Cruising on the Sapphire Princess & Vacations Can Be Murder

My co-host, Travel Expert Onanta Forbes is sailing on the Sapphire Princess stopping at various spots along the Mediterranean, so we'll catch up with her on this week's show to get the highlights. And then we'll dive into the world of Dark Tourism and talk to the author of a new book called Vacations Can Be Murder,  A True Crime Lover’s Travel Guide to the Mid-Atlantic States. It's the second of a multi-volume series covering the U.S. and beyond for those who enjoy reading about true crime, law enforcement, the paranormal, and/or tombstone travel. 

Transcript

Cruising on the Sapphire Princess

SPEAKER_03 0:06

Well, hello and welcome to the Informed Traveler Podcast, a weekly travel podcast, where our goal is to help you become a more informed traveler. And I'm your host, Randy Sharman. My co-host and travel expert, Onanta Forbes, is sailing on the Sapphire Princess this week, stopping at various spots along the Mediterranean. So we'll catch up with her in a few seconds to get the highlights. And then we're going to dive into the world of dark tourism and talk to the author of a new book called Vacations Can Be Murder, a True Crime Lover's Travel Guide to the Mid-Atlantic States. It's the second of a multi-volume series covering the U.S. and beyond. For those who enjoy reading about true crime, law enforcement, the paranormal, and tombstone travel, it should be interesting. But first, let's kick things off chatting with travel expert Onanda Forbes, who joins us each week to discuss some of the travel news and travel trends. You can follow her adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and ex at Onanta Forbes. Onanta Forbes.com is her website. Hello, Onanta from the Sapphire Princess, if I'm correct.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Yes, you are. Absolutely. So we um finished up our stay in Sicily, and then we are um on a back-to-back on the Sapphire Princess through the Med. But before I go there, I just thought I'd just share with you some logistics of um leaving Sicily and making our way to Rome to get to our ship. So I think we've talked about it in the past with regards to it's always nice to have private transfers. And that's what we did because we had to go from uh Syracusa to the airport in Catania, and then the flight, and then from um the flight to Rome, and then uh a transfer to the port cruise uh uh city, basically, because Rome is not at the airport where you pick up your cruise, it's about 50 minutes away. So it it was good for us, like um as a travel professional, we work with different companies, almost like brokers, to get our um transfers for our our guests. And I've used uh Project Expedition um a few times, and they're really good. But you know, in this day and age, when you travel, you need a mobile device or a smart device because everything's kind of reconfirmed um by WhatsApp, by email, um, when you're en route. So you have to have access to Wi-Fi and um and you know, things happen. There's flight delays, there's uh maybe you don't really realize where you're supposed to meet the uh the transfer person. So you do need your mobile device or a smart device. Um, so think about that, because I know there's still some holdouts in this world that don't have one.

