Leave your garlic at home: fans of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series and the subsequent movies take to the high seas next year when the first Twilight Cruise and Convention at Sea sets sail in August 2010.

Offered by a new company called Cruises Cruises Cruises, the Seattle-to-Juneau trip August 8-15 already has two Cullen RSVPs—Alice and Emmett (uh, Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene to you). On-board activities include movie viewings as the sequel "New Moon" should be out on DVD by then, a costume ball and trivia contests. Is it too much to hope for vampire baseball too?

"Twihards" with extra time can opt in on a 4-day bus tour beforehand that will take them to Forks and La Push, Washington, which both feature prominently in Twilight and were used as sets for the first movie before production. But start saving your allowance now: cabins on the cruise start at $1049 for a double, with the bus tour at $449.

For a moment we thought vampires actually couldn't get wet, but wait, that's witches. Still, how will a night-dwelling people protect their sparkly skin on the high seas? Pack your SPF 5,000!

Related Stories:
· Twilight fans get chance to cruise with vampire film stars [Guardian.co.uk]
· Alaska Twilight Cruise and Convention at Sea [Twilight Fans Cruise]
· Twilight coverage [Jaunted]

[Still from "Twilight" of Edward Cullen and some chick: SIlive.com] ]]> egw 2009-06-09T14:02:08-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/4/5/232811/2159

Arthur Frommer may have dissed cruising this week by stating his horror at "the transformation of the cruise ship to an amusement park," and John Mayer has just disembarked from his ownbooze cruise, but gimmick cruises will soldier on. Who will be next to pack in the fans and pack on the pounds? Leave it to classy Crystal Cruises to appeal to a higher palate by sending celebrity chef Nobuyuki "Nobu" Matushisa out to sea for 12 days and 7 specially-prepared dinners.

For a starting price of $6,640 per person on the Crystal Serenity's July 12 "Byzantine Accolades" sailing, amateur gourmands will be treated to these seven "Omakase," or chef's choice, meals personally prepared by the man himself in his ship-board restaurant Silk Road. Don't forget to haul your Nobu cookbooks aboard either, as Matsuhisa will be signing at sea and giving cooking demonstrations so that when you return to dry land, your sushi skills don't dry up.

Although we don't exactly think of five-star Asian cuisine when we see an itinerary like this one, which hops around Italy, Greece and Turkey, we wouldn't mind not having to worry about the bill as we eat our fill. So long as the sea is calm, we're down with shoveling down the priciest sashimi regardless.

Related Stories:
· Nobu Crystal Cruise Itinerary [Official Site]
· Travel Guru Arthur Frommer: 'I'm horrified by what cruise ships are becoming' [USA Today]
· 'Vom'd the First Night' :: Mayercraft 2 is a Success [Jaunted]
· Cruises Coverage [Jaunted]

[Crystal Serenity Photo: Trondheim Havn; Nobu photo: Daylife/Getty]]]> JetSetCD 2009-04-06T12:56:33-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/30/105819/175

Unfortunately, we didn't manage to finagle our way onto the Mayercraft Carrier II, the much talked about celebrity cruise involving and inspired by singer John Mayer and his most passionate fans. But while the boat's still out at sea until tomorrow, reports are trickling back to land, despite onboard tweeters being slapped with roaming charges.

The trip so far, according to John: There were toasts, ill-advised songwriting sessions and collegiate cliché-forming and all of it was very busy. Mayer may or may not be headed to bed right now after "DJing" with iTunes till 7AM.

The trip so far, according to other tweeters:
· "Vom'd the first night. Success!" --urka21
· "Yoga, swim, lay out, water slide, live bands --- life is good on Mayercraft" - hotasmiah13
· "I woke up on the balcony of a room on cruise ship...funny thing is I don't have a balcony in my room." -JayTayLIVE
· "Soft serve ice cream is 4 decks up! Have to keep moving chair for perfect tan..." --MjBubbles
· "Mayercraft tip: Don't fall asleep on top of the TV remote. My back's aching and I accidentally ordered "Horton Hears a Who" on demand." --carlmayer, John's brother, who apparently prefers towel animals to tour dates?

]]> egw 2009-03-30T11:11:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/13/153015/736

After the 2008 election, it was conservatives, not liberals, who joked about fleeing the country which they saw as having turned on them to elect President Barack Obama. The impulse is to go somewhere and start over -- really, anywhere will do where conservative ideals can take pride of place again and no one will argue with you about who you voted for.

If this sounds like your dream, you can live it on Holland America's National Review Cruise this summer. Spend 10 days in the Greek Isles with great thinkers like former UN Ambassador John Bolton, former Delaware governor Pete DuPont and, yes, Bush White House insider Karl Rove. Hey, we hear the man raps!

Activities in which you can rub shoulders with these guys and National Review editors as well, who should feel lucky to work at the magazine with the best perk ever, will include onboard yoga and outings to places like Olympia and Santorini.

Related Stories:
· Event Highlights [NRCruise.com]
· Presidential Family Wedding Hits Texas In '08 [Jaunted]
· Cruising with Celebs coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: NYTimes.com]]]> egw 2009-03-18T08:40:56-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/13/154837/645

We confess we're not all that familiar with "Star Trek," the popular sci-fi franchise that gave us William Shatner and "Beam me up, Scotty!" But we can understand the impulse to get together with megafans and geek out together on vacation -- after all, you already know you have something in common with your fellow passengers.

We can't tell you whether the Enterprise was ever used as a pleasure boat, so "Star Trek" megafans will have to settle for Royal Caribbean's Star Trek Cruise of the Mexican Riviera. ]]> egw 2009-03-17T16:31:10-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/11/112258/929

A lot of cruises offer snorkeling or other underwater entertainment as part of your ticket price. But what's there to see, and how will you know what you're looking at? Regent Seven Seas Cruises solves that problem by taking aboard Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of the famous underwater ecologist who was the inspiration for Bill Murray's character in "The Life Aquatic."

The Mumbai-to-Cape Town includes a whopping nine days at sea, but that just means more opportunities to spot local wildlife under the sea. Cousteau will give lectures and show slideshows of his adventures with dad Jacques and carrying on his legacy, and a travel photographer will offer pointers on how to get the best pictures of that gorgeous coral.

True, a 19-night cruise pushes the limits of what most allotments of vacation days can provide. But you have time now to start hoarding your days off! Besides, everyone's still going on cruises, right?

Related Stories:
· 19-Night India and Africa Cruise [Signature Travel Network]
· Also on Regent Seven Seas: Relive the Moon Landing on the High Seas [Jaunted]
· Cruising with Celebs coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: detroitsunrise]]]> egw 2009-03-11T13:56:18-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/4/162052/3393

Sometimes we wonder what convinces stars to get on a boat with their biggest fans and go somewhere. But in this week's Cruising with Celebs, we can see it perfectly: He gets the offer sitting at a sidewalk cafe with one foot in the air. He tilts his remarkably large head to one side and then, with a pucker of the eyebrow, he thinks, Why not? Could be a right pleasant jaunt. At least we assume that's how it went down when Silversea Cruises approached John Lithgow about climbing aboard its Scandinavian-Russian adventure this July. ]]> egw 2009-03-04T16:34:15-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/