It's definitely cruise ship season. Royal Caribbean just made a major splash by launching the largest cruise ship in the world, Oasis of the Seas. That made headlines, but there have been other news stories in the industry. Last week, the huge Carnival line also had an unveiling of its own in New York City. Oscar-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden was the godmother for its new ship, the Dream.

WalletPop was invited to take a two-night ride on the ship, which is impressive but no record-breaker, as a guest of Carnival. Since the ship was packed with die-hard cruisers and travel writers eager to get their first peek at Carnival's newest vessel, it was the perfect opportunity to ask experienced cruise travelers for their favorite money-saving tips for taking a cruise.

Once you've paid your fare, your room is taken care of. So are your meals, provided you stick to the few on-board restaurants that are included in your ticket price. But after that, the costs start mounting. WalletPop's Jason Cochran, who has taken quite a few cruises himself as a travel writer, asked passengers on the sparkling new Dream for their best money-saving tips.

So here I am, writing this from off the coast of Florida as part of the first two-day preview cruise of the magnificent Oasis of the Seas. Royal Caribbean has launched the largest cruise ship in the world, a towering dagwood of action-packed decks and over-the top superlatives: longest cruise ship, widest cruise ship, tallest cruise ship, heaviest cruise ship.

And as of today, the coolest cruise ship. Rihanna was on here yesterday, and I'm told Richard Branson has come and gone, too. By now, most of America has seen the particulars of this gargantuan, billion-dollar chunk of devil-be-damned engineering. Here on board, one of the stateroom TV channels plays, on a loop, the segments of yesterday's Good Morning America in which Sam Champion and his crew romped around the Aqua Theatre, the Solarium, the cocktail bar that rises and falls between three decks (pictured above), the huge Central Park and Boardwalk atriums (atria?) that carve an airy middle into the ship.



The ship is, simply put, astounding. I have never seen anything like it in my years of cruising. It took me about six hours to explore fully from Deck 3 (the Studio B ice rink) to Deck 17 (the stunning, and ridiculously expensive, duplex loft suites with two-story sea views). There's nearly no way to take in the enormity of the endeavor. If you could pack a small shopping mall together with a 2,400-room resort and send it off to sea, you might start coming close (one cynic described it as "a hotel on a barge," which omits the considerable frills and dazzle), but you'd still have trouble wrapping your head around it all.

It is so big as to be humbling, and sometimes, that makes it a little frightening. As we left Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, a police boat rushed a smaller craft that was approaching us and warned its captain to back off, as it was entering "restricted waters." Something this big and this audacious would be an obvious target, and local police are clearly taking no chances.

Royal Caribbean, ever adept at cleverly harnessing social media (remember that unfortunate recent case in which it was nabbed giving freebies to people likely to populate user-review boards with praise?), has invited large numbers of journalists, travel agents, and VIPs to take part on two, back-to-back, two-night cruises. Attending for WalletPop, I'm on the first one. For this run only, alcohol is free.



There were some early reports this week that the line would be, in effect, bribing the press for good stories by plying them with booze and by giving them stuff that will actually cost passengers on "real" sailings. Although alcohol is free, I can't say I've seen this accusation to be the case, and the crowd is a lot less drunk than it was for a paid sailing on the Carnival Dream a week ago. Not everything is handed out: I've had to pay for things such as a $2.50 coffee on the Royal Promenade or $2.50 for a hyper-sweet cupcake from its on-board cupcake shop. Whenever anything is offered to us, I ask what the price will be for paying customers.

Again and again, the answer I get tells me that many of the things we're getting are included in the fare anyway. That includes midnight pizza at Sorrento's, afternoon burgers at Johnny Rocket's, and twilight doughnuts on the Boardwalk (where there's a working carousel), and even rides on one of the twin FlowRider sheet wave machines, provided you can score a time slot. So although Royal Caribbean is pioneering obnoxious fees such as surcharges for late-night room service and hefty upcharges for the privilege of eating better food than its main dining regularly serves, I can't say it's using the launch of the Oasis to foist a lot of new ones on us.

