Leaving normal
Escape to offbeat ports with non- traditional cruises
This week, I went looking for cruises that are out of the norm. By “the norm,” I mean the traditional cruises … transatlantic crossings, Alaska, Caribbean, Mexico, Mediterranean. Mostly, the ones where you click on the destination and find a series of the same cruises from a variety of cruise lines.
Where possible, I was looking for value but I didn’t let that stand in the way of an interesting trip.
There are four of them, and the first is an opportunity to combine three cruises in one, which makes it unique.
The Carnival Splendor is leaving its current home port of Los Angeles for a new permanent home in New York on Feb. 3, and there’s a problem. The Splendor is too big to fit in the Panama Canal. That means it has to make a long cruise around the tip of South America: Los Angeles to Valparaíso ( Santiago), Valparaíso to Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires to New York — for passengers, that’s a chance to savour a multitude of countries and cultures.
Leg one from L. A. to Santiago takes you down the Mexican Coast to Ecuador, Peru and into Chile with six port stops.
The next leg is more the traditional South American cruise — Valparaíso to Buenos Aires, with ports like Punta Arenas and Ushuaia, around Cape Horn and north to Puerto Madryn and Montevideo.
The final cruise leg provides an opportunity to visit Rio de Janeiro and two more Brazilian ports before heading for Barbados and Grand Turk on the way to New York.
In total, that’s 48 in days and $ 3,357, or about $ 70 a day. For that, go to Carnival. com, but for all the cruises in this column, just go online to the cruise line’s website or check with a travel agent who specializes in cruising.
Do you like to gaze out at the ocean all day? Here’s your chance. More than half the days of the 22 on Holland America’s Oosterdam — from Vancouver to Sydney, Australia — are at sea. The compensation comes in the price. A balcony cabin for this cruise is more than $ 100 a day.
The cruise leaves Oct. 1, and includes two stops in Hawaii, a call in Tonga, Samoa, and two in New Caledonia ( HollandAmerica. com).
If you’ve had a desire to visit the United Arab Emirates and Dubai, you can make part of your journey through the Suez Canal on a cruise ship. Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas is repositioning from Barcelona to Dubai on a 14- day cruise departing Jan. 14, 2013. There’s an overnight in Alexandria before entering the Suez Canal with further port calls in Safaga and Muscat. With a starting price at $ 55 a day ($ 769), this looks attractive, but airfare will probably triple or quadruple that. ( RoyalCaribbean. com)
Finally … stamina and a healthy bank account will be required for this 30- day cruise on Holland America’s intimate 800- passenger ship Prinsendam. It sails from Barcelona to Rome and is port heavy, with only six days at sea.
Because of its smaller size, the Prinsendam will visit many ports larger ships are unable to reach. Seven of them are in Italy, five in Greece, three in Turkey, two each in Israel and Egypt — and Montenegro and Croatia are also on the itinerary. Starting price is just over $ 6,000. ( HollandAmerica. com)
As cruises go, these four are definitely out of the norm.
All prices shown were available at time of writing and do not include taxes, fees and gratuities.