HOW TO HELP AVOID INFECTIONS WHEN FLYING -- Sick of catching colds while traveling? We have discovered an effervescent tablet for building immunity and warding off airborne infections that for us has proved very effective. It is called Airborne. You plop in water, then drink. It is recommended to take at the first sign of a cold symptom or before entering crowded, potentially germ-infested environments. It is a combination of herbs, antioxidants. Electrolytes, amino acids, and vitamin C. Plus it contains natural ginger for nausea. You can order it at our section on Travel Medicines. http://www.smallshipcruises.com/travelmedicine.html  Other tips: avoid alcohol during flights, drink plenty of water, wash your hands frequently, take your own pillow case.

CROSSING THE OCEAN ON A TALL SHIP -- Navigation will be taught aboard the tall ship Royal Clipper on a transatlantic sailing from Barbados to Spain, departing April 16. Captain John Carlisle will teach celestial & electronic navigation, ocean track plotting & planning, and satellite weather data acquisition. The seminars are for offshore sailors who are preparing themselves for their own ocean passages. The Royal Clipper is the world's largest full-rigged sailing ship. Classes will be taught morning and afternoon while underway, with noon and evening sextant practice and an open bridge. The beautiful clipper Stad Amsterdam is available for a 21-day eastbound transatlantic voyage from Baltimore to Portsmouth, England, departing May 9th. Star Flyer will make two Indian Ocean crossings between Athens and Phuket. The voyage is 37 nights, including a transit of the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, with stops along the way in the Greek Islands, Egypt, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand's Similian Islands.

NEW SHIPS -- Welcome aboard to Wild Alaska Cruises. Their 8-passenger vessel Perseverance is doing 6-night wildlife cruises between Juneau and Petersburg with special focus on whale watching, rainforest hikes, glacier treks, photography excursions and fishing. Viking River Cruises is launching the Viking Century Sun which joins its sister ship Viking Century Sky on the Yangtze River. Holland America Line has a new 1,918-passenger ship, Noordam. It will sail 10- and 11-day Caribbean cruises roundtrip from New York in the spring and fall and will also do 10-day itineraries of the Mediterranean roundtrip from Rome. (Noordam is Dutch for "north" and is the fourth and last of the line's Vista-class ships, rounding out the four points of a compass. Norwegian Cruise Line has scheduled sea trials for Pride of Hawaii. It will join Pride of Aloha and Pride of America offering seven-day inter-island Hawaii cruises. Royal Caribbean International is ordering what will be the world's largest passenger ship, a $620 million ship named Project Genesis, to hold 5,400 passengers and stand 24 stories high. It is scheduled to be delivered in 2009. New ships scheduled for 2007-8 have also been announced by Cunard, Princess,  and Carnival. Uniworld has a new river boat River Royale with its first departure in April. It will cruise the Provence and Burgunday regions from Lyon. Aggressor has a new ship in Honduras. The 14-passenger Utila Aggressor will offer diving with Utila’s world-famous huge whale sharks.

CRUISE WEST has acquired Yorktown Clipper and Nantucket Clipper from Clipper Cruise Line. Both ships are U.S.-flagged ships and will sail 2006 itineraries of the East Coast, Great Lakes, Caribbean, Alaska, Mexico and Central America. There is a 2-for-1 special for whale-watching in Baja.

CRUISING ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER -- Fantasy Cruises has just announced new 8-day cruises on the Columbia River. Cruises will be one way between Astoria, Oregon and Lewiston, Idaho with daylight travel only.  Super value departure April 11 goes from Lewiston westbound for $1,699 per person double occupancy, including port fees. Fantasy features Princess Lousia fjord in British Columbia during summer. 

DOGS -- Most ships will not accept pets no matter how you plead. But Queen Mary 2 is now allowing cats and dogs and offering amenities such as biscuits at turn-down, toys, a choice of blankets, and even a QM2-logoed coat. There are 12 kennels and a Kennel Master takes care of   feeding and walking and cleaning. The kennels and adjacent walking areas are open throughout the day, enabling guests to spend time with their pet.

FILM FESTIVAL AND GRAND PRIX -- Partake in the glamour of the Cannes Film Festival and Monaco Grand Prix race during the Wind Surf 14-day Grand Prix cruise. Guests will overnight in Cannes during the Film Festival and spend two nights in Monaco during the Formula One Grand Prix race.  Other ports visited include St. Tropez, St. Florent, Ponza, Amalfi, Sorrento, Portovenere and Portofino. In Monte Carlo, a private dinner will be held at the Monaco Private Car Collection Museum of the late H.S.H. Prince Rainier III and guests will have track-side reserved seats at time trials and the final Grand Prix race.

NASCAR CRUISE -- Carnival has scheduled a Rusty Wallace Cruise on the Carnival Pride in December roundtrip from Long Beach, California to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. Several racing-themed contests and giveaways will be held throughout the voyage.

SILVERSEA CRUISES -- For 2006, Silversea will again offer its Silver Links365 golf program. On every day of every voyage, guests aboard Silver Shadow and Silver Whisper have the opportunity to improve their game with instruction by onboard golf professionals, then go on golfing excursions to some of the world's most well-known courses, including such courses as Fairmont Princess Golf Course on Acapulco's Revocadero Beach, Shanghai's Silport Golf Club, and Zeebrugge's Royal Zoute Golf Club. Their world cruise will depart in January from Fort Lauderdale and will cross three oceans, seven seas and six continents, visit 61 ports, and end in New York City in May.

Norwegian Coastal Voyage will have a 9-day theme cruise from Bergen on the life and music of composer Edvard Grieg on April 30 and August 29, at $1,738 to $4,576, on the 674-berth Trollfjord. 
 

Peter Deilmann Cruises is expanding its European garden theme cruises this year on its river ships sailing the Danube, Dutch and Belgian Canals, Seine, Rhone and Elbe rivers and on the ocean liner Deutschland sailings on Atlantic, Mediterranean and Baltic seas. They also are offering golf cruises this year on both its European river cruises and ocean sailings on the Mediterranean, Atlantic, Baltic and around the British Isles. Deilmann also has classical music cruises with stops in Vienna and a post-cruise package to Salzburg, birthplace of Mozart, for the 250^th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

Three Carnival ships currently under charter to the U.S. government for hurricane relief efforts will resume their previously operated schedules in 2006. Holiday resumes four-and five-day cruises from Mobile, Sensation from New Orleans, and Ecstasy from Galveston.

Delta Queen Steamboat Company -- Delta Queen and Mississippi Queen return to service in April. The first cruise is a 7-night cruise aboard the Delta Queen from Baton Rouge April 21 to Memphis. Mississippi Queen begins April 23 with a 7-night Memphis roundtrip "Quilting on the River" cruise that spends three days docked at the annual Quilting Convention in Paducah, Kentucky. Several cruises will explore Civil War battlefields and lecturers on Civil War topics. While aboard, passengers will also enjoy the music of the Civil War.

Papua New Guinea in September the Sepik Spirit will be conducting two four night exploratory cruises into the middle and upper Sepik River, a region that is rarely visited by outsiders. The boat has a shallow draft that allows it to travel to remote corners of the Sepik River and its tributaries with day excursions to remote villages and close contact with villagers.

Quark Expeditions will circumnavigate Baffin Island in August with an Inuit art expert on board who will accompany passengers to various artists’ cooperatives in the Arctic region. The trip is on the 108-passenger Kapitan Khlebnikov, which has onboard helicopters, starts at $10,995 for 15 days.

Lindblad Expeditions returns to the South Pacific this year with National Geographic Endeavour. Guests will travel to the Cook Islands, Tahiti, Fiji, Easter Island and Papua New Guinea. Geneticist Spencer Wells will share his work as director of National Geographic's Genographic Project to map the journey of humans as they populated the planet. Passengers on the July 24 and 30 cruises will participate by submitting cheek swab samples prior to traveling and learning about their individual migratory histories.

Discovery World Cruises is offering 2-for-1savings and free air on a 23-night cruise-tour departing May 13 from Nassau to the Azores and Norway, disembarking in Harwich for an included two-night hotel stay in London

International Expeditions -- Photographer Michael Fairchild will lead a 10-day photo journey in April to the Amazon. You can join him and other fellow photographers each day to photograph the wildlife, people and landscapes, then on board gather for discussions on 35 mm and digital photography and photo editing.

Radisson Seven Seas Cruises -- Seven Seas Mariner transits the Panama Canal on a 15-night cruise with 2-for-1 fares from Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco departing April 3. On May 14 it sails from San Francisco to Vancouver on a 10-night Pacific Coast voyage cruising the Inside Passage and calling at Victoria, Prince Rupert, Skagway, Juneau and Sitka with a 2-for-1 savings and featuring photography workshops and Le Cordon Bleu cooking workshops.

SILVERSEA SPECIAL OFFERS -- Silversea Cruises has several 30-50% off voyages: an April 14-day repositioning voyage from Barbados to Lisbon with calls in St. Lucia, Antigua, Portugal and Spain, starting at $3,348 per person. Other special offers are on cruises from Athens to Barcelona with calls in Libya and Tunisia, from Copenhagen to London, from Los Angeles to Miami, and from Hong Kong to Bangkok with calls in Danang, Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City,

SOUTH PACIFIC AND ASIA -- Cruise West will go to remote spots in the Pacific and to Japan in 2006, including a series of 12- to 19-day voyages with stops in Kiribati, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuamotu islands and the Marquesas. In Japan there are 14- to 17-day cruises along the coastline with stops in Miyajima, Takamatsu, Taisha and Hagi and in Pusan/Kyongju, South Korea.  

GALAPAGOS FAMILY TRIPS --Eclipse has family departures to take advantage of spring break and summer holidays. There is a 30% discount for children under 12 on all cruises year-round whether the children share a cabin with a parent or have their own cabin. Family cruises are scheduled in April, June and December.

RIVERBARGE -- If you are looking for a family vacation, River Explorer allows children age 12 or younger to cruise free when staying in the same stateroom as their parents or grandparents; those under age 18 are half price. Teachers and retired teachers are half price when traveling with a full fare companion.

Note that fares quoted come from the cruise companies and are for limited times and certain dates.

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