Nothing’s Carved in Stone

Get Out the Map
By Mike & Darlene Jordan

One thing quite a few people don’t understand when it comes to travel, even the best laid plans are subject to change. Such was the case as we approached the island of St. Martin on our recent trip aboard the Azamara Journey.

We had been to this island that is owned by both Holland and France several times, but always Phillipsburg, the capital of St. Maarten, on the Dutch side. We were scheduled on this trip to visit Marigot, the capital of St. Martin, the French side. The port would require disembarking by tender, and we were looking forward to a part of the island we’d never really explored.

Unfortunately, due to high seas, the captain decided we would dock at Phillipsburg on the Dutch side rather than risk injuries trying to board tender boats from the ship in rough water. We were somewhat disappointed, but set out from the ship ready to make the best of it.

The port at Phillipsburg had changed considerably! Since our last visit it had been completely renovated. On our way off the ship, we overheard a woman telling a friend that her husband had rented a car from an agency right on the pier and we decided that was a good idea…and just $40 for the day!

Note to selves:  rental car agencies only have a handful of the cheap cars. It’s much wiser to get there early. By the time we walked up to the window, there was only one car left, a very nice Hundai, but it was 90-some dollars for the day.

We took it.

And we’re glad we did. Armed with the map from the car company and some suggestions on where to go, we made a complete circumnavigation of the island our goal.

The first leg of our clockwise journey around the island was mostly city-like traffic. It was a busy Sunday and we drove past a number of churches letting out, kids playing in streets and lots of closed shops & stores. We drove past the busy casino district with high-rise hotels we didn’t even know they had and past the airport, where flights come screaming in just above busy streets. Past the airport we finally reached some open land and scenery.

We were already hungry when we drove past the road to one of the island’s highest points, Pic Paradis. We made a note of the spot and drove past it looking for a place to eat. We found a nice spot off the beaten track right on one of the small beaches. The day was beautiful and we enjoyed some local dishes as we looked out over the surf crashing on the rocks below.

After lunch, it was back to Pic Paradis and the hair-raising, white knuckle ride up the steep, winding road to the summit. At the top, we parked and headed up a trail through the “jungle” to an open spot with terrific views of the island, the ocean, and the numerous other islands off in the distance. We didn’t have time for a long stop…we had a lot of island to see.

Our route sent us toward the north end of the island and Marigot, the town where we were originally supposed to disembark the ship. Almost everything was closed (Sunday, remember) so we continued up the coast and took a side trip over a couple of mountains on awful roads down to a Radisson beach resort right on the water. This place was amazing; nice beach, pool, lovely grounds, outdoor restaurant, and much more.

Daylight was fading. We headed south again along the main highway and deviated toward the eastern shore and a dolphin sanctuary (didn’t see any dolphins) and back into Phillipsburg over steep hills on some of the worst paved road we’ve ever seen. We were glad it wasn’t our car.

Sometimes change is good—we had a great time! St. Maarten is a beautiful island, and by taking the drive all the way around on our own we saw things most cruise passengers never see. Not to mention places to recommend to folks who want to just fly to the island for a getaway…heck, we might even go back!

Until next time…get out the map!

Mike and Darlene Jordan are franchisees of CruiseOne, and are based here in Southern Colorado. You can contact them at 800-267-7613 or by email at mjordan@cruiseone.com. 

Mike and Darlene’s Weekly DEAL!

Hello Everyone, and Happy Friday!

That awful weather we mentioned last week is still hanging around most of the country, so we looked for, and found, a great Spring Break cruise at an affordable price:

The Carnival Valor sails from Miami on March 13, 2011, and it has a great itinerary-

Carnival Cruise Lines
Carnival Valor 
7-Night Exotic Western Caribbean, Miami RT 
 
Sun, 03/13/11, Miami, Florida – Embark  
 
Mon, 03/14/11, At Sea  
 
Tue, 03/15/11, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Wed, 03/16/11, Roatan Island, Honduras
  
Thu, 03/17/11, Belize City, Belize
 
Fri, 03/18/11, Cozumel, Mexico

Sat, 03/19/11, At Sea
  
 Sun, 03/20/11, Miami, Florida – Disembark

 We’ve priced this cruise for a family of 4, and it’s a great value! Just $2338.24 for a family of 4 in one interior room, including port fees and tax! Upgrade to an ocean view for $2878.24 for the family, and enjoy a private balcony for four at only $2978.24!* That’s a balcony stateroom for only $744.56 per person, on a 7-day cruise! When you consider that that includes all of your entertainment, transportation, food and all of the amenities of a beautiful cruise ship, this is a great DEAL!

