Category Archives: Cruises

Scout’s Tips forThe Perfect Cruise

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Scout

Dusty has friends that cruise. They really , really love it. Then she  has friends that would not be caught dead on a cruise ship. Dusty took a cruise… once, for 4 days.  I bet if she had a choice she probably would not make it her  first choice as a vacation destination. Some exceptions do apply.

For example, Alaska. I know Dusty thinks that Alaska  is made for a cruise what  with the Inside Passage and glaciers and all. So many of the sights are on the water or along the coast. Mix it up with a shore excursion or two and you’ll probably cover  a lot of the highlights. If she didn’t think it would be a good value or worthwhile she wouldn’t be trying to put together a cruise trip there for next year’s vacation with her sister.

But we’re learning a lot about cruises as Dusty works on this so I thought I’d share some of what we’ve found out so far.

1.  The destination is important but don’t forget to consider the cruise line and even the particular ship. There is a big difference in atmosphere and facilities. Some lines  are known as party boats while others are geared toward families and children, still others  have seniors or singles  in mind and gear their activities accordingly. Some cruise lines have different ships within the same cruise line  designated for  the various demographics.

2. The best way to get a good deal on a cruise is to either book early or book last-minute. The early bookers get about the same  sale prices as the late “sale” bookers but they have more choices and options. Booking early avoids the chance of being disappointed by having the cruise of your choice sold out. . “Early” usually means three to six months before the cruise; the savings generally are 25 to 50 percent off the published brochure price per person.

3. Take care of business. Tape a to – do list to the fridge or someplace else that’s visible so you don’t forget to stop mail delivery or to pack your favorite shampoo. Make sure arrangements have been made for your pets whether they are staying at home or heading to a kennel. Shop for film,( does anyone still use film in this age of digital cameras?), travel size toiletries, sunscreen etc. They will be available  on the ship but will be more expensive.

4. Pack light, pack right. Be prepared for the off-chance your luggage will get misplaced. Even if your bag isn’t lost, it often takes hours before it gets to your cabin. So pack for survival: Put a little of everything you’ll want and need in  a carry-on bag. This includes undies, shirts, socks, a bathing suit , any medications and  something to wear to dinner. As added protection, buy travel insurance that covers you for lost, stolen, damaged or delayed luggage. As this is an expensive trip travel insurance should cover you if for some reason you have to cancel at the last-minute. After all, life happens!

5.  Explore the shore excursions and book as early as possible. Some cruises let you book the shore trips before boarding but many others do it after you board the ship. These excursions go fast so do not delay if there’s one you really want.

6. Then there’s that old nemesis, tipping… How much and to whom? Some cruises allow you to pre pay your tips but then if the service is bad, you’d be out of luck. If you choose to cover the tips on your own most cruise lines supply you with tip guidelines. It runs about $3.50 per day/per person  for the waiters and the cabin steward and $2.00 per day/per person  for the bus boy. Tipping the maitre’d is optional.

7. Last but not least on the learning curve..dining! It used to be that you”dressed for dinner” and had assigned seating in the dining room. Usually there were 2 dinner seatings. More and more cruises are beginning to use “open seating”. You can change tables or even your seating time. There’s also more options for restaurants outside of the main dining room. Check out your options carefully before you book so there are no pricey financial surprises. Also find out the dress code. Many are going casual or having only 1 formal “captain’s dinner”.

So that about wraps it up so far. I know Dusty’s head has been spinning. I think she is finding getting this cruise info together is much more involved than just heading off on vacation. Her friend Julie would disagree but that’s why everyone is different.

Well, she still hasn’t booked the cruise yet so I’m sure there will be more updates to come. Any cruisers out there that can offer advice? Let us know.

Alaska~ Land of the Midnight Sun

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I finally made the first call to start the process for our 2012 trip to Alaska. I don’t think it went too well.

