Cruise

We took a delightful trip to jolly old England, Sept. 9-Oct. 2, ’05. We stayed two weeks in cottages in the Cotswolds and spent one week on the canals.

I had a window of opportunity to take off work and go to Turkey, a country in which I had substantial interest. I began looking for companies that provided tours there, being mindful that I did not have much time to plan and would be alone.

Too often, we cruise passengers think of our cabin stewards and stewardesses as 2-dimensional persons, without families, lives or futures. So aboard Crystal Symphony on a cruise through the Mediterranean in the summer of 2005, my wife and I decided to have a chat with our energetic, attractive, 24-year-old stewardess, Rasa Janonyte of Klaipeda, Lithuania. The following reflects our conversation.

Q: What does your name mean?

A: Rasa means “dew.”

Q: Tell us about your family.

My friends, Mike and Molly Gallant of Hallowell, Maine, went on a Caribbean cruise aboard Princess Cruises’ Dawn Princess in March ’05. For a special treat, they took Mike’s elderly aunt with them. This was to be her first-ever cruise, and the lady very much needed a break since her husband had gone into a long-term-care center and she was exhausted.

We took the 11-night “Belize/Barrier Reef/Guatemala” cruise on American Canadian Caribbean Line’s Grande Caribe, Jan. 24-Feb. 4, ’05. We had cabin 44A, and the cost for the two of us was $5,151.

As avid travelers, we have been to over 100 countries. We love to cruise, and there is one thing we have a hard time finding good information about: how to get from the airport to the cruise port in an economical manner.

by Beth Habian, Features Editor

On SOUTH AMERICA, July ’05. . .

As the head chef at the famous Asian restaurant, Jade Garden, aboard the 5-star cruise ship Crystal Symphony, John Poh has reached the pinnacle of cruise cuisine. He owes his success to talent, hard work, a passion for food, and experience in over 100 kitchens around the world. I spoke to Mr. Poh while on a voyage from Lisbon to Rome in the summer of 2005.

My wife, Judy, and I took a “tulip cruise” in the Netherlands in April ’05 aboard the Viking Pride of Viking River Cruises (Woodland Hills, CA; 877/668-4546). We booked it through Covina Hills Travel (Covina, CA; 800/688-8728 or e-mail info@covinahills.com).