winter, but summer offers a different set of attractions.

Here are 10 reasons to visit Fairbanks in the summer.

1. Endless Daylight

Long hours of sunlight illuminate Fairbanks in the summer. The Midnight Sun Season runs from April 22 to August 20, with the period from mid-May through mid-July seeing daylight 24 hours a day. Although the sun does set, the relatively short period between sunset and sunrise is filled with civil twilight, a time when the sun below the horizon provides enough natural light for outdoor activities without artificial light.

Visitors can take an evening hike, enjoy a late-night golf game, or sit on the patio until the wee hours. If you’re worried about being able to get a good night’s sleep with all that light, hotels here do have blackout curtains.

2. Riverboat Discovery

A three-hour narrated cruise on the Chena River takes you back in time to the days when sternwheelers were the major mode of transportation in the interior of Alaska. The Riverboat Discovery is owned and operated by the Binkley family whose Alaska steamboating tradition goes back 100 years. Charles M. Binkley started building and operating boats in the area in 1898. In the 1950s, when railroads and airplanes took over most of the freight business, the family began a river excursion concern instead. The captain piloting your cruise is likely to be one of Charles’ grandchildren.

Riverboat Discovery on the river in Fairbanks, Alaska — Explore Fairbanks / Riverboat Discovery

The cruise takes you to a recreated Athabascan Indian village. There you’ll learn about Athabascan life in nomadic days prior to European settlement, the native method of catching and drying salmon, the ways animal furs were used, and the general tenor of village life. You’ll also learn about two other important transportation methods as you watch a bush pilot maneuver a float plane and pause at Trailbreaker Kennels, home of the family of the late Susan Butcher, four-time Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race champion.

Before the age of snowmobiles, called “snow machines” in Alaska, dog sleds were widely used for local transportation in winter. Since the 1970s, the annual Iditarod race from Anchorage to Nome commemorates the role sled dogs played in the settlement of Alaska. Although you won’t see dogs pulling sleds in the warmth of summer, you will see the dogs themselves and learn about their care and preparation for races. Cruises run from early May through mid-September.

3. Pan for Gold

Gold and oil played significant roles in the history of Fairbanks. You’ll find both at Gold Dredge 8. Your tour starts under the shadow of an aboveground portion of the Alaskan pipeline, where your guide will tell you about this engineering accomplishment and its importance to the Alaskan economy. Built in the 1970s to withstand earthquakes and permafrost, the pipeline runs both below and above ground. From there, a short ride on a narrow-gauge railway takes you to the dredge camp. Now a National Historic Site, Gold Dredge 8 operated between 1928 and 1959. After learning how the mining machine extracted gold from sand, gravel, and dirt, you’ll have a chance to pan for gold yourself. Tours run from early May through mid-September.

Tourists panning for gold in a water basin, Fairbanks Alaska — Explore Fairbanks / Sherman Hogue

4. World Eskimo-Indian Games

Every July, Fairbanks is host to the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics (WEIO). The approximately twenty athletic competitions in this four-day event are based on traditional games played whenever there was a gathering of families or villages.

The games display skills necessary for survival. For example, the ear pull in which contestants carry weights from a rope around their ears, is based on enduring frostbite. The blanket toss has its roots in a hunting ritual where strong people would hold a walrus or seal hide and toss someone with good eyesight into the air so they could spot game in the distance. Starting from a push-up position, knuckle hop contestants hop forward supporting themselves only on the knuckles of their tightly clenched fist and their toes. The hop was used to sneak up on sleeping seals.

You will also find traditional dancing at the event as well as native crafts for sale.

Girl jumping on hide, the blanket toss, Eskimo-Indian Games, Fairbanks Alaska — Explore Fairbanks / Sherman Hogue

5. Pioneer Park

Gold Rush Town in Pioneer Park contains historic buildings moved from their original locations to the park. Buildings include many log cabins, a church, hotel, a railway depot and a theater. Placards on the buildings identify their origins. Inside, discover dining concessions, shops, and museums. Concessions and museums are open Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day.

