A “Gap Year” is what kids in every other Western Nation outside of North America do in the time between leaving high school and beginning their higher education (or a job). It is their chance get out into the world and discover its wonders before being burdened with children, careers and mortgages.

So, I read with interest that one of the new trends we are seeing amongst the Millennial generation in North America is putting off buying a house, and investing in experiences such as travel instead.

Is this a great way to lead a balanced, fulfilling life OR is it a frivolous indulgence?

If you’re over 35, you need to set aside everything you’ve ever been taught, and consider this question a bit more objectively. The conventional wisdom is that you start working when you’re 12 years old, save up for a down payment, and purchase your own home as soon as possible.

But is it really going to make any difference if you delay this a few years?

At the risk of appearing self-indulgent, I’ll use myself as an example. Travel has been a life-long passion, and when I was in my early-twenties back in the 1980s, I spent a year in Australia, New Zealand and some of the Pacific Islands.

For me, it was an easy decision – but many of my peers would ask me questions like:
“How much did that cost you?”
“Wouldn’t you rather buy a new car instead?”
“Isn’t that a waste of money that you could use to buy a house?”

Thirty years later, I don’t appear to be any further behind my peer group when it comes to the inevitable comparison of “who owns what”.

The one thing I do have that many in my peer group don’t, is the memories and the life experience that the trip provided. Being exposed to other cultures and people as a young person helped me form a system of values that I feel has served me well.

One of our failings in North America is not realizing there is a larger world out there. Many of the social issues of our time have been solved in other countries, but we fail to consider those solutions because we are ignorant to their existence.

Perhaps the Millennials are onto something.

While we have more ‘stuff’ than anyone else on the planet, we are well down on the list of the Happiness index, while countries whose people get out into the world more often rank near the top.

Of course, travel is not the ticket to happiness, but it appears as though buying a house when you’re 22 isn’t either.

So – what do you think? Are these Millennials who are spending all their money tramping around the world going to regret it in a few years, or will they cherish those experiences and memories?

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Planning a Cruise?  I’d love to help!  Click here to get in touch today.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

If you’re like many people, you may have visited the far reaches of the planet, but failed to explore in your own backyard. So it is with that in mind that I suggest that Canada & New England might be worth considering as a bucket list trip.

First of all, it’s spectacularly beautiful.

Unless you live in the very far south of the country, you are likely exposed to at least some autumn colors when the leaves on the trees change. Now consider that beauty x 1000, and add the charming colonial townships and French Canadian ports that make up this particular cruise run.

This itinerary is only offered for a few weeks a year, and just about all the cruise lines have at least one ship in the Northeast in September and October.

One option that caught my eye is on SilverSea. They are offering Free Air for the Canada/New England run for those people who book before the end of March 2018.

SilverSea is a luxury brand with small ships, and is truly all-inclusive:

• Included shipboard WiFi
• Gratuities
• Specialty Dining
• Included wine, beer, and spirits
• Included Suite Mini Bar
• Port taxes
• Free Economy air, and Business Class upgrades for $199.

There are a variety of itineraries between 8 and 11 nights, and these cruises originate in New York, Boston, or Montreal.

The ports vary a little bit from cruise to cruise, but on each there are some typical port calls like Bar Harbor and Halifax, but also some smaller, less frequented ports like Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island, and the very French township of Sept-Iles in Quebec.

If you want to strike two ticks off your bucket list, SilverSea is also offering one cruise that leaves on September 29, 2018 from Reykjavik, Iceland. It then visits:

• Newfoundland – So you can experience the musical ‘Come From Away’ first-hand)
• St. Pierre – Most people are unaware that France still controls two islands in North America, with this being one of them. They use the Euro for currency, and they speak European French. This is very much visiting France, but in North America
• Baie Comeau – If you want to confirm that the French settled part of North America, this is the place to do so.
• Quebec City – North America’s only walled city is like nothing else in the New World
• Montreal – A great urban place where French and English collide regularly – sometimes in the same sentence.

