Cruise

10-day, 9-night cruise-tour on 184-passenger M/S Alemannia. April-October 2016. Highlights: In Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS, Zaanse Schans windmills, Anne Frank house, board ship/in Cologne, GERMANY, Haymarket, Cathedral/in Strasbourg, FRANCE, Cathédrale Notre-Dame, EU Parliament/in Basel, SWITZERLAND, city hall, Antonius Church/in Lucerne, disembark, city tour/Zürich Old Town. Twin cabin, land + cruise, $2,299-$2,599 per person, double occupancy (ppdo), or cruise only, $1,699-$2,099. $500 discount for ITN readers. Single supp., 50% of ppdo.

It was at the midpoint of our “Exploring Scotland & Ireland” tour when we got to visit the Titanic Experience Museum (1 Olympic Way, Queen’s Rd., Titanic Quarter, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT3 9EP, U.K.; phone +353 21 481 4412, www.titanicbelfast.com).

Traveling with Collette (Pawtucket, RI; 888/292-3150, www.gocollette.com), Aug. 5-16, 2015, we had experienced the chilly, windswept Scottish Highlands, attended the Military Tattoo in Edinburgh and enjoyed a smooth crossing on the Irish Sea, and we were now in Belfast. I was really looking forward to this.

My wife, Jacquey, and I traveled to France for our first river cruise with Viking River Cruises. On our 8-day cruise, “Portraits of Southern France,” the Hermod was scheduled to sail May 3-10, 2015. We had also signed up for Viking’s 3-day Paris package that preceded the cruise.

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 477th issue of your monthly foreign travel magazine.

In ITN, we print letters and articles provided by our subscribers. 

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 477th issue of your monthly foreign travel magazine.

In ITN, we print letters and articles provided by our subscribers. 

In July, the first American female captain in cruise industry history was selected by Celebrity Cruises (Miami, FL; 844/418-6824, www.celebritycruises.com). Captain Kate McCue of San Francisco, California, took command of the Celebrity Summit in August. McCue graduated from California State University’s Maritime Academy and has 15 years’ experience managing ship logistics.

When my wife, Susan, and I booked a Berlin-Prague cruise for Sept. 28-Oct. 6, 2014, with Viking River Cruises (Woodland Hills, CA; 877/668-4546, www.vikingrivercruises.com), we had the company’s air services division, Viking Air, arrange four flights for us, all on Air France in Economy Comfort.

We would fly from Los Angeles to Paris, where we would spend five days on our own, then from Paris to Berlin, staying in a hotel overnight before cruising to Prague and flying home to Los Angeles via Paris.

For its 2016 riverboat and small-ship cruises, sailing in 17 countries in Europe plus Morocco, Panama and Antarctica, Grand Circle Cruise Line (Boston, MA; 800/866-5892, www.gct.com) is adding more than 600 single-passenger cabins, a 21% increase over the number of single cabins offered in 2015. 

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 476th issue of your foreign travel magazine.