Cruise

My husband, Ray, and I wanted to see if river cruising fit our travel style. We chose the St. Peterburg-Moscow cruise-tour “Waterways of the Czars” from Viking River Cruises (800/304-9616) primarily because it included Yaroslavl and offered an optional tour to Sergiev Posad, both Golden Ring cities in Russia. For the two of us, the cost of our trip, June 23-July 6, 2012, was $14,681, including air from Orlando.

Our experience was good but very different from the small-group tours we’re used to.

REPORT ON AUSTRALIA…

12 days / 11 nights. Highlights: Bangkok city tour, floating market / Elephant Village / Kanchanaburi Hell Fire Museum / give alms to monks in Ban Hin Dad / raft through river gorges / Tiger Conservation Project. Land and cruise from $1,199. Single supp., 50%. Value World Tours (Fountain Valley, CA; 800/795-1633).

As we all know, one of the problems that can occur on a cruise ship is an outbreak of norovirus. Cruise lines go to great lengths to keep that from happening. I have been on 30-plus cruises, and one constant on ships lately has been hand-sanitizer dispensers anywhere food is consumed, plus crews continuously disinfecting handrails, doorknobs, elevator buttons, etc., which can be vectors for the virus.

I took the “Exotic Lands” cruise of Oceania Cruises (800/386-9283), and what an appropriate title that was!

Oceanwide Expeditions’ m/v Plancius departed Ushuaia, Argentina, with 74 passengers on March 29, 2012, for what was to have been a 38-day, end-of-season Antarctica cruise that would end at Cape Verde in the Central Atlantic, the ship then being repositioned to the Arctic for the summer cruise season.

On board were several of the world’s most-traveled people — numbers 3, 5, 36 and 81 (me); visit www.mosttraveledpeople.com — plus a large group of bird-watchers from the Netherlands.

I am an avid cruise-ship traveler, having cruised in and around five continents. I recently took a cruise to 10 countries in Northern Europe, and I wish to share eight tips about what to do within the first few hours of boarding any cruise ship.

1. Ask your stateroom attendant for a terry cloth robe. They used to automatically be placed in staterooms but not anymore (unless you are in a suite), though you can ask for one. They run out of these comfy items quickly, so don’t wait to request one.

REPORT ON NETHERLANDS

The information about using ATM and credit cards with embedded chips for travel in Europe didn’t register with me before a trip in August-September 2012.

12-day / 10-night river cruise in HUNGARY, SLOVAKIA, AUSTRIA and GERMANY. Highlights: In Budapest, Hungary, Buda Castle, Fisherman’s Bastion / walking tour of Bratislava, Slovakia / wine-and-music evening in Vienna, Austria / Melk Abbey / Linz / medieval Regensburg, Germany / Munich. Cruise only, $2,499-$4,698; including land, $3,189-$5,388. Single supp. is cruise-only price plus 50% plus $390 for land portion. AmaWaterways (Chatsworth, CA; 800 / 626-0126).

Fewer cruise ships are visiting Antarctica due to new regulations requiring them to use marine gas oil, a lighter and less polluting but more expensive fuel. The new regulations were set up by the International Maritime Organization after the sinking of the MS Explorer off of Antarctica in 2007.