Miami, Florida -- A former Royal Caribbean Cruise Line employee has been arrested and charged with burglarizing the homes of 24 vacationers who were spending time at sea.

Miami, Florida (CNN) -- A former Royal Caribbean Cruise Line employee has been arrested and charged with burglarizing the homes of 24 vacationers who were spending time at sea.

Police in Palm Beach County say the employee accessed personal information about reservations to find out when the vacationers would be away.

Bethsaida Sandoval, 38, a Royal Caribbean vacation planner, has been charged with 24 counts of burglary across Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Sandoval"s husband, John Lopez, acted as her accomplice, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff"s Office.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Sandoval admitted that she and her husband were involved in the burglaries. Her position gave her full access to victims" home addresses.

"People were on vacation, and when they returned home, they found they were burglarized," said Teri Barbera, a spokeswoman for the sheriff"s office. "One common factor was that they were all on vacation with Royal Caribbean."

Sandoval allegedly told police that she printed or wrote down personal information on customers and gave the information to Lopez. The affidavit says Sandoval stated that she and her husband would then go to the houses and burgle them.

Lopez is being held on an unrelated charge in nearby Broward County. He"s expected to be charged soon in the string of burglaries, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff"s Office.

Investigators believe that the burglaries took place on the first night of the cruises, while the homeowners were at sea. The ships departed from the Port of Miami or Port Everglades, in Fort Lauderdale, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The sheriff"s office says Royal Caribbean has fully cooperated with the investigation.

A cruise line spokeswoman, Cynthia Martinez, said Sandoval was fired for her actions.

"Royal Caribbean does not tolerate any form of criminal activity in its workforce or operations," it said in a statement. "This is a situation involving a former employee who appears to have taken advantage of their position for personal gain. Royal Caribbean cooperated fully with authorities during this investigation and will continue providing any assistance necessary to prosecute this individual to the fullest extent of the law."

The Palm Beach County Sheriff"s Office says the investigation, which took place over several months, revealed that high-dollar amounts of property, money and firearms were stolen.

According to the affidavit, Sandoval was seen entering the Royal Caribbean building after hours, about 1 a.m. The time was documented by her door access swipe card and her computer login as she accessed the Royal Caribbean system.

"This is not normal business practice and Bethsaida Sandoval should not be in the building, or accessing Royal Caribbean computer systems at that time of night," reads the affidavit.

Authorities said Sandoval told them that she would drive and Lopez would get out of the car and use a center punch, a small tool for punching holes, to smash out the glass of a rear sliding-glass door. The affidavit says she gave the center punch to investigators.

The cruise line said in its statement, "We regret this incident occurred and hope it does not overshadow the excellent work our more than 40,000 Royal Caribbean employees do every day to provide our guests with memorable and outstanding cruise vacation experiences."

The cruise line says it is reaching out to apologize to all guests who were affected.

Editor"s note: This story is part of Eileen Ogintz"s Taking the Kids series. Follow "taking the kids" on www.twitter.com, where Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments.

Editor"s note: This story is part of Eileen Ogintz"s Taking the Kids series. Follow "taking the kids" on www.twitter.com, where Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments.

(Tribune Media Services) -- No one cares that the water is cold. The kids splash at the lake"s edge, play on the small sand beach as older, daring ones splash in the water and peddle kayaks, rowboats and paddleboats. Our pup eyes them all curiously.

Lake Placid, New York -- home to two Olympics -- is that iconic old-fashioned vacation spot that works as well for 21st-century families -- and their pooches -- as it did a century ago for families and millionaires who came here to the Adirondacks with their family and friends.

With 6 million acres, Adirondack State Park is the largest state park in the United States, larger than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier and Grand Canyon national parks combined. It boasts more than 3,000 lakes and 2,000 miles of hiking trails and offers kayaking, canoeing, fishing and mountain biking. (The Whiteface Downhill Mountain Bike Park features 27 downhill and cross-country mountain bike trails that run between the ski trails, through streams and woods.)

Lake Placid, a town where everyone seems to be an athlete, or at least an outdoors enthusiast, has only 3,000 residents, but that number swells close to 10,000 in summer.

Main Street overlooks Mirror Lake and it"s lined with ice cream and coffee shops, all variety of restaurants (sushi, Mexican, steaks, a brewery, even a creperie, some with outdoor patios) and stores selling New York state maple syrup, local chocolate, antique ski posters, local wines and cuddly stuffed moose. Families stroll up and down Main clutching kids" hands, pushing them in strollers, hanging on to dogs, picnicking in front of the lake at the outdoor band shell. (Simply Gourmet is the spot for first-rate sandwiches and cookies for your hikes and picnics.)

"The kids love it because it"s so safe we can let them go out on their own," said Louise McEachran, here with a group of young freestyle skiers from Ontario who practice their tricks by jumping into an icy pool at the MacKenzie-Intervale Ski Jumping Complex. (You can test your mettle at the Olympic Sports Complex and ride a wheeled bobsled, or check out the view of the Adirondacks from the top of the 26-story Olympic ski jump. Come July 4 and watch the 50th annual ski jump competition.

