Cruising Alaska by Ferry by Mike Miller

Here’s an all-Alaskan suggestion for cruisers who would like to:

• travel at their own pace;

• choose their own ports-of-call;

• lay over in any port for as many days as they desire;

• share their travel with Alaskan locals;

• have the option to bring along the family RV or auto; and

• cruise to Alaska one way and drive home by highway.

If this sounds good to you, Alaska’s state-owned ferries may be just the ticket for one of life’s most memorable cruise vacations. The Alaska Marine Highway System, as it is called, is composed of 11 modern ferryliners, all with motor vehicle decks, observation lounges, and food service. Most have cabins and cocktail bars.

The ferries cruise Southeast Alaska’s protected Inside Passage waterways in a region speckled with more than a thousand big and tiny islands, alpine and sea-level glaciers, imposing snow-capped mountains, lush forests, and picturesque towns and villages. They serve, as well, the glacier-rich waters of southcentral Alaska’s Prince William Sound.

Passengers with or without vehicles may embark from Bellingham, Washington for Alaska’s southernmost port, Ketchikan, or they can embark from Canada’s Prince Rupert, which is British Columbia’s northernmost port community. (Motorists can reach Prince Rupert via BC’s modern highway network or by BC Ferries; see below.) Once they arrive in Southeast Alaska passengers can lay over along the way as long as they wish in the panhandle’s major port cities — Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Sitka, Juneau, Haines and Skagway– or they can connect via smaller off-line ferries to more remote towns and villages.

Larger stateroom-equipped vessels of the fleet are the Columbia (931 passengers), Matanuska (745), Malaspina (701), Taku (370), and Kennicott (748) — all of which serve the Southeast Alaska panhandle. Depending on the season, one or two ships extend their range on weekly schedules to/from Bellingham. The others turn around at Prince Rupert.

The Kennicott connects Southeast port cities to Southcentral Alaska destinations Cordova, Valdez, and Whittier via the Gulf of Alaska and Prince William Sound. The 220-passenger Tustumena, another stateroom-equipped ferry, sails regularly from ports on the Kenai Peninsula to Kodiak and (less frequently) westward along the Aleutian Islands chain as far as Unalaska Dutch Harbor.

Smaller ships, operating “bush” routes from mainline ports to smaller towns and villages are Aurora (300), LeConte (300), and Lituya (149). Newest additions to the AMHS fleet are the Juneau-based sleek catamaran Fairweather (250) and a similar sized double-hulled sister ship, Chenega.

Here’s another option: If you want to mix a little “foreign” travel into your plans you can book passage from highway-accessible Port Hardy on the northern end of British Columbia’s Vancouver Island and sail BC Ferries’ Queen of the North to Prince Rupert. More information and schedules at http://www.bcferries.com.

Family Travel by Ferry

If you’re interested in taking the whole family on a cruise through Inside Passage waters, the Alaska Marine Highway System is made-to-order. Depending on which vessel you’re aboard youngsters will find onboard play areas, casual meals and snack bars for any age, movies, and nature talks by U.S. Forest Service naturalists plus expansive glass-enclosed solariums. These are ideal for spotting orcas (killer whales), humpback whales, playful porpoises and sea lions in the water plus mountain goats on towering cliffsides. The fortunate observer may well observe black and brown (grizzly) bears on passing beaches. Everywhere you’ll see soaring eagles.

British Columbia’s provincial ferry system, BC Ferries, demonstrates its kid-friendliness even before a family boards ship. Computer-savvy children or their parents have only to surf the web to http://www.bcferries.bc.ca/kidzone/establishing_shot.html and they will meet cartoon characters Samantha (”Call me Sam”) and Cal, two seagoing canine characters who introduce young viewers to three online activities - an electronic coloring book, a “Match the Ferries” memory game, and a virtual bridge tour.

Alaska ferry schedules are posted at the system’s website (www.FerryAlaska.com). Printed schedules may be ordered from the website or by phone at the Reservations office 1-800-642-0066. Fares and schedules are posted on the internet and are usually available in mid-December of each year.

For a more comprehensive look at cruising by ferry in Alaska, plus information about all the cruiselines and cruiseships scheduled for the Alaska trade during 2006, visit www.AlaskaCruisingReport.com.

