Ask Steve: Travel Myths Debunked

Ask Steve features questions from you, researched and answered by Steve.  It’s a great way to learn cruise trivia, or find out answers to your cruise vacation questions!

There is a ton of information “out there” about travel,  from professional coverage on destinations to first-hand accounts of a particular resort.   There is a lot of disinformation too, and I regularly get questions from clients about travel tales that may have been true once upon a time, but aren’t anymore, or they never were true in the first place.  So, here, I discuss some of the popular travel myths and the reality of the tale.

Invoke Rule 240 and the airline HAS to compensate you for a delayed flight!  There actually is a “Rule 240″ and it does state that passengers with delayed or cancelled flights are to be put onto the next available flight.  But, airline deregulation in the late 1970′s made this rule obselete.  Having said that, some airlines may have their own version of Rule 240 that can get you results – check their contract of carriage to find out.

Staying in a hotel over the weekend costs more than staying during the week.  The conventional thinking is that most people who travel do so over a weekend, thus prices are higher.  This may be true for some hotels in some cities: hotels that cater to leisure travelers, primarily, will be more expensive on the weekend during the week.  But, this is not true for all hotels.  The reality is that most hotels, especially those that cater to business travelers, have a big drop in room occupancy (and thus, revenue) over the weekend because their travelers have gone home, and they offer lower rates then to lure in leisure travelers.

Drinking bottled water is safer than drinking tap water.  You might be surprised to see this one on the list.  You might be even further surprised to learn that according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, at least 25% of bottled water is just tap water.  (The Dasani brand bottled by Coca-Cola is one such example: it is simply water sourced from the Atlanta, Georgia municipal supply)  If you travel to an area, like Mexico, where tap water may be disagreeable to you, drinking bottled water itself is not always safer – check the bottle’s label and ensure the water is filtered.  Some water may be labelled as “spring water” but that doesn’t mean it’s been filtered in any manner.  Also, you will need to ensure your bottled water arrives securely bottled.  Some hotels and restaurants refill water bottles with tap water in an effort to keep their costs down.

A cruise is all-inclusive.  There was a time when the price of your cruise literally paid for everything on board, and even today, some cruise lines hold to that model, though they tend to be the high end ultra luxury lines.  For the average cruiser, the price of the cruise does not cover everything.  Soft drinks, alcohol, dining in some specialty venues on board, and some activities will usually incur additional charges.

Your hotel card key can be used to steal your identity.  A common belief is that hotel keycards contain identifying information such as credit card numbers, names, and addresses.  This is because most hotel keycards contain a magnetic strip on them that can store information, just like a credit card.  However, keycards contain two bits of information: a code to unlock your hotel room door, and your valid dates of stay.  Some cards also allow access to facilities like fitness centers.  No other identifying information is put on hotel keycards.  If you are still nervous about it, report lost or stolen cards right away, and when you check out of the hotel, take the keycard with you or cut it up like you could cut up an expired credit card.  (Some folks use hotel keycards as souvenirs of their stay.)

Airplane Photo Credit: Global Jet/Flikr Creative Commons