TP Thursday: A cruise kaleidoscope

Here we are in Bari, Italy nearly midway through the Celebrity cruise that is taking us from Rome to Venice and into autumn in Europe. We’ve had a  kaleidoscope of experiences since setting sail; so many that I couldn’t think of a single topic on which to focus this Travel Photo Thursday. Sometimes travel is like that - it jumbles the mind.

So think of this post as a kaleidoscope of our last week:

Napoli:  Birth place of Sophia Loren and pizza!

Catania, Sicily: The Duomo was just one of the many historic sites we visited on this day when we logged 11 miles on the pedometer. Actually, 10 or 11 miles a day is becoming the norm for this trip.

Valletta, Malta:  Watching the sun rise over this ancient city was magic, simply, pure magic. So much so, that we've vowed to return and spend much more than a single day here.

Whew!  A day at sea to rest our senses before heading to Corfu, Greece and up the Adriatic for the last half of the cruise.










 I saved one of our favorite photos to end today’s post:

After all, we know that Italy is at the center of the fashion world, right? This fellow was in a Napoli store window – I couldn’t resist closing this post with him.




Ciao for now!  It’s Travel Photo Thursday so head over to Budget Travelers Sandbox for more travel photos. 

And a note of thanks to those of you who responded so positively to the last post:  Thank you so much for reposting on your FB pages, your tweets , Google + and all the other nice accolades.  They were most appreciated. And it is great to have so many new blogosphere friends.

Carnival Spirit: What a Difference a Day Makes!

The weather forecast for San Diego called for rain.

Not a good way to start a five day cruise that we booked because we needed sun.

We thought our forecaster was off base when Sunday morning we arrived at the cruise terminal under blue skies. There was a strong wind and it chilled to the bone but it wasn’t raining.  That was a good thing. My ‘carefree’ wind-blown hairdo illustrates the wind power (and yes I was holding the rail to fend off some of the stronger gusts).

We were bundled up but determined the strong cold wind wouldn’t dampen our spirits.

But by the time we set sail at 4:30 we not only had wind, but rain as well. This is my shot of leaving San Diego:




The decks were nearly deserted. . .of course many were closed:




It was beginning to look like we might have made a mistake in picking this cruise.  One of the ship’s photographers told us, “I’ve sailed two cruises out of San Diego recently and they were warm and we had blue skies.  . . .Can you believe this?!”   No, we couldn’t.

But as we continued south the sea calmed and by today I am happy to report the Carnival Fun Ship Spirit is back:

And guess what?  It is Spring Break!  And not every college student goes to Florida. . .we’ve got a thousand or more of them on board with us.  I’ll tell you more of those stories as the week goes on. . .  for now I’m off to sun tan. . .

Cruise 'extras' can sink your travel budget

By now you have probably figured out that Joel and I love cruising and that in recent years he's found some good cruise deals that allow us to pursue that passion.

Let me be clear, by 'deal' I don't mean booking some crammed inside room with no view, next to an elevator on an old bucket of bolts. What I am talking about is an unobstructed balcony room with a view that we nailed at a price far below the published one on a fabulous ship heading to some exciting destination.

One of the reasons that good 'ticket' price is important is that we've learned it is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the total cost of a cruise. That payment  pays for that room and for as many meals and snacks as you can shovel in, (oink!) a day - pretty darn nice digs and good eats, to say the least.  (For our upcoming cruise, it also pays for port fees and taxes, but that isn't always the case, so check that out before booking as we are talking a chunk of change if it is added on top of the bargain price.)

Once on board, the real spending begins:  set-amount tips added to your bill at the end of the trip, beverages - (including soft drinks and specialty coffees), specialty restaurant surcharges, ship-sponsored shore excursions, spa visits, cooking classes. . .you name it and you'll probably be able to buy it or sign up for it.

The temptations and dollar-signs that go with them, can and do add up to hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars more, if you aren't keeping track of your on-board spending. And when you take a repositioning cruise like we are this spring -- the kind that that moves a ship from one part of the world to another -- the temptation to spend is hard to resist because during those six blissful days of sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, we will be on the ship 24/7, eating, drinking and entertaining ourselves. (Thankfully, on longer cruises like these you usually get a 'mid-cruise' invoice to let you see how high you've stacked the dollar signs.)