Let me back up. My sister and I have been talking about going to Alaska for a couple of years now. Part of the delay has been the cost. Sis wants 2-3 nights in Denali along with a cruise. That adds up to a lot of money. While we were in Sedona we talked about it some more and basically made a decision to just go for it. If we keep waiting we won’t get there…or by the time we do the glaciers will be melted, the mountains eroded and the polar bears will have moved some place colder. 🙂

The other stumbling block is which cruise line do we want to go on. We had been looking at Holland America but then Sis heard from a neighbor that they weren’t very good. That’s surprising because Holland America has tons of Alaska cruises. Seems to me if they weren’t any good that they wouldn’t be able to have so many choices.

I suggested Royal Caribbean. They have a big, fairly new ship doing the Alaska Route, Radiance of the Seas. I have only been on 1 other cruise and it was a short one from Port Canaveral to Nassau, Bahamas. That was on Royal Caribbean and we had a very nice time.

I know people who have taken an Alaska Cruise and they raved about it. We also met some folks  at the Grand Canyon that flew into Alaska, rented an RV and toured that way which would have been fine by me too. I just want to see the country and the animals. Cruise, drive, train…any of them are fine with me.

But back to my first call. I blissfully called Royal Caribbean with the mistaken idea that they would willingly offer any available discounts. That was what I was told by the Holland America rep at the AAA Travel Marketplace this spring. Well, I even mentioned AAA and Senior discounts and as far as I can tell got nada. I pointed out that the price I was being quoted was higher than their published price in their brochure and was told that was “just the starting point.”

The only good part is that you can book your cruise for a very small deposit. I told them I would have to get back to them. Within 24 hours I had both a phone call and an email trying to “close the deal.” That’s kind of putting me off right there.

I emailed Sis and got back an email that seemed to have the hair standing on end! How much ..for how long etc , etc.  So I have mailed the cruise info so Sis can go to her travel agent and see if they can do better.

I can see this is going to be a bit trickier than I expected. I am not a fan of travel agents. Most of my experiences with travel agents have been disappointing but in this case, if they can get a better deal, I’m all for it.

I will keep you all updated as this saga unfolds.

AAA Travel Marketplace

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Every year I read about the AAA Travel Marketplace. It’s touted as THE Travel event of the year. According to it’s advertisements you should come prepared to book your trip as there will be deep discounts and show specials.

Like most shows it always falls on a weekend and like most shows, I end up missing it because of my work schedule but this year I decided to take a day off and check it out. There were a couple of reasons for my decision. One was that I am writing this travel blog and I felt I should be able to offer some comments on the show and the second reason was that I wanted information on Alaska Cruises since that’s the goal for 2012.

I went on Friday because it was easier to get a Friday off work than an Saturday or Sunday. That meant that I missed the public appearance of Wally the Red Sox mascot and the rep from the TSA who was going to speak about the controversial airport screening policy., both things I would have liked to see/hear. Oh well…in a perfect world J Let’s face it, we can’t have everything even if we want to and life is all about choices.

The show opened on Friday at 2pm and was at the Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. I headed over to arrive around 3pm. I pulled up to the Fidelity entrance as indicated on my ticket but the doors were locked. While I looked around several other cars pulled up and soon there was quite a crowd milling around. About the time I was pulling out my cell to call AAA someone else got the same idea. He got through first and informed us that that we had to go to the other side of the stadium complex and enter there. We all loaded back into our cars and caravanned around the complex.

When we got to the other side we saw the parking attendants and signs…AAA parking.

Even so close to opening time the lots were filling up fast. Looking at the number of cars and the distance I was from the doors I chose to lock the DSLR in the trunk and just take the point and shoot. I felt it would be easier to carry and less conspicuous in a crowd.

It was a good choice.

One inside I was directed up the escalator to the 2nd floor. As soon as I walked in I was in Canada land. There were booths for Quebec, New Foundland, Nova Scotia, Montréal, Bay of Fundy and on and on. I was cornered briefly by one of the Canadian reps… bonjour, Com on sa va etc then with brochures and bags I continued on past Ireland, Costa Rica, Bahamas. My head was starting to spin!

Then the crowds began to thin out. There was a large area with desks and computers marked “Reservations” . Apparently this was where you could whip out your checkbook or credit card and take advantage of all the show specials. I gave that area a wide berth. I only wanted information.