And there’s so much to do in each port, family members of any age will remember this trip for a long time, and it’ll be WARM!

Give us a call today at 1-800-267-7613 and we’ll get you all set for a nice, warm, family vacation! But don’t procrastinate…when fares are this good, they don’t last long. 

Until then, have a great weekend, stay warm and enjoy the football game. Hope your team wins (our team won’t be there, so we’re pulling for all of you)!

Darlene & Mike

*Fares are subject to change and availability. Gross fares are based on a family of four and include port fees and tax. Airfare, insurance and transfers are additional.

Cruisers’ Nightmare

By Mike & Darlene Jordan

By now everyone is aware of the recent problems aboard the Carnival Splendour. The dust has settled, everyone’s home safe and sound, and the details are emerging about what really happened on board this otherwise magnificent ship.

To recap, the Splendour experienced a fire in the engine room. This is a highly unusual occurrence, and Carnival currently has technicians and engineers on board the ship to determine what, exactly, happened and to make repairs. No information has been released as yet.

The fire onboard was extinguished very quickly, but smoke did circulate around the ship, and the electrical systems were damaged.  As a little background, cruise ship propulsion systems operate in a similar fashion to a diesel locomotive. The diesel engine turns turbines which generate electricity that powers not only the ship’s propellers, but the electrical system as well.

The lack of an electrical system was the main source of the passenger discomfort during the ordeal.

The bulk of the reports we saw from passengers returning from the cruise were fairly positive, given the circumstances. Most reported that the crew was well-trained to deal with the situation, maintained control of what could have become a panicked passenger population, and provided their services as best they could.

From most reports, the most serious problem was the lack of working bathroom facilities. Most on-shore bathrooms work with water and gravity, but a ship’s sewage system is a complicated, vacuum-driven operation that incorporates only a small amount of water. There is a notable sucking sound when flushing, and almost every shipboard comedian’s act features at least one joke are about being “sucked” down the sewer system by accident. No power means no vacuum system which means…well, you know.

One of the myths that surfaced about the whole ordeal is that passengers were forced to eat Spam (which the late-night comedians continue to exploit). Most of the passengers we saw interviewed said they never ate spam, that the helicopters that flew in food brought a variety of options; they just had to be foods that could be eaten cold. Indeed, many passengers disembarking from the ship said the thing they looked forward to most was a hot meal.

There’s no denying that this was a vacation destroyed. We are not huge fans of Carnival but, in their defense, they have accepted full responsibility for the enormous inconvenience to its passengers and have been more than generous in their offers of compensation. All will receive a complete refund and a free cruise for their trouble. The refunds encompass not just the money paid to Carnival, but any money paid by passengers in association with their cruise—like airfare and hotel arrangements, taxis and the like.

Lost in all of this discussion are the folks that were booked on future cruises aboard the Splendour. Carnival has cancelled all of the ship’s cruises for the next 9 weeks while they make repairs. Even those people will be compensated. Their payments will be refunded, of course, but they’re also offering to reimburse airline change fees and 25% off the cost of a future Carnival cruise taken within the next 2 years.

This was obviously a cruise line incident and Carnival is right to offer compensation, unlike a weather delay over which they have no control. We are often asked what kind of compensation clients will get if their cruise is re-routed during a hurricane or other natural disaster. In those cases, the only obligation of the cruise line is to keep their passengers safe and to refund money if the cruise has to be cancelled or shortened for a weather or natural disaster-related problem—which rarely happens.

