Cruise

We visited Tahiti years ago and always wanted to go back. When Princess Cruises announced their 2005 cruises to Tahiti, we booked a 14-day trip. It included pre- and post-cruise overnights at a hotel in Los Angeles. The price was $1,495, excluding airfare. Tips ran about $100.

On Jan. 11, we flew from Philadelphia to Los Angeles on U.S. Airways (using our frequent-flyer miles) and spent the night at a Comfort Inn. After a great buffet breakfast at the inn, we flew Air Tahiti Nui to Papeete, Tahiti ($900 round trip). The flight was smooth and we arrived at 11 p.m.

In April ’03 we booked a cruise with Orient Lines’ Marco Polo. We would embark February ’04 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

From the moment the MS Rotterdam left Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, we moved into another world, a world of opulence in which the rich and famous indulged. Betty and I were sailing on the flagship of Holland America Line with 1,250 other guests, all bound for an exciting 23-day adventure.

The meals on our ship were always delightful and varied. We usually ate our dinners in La Fontaine, the formal dining room. It was thickly carpeted, had a full wraparound ocean view and offered white linen service. Lots of waiters were on hand to politely take our orders.

My wife and I booked a transatlantic cruise on Celebrity’s Galaxy, sailing from Galveston to Civitavecchia (for Rome) in May ’05. The crossing was uneventful, we found it even boring, during the five consecutive days at sea. Except for a complete breakdown in our dining arrangements and a final billing error, the food and service on board were very good, although not up to the standards we had experienced in two previous cruises aboard their sister ship Mercury.

I had not been on an organized tour for over 30 years, preferring cruising and my own disorganized independent travel, but I decided that China was a place where I would be more comfortable relying on the expertise of a company like Grand Circle Travel (347 Congress St., Boston, MA 02210; phone 800/837-4735 or visit www.gct.com). Our 21-day trip, March 4-25, ’04, was the first “China and the Yangtze River Tour” conducted by GCT in almost a year after the outbreak of SARS.

by Larry Flinner, Cincinnati, OH

by Deanna Palic

CRUISE NEWS

What cruise destination is older than most grandmothers, needs an $8 billion face-lift and yet still earns $1 billion in revenues every year? It’s the amazing Panama Canal, one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

Why fix it if it ain’t broke? According to Roberto Alfaro, Panama’s ambassador to the U.S., “Almost 45% of the ships being built today are too wide to go through the canal. In the future, all the ships built will be too wide. So if we don’t enlarge the canal, we will begin to lose business.”

After deliberately leaving some time to pass for reflection, I have a few comments about our Eastern Europe river cruise in August ’04. Grand Circle Travel (GCT) was the operator, and our flights were arranged on Lufthansa by GCT.

(Second of two parts)

Last month I described the romance of tall ship sailing. This month I will give some specific suggestions for fascinating tall ships around the world.