"Whatever the season there is something for the kids to do," adds Suzanne Boger, an attorney from Saratoga Springs, New York, who comes here often -- winter and summer -- with her two kids, husband and two dogs. We meet them hiking and splashing in Lake Placid along the Peninsula Trails that run for miles. Our puppy, Trooper, happily joined in. "Even when the weather is bad, there are things to do." (Bowling anyone?)

There"s even some Civil War history when you visit Abolitionist John Brown"s farm and gravesite. But what sets this place apart -- besides the natural beauty and Olympic history, as if that weren"t enough -- is how genuinely friendly people are. It couldn"t be more kid friendly, Boger said.

Pooch-friendly too. We learn that first-hand at the 166-room Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort, which has an idyllic location on Mirror Lake (smaller than Lake Placid and ideal for young families). The Holderied family has run the Golden Arrow for more than 30 years, attracting families who return again and again. "We love the family-style management and the kids loved pretending to work behind the desk," said Lisa Tinker of New Jersey. Her family visits twice a year -- winter and summer.

Besides having fun, the kids might learn a thing or two about vacationing greener. The resort is the first, and so far only, one in the United State to achieve 5 Green Leaf Rating from the Audubon Society for its green initiatives.

There are small touches like the paper shopping bags in each room to encourage guests to recycle cans and bottles. There is an allergen-free floor, bamboo flooring, a blooming green roof and sand, even small-framed placards placed around the hotel pointing out the green features. (Kids are invited to take a "green quiz," getting a Mr. Green coloring book, with suggestions on what they could do at home to be more earth friendly (recycling one aluminum can conserves enough energy to run a TV for three hours.)

"We want kids especially to realize they can help," says Jenn Holderied, the youngest of the three siblings now overseeing the hotel, which was first bought by their parents, who spearheaded the green initiatives. "The things you can do aren"t difficult," she says. "Our goal is to get people thinking about it."

That extends to the resort restaurant, Generations, where the family is set to harvest dinners, inviting farmers to showcase their wares. Eventually, Holdleried, the mom of two young children, hopes families will be able to visit the area farms and see first-hand where the food on their plates came from.

Some families who come here might prefer a cabin or condo, though, and there are certainly plenty to choose from at every price point. If you"re coming with grown kids and want a laid back but luxurious respite -- or want to feel like you were one of those millionaires from a century-ago, check out the 30-roomLake Placid Lodge, which was rebuilt after a fire to resemble a traditional Great House. The Lodge, however, doesn"t welcome kids under 12 (unless you book the entire place), but will pamper your dog.

The Mirror Lake Inn touts itself as summer camp-plus. It"s located on a lake with swimming, canoeing, kayaking and fishing. But there"s also a spa, three gourmet restaurants and, they promise, serenely comfy beds. The Summer Savings Package starts at $299 per couple per night and kids are free. Book two nights by June 21 to take advantage of this special rate and also receive a $50 resort credit.

The Whiteface Lodge on the other hand has got everything a family could want. Though not on the lake, it maintains a private beach a half-mile away with the requisite canoes, kayaks and more.

This is the kind of place that offers the convenience of deluxe condos in the woods with the amenities of a first-class resort. (Look for deals with substantial resort credits.) There"s a big heated pool, fitness center and spa where even tweens can get massages or facials with mom. There"s an old-fashioned two-lane bowling alley, tennis courts and a stocked pond (yes, they even supply reels and bait), an ice cream parlor and game room equipped with everything from fooseball to pool to Ping-Pong. Make s"mores every night in front of an outdoor fireplace, watch movies in the theater downstairs or just stargaze.

Parents will appreciate that the Whiteface Lodge also offers complimentary organized activities for kids as young as three and this summer Whiteface has expanded its activities to outdoor programs for tweens and young teens. How about learning orienteering with the Adirondacks as your playground?

"It may be touristy," laughed Suzanne Boger. But then she gestures across the spectacular lake, with Whiteface Mountain in the distance. "There are plenty of places to get away from the crowds."

With the kids -- and your dog, of course.

(For more on Eileen"s visit to Lake Placid, read her trip diary at http://www.takingthekids.com/ and also follow "taking the kids" on www.twitter.com, where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments.)

© 2010 EILEEN OGINTZ DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

Miami, Florida -- A former Royal Caribbean Cruise Line employee has been arrested and charged with burglarizing the homes of 24 vacationers who were spending time at sea.

Miami, Florida (CNN) -- A former Royal Caribbean Cruise Line employee has been arrested and charged with burglarizing the homes of 24 vacationers who were spending time at sea.

Police in Palm Beach County say the employee accessed personal information about reservations to find out when the vacationers would be away.

Bethsaida Sandoval, 38, a Royal Caribbean vacation planner, has been charged with 24 counts of burglary across Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Sandoval"s husband, John Lopez, acted as her accomplice, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff"s Office.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Sandoval admitted that she and her husband were involved in the burglaries. Her position gave her full access to victims" home addresses.

"People were on vacation, and when they returned home, they found they were burglarized," said Teri Barbera, a spokeswoman for the sheriff"s office. "One common factor was that they were all on vacation with Royal Caribbean."

Sandoval allegedly told police that she printed or wrote down personal information on customers and gave the information to Lopez. The affidavit says Sandoval stated that she and her husband would then go to the houses and burgle them.

Lopez is being held on an unrelated charge in nearby Broward County. He"s expected to be charged soon in the string of burglaries, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff"s Office.

Investigators believe that the burglaries took place on the first night of the cruises, while the homeowners were at sea. The ships departed from the Port of Miami or Port Everglades, in Fort Lauderdale, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The sheriff"s office says Royal Caribbean has fully cooperated with the investigation.

A cruise line spokeswoman, Cynthia Martinez, said Sandoval was fired for her actions.

"Royal Caribbean does not tolerate any form of criminal activity in its workforce or operations," it said in a statement. "This is a situation involving a former employee who appears to have taken advantage of their position for personal gain. Royal Caribbean cooperated fully with authorities during this investigation and will continue providing any assistance necessary to prosecute this individual to the fullest extent of the law."

The Palm Beach County Sheriff"s Office says the investigation, which took place over several months, revealed that high-dollar amounts of property, money and firearms were stolen.

According to the affidavit, Sandoval was seen entering the Royal Caribbean building after hours, about 1 a.m. The time was documented by her door access swipe card and her computer login as she accessed the Royal Caribbean system.

"This is not normal business practice and Bethsaida Sandoval should not be in the building, or accessing Royal Caribbean computer systems at that time of night," reads the affidavit.

Authorities said Sandoval told them that she would drive and Lopez would get out of the car and use a center punch, a small tool for punching holes, to smash out the glass of a rear sliding-glass door. The affidavit says she gave the center punch to investigators.

The cruise line said in its statement, "We regret this incident occurred and hope it does not overshadow the excellent work our more than 40,000 Royal Caribbean employees do every day to provide our guests with memorable and outstanding cruise vacation experiences."

The cruise line says it is reaching out to apologize to all guests who were affected.

(Tribune Media Services) -- Call me a frequent-flier program skeptic.

(Tribune Media Services) -- Call me a frequent-flier program skeptic.

I take a dim view of any scheme that promises you the world in exchange for all your business. Not that I don"t like sitting in first class, staying in a suite or being treated like a movie star. I mean, who doesn"t?

Having covered the travel industry for most of my career, I just don"t believe in "win-win" propositions. I think there"s a steep and often hidden price to be paid when you collect miles. The game can easily turn into an obsession that disables your common sense, compelling you to make completely irrational purchasing decisions.

Fact is, offers of "free" products, perks and preferred status in exchange for racking up points through travel or credit card purchases aren"t for everyone. They probably aren"t for you.

I won"t suggest that loyalty programs are morally wrong and that they divide travelers into haves (the ones who get to board anytime on the red carpet) and have-nots (the unlucky schlubs wedged into the middle seats), even though I could probably write an entire column on that topic.

When I say I don"t believe in "win-wins" I"m not even referring to the recent precipitous devaluations in mileage programs. For example, at the beginning of this year, Hilton "updated" its award levels for free stays, increasing the number of points you need. An exasperated reader in Philadelphia sent me the notice with the following advice for his fellow frequent guests: "Use your points -- now!"

Nor am I talking about the onerous "co-pays" that some airlines recently added for mileage redemption, like the one Perry Bird had to shell out when he recently tried to book an upgrade on a flight from Dulles International Airport to St. Martin. It used to cost 60,000 miles for a bump to business class on United Airlines. "Now, United wants my 60,000 miles and an additional $1,400 for the same upgrade," he told me. "Puhleese!"

I don"t even have a problem with the maddening terms and conditions that stipulate that the points and miles don"t belong to you and that companies reserve the right to change the rules anytime without notice. I"m not making this up. Here"s an excerpt from American Airlines" terms and conditions: "Accrued mileage credit and award tickets do not constitute property of the member. . . . American Airlines may, in its discretion, change the AAdvantage program rules, regulations, travel awards and special offers at any time with or without notice."

No, in my view, the winners obviously are the travel companies that have seduced their best customers with creature comforts that they probably ought to be giving everyone, and the losers are the elite-level lemmings, who have become blindly brand-loyal.

Don"t bother sending me hate mail. When word got around that I -- a loyalty-program atheist -- was working on a story about the value of reward programs, it didn"t take long for the true believers to offer me a piece of their mind.

"Of course they"re worth it," snapped Charles Owen, a college professor in East Lansing, Michigan. "You look at the costs and the benefits. The only cost associated with collecting miles is our decision to have a SkyMiles American Express with the associated fee. Other than that, they just accumulate, and every now and then we use them."

And use them he has, to visit Europe and the Caribbean. Owen said he takes two "free" flights a year, thanks to a credit card that allows him to collect miles, which is also known as an affinity card. Apart from the annual fee on a card, these programs appear to have no downside. Sure, there are blackout dates and restrictions, and award seats aren"t always available. But it"s a free ticket, right?

Not right. There"s more to loyalty programs than meets the eye, according to consumer advocate Jo Anne Shumard. "Cards that offer perks to consumers often do so at a premium interest rate," she warned. "I even have one for airline miles, but it"s almost three times the interest rate of my lowest credit card interest rate."

Who should participate in a loyalty program?

If you"re a managed frequent business traveler, you have my blessing. By "managed" I mean that your company works with preferred vendors, and you fly, drive and stay with a set of companies whether you want to or not.

Your loyalty isn"t for sale. Your points are just a byproduct of your business trips, and you"re far less likely to participate in irrational point-collecting or making silly mileage runs at the end of the year to qualify for coveted elite status, which entitles you to extra-special treatment when you"re on the road.

For instance, "Chairman"s Preferred"-level frequent fliers on US Airways get priority check-in, security lanes and early boarding, unlimited free upgrades in the United States, up to three free checked bags and complimentary airport club membership. Alas, to reach that level, you have to fly 100,000 miles within a calendar year (other terms also apply).

Christina Pappas, a Boston-based marketing consultant and frequent traveler, thinks it"s important that you control the miles, not the other way around. "All things being equal, I"ll try to remain loyal when possible," she told me. "But there are times when it doesn"t make sense for me to make two connections just to get my points."

If you"re an unmanaged frequent business traveler, and you want to collect points, you"re playing a dangerous game. Falling in with the wrong crowd on FlyerTalk, a popular hangout for frequent travelers, isn"t the biggest risk to you. It is, instead, making purchasing decisions that are in the interests of your program, but not you.

Bernard Pollack, a frequent traveler and loyalty program member who lives in Dakar, Senegal, and is an elite-level frequent traveler with US Airways, United, Hilton and Starwood, thinks that programs warp your perspective, often enticing you to spend more on travel or ignore better prices with a competitor.

"I don"t believe people should choose, and certainly not pay more for, certain airlines, hotels and cars because of the loyalty programs," he said.

What if you"re traveling for pleasure? If your trips are infrequent, you should stay on the sidelines, says Allison Danziger, director of TripAdvisor Flights. "One specific case is where a traveler would fly less often than the frequent flier mile expiration window for their program," she added.

"Frequent flier miles on most carriers expire after one to three years of inactivity." In other words, your miles would expire before you could use them, obviously negating any benefit.

If you"re a frequent leisure traveler, then sure, go for it, but with the same caveat I offered the unmanaged business travelers: Don"t get addicted and don"t let it control you.

Look, I could spend a couple of paragraphs talking up loyalty programs in an effort to convince you that I can be balanced on this subject. And while it"s true that these schemes aren"t without benefit, I figure that they have enough apologists already. Besides, that"s not my department; I handle the complaints.

Speaking of complaints, here"s a cautionary tale for anyone thinking of offering their loyalty to a travel company. It comes to us by way of Robin Forman, a retired librarian in Miami and a frequent leisure traveler.

She used some of the American Airlines miles that she"d collected by flying and making purchases with a Citibank MasterCard to upgrade on a flight from Brussels to Chicago. But when the flight was canceled after the recent volcanic eruption, the carrier pocketed a $350 "service charge" for using the miles.

Forman asked for a refund. "Service charges are necessary to help offset the costs associated with these transactions," an airline representative told her in an e-mail rejecting her request. "I"m sorry my response couldn"t be more positive."

Yeah, me too.

Mileage addicts may argue that people like Forman should double down and focus their loyalty on a single company. After all, top-tier elites don"t have to pay a lot of the fees that garden-variety frequent travelers do. But I see her story as a reason to reconsider loyalty programs entirely. Not to pick on American Airlines -- a lot of the legacy airlines have these annoying fees for ticket awards -- but if this is loyalty, what"s the point?

And that"s the thing: The harder you look at so-called "rewards" programs in travel, the harder it is to believe in them. They successfully entice travelers to drive, fly and stay with a particular company, giving them a level of service the companies should offer every customer.

But more often than not, the loyalty goes only one way.

(Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine. You can read more travel tips on his blog, elliott.org or e-mail him at celliott@ngs.org).

© 2010 CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

(Health.com) -- Biking for as little as five minutes a day can help women minimize weight gain as they enter middle age, especially if they"re overweight to begin with, a new study suggests.

(Health.com) -- Biking for as little as five minutes a day can help women minimize weight gain as they enter middle age, especially if they"re overweight to begin with, a new study suggests.

The study followed more than 18,000 premenopausal women between the ages of 25 and 42 for 16 years. During that time, the women gained an average of about 20.5 pounds.

Women who started biking for just five minutes a day gained about 1.5 fewer pounds over the course of the study than similar women who didn"t take up biking, the researchers found. Women who increased their daily biking by 30 minutes during the study kept even more weight off, gaining about 3.5 fewer pounds than those whose biking habits stayed the same.

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"Bicycling is an answer to weight control," says the lead author of the study, Dr. Anne Lusk, Ph.D., a research fellow in nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston. "Walking is not necessarily an answer, unless the person is walking briskly."

Indeed, Lusk and her colleagues found that women who increased the time they spent walking briskly by 30 minutes per day during the study gained about four pounds less than their peers who didn"t increase their walking. (A "brisk" pace is three miles per hour or more.) On the other hand, women who only walked slowly did not manage to prevent any weight gain.

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Women who were overweight or obese at the start of the study experienced even better results than normal-weight women when they increased their daily physical activity. Overweight women who biked for 30 extra minutes per day over the course of the study gained about seven pounds less than those who didn"t, for instance.