There are some issues, of course. The first is lines. Royal Caribbean was wise enough to only pack this ship about half-full, which means we're all likely to get into the shows we want to see and we won't write reviews complaining about crowds. When it's full of paying guests, though, you'll have to make many of your reservations online or in a queue, adding another layer of hassle to what's supposed to be your break from it all. I also suspect the main pool area, on Deck 15, will not be able accommodate everyone who wants to swim. On balance, though, this is a pretty dazzling achievement, and diversion is around every corner.

When I see a ship as marvelously bloated as this one, I have to separate my sense of travel snobbery from my admiration for what Royal Caribbean has done here. I can't deny that passengers who immerse themselves in this floating circus might as well not be at sea at all. It's less a ship than a floating resort, and most of the passengers seem to be hanging out below decks than enjoying the sun and the sea.

Today, while I was having lunch in the Windjammer Marketplace buffet on Deck 16, I looked down at the smooth blue water to see dolphins playing alongside the ship. While I was admiring that sight, the couple behind me was engaged in a lively debate about the quality of this buffet compared to those on other ships. They were oblivious to their surroundings. It's typical of the attitude on board the Oasis, which is so loathe to share any glory with the oceans than most of its vantage points over the seas are sheathed in glass.

That's all right. This ship is a product, and whether you're a theatre reviewer or a travel writer, you have to remember the audience for whom you're reviewing the product. This audience is agog. I myself can't help but be impressed. For the next year or so, until its sister ship the Allure of the Seas matches her feats, this will be the ship to book, and rates are likely to be at around $150 a night or more (I wrote about upcoming deals to be had that were even better). I can't say that if I paid that price, high for the industry right now, that I would ever find that I was feeling ripped off.



Now that I've seen this ship, though, I might consider any other vessel that dared to charge me so much would be a rip. In this way alone, the Oasis may have changed the industry: It will be difficult for less exuberant ships to charge the same price, and if they do, they'll have to find some other hook, be it a boast about smaller crowds, better food (Royal Caribbean's food is not widely considered its strong point), Mickey Mouse appearances, or larger cabins. The sheer magnitude of the Oasis, its biggest selling point, will also be the very thing that convinces some customers to choose a sailing with more modesty.

And more importantly, remember that traveling is not always the same thing as vacationing. Not everyone wants to engage with other cultures; for many people, the floating fishtank of a cruise ship is all the exploration they need. The Oasis is a fabulous vacation machine, but it's about the universe it has created for itself, not about its place in the outside world. In that, it's a home run.

Along with sandwiches and soda, you may one day be able to buy tickets to Lion King and Animal Kingdom while cruising 35,000 feet above ground. A New York Times story reported that the airline industry is tinkering with the idea of expanding retail offerings to boost revenue.

Leading the brigade is American Airlines, which sells Heathrow Express train tickets on its flights to London and allows passengers in-flight Internet access and a chance at splurging on products from the SkyMall -- the glossy brochure that sells everything from cabin bags to fancy pens and perfumes.

Many airlines around the world already sell a limited collection of products on board from SkyMall. The only glitch has been in the technology that would allow a purchase in real time. In the past, passengers had to wait until they reached their destination to place an order, but Canadian company GuestLogix solved that problem by coming up with a technology that allows on air sales with the help of a credit card reader and sales software.

Personally, I do like having that option of buying an extreme last minute gift for a forgotten relative while en route to that big family gathering in India. Apart from saving face, it also would help me kill some time on that 15-hour flight. But, would passengers who like catching up on precious sleep cringe at the option? Trying to fall asleep with flight attendants sashaying the aisles carrying products and swiping credit cards definitely won't be easy.

