Cruise

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 471st issue of your monthly foreign travel magazine.

On a 7-night, round-trip Red Sox fan cruise, Celebrity Reflection embarks from Miami Jan. 9, 2016, to call at Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and Sint Maarten. Jim Rice, Luis Tiant, Mike Timlin and Keith Foulke will be on board for Q&A, meet & greet and karaoke.

 12-day, 11-night Danube River cruise on MS Der Kleine Prinz. Through October 2015. Highlights: In Vienna, AUSTRIA, St. Stephen’s Cathedral/Old Town Bratislava, SLOVAKIA/in Budapest, HUNGARY, 140-year-old Gerreboud Coffee House/walking tours in Vukovar, CROATIA & Novi Sad, SERBIA/13th-century fortress in Vidin, BULGARIA/in Bucharest, ROMANIA, Revolution Square. 2-for-1 special on Aug. 8 & Oct. 7 sailings, $1,399-$1,499 ppdo (for new bookings and if cabin available). Other dates from $2,699-$2,999 (Category D cabin) to $3,198-$3,498 (A cabin).

In Italy, a law banning cruise ships weighing more than 96,000 gross tons from entering the Giudecca Canal in Venice was repealed on Jan. 11. The canal, Venice’s largest, runs past tourist sites such as St. Mark’s Square.

The ban, which went into effect Dec. 1, 2014, was enacted to protect the lagoon environment and buildings in Venice from any environmental degradation and physical damage that might be caused by large ships.

On the 7-day, 6-night “Caledonian Canal River Cruise” from Muirtown to Banavie, Scotland, aboard the 8-passenger Scottish Highlander, golf enthusiasts can sign up for a golf-themed tour package on the May 10 and Oct. 4, 2015, departures.

Including local transfers, all meals and daily escorted excursions, the cruise fare ranges from $4,090 per person, double occupancy, to $5,450, with whole-boat charters starting at $22,000. 

Planning for a Black Sea cruise, Sept. 22-Oct. 2, 2014,  my wife, Barbara, and I weren’t interested in tours arranged by the ship, as the number of people in each group would preclude any individual attention. After speaking to a number of people, we learned about ToursByLocals.com (1112 W. Pender St., Ste. 500, Vancouver, BC, V6E 2S1, Canada; 866/844-6783, www.toursbylocals.com).

For a 12-day cruise around the British Isles, in Southampton, England, we boarded the Ruby Princess of Princess Cruises (Santa Clarita, CA; 800/774-6237, www.princess.com) on Aug. 24, 2014. The cruise and ports of call all were very good.

In Belfast, Northern Ireland, we took an excellent bus tour up to the Giant’s Causeway via the Antrim Coast and ended with a tour of the city on our return. The price of the 7½-hour tour was £25 (near $39) for each of us.

For trips to South America, I have used Marnella Tours (Raleigh, NC; 866/993-0033 or 919/782-1664, www.marnellatours.com) four times.

I’ve found everyone at Marnella Tours to be polite and responsive to my needs. The company knows South America so well that I’ve never been disappointed in their choices of ground operators.

Years ago, I took a really outstanding Vantage Deluxe World Travel cruise from the Black Sea to Amsterdam with my wife, prior to losing her. On the strength of that experience, in late October 2013 I booked a spring 2014 tour and cruise in northern Portugal with Vantage. I booked it, myself, by phone, since Vantage doesn’t accept travel agent bookings.

The following text is from a letter mailed to Gate 1 Travel. — Editor

I am not a cruise person, but
Gate 1’s itinerary for a 16-day “Danube River Cruise,” scheduled to depart from Nuremberg on Sept. 4, 2014, enticed me to book the trip on June 3, 2013.

When I called Gate 1, I spoke to Adam Haun, who made reservations for me and for three friends I’d be traveling with. We would be sharing two cabins, two women per cabin.