25 June 2019

The Panama Canal was on my bucket list for years and last April I was lucky to set sail from San Diego en route to New York on Crystal Symphony via the canal. What truly impressed me was that the French started building the canal way back in late 1800s but failed miserably due to disease such as yellow fever and poor planning. The Americans came along in 1906 and for the first 2 years cleared the countryside surrounding the water to eradicate yellow fever and other jungle diseases and then the work started. It was decided that the canal would have locks at both ends and Lake Gatun in the middle would be some 50 feet above the oceans on either side - Atlantic and Pacific. The work took 10 years and to my wonderment the original locks and their gates are still the original ones. From ocean to ocean it is about 45 miles. There are three locks on either side to raise up the ships from the Pacific side and then lower them at the Atlantic side. An incredible feat of engineering. By using the canal ships can save 2,300 miles by not having to round Cape Horn. As ships have grown larger a new set of lock gates either end were constructed and now are able to accommodate super tankers - in fact super tankers are now built to fit into the new locks. The tariff for the largest container ship can be as high as $1 million! I knew that I would enjoy the day sailing slowly into the three locks and then across the lake to the other side but I simply was in awe of the accomplishment. It will remain as a day to remember and I would highly recommend taking a cruise to see how the system works.

25 June 2019

New York, New York; so good the Frank Sinatra song named it twice. I have been lucky enough to have made dozens of trips the Big Apple over the last 50 years and have seen so many changes. In the 60s you never walked in the city after dark - the doorman at the hotel always steered you into a taxi.Since 9/11 the city has become a safe and fun place to be with little or no crime in Manhattan - that's not to say that you can throw caution to the wind.... Having stayed in many hotels, my favourites are always mid town so you can walk to most of the sites - my favourite being Grand Hyatt Hotel which sits on top of Grand Central Station - a must to visit for it's glorious ceiling. Shopping is my passion - Macy's on 34th and Broadway is 6 floors of goodies - I once spent all day there and had to buy an extra suitcase to cart all the goodies home. There is a plethora of museums - particularly the Metropolitan which houses a great Egyptian exhibition but my favourite has to be the Frick Collection - a relatively small house filled with fabulous art and sculpture and far from being boring. The good thing is it is free to visit on a Sunday. Whatever your taste in food NYC has 24,000 restaurants catering for everyone - do try a trip to either Chinatown or Little Italy. Whenever in New York I try to take the Staten Island ferry, which is free, and it sails very close to the Statue of Liberty. For theatre buffs Broadway offers many shows - some have transferred from London - and on Times Square is a Tickets Booth which sells tickets for 1/2 price.

01 June 2019

I took my first cruise in 1972 and crossed the Atlantic for the first time on the QE2. What an adventure and this whetted my appetite for more sailing around the world. Since then I have been on 23 more! Choosing your cruise line is a minefield with so many ads in papers and magazines plus the TV - the list is endless. My recommendations would be: With children of any age (over 3) Royal Caribbean offers a huge range of activities including rock climbing, water slides, ice skating, great kids’ clubs (my kids spent more time in the clubs than with us!) For the adventurous the Antarctic has become popular, with Hurtigruten having built a ship just for the area. Celebrity is one of my favourites - not as large as some cruise ships with interesting itineraries and tasty food. My all-time favourite must be Crystal Cruises - exceptional in every way - food, décor, less passengers, days at sea...… Do get in touch for lots of options