The findings should encourage overweight women to not give up on exercise, says Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, D.O., director of Women and Heart Disease at Lenox Hill Hospital, in New York City. "People tend to say, "I"m too fat. I can"t do it. It"s too difficult." A study like this reminds them not to give up. Do something."

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The study appears this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Previous research has shown the weight benefits of daily walking, but few studies have focused specifically on biking and none have compared walking with biking.

"A lot of information on physical activity provided to women is very general, encouraging daily activity, but not specifically what kind," says Keri Gans, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. "This study encourages an activity that is not expensive and that almost all women can easily engage in. And if a woman is presently a walker, it"s good to know that she must pick up her pace."

Biking and walking are easier than many other forms of exercise to incorporate into everyday life, Lusk points out. "[They] can be a routine part of the day, so you can get your physical activity as a normal part of the day," she says.

The study participants were all nurses and are part of a larger, national study on health and lifestyle that began in 1989. Women with physical problems that make regular exercise difficult were excluded from the current study, as were women who reported chronic health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, or cancer.

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At the start of the study, half of the participants reported walking slowly, 39 percent said they walked briskly, and 48 percent said they biked (including working out on a stationary bike).

By 2005, the average physical activity had increased slightly but remained very low overall. Participants walked briskly for just one hour per week, on average, and biked for only about 18 minutes per week. Meanwhile they sat around the house for about 2.5 hours a day.

Current guidelines recommend that adults get at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise on most days of the week, a goal that many women in the study appear to be well below.

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Individuals can"t bear all of the blame for that inactivity, Lusk and her colleagues suggest. Their physical surroundings may also be partly responsible.

Although some cities and towns have encouraged walking and biking (by adding sidewalks and bike lanes, for instance), the U.S. remains a "car-centric nation," they write.

Nine percent of commuters in the U.S. walk to work and just 0.5 percent bike, according to data cited in the study. By contrast, in the Netherlands, where the roads are more bike-friendly, 22 percent of commuters walk to work and 27 percent bike.

"We need to provide the infrastructure or facilities so that more people could comfortably bicycle," Lusk says. "In the U.S., the emphasis has been on the walking environment and not on the bicycling environment."

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Copyright Health Magazine 2010

When Jeff Allen falls and breaks his tibial plateau just before a Carnival cruise, the company offers him a 50 percent cruise credit. But he thinks the company should let him redo the cruise after his surgery. Who"s right? And is there anything he could have done to avoid losing his vacation?

When Jeff Allen falls and breaks his tibial plateau just before a Carnival cruise, the company offers him a 50 percent cruise credit. But he thinks the company should let him redo the cruise after his surgery. Who"s right? And is there anything he could have done to avoid losing his vacation?

Q: My partner and I were recently booked on a cruise to the Caribbean through Carnival Cruise Lines. It was to be our first cruise and we were so excited. Unfortunately, we had some extremely bad luck. We flew to Miami two days early to spend some time there before the cruise. That first evening, I slipped and fell on some wet plywood that had been placed in a public park.

I broke my tibial plateau into several pieces -- an injury that required immediate surgery. So we had to cancel the cruise and fly home.

We had booked the cruise through an online travel agent and they advised us that we would need to write Carnival a letter explaining the circumstances and inquiring about rescheduling the cruise or getting a refund. We did that in early May. We just found out that Carnival has decided to award us half our money back in shipboard credits if we book another cruise with them.

I find this "resolution" utterly unacceptable. I find it inconceivable that a company would willingly alienate a customer. We are not asking for special treatment; we just want to go on the vacation that we paid for. Can you help Carnival realize the error of its ways?

-- Jeff Allen, Denver, Colorado

A: Ouch. It sounds like you took a painful fall in Miami, and Carnival"s response only added insult to an agonizing injury. In a perfect world, the cruise line would have offered you either a full refund or a redo of your cruise.

Unfortunately, it"s not a perfect world. Carnival"s ticket contract -- the legal agreement between you and the cruise line -- is clear about your rights. Check out paragraph six. "No refunds will be made in the event of "no shows", unused tickets, lost tickets, interruptions, partially-used tickets, or cancellations received late or after the start of the cruise," it says, adding, "Carnival strongly recommends the purchase of trip cancellation insurance from your travel agent." (Here"s a copy of the contract on its site).

Would travel insurance have helped? Without a doubt. A fall like this would have almost certainly been covered by your policy, including your return airfare, any medical attention you received in Miami and your cruise fare. Your travel agent should have recommended a comprehensive insurance policy, and in your case, it would have been a sound investment.

I remember there was a time just after 9/11 when cruise lines routinely made exceptions to their nonrefundability rule. That"s no longer the case. There"s a good business reason why a cruise line would deny a request like yours: It can"t resell your cabin when you"re a no-show, meaning that it"s basically offering you a free cruise.

But there"s an equally compelling customer-service reason to cut you a little slack. The goodwill would go a long way to ensuring you"re a repeat cruiser. You would also tell your friends and family about how compassionate Carnival was, and that may persuade them to try a "Fun Ship" cruise.

Someone at Carnival apparently thought a compromise would work best -- neither a redo, nor an outright denial of your request. I thought it was a good offer, but could Carnival do better?

