MSN: 9 Signs You Picked the Wrong Cruise Line

Above, the pool deck of a Bahamas-bound cruise ship. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It is funny that many cruise lines are adding humongous cruise ships to their fleets what can carry 5,000 people or more. Some have capacities of 7,600. The reason that is funny (not in a good way) is one of the most frequent voiced complaints about cruise lines is overcrowding.

Taking a cruise is not my favorite mode of travel. I've only been on three cruises. The first was to Alaska. The second was to Cuba. The third was to the Bahamas. Each one were taken on ships that were older and had passenger capacities of under 3,000. I did not feel overcrowded in any of them.

Being stuck on a ship with hordes of people in close quarters makes those ships floating petri dishes with germs passed around by passengers. I caught a bug on two of three cruises I took. 

MSN posted a slideshow article on 9 signs you picked the wrong cruise line. 

They begin it with:

Several major cruise lines have faced passenger dissatisfaction due to overcrowding, aging ships, and inconsistent service. Common complaints include safety concerns, added fees for dining and room service, and underwhelming shore excursions. Travelers also report that certain cabin upgrades and cruise-booked activities may not provide good value for the extra cost.

To read more, go here. 

Kyoto Implementing More Tourist Rules

Above, a Gion street near Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto still allowing tourists. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Kyoto has been putting up with overcrowding and misbehaving tourists for some time. Now they are starting to crack down.

The city is implementing more rules for tourists. They include bans on tourists entering the Gion geisha private alleys not far from Kiyomizu-dera.

Travel + Leisure reported:

The Japanese city of Kyoto is banning tourists from some private alleys in its geisha district.

The city will place signs in both English and Japanese around the area, called Gion, warning tourists to stay clear as well as fine anyone who doesn’t listen, The Associated Press reported. The fine will amount to 10,000 yen ($67.97). 

The public streets in Gion will remain open.

“We are going to put up signs in April that tell tourists to stay out of our private streets,” local district official Isokazu Ota told the wire service.

The decision to ban visitors from these blocks comes as the city has dealt with overcrowding and misbehaving tourists, the AP noted.

This isn’t the first time Kyoto has tried to protect geisha, the women who dress up in traditional kimonos and makeup and perform for customers while they dine. In 2015, the city handed out pamphlets warning against “nuisance activities,” which included taking photos of geisha, CNN reported. And in 2019, Gion again put up signs prohibiting photography and warning of potential fines.

To read more, go here. 

Why Are U.S. National Parks Crowded?

Above, Yosemite's Half Dome from Yosemite Valley. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

National parks are enjoying more popularity than ever. This is resulting in congestion in the more popular parks. There's just too many people.

Weather conditions are another factor in crowds.

This is the topic of a new article in Travel Weekly.

They begin it with:

Despite a drop-off in visitation this summer, overcrowding and congestion still dampened the visitor experience at many U.S. national parks. 

But this time, Mother Nature was mostly to blame. 

Yellowstone and Yosemite were among the parks where extensive traffic and long lines at entrances were a problem, despite a decrease in visitation compared with summer 2022. And while several factors were at play, the main one was the residual effects of last year's harsh winter and record snowfall in much of the Western U.S. 

"There have been some significant weather challenges in snowfall and precipitation, which forced prolonged road closures in the region," said Jonathan Farrington, CEO of the Yosemite Mariposa County Tourism Bureau in California.

 To read more, go here.

Yosemite Crowded With No Reservation System

Above, no long lines at a Yosemite entrance gate in the off-season. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

There is one big reason why I prefer visiting national parks during the off-season: no crowds!

It seems that in recent years (during and since the pandemic), more people are heading off to "get away from it all" at a national park with hordes of others. It is even worse during holiday weekends.

At least during the off-season, while there are people present, there isn't hordes of them. I had an enjoyable time in Yosemite National Park in April 2016. I made camping reservations months before and there were no crowds when I got there.

Above, no crowded viewpoint parking areas in Yosemite during the off-season. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Unfortunately, as there is no reservation system in place to enter Yosemite, massive crowds and lines of cars were the result.

This presented a problem recently during the Juneteenth holiday weekend. Either people had to wait four hours to enter Yosemite and/or being turned away at the entrance gate.

From SFGATE: 

When friends and family visit John Stone and his wife, Sandy, at their home in Groveland, a gateway town about a 30-minute drive from Yosemite National Park, they like to bring their guests into the park. They’ve been doing this for upward of 40 years, and it’s always been enjoyable, Stone said, but all that changed over the Juneteenth holiday weekend.

