Ruby Degenhard

I received a request for a cruise covering the Southern Caribbean, (Aruba, St. Thomas, St. Marteen, etc.) These cruises typically depart from San Juan so I’ll probably add a tour of San Juan on too. Will start on this when I get back from PANAMA!!!

I received a request today for a group tour of Spain. I’ll start on this soon.

There are  still 6 rooms available on the Cancun trip planned to coincide with the public school spring break. It’s at the Oasis Viva Beach, an all-inclusive property, in a standard oceanfront room. The cost is $985 per person based on double occupancy and includes non-stop air from Baltimore, all meals, drinks, and non-motorized water sports.

Children 6 to 12 are $570 each and up to 6 are $450 each.

Contact Ruby at 410-224-4555 to grab a room!

I’ll be getting a group together to take a cruise on the Oasis in October or November 2010. The itinerary for this ship is not the best but the ship itself is the destination! I’ve been watching the prices and October, November is when the price drops due to the introduction of its sister ship, the Allure, in December 2010.

The Oasis has a water show, an ice show, an official Broadway production of Hairspray, two Flow-Riders, two rock climbing walls, a zip line, a bar that elevates over 5 floors, and much more. There are 3 separate promenade areas, one resembling Central Park with full grown trees and one fashioned after a boardwalk with a hand carved carousel. As I said, the ship is the destination!

I’m going to start looking for a land/cruise combination for later this year. Say 3 days Athens and a 4 day cruise. The issue is it will be a Greek or Italian cruise line, meaning that english will not be the first language. Adds to the experience?

Ruth Louie in our office has a group going October 17-31, 2010 from Dulles Airport to South Africa. The trip will explore the best of Cape Town, Johannesburg and do a 3 day safari drive at Kruger National Park. It will visit the Apartheid Museum, Soweto, Robben Island and Table Mountain, and 3 days in the resort town of Sun City, among other places.

The cost is only $5,395 per person, and includes roundtrip air from Dulles Airport, in-country flights and transfers, 12 nights accommodations in first class hotels and lodges, all tours and sightseeing with professional guides and drivers, a welcome dinner, breakfast daily and lunches while on tour. It includes all meals while on safari. Transportation is in comfortable, air-conditioned coaches.

The cost does not include beverages, tips, trip insurance, inoculations, or other meals not listed above.

Please contact Ruth@BestConnectionTravel.com or call Ruth at 443-540-1239 for more information. We only have 20 spaces on this trip and it should be listed on our website in another week or two.

We completed our Mediterranean cruise – roundtrip Barcelona, this month. I had a fabulous time and really enjoyed Barcelona and the French Riviera ports. We were not able to get into Livorno, gateway to Cinque Terre, Florence and Pisa, due to weather. However, an agent in my office who went in June was also not able to get into Livorno due to weather.

Overall the November dates were good, I thought. I did not want to have to cope with the summertime crowds, heat or prices. For the most part the temperatures were pleasant and the sites visited were not overcrowded. Everywhere we went the flowers were in bloom.

I recommend the November shoulder season as not only a good way to save money on your  cruise but also as a more comfortable time to travel the Med.

This visit gave me a new understanding of the French and the Spanish cultures, and reconfirmed my fond memories of the Italy.

RCCL’s Voyager of the Seas was beautiful; a grand olde dame, lovingly maintained.

I’m very excited to be going to Panama this week. I haven’t been in about 11 years. I’ll be going to the Santa Clara area on the Pacific side. I’m anxious to see the country again.