According to CruisePage.com, there are more than 235 active cruise ships over 10,000 tons afloat today. These ships sail week-in, week-out all year long to and from ports on oceans and rivers all over the world. It is extremely rare, but, every once in awhile, one is going to break. Stuff happens.

In our minds, Carnival has done everything it could—and then some—to make it right.

Until next time…get out the map!

Mike and Darlene Jordan are registered agents of Cruises Inc., and are based here in Southern Colorado. You can contact them at 800-267-7613 or by email at cruisesinc@gojade.org.

Alaska…NOW!

By Mike & Darlene Jordan

            In the never-ending quest to find the best deal on travel (and who doesn’t want a great deal?), we’re often asked when is the best time to book a trip to Alaska or the Caribbean, or Europe.

            Our short answer is usually “right now” since availability for a cruise or hotel or land tour won’t be any better (and will probably be worse) a week, two weeks, or two months from now. So, if the person we’re talking with really wants to go, they should book it now.

            This is especially true when considering Alaska for both cruises and cruise/land tour combinations. That’s because the cruise lines only have a specific window of time to sail and have to pre-arrange things like National Park permits, docking privileges, and hotel rooms. As it turns out, the best time to book an Alaska trip is…right now.

            It’s the end of the season in Alaska. The final trips have sailed and it’s getting darker up there by the day. But…the lines have announced next year’s itineraries and pricing, and the brochures for 2011 have been printed.

            Alaska is probably the most popular cruise destination after the Caribbean. But, the Caribbean has cruises 12 months a year; Alaska has only 4—mid-May to mid-September. For the best availability, now is the time to book.

            Most Alaska cruisers prefer the mid-June to mid-August time frame, the assumption being that the weather will be best, or warmer, anyway. The fact is, Alaska weather is virtually unpredictable. It can be sunny and warm on June 1^st and rainy and cold on July 4^th—or vice versa. Because of the popularity of the mid-summer months, though, the availability gets very slim very quickly. And, the price is higher—sometimes a lot higher. Hence, booking an Alaska cruise early is a must.

            Many people who cruise Alaska figure that their cruise may be the only time they’ll make it that far north and opt to add a land tour to their cruise to make the most of their time there. That’s very good thinking, since Alaska is so much more than just calving glaciers. The interior is breathtakingly beautiful and Denali National Park is truly a national treasure.

            A cruise/tour package has the same availability issues that a cruise does, except they are more severe. While an Alaska cruise ship might carry 2,000 to 3,000 people a week, a given cruise/tour utilizing the same ship might have a capacity of only 40. That’s because the tours are limited to the number of people that will fit on the bus, or in a rail car. The most popular cruise tours feature the Alaska Railroad traveling from Fairbanks all the way down to Seward or Whittier, the two cruise ports, with stops at Denali and villages such as Talkeetna on the way. As you might imagine, these tours fill quickly and the mid-summer months are favored by most travelers for these, too. For the prime months, book now.

            Many travelers don’t mind a little cooler weather on either end of the season. Consequently, they not only get the cruise or cruise tour they want, they also get it at a lower price. (Cruising is nothing if not a primer on the law of supply and demand.) Consequently, the bargain hunters are out early looking for the best prices on both cruises and cruise tours. So, even these sell quickly. For the fringe months, book now.

            Apparently, our short answer to the “when should we book” question is just as good as the long one. If you want to go, and you know when you want to go, call your travel agent and book it NOW.

            Until next time…get out the map!

Mike and Darlene Jordan are registered agents of Cruises Inc., and are based in Southern Colorado. You can contact them at 800-267-7613 or by email at cruisesinc@gojade.org.

Mike and Darlene’s Weekly DEAL! Luxury Italian Villa!

Good Morning Everyone, and Happy Friday! 

We’ve promised to bring you last minute specials, new itineraries, or really unique travel ideas in the DEAL, so this week we’re featuring a travel idea new to the DEAL-a stay in an authentic Villa! 

We love to cruise, as it is a great way to “sample” new places, cultures, and food, but if you want to really immerse yourself in a place, and live “like a native”, booking a Villa is the way to go. You can choose to have your own personal chef, or use the kitchen, shop in the local market and create your own culinary masterpieces. You can choose a place with a pool, gym, butler, you name it, or you can go for a more simple lifestyle…there are many options and price ranges to choose from. 

One great feature a Villa stay offers is that you can choose different sized properties to suit your travel style. Want to explore on your own or with your special someone? Book a one-bedroom. Love to travel with friends and share expenses? Book a three-bedroom or larger. Our best Villa supplier can book up to 42 bedrooms on one property! What a family reunion that would be! 

We’re presently working with a friend who wants to experience a Villa stay in Italy. We’ve looked at several villas in Umbria, and here is a description of one of the top contenders; the 4-bedroom Seretina, in Umbria. Check out this description:

“Seretina is special. Its name suggests that it is ‘hidden’, and that is exactly how it appears, hidden amongst the fields in the green countryside, not far from the ancient village of Collazzone, at the bottom of a country lane. The unusual swimming pool which has been shaped to fit the idyllic surroundings has been built on a lower level, and appears as a water terrace overlooking the hills and fields. It is protected by a fence, with an access gate to the side of the house. The interior has a country-elegance, decorated with pastel colours, the colours white and beige appear throughout all the rooms. The guest house has the same high standards of furnishing as the main villa. The end result is a tastefully decorated and furnished villa, where much attention has been paid to detail. The main villa’s kitchen, which is spacious and well laid-out, extends out into a split-level lounge, to create one big room. The lounge opens up onto the villa’s portico, beautifully set up for ‘al fresco’ dinners. Equipment is hi-tech; there is a large plasma screen on the first floor. Great villa for quality and price!” 

The starting weekly rate for this great Villa is 3200 Euros* for 6 guests—that’s only $533 euros per person for a week! Call up some friends and plan a Villa stay, this is a much more authentic experience than staying in a hotel for a week or two, and can actually be much more affordable when you consider that you don’t have to buy all of your meals in restaurants. You can also pack less, as these places usually come complete with washer/dryer, and you’ll come away with a much better idea of what it’s like to live in the Italian countryside! 

Give us a call at 1-800-267-7613 and let us know where you’d like to immerse yourself, we’ll do our best to find the perfect Villa for you, too!

Until then, have a great weekend,

Darlene & Mike

 *Suggested price is subject to change and availability, taxes and fees are additional. Prices can be adjusted for length of stay and number of guests.

What’s Our Favorite?

By Mike & Darlene Jordan

Whenever we go to a party, meeting, or other gathering where we meet new people, the conversation invariably comes around to what everyone does for a living. When we tell people we’re in the travel business, we can bet that one of two questions will follow.

Do you get to travel a lot for free? Answer:  No.

What’s your favorite place to go? This one’s a little tougher, since it’s subjective and since it depends on what we want to do.

 The problem is that there are so many places to go, we rarely go back to a destination¬—even if we loved it the first time. In fact, we can probably count on one hand the number of U.S. and international cities we’ve been to twice, unless we had to go there to get somewhere else. 

So…favorites? Well, San Francisco is one. We’ve been a couple of times and would go back…if there weren’t so many places to go. Certainly, if there’s a meeting or a gathering of some kind in San Francisco, the fact that it’s there would influence whether we go or not.

We went to San Francisco for Christmas, once, taking the Amtrak train from Denver. The train was 8 or 10 hours late arriving in Denver due to cold weather in Chicago, so we arrived at our Fisherman’s Wharf area hotel in the middle of the night. It was still one of the best domestic trips we’ve taken. We spent Christmas Day riding bicycles across the Golden Gate Bridge, eating Indian food downtown, cruising on the Bay. It was great.

People who read this column regularly know that we go to Las Vegas every once in awhile. It’s not the place it used to be, but it’s fairly close (a day’s drive), and we almost always have a great time while we’re there. Here’s a tip…for a very nice Vegas experience, consider the Golden Nugget Hotel downtown. It’s been refurbished, has a great pool, some pretty excellent restaurants, and the price is very affordable.

Due to the nature of our business, we’re in Florida a couple of times a year. Last year, we spent a little more time than usual in Fort Lauderdale and really enjoyed it—much more than Miami. We stayed at two Hiltons; one on the beach and one near the port. Both were lovely hotels with interesting surroundings and excellent places to explore. 

Internationally, we’re both itching to go back to London. We spent almost two weeks in England/Scotland a few years ago and found London to be especially beautiful, interesting, friendly, and historically fascinating, but we didn’t have enough time to see everything the city has to offer. We’ll be surprised if we’re not back in jolly old England within the next year or two.

On our China trip this year, we just didn’t have enough time in Shanghai. It’s another fascinating city with a lot of history of its own, but since our plane was 7 hours late arriving, we didn’t have any time on our own to snoop. 

One place we will have plenty of time to snoop around is coming up in October of 2011. That’s when we’ll be leading a group on a transatlantic cruise back to the U.S. from Rome. Neither of us has been to Rome, so we’re planning at least a 3 day visit there before boarding Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas for the journey home. Along the way we’ll be visiting Palma de Majorca, Spain (for the 2nd time), Cartagena, Spain, Funchal, Madiera (Portugal), and the Canary Islands, along with a stop in Nassau, Bahamas, before arriving in Galveston, Texas. (Wanna go?  email us at cruisesinc@gojade.org )

Bucket list cities?  Singapore, Paris (Darlene’s been, Mike hasn’t), Cairo/Alexandria, Jerusalem, Mumbai, Venice.

Now that we think about it, that list is getting longer by the minute. Time to get out the map!
Mike and Darlene Jordan are registered agents of Cruises Inc., and are based here in Southern Colorado. You can contact them at 800-267-7613 or by email at cruisesinc@gojade.org.

My Name is Earl

By Mike & Darlene Jordan

We’re in that time of year that most travelers…especially cruise travelers dread. Take a look at the headlines; there’s no getting around it, it’s hurricane season.

Over the past couple of years, we’ve gotten off pretty easy with few serious hurricanes causing much damage or disruption along the southern and Eastern coasts. It looked like this year would be more of the same. Anybody remember Alex? Bonnie? Collin? For awhile it looked like Danielle might stir things up in Bermuda but, luckily, she curved back to the east and into oblivion.

Hello, my name is Earl.

At the time of this writing, Earl is zeroing in on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Tropical Storms Fiona and Gaston are right behind.

So…you love to travel, your only time off is during the summer, you love the ocean. What are you supposed to do?
The thing with hurricane season is, you cannot stop your life for it, and as discount seekers know, some of the best cruise fares to the Caribbean can be found during hurricane season, especially during the peak period, which runs from mid-July through early-October.  But do you take a gamble and plan a Caribbean cruise vacation during that time?  The answer is Yes!  For starters, the chances of your particular voyage being affected by a hurricane are very slim, but it is a possibility, so you need to be prepared.

There is always the potential that your cruise itinerary may be impacted by a storm, but there is not much of a chance you’ll be put in harm’s way.  Today’s modern ships come equipped with state-of-the-art satellite equipment to follow the paths of storms and head away from the storm track.  Of course do keep in mind, hurricane season is not the time of year to plan a wedding on a particular island or any event, for that matter, that must take place in a particular scheduled port.  Itineraries can be disrupted by even the mere threat of a storm. Passenger safety is the cruise line’s utmost concern. If there’s a hurricane in a certain area the ship is scheduled to visit, then the ship will go someplace else.

The most important precaution you can take when considering a cruise during hurricane season is to buy insurance, but make sure the policy covers disruption in case of weather-related events.  Insurance is your protection so you don’t lose the money you invested in your cruise, and it is worth the nominal amount it costs.

We’ve been saying that in this space almost since we started writing. Insurance is your protection against losing your vacation investment; not just to hurricanes, but to illness, injury, and, in some cases, other less dire circumstances like your boss cancelling vacations due to some crisis at work.

Most bargain airfares are non-cancelable. Cruise fares are non-refundable after a certain time period. The lowest hotel rates are often pre-pay and non-refundable. Why put your vacation at risk, hurricane or no hurricane? Travel insurance will preserve your investment and it will pick up the cost of putting your vacation back together in case of delays.

In 1998, we were on a cruise aboard the Carnival Sensation to the Eastern Caribbean and sailed in the wake of Hurricane Mitch. Mitch was the worst hurricane of that year, but had actually passed Miami before we boarded the ship. Yes, we had some rainy weather the first day or two, and some rough seas, but we never even thought of cancelling our trip. We had great stories to tell about our trip and never felt like we were in danger.

There’s no reason not to plan a cruise vacation during hurricane season, unless you absolutely have to be on a particular island on a particular date as part of your plans. Even if a cruise line does cancel your cruise, your insurance will cover it, they will probably offer you an incentive to re-book your trip with significant discounts, onboard credit and upgrade offers.

So, go ahead…get out the map!

Mike and Darlene Jordan are registered agents of Cruises Inc., and are based in Southern Colorado. You can contact them at 800-267-7613 or by email at cruisesinc@gojade.org.

Save Money on a Repo!

By Mike & Darlene Jordan

Repos have a bad name. A lot of the time, the word implies run-down real estate or a clunker that someone couldn’t make the payments on. But wait! We’re not talking about cars or real estate repossessions…we’re talking about cruises.
In cruising, “Repo” is short for repositioning and it’s a great way to see some pretty exotic locales or take a little longer trip for a lot less money.

Cruise lines frequently have to move ships from one locale to another. For example, most cruise lines have ships sailing Alaska itineraries from mid-May to mid-September. Unfortunately, cruising Alaska isn’t much fun after that since the days start lasting about an hour and it gets pretty cold up there.

So, what do the cruise lines do with all those ships? They move them. Some to the South Pacific, some to the Caribbean, some to South America. It costs a lot of money to sail a cruise ship…they’d just as soon move it someplace with paying passengers aboard.

Repositioning cruises are hard to market, though. Since most cruises sail an itinerary over and over again for a period of time, consumers can pick and choose when they want to go to fit their schedules. Repositioning cruises, on the other hand, generally sail their particular itinerary only once a year. So, consumers have to really want to sail from Vancouver to Honolulu on Royal Caribbean on September 17. That’s the only day it sails that itinerary. And, what happens when someone really wants to sell something, but there are a limited number of  people who can buy it? The price goes down.

We’ve taken some pretty nice cruises on repositioning voyages. Our first was actually a ship moving to Alaska from the Caribbean. We caught the cruise in Ensenada, Mexico, and sailed 6 days up to Seattle. Since many repositioning cruises sail fairly long itineraries, the lines may break the trip up into shorter segments. In our case, we were on the middle section of the trip. Some of our fellow passengers had boarded in Florida and had sailed through the Panama Canal. Others were continuing on to Anchorage after we disembarked in Seattle.

Of course, Alaska isn’t the only place from which repos sail. A few years ago, Norwegian Cruise Lines moved a ship from weekly around-Hawaii sailings all the way to Barcelona, Spain—and changed the ship’s name along the way. When we got on in Miami the ship was no longer the Pride of Hawaii but had become the Norwegian Jade. Norwegian even built a new casino for the ship while we were onboard! Since this was truly a one-time itinerary, we got it for a song and took a lot of people with us.

Next October, we’ll be doing another repo when Royal Caribbean moves the Mariner of the Seas from Rome all the way back to Galveston, TX! We’ve never been to Rome and we like long cruises. Along the way we’ll be stopping in Palma de Majorca, Spain, Cartagena, Spain, Funchal on the autonomous Portuguese island of Madiera, the Canary Islands, and Nassau. We hope to take a lot of folks with us on that one, too.

While repos to and from Alaska are fairly predictable, finding one like the Norwegian Jade mentioned above isn’t easy. However, they are usually the least expensive and are worth looking for. Here’s where your travel agent can be invaluable. He or she has all of the cruise line’s news and itineraries at their fingertips. They’ll know about a redeployment as soon as it’s announced—and it could be any time of year.

The least expensive are usually the east-bound trans-Atlantic trips; probably because the long crossing comes first and the long flight home comes at the end. On the westbound trips travelers get the long flight over with first, tour like crazy on shore excursions in Europe, rest up during the crossing and take a short flight home—no jet lag!

If you’re looking for a long, relaxing getaway to an exotic port at a cost that won’t break the bank, contact your travel agent and tell them you want to talk to the “repo” man.

Until next time…get out the map!

Mike and Darlene Jordan are registered agents of Cruises Inc., and are based here in Southern Colorado. You can contact them at 800-267-7613 or by email at cruisesinc@gojade.org.

Holland America Barcelona-Mediterranean-Italy-Greece-Venice

Good Morning Everyone, and Happy Friday!
 
We LOVE to cruise, and enjoy all types of cruising, from large, contemporary ships, to small river cruise ships. And we love sea days! However, we do have clients who don’t really enjoy days at sea and want to experience as many port calls as possible during their cruise. Today we’re focusing on a cruise that offers 10 ports of call (including embarkation and debarkation ports), and only ONE day at sea!
 
The Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam was launched on July 4th of this year, and has a passenger capacity of just over 2100. This is a beautiful ship in her own right, but she’s also a floating art museum; Holland America Line has installed an array of works valued at over $3 million, ranging from antiques by traditional Dutch masters to creations by renowned contemporary artists. Some pieces reflect the Dutch Golden Age while others, such as the spectacular centerpiece in the atrium, are much more contemporary. Adorning the ceiling of Nieuw Amsterdam is an eye-catching abstract sculpture of the inverted New York skyline made from clear translucent blocks that hang upside-down. The sculpture was created by husband and wife Italian artists Gilbert Lebigre and Corinne Roger of Creazioni Lebigre & Roger. The significant collection, which includes works by celebrated artists Andy Warhol, Richard Estes and Roy Lichtenstein, continues with astounding displays throughout the ship. A complimentary self-guided iPod® art tour is available for guests wishing to view the entire collection.
 
Our featured cruise begins on April 18th, 2011. You’ll fly to Barcelona and use the ship as your hotel for the first night, giving you time to explore Barcelona by day AND take advantage of her exciting night-life.
 
Then it’s off to some of the most beautiful and interesting ports in the Mediterranean, with a focus on Italy and Greece. Take a look at the itinerary below and imagine yourself exploring all of these places this coming spring!
 
The cruise will end in Venice, but you’ll get an overnight there as well, giving you plenty of time to see the sights in this romantic port.
 
Holland America Line
Nieuw Amsterdam  

Mon 04/18 Barcelona, Spain – Embark – Time subject to change.    
Tue 04/19 Barcelona, Spain   04:00 PM
Wed 04/20 Monte Carlo, Monaco 12:00 PM 10:00 PM
Thu 04/21 Livorno, Italy 07:00 AM 08:00 PM
Fri 04/22 Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy 07:00 AM 08:00 PM
Sat 04/23 Messina, Italy 02:00 PM 11:00 PM
Sun 04/24 At Sea    
Mon 04/25 Navplion, Greece 08:00 AM 04:00 PM
Tue 04/26 Katakolon, Greece 08:00 AM 05:00 PM
Wed 04/27 Corfu, Greece 08:00 AM 05:00 PM
Thu 04/28 Dubrovnik, Croatia 07:00 AM 04:00 PM
Fri 04/29 Venice, Italy 01:00 PM  
Sat 04/30 Venice, Italy – Disembark – Time subject to change. 07:00 AM  

 
Interiors for this very special cruise start at $1780.37* per person, including port fees and tax. Upgrade to an ocean view for $2200.37* per person, or enjoy the extra space and luxury of your own private balcony stateroom for $2480.37* per person.
 
Corfu, Greece, in the springtime…temps in the mid to high 60’s. That’s living!
Give us a call at 1-800-267-7613, and we’ll help you get there!
In the meantime, have a great weekend,
Darlene & Mike
 
*Fares are based on double-occupancy and include port fees and tax. Airfare, transfers and insurance are additional. Fares are subject to change and availability.

