Cruise follies, foibles, TMI, TLI and unexpected discoveries
No cruise is complete without its follies and unexpected discoveries.
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No cruise is complete without its follies and unexpected discoveries.
Listen up parents — if you thought the educational part of cruising was only seeing historic and cultural sites, you were wrong. It seems much more cultural exchange happens right on board at the kids’ and teen club, kids say.
The ship staff had warned that navigating on your own in Japan is different than elsewhere. Very few locals speak English and signs are only in Japanese. I understand now why in the U.S. Japanese tourists always move in a group with a guide.
Visit Orlando’s magical dining month, which starts August 24 and continues throughout September and highlights many restaurants offering prix fixe dinners for $33. (Ready to share with your junior foodie?)
Good news! I’m going to live at least seven years longer. That’s because I’ve visited a Japanese Onseng—a hot springs resort. They are ubiquitous in Japan—there are thousands of them.
The on board Izumi Japanese Bath features indoor and outdoor bathing experiences ($15 for 90 minute visit), including misted steam room, sauna, Jacuzzi and hot tubs, some open to the sky.
Like other cruise lines, Princess offers specialty restaurants on board for which you pay an extra fee.
Like on other cruise lines, the specialty restaurants offer an enhanced experience.
We’re in Kushiro, Japan, on the island of Hokkaido, and are visiting the Japanese Crane Reserve on a shore excursion from the Diamond Princess, which is spending the morning here.
Until I came aboard in Yokohama, I hadn’t thought much about the cruise experience being educational but here, with more than 1000 Japanese passengers, we westerners are getting a lesson in Japanese culture and food.
We are at Ireland’s School of Falconry — the oldest in the country and home to more than 30 birds, including the always popular Dingle the owl. The school is located at Ashford Castle
It is eight in the morning and we are at Tokyo’s famous Tsukiji Fish Market, Japan’ largest. More than 15,000 people work here; international tourists line up in the early hours of the morning for the chance to watch the famous auctions of the fish, including the tuna.
The Mizuki Spa at the Conrad Tokyo is the largest spa of its kind in Tokyo and boasts Tokyo’s only true Hinoki bath. Treatments are inspired by the moon and the water.
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, the largest children’s museum in the world, hopes to inspire children—and their families—to think about religion in new ways with the opening of National Geographic Sacred Journeys on Aug 29.
Jake and Tobey Bill, ages 12 and 13 from Weston CT, went on a “Safari In Style” tour of Tanzania with the tour operator Abercrombie & Kent. They had heard great things about Africa and watched a few PBS specials about it, but nothing prepared them for what them saw and experienced in this amazing place.
The 91-year-old had chosen the Windstar Star Legend, a 212-passenger ship for a cruise with her 17-year-old grandson— one of three yachts without the line’s famous sails that the company has recently acquired from Seabourn
Sixteen-year-old Enesi Domi shares his daily diary from a youth service experience in the Dominican Republic with the community service organization Rustic Pathways. This is the second of two installments. More than 5000 youths will go on Rustic Pathways service trips this year.
Sixteen-year-old Enesi Domi shares his daily diary from a youth service experience in the Dominican Republic with the community service organization Rustic Pathways. This is the first of two installments. More than 5000 youths will go on Rustic Pathways service trips this year.
“It’s like you are on top of the world you’re so high,” said Aman Gaudani, from Oakbridge, NJ who was taking in the view from the newly opened One World Observatory, atop the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
New York, of course, is always tops on tweens and teens lists of wanna-go places. If you have a few days before school starts, it turns out August is a good time. Sure it may be hot, but with business travelers scarce, you are likely to get a good hotel deal.
Welcome to Daigon Alley. No, this is not at Universal Studios Orlando. It’s here in Edinburgh, where JK Rowling famously wrote the first book in a coffee shop.
Margo is a Harris Hawk at the British School of Falconry here on the grounds of the historic Gleneagles Hotel, the first in the country and extremely popular with kids. In fact, we had an audience as I was learning to hold Margo and let her fly.
Of course, Gleneagles is known for golf — it is home to three of Scotland’s best championship courses and it is where the 2014 Ryder Cup was played. But today, only 30 percent of guests play golf — and some of them may be kids taking lessons.
What is vacation without good food and Gleneagles Hotel certainly delivers. It is home to Andrew Fairlie, chef of Scotland’s only two Michelin-starred restaurant. But the other restaurants offer something special as well—maybe trying Scottish food for the first time.
Gleneagles is known for golf—it is home to three of Scotland’s best championship courses but today, only 30 per cent of guests play golf and Gleneagles is a kid-friendly resort that draws families from the United Kingdom as well as the United States back year after year
When you take a cruise, you can opt for a shore excursion offered by the cruise line, or you can take your own, often booking local guides.
Tour buses took us to Fort George, where the Inverness Youth Band with 30-plus members –drummers as young as nine and led by adults are “Beating Retreat,” performing a traditional military ceremony 16th Century England.
Of the 204 passengers, there are 117 who have sailed Windstar, some as many as 11 times. While you may think of this as a cruise line for adults, I’ve been thinking of this as a way for grown and mostly grown kids to connect with parents and grandparents, sharing new experiences.
Three Chimneys Restaurant and six-room inn is on an out of the way stretch of road on the Isle of Skye where you brake for sheep crossing the road and the fish you eat for lunch might have been caught that morning, the lettuce just harvested.
The Woods family had flown 24 hours to London from Australia, but they weren’t planning to ride the famous London Eye, see a West End play or even check out the Crown Jewels. In fact, they’d come for just one reason — the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London — The Making of Harry Potter
We are on day two of our cruise aboard the Windstar yacht Star Legend – the Gaelic Explorers tour. We’ve anchored in Portrush and taken an excursion bus for the one-hour trip to Belfast to learn about the building of the Titantic.
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