# # #

Copyright (c) Mike Miller 2006 - All rights reserved

Posted by RJ in Articles on March 29th, 2006 | No Comments

Five Family Friendly Vacations Ideas and How To Make Them Affordable by Patricia Kopp

Does the cost of travel have you wondering whether or not you can afford to take your family on a vacation this year? Your much needed and well deserved vacation should be a priority in your life and we are providing ways to make your family vacation time more affordable and more enjoyable.

1. Kids and Cruises –Traveling by ship is a way for families to visit several places on one trip without constantly having to pack and unpack which is a big benefit for parents with young children. Additionally most cruise lines offer children’s programs and kids will love the freedom of life on board a cruise ship.

Way to save on cruising: Travel agents specializing in cruises and businesses that book blocks of cabins can offer quite a savings on rooms. Cruising prices are also dependent upon the season you choose to cruise. Look for off season specials or cruises that include airfare as part of the deal. Many of the cruise lines offer a kid sail free program.

2. All Inclusive Packages – Look for family friendly locations. Family package destinations will offer activities for both parents and children. Entertainment for everyone plus food, drink and activities are all in one place.

Ways to save on packages: Mid week departure and arrivals will save you money on airfare. Also schedule your travels for off season.

3. Renting a House – Renting a house for your family vacation in the location you want to visit will provide the benefits of learning the local culture plus you get more for your vacation dollar. You can experience life with all its local flavors. If find out all the info about a location before the trip you will experience all the fun and excitement and not miss anything once you get there

Ways to save on rentals: The internet offers huge resources for finding a rental in the location you prefer. Local newspapers for the areas which are often published on line can help you find a great deal also. Look for coupons to save money on food and activities. It’s a great money-saving idea to split the cost of the house rental with another family whether it be family or friends.

4. Adventure Packages – Adventure vacations are designed to teach basic skills and how to respect the environment. Whether you choose white water rafting or hiking in the wilderness, your family’s safety will be a top priority with your nature guide. Most of the time all equipment is provided and often will include all meals for the day.

Ways to save on adventure trips: Book your trip with an adventure travel specialist. You will be sure to get the best price with the most features.

5. Camping Vacations – Outdoor vacations such as camping provide families ways to work together and play together. Campgrounds normally offer plenty of activities to keep children entertained. Camping can be either in a tent or many places even offer cabins. Additionally you can rent an RV to experience RV camping.

Ways to save on camping: Many national campground locations offer membership cards that offer benefits to its regular campers. Cooking your food at camp rather than eating out will help you save money.

Wherever you decide on the family vacation, whether it’s an airline ticket or a hotel room, never take the first price your quoted. Always attempt to negotiate for a better price. Ask about any available discounts. Be a flexible traveler. If you’re willing to give up your seats on a flight for someone flying standby, you’ll be rewarded with free tickets. Set aside the dates you want to travel and then watch for last minute deals. When on vacation skip the souvenirs and start a postcard or refrigerator magnet collection. If you plan properly you can be assured of your family having a fun and affordable family vacation.

Posted by RJ in Articles on March 29th, 2006 | No Comments

About six or eight years ago, my wife and I were visiting my father in Pahrump Nevada. We stayed there for a couple days, and then headed off towards Auburn California to visit an old friend of my wife’s family. I had brought my laptop with me, along with Delorme Street Atlas, and Delorme Map-N-Go. I used the program to find directions from Pahrump, to Auburn. I showed them to my dad, and he was curious about the route. He wasn’t aware of one of the road that Delorme had routed us on. He pulled out a paper map, and it showed the road as a dirt road. I told him that I doubted that Map-N-Go would route us on a dirt road.
Well, we got on our way in our economy rental car. As we neared the mystery road, I was coming into a little town, the speed limit dropped from 70 to 50 to 40 to 30, in a very short space. Next thing I know is I am getting pulled over by a cop. Great! A speed trap! The cop pointed out it was a construction zone, and a school zone, etc, etc. Fortunatly, the cop gave me a ticket for ONLY $65. After he gave me the ticket, I decided to ask him about the road. He looked at my map, and said he wouldn’t take that road unless he had a 4 wheel drive vehicle. I thanked him. When we got to where the road should be, we saw it was paved, and an 18 wheeler was coming out of it. We weren’t 100% positive this was the road, because I didn’t have a GPS yet. But going by distances from the last turn, it was in the right place. We decided to try it. The road was a good road, and it was paved. NOthing to worry about. We would be on the road for about 70 miles. About 10 miles in, the paved road, turned to a gravel road. But it was nice gravel road. It was wide, flat, and smooth, and seemed to be well maintained. Well…okay. We just would go a little slower. It would be better than backtracking, and going all the way around which would add about 3-4 hours to our drive. We decided to keep going. The road stayed nice for a while, but then a few potholes started appearing here and there. Not a big deal. Interestingly, we saw no other cars or even trucks at all. After a while, the road got narrower. We were starting to get a little nervous. The road became a little hillier. After a while, the road turned into a power line road, and we kep going. It was kind of funny that we saw little side roads connecting to the road we were on, and they had stop signs. Stop signs? Stop for what? There was nobody out here, and it’s not like you couldn’t see someone coming from a long ways away. As we were getting close to the other side, we passed some sort of a park, or scenic area. It was only then did we pass a couple cars coming the other direction. We then finally made it out the other side. It was an interesting adventure. Would I do again? Probably. But I would now have a GPS with me, so I would KNOW where we at.

Posted by RJ in Travel on March 28th, 2006 | No Comments

Hidden Mickeys by Craig Shipman

What do you mean hidden Mickey’s, how can a six-foot tall mouse be hidden?

Well, as if Walt Disney and his imaginers didn’t give us enough to look at when we visit their wonderful parks, they also had a little inside joke running.

Hidden Mickey’s were always meant to be just that, hidden. They were originally placed in certain attractions by the imaginers so they could show their friends and family that they actually did work on that attraction, it became their little secret, a kind of signature only to shared with a select few. But now the secret is out.

Still baffled as to what a Hidden Mickey is?

Firstly, to make things a little more interesting, there are two main types of Hidden Mickey’s. The first type, and the original, is the most obvious, and consists of three circles, one large circle with two smaller circles placed above and to either side of the larger circle to give the famous Mickey Mouse silhouette. The second type of Hidden Mickey is sometimes slightly harder to see, taking the form of a side profile of the great Mouse, thing side profile of Hitchcock at the start of his movies and you will get the idea.

So where are these Hidden Mickey’s?

Well this is the fun part. You have to find them yourself. If you have never visited any of the Disney parks then we are sure that when you do make your first trip the last thing you will be thinking about is Hidden Mickey’s, but, if like us you have visited several times, you can consider the Hidden Mickey’s as a new challenge, something else to do other than standing in line for Test Track (by the way, we know of at least two Hidden Mickey’s in the queue area for Test Track!).

There are books out there to help you, all unofficial of course, and we are sure that you have seen people running around with the books, or looking behind them on an attraction instead of straight ahead like everyone else, well these people are probably looking for a Hidden Mickey, it might even be us. Some people dedicate an entire visit to the parks just to looking for Hidden Mickey’s. It is great fun!!

Want to know where to start?

Well first of all, if it isn’t hidden then it isn’t a Hidden Mickey, for example Mickey shaped ice cream cookies are not Hidden Mickey’s. And not every set of three round objects are Hidden Mickey’s, like oranges in a fruit bowl, they are just oranges. Also, if it is very obscure, such that you need to tilt your head to one side and squint with both eyes to see it, then it’s not a Hidden Mickey.

I will give you one to get you started. In Walt Disney Worlds magic Kingdom, on the Haunted Mansion, as you are passing through the ballroom scene with all the ghosts, take a look at the big table. Pay special attention to the place setting on the far left bottom corner. You will see that two saucers have been placed along with a dinner plate to form a great Hidden Mickey silhouette. Have a look the next time you are there. Although this is not an official Disney Imaginer Hidden Mickey, the cast members working Haunted Mansion reproduce it when the Imaginers reset the attraction.

Don’t forget that Hidden Mickey’s can take any form. Another quick example would be at Disney/MGM Studios, in the Tower of Terror. Watch the video with the family closely and you will see that the small girl is carrying a plush Mickey Mouse.

Have a look next time you are in the parks, or if you see someone looking behind them on an attraction, ask them if it’s a Hidden Mickey, they will love to share it, and that’s what Disney is all about, having fun.

