Unpleasant Surprise

Regarding “Cruise Line’s Cash Crisis No Surprise to the Savvy” (Travel Insider, Sept. 17): This is journalistic arrogance at the least. Reynolds notes that Premier Cruise Lines’ sudden suspension of operations “is a classic example of what they [consumers] can lose by chasing bargains. The travelers who did homework on Premier or relied on cautious, well-informed travel agents had a far better chance of avoiding trouble.”

As for “chasing bargains,” this is the same newspaper that printed a laudatory story about Premier’s Honduras-Belize itinerary earlier this year (“A Party of One,” Feb. 6), prompting my wife and me to book the cruise. (By the way, the ship’s air conditioner malfunctioned for a day, and we had our cruise abbreviated.)

As for doing our homework, where is the journalistic responsibility of Reynolds and other Times travel writers and editors when they know a cruise line is facing difficulties? Have you developed a caveat emptor philosophy?

DOUG ONYON

Simi Valley