Part of any experience to Europe involves wine. Even for those who don’t drink wine, it is always a treat to visit the estate wineries while on a river cruise.

For some, the wine experience is as important as the cultural and historical sites when they visit Europe. Luckily, there are more and more options for those who want to immerse themselves in the grapes when on a river cruise.

AMA Waterways has set itself apart in this regard. They offer several wine-themed cruises every year in all different parts of Europe. In both 2020 and 2021, they have wine-themed itineraries in these areas:

• Bordeaux – in Southwest France
• Seine River – between Paris and the Normandy coast
• Provence – in Eastern France between Lyon and Avignon
• Douro – in Portugal and Spain
• Danube – between Bavaria and Budapest
• Rhine – between Amsterdam and Basel, Switzerland

A wine-themed cruise includes a number of trips to wineries along the route, as well wine tastings and lectures on board the ship that are all INCLUDED in your fare.

A wine expert – usually a winery owner or sommelier – sails with you for the entire cruise acting as your host and wine expert. 

If you’re anything like me, you probably like wine (in my case a lot) but might not be particularly expert at any aspect of the wine industry. I don’t really feel the need to become a collector or true connoisseur of wine, but I do look forward to opportunities to learn more about wine, and to visit the wineries.

Here’s one wine-themed cruise that really caught my eye for later this year:  it’s a 1-week cruise on the Rhine with Ama Waterways, departing Basel on November 16, 2020 and finishing 7 days later in Amsterdam.

This is a wine-themed cruise, but it’s even better than that.

Our agency has a host on board, and you’ll be part of a small, exclusive group receiving extra benefits during the cruise. You’ll be invited to a private cocktail reception, and you’ll be included (at no extra charge) in a very special shore experience along the Alsace Wine route in Strasbourg, ONLY for our guests who are part of our exclusive group.

If you’ve ever wanted to join a wine-themed cruise, this is a great time to try it.

Right now, availability on that cruise looks good. Here’s the pricing by cabin type:
• Window rooms: $2199 per person
• French Balcony rooms: $2898 per person
• Veranda rooms: $3698

If those particular dates or the itinerary doesn’t work for you, AMA has plenty of other wine-themed itineraries in 2020 and 2021. Here’s the link:
https://www.amawaterways.com/destination/wine-cruises/2020

The other thing I like about sailing with AMA is their focus on physical activity and wellness (could come in handy if I spend a lot of time at the wine tastings). There are bicycles on board for you to borrow at any time, and they arrange shore excursions on those bikes as well.

They also have a dedicated Wellness Coordinator on board all their ships. This person conducts the more active shore excursions, and also offers classes on yoga, Pilates, or general fitness.

After all, you need to do something to offset all the incredible food and wine!

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

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

We offer only ONE piece of advice when it comes to travel insurance: “Make sure your out-of-country trip is protected by insurance”.

If you need insurance advice beyond that, you’ll want to consult an insurance professional.

We always provide our clients with two different insurance quotes, and we are happy to provide copies of the policies ahead of time for you to look over.  We have occasionally frustrated our clients who are looking for a recommendation about which insurance is the best choice for them, when we refer them back to the written policy or to the insurance company. 

There are two reasons we don’t give insurance advice:

1. Our passion and expertise is travel, not insurance.
2. As travel advisors we are legally required to offer travel protection, but we are not allowed to interpret the coverage.

Here is a bit of guidance to help you when you are speaking with an insurance pro.

Three Aspects of Travel Insurance

Most travel insurance policies bundle these three aspects together, but if you only wanted one of them, a good insurance broker can help you with that:

1. Trip Cancellation.  This covers you if you are unable to make the trip (for specified reasons).  Without this coverage you are risking whatever you paid for the trip.
2. Trip Interruption.  This is for annoying things like flight delays or when your luggage goes missing.  You are not mitigating much risk with this type of insurance, but it does make your life way easier, when things go wrong. 
3. Travel Medical.  This is the critical one, and you are taking a significant risk if you leave home without this.  It can cost you tens of thousands of dollars if you are caught without this type of insurance.  There are no circumstances that I can ever see where I would leave home without this – including those who live near the Mexican or Canadian borders and may drive across for a few hours. 

Here is some of the rationalization we sometimes hear from people about insurance, and why they may want to talk to an insurance professional about the flaws in their logic:

“Health Care is Free in Europe/Canada/Australia/NZ”.  It is true that in almost every developed nation that health care is available to residents without a direct charge.  This is NOT extended to visitors, who will pay (a lot) for medical attention.  We often hear this from clients going to Alaska because some of those cruises start and finish in the United States.  You will be in Canadian waters for most of that trip, and the small communities you visit in Alaska may require evacuation for a serious medical issue to the nearest major hospital – probably in Canada.  They will undoubtedly be polite about it, but you will pay dearly. 

“I’m insured on my credit card”.  Check the fine print – you may or may not be covered, and there may be significant limitations to that coverage.  Unfortunately, this probably means reading through a few hundred pages of legal double-speak, but if you’re relying on such coverage, make sure you know what’s in there (and what is not).

“I’ll just fly home if I have a problem”.  This is truly asinine, and a really poor risk mitigation strategy.  You are betting everything you own that if you become sick or injured, you’ll be able to fly across the world on a commercial jet.

Cancel for any reason?

One final thought on insurable reasons.  Most travel insurance policies will cover cancellation for specified reasons.  Usually this means you or your travel partner are not well enough to travel, there’s a death in the immediate family, your house burns down etc.  People get into trouble when their version of “catastrophe” does not align with that of the insurance company.  As a spoiler-alert, the insurance company (and their army of lawyers) is always going to win this argument.   So you will pay more for a trip cancellation policy with a “Cancel for any reason” clause, but it might be worth it.

A case in point currently is travel to places with suspected outbreaks of the Corona Virus. 

We have been recently advised by several different travel insurance providers that they do NOT cover people’s fear of travelling due to emergent situations.  “Emergent situations “ can include epidemics, terrorist activity, natural disasters or about 1000 other things the lawyers have specified.

All of a sudden, the extra amount for ‘cancel for any reason’ seems like a bargain.

To summarize:

1. Always make sure your out-of-country trip is protected by insurance.
2. Be informed about what you’re buying when you purchase insurance
3. If necessary, consult an insurance specialist

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

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

It’s Wave Season, which means that every cruise line is claiming once in a lifetime deals that have to be booked NOW.  This is mostly nonsense, of course, but I always like to let people know when I do see something that appears to be great value.

Regular readers here will know that we advocate the small ship experience because of better quality service and amenities than are available on the mega ships, but also because you are not competing with thousands of people when you go ashore.

This is especially important in Alaska, so we take particular note when we see great deals in Alaska on small ships.

The Oceania Regatta holds just 684 guests and was completely refurbished in 2019.  Oceania’s pricing structure normally allows you to pick from a “Cruise-Only” fare OR a semi-inclusive “O-Life Choice” package where you choose ONE of three amenities.

Oceania is good value BEFORE adding any kind of deal.

Now, for a select few voyages to Alaska this summer, you get ALL THREE amenities instead of choosing just one. Oceania calls this their “O-Life Ultimate” package. 

Plus, our agency has a special arrangement with Oceania, where we can get your gratuities covered on the following cruises as well:

1. July 13, 2020:  10-days from Seward (Anchorage) to Vancouver.  Fares start at $3899 per person.
2. August 31, 2020:  10-days round-trip from Vancouver.  Fares start at $3599.
3. September 10, 2020:  12-days from Vancouver to LA (via 5 Alaskan ports, and stopping in Portland, Oregon).  Fares start at $3749 per person.

To summarize, your fare on all 3 sailings includes ALL of the following:

• Round-trip flights from several US gateways
• Internet on board the ship
• 6 shore excursions per cabin
• $600 on board credit per cabin
• All-inclusive beverage package for both guests
• Gratuities (but only when you book through me)

When you add up the value of all these inclusions, it means you will be able to sail on a small ship for less than you would normally pay to get on the mega-ships in Alaska.

We don’t see deals like this very often, so we wanted to share this with you.

These fares are available now through the end of February BUT they are subject to availability.  At time of writing, there is availability in most cabin categories including the entry-level (inside) fares shown above.  However, the normal disclaimer applies here – availability is subject to change at any time as the ship fills up. 

If none of the above three dates work for you, there are also some other dates where you get all of the above amenities except the gratuities:

• May 2, 2020: 12-days from San Francisco to Vancouver (via 5 Alaskan ports).  Fares start at $3199 per person.
• July 30, 2020:  11-days from Seward to Vancouver.  Fares start at $3799 per person.
• Aug 10, 2020:  14-days from Vancouver to Seward.  Fares start at $4499 per person.
• Aug 24, 2020:  7-days from Seward to Vancouver.  Fares start at $2699 per person.

If you’re thinking about Alaska on a small ship, this is definitely worth looking at.

Please get in touch as soon as possible to make a booking.

 Click here to get in touch today.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

P.S. Here is a flyer with all the details:

OceaniaAlaska2020

Things happen fast in Cruise World.

A few months ago we reported that Viking Cruises was getting into the Expedition business, and was taking reservations – but only from previous guests. 

We recently spent some time with our Viking contacts in New York and were told there would be a big press release this week.  We assumed this would be to announce that their Expedition Cruises are now available for public booking – and as of January 15^th that is indeed the case!

But Wait…. There’s More.

We knew back in October that Viking would launch one expedition ship in 2021 and another in 2022.  They also told us that those ships would do Antarctica in the southern hemisphere summer, and the Arctic in our summer season.  We also knew that Viking was looking to put its own stamp on expedition cruising. 

The other bit of big news that was released this week is that their first expedition vessel, the Viking Octantis, will be plying the waters of the Great Lakes & Canada starting in April of 2022. 

This provides an outstanding opportunity for those who would like to try an expedition-style ship, but maybe are not as excited about visiting the polar regions. 

There are a few different itineraries on the Great Lakes:

• Thunder Bay, Ontario to Milwaukee, WI (or reverse).  1 week starting at $6695 per person.
• Toronto to Milwaukee.  1 week starting at $5995 per person
• New York to Toronto.  13-days starting at $8995 per person.

As per other Viking Ocean Cruises, fares include a balcony stateroom, excursions in every port, all meals, all taxes, drinks with meals, wifi. 

Book before Feb. 29^th, 2020 and ALSO receive:

• Round-trip Flights included in the price
• Free Silver Spirits Beverage Package
• “Book Now and Pay Later” – Final payment due 6 months prior to departure rather than the usual year ahead

Take a look at the artist renderings of the ships’ public areas and staterooms:

https://www.vikingcruises.com/expeditions/ships/viking-expedition-ships.html

What I really like about the itineraries is the small, unique ports they choose to call in on.  Lots of other cruise lines sail the St. Lawrence River, and stop at Boston and Halifax.  Far fewer stop in at places like Point Peele, Ontario or Cap-aux-Meules, Quebec.  The big cruise ships also have to stop moving up river at Montreal because they can’t fit in the locks to make it all the way to Toronto.  So with Viking you’ll explore further and deeper into the Great Lakes & Canada.

This is an exceptional opportunity to try out small ship cruising (there are only 378 guests).

The Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway attract visitors from all over the world with the mix of natural beauty and the urban offerings of our north-eastern cities as well as Toronto and Montreal.

Now’s your chance to explore your own back yard.

Remember, if you book before Feb. 29^th your final payment date  will be extended and you’ll receive Free round-trip Flights AND the Free Silver Spirits Beverage Package.

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

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley