Get Packing: Add houseboat to your options for a vacation

April 24, 2005

By Ed Perkins
Tribune Media Services

Travelers considering a vacation rental this summer might want to add a houseboat to their list of options. Available at a surprisingly large number of the nation's lakes and rivers, houseboats provide many of the same advantages as landlocked rentals - along with unmatched access to whatever water recreation activities appeal to you. Prices, too, are comparable to what you'd pay for a condo or cottage.

Think of a houseboat as a recreation vehicle or mobile home mounted on pontoons or a hull.

Typically, you get sleeping facilities for two to 20 people, a functional kitchen, at least one full bath with shower, air conditioning, and a deck where you can bask in the sun, sit in the shade, or fire up the barbecue.

Some provide one or more private bedrooms; others feature convertible sofas. Some marinas that rent houseboats offer small cabin cruisers as alternatives for one or two couples.

Houseboats are mobile, typically powered by a good-sized outboard or inboard engine. At an average speed of less than 10 knots, you won't win any races in a houseboat, but you can get away for some privacy in a cove or uninhabited stretch of river. And you can always dock, get your car, and drive off for local sightseeing or to stock up on supplies at a nearby market.

Rates are comparable to what you'd spend for a land-based accommodation, starting at about $1,000 a week for a small unit, to $3,000-$5,000 for a deluxe unit sleeping up to 20. At most places, you can also rent for weekends or shorter midweek periods.

Accommodation space on houseboats is distinctly tighter than you'd find in most land rentals, however. And, at least as far as I can see, those ``sleeps'' number claims are even more exaggerated than those for land rentals. As with vacation rentals, rates are highly seasonal, with the best deals in the early spring and late fall ``shoulder'' seasons. And, as with many land rentals, you'll find the best per-person prices if you form a group to rent a large unit, rather than decide to go as just a couple.

Arranging a rental is easy. One way to start is with a Web site that lists houseboat rentals around the world.

The most comprehensive I've found is www.houseboatrentals.com, where you can search for houseboat rentals in most U.S. states and Canadian provinces, as well as 15 countries/continents around the world. To satisfy my curiosity, I checked India, where, as it turns out, you can rent a houseboat for about what you pay in the United States. As with similar rental sites, Houseboatrentals is a ``portal'' with direct Internet links to individual rental companies. All of the places I tested showed rates and provided pretty good graphics and specifications.

Gordon's Guide (www.gordonsguide.com/houseboats) is similar, but shows fewer individual rental companies. Also, quite a few rental companies on the Gordon's site do not show rates online - a major disadvantage.

Several large multi-location resort operators rent houseboats. Among the better ones are Forever Resorts (www.foreverresorts.com) and Seven Crown Resorts (www.sevencrown.com). You can easily locate rental companies at just about any body of water by Googling ``houseboats'' plus the name of the lake or region. You can also search for the visitor information Web site for a vacation area, where you'll usually find links to local houseboat renters.

I'll have to confess that I've never rented a houseboat. However, I have friends who love the experience. And I often pass by Lake Shasta, Calif., one of the nation's busiest houseboating centers - a beautiful manmade lake, surrounded by mountains, with hundreds of shoreline miles you can explore.

I've also rented boats at Lake of the Ozarks, another important center. And for fall and winter renters, you'll find plenty of options in warm-weather areas, such as Lake Mead, Nev., (it's like spending a week in Grand Canyon) and in several Florida lakes.

Overall, a houseboat rental seems intriguing. Give it a thought.

ON TRAVEL : Insurance cancellation options for travel grow and improve

ED PERKINS

I was recently asked by the U.S. Travel Insurance Association to assess the industry from a consumer perspective, especially regarding new or modified services that consumers would like to see. Here are my main points:
Vacation rentals are becoming increasingly popular with the traveling public, and at least one travel insurance provider has developed a trip-cancellation (TCI) policy especially for those of you whose main concern is protecting your advance rental payments. Vacation Rental Protection — (800) 694-4311, www. vacationrentalprotection. com — charges less for rental protection than you’d pay for a conventional TCI policy — and rates are not scaled by age. For example, insurance for a oneweek, $1,000 rental, bought two months in advance, would cost $44. That’s only a bit less than the least expensive conventional policy for a traveler age 45, but about half of what a retired traveler would have to pay. Moreover, your rate is based strictly on just the rental price, excluding the cost of other trip components, so the final cost could be much less than the price of a conventional policy for a complete trip. So far, the policy is available for rentals in only 14 states, but presumably the insurer will increase the scope as soon as it’s practical.
Many travelers have to cancel trips because of unexpected business requirements, more often than because of sickness or accident. Unfortunately, most TCI policies do not cover business reasons at all. Collette Tours, however, sells a waiver that allows you to cancel for any reason, right up to departure time. You get a full refund (except for the price of the waiver). To be sure, Collette’s policy isn’t quite as comprehensive as a true TCI, and it won’t protect you in the unlikely event that Collette defaults. The waiver is also more expensive than ordinary TCI. Nevertheless, it would be a good buy for any business professionals vulnerable to last-minute schedule changes.
A few other operators offer similar waivers. Lindblad Expeditions provides a slightly different form of any-reason cancellation, as an add-on to rather than in place of regular TCI. It pays off only in credits toward future travel, not cash, and only for cancellations up to 72 hours prior to departure. Either type of waiver would be extremely valuable to many travelers: Let’s hope that other operators or independent insurance companies pick up on this valuable feature.
These days, many of you simplify the process by buying travel insurance through one of the several online agencies that instantly compare a handful of different policies. You can quickly select the best option for your trip, without having to check individual Web sites. Among those are www.insuremytrip.com, www.squaremouth.com, and www.totaltravelinsurance. com. I suspect the insurance companies aren’t terribly happy about this development, but it’s sure good for consumers. And it highlights how much extra you pay for the trivial benefits of a "gold-plated" policy.
Even with some innovations, however, the basics don’t change The first rule of insurance — any insurance, and especially travel insurance — is to buy as little as you need to cover risks you can’t afford to accept. In travel, that means:
Always use TCI to protect any big nonrefundable or only partially refundable prepayments that you stand to lose if you should have to change your plans.
Use TCI or separate travel medical insurance to protect yourself against unexpected medical emergencies that your regular health program doesn’t cover.
Forget about the small stuff — baggage loss, delay and such — that are either low-dollar risks or risks that you already cover through your homeowners’ or tenants’ insurance. If a few minor coverages are automatically bundled with TCI and medical, fine. But don’t pay extra for a gold-plated policy that simply adds a laundry list of low-risk benefits to puff the price.