Even world events can come tapping on your cruise budget.  Cruise lines clearly state that if a certain cost threshold for barrel oil is hit in the world market it will likely result in them adding an additional per day, per passenger charge for fuel. (On our upcoming cruise is is $10 per person, per day if levied = $260)

Yesterday we received an email from  Cruise Critic featuring an article on ways to curb at least those  tempting discretionary cruise costs. It's worth a read if taking a cruise is on your travel 'to do' list.

Cruising: A Matter of Dollars and "Sense"

Our cabin on the Westerdam

 "I'd say this view is worth the $8,000 we paid for the cruise!" the guy next door told his roommate the morning we were docked in Istanbul. "But 12 days will be enough, I'll be ready to get off."
 
Note: I am not an  eavesdropper. I was in the midst of my ritual 'morning-coffee-on-the-balcony' when I overheard the pronouncement.  Our cruise neighbor, we were learning, liked making proclamations and other bodily noises while on his deck, perhaps not realizing -- or caring about -- how sound carries.   

I am certain his bodily noises would have intensified had I leaned around the partition and told him that his view cost  more than double what ours had on this "Black Sea Medley "cruise.

On my balcony I'd also learned: He'd nearly missed the ship because of a delay at the airport.  No problem, he'd said, because ". . .some sweet talkin' to Holland America and they would have rented a chopper to get us to the next destination."   (Hmmmm. . .. don't think so, read on. . .)

A few days later. . .

While chatting with another (U.S.) West Coast couple;  our conversation followed a typical pattern of "cruiser talk":
Enjoying the cruise?
This your first cruise?
(Then,clearing the throat) . . .and so, what did it cost you?
Their response to the price we had paid was: "That was per person, right?!" 
When learning that it was the total cost, the lady blurted, "We paid $12,000!!!"

They were new to cruising and had sought the advice of a travel agent. Her husband said they'd only wanted a 'place to sleep' as it was the ports of call - not the cruise ship luxuries - that had appealed. The agent convinced them to book a mini-suite.


And then. . .

Over sail-away drinks, (those libations consumed while watching the ship leave a port) a man told us his cruise woes began when an East Coast storm caused flight delays. He'd missed the ship and spent his first 'cruise night' in an Athens hotel. The next day he had to fly from Athens to Kusadesi, Turkey to catch up with our ship.

"I missed an entire stop" he lamented, adding that next time he will allow an extra day to get to his port of embarkation. (Note: HAL didn't hire a helicopter for him.)



We had a spacious deck - well used on sunny days

 Even with 'good deals', cruising is a chunk of change when you consider all costs associated with it; but there are ways to save "Dollars and Sense". Here are our suggestions for doing so:

1.  Web surf - it is free and easy. Check out various cruise lines and itineraries.

2.  Decide what's most important: the routing and ports of call or the cruise ship amenities.

3.  Do a bit more research: * Read on-line reviews such as those on Cruise Critic.
* Check out the shipthat interests you on the cruise line's web site - look at floor plans and on-board amenities; read the links to the ports of call on the itinerary.

4.  Get price quotes - even for the same cruise. We use CruiseCompete.com. When comparing prices make sure the price quotes are for the same category cabin. (size of room and location on ship). (We are researching a 2011 fall cruise for which we've seen three different prices already)

5. Ask about on board credits or other booking incentives.

6.Talk to others who have cruised; consider their opinions and recommendations.

7.  Use a travel agent if you aren't comfortable making cruise arrangements over the Internet. But use one that knows cruising first hand. Note: some now charge for advising you on options but usually apply the fee to your travel purchase. (It's okay to ask: If they've cruised in the part of the world in which you are interested? How much cruising have they done? Which lines have they cruised on?)

8. Think over the options they give you; you don't need to book on the spot. We've often had a cruise on hold for a few hours or overnight to give us time to check out airfare (using frequent flier miles requires some flexibility in travel dates, for instance).

9. Consider logistics and costs of getting to and from the cruise. (We've passed up some great cruise deals because of difficulty or cost of getting to the ship.)

10. Plan your travel to arrive a day or at least an evening before your cruise, especially if crossing time zones You'll have a cushion against delays (and costs associated with them) and you'll get a jump on curing jet-lag.



HAL's Westerdam in Piraeus, Greece

I invite those travel professionals and cruise enthusiasts out there to add your recommendations for saving dollars and 'sense' by using the comment section below.  

Cruising Countdown and Other Contemplations

There's just something about cruising . . .for us, the excitement begins long before the blast of the ship's horn signals our departure.

We ponder where our cabin will be, what we will do at each new port of call, how few clothes we can pack and still be socially acceptible and about new friends we will make.  This trip even promises a chance to reconnect with our Florida friends whom we met on an earlier cruise - on this same ship, the Westerdam,as a matter of fact. 

Our countdown to cruising has begun. . .

And, no, we still don't know what we are doing or where we are going during our two after-cruise weeks. Although, author Seth Stevenson has unleashed a whole new set of travel bugs upon us in his book,"Grounded - A Down to Earth Journey Around the World" (Riverhead Books Publisher, 2010) in which he writes about the trip he and his girlfriend made circumnavigating the globe without ever setting foot on an airplane.  They traveled by freighter, container ship, bus, bike, train and car on the journey that took six months to complete.

Stevenson is the writer and his girlfriend an attorney.   Hmmm. . . with a gender flip, it's the same mix as in this household. (They are probably a couple decades younger than we are, but travel bugs don't discriminate by age).

"We could do that!" we say, with a tinge of speculation.

"We should do a trip like that before we get too old to do it," our reasoning continues.

Maybe we could  test out their travel style in our two yet-to-be-determined weeks:

One option:  If we caught a ferry from Piraeus to Italy (Ancona, Bari, or Venice) after our cruise ship returned from the Black Sea, we could take a train to Rome and depart there on a repositioning cruise that would take us to Fort Lauderdale. . .it's still a bit on the pricey side for our 'find-a-deal' budget. 

Or we could:  take a ferry from Civittavechia (the port city for Rome) and head to Spain. There's another repositioning cruise that leaves from Barcelona - good price, interesting routing. . .hmmmm.

Either option would give us more time on the sea ~

The more practical (probably the more economical) version:  Simply fly (sorry, Seth - we will have to be 'grounded' some other time) to Barcelona from Athens. Cheaper and quicker but doesn't kindle the 'romance of travel'.  From a practical standpoint we'd have more time for exploring Greece or Spain.

Or we could remain on course:  pondering where we want to go for a couple weeks after the Black Sea cruise. . .maybe just hop the first ferry out after we leave the ship. . .

Contemplation. . . this really is the fun part. . .no joke!

A Black Sea Medley

"Black Sea Medley" is the name given our 12-day cruise by Holland America . We'll be joining two thousand others on board its Westerdam setting out to explore ancient cities this fall.  The cities -- some we'd never thought of visiting before -- now tease our senses of adventure with images of exotic intrigue and tempt with explorations that will intoxicate our senses with new smells, sights, sounds and tastes.

We will set sail from Piraeus; the bustling port city near Athens.


We'll then travel to:
* Kusadasi, Turkey, gateway to the ancient city of Ephesus the once bustling seaport which might be called the religious center of early Christianity.
* Volos, Greece, at the foot of Mt. Pelion and featured in much Greek mythology.
* Thessaloniki, Greece, while the cruise line lists this as Greece's 2nd largest economic center (industry and commercial) I prefer to think of it as described in the Aug/Sept 2010 Saveur Magazine: "Greece's culinary capital,with an eclectic cuisine reflecting the proximity of Bulgaria and the other Balkan states (due North) and Turkey (to the East) as well as the city's key position on well-established trade routes between the Middle East and Europe."  Far more intriguing to me than 'industrial center'.
* Istanbul, Turkey, this magical city we visited for just a day on a 2008 cruise, was once called Byzantium then Constantinople. We arrive at noon one day and don't leave until nearly midnight the next. . .how many meals can we manage to eat during our time on shore?

          Morning coffee delivered to the room

* A day at Sea (to regroup the senses and diet after Istanbul) and not just any Sea Day as we will sail the Bosphorus and begin criss-crossing The Black Sea with stops at:
* Sochi, Russia with its Caucasus Mountains backdrop, is where the 2014 Winter Olympics will take place.
* Trabzon, Turkey - where the Byzantine and Ottoman eras are reflected in architecture throughout the town.
* Sinop, Turkey - offering one of Turkey's most beautiful natural harbors we are told, this was the birthplace of the cynic philosopher Diogenes.
*Sevastopol, Ukraine - we will be among the more than 500,000 visitors to this city each year and will see how many of its 1,800 historic monuments and memorials we can see during our stop.
* A Day at Sea en route to where we began:
* Piraeus, Greece

Next post we'll ponder what to do in the days before and after the cruise.

Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea in a Day

We went from the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea in a matter of hours; a move so swift for the glacially-researching Smith's that I still can't believe in two months we'll be cruising to destinations in Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and Greece. . .but that's how travel research and planning go sometimes with us.

