Cruise lines look to better times ahead

Hawaii’s cruise line industry saw a 14.5 percent increase last year from 2010, which normally would be news to celebrate. But the tragedy unfolding in waters off Italy has overshadowed the industry: The Costa Concordia vessel that capsized was run by Miami-based Carnival Corp., which offers cruises departing Honolulu with stops at Hawaii island and Maui before heading to Ensenada, Mexico, or Vancouver, B.C.

Just how that disaster will affect cruising in the short- and long-term remains to be seen, though some analysts remain positive.

"They’ll stay quiet for a week or two," said Blake Fleetwood, president of Cook Travel. "Then Carnival will have a blitz of sales. So for the consumer, it’s going to be a great time to buy a cruise." He predicted that other cruise lines will follow, slashing prices.

Added Stewart Chiron, CEO of CruiseGuy.com: "People understand that this is an accident."

How about mailing your luggage instead?

Necessity being the mother of invention, and everyone feeling the necessity to lower baggage fees pretty acutely, it’s not surprising to see the birth of a whole new category of gadgets.

People try to squeeze more and more into their bags to avoid the per-bag fee for checked luggage, so among the helpful merchandise are no-spill bags for toiletries so squishing doesn’t cause an explosion of tubed liquids and gels. There are the pocketed jackets allowing you to wear your stuff rather than pack it, and mini scales to make sure you don’t tip into overweight-fee territory for your bulging bags.

And yes, if extra fees are inevitable, it may be cheaper to stuff the excess into a flat-rate shipping box and just mail it to your destination. Bonus: a warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from helping our poor, insolvent U.S. Postal Service.