One of the hardest parts of my job is knowing when to push, or when a company has done enough. This was a borderline case, but I still thought it was worth asking Carnival about it, knowing that it had already done more for you than it would for the average no-show passenger.

When Carnival re-examined your file, it found that it had miscalculated your refund, which gave you a $545 cruise credit instead of a $528 credit. That"s the good news. The bad news? It"s sticking to a 50 percent refund toward a future cruise, arguing that if it went any further, it would "undermine the integrity of purchasing travel insurance."

I"m not sure how issuing a full credit would undermine travel insurance any more than giving you half a refund. You"re not happy with this resolution, and I"m not sure I am, either. But I think it"s Carnival"s final answer.

(Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine. You can read more travel tips on his blog, elliott.org or e-mail him at celliott@ngs.org).

COPYRIGHT 2010 CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT, DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

-- Frederick Shilmover was surfing the web for the perfect vacation when he made the impulsive decision to buy a trip out West on luxury deal site Jetsetter.com.

(CNN) -- Frederick Shilmover was surfing the web for the perfect vacation when he made the impulsive decision to buy a trip out West on luxury deal site Jetsetter.com.

"It was pretty amazing," said Shilmover, a recent Harvard business school graduate. "We ended up paying $390 a night for a 3,000-square-foot house with a hot tub, big kitchen, like 10 flat screens, fireplace, porches ..."

Shilmover, his wife and a friend spent three nights at the Resort at Paws Up outside of Missoula, Montana, in May.

"The resort picked us up from the airport and told us that, what"s his name, Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones, was there before," he said.

"We felt like we were in a place that we didn"t necessarily deserve to be. But it was great."

In-the-know travelers are likely to find more great deals on websites such as Jetsetter, Luxury Link and Tablet Hotels. These and other specialty sites offer high-class getaways at prices that make it easier to travel in style without designer costs.

The weak economy has played into creating more savings opportunities for customers.

"We have 25 percent more hotels participating on our site than we did a year ago, and that"s a direct reflection of the economy," said Diane McDavitt, president of Luxury Link.

Hotels in the luxury segment have "been hit a little harder than the other segments, and their occupancy is not what they want it to be. So they"re looking for creative ways to reach their consumer. Like our site. It"s a little bit of a perfect storm," McDavitt said.

But how are these websites able to provide prices they say most travel sites can"t? For some, exclusivity is key.

"One of the main reasons we are able to offer such low rates on our private sales is because it is actually private; the rates aren"t public for anyone to see on the Internet," said Lindsey Smolan, marketing specialist for Tablet Hotels, an online travel agency and booking site that features luxury hotels.

Jetsetter founder and CEO Drew Patterson attributes his site"s success to much the same thing.

"It"s an invitation-only community," he said. "Our sales only last for just a couple of days, and we have limited amounts of inventory. All those factors mean that hotels are comfortable giving us certain prices."

To become a member on Jetsetter, you must either be invited by another member or submit your name to be placed on a waiting list. Once you are a member, you"ll receive weekly e-mails describing upcoming sales, which are then posted for five to seven days. It"s these attributes that attract luxury properties.

"Jetsetters is a private, short-term sale, which makes it appealing for luxury hotels. The rates are exclusive to Jetsetter members only and not available to the general public," said Paul Sposare, director of sales and marketing at Bardessono, a luxury hotel in Napa Valley.

Other sites, such as Luxury Link, don"t require buyers to be invited members.

"We"ve worked with many of these hotels for all of our 13 years. We work with them to create a special package." McDavitt said. "The hotel is doing it because they"re interested in exposing their property to a specific audience, and the effect of that is that we"ve got all these terrific opportunities available to the consumer."

Much of Luxury Link"s inventory consists of package deals.

A buy-now package could include three nights in a luxury suite in Hawaii for two -- with gourmet breakfast daily, one three-course dinner for two and wine with appetizers every evening for just under $1,000 total. Or it might be four nights for two at the Carlton in New York for $1,500.

Luxury Link sells vacations two ways: through auction or immediate purchase for travelers with less flexibility.

"On average with our auctions, a consumer can save 50 percent off the regular rate, but sometimes they can be saving 65 percent," McDavitt said.

Many resorts have had difficulty filling rooms during off-season, said John Romfo, director of sales and marketing at Paws Up.

"When I say the economy has affected us," he said, "it really, really affected our shoulder season, so that"s when we had to decide to reach out."

Romfo said that travel agencies know their clients aren"t interested in buying shoulder season rooms, so hotels must look for additional outlets for marketing.

In most cases, resorts don"t want their low prices advertised all over the Internet, so they turn to sites that require member access or hide their prices in a package deal.

"They look at Jetsetter in a way that"s different than how they look at, say, Expedia," Patterson said.

And so maybe should the average traveler.

Consider the Gansevoort South, a block-long resort by the ocean in Miami"s South Beach with a roof-top pool and notoriously expensive dining. On Jetsetter, the Deluxe City View room, which houses four, costs $135 a night. A recent search for the same property and dates on Expedia and Hotels.com yielded a rate of $215.

Looking for something even more exotic?