Given the air inclusion deal going on this month with SilverSea, this cruise looked particularly appealing to me, and

Iceland has been on my bucket list for a while. If this one is of interest to you, this 10-night cruise is priced at about $5800 per person with all the inclusions (and air) mentioned above. Remember, you have to book by the end of March to get free air included.

Planning a Cruise?  I’d love to help!  Click here to get in touch today.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

One of the most common questions I receive about river cruises is whether flights are included in the price.

Here’s the short answer: It depends.

Not very helpful, I know!

With river cruises, there are three situations with regards to flights.

1. Flights are NOT included in the price, but available as an option.
In this situation, you generally pay the going rate for flights, although sometimes the cruise lines have contracted rates which may be lower.
Usually in this case, you have an incentive to book flights through the river cruise line, because they will then also include transfers between the airport and ship.
Also, if you book air through the cruise line then they are responsible for helping you if your flights are delayed and you are in danger of missing your embarkation.
This is the case with Ama Waterways, for example.

2. You receive a heavy “discount” on flights.
In this situation, flights are available as an option for a relatively small amount of money.
You will see ads like “add air for only $199 per person to Europe from major North American gateways”.
Viking frequently packages their river cruises this way

3. You receive “free air”.
In this case, flights are included in the price and there is no option to book the cruise without the flights.
Viking sometimes offers free air, and I’ve seen Uniworld do the same thing.

Those last 2 options are almost irresistible and seem to be no-brainers. However you’ll want to keep the following in mind if you’re considering one of those options:

• Even if the marketing says ‘free’, the cost of flights is built into the overall cruise cost. So for example If you want to fly using ‘points’, or if you are already in Europe and want to add a river cruise onto your existing trip, then you’ll end up paying more than you should for flights
• The cruise line will assign your flights. That means you have no say over the airline or the routing. You will be on the cheapest flights available. Even if a direct flight is available, you will not necessarily be on it.
• If you want to arrive a couple of days early, or stay a few extra days after your cruise (which I DO recommend) then you can expect to pay extra fees.

If you’re looking at your river cruise options, flights are an important consideration.

Be sure you’re aware of all the implications of getting flights included with your river cruise.

Planning a Cruise?  I’d love to help!  Click here to get in touch today.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

If people who really enjoy good food are called “Foodies”, what do we call those who really appreciate wine? I don’t want to call you “Winers”… and “Winey” or “Wino” just sounds wrong.

Perhaps we’ll just stick with “Wine-Lovers”.

If you’ve already done a European river cruise or you’re looking for a good excuse to do one, then you may want to consider a “Wine Cruise” with Ama Waterways.

There are a whole bunch of reasons why I think this looks even more appealing than the regular river cruises in Europe. On any European river cruise, you are subject to the tremendous history and culture that only Europe can offer. Some people, however, might have already done this, and others may just be looking for some variation in their activities as opposed to visiting museums and castles day after day.

If you’ve ever cycled through (or wanted to cycle through) the Napa Valley, then imagine that experience, but in Europe during the harvest season. If cycling is not really your gig, then you still have the opportunity to visit the wineries and do wine tastings all along the route of your river cruise.

The menu on board is prepared to complement the local wines, and the exceptional food available at the time of the European harvest. There are also wine experts on board to help you get the most out of the experience.  You’ll taste local cuisine, discover how wine is made and, of course, partake in tastings — all at no additional cost.

The other thing I like about these wine cruises is that you get to visit wineries in countries not normally associated with wine. In North America, we tend to think of European wines as originating in Spain or Southern France. But there are vineyards in more Northern locations in Europe that have the advantage of longer summer days, which affects different varietals of grapes in different ways. So you’ll get to visit wineries in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

Whether you have a seasoned appreciation for fine wine, or simply indulge in a sip here and there, this is a wonderful way to “uncork” the traditions of the local culture and learn about the region you’re visiting.