Travel may be down in this economy, but there's one area where business is booming: discount booking sites. With travel providers desperate to unload unused rooms and tickets, it seems like the only sectors of the travel industry that are exploding are the ones previously seen as a last resort by the industry.

Priceline.com reported that bookings through its site, which offers steep discounts on hotel rooms and other travel products, are at their best levels in nine years. Hotwire.com, which is owned by Expedia, reports a similar boost in revenue. The Hotwire Group's sales over 12 months have exceeded $250 million for the first time, and reps told WalletPop that compared to last year, hotel bookings in the biggest markets (meaning the most popular travelers' cities) are up between 20% and 30%.

Extended warranties of all sorts have always been a dicey proposition, but when it comes to extended auto warranties many don't even appear to be warranties at all.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster took aim at the industry this week by suing six companies that market the so-called warranties and warning the public that what is being pitched isn't what you end up with. He said the industry is "rife with fraud."

Koster said what consumers are actually buying into are limited "service contracts" or "automotive additives" deals rather than a traditional warranty. That was done to avoid consumer protections otherwise afforded by law, he said in a news release.

The contracts are filled with catches. Among them:

• A 30 to 90 day (or 1,000 miles) timeframe when you can't make a claim.
• Promotion of a 7-year, 100,000 miles warranty extension that doesn't note coverage is limited to the declining value of the car. (In other words, Koster said, "The coverage may soon be less than the price paid by the consumer for the contact).
• Sending an additive to be put into your car immediately to activate coverage without noting that its use negates the ability to cancel.

Google wants you to stay connected while you are doing your holiday traveling this year, so it has teamed up with Boingo Wireless to provide travelers with free WiFi at 47 airports across the U.S. until January 15. In addition to offering free WiFi access in the airports, Google is also working with GoGo, an in-flight WiFi provider, to provide free Internet access on Virgin America flights for the holidays.

The Onion, a leading satire website, has been one of the funniest websites in the world for a long time, but every once in awhile, there's a bit of serious financial wisdom in its content.

In the video below, a "Ford vice president" Daniel Grossman announces Ford's "new vision for the future of automobiles in America -- the car for the modern age, the 1993 Ford Taurus." All you need is $650 in cash.

The video's funny, but here's the truth: If your goal is to be rich, you'll have a lot more in common with a rich person by driving a 1993 Ford Taurus than you will by leasing or financing any other car.

What began as a really, really bad day for Todd Jamison turned into a really, really good deal for him -- and for the carmaker Hyundai.

The security camera at Extreme Fitness in Thornhill, a town near Toronto in Ontario, Canada caught a driver in its parking lot gunning when she should have been braking and rolling over on top of Jamison's parked car and one next to it. Somebody posted the video onto YouTube, where it's been viewed more than a million times by modern-day rubber neckers. As you can see from the video below, the driver smashes Jamison's car, pauses, then drives away.

Imagine Jamison's reaction at returning to the parking lot after his workout to find his car, newly paid off, in a newly squashed condition.

But execs at Hyundai Canada saw the video too, and took the news with considerably more excitement than Jamison presumably did.

It sent representatives out to present Jamison with the keys to a new Hyundai Elantra Touring to replace his totaled 2004 Hyandai Elantra. And then it posted its own video on YouTube. It's got only 97,000 views recorded so far, but the comments left are overwhelmingly positive.



Really, you can't buy this kind of PR. And Hyundai knows it.

The 60-something female driver of the BMW SUV was caught when she returned to the fitness club's parking lot and was recognized by an employee, whose car was also involved. She is being charged with leaving the scene of an accident. It awaits to be seen whether this employee will get a new car out of the deal.

Royal Caribbean's newest behemoth, the Oasis of the Seas, doesn't arrive in our waters for another couple of weeks, but pictures of the awesome cruise ship are already appearing in the news.

How could they not? She's the largest cruise ship on the planet, towering 20 stories over the waves and cutting a 1,180-foot-long profile against the horizon. On board, there's space for 6,300 paying guests, 2,000 crew members, a 1,300-seat theater (larger than some on Broadway), some duplex cabins, an ice rink, an indoor/outdoor park, and a cocktail bar that travels from deck to deck via an elevator system.

WalletPop will be on board for her maiden voyage out of Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 20, and our own Jason Cochran will bring you video proof of this astonishing new feat of engineering.

The motorized chair involved in a DUI crash that grabbed international headlines is again parked on eBay for bids.

According to news reports the chair drove up bids to nearly $40,000 before the makers of La-Z-Boy pulled the brakes on the final hours of auction objecting to the chair being called a La-Z-Boy when technically it 's just a recliner.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, sorry for the disappointment. Now that we know it's not a La-Z-Boy how much are you willing to cough up for a chair you can drive around?

By Tuesday afternoon, the chair attracted 37 bids raising the bar to $4,719. There's still two more days to go, and I am sure the police department in Proctor, Minn., is hoping for miracles the second time around. By law, the proceeds would benefit the cops,state and the prosecuting attorney, who made owner Dennis LeRoy Anderson a celebrity of sorts.

Anderson is not getting any share from the eBay loot, but his family was able to get him $710 by auctioning a photo of his on on his now famous chariot. I am sure it won't compensate for his hurt pride, or his lost toy, but hey it should help him pay some of his legal fees.

A piece of advice to the future winner/owner of this infamous chair. You may want to keep practicing your driving skills within your property limits. Even if you do get tempted to show it off to neighbors by zooming through the streets, remember to do it sober. Otherwise, like Anderson, you will forever be labeled as the drunk La-Z-Boy, err, motorized recliner driver.

If you're kicking around buying new tires, you'd better make up your mind quickly. That's because if you wait too long -- until January -- it can wind up costing you quite a bit extra.

A new 35% tariff on Chinese-made car and light truck tires being imposed by the Obama administration is forcing wholesalers to raise prices on tires sold to retailers, who are sure to pass that "extra" onto consumers. How much extra?

Some say even the most affordable tire will cost about $50 more. Brand name ones are expected to jump as much as $80 per tire.

Selling your car, rather than trading it in to the dealer, is a great way to get more money to put towards your new set of wheels. Long ago, when I was but the owner of a learner's permit, if you wanted to sell your car you focused on newspaper classifieds and high-traffic front lawns, but as car shoppers' comfort level with the Internet increased, so did the popularity of listing cars online.

But, many people who have had great success selling their own car on-lawn haven't been able to sell as well on-line. If that's you, read on for these tips from AutoTrader Spokesperson Mark Scott for selling your car online.

Since you can't force locals to drive past your house, there are three things to focus on when preparing your car for sale online:

• How you describe the car in the ad.
• What you need to include -- and exclude -- from the pictures of your car.
• Research the prices of similar cars.

Whether you cashed in on last summer's Cash for Clunkers program or not, you paid for a new car.

According to research from Edmunds.com, taxpayers paid an average $24,000 per clunker in buying a new car. And they did so on sales Edmunds.com says would have occurred even if the $3 billion clunker program never existed.

The program, which gave buyers up to $4,500 in incentives to trade in their gas guzzlers for less thirsty vehicles, was supposed to spur sales and boost the economy.

In the next generation of Disney Cruise Line ships, the windowless inside cabin may be the ones kids beg their parents to book. In a boon to budget travelers, the cheapest, least desirable cruise stateroom category will be getting a major sexing up in January of 2011, when the Disney Dream, now under construction, is christened.

All inside cabins on the new Dream will be equipped with an oh-so-Disney innovation: the "virtual porthole." Above the bed, a round TV window will be embedded in the wall, made to look like an old-fashioned ship's porthole. Through it, the tenants in the modern equivalent of steerage will be able to watch live, streaming high-def images of the ocean outside, just as the guests in more expensive cabins see it for real.