How about the Desert Islands Resort & Spa by Anantara, located on an island five miles of the coast of Abu Dhabi, UAE. Based on a recent search, it"ll cost you $354 without taxes for the Deluxe Seaview Room on both Expedia and Hotels.com. On Tablet you could purchase one night in the Deluxe Suite for $205.

So perhaps it is a good time to take that vacation of your dreams.

(Tribune Media Services) -- Renting a reliable vacation home isn"t easy.

(Tribune Media Services) -- Renting a reliable vacation home isn"t easy.

And not just because there are a seemingly endless number of rental resources to turn to -- everything from local sites that list a few condos to big listing services like HomeAway.com or VRBO.com.

For me, it"s the politics.

This summer, for example, I told my mother that I planned to rent a condo on the beach. Within two days, my sister and brother had invited themselves over, boosting our numbers from five to more than 30.

A rental home can save you a lot of money when you"re on vacation, but this one would almost certainly cost me a lot more.

There are an estimated 1 million vacation rentals in the United States, roughly half of which are available to the general public, according to numbers from The National Association of Realtors and FlipKey.com.

A recent PhoCusWright study estimated vacation rentals were a $24.3 billion-a-year market, while a Ypartnership survey suggested interest in renting a home was on the rise, with 14 percent of leisure travelers saying they stayed in one in 2009, up from 11 percent a year earlier.

Renting a home for 30 isn"t like booking a hotel room, or even a vacation cottage for a family of five.

"The consistent challenge we hear from travelers is predictability," says TJ Mahony, the chief executive of FlipKey.com, a vacation rental site. "People tend to know what they are going to get from a hotel, but can have anxiety over the quality of a vacation rental."

I asked experts to identify the biggest challenges when renting a home. Here"s what they told me:

1. Knowing what you want. Prioritize your rental. That"s the advice of Teresa Bell Kindred, a blogger and frequent home renter. "You are going to pay more for certain things. Decide what is really important to you," she says. Her family loves the ocean, so they don"t mind paying more to be right on the beach. But if you don"t mind being a few blocks away from the water, you can save money. Be sure you stay within your budget. "If you spend all your money on rental property and can"t afford groceries you may get hungry before you get back home," she warns.

2. Timing your purchase. If you"re in town for a special event, like a sports tournament or festival, it"s never too soon to book a vacation rental. "Vacation rentals are more scarce than hotels and great vacation properties are even scarcer," says Chris Brusznicki, the chief executive of GamedayHousing.com, a site that specializes in rentals for sports events. But if there"s no reason to be in town, you can run down the clock. One terrific new site that allows you to bid on "last-minute" vacation rentals is a site called PackLate.

3. Finding out what you"re renting. It probably goes without saying that you need to do your due diligence on a rental. "Do your homework," says Sylvia Guarino, who owns a rental home on Sanibel Island, Florida (one of my favorite places) and a member of Second Porch, a Facebook application that connects vacation rental owners and vacation guests.

"Vacation rental guests sometimes get too focused on getting a deal, and not focused enough on getting the information that they need, or authenticating the property. "How do you authenticate a property? Look at every piece of information available to you, including the owner"s site, the vacation rental site, online reviews and what you find on social networking sites, like Facebook. Be sure the property is in good shape, is as represented and isn"t in foreclosure.

4. Finding out who you"re renting from. "Research the owner, not just the home," says Kelly Hayes-Raitt, who owns a rental property in Santa Monica, California. She includes a link to her Web site and biography in every correspondence with potential guests, "not just so they realize they are supporting my work with refugees, but so they learn they are dealing with someone who has been active in her community for 30 years and not likely to cheat them," she says. Not every owner is as forthcoming as Hayes-Raitt, but if someone is reclusive, it might be a warning sign.

5. Determining if the rental is part of an association or destination. That can make a big difference, according to Jon Ervin, a spokesman for the Cottage Rental Agency in Seaside, Florida. "Imagine you rent from Mr. and Mrs. Jones -- nice enough people, but what if your air conditioning quits or some other concern arises?" he asks. "You most likely are going to have to work through the issue for your entire stay." Not if your rental is part of an association. There"s someone on call to help in situations like that. My family rented a home at the WaterColor Inn & Resort in nearby Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, during the Christmas holidays, and we found that to be good advice.

6. Becoming a power user. For example, VRBO.com allows you to filter search results by area, bedrooms and the number of people it can sleep. That helped Kellie Pelletier find a vacation rental in Charleston, South Carolina, for her family. VRBO also shows which homes are available on your preferred dates. "So I didn"t waste my time researching and contacting houses that were already booked for my week," she says. Pelletier knows a thing or two about being a power user. She used to work for Kayak.com, the booking site. "House rental sites are years, if not decades, behind other travel sites," she complains. "Please, won"t somebody launch the Kayak of rental house sites?"

7. Avoiding group-think. Extended families like mine should be broken up into smaller housing units, such as adjoining condos, as opposed to fitting them into one house. It gives everyone more privacy and is easier on the finances, because you don"t have to argue over the bill at the end. "Sometimes a big house works for some families," says Carol White, who runs a Web site about road trips. "But not others."

