I just had a chat with a girlfriend who is planning a large family reunion onboard a cruise ship. Her travel agent told her that she doesn’t need to take anything into account except the size of the ship, because the bigger the ship, the more there is for everyone to do and the less chance she has of getting seasick.

What a load of bull! Forgive my bluntness, but this is the kind of nonsense that makes me loathe the entire travel agent-cruise ship web of marketing lies.

First of all, a lot of things can contribute to seasickness. It’s not the size of the ship that matters, but how it’s built (a boat can be small but heavy, or small with top-notch stabilizers). And it’s not just how the ship is built, but also where it cruises (along a coastline is calmer than crisscrossing the Caribbean Sea, for instance). Then there’s the matter of whether your cabin offers access to fresh air, a view of the horizon… lots and lots of things.

Second, that comment about bigger ships offering more to do just makes my blood boil. Bigger ships do offer more places to go while onboard the boat–where the cruise ship holds you and your money hostage–but bigger ships actually reduce the options you have in ports of call because there are such huge crowds jamming into so few available excursions. Plus, the biggest ships need more time for all the passengers to disembark and then get back onboard, so the actual time in each port is often cut shorter. Talk about less to do!

Third, the fact that this travel agent wants my friend to believe that she needs to consider nothing more than the ship’s size is the biggest load of you-know-what in the world. How about the differences among various cruise lines’ service records? Safety records? Typical passenger demographics? Itineraries and extra fees? Meal plans and services for large parties like hers?

I’ll tell you, these travel agents sure do have a good scam going. They make it all sound so simple for people like my friend who have never before cruised, doing nothing more than handing them a glossy cruise-ship brochure and telling them not to think about any important questions that will affect the success of their hard-earned vacation.

I’ve set my friend straight, and she’s going to press her agent to actually give her the detailed information she needs. If the agent can’t, then my friend will take her business elsewhere, as she well should.

And maybe, just maybe, if enough travel agents let her down in similar fashion, my friend will turn the corner and consider private yacht charter instead. I have a whole year to try to convince her to do just that, and the lousy service offered by many travel agents who pawn off junky cruise-ship trips just might be the best sales tool I have.

I just received the latest e-mail newsletter from Ed Hamilton & Partners, a charter agency that books bareboats and crewed yachts alike. (Check out Ed’s CharterWave profile by clicking here.) We here at CharterWave put out a great monthly edition of our own eNews, but one thing we don’t typically cover is the history of destinations–something Ed is quite passionate about.

This month, his e-mail newsletter includes interesting before and after photos of Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands. The pictures are part of a historical series Ed’s been writing for some time about the islands, which he first visited in 1972 as a sailor crossing the Atlantic from his native England.

If you’re a history buff, I think you might enjoy Ed’s writings. Check out his current e-newsletter and links to his historical series by clicking here.

Over here in the States, refrigerators are full of Thanksgiving holiday leftovers. It’s amazing how many different dishes you can make using leftover turkey if you’re willing to get a bit creative. My personal favorite is turkey noodle soup, and the weirdest I’ve tried over the years is turkey omelets with cranberry sauce topping. Hey, you never know what works until you try.

That’s also the philosophy of Lori Cady, who runs the 58-foot sailing catamaran Sabore with her husband, Capt. Mike. She’s one of many excellent charter chefs I’ve met over the years, but the first one I know who’s taken the time to put her recipes into a proper cookbook–one that is more than 200 pages long, indexed, and organized into easy-to-access categories.

For her, writing the cookbook was simply an extra way to offer guests good service. “Charter guests always ask for recipes,” she told me when I visited the yacht in Tortola. “Charter is a lot about the food. So I wrote it all down.”

Luckily for me, she included her recipe for Turkey Focaccia Sandwich with Basil Salsa–which sounds a whole lot tastier than turkey omelets on Day Five of Thanksgiving leftovers. If you’d like to learn more about Lori’s cookbook or order your copy ($25 plus shipping), you can e-mail her at sabore585@sailsabore.com.