The Research
For more than a year we've been looking for cruises that would include Sydney, Australia and New Zealand.  Either the ship's routing didn't appeal or the price was prohibitive. Then, some months ago, we began following the price fluxuations of a 30-day cruise from the U.S. West Coast to Sydney, with some Hawaiian and South Sea ports of call thrown in.  It tempted. The cruise price went down; we calculated the cost of the various airfares to get us back to Seattle and to San Francisco . . .we debated. . .'should we or shouldn't we?'. . . and then. . .

The Trip
Two days ago Joel was reading the latest cruise deals from Vacations To Go and he mentioned a 12-night Holland America cruise sailing this fall from Athens, Greece to ports of call that ring the Black Sea.  Price was good and the eight ports of call sounded exotic. We sent the cruise off to Cruise Compete, a website we've used before (and highly recommend) to price-compare this cruise.  We've learned price quotes do vary for the same category cabin on the same cruise.

By 5 p.m. we had booked our trip with Cruise Vacation Outlet, a company in Orlando, Fl, that submitted one of the best quotes we received in response to our Cruise Compete request; one that included a $175 on-board credit.

We'll be getting to Athens using a combination of frequent flier miles (it took some time to find something that didn't involve two plane changes and long waits along the way) and Europe's low-cost airlines.  We will fly Delta from Seattle to Amsterdam for air miles and $97US per person in taxes and fees.  After a couple nights there we'll continue to Athens.

Maybe we'll get to Australia next year. . .

Air-Cruise deals - know before you go

As noted in earlier blogs, we do love cruising. Often the only thing that keeps us from taking more cruises -- particularly those in exotic places -- is the difficulty in finding or the cost of air transportation to get us to the port of embarkation or disembarkation. Several summers ago Silversea tempted us with a last-minute deal on a cruise from Venice to Venice via Croatia, Montenegro and Greece. The cost of airfare was prohibitive so we cashed in some airmiles and started our journey: flying Seattle to San Francisco, from there to London Heathrow, then bus to Gatwick, from there a flight to Bologna and from there a train to Venice. We were numb by the time we arrived some 24 hours later.

We've always opted to make our own flight arrangements though as it seemed we had better control of the routing and aircraft we would be flying. After reading the article by Erica Silverstein, Senior Editor at Cruise Critic, that examines that very issue, we think we will opt to keep doing so. (Click on this blog's headline to link to her article.)

Cruising into 2010 - Happy New Year!

Each new year brings the promise of new destinations. . .new deals. . .new discoveries. . .new friends who share a passion for travel. . .books to be read. . . and maps to be studied.

We've been watching certain Australian/Asian cruises for several months now -- by monitoring the fluxation of prices on a variety of internet sites, such as CruiseCon, and Vacations to Go, from whom we receive emails regularly announcing sales and deals from all cruise lines. Then when a particular cruise really hits our fancy we turn to our friends at http://www.cruisecompete.com/ a web-site where we remain anonymous while obtaining price quotes on that particular cruise from cruise specialists from throughout the country, who respond to our request.

And yes, the prices do differ - sometimes by hundreds of dollars for the same cabin categories. We thought this balcony cabin was a great deal at $125 per night on Holland America's transatlantic crossing last spring; and friends, using a different agent, booked the same cabin 10 doors down for $100 per night.

Our continuing recommendation to friends who are new to cruising - sometimes heeded and other times not -- is to get quotes before booking your floating adventure. We've saved money and had on-board credits, shore excursions and parties as result of shopping around. In fairness, sometimes the quote is no better than that given by agents we have dealt with in the past, in which case we end up returning to the agency we've previously used. . . but we have found deals by shopping around.

Before we book any cruise we routinely refer to http://www.cruisecritic.com/ where we find a comprehensive report by Cruise Critic staff on ships, and extensive cruise ship reviews by fellow cruisers and information on the cruise line industry and ports of call.

Cruisecritic.com keeps tabs on all aspects of the industry and in a recent update noted that 15 new cruise ships will be debuting world-wide in 2010 in cruise lines ranging from Holland America and Costa to Norwegian and Cunard.

For cruise bargain hunters like us, they predict cruise deals will be harder to nab as prices are heading back up to pre-2009 levels. Sounds like there will be deals in the shoulder season and for last minute (gotta fill the boat) bookings.

for now we continue to ponder prices and cruise destinations. As the year goes along we hope to hear from you about your travel plans and recommendations. Here's to 2010!