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I took an extraordinary tour, “Treasures of the Trans-Caucasus: Classic Survey of Azerbaijan, Georgia & Armenia,” with MIR Corp. (Seattle, WA; 800/424-7289), May 4-18, 2010. The trip cost $6,395, land, and visas for Armenia and Azerbaijan added $246. (US citizens do not need a visa to enter Georgia.)
Not just about ancient cities and monuments but also on the ethnic/cultural background of each place visited, our three-week tour “Eastern Turkey & the Black Sea” was a memorable experience. My husband, Tom, and I traveled with Umit Dogan, owner of Treasures of Travel (Edmonds, WA; 800/572-0526), May 6-26, 2010. The land price was $3,600 each.
My wife and I took a 14-day tour of Istanbul and western Turkey, Sept. 18-Oct. 2, 2010. The tour with Argeus Tourism & Travel (Istiklal Cad. No. 47, Ürgüp/Nevsehir, Turkey; phone +90 384 341 4688) was more expensive than similar tours of other companies we investigated, but we thought the quality more than compensated for the cost.
The land price, $3,970, included everything except wine at dinner and tips to the guide and driver.
From a trip my husband, Ed, and I took to Greece, I really recommend the following.
I read with interest the subscriber’s letter “Assigned Cabin Too Small” (March ’11, pg. 26), about his experience with Hurtigruten (Sunrise, FL; 866/552-0371). We took the line’s 14-day trip along Norway’s coast (Bergen-Kirkenes-Bergen) Aug. 15-26, 2009, also aboard the Richard With, and I must disagree with one of his observations. He said that “time is available for walking in each port.” That did not correspond with our experience.
On Oct. 18, 2010, four of us left the US for an 11-day Mediterranean cruise on the Costa Cruises liner Costa Mediterranea, sailing from Savona/Genoa, Italy, to Rome and on to ports in Egypt, Cyprus, Greece and Turkey before returning to Savona on Oct. 31. My longtime girlfriend and I had a suite for $8,400.
At the beginning of the cruise, the butler who was assigned to our suite was supposed to help us get our luggage unpacked. He wasn’t there.
A travel companion and I took the 11-night cruise “Eastern Mediterranean & Alexandria, Egypt” aboard Costa Cruises’ Costa Deliziosa, Nov. 11-21, 2010. Excluding airfare, and with an “obstructed” ocean-view cabin, we each paid $1,300.
We enjoyed the ports of call we visited and the time to relax, but we were very disappointed with Costa. We’d had a great experience with them on the Costa Concordia in the western Mediterranean in 2006, however it was quite different this time.
by Joyce Bruck, Ocean Ridge, FL
For some time I had been looking for an interesting trip up the west coast of Africa. I finally found one, offered by Silversea Cruises, and, to my excitement, it offered free air travel and a deep discount.
• Any remaining tickets to the 2012 Olympics in London, July 25-Aug. 12, are being sold in a random-selection ballot and in “hospitality packages” from Authorized Ticket Resellers (ATRs). The ATR for the US and Canada is CoSport (Box 905, Far Hills, NJ 07931; 877/457-4647 or 908/326-2660).
As ITN went to press, the State Department had travel warnings on 33 destinations: Syria, Uzbekistan, Mexico, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Iraq, Lebanon, Algeria, Mauritania, Afghanistan, Yemen, Mali, Eritrea, Libya, Pakistan, Haiti, Central African Republic, Niger, Nepal, Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Chad, Guinea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Colombia, Burundi, Philippines, Iran, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Israel/West Bank/Gaza.
For details, call the State Department at 202/647-5225 or visit www.travel.state.gov.