These Wine Cruises look much like other European River cruises in so far as most of them are 7-nights, and add-ons in European cities such as Prague or Budapest are easy to do.

If you’re unfamiliar with Ama Waterways, they are an American-based river cruise company with lots of experience in Europe. I have personally sailed with them in Europe, and found them to be excellent.

So if you’re considering a trip to Europe this fall, this could be an excellent way to go. There are several departure dates still available in October and November.

Planning a Cruise?  I’d love to help!  Click here to get in touch today.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

Cruise vacations were the original “all-inclusives”.  In the past few decades the cruise pricing model has migrated ashore, and for the mass-market cruise lines more fee-for-service options have appeared.

As a result, many of the small-ship lines, luxury lines, and river-cruise lines have reverted to the all-inclusive model. However – the devil is in the details.

For example, the price variation between two comparable river cruises in Europe may differ by 100%.

Yep – same river, same duration, same port stops – and one cruise is twice as much as the other.

How do you compare?

Different lines offer different inclusions, and people value those inclusions differently.  So how do you figure out what is the best option is for you?

You need to list the inclusions, and assign a value to them so you can get an ‘apples to apples’ comparison.

Here are some ideas:

Gratuities: This one is probably the easiest.  The cruise lines assign a value to them, which makes it reasonable easy to determine the value.  Some of the small-ship lines include tips, so you should value these at about $20 per person, per day.

Beverage Package: This really depends on how much you drink, and what you like to drink, but often people under-estimate the value of a beverage package.  When you’re paying $10 per drink, it doesn’t take long to add up if you’re paying directly.  So how many drinks do you think you’ll have a day (be honest!) and multiply that by $6 (beer), $8 (spirits), $10 (wine), or more if you’ve got expensive tastes.  Don’t forget the gratuities, which are often added automatically.  Conversely – if you’re on a river cruise, remember that you are on shore most of the time, and you won’t have much of an opportunity to drink on the ship outside of meal times.

Entertainment: The entertainment on board ships may have no value to you, unless you are making cruise decisions specifically based on this.  In this case, you need to figure out what you would pay at home, and assign it that value.  For example, if the Broadway show that would cost you $150 per seat is on the cruise you’re looking at, then you should value it appropriately.

Shore Excursions: It is easy to spend a fortune on shore excursions, so on the lines that include them, you need to assign a value to those included excursions.  The trick here is to assign a value only the included shore excursions that you would have paid for.  If there’s an excursion or two that you would take – but only because it’s included, then I would deduct that you’re your calculation.

Specialty Dining: On the small-ship lines the food is usually exceptionally good.  So, if you’re sailing on Seabourn (for example), and you eat at the Thomas Keller restaurant twice (included in your fare), you should probably value that at $325 for each meal – that’s what it would cost you on shore.

Air: This may seem like an easy calculation by simply figuring out what a flight would cost you if it is included in the fare. However, if you want to fly on points, have a relationship with the airline, or can get an air credit in lieu of the cruise line’s included air package, then you need to value it accordingly.

So here’s how it might look for 2 identical 7-night cruises in Europe:

	Cruiseline A	Cruiseline B
Fare	$2000	$4000
Gratuities	$140	Included
Beverages (4 drinks/day)	$32 X 7 days = $224	Included
Entertainment	$100 on shore	Included
Shore Excursions (4 ports)	$75 per port X 4 = $300	Included
Specialty Dining	$150 on shore	Included
Air to Europe	$1000	Included
Total	$3900	$4000

So now, these cruises look far more comparable.  For me personally, I’d pay the extra $100 to not be bothered with constantly having to pull out my key-card to pay for things.

Keep in mind when comparing different cruises that there may be benefits that are more difficult to quantify, but still have a ‘value’.  These include things like:

• Higher staff-to-guest ratio
• More space onboard per guest
• More dining options
• The company of like-minded travellers
• Availability of enrichment activities related to a ‘theme’

Planning a Cruise?  I’d love to help!  Click here to get in touch today.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley