GLUG

Today Carnival Cruise Lines announced disappointment over weak bookings for its tours to the newly discovered underwater city of Heracleion. The city, known as Thonis to the ancient Egyptians, thought to be lost to history forever, was discovered in 2000. Wayne Bing, President of Carnival lamented, "We figured this would be an easy sell, but for some reason people are reluctant to board a Carnival ship bound for an underwater city."

Industry observers point to recent mishaps such as the sinking of carnival cruise ship Costa Concordia and the engine room fire on Triumph that caused the vessel to lose power and drift helplessly for days, as possible deterrents. A travel agent, who asked not to be identified, suggested that vacationers feel that Carnival ships are, themselves, underwater cities waiting to happen. "People are opting for Vegas, you can't sink a city in the middle of the desert."

The European Institute for Underwater Archeology discovered the city four miles off the coast of Egypt in about 30 feet of water. Underwater archeologist Randy Bowlton said that having been protected by sand for millennia has left the site in remarkably good condition. "All the hotels and guest houses have plenty of vacancies, in fact, they've been vacant for thousands of years…come on down!"

Scientists can only speculate as to why the city sunk. Some feel that liquefaction of the soil under the buildings (building on mud?) may have been the cause. Others think a massive flood or earthquake might be to blame. "Or some other thing that causes cities to be covered with water."

The Heracleion Chamber of Commerce says, "What's done is done. The casinos are open and the duty free shops have tons of cool underwater stuff ready to go, but we've still got some work to do on the public transportation."