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of our Rail/Cruise Adventure in May nailed down today.
I booked us, using Guest Rewards Points for Business Class, on train 774 SBA-SAN on 14 May. It was a little more complicated than it might have been because we were each using points from our own accounts. One is down to 500 but the other is still strong at over 40,000. Hopefully there will be no unexpected track work, etc. This gives us a "civilized" departure at 9:20AM and a good arrival time for check-in at 3:10PM.
We will spend the night in a Bay View room at the Holiday Inn on the Bay. We've stayed there before and like the proximity to the train station and also to the cruise dock. There is something very exciting about waking up early and watching your ship come in. In this case it will be Radiance of the Seas arriving from Tampa, the Caribbean, the Panama Canal and the Mexican Riviera.
It's a bit on the expensive side but I figure I didn't "spend" the extra money on the private room at the hospital (None available. It was a very busy day in surgery.) so I'll use it to "fund" this little extravagance.
As I remember, there is a pretty good Deli for breakfast in the complex at the hotel.
Frank in wet (Just barely...) SBA
Posts: 2160 | From: Santa Barbara, CA, USA | Registered: Oct 2003
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I see that you are doing the 5-night Pacific Coastal on Radiance of the Seas. Such a beautiful ship. You'll have some Celebrity-shipspotting on the way with the Celebrity CENTURY in San Francisco, Celebrity INFINITY in Victoria, ending with the Celebrity MILLENNIUM in Vancouver. I also see you have locked in the Cascades and Coast Starlight. I love the Amtrak Cascades, such a wonderful scenic trip in a great train. A really great trip you have arranged, I am sooooo jealous!!!! Can't wait until my B2B 9-nt in December on the Celebrity MILLENNIUM out of Miami. I look forward to any pictures of your journey.
-------------------- The best part of life is the journey, not the destination. Posts: 497 | From: Clarksburg, West Virginia | Registered: Oct 2003
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Two sites I use for tracking ships in ports of call;
www.cruisecal.com which has a new feature called Itinerary Lookup. I pulled up your ship and sailing date and it automatically pulled up the complete schedule and ships in port with yours.
The other site is www.cruisetimetables.com which is a bit more complex and also lists a couple of smaller European lines.
-------------------- The best part of life is the journey, not the destination. Posts: 497 | From: Clarksburg, West Virginia | Registered: Oct 2003
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I really need to treat myself to a cruise. I would love to know what it's like. I'm a single traveler (and I am NOT a party person....very low key), so I will continue searching for something that is warm and tropical, short in duration (3 to 5 days), and elegant but with the option for me to be casual (such as bypassing the black tie dinner, and having dinner served on my balcony). My friends think I'm nuts for enjoying solo travel, but I think it's the best thing since sliced bread. Maybe one of these days I will have to "shadow" Frank and company so that I have someone to show me the ropes. I just can't imagine what it must be like to go to bed at night with a warm breeze coming in through the balcony door and seeing nothing but water as far as the eyes can see. I really need to experience this. I just don't want to end up on a cruise ship full of young twenty or thirty-somethings who are there to scream, yell, and dance 'til dawn. I would hate it and would probably be a "never again" customer. I prefer traveling with older folks, who actually know how to have a conversation.
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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Hopeful and Smitty -- If you'd like to cruise with grown-ups on beautiful, classic ships with great service, check out Holland America.
Posts: 24 | From: Connecticut | Registered: Feb 2011
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Smitty, try one of the coastal repositioning cruises in September that leave from Vancouver and end in LA or San Diego. Most are 4-5 nights long and Holland-America is offering up some nice choices. Don't forget as a 'Single Occupancy' you will pay 200% of the price listed. Then once you get to San Diego or LA just rail back home. A lot of the mass market lines have pulled out of California so it doesn't leave many options for a 7-night Mexican Riviera cruise other than Carnival.
Posts: 497 | From: Clarksburg, West Virginia | Registered: Oct 2003
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Enjoying the ship for ship's sake - rather than the tourist traps in port cities - seems like the way to do it. Smitty - why limit yourself to the west coast. Since you can still get reasonable red eye coast to coast flights, how about sampling our side of the continent? Lots more options for a spot like Ft. Lauderdale to the Caribbean. And you could check out Tri-Rail too.
Although I haven't tried it, a classic ocean liner like the Queen Mary 2 might be worth checking out - it's designed to handle the high seas of the north Atlantic not a floating box like many. I think some itineraries might include Bermuda. Transatlantic fares are pretty reasonable.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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Having gotten a blue collar taste of such riding a BC Ferry from Vancouver to Victoria in 2004, my wife and I would love to do an Alaskan Cruise complete with a stopover in Skagway for a day on the White Pass & Yukon Railroad.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:Originally posted by notelvis: I have a cruise on my wishlist.
Having gotten a blue collar taste of such riding a BC Ferry from Vancouver to Victoria in 2004, my wife and I would love to do an Alaskan Cruise complete with a stopover in Skagway for a day on the White Pass & Yukon Railroad.
I have done five cruises to Alaska and all but one hit Skagway, and twice I did the White Pass & Yukon Railroad. A great cruise and highly recommended!
-------------------- The best part of life is the journey, not the destination. Posts: 497 | From: Clarksburg, West Virginia | Registered: Oct 2003
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Last June my wife and I took a Holland America Lines cruise tour from Fairbanks-Denali-Anchorage-Seward (four legs Alaska RR), then Seward-Vancouver aboard ship with several port calls, including the White Pass & Yukon at Skagway. Cost an arm and a leg and a firstborn, but was well worth it.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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notelvis, we've been on one cruise, and it was an Alaska cruise. We did the White Pass RR trip. I'm not "hooked" like my brother and freinds were, but I absolutely advise you to do this. If we go on one again, we plan to go through the Panama Canal. Smitty, it wasn't tropical, so clientel may be different, but the ship ceratinly wasn't full of 20 - 30 year olds. Plenty to do (including just relaxing) without goign to the disco (I didn't realize anyone still called them such).
Posts: 406 | From: La Grange, CA | Registered: Sep 2007
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I should note that in this arrangement, the White Pass & Yukon is on my wishlist. The wife might just stay aboard ship!
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Well, Frank how did the operation go? A hip replacement, as I recall? You're obviously up and going; I don't think they change the tires on cars at the Indy 500 faster than that! Miss Vicki and Art are supposed to visit here in a couple of weeks, and we'll obviously talk about you...give us some topics to gossip about!
Tom
Posts: 518 | From: Maynard, MA, USA | Registered: Sep 2000
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David, you might be surprised. My wife is no railfan but certainly enjoyed the WP&Y, it was spectacular.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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It's five weeks today since surgery and today I washed my car, hosed out the carport and went for a spin around the neighborhood on my own. That's a great step towards returning to independence!
Yes, Vicki and Art leave soon. She's promised me an itinerary but I have yet to see it. (Hint, hint!)
Frank in oddly overcast and warm SBA
Posts: 2160 | From: Santa Barbara, CA, USA | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:Originally posted by notelvis: I should note that in this arrangement, the White Pass & Yukon is on my wishlist. The wife might just stay aboard ship!
In Skagway there are several other very nice shore excursions offered. Another one there that I did twice was the Liarsville Camp excursion which included a salmon bake cookout and gold panning. There was also the largest dog I have ever seen in my life, a giant malamute. A jetboat to the Eagle Preserve, horseback riding, and glacier helicopter tours are also available in Skagway.
-------------------- The best part of life is the journey, not the destination. Posts: 497 | From: Clarksburg, West Virginia | Registered: Oct 2003
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