Stone’s cousin and nephew were in town, and when the group tried to enter the park Saturday morning at 10 a.m., they couldn’t get in.

“It was stop and go, stop and go, stop and go,” Stone says of the wait at the Big Oak Flat entrance along Highway 120. “And finally, the cars coming back down the hill were waving at us, telling us that we had to turn around, that they were turning around people at the gate. So we didn’t stay in line any longer.”

 To read more, go here.

National Parks: You May Need Advance Reservations and Permits

Above, at Manzanita Lake Campground at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The days of spontaneously going to a national park without camping reservations are pretty much a thing of the past. In some cases, spontaneously just going to a park is also becoming a thing of the past.

I have gotten lucky in getting campsites at two national parks over the past few years without making any reservations: Joshua Tree National Park and Lassen Volcanic National Park.

But since the pandemic, our national parks are getting more crowded and in order to control crowd numbers to protect the parks, some are requiring reservations even to just enter the park.

That is the subject of a CNBC post.

They begin with:

National park tourism is booming. But an idyllic adventure into the great outdoors can be derailed by overlooking an important aspect of trip planning: advance permits and reservations.

Some of the most frequently visited parks require people to book ahead for access to popular attractions like heavily trafficked hikes, roads and campgrounds. Some require advance tickets for full park entry.

What this means: Travelers can’t necessarily bank on showing up spontaneously to a national park and getting the experience they desire. Fail to secure this paperwork, which is typically free but can carry a processing fee of as little as $2, and you might not even get in. Since reservations can be in high demand, it’s necessary to plan ahead.

To read more, go here. 

National Parks Requiring Summer Reservations

Above, The Watchman at Zion National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

There's nothing wrong with the U.S. national parks. Well, except some have infrastructure issues due to funding neglect stretching over years. The problem rests with the stark fact that there's just too many people wanting to visit them.

The problem increased during the pandemic as they were seen as a way to get out of government-imposed restrictions and quarantines.

The National Park Service had to take action and implement reservation systems to control crowds.

There are some national parks requiring reservations this summer and Travel + Leisure has posted an article on which.

They it begin with:

Nothing says summer like being in the great outdoors, and a trip to a national park is one of the best ways to do that. This year, several popular national parks are implementing reservation systems to control crowds. (For reference, there were more than 311 million visitors to U.S. national parks last year alone, according to the National Park Service.)

From Acadia National Park in Maine to Haleakalā National Park in Hawaii, national parks are increasingly rolling out these advanced reservations and building on the success of similar systems in past years. 

These are the national parks that will require a reservation this summer, and how to make one.

To read more, go here. 

9 National Parks To Require Reservations In 2023

Above, Bridalveil Fall in Yosemite National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Our national parks are more popular than ever. 

Over the past several years, people have been visiting them in higher numbers. The pandemic made attendance even higher.

This exposed them to overcrowding. This is a problem as it is the National Park Service's duty to protect them and having more people to contend with makes that duty more difficult.

Nine of our national parks are instituting a permanent reservation system to manage the influx of visitors.

From Fox 11 Los Angeles:

The COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns resulted in millions of stir-crazy Americans getting out of their houses the first chance they got and actually spending quality time outdoors, including at national parks. 

But the sudden influx of visitors at the nation's most historic natural sites caused a huge strain on the entire National Park infrastructure. The requirement of reservations soon became the new norm in order to handle the record-breaking traffic. 

Some parks have decided to drop their reservation requirements, but some have decided to the new system maybe should have been in place a long time ago. 

Of the 63 major National Parks in the U.S., nine are requiring some type of reservation on top of entrance fees in 2023. 

1. Acadia National Park, Maine

2. Arches National Park, Utah

3. Glacier National Park, Montana

4. Haleakala National Park, Hawaii

5. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

6. Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

7. Yosemite National Park, California 

8. Zion National Park, Utah

9. Muir Woods National Monument, California 

To read more, go here. 

Avoiding Crowded Campgrounds

Above, last week at the Ouray, Colorado KOA Kampground. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

With very rare exceptions, I have had no problems with the campgrounds I've stayed at, crowded or not. For me, if the campsites are more on the spacious side, crowded campground have not been a problem.

I recently stayed at the Ouray KOA Kampground. It was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. When I made my last-minute reservations, there were only three sites available. 