8. Reviewing the contract very carefully. You"re not checking into a hotel; this is more like renting an apartment. Watch for contract language, such as cleaning options. Frank Discala, who owns a rental property in Nantucket Town, Massachusetts, gives his tenants two options: either clean up after themselves, "Or they can leave the place without cleaning up and lose their $500 deposit," he says. "Ouch! No one has ever taken that option." (Discala knows about contracts; he"s a lawyer.)

9. Staying flexible. Remember, you"re renting an apartment or house -- not a room in a hotel. "Some things may go wrong," warns Pauline Kenny, a vacation rental expert who runs a site called Slow Europe. "The plumbing may stop working, the kitchen stove runs out of gas. Some things may not be perfect -- you bump your head repeatedly on that low doorway, the couch is orange, the parking space is almost impossible to get into." That"s life in a vacation rental. "Suck it up and live with it," she says.

Needless to say, renting a vacation home has its challenges. "The process for finding a vacation rental home is more involved and sometimes even difficult," says Christine Karpinski, a director for HomeAway.com. "You have to not only search for the home, but you also have to email to inquire whether or not it is available and for a full quote. Sometimes the process can take a couple hours and sometimes it can take a week of back-and-forth with the homeowners. But the reward at the end is wonderful."

I hope she"s right. I"ll let you know what happens this summer.

(Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine. You can read more travel tips on his blog, elliott.org or e-mail him at celliott@ngs.org).

© 2010 CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

(Tribune Media Services) -- Some travelers are surprised when I tell them to consider biking in Europe. I explain that it"s not only a cheap way to travel, but it gets you close to the ground and close to the people.

(Tribune Media Services) -- Some travelers are surprised when I tell them to consider biking in Europe. I explain that it"s not only a cheap way to travel, but it gets you close to the ground and close to the people.

Whether you rent a bicycle for a day in a bike-friendly city like Copenhagen, or decide to pedal across France for a month, you"ll experience a more local side of Europe that many travelers rarely see.

While my schedule usually won"t allow a weeklong pedal in the Loire Valley, I"ll often do day trips.

Whenever I"m in Amsterdam, much of my experience is framed by my black bike handlebars: the shiny wet cobbles, powering up a bridge to coast down it and halfway to the next bridge, getting pinged by passing bikes and pinging my bell to pass others. Cars, trams, bikers, and pedestrians seem to float by from all directions in silence -- their sounds lost in the white noise of this dreamy city.

I feel local, efficient, and even smug with my trusty and well-fitted bike. Especially during rush hour, I can get across town faster on my bike than I could by taxi or tram, giving me more time to spend at the sights.

Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin, Salzburg, Munich, and Bruges are also a delight on two wheels, offering an extensive network of well-marked bike lanes. Some cities have creative programs where hundreds of free or very cheap loaner bikes are locked to racks around town.

While this sounds handy, the system is designed mostly for residents to grab a bike for a quick errand, and can pose a challenge for tourists. Also, these bikes are very basic, sometimes in disrepair, and often plastered with ads. If you"re serious about biking, pay to rent a good one from a shop instead.

For a quick but meaningful spin around town, consider a bicycle tour. Guided tours are popular in cities throughout Europe (including Amsterdam, Bruges, Paris, Munich, Berlin, and Budapest). You"ll get a young, entertaining, sometimes foul-mouthed, sometimes informative guide who"ll give you a breezy introduction to the city and a close-up look at back streets few tourists ever see.

Biking in the countryside (using a small town as a springboard) is extremely popular in Europe. Thanks to the law of supply and demand, you can generally count on finding rental shops wherever there are good bike-tripping options: along the Danube, the Rhine, and other idyllic river valleys; around Ireland"s Dingle Peninsula; on Greek islands; and in the Alps for mountain biking on service roads.

If you"re interested in long-distance biking, you need to define what part of Europe you want to experience, and then decide whether your bicycle will be your key to freedom, or an albatross around your neck. For example, if you have the entire summer free, you and your bike can cover a lot of ground. But if you have a month or less, will you be content to focus on a single country or region?

Given what you want to see in the time you have, is the slow pace of bicycling a worthwhile trade-off for the benefits? And finally, do you want to spend much more of your time in rural and small-town Europe than in cities?

If you"re convinced that a long-distance trip is right for you, consider bringing your bike from home. Bikes are less expensive in the United States, and you"ll know the bike works well for you. Don"t forget to bring the tools you"ll need to get your bike back into riding form, so you can ride straight out of your European airport.

Smart bikers travel very light. Unless you really love camping, staying in hostels, hotels, or B&Bs makes more sense, since it frees you from lugging around a tent, sleeping bag, and cooking equipment. Don"t be a purist.

Taking your bike on a train can greatly extend the reach of your trip, since every hour by rail saves a day that would have been spent in the saddle (and there"s nothing so sweet as taking a train away from the rain and into a sunny place).

I find having a bike parked in the garden of my hotel is a great way to fit in and literally "go local." Europeans love bicycles, and they are often genuinely impressed when they encounter Americans who reject the view from the tour-bus window in favor of huffing and puffing on two wheels. Your bike provides an instant conversation piece, the perfect bridge over a maze of cultural and language barriers.

(Rick Steves (www.ricksteves.com) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at rick@ricksteves.com.)

COPYRIGHT 2010 RICK STEVES, DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.