Get Out the Map!

Personal Day

By Mike & Darlene Jordan

There’s a lot to be said for being self-employed and working from home; no “boss” to answer to, no dress code, no mandatory staff meetings and the like…and no office politics.

On the other hand, when you work from home, well…you’re always at work; if not physically, then mentally. Our phones ring at 6:00 a.m. when one of our clients on the East Coast calls (often on Saturdays and Sundays), and they ring at 9:00 at night when we get a call from the West Coast. When we travel, we often take the office with us, forwarding phones to our cell, answering emails from hotel rooms, etc.

We’re not complaining…we love what we do and wouldn’t do it any other way. But, sometimes, you gotta get away.

So it was a week ago when we decided to take a mid-week personal day.

On many of our drives to and from the San Luis Valley we’ve taken the “scenic” route up Highway 17 past Villa Grove toward Salida. Almost every time, we’ve commented on the numerous side roads that lead off the highway with “National Forest access” signs and wondered where they went. So, on this personal day, we took one.

Here, we should point out that we try not to take any drive without our favorite exploring book, The Roads of Colorado. This book has 167 detailed maps that cover every square mile of Colorado, including dirt and 4-wheel drive roads, trails, topography, mountain peaks, rivers and much more. We’ve tried some other Colorado atlases, but we think this one is the best.

The sign at road LL56 leading to the left just a hair past Villa Grove said, “Bonanza.” We didn’t even know there was a Bonanza, Colorado. Armed with a lunch-filled day-pack, plenty of water, and the dog, we set out to find it.

The already beautiful landscape got even better as soon as we started up the paved road. The pavement didn’t last long, though, and we continued up well maintained gravel for the 15 or so miles to Bonanza, a quaint mountain community whose history is based on Colorado’s silver mining boom of the late 1800s. There are numerous abandoned mines and associated ghost-towns along the way, and there’s an interpretive loop that takes adventurous drivers with good four-wheel drive, high-clearance vehicles on a tour of many of them. We should note that much of the land along LL56 is private property, but the roads leading off of it head into some beautiful areas of the Rio Grande National Forest.

We opted for a hike up Forest Service road 888 toward Hayden Peak. After about a mile of bone-jarring 4-wheel drive road, we decided to park and walk. The road/trail was rocky and steep and the only one of us that wasn’t huffing and puffing was Stella, the intrepid, almost 13 year-old, Lhasa Apso.

After about a mile came the thunder, then the rain, so, we opted to head back to the car and try to drive up. The road ended just about ½ mile from where we had stopped walking. The foot trail continued up to the ridge leading to Hayden peak, but the forest service had worked so hard to prevent ATV and other motorized traffic from using it that it was virtually impossible to hike up.

We turned back and opted for another road; this time, one leading to Mosquito Lake. We were getting hungry, and thought the lake would be a great spot for a picnic lunch—assuming that the lake didn’t live up to its name.

The road was good…for about a mile. The rest of the 5-mile journey was more very rough road, but the payoff was a beautiful, natural mountain lake with crystal-clear water and plenty of places for a shore-side picnic and, believe it or not, no mosquitos. The lake is surrounded by forest with towering ridges of above-tree line terrain but is small enough to take an after-lunch walk in and out of the forest all the way around, occasionally crossing the streams that feed it.

As we drove back down the rough road, we opted to take a turn back toward Bonanza and make a true loop out of the drive. This road was as rough, or rougher, than the first, but it led past a couple of ghost-towns where we stopped and visited the small mountain cemeteries with headstones that give a clue to the life and times of the silver mining towns of the 1800s.

The sun was beginning to set as we turned back onto Highway 17 for the trip home, tired but with attitudes adjusted and brains refreshed to face what would be a long, working weekend.

A personal day is good for the soul.

Until next time…get out the map!

Mike and Darlene Jordan are registered agents of Cruises Inc., and are based here in Southern Colorado. You can contact them at 800-267-7613 or by email at cruisesinc@gojade.org.