Cruise Complexes

Regarding the Sept. 19 Travel Insider column (“Cruise Lines Test Waters for Booking on Internet�): I’m a veteran of more than 10 cruises (I’ve lost count). I have never seen anything terribly complex about buying a cruise. You know, if you tell someone that “it’s difficult,� whether it is or isn’t, the person will soon believe the malarkey.

The cruise lines have their packages pretty well defined in their literature. There should be no reason the same poop can’t be displayed on a screen.

I believe the cruise lines’ opting to stay with travel agents is a means to keep raising the prices, as they have done over the past five years very aggressively. How all this can occur in our competitive marketplace I’m not certain, but “complexity� is not the reason--that’s the propaganda part.

HOWARD GRAVES

Las Vegas

Regarding the Oct. 3 News Tips & Bargains item on the Tropicale ship (“Rough Sailing for Two Cruise Liners�): It’s interesting that the Tropicale is still having toilet problems. We sailed on the ship in February. We had two back-to-back cruises totaling 14 days. There was not a day that our toilet was not stopped up for at least two hours.

The day we pulled into San Juan to take on passengers for the Panama Canal portion of the cruise, toilets available to passengers were stopped up. Not very pleasant. The Tropicale has real problems--maybe a sinking at sea might be in order. No passengers aboard, of course.

BILL BOAK

Los Angeles