Many of you had lots to say about our blog post last week. It seems that the idea of a “Land Cruise” resonates with you. Cruisers like the idea of having built in activities, entertainment and some meals with their land vacations.
You also echoed what we’ve been hearing everywhere: people want to travel as soon as possible domestically and are excited about their trips abroad this year and next.
Apparently, a year under “house-arrest” has made us all anxious to get out there!
Over the next few weeks, we’ll try to make you aware of domestic travel opportunities for this spring, and further afield after that.
In case you missed our post last week, we talked about “Land Cruises” to Alaska (by rail), Hawaii, New York City, and New Orleans. Here’s the link: https://pamperedcruiser.com/land-cruise-ideas-for-spring-2021/
I thought I would also offer a little window into our world. We received some comments indicating surprise when you learned that our office now consists of just Bob and me. Before the pandemic, we did have administrative help, be we have always preferred to manage correspondence and conversations with clients ourselves. We still have some support through our Host Agency (SmartFlyer) in Manhattan, but we are the only ones who deal with clients.
If you’ve noticed our weekly emails look more like an email from a friend, as opposed to a glossy, corporate pitch – that is by design.
As clients start travelling again (and we start get paid again), we will ease back in to using contract help for the more routine tasks, but we’ll still reserve the client contact for the two of us – it’s the best part of our job!
Here are this week’s travel ideas:
Land Cruise: Washington DC
$1999 per person for 6 days departing May 6. (Other departure dates available)
- Includes hotel, all breakfasts and 3 dinners
- Guided City Tour with the National Mall, and all the Monuments.
- Washington National Cathedral, Ford’s Theatre
- Arlington National Cemetery
- White House Visitors’ Center
- Smithsonian Institute
- Bob still talks about spending weekends in Washington when he lived in Philadelphia, and how much there is to do there. What a great opportunity to explore our own history.
Land Cruise: Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands
$1799 per person for 7 days departing May 7. (Other departure dates available)
- Includes hotel, all breakfasts, 3 dinners
- Departs from Rapid City, South Dakota
- Included visits:
- Crazy Horse memorial
- Indian Museum, Native American Cultural Center
- Mt. Rushmore
- Badlands National Park
- Deadwood National Historic Monument
- Kevin Costner’s Tatanka
- Custer State Park
- A buffalo safari
- Devil’s Tower National Monument
Land Cruise: American Canyonlands by National Geographic
$2799 per person for 8 days departing June 30. (Other departure dates available)
- Includes hotel, all breakfasts, 2 lunches
- All National Park fees and transportation.
- Round Trip from Las Vegas
- Visit Zion NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Grand Canyon NP, Antelope Canyon, Lowell Observatory, Horseshoe Bend, and a Route 66 stop.
Unique Cruise Opportunities:
Northern Lights Cruise (Seabourn Venture December 2021 – March 2022).
- $10,999 per person – Veranda Suite.
- Between Copenhagen and Tromso, Norway (12-nights)
- Be amongst the first to travel on this innovative new vessel. All the comfort you’d expect from Seabourn on this yacht with only 132 veranda suites. My favorite: there are two submarines on board that you can hitch a ride on!
- Normally this ship would be in Antarctica, so this is a unique opportunity to get on board.
South Africa Cruise and Safari (Regent Seven Seas Voyager)
- $10,749 per person – Veranda Suite
- Round-trip from Capetown November 21, 2021
- 16 nights on the ship, PLUS an included 3-night shore package (when booked before March 31)
- Regent is the MOST inclusive of the cruise lines: all shore excursions, all beverages, gratuities, specialty dining, and onboard wifi.
- South Africa has recently eclipsed Italy as the overseas destination most booked by American travellers, so I expect this one to sell quickly.
[BRAND NEW!] 7-River Journey in Europe
- This trip is kind of like a World Cruise, but on the rivers of Europe with Ama Waterways. It’s the first time anything like this has been offered, by ANY cruise line.
- June 1st, 2023 (46 nights) from Paris to Bucharest.
- Visit 14 countries on 7 different rivers. You’ll be on 4 different river ships with one dedicated cruise manager, and there are no hotel nights “between rivers”.
- This is not yet available for booking, BUT our contacts at AMA gave us the ability to pre-register any of our clients for priority access. To pre-register, there is a $4800 per person deposit (which is fully refundable).
- People who pre-register will be phoned by Ama Waterways in sequential order, based on the date they pre-registered. So, the earlier you pre-register, the better the chance of getting the stateroom you want.
- Window: $27,379 per person. French Balcony: $36,378 per person. Includes all taxes and fees, gratuities, transfers, laundry and much more. Solo supplement is 50%
- Only 72 staterooms are being offered, which means there will be only 144 guests on the ship.
- I expect this trip to sell out during the pre-registration phase, before even opening to the public next week.
- Pre-registration for a couple of weeks already, and it’s going crazy. If you’d like to pre-register for this cruise, please let me know as soon as possible.
Hopefully this gives you some ideas for travel both near and far for this year. Thanks for sticking with us through this past year.
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If you’re planning a trip, I’d love to help! Click here to get in touch today.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sue Bradley
Sue Bradley
