With this being a once in a lifetime trip I decided early on that I would like to maximize my exposure to the various ports by going as many excursions as possible and allocated a fair chunk of change to do so.
With the exception of St Thomas, Barbados, Antigua, Puntarenas and Cabo all the other ports are new to me - of the above I have only booked an excursion in Barbados and that is Harrison Caves which was under redevelopment the last time I was there.
To date I have booked a total of 21 excursions - 14 with the ship and 7 with fellow cruisers covering 16 of our ports. Many of the better private tours were filled before I got off the wait list but some new ones have been added.
With the exception of Rio I am fairly pleased with what I have been able to book to date.
As for Rio - have done a fair amount of research on what to see and they were offered by the ship but at this time the full day tour is full and I am wait listed - I suspect that they are only booking a % of available seats at this time and also to allow people without Internet service to book on the ship when we board.
My preferred ship tour is a city drive past the beaches, Sugarloaf and Christ the Redeemer but it is full - a second tour is to the forest and jeep tour and I have decided to see a bit of the night life with a Platforma tour to one of the night clubs - will get back around midnight - still hoping that one of the other cruisers might pull together another all day tour.
Rio is an overnight stop so I can do some of the shorter trips on the second day.
I still do expect to add a couple more excursions.
I will provide more info my planned excursions when I start to outline my plans for each port.
We have been enjoying a long late summer, early fall dry spell which I find myself outdoors enjoying it while it lasts. Once the weather turns I will be posting here more often.
Cheers
D
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Friday, October 5, 2012
Getting things done on the bucket list
Well - the serious countdown has begun for a week ago I made final payment for the full 49 days - so you could say I have now passed the point of no return.
Mixed in with the excitement of getting aspects of this cruise looked after I celebrated my 65 birthday by taking a short 5 day cruise down the Pacific Coast to LA and then immediately hopped a bus to catch the Amtrak train to get back for a birthday party.
Along with final payment I also booked Amtrak and my travel and medical insurance.
While I toyed with the idea of taking a more circuitous Amtrak route to Fort Lauderdale I stayed with the tried and true. Taking the California Zephyr through Salt Lake and Denver in the middle of winter was causing me some worry that a major blizzard could delay my arrival in Fort Lauderdale.
So I am taking my usual route with one minor change - instead of taking the bus to Seattle and catching the Empire Builder on a direct connection I opted to take the Amtrak Cascades which leaves earlier in the morning - partly because I haven't taken that route in years and partly thinking that if we get a snow storm here on the west coast the train is more likely to get to Seattle - it also gives me several hours in Seattle so if the weather is nice I can see some of the sights.
When it came time to book the train the price for the sleeper was cheaper than when I had priced it sometime earlier - like the airlines, Amtrak sleeper prices seem to fluctuate - did find a web site - www.amsnag.net that you can check and see what the prices are for each day - it seems to be kept up to date and it reflected changes that I noted on the Amtrak site.
I will take the Empire Builder to Chicago and then the Capitol Limited to DC - where I will have a layover before taking the Silver Meteor service to Fort Lauderdale - the train station there is half way between Ft Lauderdale and Hollywood so since I am coming from the north will detrain at Fort Lauderdale station and take a taxi to my hotel.
The train ride will be about 4 days and gets me into Fort Lauderdale around supper time - then will have one full day there before boarding the ship.
As for the return from San Francisco - it is pretty straightforward - will have the day to explore as I don't board the bus until late evening that will take me to Emeryville where you catch the Coast Starlight.
My trip and medical insurance is issued by the Royal Bank here in Canada - it is considered one of the better ones - while my extended medical benefits that I have provides good coverage it is only valid for 30 days at one time - so the need for the extra coverage.
Next post I will outline some of my excursions thoughts and pickings.
Cheers
Mixed in with the excitement of getting aspects of this cruise looked after I celebrated my 65 birthday by taking a short 5 day cruise down the Pacific Coast to LA and then immediately hopped a bus to catch the Amtrak train to get back for a birthday party.
Along with final payment I also booked Amtrak and my travel and medical insurance.
While I toyed with the idea of taking a more circuitous Amtrak route to Fort Lauderdale I stayed with the tried and true. Taking the California Zephyr through Salt Lake and Denver in the middle of winter was causing me some worry that a major blizzard could delay my arrival in Fort Lauderdale.
So I am taking my usual route with one minor change - instead of taking the bus to Seattle and catching the Empire Builder on a direct connection I opted to take the Amtrak Cascades which leaves earlier in the morning - partly because I haven't taken that route in years and partly thinking that if we get a snow storm here on the west coast the train is more likely to get to Seattle - it also gives me several hours in Seattle so if the weather is nice I can see some of the sights.
When it came time to book the train the price for the sleeper was cheaper than when I had priced it sometime earlier - like the airlines, Amtrak sleeper prices seem to fluctuate - did find a web site - www.amsnag.net that you can check and see what the prices are for each day - it seems to be kept up to date and it reflected changes that I noted on the Amtrak site.
I will take the Empire Builder to Chicago and then the Capitol Limited to DC - where I will have a layover before taking the Silver Meteor service to Fort Lauderdale - the train station there is half way between Ft Lauderdale and Hollywood so since I am coming from the north will detrain at Fort Lauderdale station and take a taxi to my hotel.
The train ride will be about 4 days and gets me into Fort Lauderdale around supper time - then will have one full day there before boarding the ship.
As for the return from San Francisco - it is pretty straightforward - will have the day to explore as I don't board the bus until late evening that will take me to Emeryville where you catch the Coast Starlight.
My trip and medical insurance is issued by the Royal Bank here in Canada - it is considered one of the better ones - while my extended medical benefits that I have provides good coverage it is only valid for 30 days at one time - so the need for the extra coverage.
Next post I will outline some of my excursions thoughts and pickings.
Cheers
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