Snorkeling among countless stingless jellyfish in far-off Micronesia would’ve been a pinch-me moment on its own. But doing so in one of the world’s few marine lakes — and without another tourist in sight — well, cruise adventures don’t get much better than that.

Ah, but this wasn’t a cruise, at least not in the traditional sense. True, the jellyfish encounter took place aboard a superyacht — the Four Seasons Explorer, gliding through otherworldly Palau — but the experience felt more like a stay at a luxury hotel than a traditional cruise.

That impression wasn’t just personal, but the goal of a hospitality brand attuned to a growing trend that finds travelers craving less structure and more serendipity. Unlike conventional cruise ships, the Explorer lets guests embark or disembark any day, a rare freedom that reinforces its identity as a bona fide floating hotel.

Four Seasons Explorer is anchored amid the emerald labyrinth of Palau’s Rock Islands. (Photo by David Dickstein)

This shift in travel preferences is being driven by a rising tide of wanderlusters seeking sea journeys without scripts, or at least any set in stone. Aboard the Explorer, daily schedules suggest mealtimes and optional activities, but the rhythm is looser, shaped by spontaneity, opportunity and fancy.

The Explorer is a standout example of a floating hotel, or as our portmanteau-loving culture has dubbed them, floatels. By either name, they’ve emerged as a distinct category — somewhere between yacht charter and resort stay — presenting the best of both without the excess of either.

Not to be confused with the less exotic kind of floating hotel that simply bobs while moored, like the King Pacific Lodge on Milbanke Sound in British Columbia. The kind we’re talking about are small, design-forward vessels powered by the freedom to drift, discover, relax and reroute, all without sacrificing comfort. They’re not anti-cruise — they’re pro-flexibility, allergic to rigid schedules and gangways that feel more like cattle round-ups than welcomes aboard.

The Four Seasons Explorer (fourseasons.com/explorerpalau) is uniquely positioned as a luxury vessel with hotel-like freedom — a standout for vacationers who value mobility and impulse. Its closest competition lies not in format, but in luxury.

The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection (ritzcarltonyachtcollection.com) offers beautifully designed ships — Evrima, Ilma and Luminara — with spacious suites and curated shore excursions, but they sail on seasonal itineraries with fixed departure dates. The Orient Express Silenseas (sailing-yachts.orient-express.com), debuting in June 2026, will be the largest wind-powered sailing yacht afloat, complete with art deco suites and hybrid propulsion. Like its peers, it will follow a timetable: Mediterranean summers, Caribbean winters. Aman’s upcoming superyacht, Amangati (amanatsea.com), launching in spring 2027, promises a 600-foot floating sanctuary with 47 suites, minimalist Japanese-inspired design and ultra-luxury amenities. It, too, will sail seasonally, offering curated and chartered itineraries.

Four Seasons Explorer crew bids a fond mechikung to departing guests. (Photo by David Dickstein)

Back aboard the Explorer, embarkations and debarkations are offered daily and with no minimum stay, making it one of the most flexible floatel experiences in the world. The 22-passenger, 128-foot catamaran offers the intimacy of a private island and the comfort of a resort that knows your favorite cocktail or how you like your tea.

Built for Micronesia’s terrain, the Explorer has felt at home in Palau since repositioning from the Maldives in December 2023. Nimble enough to reach remote dive sites and quiet coves, polished enough to offer reef-to-table dining and curated excursions, it’s reshaping what a floating hotel can be — less cruise ship, more mobile basecamp for ocean discovery.

The Explorer anchors near World War II wrecks, drifts above coral gardens and pivots its itinerary based on weather, wildlife or guest preference. Guests might snorkel with bumphead parrotfish before breakfast or kayak around islands that weren’t on yesterday’s map.

For scuba divers, the Explorer offers front-row access to arguably the best scuba diving on the planet. Anchored near legendary sites, the vessel makes it easy to dive up to three times a day, and the experience is always intimate and immersive. At the ready is a crackerjack team that blends deep expertise with warm hospitality. The guides welcome beginners with patience, support seasoned divers with precision and keep gear in top condition throughout.

Pan-seared reef fish is a winning dish out of Explorer’s galley. (Photo by David Dickstein)

Onboard, the mood is relaxed yet refined. Dining blends fresh seafood, Asian-Pacific flair and global classics, served indoors or outdoors depending on the breeze and guest whim. The culinary team accommodates dietary needs with ease, and libations flow as smoothly as the service, which rivals any luxury hotel. When this guest requested his go-to drink — a jalapeño martini — the bartender rose to the challenge, crafting his first with confident flair.

The common areas of the superyacht are quietly stately, with teak accents, neutral tones and a layout that favors function over flash. No casino. No nightly entertainment. No shopping arcade. Rather, there’s a dive deck, a sundeck, a curtained-off corner of the top deck for professional massages, and a lounge that doubles as both briefing room and bar.

One design drawback deserves mention: the designated smoking area sits just off the corridor leading to most guest cabins. A watertight door helps contain the waft, but for smoke-sensitive travelers — or anyone hoping to enjoy fresh air while dining al fresco on deck two or unwinding on the sundeck — the stern-side placement is less than ideal.

The Explorer Suite boasts the most luxurious accommodations onboard the Four Seasons yacht in Palau. (Photo by David Dickstein)

The opposite can be said for the Explorer Suite, which, located toward the bow, is set apart from the main guestroom corridor. Spanning 484 square feet, the largest and most luxurious accommodations onboard comes with panoramic views, a private sundeck, full bathroom with tub and direct access to the lounge. The interior feels more boutique hotel than shipboard stateroom.

The remaining 10 cabins measure a comfortable 215 square feet, thoughtfully designed with large windows, en-suite bathrooms and flexible configurations for couples — or, at the risk of drawing snarls from kidless adult guests, small families. Each stateroom is outfitted with amenities consistent with Four Seasons’ luxury standards. Even the Wi-Fi is excellent.

Amenities and adventure at this level don’t come cheap. Nightly rates start at around $3,800 per room (based on double occupancy), inclusive of all meals, unlimited diving, water sports, cultural excursions and wellness experiences, though massages are a la carte. This figure includes taxes and fees.

Palau: A Living Atlas

A WWII Japanese tank sits rusting in the Palauan sun, struck by U.S. Marines in 1944 and left to the elements. (Photo by David Dickstein)

The Explorer offers a roving expedition into the blue reaches of western Micronesia, where Palau’s coral gardens, hidden lagoons and uninhabited islets unfold like a living atlas of wonder.

Palau itself is the star, and a remote one at that. In fact, Palau’s closest neighboring country — the Philippines — is nearly 1,000 miles away. The alluring island nation is a UNESCO-designated marine sanctuary, home to more than 1,450 species of fish and 550 types of coral. The Explorer navigates its turquoise labyrinth with care. Guests snorkel with manta rays, paddle through mangrove channels and dine beneath constellations rarely visible from land.

A Four Seasons guide hovers in the shallows of Jellyfish Lake, eye to eye with a golden jellyfish. (Photo by David Dickstein)

Be sure that your stay includes a day when visiting Jellyfish Lake, which offers a surreal, sting-free swim among thousands of golden jellies. Their harmless nature is the result of evolutionary isolation; over millennia, these jellyfish lost the need for potent stingers in the predator-free waters of the lake, making it one of the few places where humans can drift peacefully among them.

Palau’s waters aren’t just beguiling and beautiful — they’re fiercely protected. As the first country to designate its entire ocean territory a sanctuary, Palau has banned commercial fishing across vast swaths of its exclusive economic zone and requires eco-pledges from all visitors. The Explorer operates in harmony with these principles, partnering with local guides and marine biologists to ensure minimal impact and maximum insight. Divers explore pristine reefs and dramatic drop-offs teeming with life, while non-divers gain a deeper understanding of reef restoration, traditional navigation and the delicate balance that keeps this ecosystem thriving.

Exploring Palau by sea often begins with a pause on land, as most flights to Koror from the U.S. arrive after dark following a layover in Guam, and transfers to the Explorer take place during daylight hours. That’s a good thing for guests who prefer to embark rested and recharged. Four Seasons’ concierge desk can assist with overnight arrangements, and in 2027 or 2028, those may include booking Explorer guests into a branded resort now under construction near the marina.

Palau Central Hotel in Koror is popular among among divers and liveaboard guests. (Photo by David Dickstein)

For now, at least, the best-reviewed lodging in Palau seems to be the Palau Central Hotel (palaucentral.com). The 48-room gem offers a practical, well-located base in the heart of Koror — ideal for travelers arriving late or departing early. With modern rooms, reliable Wi-Fi, a lively Key West-style restaurant and adjoining spa, not to mention easy access to shopping, sights and the marina, it’s a favorite among divers and liveaboard guests seeking comfort without the resort price tag. Standard rooms average around $200 a night — higher during peak season (December through April), lower in the off-peak months (July to early October).

While the must-sees on this trip are the stunning Rock Islands, swimmable Jellyfish Lake, spectacular dive sites, historical and cultural landmarks by bike and foot, and the Explorer itself, Koror has a few spots worthy of one’s time pre- or post-sail.

Some of the finest cuisine and sunset views in Koror are at Elilei Seaside Dining. (Photo by David Dickstein)

The Belau National Museum, the oldest in Micronesia, offers a thoughtful glimpse into Palau’s cultural heritage while the Palau Aquarium offers a compact, but engaging introduction to the region’s marine biodiversity. If those two attractions leave you wanting more culture and fish,  then get your fill at Elilai Seaside Dining (www.elilaipalau.com), widely regarded as Palau’s premier restaurant. Top island-inspired fare includes the grilled catch of the day (usually grouper or snapper), sesame-seared tuna and Koror mangrove clams so fresh, you may have locked eyes with one on a dive earlier in the trip — only alive.

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By HAU DINH

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The death toll in widespread flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains in Southeast Asia mounted on Monday with another person reported killed in Vietnam, and five others in Thailand with tens of thousands of people displaced.

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The total number of confirmed dead in Vietnam is now 91, with 11 others missing as the heavy rain that began a week ago has caused severe flooding and triggered landslides from Quang Tri to Lam Dong provinces, a stretch of 500 miles along the country’s central region, including the highlands.

In Dak Lak, the worst hit province, 63 people were killed, mostly due to drowning. Other fatalities were from Khanh Hoa, Lam Dong, Gia Lai, Danang, Hue and Quang Tri provinces.

With roads washed out in many areas, helicopters have been deployed to drop food and aid supplies and to assist in evacuating people.

After a break in the rain on the weekend, Pham Thu Huyen was one of many hundreds of residents and visitors who helped clean up debris washed ashore in Nha Trang, a popular tourist destination in Khanh Hoa province, known for its white sand beaches.

“We’ve never experienced that much rain and such bad flooding,” the 45-year-old said.

Waters have also taken their toll on this year’s crops, submerging coffee farms in Dak Lak, Vietnam’s major coffee growing region.

Overall, damage so far is estimated to be around $500 million in this round of floods.

Some of the waters have now receded but Vietnam’s weather agency warned that with rains continuing in some places the risks remain, and said a new tropical depression was forming that could bring worse weather again later in the week.

Vietnam is among the world’s most flood-prone countries, with nearly half its population living in high-risk areas. Scientists warn that a warming climate is intensifying storms and rainfall across Southeast Asia, making floods and landslides increasingly destructive and frequent.

The current destruction has hit a region already battered earlier this month by floods from record rainfall and the powerful typhoon Kalmaegi.

The country was also hit by typhoons in September and October, and the International Organization for Migration announced Monday that South Korea would contribute $1 million to help Vietnam assist displaced people, communities and migrants affected by those.

The United Nations agency said that according to preliminary data, Vietnam estimates economic damage of some $1.2 billion from that period, with more than a half million homes damaged and hundreds of thousands of people evacuated and dozens killed.

In Thailand, torrential rain in the south of the country caused severe flash flooding over the weekend, affecting nearly 2 million people, officials said. Five were killed and four were injured across six southern provinces, according to regional health officials.

Ten southern provinces have been hit with heavy rainfall over the last week, and officials warned Monday that water levels are expected to rise further with the rain expected to continue through Tuesday.

The city of Hat Yai, a major economic hub in Songkhla province, was hit with more than 13 inches of rain on Friday, the highest 24-hour figure in 300 years, officials said.

From Wednesday through Friday, the city saw nearly 25 inches of rain, complicating evacuation efforts as hundreds of residents and tourists were trapped inside homes and hotels by rising water that forced emergency crews to use lifeboats to transport people along flooded streets.

Thailand was already hit with widespread flooding in the north earlier in the year, followed by months of flooding in the central region, which killed more than two dozen people. That flooding also caused widespread damage to farmers fields and crops, and many thousands of homes.

Malaysia is also grappling with flooding across several states that is expected to worsen as heavy, persistent rainfall continues.

The Social Welfare Department reported Monday that more than 12,500 people across nine states have been evacuated.

The worst-hit area is the northeastern state of Kelantan, which accounts for the majority of those displaced. Authorities have opened 86 temporary shelters and have warned that further rainfall is expected.

Floods are common in parts of Malaysia during the annual monsoon season, which begins in November and can last until March.

Jintamas Saksornchai and David Rising in Bangkok, and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this story.

The nation’s top military officer is visiting American troops Monday in Puerto Rico and on a Navy warship in the region, where the U.S. has amassed an unusually large fleet of warships and has been attacking alleged drug-smuggling boats.

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Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and President Donald Trump’s primary military adviser, will be joined by David L. Isom, the senior enlisted adviser to Caine. Caine’s office said in a statement that the men will “engage with service members and thank them for their outstanding support to regional missions.”

This will be Caine’s second visit to the region since the U.S. military started building up its presence, which now includes the nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier. Caine and Defense Secretary Pete Hegsethcame to Puerto Rico in September after ships carrying hundreds of U.S. Marines arrived for what officials said was a training exercise.

Hegseth said then that the deployed Marines were “on the front lines of defending the American homeland.”

Caine’s visit this week comes as Trump evaluates whether to take military action against Venezuela, which he has not ruled out as part of his administration’s escalating campaign to combat drug trafficking into the U.S. The buildup of American warships and the strikes, which have killed more than 80 people on 21 alleged drug boats, are seen by many as a pressure tactic on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to resign.

The Trump administration also is ramping up pressure by designating the Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, as a foreign terrorist organization, although the entity that the U.S. government alleges is led by Maduro is not a cartel per se.

Until this year, the label of foreign terrorist organization had been reserved for groups like the Islamic State or al-Qaida that use violence for political ends. The Trump administration applied it in February to eight Latin American criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking, migrant smuggling and other activities.

The administration blames such designated groups for operating the boats it is striking but rarely identifies the organizations and has not provided any evidence.

Hegseth said last week that the designation of Cartel de los Soles will provide a “whole bunch of new options to the United States” for dealing with Maduro. In an interview with conservative news outlet OAN, Hegseth did not provide details on what those options are and declined to say whether the U.S. military planned to strike land targets inside Venezuela.

“So nothing is off the table, but nothing’s automatically on the table,” he said.

By JULIE CARR SMYTH, Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — If Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine could turn back time, he would not have signed the law that legalized sports betting in his state.

FILE – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, right, waits to hand out reading certificates to children before a Cleveland Guardians baseball game against the Minnesota Twins in Cleveland, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Phil Long, File)

With two Cleveland Guardians pitchers and an Ohio-born guard for the Miami Heat snared in separate betting-related criminal probes, the second-term Republican says he now “absolutely” regrets unleashing this unbridled new industry on Ohioans with his 2021 signature.

“Look, we’ve always had gambling, we’re always going to have gambling,” DeWine told The Associated Press last week. “But just the power of these companies and the deep, deep, deep pockets they have to advertise and do everything they can to get someone to place that bet is really different once you have legalization of them.”

His comments reflect a reckoning that’s unfolding across sports and politics as sports betting becomes more ingrained across much of the U.S. The wave of legalization in recent years unleashed a massive industry centered around betting and, more recently, a wave of investigations and arrests tied to allegations of rigged games. It’s a dynamic that DeWine says he doesn’t think lawmakers fully anticipated.

“Ohio shouldn’t have done it,” he said.

DeWine prompted a rare move to limit prop bets

DeWine recently emerged as a key player in the negotiations between Major League Baseball and its authorized gaming operators that resulted in the capping of prop bets on individual pitches at $200 and excluding them from parlays. The deal was announced earlier this month, a day after Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase were indicted and accused of rigging pitches at the behest of gamblers. Both have pleaded not guilty.

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Election worries

“Gov. DeWine really did a huge service, I think — to us, certainly, I can’t speak for any of the other sports — in terms of kind of bringing forward the need to do something in this area,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters last week.

And DeWine doesn’t plan to stop there. Shortly after Ortiz and Clase were first placed on paid leave this summer, he announced he’d be asking the commissioners and players’ unions of all the major U.S. sports leagues to ban prop bets — sometimes called micro-betting — like those implicated in the Guardians scandal. While that goal has not yet been achieved — micro-betting is critical to the business strategy in an industry with over $11 billion in revenue in the U.S. this year — DeWine said limits put in place for baseball are a good first step.

