Dear Globetrotter:
Welcome to the 494th issue of your monthly foreign-travel magazine.
Those of you who regularly visit our website — www.intltravelnews.com — in order to read the latest issue, post a question on the Message Board or access years’ worth of travelers’ articles and letters for your trip planning, well, you may have noticed some improvements lately.
British cruise operator Voyages of Discovery, operating the ship The Voyager, and its subsidiary, Swan Hellenic, operating the Minerva, ceased operations on Dec. 29. Travelers who had cabins reserved on scheduled 2017 cruises were given complete refunds.
The Swan Hellenic brand subsequently was purchased by G Adventures (Toronto, ON, Canada; 888/800-4100, www.gadventures.com), which plans to schedule sailings starting in 2018.
Four friends and I traveled together on a fabulous 7-day canal barge cruise in Burgundy, France, Sept. 17-23, 2016. Aboard the Magnolia, which had room for six guests and a crew of four, we cruised the Canal du Bourgogne from Dijon to Escommes.
The company we traveled with was CanalBargeCruises.com (Redmond, OR; 888/264-3983, www.canalbargecruises.com).
Six cruise lines canceled port calls at Port Antonio, Jamaica, during the winter 2016 travel season, citing large amounts of trash at the port that led to a rat infestation and a pervasive stench. A cleanup effort managed to clean the city of trash before a scheduled cruise stop by the tall ship Star Flyer on Jan. 4, 2017.
Visitors to China who first arrive in Shanghai by cruise ship each can receive a free 15-day tourist visa. The visa also allows travelers to continue to the cities of Beijing and Tianjin as well as ports of call in the coastal provinces of Liaoning, Heibei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan and Guangxi.
In my December 2016 column, I answered questions that readers had after reading the account of my April 2016 emergency room visit in Naples, Italy (Sept. ’16, pg. 51).
One reader, Joyce Perry of Los Angeles, California, also wrote, “As an 86-year-old, I would like to know my options if I become too ill to be treated by a cruise ship’s doctor. Unfortunately, the article that detailed your experiences in Italy did not tell us how to be better prepared for an unexpected stay.”
Cruise lines P&O Cruises (www.pocruises.com) and Cunard Line (www.cunard.com), both owned by Carnival Corporation, announced on Dec. 6, 2016, that they would be canceling all ports in Turkey during 2017 cruises. Canceled ports would be replaced by stops in Greece or Albania.
A spokesperson for the cruise lines said that the decision was made after taking into consideration advice from the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
In South Australia, visitors can join EP Cruises (phone +61 433 011 665, epcruises.com.au) on their 5-hour “Ocean to Plate” cruise, on which passengers will harvest their food from the waters of Streaky Bay to have it prepared by the onboard chef and served as canapés along with a glass of wine.
Each passenger will be provided snorkel gear for gathering oysters, blue crab or abalone from the ocean floor or a rod and reel to catch tommies, salmon and garfish from the back of the boat.
With the “Love it First Time” satisfaction guarantee, British cruise company Saga (phone +44 1303 771 190, travel.saga.co.uk) is offering a complete refund and airfare home to travelers taking their first ocean cruise with Saga, aboard the Sapphire or Pearl II ships, who are not happy with their trip.
