Monday, March 14, 2011
Vacations To Go Cruise Newsletter
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Dear Mr. Zizou,
Alan Fox has returned from a cruise in the Indian Ocean on Silversea's Silver Wind, and his second report follows. There is a slideshow at the end of his letter. The reports were delayed until the Silver Wind had left the region.
Please scroll down to see this week's cruise deals.
After four ports in as many days in the Seychelles, our crossing to Mombasa was unhurried and pleasantly uneventful. We slept a little later both mornings, enjoying smooth seas, sunny skies and the warm summer breeze.
Most of all, we reveled in the Silver Wind. It just doesn't get any better than traveling the world on this vessel.
The food and service in each of the ship's three restaurants is truly outstanding. None of those venues assign tablemates or dining times, which makes it easy to get together with new friends. Wine, beer and cocktails are included in the upfront cruise price, as are gratuities.
Only a day or two into the cruise, the dining room staff began to greet individual guests by name, a hallmark of an exceptionally well-run ship.
Every room on the Silver Wind is a suite, and every suite has a butler in addition to the room steward. Our butler, Diah, is cheerful and enthusiastic despite long days and demanding guests and being away from home for months at a time.
I appreciate how tough her job must be and admire her for how well she pulls it off.
A show lounge offers nightly entertainment and when it's time to retire, you'll retreat to a suite complete with European bath amenities, fine bed linens with pillow choice, plush robes, personalized stationery and nightly turndown service.
It's sometimes hard to find time for the gym back in Houston, so an unhurried morning workout in the fitness center of the Silver Wind is one of the luxuries of being on vacation. Throw in water volleyball in the ship's pool, a lecture and a visit to the spa -- does anyone really miss seeing land at this stage?
We saw no pirates en route to Mombasa, and the private security team and crew were always on the lookout. A searchlight probed the water near the ship at night.
In fact, I saw no other ships or boats at all until we neared the mainland, which made me wonder if we were avoiding everything on radar.
According to the NATO anti-piracy website, no vessel moving faster than 18 knots has ever been boarded by pirates, and I've been pleased to see our speed exceeding that level each time I have checked.
After our crossing, we had two full days on the island of Mombasa, Kenya's second largest city, which is separated by creeks from the mainland.
On the first day, we bused north two hours for a game drive through Tsavo East National Park, where we saw elephants, giraffes, zebras, impalas, ostriches, baboons and more.
On the second day, we went south for another game drive through Shimba Hills, a smaller and heavily forested national park. There we saw rare sable antelope, giraffes, Cape buffalo and other animals, and we had lunch at the rustic Shimba Forest Lodge, a four-story tree house built on stilts, with tree trunks and limbs bursting through the floors and ceilings.
The lodge has guest rooms, an open-air restaurant and an elevated wooden walkway that leads out to a watering hole. We watched an African fish eagle swooping low over that water for his lunch.
Our excursion ended with an afternoon visit to the surprisingly upscale Diani Beach Resort, with manicured grounds and white-sand beaches and attentive staff. If you ever need a place to stay in this part of the world, this one is worth considering.
Mombasa's port is not pretty but industrial, and busy, and the summers are hot and humid. Leaving the city on our drive to Tsavo, we passed miles of roadside shacks made of wood or red mud and a bit of tin. Scrawny goats grazed on weeds and garbage while children, unwatched and barefoot, played unfazed in the trash by the road.
This is my fourth trip to Africa and I'd have to say the squalor on that road, in and near the city, matched any I have ever seen, including that in the "informal settlements" of refugees outside Johannesburg, South Africa. It is a disheartening experience, one that puts many questions in your head but few solutions.
Our next stop, the "spice island" of Zanzibar, 22 miles off the coast of mainland Tanzania, had long been on my wish list. Zanzibar is the larger of the two main islands that, along with numerous small islands, form the Zanzibar archipelago.
At times ruled by the Portuguese, the Omani Arabs and later England, Zanzibar became an important trade center in the late 17th century, exporting commodities such as ivory and spices.
