My wife, Esta Lee, and I visited SINGAPORE, VIET-NAM and CAMBODIA, Oct. 31-Nov. 16, ’04, on a tour arranged through Value World Tours (17220 Newhope St., Ste. 203, Fountain Valley, CA 92708; phone 800/795-1633 or visit www.rivercruises.net).
One important additional detail about choosing a tour company (Feb. ’05, pg. 58) is finding out if the departure dates are guaranteed! We have had three bad experiences with Globus* (Littleton, CO; 800/221-0090 or www.globus journeys.com); all three times we have tried to travel with Globus (confirmed, all payments made, etc.), they have canceled within two to three weeks of our departure dates! Their tours may be wonderful, but we have learned our lesson.
In the many years my husband, Ted, and I have traveled around the world on ship, on tours and independently, we have booked travel insurance about two-thirds of the time. We have seldom needed to use it and always questioned the expense of bothering with it.
We took a 14-day Adriatic cruise from Dubrovnik, Croatia, to Venice, ltaly, aboard the m/v Monet, March 16-30, ’05, with Elegant Cruises & Tours. We arranged it through TravLtips (Flushing, NY; 800/872-8584).
ITN was mailed a copy of a letter sent to Discovery World Cruises*, as follows.
I spent a week in September ’04 self-cruising up Ireland’s Shannon River, stopping each day to wander about and enjoy some of the ruins, great scenery and picturesque towns.The Shannon empties into Lough Derg, a huge recreational lake. With many marinas and small villages around the lake and along the river, it is a popular place for Irish families and travelers alike to putter about on pleasure craft.
by Lew Toulmin
(First of two parts)
Cruise ships are wonderful, but there is one thing that is better: sailing a real tall ship.
My traveling companion and I were on a cruise aboard the Pacific Princess, Sept. 22-Nov. 19, ’04, with a stop at Fortaleza, Brazil, on Oct. 2. As required, we had to go through Immigration.
My wife and I were passengers on a River Explorer cruise, beginning in Bucharest on Sept. 1, ’04, and scheduled to end in Amsterdam on Sept. 25, with Vantage Deluxe World Travel. Halfway through the trip, when the ship arrived in Vienna late on Sept. 13, we were told to leave the ship early the next day. When I asked why, the Vantage tour guide and the captain only said that my wife was slow and they were afraid she would fall.
My wife and I took an extensive cruise in February-March ’05 that included Easter Island, northern Chile, Argentina (Buenos Aires) and finally Antarctica. Much has been written about Antarctica, and we reiterate what almost everyone reports: it’s magical!
In meeting other people who have cruised to Antarctica or around South America, we have found there is a huge difference in the experience depending on the type of ship chosen. Over 100 ships enter Antarctic waters each year, carrying fewer than 15,000 passengers total.