And then I saw the Cruise booths. There was Princess, Disney, Linblad ( Nat Geo’s cruise line of choice), Holland America, and more. I started asking about Alaska at the first booth and was immediately told they were all booked up. I moved on to the next and was also told to try again another time…no specials here. When I reached the Holland America booth the rep was more gracious. She gave me brochures and explained how they set up their cruises and excursions. She said they run the most trips to Alaska so very seldom sell out early. She also told me to go to the web site and if I had questions just to call and they would help. She said it was not to0 early to reserve a cruise in 2012. She said a small deposit holds the reservation. Then she looked around and said “You can go though AAA travel agents, but they will charge you a fee”. That is the same thing my friend Julie told me too.

With my cruise information collected and enough reading material for at least a month, I just wandered around the rest of the show. I’ll tell you a little about that in my next post.

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Goodspeed Opera House

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When I first arrived at the boat launch in Haddam for the Eagle Cruise I spotted a gorgeous old building right on the river. I took some pictures from the dock and then returned to the car to drive over to the building.

To get there I just had to take a right out of the boat landing and cross a steel bridge and the building was right there on the right.

I had time so I parked and walked back up to the building.

On the front of the building is 1876. There was a large billboard in the window advertising a show. I wasn’t sure if this was current or just on the building for “show”. The building was certainly in excellent condition and quite impressive. It had to be to catch my eye. I am an architectural idiot. Buildings usually don’t catch my attention like that.

Back on the boat the Captain pointed out the building and told us it was the Goodspeed Opera House but that was about all he said. So it fell to me to do a little digging if I wanted to be able to give you any background.

What I found out is that the Goodspeed Opera house is a historic landmark. It was built in 1876 by William Goodspeed who was a merchant and banker. It’s original use was as a store, office and steamship docking point. Right from the beginning it had a theater on it’s top 2 floors.

The architectural style is listed as Second Empire because of the mansard roof.

The first performance in the Opera House was Oct. 24, 1877. William Goodspeed died in in 1926 and the building was used for various purposes after that including being a World War I militia base, a general store and a storage facility for the Highway department.

The building began to fall into disrepair until a non-,profit organization, Goodspeed Musicals, restored it in 1959. The building was rededicated in 1963 and has continued since then to be a home for musical performances.

I have listed a couple of links that you can check out for more information including a list of performances and ticket prices.

　

　

　

 

http://historicbuildingsct.com/?p=1540

　

 

http://www.goodspeed.org/

Gillette Castle and State Park

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As we cruised south on the Connecticut River our guides pointed out a huge stone building on a bluff overlooking the river. With no trees to block the view it was hard to miss and certainly does look like a Medieval castle.

I had noticed signs on the way to the boat landing referring to Gillette Castle and Gillette Castle State Park but I had never heard of it before so had no idea what it might be.

According to our guides, Gillette Castle State Park is located in Haddam, Ct. The Castle was built by “William Gillette as a private residence. It is said he came to visit and was so taken with the views that he bought 184 acres and built this huge stone house.

William Gillette was an American and made his money as an actor, most notably playing Sherlock Holmes on stage.

Gillette loved showing off his estate and even had a railroad track with a working steam engine so he could show his visitors around the grounds.

　

In 1882 Gillette married Helen Nichols of Detroit. They were blissfully happy. She died in 1888 from peritonitis caused by a ruptured appendix. According to our guides, Helen , on her death bed, begged him not to remarry and he honored that request. He was grief-stricken for years and in the Spring of 1890 was struck down by tuberculosis. By the time of his death he was almost penniless but he still had his home.

When Gillette died , he had no wife or children to inherit, his will precluded possession of the castle by any (and I love this) “blithering sap-head who has no conception of where he is or with what surrounded”.

Connecticut’s government took possession of the property in 1943 and renamed the home Gillette’s Castle and the land around it Gillette State Park.

The Castle is open during the summer and can be toured while the grounds are open all year. Even if the Castle is closed you can stand on the veranda and look out over the Connecticut River, enjoying the same views that so enamored William Gillette.

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