A little extra touch (for an extra charge)

Extras: When should you pay more for them? Booking a rental car, cruise or hotel has become increasingly complicated because so many gadgets and amenities are offered that you can no longer make your decisions based on price alone. It often pays to ask detailed questions about extras.

Let’s start with hotels: A new wrinkle is the “pillow menu” that several big hotel chains place in their rooms. You can choose among pillows of different sizes, stuffed with various materials. You can even request a tubelike pillow the height of a human being to clasp and cuddle as you snooze through the night.

Avis Rent a Car has matched that marketing jewel with mechanical devices in some of its cars. When booking, ask whether you can get a hand-held, portable GPS, or Global Positioning System, to determine your whereabouts in the course of the drive (Avis Assist, $9.95 a day). Also ask whether the car has an XM Satellite Radio, which will enable you to pick up more than a hundred clear-as-a-bell satellite radio stations. Some premium and luxury GM vehicles carry them free; for other cars, they may be a low-cost option.

You can also ask whether the office is an “Avis Hot Spot,” enabling you to whip out your laptop computer and access e-mail as you wait. For more information, call (800) 331-1212.

Budget Rent a Car comes closest to Avis in the variety of its optional devices. It offers ski racks at numerous locations (for a small fee), free hand controls for physically challenged individuals and no-smoking cars (without ashtrays) for no extra charge at many locations. Hertz offers vehicles equipped with a DVD player and its own GPS, called NeverLost. All the car-rental companies offer child safety seats for a small charge, when ordered in advance.

Cruise ships offer a host of amenities; it’s wise to check ship offerings before booking. For instance, if you’re planning to cruise with Holland America Line, make sure the ship you select is among the line’s six vessels that have been equipped with “Signature of Excellence” amenities (Prinsendam, Zaandam, Westerdam, Rotterdam, Ryndam and Statendam): The enhancements include libraries, CDs, Internet-enabled computers and a Culinary Arts Center for cooking demonstrations. These ships also place a complimentary daily basket of fruit in suites or mini-suites.

Other Holland America ships won’t receive the same enhancements until later this year or 2006, so take care to select the right ship.

Small lines band together

There are, of course, other travelers who dispense with the gadgets and large libraries in favor of interesting cruise itineraries.

Because large cruise ships plying the standard ocean routes get more attention, the smaller specialty cruise lines have recently formed the Niche Cruise Marketing Alliance with a website, www.nichecruise.com, describing the features and routings of their 10 cruise line members.

These include RiverBarge Excursion Lines (sailing the inland waterways of America), Star Clippers (operating full-rigged sailing ships), Peter Deilmann Cruises (primarily river cruises in Europe), Norwegian Coastal Voyage (fiords of Norway), Orion Expedition Cruises (unspoiled locations in and around Australia), Galapagos Explorer II (waters of Ecuador), Cruise West (up-close cruises of Alaska, the Pacific and the Pacific Northwest), American Cruise Lines (small-ship cruises of U.S. East Coast inland waterways), American West Steamboat (sternwheelers in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska) and Imperial Majesty Cruise Line (short cruises from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to the Bahamas).