Cruise

There is nothing like the excitement and romance of a cruise. If it’s a long cruise, like a Grand Voyage (50-plus days) or a World Cruise (105 days), so much the better. But think twice. I wish I had known about the following before we spent $30K.

We took the Grand Voyage “Orient Explorer 2005” on the ms Amsterdam, Holland America’s 1,300-passenger flagship, Oct. 6-Dec. 7. Over 62 days we sailed from Seattle to Russia, Japan, Korea, China (including Hong Kong), Singapore, Australia, New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa, Hawaii and then San Diego.

(First of three parts, jump to part 1, part 2,

by Lew Toulmin

During a cruise in November ’05, the ship stopped in Na Trang, Vietnam. As is our custom, rather than sign up for the ship’s structured land tours, my husband and I usually hire a driver and tell him to take us where the tourists don’t go.

A man of about 35 approached us and we hired him and his driver for the day. We paid $70 for four of us as we were traveling with another couple. The guide’s name was Tran Cong Lac, or Loc, for short (29 B Thai Nguyen, Na Trang; mobile phone 0914 166 143 or e-mail conglac@hotmail.com).

Since 1988 I have taken 52 voyages on 34 cargo ships of all types, some for as long as four months. This is in addition to 32 cruise ship voyages.

My husband, John, and I took the “Island Sanctuaries” cruise with Cruise West (Seattle, WA; 800/426-7702 or www.cruisewest.com) in January ’06.

We took a 12-day cruise to the Black Sea on Oceania Cruises’ Insignia in September ’04*. Rates ranged from $2,299, inside, to $3,399, verandah, and included airfare from select cities. What a good cruise it was, especially at that rate.

Oceania’s ships Insignia and Regatta were purchased from the now-defunct Renaissance Cruises. Like on Renaissance sailings, there are no formal nights; all nights are “country club casual.”

I took the “Transpacific Odyssey” cruise aboard Princess Cruises’ Diamond Princess, booked through Vantage Deluxe World Travel. I embarked in Seattle, Washington, on Sept. 23, ’05, and ports of call included Ketchikan and Juneau, Alaska; Petropavlovsk, Russia; Muroran, Japan; Pusan, South Korea, and Nagasaki, Japan. I flew home from Osaka on Oct. 13.

My wife, Sandra, and I were fortunate to experience two great cruises in 2005: one on Seabourn Cruise Line’s Seabourn Pride from Fort Lauderdale to Istanbul, March 15-May 6 (Category B3 suite at $17,394 per person), and the other one on Radisson (Regent) Seven Seas Cruises’ Seven Seas Mariner from Vancouver to Hong Kong, Sept. 7-Oct. 10 (Category G suite at $11,456 each). Both cruises were booked via Sharon Whiting at Cruise Specialists (Seattle, WA; 800/544-2469 or www.csiseattle.com).

by Marilyn Lutzker, Sunnyside, NY

On Peter the Great Cruises’ “Russian Waterways” cruise, I spent four days in St. Petersburg and three in Moscow and traveled 633 miles on three rivers, three lakes, a reservoir and a canal.