“It needs to be holistic, it needs to be universal,” he told the AP. “They’re just playing with fire. I mean, they are just asking for more and more trouble, their failure to address this.”

The gambling industry’s investments in Ohio politics

DeWine’s recent sentiments mark a notable position shift after he pledged to — and then did — sign a legalization law that was sweeping in scope. The legislation allowed adults 21 and older to place sports bets online, at casinos, at racinos and at stand-alone betting kiosks in bars, restaurants and professional sports facilities. Wagering was permitted under the bill on professional sports teams, motor sports, Olympic events, golf, tennis and even major college sports, including Ohio State football.

It was clear in the run-up to DeWine’s re-election in 2022 that the gambling industry was intensely interested in what was transpiring in the state.

An AP investigation that year found that casino operators, slot machine makers, gaming technology companies, sports interests or their lobbyists donated nearly $1 million in 2021 and 2022 to the nonprofit Republican Governors Association, which supported pro-DeWine committees through its campaign arm. Entities and individuals with ties to the industry also donated more than $22,000 directly to DeWine’s campaign, according to campaign finance reports.

A review of more recent campaign filings finds that industry largesse has continued to flow to Ohio politicians with sway over gaming’s future.

Lobbyists and a PAC with ties to Jack Casino, DraftKings, FanDuel, MGM, Gamewise, Hard Rock, Underdog, Rush Street or Caesars have donated about $130,000 to Ohio state legislators in the past three years, records show — about a third of that directed to top House and Senate leaders. Then-Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who was positioning as DeWine’s likely gubernatorial successor, had received about $9,000 from industry-connected entities and individuals before being appointed to the U.S. Senate.

At least one powerful state lawmaker, Republican House Finance Chairman Brian Stewart, had vowed to introduce legislation protecting prop bets prior to professional baseball’s crackdown.

“I think that prop bets are a significant part of sports betting in the state of Ohio,” Stewart told cleveland.com in August. “It’s something that clearly a lot of Ohioans have taken part in and enjoy, and I don’t think there’s something that we should eliminate entirely.”

Amid such pushback, DeWine and others now view voluntary buy-in from leagues, players’ unions and sportsbooks as a superior approach to pursuing gambling restrictions on a state-by-state basis, where the authority lies.

Matt Schuler, executive director of the Ohio Casino Control Commission, said the baseball deal DeWine helped broker has shown it can be done.

“He’s using the bully pulpit and he’s able to connect with the right people in that way,” Schuler said of DeWine. “No one thought that everyone could get on the same page, but now they did because everyone realizes the risk. The bets are small, but the risk is big, and so, having observed gaming and regulated it for about 14 years, this is impressive.”

Harassment and scandal in Ohio changed DeWine’s mind

DeWine said his concerns with sports gambling began almost as soon as Ohio’s law took effect in 2023. Very quickly, his office began receiving reports that gamblers were threatening members of the University of Dayton basketball team.

So he contacted NCAA President Charlie Baker, whom he knew from Baker’s time as governor of Massachusetts, and learned that he shared DeWine’s concern. He got Baker to write a letter requesting the removal of collegiate prop bets from the list of legal wagers that sportsbooks operating in Ohio could place, which allowed DeWine to usher the change through the casino commission.

After the Guardians case emerged this summer, DeWine approached Manfred with the same idea. They hadn’t both been governors, but DeWine did have one cache going in: his family’s long-time ownership of North Carolina’s Asheville Tourists. DeWine said Manfred asked him to hold off on pushing unilateral action in Ohio, in hopes of getting the parties to agree to a new national rule.

“I would have preferred to have completely done away with the micro-prop bets, but this is the area that he was able to settle on with them, and I was pleased with that,” DeWine said. “And so, I think that’s progress.”

DeWine, who faces term limits next year, said he would be happy to sign a repeal of Ohio’s sports betting law at this point, but he’s certain there’s not enough support for that at the Ohio Statehouse.

“There’s not the votes for that. I can count,” he said. “I’m not always right, but I can pretty much guarantee you that they’re not ready to do this.”

Instead, he’ll continue to make his case in other ways.

DeWine, an avid baseball fan, particularly of his hometown Cincinnati Reds, said he believes “these sports are playing with dynamite here and the integrity of the sports is at stake.”

“So, you try to do what you can do, and you try and warn people, and try to take action like we did with collegiate, and you try take action like what we’re doing with baseball,” he said. “But we’ve got to keep pushing these other sports to do it, too.”

AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.