The rest of Q&A

Q – We are members of Marriott’s Vacation Club and we are thinking of going to Italy with them. They use a company called Collette Vacations and we’ve been trying to find ratings of the company. Any advice would be appreciated.

A – Collette Vacations is a highly reputable company that is family-owned and has been in business for ninety-three years. They are based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The company operated it’s first tour in 1918, a three-week trip from Boston to Florida that was sold for $61.50 per person. Collette is very much mass market, offering affordable tours in the low middle range. They are extremely active in the “clubs” and “organizations” market where they set up complete travel programs in coutnries around the globe. If you are upscale travelers you may well be disappointed at the choice of hotels and the travel backgrounds of your fellow travelers. If you are seeking good value you can travel with Collette in confidence. The company is so spread out geographically that a downturn in one area of the world, Egypt for example, would not dramatically impact the company’s financial strength. But let’s be honest – Marriott chose them, in part, because of the price.

Q – We are considering joining our church group for a tour our Minister is leading to Egyot and the Holy Land. As part of the trip, we’ll be spending nine nights in Egypt and we’re a little nervous. We’ve never been to Europe or the Middle East so this is kind of a big deal for us. We’re in our thirties and in great shape. It’s more the political situation that causes us, particularly my husband, to be nervous about this. We do need to make a decision as the deposit is due this coming week so a prompt response would be appreciated. Thanking you in advance for all you do. Please do not use my name.

A – As you may have noticed, we protect the names of anyone who participates in our Q and A. The fact is that no one knows what the political situation will be in Egypt in six months. You have already failed our “Anxiety Meter” test and, on that basis alone, we would suggest you not do the trip. There are lots of places you can go to do humanitarian work or practice the involvement of you faith without placing yourself in an uncomfortable situation.

In the most recent parliamentary elections, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has made some significant gains.  No one in Egypt is expecting the strict enforcement of Muslim Law but there are political figures who are gaining favor in Egypt who believe that bikinis, alcohol, and anything else that smacks of vice, should be eliminated. The up side is that one out of every eight jobs in Egypt is tourism-related so we really think there will be a compromise as it affects rules governing tourist behavior. Tour groups are entering the country at the moment but we are wondering how experienced your Minister is at handling emergencies in the far corners of the world. Who, we wonder, is actually operating the tour and how tuned in are they to local disturbances on the ground? We do encourage the non-timid to continue travel to Egypt but only if they are aware of potential difficulties and only if they are being looked after by the best possible ground staff. Church groups, sorry, have a dismal track record when it comes to intelligent selection of on-site affiliates, and often choose tour operators based solely on cost.

Q – Cool site but we I wish you could tell us where we can find you on Facebook. We’ve tried several searches and we can’t seem to find anything.

A – Well first you have to sign in to Facebook. Then put our name, Churchill and Turen Ltd., or our web site name, www.traveltruth.com in the space before the slashmark. Then search. You will, of course, discover that we are not there. It isn’t so much the privacy issues, although they are rather serious, it isn’t so much that we are against enriching Mark Zuckerberg even further so he has a nice little nest egg for his digital retirement, it isn’t that we are afraid we would attract new “friends”, even though they are not really friends because our friends have to do more than click a finger on the word “like”. No, we’re not on Facebook because we think most of what we see there is  silly and juvenile and, largely, a form of social masturbation.

You will note that we have Facebook links and you can push any of our stuff into cyberspace to be read by “friends”. But we like you to push the buttons and initiate the action. We’re too shy to do it ourselves. We’re extremely comfortable just chatting with folks who call us on the telephone or write to us in this space. We don’t need to see your wall, know where you went to high school, or see pictures of what you ate for lunch. We just want to share some of what we think may help you travel more efficiently, more ntelligently, and more safely.

And yes, we do see the hypocrisy of our stance. We know this site is a form of social media. And we may have to go on Facebook at some point if enough of our “fans” insist. But for now, please allow us to stick with “95% of it is just silly.”

Q – My 18 year-old son and I will be spending a week in Lisbon as part of his graduation present. We’re pretty much set but were wondering if you had sources that could direct us toward a shop that sells the best hand-painted tiles in the city. We hear they are beautiful. My son is into photography. We’ll be staying at the Four Seasons and we have sightseeing planned but we were wondering if there is anything like a Photography tour of the city? 

A – There are several excellent tile shops in Lisbon but the best is currently thought to be Fabrica Sant’Anna. We would suggest that you contact the Hotel Concierge, Luis Miguel, and have him set your son up with a motorcycle sidecar photo tour. He should absolutely love it.

Q – I wonder if you can advise me if I can be assured that my new Verizon 4G LTE phone will work on an upcoming trip to Germany and Austria. The salesman in the Verizon store said it would but he was all of eighteen and told me he had never been to Europe.

A – Well he probably has spent virtual time there. Our guess is that you will encounter problems. If you absolutely need to have a phone that works in any particular country, you need to have a local sim card and a phone that connects to the local wireless network. 4G technology is an improvement but the fact is that  a smartphone that is going to work on a 700MHz in this country, will probably not work in Germany which uses a different radio frequency combination. That is the part they don’t normally bother to explain when you are purchasing a smartphone two-year plan. There are going to be tons of roaming issues because carriers in various parts of Europe are using LTE as the next-gen operating system but they have been slow to build the new networks after committing a lot of money to the old 3G system. While 4G LTE is the new standard, there are relatively few networks using the technology that have yet been deployed. Easy roaming in Europe is, we believe, as much as a decade away. Thankfully, there are some immediate alternatives to connectivity including so-called international universal sim card phones, satellite phones, which always work must must be used outdoors to get proper signals, or Skype and other cloud-based technologies. You can get hooked up anywhere with the right equipment. But walking into AT&T or Verizon and plunking down a few hundred dollars for a phone that “easily roams Europe” is putting your faith into a portion of the business world that does has done little to earn your trust.

Q – I just happened upon your site and am so happy that I did …what a concept, telling the truth! My husband and I love to travel and will be taking a first cruise on Sea Dream 1 in November. The reviews I have read on those “other” sites (before I found yours, of course) are mostly positive but now that I have found you, I would love to have some honest feedback. How would you compare Sea Dream to Regent, which we have traveled on several times. Keep up the great work! This will now be added to my “favorites” and I will be checking back on a daily basis.

A – Well please don’t come back daily – that would make us work even longer hours  than we are at the moment. Sea Dream’s two old yachts, let’s be honest, that’s what they are, will not make a great first impression. Sea Dream 1 carries just 100 guests. It is extremely laid back even compared to the comparatively low key Regent experience. The Sea Dream cabins are bound to disappoint., They are smallish and the bathrooms are, shall we say, more “yacht-like” than you may be expecting. The Regent ships, by comparison, offer the largest standard cabins in the luxury category and the two larger ships int he fleet carry 700 guests. So you will be traveling with 700 fewer people with fewer facilities on an older ship with smaller than normal size cabins.

But here’s the thing. We love Sea Dream and so will you if you just make a little extra effort to get your hands around the concept. Sea Dream is not meant to compete with lines like Crystal, Silverseas, or Regent. It is in a class totally by itself. The old Sea Goddess line ships are really yachts and about 70% of the on board guests either own their own boats or have rich friends who do. The food on Sea Dream is as good as the food on Regent although less formal. On Regent ships there is a restaurant called Signatures that is actually operated by Le Cordon Bleu. But although they do not advertise it, we have found French chefs in the dining room on our last three Sea Dream yachts. On Flyachtsigns.com will help you create that outstanding first impression with the unique visually enhancing boat, yacht lettering and signage. The difference is that on Sea Dream you may very well be dining outside under the stars on a lovely starlit evening. The service on Sea Dream is better and more personalized. The lecture programs, on board dining options, floating bars with Amber glass dispensers casino facilities on Regent, and the luxurious accommodations are all superior to what you will find on Sea Dream. But the staff will know your name on Sea Dream by the second day and the chef will prepare virtually anything you would like if you ask him nicely.

Many of the under 1,000 guest five-star lines advertise that they “go to ports that the big ships can;t reach”. The truth is that, for the most part, they don’t. The ports are very much same old with the exception of certain ports in southern Italy and the Greek islands. But Sea Dream really does do exquisite itineraries. Their port selection is nearly always superior to their larger sisters in the luxury category.

It looks as though you will be sailing out of Barbados. We hope it is toward the latter part of the month. So no cocktail dresses, no ties, and prepare to enjoy the elegantly casual yachting lifestyle with minimal expectations on the size of your cabin. In the right set of circumstances, Sea Dream is one of our most treasured cruising experiences. We hope you feel the same. We trust these positive comments do not make you suspect we are loosing our credibility.

Q – We’re in our late fifties, still quite active, and we travel from our home in Southern California about three times a year. We’ll spend somewhere between $15,000 – $20,000 on average per trip. Our problem is that we’ve done most of the destinations that our travel agent has been to and we are looking for something in, say, Africa that is really different. I own my own company and I can get away for up to three weeks at a time. We love seeing authentic peoples and we love to line our walls with blow-up prints of our travels. In fact we actually have a room thst is a complete travel photo gsllery. My agent suggested we visit traveltruth and I wonder if anything comes to mind that might be different than South Africa, done two safaris, or Kenya and Tanzania, where we’ve been before?

A – The good news is that you will never be able to visit the places you should see in your lifetime. Exciting, off-the-tourist-track destinations exist all over the world. There is just no justification for boredom. We are seriously thinking about getting a hotel room near Dupont Circle in Washington D.C. during Election Weekend, just to watch the anxiety on the faces of the locals as America votes. But that is not what we will recommend to you.

Look into a new, and fascinating discovery tour called “The Great Empires of West Africa” operated by luxury tour operator Travcoa. This 19-Day tour includes Bamako, Timbuktu, Mopti, Dogon Country, Kumasi, the Cape Coast, Accra, Lome, Ouidah and Cotonou. You can see a rare presentation of the Dogon Mask Dance and watch a war dance performed for the King ofr Abomey in his palace. If you think the shopping is good on Melrose Avenue, try walking the voodoo market in Benin.  There are opportunities to dine in the homes of locals and you will get to ride across Saharan sand dunes on a camel en route to meet the Tuareg, the nomadic “blue men” of the desert. Have you done all of those already?

Q – Wow, fascinating site with great information. Yesterday, we received a mailer from Tauck Tours, a firm that does quite well in your ratings, that was announcing a new air deal to Europe. If we are reading it right, and my bifocals are not failing me, Tauck will fly us up and back to Europe from Cleveland for $1290 per person and $3290 if we want to spring for business class. I’ve checked, and when you add in the taxes and the transfers, the air deal would seem to be saving me a lot of money. Are there restrictions and are we missing something here. Keep upo the good work.

A – Congratulations. You’ve actually found one of the few legitimate deals from a top quality supplier. It should save you in the neighborhood of $1,000 in total. There are only a few restrictions. You have to travel between March 1st and August 31st this year on any of Tauck’s many programs within Europe. You have to book the package this month (February) Finally, you have to fly out of a major gateway city. Cleveland certainly qualifies. This deal can be used in conjunction wioth Tauck’s land tours as well as the company’s highly rated River Boat programs. Generally speaking, you will find that Tour Operators are much more honest in their advertising claims than cruise lines. “Free Cruise Air” is just one example.

Q – After spending two weekends reading everything on this site, (it goes nicely with Red Bull), we thought we would ask about the 100th Anniversary of the Titanic Cruise sailing out of New York on April 10th. Is this thing legitimate? Do we have to worry about the Captain. I’ve never heard of Azamara and we are justifiably nervous but also fascinated. Is this a scam? Is it safe?

A – Yee of  little faith. You must be a follower of  Geraldo Rivera. Azamara is a newly-named cruise line that uses mid-size ships that were originally built by the, now defunct, Renaissance Cruises. We rate Azamara at 4.5 Stars and it delivers a high level of personal service, excellent food, and some rather port-intensive itineraries. The line’s President, Larry Pimenthal, is someone we admire a great deal. He was formally CEO of Seabourn and Sea Dream. You would be in safe, caring hands.

The ships sails round-trip out of New York on April 10th, returning on the 18th. At 2:20 am. on April 15th, passengers on the Titanic Memorial cruise will be in the exact location where the Titanic hit an iceberg one hundred years earlier.

The cruise has been chartered and designed by a British Travel Agency named Miles Morgan. The only port is Halifax and you should consider that the Atlantic, as we have all come to know, can be rough in April. Other than a potentially bumpy ride, we see no reason not to join this historic journey.  Azamara has made the cut as one of the “World’s Top Ten Cruise Lines”.

Q – Do you know of any cruise line that  likes to cook and serve organic food.?

A – Well we can’t imagine any cruise line would actually “enjoy” serving organic food given the cost. But cruise line marketing people understand that this segment of the market is growing and virtually every upscale cruise line now offers spa menus and a selection of some organic dishes. The next step, and plans are already underway, involves the opening of an actual alternative health food restaurant aboard ship. Oceania and Regent Seven Seas currently offer selections from Canyon Ranch Spa. One of the biggest misconceptions about cruising is that you are going to be fat and lazy for a week while lined up at the lunchtime buffet. In fact, the perpetually lazy tend to favor all-inclusive resorts. There is just too much walking about a ship and required mobility for full days in port to make a cruise attractive to couch potatoes. But sitting near a swimming pool or beach in a lounge chair just minutes from the all-you-can-eat buffet, now that’s resort living at its finest.

Generally speaking, the tirelessly healthy are quite pleased with the amount and variety of fruits and vegetables available on the Top Ten Cruise Lines. If there is any criticism of current cruise line menus, it seems to center around the paucity of fresh fish.