Writing this from the first session of Seatrade 2008: "Europe as Destination and Source Market."

Oof. It's such an interesting topic, but instead we have people reading statistics from press releases ... and blithely asserting that year-round cruising in Europe is a great idea. (Supporting market research, anyone? Plausible estimation of yields vs. other destinations? Ha!)

Maybe I'm too tropical, but for my taste the Med in after mid-October = Brrrr. Northern Europe after mid-September = Frostbite.

True, NCL is putting Norwegian Jade into the Med year-round. But consider the vast sums they previously spent on that same ship to outfit her for US-flagged Hawaii sailings, which they then gave up on.

Let's just say I don't automatically jump on NCL's bandwagon.

(And yes, I'm jet lagged and cranky.)