SPEAKER_03 3:06

Yes, there are, and it's it's I I don't know how you function.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Really? So um we made our way uh to um uh an overnight before the cruise because it's very important that you don't miss your cruise, right? So always try to be there uh ahead of time, and we stayed at this great little hotel called Hotel de Ville, which is definitely used as a cruise stopover hotel. And then the next morning, I actually didn't have a private transfer, but it's easy enough to get um either an Uber or uh through the hotel. It's about 15 euros per person, but it only like a 10-minute um drive from the hotel to the cruise ship. And we are on the Sapphire Princess, it's a classic Mitch size cruise ship um that carries about 2,700 passengers, and this sailing is completely full. There are 2,700 passengers. It's um, and you know what uh I didn't realize when I booked it way back when? This is the start of spring break, no matter well, not no matter where you are, but it depends on where you are. It could be or could not be spring break. And a lot of people are looking maybe not at traditional spring uh spring break destinations and going elsewhere. So it is a very busy ship. Um, it's it's uh what I've noticed about it because uh at the start of our winter getaway, we went on region, which tends to be a more mature clientele, not many kids or families. This one has families, multi-generational. Um, so not a lot of families, but still families. It's a traditional princess ship. It's so lots of lounges and bars. Um, the heart of the ship is like a three-dick three-deck Piazza HRM, and this is where people gather for live music and drinks. Um, you're gonna find multiple pools, including a covered one, but it hasn't been pool weather. Today was not bad, um, but it's it is springtime in Europe. So it's between 15 and 17 degrees Celsius. Um, you have hot tubs, a spa, a large theater for shows, and um a handful of specialty restaurants, which depending on your package, if you choose to take a package, could be included or could not be included. So you just have to think about that. Um, this the first day was a C day, so it's a good day to just kind of relax and you know, depending on when you're flying where you're flying in from, maybe get over some jet bike and um just get to know the ship a little bit. So uh as I said, families and multi-generation groups are on board. There are kids' clubs, there are family uh cabins, um, and it's it's good service, um, has structured dining. Um, and I haven't sailed on Princess in a while. And what struck me was the staff, um, they're very uh casually dressed now, like it's sweatshirts or um golf shirts and perhaps jeans or a really relaxed look. So it's not as um formal as when um way back in the day cruising kind of came to into into play. Yeah, and it's um this sailing is a combination of a seven-day and a 14-day itinerary. So um it's actually wrapping up for some people then they're going back on Sunday, and then um, and and I'm carrying on. So uh so to just to tell you some of the places that we've been to date, um, we went to Albania, and I've never been to Albania before, Sarandi. It was it was really interesting. What was interesting, and I don't know whether you know, sometimes atmosphere plays a part and how you have an impression of someplace, but it was a gray, drizzly day as and it was a tender, very smooth sailing, but it was it it you um you learn about the country that it's it's out of uh it used to be under a communist rule for 30 years. Yeah, and it it it has um it's not a colorful destination. Like some of the places have been rebuilt, but it's been rebuilt in very concrete, white or beige looks. Um, but you do have an opportunity to go to a national park and you get to see where um you know they had some Greek ruins and Roman structures. Um, but it's very peaceful. Uh it's surrounded by forests. Um and it's uh it's quite lovely right now to be touring Europe because um it's it's still busy, but it's not gonna be crazy busy like it's gonna be in July and August and hot. So this is a good time to come. The other place we went to was called Um The Blue Eye, and this is where it's um it's water, it's crystal clear, you can actually see the source bubbling up from the deep underground. Um, and it the color is amazing. In some places it's almost like emerald green. Um, it is a natural phenomena and something that they that they bring you uh to come to see. And then we went to a castle, it's a 16th-century fortress that sits high above the city, and this the view was amazing. You could see all the surrounding, um, the Ionian Sea, and even in the distance, the island of Corfu. So it was quite lovely. And then heading back, we just walked along the promenade, which was easy to get to the boat, but it is a tender, but 10 minutes smooth sailing um for us that one day. Now the next day, and I've been here before, but it was such a long time ago. I actually had to refresh myself. We went to Olympia, Greece, so another destination, another country. So um we went with Venture Ashore with this uh uh shore excursion to Olympia, only six of us on board, so it almost felt like a private tour. Um, and you kind of see the other tours were big busloads. So this is the site that's dedicated to Zeus. And um, you know, you're walking through the birthplace of the Olympic Games. We had what they called an escort that took us on to the uh bus and then took us to a place where another person who is licensed to uh present the attraction, like uh a tour guide, show you it. So it was quite interesting. This lady, quite lovely. Um, she used to be an archaeologist, but now she's a tour guide, probably makes more money this way. But uh she knew she knew her stuff, man. She was good, you know. Um, you got to see the remains of the Temple of Zeus. Um, you got to see the Temple of Hera. Um, what was interesting was that the there was um it that you could see the Greek baths, Roman hot baths, and even Priest's residence. Um, you could even buy these 3D glasses where you could see what it looked like back in the day if you did as well. Wow, yeah, it was cool. And then they brought you to the stadium where they had like the athletic races, and there was um some groups of school kids that were there, and so they let them go. They pretended that they were doing the hundred-yard dash, and off they went, and it was really cool seeing them chugging along, and it was really lovely. Um, it really was a good destination, half a day, so and we were able to walk through the town of Olympia as well um before our tour, so it was good, very nice. And then um our next day was Malta. Have you ever uh cruised into Malta?