At another end of the park, you’ll find the Alaska Salmon Bake, a nightly outdoor dining experience featuring all-you-can-eat wood-grilled salmon, beer-battered cod, and slow-roasted prime rib.

After dinner, take in the Golden Heart Revue at the Palace Theatre. The musical-comedy performance provides a humorous look at the history of Fairbanks and modern-day life in the north. The Salmon Bake and Golden Heart Revue run from mid-May to mid-September.

6. Museum of the North

The unusual lines and striking white curves of the Museum of the North building on the grounds of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks campus evoke images of glaciers, alpine ridges and aurora borealis. Inside this year-round attraction, well-designed exhibits tell the stories of Alaska’s people, geography, and wildlife. On the upper level, visit The Place Where You Go To Listen, an ever-changing sound and light environment based on the vibrations connected to the natural world, and the Rose Berry Alaska Art Gallery.

Visit the Museum of the North as part of the Best of Fairbanks: Half-Day Highlights Tour here.

7. Vintage Autos

Another not-to-be-missed year-round attraction is Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum. More than 85 antique autos, some dating to the 1800s, are displayed alongside vintage costumes that harken back to the period. Stories about the cars include both engineering accomplishments and bits of social history. All but two of the vehicles are in running condition and are driven regularly to keep them that way.

8. Georgeson Botanical Garden

The Georgeson Botanical Garden is a research and education center focused on high-latitude horticulture. The Display Garden highlights varieties that have performed well in past experimental plant trials. Here you’ll find peonies, delphinium, dahlias, lilacs, daylilies, and more. There is a native wetland garden, an edibles garden, a shade garden, a rose garden, and a garden with plants used to create natural dyes.

Fairbanks has a short growing season, but it is intense given the long hours of sunlight. Outside of the Botanical Garden, you’ll see the results of this intense season in the large blooms decorating patios and streets and taste it in the fresh produce you’ll consume.

Georgeson is open to the public from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day.

9. Chena Hot Springs

A 60-mile drive northeast of Fairbanks takes you to Chena Hot Springs Resort. Hot springs were discovered in this area in the early 1900s. The waters have drawn favorable comparison to similar to Bohemian mineral waters in the Czech Republic. Today, in addition to the rock-rimmed outdoor hot springs lake, the resort offers a variety of activities that include ATV and horseback tours, bike rentals, hiking and tours of the resort’s geothermal plant and of its greenhouses.

Tours of the Chena Dog Sled Kennel are also available. The resort is home to the Aurora Ice Museum, a year-round ice environment. Inside, there are ice sculptures, an ice bar, a circular staircase of ice, and even four bedrooms. You can sit on a caribou fur covered ice stool and drink an Appletini from a ice-carved martini glass.

Guests soaking in Chena Hot springs, Alaska — Explore Fairbanks / Chena Hot Springs Resort

10. Dinner on the Patio

Fairbanks has an excellent selection of restaurants serving everything from burgers, steaks, pizza, Mexican or Thai food, to reindeer sausage, and Alaskan salmon, crab, cod, and halibut. With all those hours of daylight, what could be better than lingering over dinner on a patio overlooking the river? Sit on the deck of The Pump House, built to recreate an 1890s Gold Rush atmosphere, and watch sea planes land and boats cruise by. The outdoor patio at Pike’s Landing is open from spring until moose-hunting season. As you enjoy your dinner in the fresh air, you may see other diners arrive and leave by canoe or motorboat.

Whether you fly directly into Fairbanks or arrive via the Alaska Highway, whether Fairbanks is your prime destination or part of a land package before or after your Alaska cruise, you’ll want to allow ample time in the city to explore and enjoy summer in the far north.

Photo Credit: Beth Ruggiero-York / Shutterstock

6 Of America’s Weirdest Hotels

Mirrors on the ceiling, the pink champagne on ice.

And she said: ‘We are all just prisoners here of our own device.’

— The Eagles, Hotel California

If you want to stay at a Holiday Inn or a Best Western, you can always do that. Soft sheets at night, hard bagels in the morning. Ice machines and room service carts and pay-per-view. Nothing oddball, nothing intriguing. A place for everything, and everything in its place.

Or…

You could choose the path less traveled by, and lay your head down in some of America’s weirdest hotels. Some are unorthodox, some are historical, some are downright charming. But all share an eccentricity you won’t find at the monochromatic super-chains. Depending on how you like to sleep, that may or may not be a good thing.

The Madonna Inn, San Luis Obispo CA

TripAdvisor rating: 4.0/5.0 (Certificate of Excellence)

Price: $300 per night and up

The Madonna Inn is one of America’s most iconic and eccentric hotels. It offers 110 rooms, each one done up in completely unique style. Some are crazy, some campy, but all are colorful and unlike anything you’ll find a the Hilton. That’s for sure!

Just a few of the themed rooms: Pioneer America, Mountain Cabin, Indian, Yahoo (which includes a bed resembling a buckboard wagon), Rock Bottom (stone walls and floors), Hearts and Flowers, Edelweiss, and Caveman. All of these suites live up to their names without compromising on comfort or convenience.

Alex and Phyllis Madonna, owners and namesakes of the inn, originally went into business in 1958. In 1966 the original structure burned down, but the Madonnas rebuilt their baby in style. It was the reconstructed iteration of the inn that first included the quirky themed suites that would become so famous.

The Madonna also features a restaurant and bakery onsite. If you can’t book a room, you should at least stop in and encourage your husband to visit the bathroom; one of the inn’s most famous features is a waterfall urinal in the men’s room which was constructed by a famous Hollywood set designer.

Want to learn more about the Madonna? Read 10 Unique Rooms Only Found At The Madonna Inn.

The rocky exterior and fountain outside the Madonna Inn — The Madonna Inn. Wikimedia Commons

Dog Bark Park Inn, Cottonwood ID

TripAdvisor rating: 5.0/5.0

Price: $126 per night for one, $132 per night for two, $12 per night for each additional guest

Cottonwood, Idaho is a long way from anywhere, but it may just be the perfect place to immerse yourself in the peace and quiet of the prairie. And if you’re a dog lover, the locals have the perfect place for you to hang your hat.

Dog Bark Park Inn is home to the world’s largest beagle — so large, in fact, that it sleeps four! The owners, a pair of artists, have constructed a sort of Trojan dog named Sweet Willy that functions as a B&B. You’ll find most amenities here: free WiFi, full bath, air conditioning, refrigerator. Expect plenty of healthy, locally-sourced snacks, a complimentary breakfast, and a guest library heavy on books about dogs.

If you’re really not a dog person, or if you can’t do stairs, this may not be the stop for you. But otherwise, those who have had the good fortune of spending a night in Sweet Willy can’t say enough about what a good boy he his, and how welcoming his owners are!

Sweet Willy Dog Bark Park Idaho, dog shaped b&b — Sweet Willy is a good boy. Wikimedia Commons

Jules’ Undersea Lodge, Key Largo FL

TripAdvisor rating: 4.0/5.0

Price: $675/night for a single occupant, $800 for two, group packages also available

21 feet below the surface of the Key Largo Undersea Park lagoon, you’ll find one of the world’s few underwater hotels.

How do you get to your room, one of three on offer here? Well, you’ll have to scuba dive. (Don’t worry: if you’ve never tried it, you’ll be given a lesson beforehand. You can even get certified in the lagoon if you want.)

Your luggage will come with you in an air-tight container, the same container that will bring you pizza if you order it! Even if you’re not nautically inclined, this stay is surely worth your while just to say you had a pie delivered to you beneath the waves.

You won’t be alone in the lagoon either: there are fish and manatees a-plenty, and they may be just as eager to see you as you are to see them through the windows of this unique maritime hotel.

Hillside Homestead, Suttons Bay MI

TripAdvisor rating: 5.0/5.0

Price: $200-$260 per night, depending on room choice

The reservations are made online, but that’s the only modern thing about Hillside Homestead. Apart from the booking, it’s an immersive trip back to the America of 1910, curated by food historian Susan Odom, who owns and operates the retreat.

Odom formerly worked as a historical re-enactor, and she’s fully committed to providing her guests with an authentic turn-of-the-century experience. None of the furniture or accessories here are more recent than 1910, and Odom serves up dishes from a Victorian cookbook, prepared the old-old-school way. If you don’t feel like spending the night, you can reserve a spot at the dinner table. Since the homestead is located on a working farm and orchard, much of the food you’ll eat is grown and prepared onsite.

Starting in November 2018, Odom will also be offering classes.

Old early 1900s stovetop with fire at Hillside Homestead — Hillside Homestead.

The Liberty, Boston MA

TripAdvisor rating: 4.0/5.0 (Certificate of Excellence)

Price: $399 per night and up

On first blush, Boston’s Liberty might seem like just another swanky boutique hotel. But then you notice the peculiar names of its restaurants and bars: ‘The Clink’, ‘Alibi’… What is going on here?

The Liberty is possibly better known under the name by which it went between 1851 and 1990: the Charles Street Jail. Over nearly a century and a half, it housed several prominent inmates, including Malcolm X and a number of suffragette leaders.

In 2007, the building was re-opened as a 300-room luxury hotel, but the designers were careful to retain some of the original architecture. The famous rotunda, for example, remains very prison-like, while the Clink restaurant invites guests to dine in the remnants of cells.

Nevertheless, the management would be quick to remind you that The Liberty is only gesturing toward its past; it is no longer a prison but an upscale hotel, and hardly worth the price of admission if you’re only interested in the history of the building.

Christmas trees hang upside down in the rotunda of the Liberty Hotel — Christmas at the Liberty Hotel.

Beckham Creek Cave, Parthenon AR

TripAdvisor rating: 2.5/5.0 (only two ratings)

Price: from $1,100 per night

Who knew a Bedrock-style vacation could be this fancy?

The Beckham Creek Cave is exactly what it sounds like: a huge vacation rental home excavated in a freaking cave in the Ozarks. This unique accommodation comes complete with four bedrooms, four baths, and room for 16 guests in total. Given the amount of space and the price tag, it’s probably most realistic for a big old family vacation. There’s even room for that one cousin who eats mustard sandwiches without his shirt on.

The pictures of Beckham Creek Cave are truly spectacular, but the TripAdvisor reviews remind us that it is a cave, and it comes with all the problems you might expect — especially moisture. Sleeping in a Bond-villain lair sounds fun, but paying $1,100 to sleep on a soggy mattress… less so.

Still, if you’re looking for novelty, Beckham Creek is solid as a rock.

Living room and front door of Beckham Creek Cave — Beckham Creek Cave.

There you have it: some of the strangest places to stay in America. Why not make your next sleepover a little less predictable?

Whales Give Tourists More Than They Bargained For

Imagine you’re vacationing at a secluded lodge on the misty, wooded coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. It’s 6 a.m., so you’re sleeping blissfully when suddenly you hear a knock at your door. Next thing you know, you’re being prodded down to the dock by the jubilant proprietor. How annoying! What’s her problem?

But then you see them, their massive grey-white bodies churning up froth in the shallow waters of the cove. Humpback whales are hunting for breakfast just feet away from the dock where you stand in dazed delight.

That’s what happened to a group of tourists at Great Bear Lodge in Port Hardy, B.C. this Saturday morning. Given how close these gentle giants had come to the lodge, and the rarity of their appearance, co-owner and operator Marg Leehane felt she had no choice but to wake her customers, most of whom were from the UK.

“Our guests, who have never seen anything like this before … those people will go away with a memory they will never forget for the rest of their lives,” Leehane told the CBC.

Sounds about right! Humpback whales are hard to forget. Members of this species average from 40-50 feet in length, and tip the scales at 25-30 metric tons! They can be found all over the world, since they migrate as many as 16,000 miles per year to mate and give birth in warm, tropical waters.

But was happened at Great Bear Lodge was an extraordinarily intimate encounter.

Leehane filmed a video of this serendipitous early morning visit, which has garnered more than two million views on Instagram as of this writing. Check it out for yourself below!

The blonde woman in the turtleneck and khaki slacks excitedly pointing and high-fiving awestruck guests is Marlo Shaw, a biologist and local tour guide.

“I love watching her body language as much as the whales, because she’s so excited to see it,” Leehane said of the video. It really does give you a sense of how special this moment is.

The humpbacks in the video are indeed hunting for fish, though it may seem as though they’re just horsing around. According to Leehane, who has spent 17 years working in the wilds of B.C., they’re employing a highly specialized technique known as bubble-netting. The whales use their considerable lung capacity to blow a ring of bubbles, thereby trapping a shoal of fish. Voilà! Breakfast is served.

Leehane notes that this is the closest a pod of humpbacks has ever come to her lodge, and this is the first time she’s seen whales in the area use the bubble-netting technique.

Bubble-netting is a learned behavior rather than an instinct, and not all pods are up on the trade secret. That the knowledge is being passed on says something in itself about the intelligence of our blubbery, karaoke-loving friends beneath the waves.

Want to see more of the sea? Read up on The 8 Best Places To Go Whale Watching.

Tourist Tumbles Off Waterfall Chasing His Phone

A visitor to British Columbia’s Flintry Provincial Park is lucky to be alive after falling more than 150 feet down a waterfall in pursuit of his wayward smart phone on Sunday.

The man, whose name has not been released, was rock climbing with his family when the accident took place. He was using his phone to take a picture of the falls near a sheer rock face when the device slipped from his grasp. He lunged after it, stepped over the brink, and fell 45 metres. Rescuers say the man “bounced” off the rocks on his way down.

Flintry Park is about 22 miles north of Kelowna in B.C.’s famous Okanagan Valley. The North Westside Fire Department, Kelowna Fire Department, B.C. Ambulance Service, and Vernon Search and Rescue all came to the man’s. Vernon’s Search and Rescue team is led by Andrew Honigman, who has described the incident to the media in considerable detail.

“It’s absolutely miraculous he only had light injuries,” Honigman told the CBC. “He had some scrapes and bruises, but from an approximately 150-foot fall, he’s lucky to be alive.”

According to Honigman, the man slipped and lost control of his phone because he was climbing over a fence at the time — a safety fence that had specifically been installed to keep hikers from falling over the waterfall’s edge.

The waterfall in Fintry Provincial Park, B.C., where the incident occurred. Wikimedia Commons

Fortunately for the hiker in question, his carelessness has led only to minimal consequences due to an extremely lucky landing.

“If you saw it yourself, it’s amazing that he didn’t hit the rocks,” Honigman told the Calgary Herald. “He fell down into the pool of water at the bottom of the falls. He just happened to hit that in the centre of the pool where it was deepest.”

Although the victim may not have been terribly clever to hop a safety fence in search of pictures to share on social media, he was smart enough to call for help once he reached the pool in one piece. Had he tried to climb down the rest of the rock face, he could have put himself in even greater danger.

It’s the sixth such emergency reported in British Columbia this summer. Five people have died in the past few months alone after going over waterfalls in Canada’s westernmost province, including an elderly Dutch tourist and a young daredevil travel vlogger in the company of two friends.

Apart from surviving, there’s another silver lining to this story for the hiker: he actually did manage to retrieve his phone.

Nevertheless, Honigman points out that real moral of the tale is not to climb safety guard rails. They’re there for a reason!

To that, we’ll add another motto: safety first, selfies second.