Royal Caribbean is working on a what should be the largest cruise ship in the world. The ship, called Project genesis, is scheduled to launch in 2009. The ship will carry 5,400 passengers and will have 16 decks.

The most unusual aspect of the design is a park like interior with green plants. Many of the staterooms will have balconies over looking this area.

Popularity: 61% [?]

What’s the worst news a parent can receive? That would have to be that your child is dead. But what if that news is incorrect?

The Daily Telegraph reports:

Briton Chris Miller was told a flight carrying his partner and children had landed in India because another passenger had fallen ill, the BBC reported.

He also learnt his children had been taken for treatment for chicken pox.

But when the other passenger, a 22-year-old male backpacker, died, staff from the Emirates airline contacted Mr Miller by mistake.

Mr Miller said on the BBC that a staff member had passed on details for “the undertakers dealing with the body”.

The British father said he was stunned and a wave of grief and disbelief swept over him.

Popularity: 57% [?]

Budget Travel reports a surprising development at Walt Disney World. Something free from Disney? Cool.

For the last few years, Walt Disney World has offered free dining plans in September to entice visitors during a notoriously slow month. Well, Disney announced yesterday that the Disney Dining Plan will once again be offered free with select vacation packages. If you stay at one of Disney’s “value” or “moderate” category resorts—or at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa—between Aug. 24 and Sept. 20, 2008, and you book a 5-night “Magic Your Way” package (at a starting price of about $1,300 for a family of four), then they’ll throw in the dining plan for free. The plan ordinarily costs $38 per day per adult.

Popularity: 68% [?]

As I get ready for my upcoming trip to London I have been doing my homework and stumbled across this video that is a great overview of the monuments in London that are related to the great London fire.

Starting at Monument and winding along the streets of the city towards Spitalfields, this walk follows the journey of the fire of 1666 through some of the most atmospheric spots in London.

Popularity: 42% [?]

I stumbled across this video of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. This beautiful building that was built by the Eastern Roman empire had a great influence later on the style of the Imperial Ottoman mosques. If you have listened to the Amateur Traveler then you have already heard how much I loved my trip to Istanbul last year. One of the parts of the trip that I truly enjoyed was the visit to Hagia Sophia.

Popularity: 36% [?]