As I have stayed there before, I was familiar with the spaciousness of the sites. The site I stayed in was spacious enough and it was not in a crowded section of the campground. I got lucky!

RV Life has an article on how to avoid crowded campgrounds.

They begin with:

It’s safe to say there are few people who like going camping in crowded campgrounds. Most of us camp to get away from the noise and hubbub of day-to-day life.

The problem is that camping is more popular than ever because more people have discovered RV camping in recent years. It seems everyone wants to get away in their RV these days. This is leading to more competition than ever to get a campsite. 

We’re also seeing crowded campgrounds full of the very hustle and bustle we are trying to escape. Luckily, we’ve found five ways to avoid crowded campgrounds so you really get away from it all in your RV. 

To read more, go here. 

Campground Crowding or Not?

Above, the Ouray, Colorado KOA in September 2020. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

In recent months, RV Travel has been reporting on campground crowding, including the issue of people making reservations for campsites and not showing up to use them, thereby keeping the sites from being available to others.

One reader takes issue with what's been reported. He found the opposite to be true during a 6,000 mile trip around the western U.S.

The article posted in today's RV Travel newsletter begins with:

We recently got an email from a reader named Drew. Drew and his family had just completed a more than 6,000-mile RV trip around the West. In a gentle chide, he used his trip experiences to point out something we might have missed. “You have been crying about RV overcrowding for three years (or more) and there is definitely some of that. But every RV park we stayed in along the way—and there were many with many different brands—there were always open spaces. Even in the KOA next to Mount Rushmore. Some were actually almost empty!” It got us to thinking: Are campgrounds suddenly uncrowded? 

To read more, go here. 

National Parks Aren't As Crowded As They Appear Online

Above, Bright Angel Trail below Grand Canyon Village. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

With the "surge" in RV sales and rentals during these pandemic years, there was concern that the influx of more people into our national parks would crowd them and damage the parks' ecosystems.

Recently, RV Travel correspondent Emily Woodbury took a trip to some Southwest national parks and reported her findings in a new article.

She begins with:

A couple of weeks ago I told you I was worried about visiting two of the most popular National Parks, Zion and the Grand Canyon, and plenty of other popular sights and destinations along the way. I was worried. And, in all honesty, I was being a grump about it. Sure, I knew I could wake up early enough to beat the crowds on the most popular trail on my list, but what about all the other trails and sights? By the time I finished the first one, the rest would be swarmed.

Going into this trip, I expected the worst. I really did. I braced myself for crowds, trash, children breaking rules, adults breaking rules… But you know what? I was pleasantly surprised.

To read more, go here. 

Visitors Are Overcrowding National Parks Like Yellowstone and Yosemite

Above, Yosemite's Bridalveil Fall. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Sometimes, like in this instance, I have to wonder where people's common sense went to.

I understand wanting to get out into the Great Outdoors, but people should know that everyone including their dog Spot will heading out to national parks in droves. Who can enjoy themselves with thousands of others crowding viewpoints, trails, restaurants, lodges, campgrounds, visitor centers, parking lots and other facilities and features? And that doesn't include long lines at park gates of people waiting to get in. It makes no sense to me. Who wants to be packed in like sardines in misery?

According to CBS News:

Having sat at home for much of 2020 because of the pandemic, Americans are heading out in droves to national parks like Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, and Yosemite National Park in California.

Overcrowding in recent weeks has prompted park officials to launch online reservation systems at places like Maine's Acadia National Park, Montana's Glacier National Park, Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park and Zion Natural Park in Utah. In locations without reservation systems, parkgoers say they've discovering few to no parking spaces, 4-hour wait times to enter and increased litter along park trails. 

It is my preference to visit national parks during the off-season to avoid crowds anyway. But that's during normal years. But this is much worse.

To read more, go here. 

National Parks Who Require Reservations To Visit

Above, a cloud-shrouded Yosemite Valley. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Control freaks running some of our national parks are now requiring advance reservations by day visitors in order to visit them. That means one has to pay in advance the privilege to visit certain parks.

Allegedly, this is for social distancing and overcrowding.

Lonely Planet has posted an article on ones that are requiring reservations.

They begin it with:

Outdoor adventures and nature pursuits have gained in popularity in the US due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in national parks seeing a boom in visitation numbers.

As a result, several parks are implementing ticketed entry systems for day visitors to facilitate social distancing and prevent overcrowding. Visitors should bear in mind that most tickets will have to be purchased in advance. Here are the details of the requirements from some of the country's popular parks.

To read more, go here.