Zanzibar also became the primary clearinghouse for slaves captured along the East African coast during the Arab slave trade. Tens of thousands of men, women and children were transported here and confined underground before being sold to the highest bidder at the infamous slave market.
An Anglican cathedral and memorial now stand as stark reminders of the torture and barbaric conditions endured by so many.
The area around the port is densely populated, colorful, noisy and dirty. While Christians outnumber Muslims on the mainland of Tanzania, Zanzibar is 99% Muslim, so women here are covered, some in burqas that reveal only the eyes.
We bused for an hour to the Jozani National Park, for a walk through a tropical forest and close encounters with red colobus monkeys and black monkeys. The former were particularly approachable, generally on the move but pausing and posing just long enough for photos.
By the time we got back to the ship, we had barely an hour to explore the souvenirs assembled by local merchants on the dock before the Silver Wind was again on the move.
It's hard for me to pass up an opportunity to see and photograph rare wildlife that is new to me, but after talking to other passengers, I regret not having made it to the nearby historical area, Stone Town. If there is a valid knock on cruising it is this, that there are some places where a single day does not satisfy the curiosity.
Still, only by ship can one visit so many incredibly different places so effortlessly, a new country and culture pulling alongside your vessel every day or two.
This evening, we are en route to Madagascar, moving away from Somalia but still well within the region prowled by pirates. For the first time on this voyage, long swells raise and lower our ship, reminding us that we are at sea.
A few minutes ago, we watched from our balcony as the sun disappeared into the ocean. In the civil twilight, there is peace and calm upon the water.
But out there, beyond the horizon, there are more adventures waiting to unfold.
Alan Fox
Chairman & CEO
For a slideshow of photos from this leg of my cruise, please click here.
For a map of my itinerary, please click here.
For a complete list of sailings and discounts on the Silver Wind, please click here.
For a list of sailings and discounts on all Silversea ships, please click here.
To read the first report from this trip, please click here.
For just three days this week -- March 15, 16 and 17 -- Carnival is offering its past passengers reduced rates plus a free upgrade within the same cabin type (ex., inside to inside, oceanview to oceanview), on a variety of sailings in Alaska, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada/New England, the Caribbean, Hawaii and Mexico. Click here for dates and prices and call us on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday to book.
Windstar Cruises is offering our customers exclusive discounts of up to 75% on a variety of sailings in Europe. These specials must be booked by March 27, click here for dates and prices.
Disney Cruise Line is offering Vacations To Go customers exclusive shipboard credits of $50 to $75 per stateroom on a wide variety of 2011 sailings on all three vessels in their fleet, including the brand new Disney Dream. Click here for dates and prices.
Here's a list of specialty cruises, discounts and resources we offer. Some are available only to certain types of travelers, and others are available to all Vacations To Go customers. Click the links below for more information:
Age 55+ Rates
CME Cruises
EMT Discounts
Firefighter Discounts
Grand Voyages
Hosted Singles Cruises
Interline Rates
Military Rates (U.S. and Canadian)
Past Passenger Rates
Police Discounts
Regional Deals
Teachers' Rates
Travelers with Special Needs
Discount programs like these can be issued or withdrawn at any time by the cruise line, and are not normally combinable with one another. Always tell your Vacations To Go cruise counselor if you qualify for a military or interline discount, are a past passenger of the line you are calling about, or if anyone in the cabin will be 55+, so that he or she can make sure to check for any additional discounts to which you may be entitled.
Here are today's Top 10 Cruises, brand new specials from the world's best cruise lines. Click the FastDeal # for details.
1) Caribbean, 7 nights on Princess, departs San Juan Mar 27, starting at $402, save 55%, FastDeal # 24919
2) Bahamas, 7 nights on Carnival, departs Galveston Mar 27, starting at $549, save 67%, FastDeal # 15227
3) Alaska, 15 nights on P&O Cruises, departs San Francisco May 8, starting at $1580, save 53%, FastDeal # 23686
4) Caribbean, 5 nights on Royal Caribbean, departs Tampa Mar 28, starting at $549, FastDeal # 27404 (Royal Caribbean does not provide brochure rates for this cruise, so we are unable to show a savings percentage.)
5) Alaska, 7 nights on Norwegian, departs Los Angeles May 7, starting at $589, save 65%, FastDeal # 18885
6) Caribbean, 7 nights on Celebrity, departs San Juan Apr 23, starting at $449, FastDeal # 28088 (Celebrity does not provide brochure rates for this cruise, so we are unable to show a savings percentage.)
7) Baltic, 10 nights on Oceania Cruises, departs Stockholm Jun 21, starting at $3474, save 54%, FastDeal # 19990
8) Central America, 7 nights on Windstar, departs Puerto Caldera Mar 26, oceanview starting at $1499, save 58%, FastDeal # 23346
9) Caribbean, 7 nights on Norwegian, departs Miami Apr 3, starting at $549, save 61%, FastDeal # 20391
10) Bermuda, 10 nights on Regent, departs Fort Lauderdale Apr 15, suite starting at $4399, save 62%, FastDeal # 11163
For the best last-minute cruise specials in the next 90 days, click here.
To search for discounts on cruises departing more than 90 days from now, click here.
For escorted tours worldwide, or air/hotel packages to London or Paris, click here.
For hotels in the Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii, Bermuda or the Bahamas, click here.
Para visitar a nuestro sitio web de cruceros en español, haga clic aquí.
Once you've found a FASTDEAL, call us toll free at 800-338-4962 (US and Canada) and a cruise counselor will attend to your needs. International customers, please e-mail or call us at +1-713-974-2121.
Please e-mail me your comments, suggestions and questions at alanfox@vacationstogo.com and I will respond the same day.
To send one sample copy of this newsletter to a friend, click here.
Sincerely,
Alan Fox
Chairman & CEO
Vacations To Go
5851 San Felipe Street, Suite 500
Houston, TX 77057
You are subscribed as davezizou@gmail.com. To update your e-mail address or to temporarily suspend, reduce the frequency of, or permanently cancel, these emails, click here.
Alan Fox has returned from a cruise in the Indian Ocean on Silversea's Silver Wind, and his second report follows. There is a slideshow at the end of his letter. The reports were delayed until the Silver Wind had left the region.
Please scroll down to see this week's cruise deals.
After four ports in as many days in the Seychelles, our crossing to Mombasa was unhurried and pleasantly uneventful. We slept a little later both mornings, enjoying smooth seas, sunny skies and the warm summer breeze.
Most of all, we reveled in the Silver Wind. It just doesn't get any better than traveling the world on this vessel.
The food and service in each of the ship's three restaurants is truly outstanding. None of those venues assign tablemates or dining times, which makes it easy to get together with new friends. Wine, beer and cocktails are included in the upfront cruise price, as are gratuities.
Only a day or two into the cruise, the dining room staff began to greet individual guests by name, a hallmark of an exceptionally well-run ship.
Every room on the Silver Wind is a suite, and every suite has a butler in addition to the room steward. Our butler, Diah, is cheerful and enthusiastic despite long days and demanding guests and being away from home for months at a time.
I appreciate how tough her job must be and admire her for how well she pulls it off.
A show lounge offers nightly entertainment and when it's time to retire, you'll retreat to a suite complete with European bath amenities, fine bed linens with pillow choice, plush robes, personalized stationery and nightly turndown service.
It's sometimes hard to find time for the gym back in Houston, so an unhurried morning workout in the fitness center of the Silver Wind is one of the luxuries of being on vacation. Throw in water volleyball in the ship's pool, a lecture and a visit to the spa -- does anyone really miss seeing land at this stage?
We saw no pirates en route to Mombasa, and the private security team and crew were always on the lookout. A searchlight probed the water near the ship at night.
In fact, I saw no other ships or boats at all until we neared the mainland, which made me wonder if we were avoiding everything on radar.
According to the NATO anti-piracy website, no vessel moving faster than 18 knots has ever been boarded by pirates, and I've been pleased to see our speed exceeding that level each time I have checked.
After our crossing, we had two full days on the island of Mombasa, Kenya's second largest city, which is separated by creeks from the mainland.
On the first day, we bused north two hours for a game drive through Tsavo East National Park, where we saw elephants, giraffes, zebras, impalas, ostriches, baboons and more.
On the second day, we went south for another game drive through Shimba Hills, a smaller and heavily forested national park. There we saw rare sable antelope, giraffes, Cape buffalo and other animals, and we had lunch at the rustic Shimba Forest Lodge, a four-story tree house built on stilts, with tree trunks and limbs bursting through the floors and ceilings.
The lodge has guest rooms, an open-air restaurant and an elevated wooden walkway that leads out to a watering hole. We watched an African fish eagle swooping low over that water for his lunch.
Our excursion ended with an afternoon visit to the surprisingly upscale Diani Beach Resort, with manicured grounds and white-sand beaches and attentive staff. If you ever need a place to stay in this part of the world, this one is worth considering.
Mombasa's port is not pretty but industrial, and busy, and the summers are hot and humid. Leaving the city on our drive to Tsavo, we passed miles of roadside shacks made of wood or red mud and a bit of tin. Scrawny goats grazed on weeds and garbage while children, unwatched and barefoot, played unfazed in the trash by the road.
This is my fourth trip to Africa and I'd have to say the squalor on that road, in and near the city, matched any I have ever seen, including that in the "informal settlements" of refugees outside Johannesburg, South Africa. It is a disheartening experience, one that puts many questions in your head but few solutions.
Our next stop, the "spice island" of Zanzibar, 22 miles off the coast of mainland Tanzania, had long been on my wish list. Zanzibar is the larger of the two main islands that, along with numerous small islands, form the Zanzibar archipelago.
At times ruled by the Portuguese, the Omani Arabs and later England, Zanzibar became an important trade center in the late 17th century, exporting commodities such as ivory and spices.
Zanzibar also became the primary clearinghouse for slaves captured along the East African coast during the Arab slave trade. Tens of thousands of men, women and children were transported here and confined underground before being sold to the highest bidder at the infamous slave market.
An Anglican cathedral and memorial now stand as stark reminders of the torture and barbaric conditions endured by so many.
The area around the port is densely populated, colorful, noisy and dirty. While Christians outnumber Muslims on the mainland of Tanzania, Zanzibar is 99% Muslim, so women here are covered, some in burqas that reveal only the eyes.
We bused for an hour to the Jozani National Park, for a walk through a tropical forest and close encounters with red colobus monkeys and black monkeys. The former were particularly approachable, generally on the move but pausing and posing just long enough for photos.
By the time we got back to the ship, we had barely an hour to explore the souvenirs assembled by local merchants on the dock before the Silver Wind was again on the move.
It's hard for me to pass up an opportunity to see and photograph rare wildlife that is new to me, but after talking to other passengers, I regret not having made it to the nearby historical area, Stone Town. If there is a valid knock on cruising it is this, that there are some places where a single day does not satisfy the curiosity.
Still, only by ship can one visit so many incredibly different places so effortlessly, a new country and culture pulling alongside your vessel every day or two.
This evening, we are en route to Madagascar, moving away from Somalia but still well within the region prowled by pirates. For the first time on this voyage, long swells raise and lower our ship, reminding us that we are at sea.
A few minutes ago, we watched from our balcony as the sun disappeared into the ocean. In the civil twilight, there is peace and calm upon the water.
But out there, beyond the horizon, there are more adventures waiting to unfold.
Alan Fox
Chairman & CEO
For a slideshow of photos from this leg of my cruise, please click here.
For a map of my itinerary, please click here.
For a complete list of sailings and discounts on the Silver Wind, please click here.
For a list of sailings and discounts on all Silversea ships, please click here.
To read the first report from this trip, please click here.
For just three days this week -- March 15, 16 and 17 -- Carnival is offering its past passengers reduced rates plus a free upgrade within the same cabin type (ex., inside to inside, oceanview to oceanview), on a variety of sailings in Alaska, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada/New England, the Caribbean, Hawaii and Mexico. Click here for dates and prices and call us on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday to book.
Windstar Cruises is offering our customers exclusive discounts of up to 75% on a variety of sailings in Europe. These specials must be booked by March 27, click here for dates and prices.
Disney Cruise Line is offering Vacations To Go customers exclusive shipboard credits of $50 to $75 per stateroom on a wide variety of 2011 sailings on all three vessels in their fleet, including the brand new Disney Dream. Click here for dates and prices.
Here's a list of specialty cruises, discounts and resources we offer. Some are available only to certain types of travelers, and others are available to all Vacations To Go customers. Click the links below for more information:
Age 55+ Rates
CME Cruises
EMT Discounts
Firefighter Discounts
Grand Voyages
Hosted Singles Cruises
Interline Rates
Military Rates (U.S. and Canadian)
Past Passenger Rates
Police Discounts
Regional Deals
Teachers' Rates
Travelers with Special Needs
Discount programs like these can be issued or withdrawn at any time by the cruise line, and are not normally combinable with one another. Always tell your Vacations To Go cruise counselor if you qualify for a military or interline discount, are a past passenger of the line you are calling about, or if anyone in the cabin will be 55+, so that he or she can make sure to check for any additional discounts to which you may be entitled.
Here are today's Top 10 Cruises, brand new specials from the world's best cruise lines. Click the FastDeal # for details.
1) Caribbean, 7 nights on Princess, departs San Juan Mar 27, starting at $402, save 55%, FastDeal # 24919
2) Bahamas, 7 nights on Carnival, departs Galveston Mar 27, starting at $549, save 67%, FastDeal # 15227
3) Alaska, 15 nights on P&O Cruises, departs San Francisco May 8, starting at $1580, save 53%, FastDeal # 23686
4) Caribbean, 5 nights on Royal Caribbean, departs Tampa Mar 28, starting at $549, FastDeal # 27404 (Royal Caribbean does not provide brochure rates for this cruise, so we are unable to show a savings percentage.)
5) Alaska, 7 nights on Norwegian, departs Los Angeles May 7, starting at $589, save 65%, FastDeal # 18885
6) Caribbean, 7 nights on Celebrity, departs San Juan Apr 23, starting at $449, FastDeal # 28088 (Celebrity does not provide brochure rates for this cruise, so we are unable to show a savings percentage.)
7) Baltic, 10 nights on Oceania Cruises, departs Stockholm Jun 21, starting at $3474, save 54%, FastDeal # 19990
8) Central America, 7 nights on Windstar, departs Puerto Caldera Mar 26, oceanview starting at $1499, save 58%, FastDeal # 23346
9) Caribbean, 7 nights on Norwegian, departs Miami Apr 3, starting at $549, save 61%, FastDeal # 20391
10) Bermuda, 10 nights on Regent, departs Fort Lauderdale Apr 15, suite starting at $4399, save 62%, FastDeal # 11163
For the best last-minute cruise specials in the next 90 days, click here.
To search for discounts on cruises departing more than 90 days from now, click here.
For escorted tours worldwide, or air/hotel packages to London or Paris, click here.
For hotels in the Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii, Bermuda or the Bahamas, click here.
Para visitar a nuestro sitio web de cruceros en español, haga clic aquí.
Once you've found a FASTDEAL, call us toll free at 800-338-4962 (US and Canada) and a cruise counselor will attend to your needs. International customers, please e-mail or call us at +1-713-974-2121.
Please e-mail me your comments, suggestions and questions at alanfox@vacationstogo.com and I will respond the same day.
To send one sample copy of this newsletter to a friend, click here.
Sincerely,
Alan Fox
Chairman & CEO
Vacations To Go
5851 San Felipe Street, Suite 500
Houston, TX 77057
You are subscribed as davezizou@gmail.com. To update your e-mail address or to temporarily suspend, reduce the frequency of, or permanently cancel, these emails, click here.
This post was written by: beemagnet77
BeeMagnet is a professional graphic designer, web designer and business man with really strong passion that specializes in marketing strategy. Usually hangs out in Twitter has recently launched a blog dedicated to home design inspiration for designers, bride, photographers and artists called HomeBase
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