Explore a Winter Wonderland and Visit Russia

This Winter, if you plan on doing any traveling, consider going to a place that is known for shining during the colder months, and see all what makes Russia one of the most breathtaking destinations on the planet. Throughout the year, Russia offers a variety of colorful attractions, and being that it is the largest country in the world, there is plenty to keep you busy.

In the colder months, however, Russia really stands out as one of the most beautiful and majestic places on Earth. With white snow covering the majority of the enormous nation, the countryside, along with the cities, look preserved in time, giving natives and visitors alike, views unlike anywhere else.

Aside from the spectacular landscapes, Russia also has many other things to offer visitors to pique their interests, such as the many Winter sports, including skiing, snowboarding, ice fishing, dog sledding, and even reindeer sledding, not to mention snowmobile excursions through the snow-covered countryside.

For those that are into more extreme sports, more adventurous travelers should make their way out to Russia’s Far East, where thrill seekers can see a whole different side to the country, and venture out to Yakutia, known and the “Pole of Cold”, which is disputed to be the coldest place on Earth, reaching temperatures of -128.5 F. With your Russian visas, you can book a guided tour of this treacherous area, and maybe even take part in some Heli-skiiing, one of the most extreme sports out there.

If that is a little too wild for your tastes, then there are still plenty of other things to do to keep you busy on your travels. You can visit the Red Square, one of Russia’s most well-known landmarks, or any of their world-class museums, cathedrals, theatres, or even ancient palaces that are just as impressive from the inside as they are on the outside.

In the Capital city of Moscow, you can visit St. Basil’s Cathedral, or explore the Kremlin, on your own, or as a part of a guided tour. If you travel to St. Petersburg, you can even get the chance to see some of the most talented dancers in the world during a night out at the ballet.

For the eager Winter traveler, Russia is the perfect place to spend your vacation, so grab your US passports ready, and prepare yourself for a magnificent tour of this fascinating country that can only be fully appreciated in the flesh.

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Bad Experience with Carnival Cruise

Article by Pierre Zarokian of  Hotel Traveler Reviews

Couple of weeks ago me and my family took the Eastern Caribbean cruise with Carnival Liberty. I wanted to write this article to voice my anger with Carnival Cruise. The main problem where several hidden charges and slowness of the internet. However, the choice of the islands were also not that interesting.

First let me begin with the hidden charges. There is a $70 per person gratuity charge, so for 3 of us, we were hit with $210 unforeseen charge added to our final departure bill.

Second the on-board photo services were way too expensive. While it is a great service, which you do not have to use, most people will probably end up taking a few pics. They encourage you to take as many pics as possible, as you don’t have to buy them. At the end, you may end up buying many pics, because they look good at $22 a pop. My complaint is that they should at least offer a discount for those buying multiple pictures. We ended up spending $700 on pictures.

Third, the internet connection was way too slow. Even tough when you sign up they have disclaimer stating it will be slow, my exception was not that it will be slower than a 14K modem (pre 1995 levels). We used approximately 50% of the $100 I paid upfront and then decided it was way too slow to do any work and was not worth continuing. When I asked for a refund or even a partial refund, I was denied and instead given a 30 minute credit, which was worthless, since I was not going to use it and only one day was remaining in the trip.

Fourth, the selection of the islands the cruise went to was not that exciting. 2 our of 4 islands were OK and then other two were pretty boring. The good ones were San Juan, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. the bad ones were Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands and Half Moon Cay, Bahamas. The last 2 islands were very small and did not offer too many activities, besides relaxing at the beach and a few tours. But since both islands are small there is not really much to see on them. In fact, Half Moon Cay is an island that Carnival owns and was primarily purchased so they can offer their own tours to this island. This was a lesson to myself to do better research next time and pick a cruise that offers a better selection of islands.

Although, the overall cruise experience for me and my family was fun and relaxing, the few issues above, really left me upset. I tried to get refund for the internet and gratuity and was denied both. Due to this I would never ever go on a Carnival Cruise again. I consider myself a VIP traveler. We ended up spending $2400 in extra services, such as photos, spa and food on the boat and I cannot believe the way Carnival treats their VIP customers.