02
Holland America Line’s ms Maasdam does an annual summer round trip from Boston to Rotterdam: “Voyage of the Vikings.” While it is possible to take only half the cruise, most passengers go for the full 35 nights. My wife and I took the 2005 cruise, July 16-Aug. 20, at a cost of approximately $8,000 per person for an outside cabin.
I am writing because, although Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines in Ipswich was given the opportunity to reply to the specific complaints of one couple (“Black Watch Cruise Appraisal,” Jan. ’06, pg. 73), we, the North American representatives — and closest to the rest of the customers — were never given a chance to provide input. If we had, we would have pointed out the following.
I read International Travel News as soon as it arrives on my desk every month. Because of the open forum it offers its readers, ITN helps me stay tuned into what seasoned travelers want and expect from foreign travel and what they bring to the experience themselves.
ITN also offers us at Grand Circle another channel — in addition to our post-trip surveys, customer letters, e-mails and phone calls — for receiving customer feedback. We track closely all forms of travelers’ feedback to determine what we’re doing well and, more importantly, what we could do better.
by Jim Sajo, Polcenigo, Italy
Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. There are no restrictions on length. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean.) The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged.
This month’s winner is KEN LEVINE of Chicago, Illinois:
In November 2005 I went to the Bo Tung Xeo restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I ordered some type of marinated beef.
Renting a car in Greece seems the best way to travel, as public transportation is limited. For our trip, our car rental was from Budget through Auto Europe (888-223-5555 or visit www.autoeurope.com). Driving was very easy and we never encountered traffic congestion except in leaving Athens and at the ferry crossings.
From the town of Rio, we took the ferry to Andiro across the Gulf of Corinth. After waiting in line for the ferry, we drove toward the boat and then all of the cars started swerving in all directions and we didn’t know what was going on.
In September ’05, after staying in La Paz, Bolivia, at 12,600 feet, I spent two days at the Esmeralda Hotel (phone in Bolivia 010-221-36017, fax 36041 [from the U.S., phone ++591-221-36017] or visit www.hotelesmeralda.com) in Coroico, elevation 4,800 feet, to get warm and recover from the altitude.
My old guidebooks warned that the La Paz-Coroico highway was too dangerous for tourists, but I had read that the road had recently been widened and paved and was safer.
In Ho Chi Minh City in August ’05, we returned to a shop that sells embroidered pictures, XQ Silk Hand Embroidery (52B Pham Hong Thai St., Dist. 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; phone [84 8] 8246144 or visit www.xqhandembroidery.com).
My wife and I returned on Oct. 16, ’05, from an 18-day tour of China and Hong Kong. The trip, called “Yangtze River Splendors,” was operated by Orient Flexi-Pax Tours (New York, NY; 800/545-5540 or www.orientflexipax.com) and booked for us by our local travel agent. Our departure was from San Francisco on Sept. 29, with arrival in Beijing late on the 30th. Touring activities began on Oct. 1.