SPEAKER_02 11:17

No, I have not.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

It's spectacular. It's like you it's like uh cruising into this old medieval town. Um, quite amazing. Uh, we we docked in Valletta and um and took a tour that went to it, it was a walking tour. So 90 minutes of just walking um to a fort, to some gardens. Uh you went to see the the views overlooking the harbor. Um, one of the most stunning um interiors is at St. John's Cathedral. On the outside, it's surprisingly plain, but on the inside, it's overwhelming, like gold and detail art everywhere. Um, seeing mass uh works of masters. And then um you were able to uh drive by the Rotunda of Massa, which is a dome which is uh just absolutely enormous, one of the largest in Europe. Um, and it was um you could see you can hear the history because Malta uh for a short time for was um bombed quite a bit. So you got to hear about the history of the war and how it affected it and so on. But a beautiful destination uh to visit. Today we um we we docked in back in Sicily, so kind of a round trip for me in Catania, and we didn't we deliberately didn't plan anything because we've enjoyed Sicily and it was a good day. Um, you know, we did you know leave the ship and there was a our hop-on, hop-off little bus that we took um just to see the highlights and so on. But um so far, uh this is what we've experienced on the cruise. Tomorrow is Naples, so looking forward to that.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

Yeah, well, it sounds very exciting. Um, now you said the Sapphire Princess is full. Does it seem crowded though? Like, do they do a good job of making sure it doesn't seem overly crowded with lineups for I don't know, food or something?

SPEAKER_00 13:22

Um, the only time I I actually saw we we have uh booked reservations in the um restaurant in the Santa Fe restaurant. And but last night we came back too late for that that reservation. So we just went up to the buffet and or yeah, it's a buffet. And it is um, it was crowded, it was it wasn't crowded as much as it was um like lineup for the main hot meal area. That's but because everybody was coming back at the same time. Yeah, yeah. There's lots of places to eat, like you can go um very simply, and there's like a sandwich bar and soup and sandwich bar you can go to. You can go where they have like you can just get pizza on its own or burgers, fries, and hot dogs. Um, you you know, you could go to the specialty restaurants and such. So to answer generally, no, there's not a huge lineup. Um, you know, um, but sometimes I have to tell you, sometimes families leave their kids at one table and they go to another table farther away. And then the kids are like, they're not my kids.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

Yeah. Down over them.

SPEAKER_03 14:39

Mind your manners. You're in a public space. Yes, you can tell I'm old.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Mind your manners. It's all lovely. Like they're not, they were they were just being kids, you know.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

Exactly, exactly, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:52

And they pay for this.

SPEAKER_03 14:55

Yes, they're paying customers too.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 14:58

We should uh also mention our uh cruise lingo for those who don't know what a tender is. Uh it's when the ship doesn't dock and you take uh one of some of the lifeboats they bring down and and you shuttle back and forth for for people that are going, what's a tender?

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Yes, that's a very good point. Um, and that is it. Um, we only have on this one uh we have two tenders, one in um, as I say in Albania, and the other one is in um Croatia at Kotor. So, and that's the next cruise, basically. Um, and you do have to fall be mindful of that because you have to plan accordingly if you're doing the destination on your own. Plan to get because a lot of times people who are on shore excursions, they are brought to the tender, but you have to go get a ticket to get on the tender and then go on the tender in your time slot.

SPEAKER_03 15:53

Um, and uh so I was also curious too, when you say a back-to-back cruise, it's a different itinerary on your next one, right? It's not doing the same one over again, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:02

No, the only real um uh duplicate is basically Rome because it starts and ends in Rome for both cruises. And then they do have um, we are going back to uh Naples just before we end the cruise next week. But it is gonna be an interesting one. We're going to Corfu, Dubrovnik, Kotor, and then um uh Naples and then back to Rome. So one of the things I do want to make sure everybody knows is um you you and I think I did say it. It is you have it's like a 50 minute to um 80-minute transfer. So again, make sure you realize you just don't hop off the chip like you know, in Vancouver, it's pretty easy to get from Vancouver Airport to Canada Place, right? Here you have to make sure you plan it properly.

SPEAKER_03 16:54

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

Good to know, good stuff. Um, looking forward to hearing more about your cruise and the Sapphire Princess. Onanda Forbes is a travel expert. You can follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and X at Onanda Forbes. You can see some of the images from the Sapphire Princess and some of the uh places that they're stopping in. And her website is onandaforbes.com. Good stuff, Onanda. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

Thank you.

Vacations Can Be Murder

SPEAKER_03 17:25

This is the Informed Traveler Podcast. I'm Randy Sharman. Just want to remind you of our website, theinformedraveler.org. That's where you can find our contact page if you have any questions or comments above the podcast. You can also email me too with any questions you might have. My email address is Randy at theinformed traveler.org. And you can check out our social media pages too at facebook.com slash informed traveler, Instagram at informed traveler, or on X at Informed Traveler. That's where you'll find a number of videos and reels from our adventures throughout the year and audio clips from our past shows. Plus, you can sign up for our monthly newsletter. It's released at the beginning of every month. Our March issue is available now. Just go to our website, the informedtraveler.org, click on the newsletter button, and it'll take you right there. Or better yet, subscribe to it and have it arrive in your inbox each month. So let's dive into the world of dark tourism now and talk to the author of a new book called Vacations Can Be Murder, a True Crime Lover's Travel Guide to the Mid-Atlantic States. It's the second of a multi-volume series covering the US and beyond for those who enjoy reading about true crime. The author is Don M. Barkley. Her website is VacationsCan Be Murder.com, and she joins us now. Hi, Don. How are you? I'm good, thank you. Thank you for doing this. Uh I think uh this this falls into the realm of that dark tourism sort of idea. And I think uh well, I'll just speak for myself, but I think a lot of people just have this sense of of intrigue when it comes to crime and dark tourism and travel. Did you do you find that?

SPEAKER_01 19:06

I I did. I felt that this book would appeal to not only uh people who are interested in true crime, but also uh tombstone travelers because I list where all the perpetrators as well as the victims were buried, as well as people interested in the paranormal, because I list um haunted restaurants and hotels in all the states I talk about, as well as anything with a crime or justice related theme. And uh it could also appeal to I know there's some group of people who love to drive by prisons, and uh I list um many of the prisons in each state, especially if they relate to any of the uh crimes that I discuss.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

Well, there's and there's a lot of information that would have to go into this. You've done a lot of work. Uh tell me just just the workload that goes into doing this.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

Yeah, it takes me about six months to finish a book, and that's pretty much six solid months. Um I've gotten it down to three weeks to a month per state, and then I take a full month to do fact check.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

So you got it down to uh an art now, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Pretty much. I mean, this is my second volume of what I think is gonna be about twelve, and yeah, it seems to work out that way. Um because I have a limited amount of space as well. My publisher likes to keep it to about 80,000 words, and so I have to make decisions in what I'm going to cover, not every crime. I I laugh that um your favorite serial killer might not be here, and I apologize, but I have to make I have to make choices in the New York section. If you didn't kill four or five people, you probably weren't getting it.

SPEAKER_03 20:50

You're not good enough. You don't make the cut.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:54

And I know. And you know, on the on the one hand, um, you know, like we're chuckling about it, but you know, it it does involve people dying and and that side of sort of side of the story as well. So you gotta respect that too, I would think, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Absolutely. And I recognize that um this is not the most pleasant of subject materials, but there are people who read this stuff and they're really interested in this and they want to be where the uh crimes happened, and I did create certain boundaries for myself. For example, the heart of the book are the itinerary sections where I give you the exact locations where the crimes happened in case you want to be in those locations. However, if it's um a private house, I'm not giving you the exact house number. I'm giving you the street. So I'm telling you it's like the one to one hundred block of Main Street. I'm not telling you it's one, two, three main. Uh I don't want people gawking outside houses. I don't want to uh let people know who might not know there was a murder in the house and they bought the house not knowing to sell. Suddenly find it out. So I I had that rule. The other thing I did was at the end of each chapter, I include victim resources. So if God forbid you're ever the victim of a crime, you'll know who to turn to.

SPEAKER_03 22:13

That's good. So how far back did you go into history? Did you have a cutoff point or or or or that didn't matter? It was sort of based on the the intrigue of the story.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

Yeah, they were stories that I found particularly interesting. Um some of them go back to the 1600s. Uh I have to be able I I only used crimes where I could get a location. Like, for example, you have the Preppy murders um in New York City, where they happen in Central Park. That's not really a good enough location. For me, I'm not gonna just send you off to Central Park and you can walk around. I had to have a more of a definite location. So that is briefly mentioned, but it's not really included in the itineraries. Um it's something like in the first volume, the Boston Strangler, I had the addresses of all the apartment buildings where he struck. So obviously I'm going to use that. And there are there are some loc there are some locations where um there were chase scenes where I had the exact addresses of where the car would go, and I give you that so that you could follow that route if you wanted to.

SPEAKER_03 23:25

Yeah, this is all about the where of of crimes that have happened, right? Not so much the how and the who, but I mean you do go into that, but it's more about the where. And and this is for people that want to do like a self-guided tour. There, if they're fans of of uh true crime, uh, they can sort of map out where they want to go. Uh is that the best way to describe how to use this book?

SPEAKER_01 23:48

I would. It's great for road trips, but in addition, if I was a tour guide, I certainly want to grab a copy of this because then I can create the tours I was gonna run around the itineraries I've already created for you. Um and if I was a travel agent, I'd probably want to have a copy of this book so I could give advice for road trips to my clients. So I don't think it's just and again, if you're into haunted restaurants and hotels and you happen to be in town, you're gonna want to pick this up so you know where to eat or sleep.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

Now you've just opened up a whole avenue of uh tour guides now. Oh, yeah. Well, if you're gonna start their own tours.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

Well, I think it's a natural if you're you know, if you're a DMC um inbound tourism, why not have a copy so you can build something around it? There might be somebody who wants to do um a meeting that has sort of like um a team building event or something where they take a tour through New York City and they see some of these, you know, get a bus and and make stops at these places or at least pass by.

SPEAKER_03 24:53

Mm-hmm. So now when you say mid-Atlantic, what areas are you talking about? Obviously, there's New York and and Massachusetts. Those areas of give me give me a geography uh lesson.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Massachusetts was in the New England version. There were six states for that. New the mid-Atlantic was originally going to be five states. I was gonna have New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, but I was also gonna have Delaware and Maryland. But there was so much crime New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, that I had to sort of relegate those other states to the Capitol region book. And I also had to cut out all of Western New York. I limited New York to just between the Capitol, like Albany area down to Long Island, with the uh rationale that if you flew into New York City and you based yourself there, you could go to all the different places in day trips and and make it work.

SPEAKER_03 25:46

Mm-hmm. Um that doesn't say a lot for the history of those areas when you're oh no, I was shocked because I live in New York and I used to live in New Jersey.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

Like I sent my kid to camp in Pennsylvania, not knowing any of this.

SPEAKER_03 26:04

So, like, what if you must have come across some interesting stories? What if some of your favorite spots? Like if I if I had to, you know, narrow it down to uh just a couple, what would what would be your your favorites? Or do you have any? I know it's asking like do you have a favorite child kind of thing?

SPEAKER_01 26:20

Yeah. Um I it's very hard to say favorite because that makes it sound like these are really like um it's not like going to Tahiti and saying it's my favorite island. Right? Yeah. But uh I really found uh I went in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, I went to the Eastern State Penitentiary, and that's open for tours, and I found that fascinating. Um and that's definitely worth a stop. And while you're in Philadelphia, even though it's not crime related, it's macabre. I I recommend the Mutter Museum because it's just fascinating. I took my kids there because I'm mother of the year. Like um bottles of brains and things. I mean, really unusual things because it's sort of like a physician's museum of oddities. They love it. They they still talk about that. So I sort of recommend that wherever I can. Um there are some really interesting true crime tours that you can take because I talk about that as well. Um like where you can go with a uh detective in New York City in their car and drive around and hear stories. Yeah, and there was even like um a very occasionally given event I think it's called Shawshank D, where it's like a cocktail party in a prison where you're trying to escape. So there were things like that that I found I wanted to do. Um, but that's really sporadically given. I list it, but I also say, you know, really check because it may not be given when you want to go. Um but you know, there are ghost tours, there are um restaurants that are um either former prisons that you can eat in a former jail cell. In in Boston, I know it's not this book, but it is the New England book. There's a hotel called the Liberty Hotel that used to be the Charles Street Jail. And uh they kept some of the, I think some of the brick walls and things from the original jail. So things like that I find are really interesting. Um there's also, I think it's in Collingwood, New Jersey, there is a a restaurant that was run by uh a former member of the mafia who sort of went to jail for uh several years, took up cooking, and then came back and opened a restaurant with the um with a mafia theme. Uh so things like that I think are really very interesting.

SPEAKER_03 28:50

I think so too. I think that's what that's sort of the the intrigue that uh people get when they want to do uh combined crime and crime scenes and and travel and and all that stuff that falls under that dark tourism uh thing. Sounds like there's uh an endless supply of stories though and places to visit, though. Like yeah, I don't think you're gonna have any trouble following up uh with the more volumes of uh Vacations Can Be Murder.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

I'm sure California is gonna get its own volume, Florida might get its own volume. There are there are states in the Midwest that I don't know until I start researching them how much there's going to be. So that's why I think it's it's yeah, I can't put a definite number on how many volumes this might go.

SPEAKER_03 29:40

And as you pointed out too, some of the places that you uh mention in your books are open for tours, like some of the museums and some of the the prisons and things like that, right?

SPEAKER_01 29:49

Yeah, and there are police museums, quite a few of them in uh New Jersey, as a matter of fact, where if you're you have a kid who's really into you know wanting to go into law enforcement, they can learn all about it. There are several. Um just like when you're in um Massachusetts and cal uh Connecticut, again, the former volume. But if you want to learn about uh the witch trials, there's certainly a lot of information. People don't realize in Hartford there were witch trials as well. So um, yeah, there's there's always something horrible around about crime or murder that you can throw yourself into.

SPEAKER_03 30:28

That's a good way of putting it. There's always something horrible around.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

I might sound a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 30:35

I I'm I'm a history buff, and I just find you know, stories of the past, uh, whether they're crime stories or whatever, it's it it always involves an intriguing story, and I just find it very fascinating.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

Yes, I I find history really fascinating as well.

SPEAKER_03 30:50

Where where do people get the book? When is the book coming out?

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Well, this book came, the the second volume came out at the end of January, and it is available wherever you buy your books online. Uh some nice people might actually stock them, but it's so hard to get any sort of shelf space in you know brick and mortar bookstores, but you always can get them. If you want to patronize your local independent bookstore, which I really you know promote, you can certainly go to bookshop.org and order the book. Uh I believe they also now sell digital. So you can download uh the the Kindle version if you want, or you can uh the ebook version, or you can buy the paperback. Um Amazon, obviously, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, wherever you get books online. But I also really urge people to contact their local library and request the book because then everybody can read it and uh it's very affordable that way.

SPEAKER_03 31:52

Exactly. Uh Dawn M. Barkley is a travel writer, author of many books, including her multi-volume series, Vacations Can Be Murder. The latest one is the the Mid-Atlantic, and you can look for more down the road, I'm sure, because it's an never-ending uh uh supply of stories, is what I found out. Vacationscanbe Murder.com is the website. It was uh real pleasure chatting with you, Don. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_03 32:24

That was our show for this week. If you have comments or questions, we'd love to hear from you. If you have a show idea, send that along as well. My email is Randy at theinformed traveler.org. If you like what you heard, tell a friend. You can check out our website too at the informed traveler.org. In the meantime, thanks for listening. Travel safe and be an informed traveler.