About The Author

Craig Shipman

Together with my wife, we own and operate www.TheBigCondoList.com and www.TheBigVillaList.com both sites specialising in vacation home rentals in the Disney area of Orlando, Florida. Having been visiting Orlando for over eight years we have visited many interesting places and picked up a few hints and tips along the way, which we are happy to share in our forum www.ForumOrlando.com where you will also find monthly Hidden Mickey competitions.

Reprinted from ArticleCity.com

Posted by RJ in Articles on March 28th, 2006 | No Comments

Getting A Job As A Crew Member On A Luxury Mega-Yacht by Matt Canham

Larry Ellison, Paul Allen and Tiger Woods all have them.

I’m talking about mega-yachts - privately owned floating palaces. In case you aren’t already aware, a mega-yacht is any motor or sail powered yacht over 24m in length. They have award winning interiors, the very best navigation equipment available and a permanent compliment of crew who live on board and travel with the yacht where ever it goes.

And the jobs are open to anyone.

The crews are comprised mostly of Australians, Kiwis, South Africans, Canadians, Europeans, South Americans and the odd US citizen. The industry is dominated by hard working travelers, eager for tax free US dollars and the lifestyle.

The lifestyle of being a ‘yachtie’ and chasing the sun is very hard to beat. Being surrounded by opulence is a lot of fun, not to mention berthing downtown at some of the finest cities in the world.

Most of the work is spent keeping the yacht looking pristine and when the guests are aboard, long hours ensue, but here are some of the benefits:

* Great tax free salary * All expenses paid including free food, wine, beer * At least one paid trip home each year * Travel to some of the best places on earth * Meeting VIPs, Captains of industry and celebrity types * Use of the tenders and jet skis

Most of the yachts will move between the US, the Med and the Caribbean, but 99% of them are registered in offshore tax havens such as the Cayman Islands. This allows people of all nationalities to work on yachts located in the US or anywhere else in the world for that matter. The yachts themselves tend to travel together and frequent the best parts of the world at the best times to be there.

The real work only exists when the owners and guests are on board and then it is all about service. The yachts are used exclusively by the owner or chartered out. The number of guests will vary, but it is not uncommon for the owners and several guests to be on board at the same time.

Below are some brief descriptions of jobs available on mega-yachts:

Captain - responsible for the running of the yacht and yearly running budget Mate - link between captain and crew members from all departments Bosun - responsible for deck staff Deckhand - responsible for upkeep of yacht.

Engineer - reports directly to the Captain. Responsible for the myriad systems on board the yacht 2nd Engineer - assists the engineer with engineering tasks and keeping the engine room immaculate.

Head Chef - works with owners/Captain to set menus Assistant Chef - assists the Head Chef as required.

Chief Stewardess - responsible for entire interior and uniforms for all crew. Like a cruise director in many ways Stewardess - responsible for keeping interior looking immaculate.

The smallest yachts will have 3 or 4 multi-tasking crew members while the largest have over 50. On some occasions, staff will assist the other departments.

Even though the Yachts are mostly registered in offshore tax havens, as vessels, they still need to comply with the standards set down by the MCA (Maritime and Coast Guard agency - UK).

One of the recent changes is the requirement for all crew members to be STCW95 certified. This course covers survival at sea, fire fighting, first aid and occupational health and safety. Most yachts will require crew members to already have this, although there are still some yachts that will pay for their crew to complete the course.

A word on pay.

Crew on privately owned yachts receive straight salary, but crew on charter yachts - which cost anywhere from $50,000 and up per week to charter - offer tips as well. Usually 10-15% of the total cost, they are usually divided amongst the crew. Charter yachts are hard work, but the money to be made is exceptional.

For the itinerant, hard working traveler, mega-yachts offer a very lucrative way to live in luxury and see the world. As more and more people become wealthy and get into the mega-yacht industry, the demand for crew members will only increase.

Do you want to be out there with them?

Copyright 2006 Matt Canham

About The Author

Matt Canham has worked on mega-yachts in Seattle, San Diego and Ft Lauderdale. He has a resource site at: http://mega-yacht-jobs.marinerblue.com.

Reprinted from ArticleCity.com

Posted by RJ in Articles on March 28th, 2006 | 2 Comments