In most visitors, Alaska inspires wonder at its beauty, awe at its wildlife, and admiration for the hardiness of those who make their lives in its vast backcountry, enduring some of the harshest conditions on earth.
West
Cruise passengers 3 months into expensive 3-year excursion still haven't set sail
Passengers who paid upward of $99,000 for a three-year cruise have been stranded in Northern Ireland for three months, living out of hotels as they wait for their ship to be repaired.
The Villa Vie Residences Odyssey made its way to the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast of its own accord, but once it arrived, the 30-year-old ship had several mechanical issues, Villa Vie Residences CEO Mikael Petterson told “Good Morning America.”
“The rudder stocks took six weeks to get done, and now we’re dealing with a couple of other things,” Petterson said. “But, overall, I think three months is actually not that bad given the circumstances.”
Petterson told the morning show the Odyssey’s new departure date had been set for Sept. 9.
FLORIDA WOMAN HAS TRAVELED TO 55 COUNTRIES, SAYS CRUISE SHIP VACATIONS ARE THE WAY TO GO
The Odyssey, a U.S. cruise liner operated by Villa Vie Residences, is docked at Harland & Wolff ship repair facility in Belfast Harbour, Northern Ireland, on Friday. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
“It’s cold. It’s windy. It’s damp. It usually rains,” passenger Holly Hennessy of Florida told the outlet, describing the past three months in Belfast. “I’ve been moved five times to different accommodations.
“I thought I’d go home, or the ship sent some people to the Canary Islands,” she said. “And then I found out that because I have my cat with me, I can’t even leave.”
Passengers are allowed aboard the Villa Vie Odyssey during the day but must leave for their hotel rooms in the evening. Villa Vie Residences has reportedly helped passengers plan trips around Europe during the downtime. But, for passengers like Hennessy, who is traveling with her cat, options are limited.
AMERICAN TEEN WHO DISAPPEARED IN GERMANY AFTER LEAVING CARIBBEAN PRINCESS CRUISE SHIP IS FOUND SAFE
The Odyssey, a U.S. cruise liner operated by Villa Vie Residences, is being repaired at Harland & Wolff ship facility in Belfast Harbour, Northern Ireland, on Friday. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
The cruise advertises visits to 475 destinations across 147 countries. Cabin prices start at $100,000, according to the company’s website, and include an additional monthly fee for at least 15 years.
Marketing materials targeting retirees and digital nomads tout “the incredible opportunity to own a home on a floating paradise,” which comes with a gym, putting green, entertainment facilities, a business center, a spa and an “experiential culinary center,” according to The Associated Press.
Passengers Johan Bodin and his partner Lanette Canen — from Sweden and the U.S., respectively — relocated from Maui, Hawaii, to spend the next several years on the ship, “Good Morning America” reported. They have spent the last three months traveling around Europe while they wait for the ship to leave port.
LARGEST PIZZA PARTY, OVER 60,000 SLICES DEVOURED, GIVES GUINNESS WORLD RECORD TO CRUISE LINE
The Odyssey, a U.S. cruise liner operated by Villa Vie Residences, will depart on a three-year excursion after repairs are made at Harland & Wolff ship repair facility in Belfast Harbour, Northern Ireland, on Friday. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
“We intend to stay on for a long haul, but who knows how we will feel after a year,” Bodin told “Good Morning America.” “Hopefully, by next weekend, we’ll be floating away, saying goodbye to Belfast.”
Canen intends to run her Arizona-based auto glass business from the ship, the AP reported. Bodin, a carpenter by trade, is running a YouTube channel documenting the couple’s stalled journey.
“We might be crazy, stupid, naive or resilient,” Bodin said. “I don’t know. You can put any label on it that you want.”
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If you’ve been putting off a proper reset, consider this your nudge. Rancho La Puerta – the iconic fitness resort and spa nestled in the hills of Tecate, Baja California – has once again claimed the top spot on Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards list, earning the No. 1 ranking for International Wellness Retreat in 2026.
Eight Times at the Top
The Ranch doesn’t just show up on this list – it dominates it. Previous wins in 2013, 2014, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 have earned it a hall of fame distinction in Travel + Leisure’s history.
Rankings are based on reader ratings across rooms and facilities, location, service, food, and value, so this is real-world validation straight from the people who’ve been there.
A Week at the Ranch
Set across 4,000 private acres of gardens, mountains, and meadows, The Ranch runs on a weekly stay format designed to help you slow down, move, and reconnect. The fitness program is broad – yoga, Pilates, strength training, water aerobics, Tai Chi, and guided hikes across more than 40 miles of trails.
Three onsite health centers handle the spa side, offering a full range of treatments and therapies throughout the week. The food earns its own mention: nourishing, pescatarian-style cuisine built around fresh produce from the Tres Estrellas Organic Farm right on the property.
Rooted Since 1940
The Ranch was founded by spa pioneers Deborah Szekely and her late husband Edmond Szekely – two of the people most credited with shaping the modern wellness resort as we know it.
That foundation is still very much alive here: a focus on nature, community, movement, and nourishment that has kept people returning for decades.
See you there!
Rancho La Puerta has been drawing people in and keeping them coming back for over 80 years. Your first visit – or your fifteenth – awaits.
🎟️ Book your stay here
ℹ️ Find more details here
See you there, San Diego!
Alaska
An Alaska vacation can remind Israelis the world doesn’t revolve around them | The Jerusalem Post
For Israelis, it can also inspire humility. Not because the Jewish state is smaller than Denali National Park, but because in Alaska, one is reminded that the world neither revolves around Israel nor is obsessed with it.
That realization came on a trip The Wife and I took to America’s Last Frontier last month.
“Where is your final destination today?” the woman checking us in for our flight home at the Anchorage airport asked chirpily.
“Tel Aviv,” I replied. “Where’s that?”
When I said it was in Israel, she smiled and said, “Oh.”
Lest one think this was just a fluke: on the plane a few hours later, another Alaskan asked where we were going. When we answered “Tel Aviv,” she said she had never heard of it.
Granted, two people do not a Pew Poll make, but they do offer a small corrective to the perception – fed by the media most of us follow – that the world is preoccupied with Israel, thinking about us obsessively, talking about us constantly, and cursing us unremittingly.
The last part, at least in Alaska, is also not true. During our two weeks there, we saw no “Free Palestine” graffiti, nor were we subjected to dirty looks or “child killer” comments when we said we were from Israel.
All of America, it turns out, is not Mamdani’s Manhattan, nor does social media present a proportionate picture of that country’s reality.
One of the problems with social media is that every incident of antisemitism is posted online. The incidents are real and rising at an alarming rate, but seeing them all in one place creates a disproportionate sense of how likely you are to encounter them while traveling.
Watch enough clips of a Jewish kid harassed on a New York subway or an Israeli couple berated at a hotel in California, and you begin to wonder whether the same thing awaits you when you ride an American subway or check into a hotel.
It doesn’t. Yet the cumulative effect is that you begin to wonder how open to be about your Israeliness. You don’t decide to hide it, but simply having to ask the question adds a mini-layer of apprehension before every trip.
When Israel comes along for the ride
You also learn to read the Uber.
“Honey,” I urged The Wife before we got into an Uber in Chicago during a brief layover, “you don’t have to say you’re from Israel.”
“Nonsense,” she said. “I’m not going to hide who I am.”
“Wonderful sentiment,” I replied. “The driver’s name is Rabah. Humor me.”
We didn’t volunteer our place of origin, nor did he ask.
But on the entire trip, that was the only time we consciously withheld that nugget of biographical information. Everywhere else, we proudly said we were from Israel – and it was fine. More than fine: it was often a conversation starter.
On a whale-watching excursion, we sat across from a young couple from China who work at Google. They were intrigued that we lived in Israel, and even more fascinated that we passed on the chicken sandwiches being served.
Instead of looking for sea creatures, The Wife spent a good part of the trip explaining why some of the fish in the sea we can eat and others we can’t.
“Honey,” I whispered at one point, a bit annoyed. “We didn’t pay all this money for you to give an introductory lecture on kashrut. Look for the damn puffins.”
Since October 7, another layer has been added to the anxiety of travel: whether your flight will be canceled at the drop of a ballistic missile.
One doesn’t just hop over to Alaska on a whim; it takes planning and a special occasion to justify the expense. For us, it was 40 years of wedded bliss, so we booked back in October after being warned that rental cars sell out months in advance.
We chose United. But just days after the war with Iran broke out, United – typically – canceled flights until mid-June, four days after our planned departure. We acted quickly – well, The Wife acted quickly – and switched to El Al. Still, it complicated the trip further.
Then came the more serious question: Do you leave the country when one of your sons or your son-in-law is in miluim in Lebanon, Gaza, or Syria?
My first instinct was no: you don’t leave when one of your children is serving. That may have worked before Oct. 7, when reserve duty meant a few weeks a year and could be planned around.
But today, when they have each logged upward of 350 days, saying you won’t leave while they are serving essentially means that you won’t leave at all.
Which, by the way, is hardly the end of the world. But what can I say? I like to travel.
So we went, even though as we were watching bears and sea otters, my youngest son was dodging drones in Lebanon.
“Go,” he said. “What are you going to be able to do by being here? And if, God forbid, something happens, you’ll come back.”
“That’s not the point,” I said. “How can we enjoy it if we are worrying about you?”
“You’ll figure out a way,” he teased.
And he was right. Sure, we worried, but less than if we were here. Distance, it turns out, has its advantages. I wasn’t glued to the news, tracking every development on his front.
Perhaps that was Alaska’s greatest gift. Not the calving glaciers, surfacing whales, or foraging bears, magnificent though they were. It was the realization that while Israel is the center of our world, it is not the center of everyone else’s. Every now and then, regaining that perspective is refreshing. ■
Arizona
Arizona AG continues to investigate Glendale apartment complex after Friday deadline to fix A/C
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is giving a Glendale apartment complex until 5 p.m. Friday, July 10, to fix the air conditioning in every unit or face legal consequences. In a demand letter dated July 8, Mayes called Spectra West Apartments’ failure to provide air conditioning “both unacceptable and unlawful.” The complex could face civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation if it does not comply. Resident Javier Montes said he chose to live at Spectra West because of its proximity to his job. “The reason I decided to live here because my work is just down the street. So, it’s just a five-minute walk for me, and so it’s very convenient for me.”
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