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

Normally, I tend to write about general river cruise and small-ship cruising topics.

However, I recently received some feedback from people who want to hear more about individual cruise offerings.

So I’m going to attempt to post twice a week, with one of those posts being about Bucket List Trips.

The cruise lines are always looking for ways to differentiate themselves, and as such often have themed or specialty cruises. Because small-ship cruise providers are looking to create unique experiences and memories, they are always looking for new ways to attract guests.

Seabourn is doing two cruises in 2018 based on a wellness theme that includes the in person participation of Dr. Andrew Weil.

Andrew Weil has written a number of best-selling books about integrative medicine, and just generally taking care of oneself. If this is your jam, then Seabourn is offering two opportunities in 2018 to meet Dr. Weil, while on their ships.

In addition to Dr. Weil, both cruises also feature a handful of world-renowned health and wellness experts who will be hosting workshops, discussions, optional tours and events that promote physical, social, environmental and spiritual well being.

You have two options for personally cruising with Dr. Weil:

• Greece “Origins of Wellness”: 14-days round-trip from Athens departing on October 6, 2018.
• Alaska “Wellness in the Wilderness”: 12-days departing Vancouver bound for Anchorage on June 16, 2018.

In both cases, the natural beauty of the cruise destinations complements the theme of wellness and mindfulness very well.

Here are few other goodies you can expect if you select one of these voyages:

• All Suite Accommodation. Every stateroom on Seabourn vessels is a suite with a bathtub and granite counter-tops, as well as walk-in closets.
• Ventures Excursions by Seabourn. These are really cool outdoor experiences. I was lucky enough to do a Seabourn Venture Excursion in Alaska where I got to go Kayaking in the Endicott Arm where the glacier was calving. This is entirely different than seeing it from the deck of the ship!
• Thomas Keller Restaurant. You could wait several months to get a reservation, and then pay $325 per person to visit The French Laundry by Thomas Keller in the Napa Valley, OR, you can sail on Seabourn. If you’re a foodie – this can’t be missed.
• An Evening With Sir Tim Rice. You may know Tim Rice as the collaborator of Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Elton John. He does not sail on every Seabourn sailing, but there is a show where the onboard entertainers perform many of the Tim Rice songs you know, and Tim Rice offers commentary via video tape throughout the show. Yep – it might sound hokey, but I’ve seen this show, and it is really well done.

If you think of the best hotel or resort you’ve ever visited, then imagine that same level of quality and service on a ship, then you’ll get a good idea of what to expect on Seabourn.  Seabourn is completely all-inclusive, so your drinks, all your food (including the Thomas Keller Restaurant), and all gratuities are included in your fare.

If you’re an Andrew Weil fan, or your just generally interested in the subject matter, either of these cruises represent a unique opportunity to create some memories.

Interested in one of these cruises?  I’d love to help!  Click here to get in touch today.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

Many first time river cruisers will ask us to recommend the “best” line for them.

This is honestly a very difficult question to answer.

For ocean cruising, there is a series of questions we would ask, and normally people’s responses narrows down their choices fairly quickly.

The providers of river cruises in Europe are much less differentiated.

There are a few reasons for this:

• The focus of a river cruise (particularly in Europe) is more about what happens on shore than on the ship.
• Of the 6 or 7 lines we most often put our clients on, all are of a very good quality.
• In Europe, (particularly on the Rhine and Danube) all the river ships are on the same river – so it’s hard to differentiate by itinerary.

So how do you choose?

Price

For many people, it comes down to which line is providing the best price for a specific length of cruise. If this is you – make sure you book as far in advance as possible. River cruises tend to get more expensive, the closer you get to departure.

Air Package

Many of the river cruise lines offer this, but be careful. If you want to deviate from a cruise line’s preferred air carrier, and the routing they choose for you, it can end up costing you more. I am always hesitant to let anyone else make decisions for me when it comes to air because of the million little value decisions that have to be made. For example, how much is it worth to you to have a direct flight versus one or more stopovers? Only you can answer this question.

Beverage Package

Some river cruise lines offer beer and wine with meals, and others offer any booze at any time. All things being equal, a more inclusive beverage package sounds like a good idea, but how much higher a fare would you be willing to pay to get it? Keep in mind that on a European river cruise, you’re on shore every day. You should be drinking beer in a German beer hall – not on the ship. So, if you pay extra for an all inclusive beverage package, will you be on the ship enough to use it?

Bicycles

Some ships have bikes on board, and other don’t. For some people, this could not matter less. For others, this is a great way to explore the townships along the river. Some of our clients have commented that some of their best river cruise memories were not of the shore excursions, but rather riding their bikes along the dikes in various spots through Europe.

The Butler Did It

The only guy I know who had a butler was Bruce Wayne (when he wasn’t dressed up as a bat), and Alfred seemed to be part friend, part mentor, part servant, and part concierge. Some of the river cruise lines will offer you a butler. Again – for some people this is a key selling feature. Others are not nearly as impressed.

Other Inclusions

Some of the lines (Crystal, Scenic, Tauck, Uniworld) include more things such as gratuities and transfers that you pay out of pocket for on the other lines.

You need to look at the entire value equation, and figure out what makes the most sense for you. Ultimately, you need to figure out what you’re going to end up paying for, and then assign a value to some of the other variables listed above.

Or you could just ask Alfred the Butler to figure it out for you.

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

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

Last week I addressed a common grievance we hear about cruising in the Caribbean: “We’ve been everywhere a dozen times. Show me something new.”

If going to a new island (in this case Cuba, discussed in the last post) doesn’t work for you, then how about a new type of ship?

Most of the mass-market ships that people travel to the Caribbean on are over 100,000 tons, and carry 2000 – 6000 passengers. These floating resorts are great for those who value the climbing walls, bumper cars and zip lines.

However, if you’re a bit tired of sharing the magnificence of the coral Caribbean Islands with thousands of others, there are other options. These fall into two categories:

Luxury (Small-Ship) Cruising

These ships are significantly smaller versions of the mega-ships, with much higher quality food, service, and amenities. These ships are usually around 30,000 tons and carry between 400 and 1000 passengers.

Besides the quality upgrades, the big advantage to these ships is that their size enables them to visit ports of call the mega-ships are unable to get into. Even if these small ships do visit one of the mainstream ports, they do so on days where the mega-ships aren’t there, so you only have to share the port stop with the few on your ship, as opposed to 10,000 or more passengers if there are 3 or 4 mega-ships in port.

These small-ship lines will cost more than the megaships (about $300 – $500 per person, per day), but have many more inclusions (particularly beverages), which offsets at least part of that additional cost. Cruise lines to consider in this category: Azamara, Crystal, Oceania, Regent, Seabourn, Silversea, Viking Ocean.

I was able to see 184 departures across these lines for next fall/winter – so there are lots of options.

Yacht, Expedition and Sailing Ships

If you don’t really need Broadway shows and casinos, then there are even smaller ships to get you around the Caribbean. These ships hold between 50 and 150 passengers, and range from luxury yachts to true expedition vessels.

These cruises can range in price from $200 per person, per day to upward of $1000 per day depending on your choices.

Most of these lines cater to the adventure traveller, who likes to sail in a bit of comfort. The meals are usually of a quality higher than you’ll find on any of the mass-market lines, and the entertainment might be a guy playing guitar on deck during cocktail hour.

These ships are larger than a sailboat charter, but you do get a private cabin with a private toilet/shower. Most of them are considered luxury offerings, but on a much smaller scale ship than what is traditionally viewed as a cruise ship.

If you’ve ever wanted to jump off the ship you’re travelling on, to go snorkeling on a beautiful reef, then these are the cruises you should be looking at. These ships tend to stay far away from any of the big cruise ship ports, so likely all your ports of call will be brand new to you.

Cruise lines offering these type of experiences: Lindblad, Crystal, Ponant, SeaDream, Star Clippers, and Windstar.

For next season, I can see 75 Caribbean departures across these lines – so again, there are lots of choices.

So if you want to try something new in the Caribbean, hopefully this gives you some ideas. These cruises tend to sell for more than the mass-market variety, but when you look across all your inclusions the costs are much closer than they appear at first glance.

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

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley