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Update – January 18, 2018: Hello, fellow Cruise trekkers! I hope this note finds you all very well after the holidays . . . First to a quick business item – our cruise date & ship for our Danube II cruise later this fall is just about totally sold out . . . though we may have an opportunity for a few more cabins . . . just never know, as inventory changes . . . so if you want to join us still . . . always and for sure give us a shout-out as inventory changes all the time. Now reflecting back to our last event – my thanks appreciation again – it was amazing to see how self-reliant and interdependent a group (even family-like) we were . . . from my own viewpoint . . . you guys are incredible . . . and do you remember our Rolf Potts, our guest vagabond from quite a few years ago?? Seemingly we are becoming travelers as such . . . a very cool thing . . . Speaking of adventures, CT 18 is truly a vagabond opportunity to be just that . . . it is an adventure to catch spontaneous sites & experiences for certain, whether they be meals together or meeting locals or being culturally enriched . . . and opportunities to experience so much. Excited to share it all with you once again. Be well and travel safe . . . Charlie Update – November 15, 2017: Hello, Cruise Trek Family! 
The exuberant Cruise Trek Tribe celebrating togetherness, memories and the 50th anniversary in Las Vegas – what a great shot! Hope this communique finds you all very well. A few quick new things to mention for the Cruise Trek 2018 “Danube II – Bucharest to Budapest” adventure. First of all, we extended the Early Booking discount and CT Past Passenger discounts to January 31, 2018, though it is best to book ASAP as some categories are very limited and/or waitlisted only. Another improvement to our program is that we made Trek Shares available in one category higher. That is, the larger outside cabin including both the French Balcony & “Outside” Balcony is now available as a Trek Share as well. This category (and higher) includes a great new feature on newer river cruise ships – two sliding doors and with one that actually has seating on an outside balcony! We highly recommend this higher Trek Share category because of its larger size, especially for those who are not traveling as a couple. It simply makes much more sense for many reasons. Plus, while most of you traveling as Trek Shares have already & smartly requested a Trek Share for hotels, we also now officially offer the hotel packages as Trek Shares. In any case, all this is available to see on the newly updated Booking Form for Cruise Trek 2018 and Cruise Trek 2018 Itinerary. Now to another exciting new cruise opportunity (which may have been influenced by our current “traveling” lives) . . . While we are certainly flying over to Bucharest from LAX (maybe a week prior to our embarkation day), it looks like we will be sailing the repositioning Trans-Atlantic crossing back from Rome, Italy (port is Civitavecchia) to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This cruise will depart October 28, 2018, and arrive back in Florida on November 11, 2018. Besides sailing from Rome, we will have stops in Spain (Alicante, Malaga, Cadiz/Seville) and Portugal (Funchal/Madeira). So, our current plan is to fly from Budapest to Rome on October 27, have an Italian dinner, do an evening sight-see or walk about, & overnight in Rome – then sail the next evening from the port of Rome/Civitavecchia. (subject to change per flight availability).
~ Pre-Cruise – Optional ~
October 17 to 20, 2018 City tours in Bucharest and Brasov CT Family Cocktail Party Tour Peles Castle Tour Dracula’s Castle ~ Post-Cruise – Optional ~ October 27 to 29, 2018 Budapest and/or Vienna City tours of Budapest and/or Vienna ~ Trans-Atlantic Cruise – Optional ~ October 28 to November 11, 2018 Rome, Italy, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida 3 Spanish ports 1 Portuguese port Do you remember how enjoyable the days at sea were on the crossing to Hawaii? This adventure is just as lovely and relaxing, if not more so. We did this itinerary just this last Spring on an amazing newer ship and enjoyed it so much that we definitely want to do it all over again – and on the same ship!! For those of you on the post packages, you could even join the ship in Alicante, Spain, if need be. Sure a little more complicated but also doable. So, would you like to join us on the Trans-Atlantic add-on adventure – by itself or do both???? Either or is possible!! And one never knows who will join us for the Trans-Atlantic!!?? Really relaxed and enjoyable . . . Kind of like those extra 20 days we did on the South America trip. Remember how family-like that extra segment was? Something important to note is that we will not book this until we get much closer to the sailing date. This is for the purpose of super-duper pricing on the cruise and flights! In any case, if you are curious, please get on our list of interest, and we can take care of everything as usual. We would love to have you share this not-too-often lifetime opportunity! Just a couple more things for Cruise Trek 2018. Please be aware that some flights have opened up for those of you wanting to use miles, and if you desire extra nights at hotels for either the pre, post or other, please let us know. In fact one fellow adventurous couple is staying one more day in Vienna to enable a trip for the Mauthausen Concentration Camp Day Trip from Vienna. Though we are booking the extra hotel night for them, they are arranging the tour on their own. Is that right, Tammy & Mike??? Another mention . . . As some of you know, we sailed the same or similar itinerary for both the Trans-Atlantic and Danube River for R&D this last April/ May. And both were indeed wonderful experiences from start to end! It was also good to see that the fellow travelers we met on both cruises were pretty much the same demographics as us . . . unseasoned, seasoned, and some even more adventurous. For the Danube in terms of sites, cultural and historical experiences it will definitely fill you up! And we are totally psyched to do it all over again! Suggestions – even though we have a Bucharest City Tour included in our pre cruise stay, we also suggest the free city tour one can find online. Also, read up on Vlad the Impaler. This pre cruise tour is amazing and a very popular and a year round sight/destination. And the pride of the Romanians was very apparent in how clean the country was. I noted this aspect to one driver we had . . . funny how he sat up more and smiled. Additional item to note – Bran’s (Dracula’s) Castle is not ADA compliant – similar to most of what was Eastern Europe. Yes, it may seem like a lot . . . so, any questions? No worries – just give us a shout . . . Happy Holidays! Charlie PS
Update – March 5, 2017: Hello, Cruise Trek family, First, here’s a bit of personal information and/or recent history to start this new Update. However, please feel free to simply skip down to the new and/or additional information for Cruise Trek 2017: “California Gold” and/or Cruise Trek 2018: “Danube II – Bucharest to Budapest.” In any case, indeed, it has been awhile since our last Update . . . . our apologies. To explain, we have been continuing to live as vagabonds since our month-long CT South America event. So, all in a rather spontaneous way, we became adventurers, and if I may quote one endearing CT family member, we’re “roaming the world on the whims of fate . . . ‘cause that just sounds so amazingly wonderful.” We have also been busy managing our vacation rental North of Santa Barbara in a small Central California Coast wine and agricultural community. We meet people from all walks of life and from various parts of the country and world. Through our doors come engineers (including rocket scientists, too), airline pilots & captains, project managers, and even Australian emissaries. Some of our guests even work at Vandenberg AFB (Indeed, we have rocket launches from the town!) or are vacationers simply enjoying all that there is to see and do in our centrally-located humble little town. Mostly, I mention this so if any of you, our Cruise Trek Family, want to stay in that area, please let us know. And if you take care of the cleaning chores upon departure, we will comp for you at least a weekend, if not longer. Casey & Brigit Biggs are up the coast a little ways further hosting a vacation rental as well – Refugio Pasa Robles. Speaking of travels, we have been vagabonding all over. We spent two months in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, where we lived as locals, taking in the cultural experience, enjoying 85-degree water, dining generously & inexpensively, and witnessing a turtle hatching in the wild. (I thoroughly enjoyed being the only gringo on the 25-cent local barrio bus.)
~ Do You Need Travel Insurance? ~
One option is Trip Insurance. There are other choices, but we offer Travel Guard for informational purposes. Visiting Merida, Mexico, was also a highlight as we could venture to magnificent Old World haciendas and even older Mayan ruins both off the beaten path – that is, with minimal tourist traffic. During additional travels, we also shared time & sleepovers with CT family – both the actor and non-actor types. Even the ever-gracious Menyuks had dinner waiting for us after one vagabonding adventure. Then after that enjoyable meal, we all went for sorely needed local Chinese foot massages! Oh, and yeah, there are more stories – just not enough room here to expand upon them here. Though please feel free to ask us to share when you see us next! Next on our schedule and coming up very quickly is a cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Civitavecchia – the port for Rome. Anyone want to join us on this very inexpensive & yet adventurous transatlantic sailing??? Seriously, we would love to share the experience and the company. We’ll be sailing April 2 to the 15th on a grand, newer ship and with stops in the Azores, Malaga, and Alicante. Even better is the price – amazing! Like – it doesn’t make sense to stay home! Call or email us and we can even get you booked! Oh, and airfare back is very reasonable through the cruise line. Just as an FYI, afterwards, we will stay in Rome for a few days, and then vagabond off toward Venice. Beyond that we will find our way to Bucharest and Budapest for some R & D for our CT 2018 adventure. Then we end up in Paris at another house-sitting gig. Though this time for our CT family member John Ps’ – remember him from CT 16 South America??
~ Want to Take a Regular / Non-Event Cruise? ~
Cruise Trek can help! We’ve been on more than 100 cruises, and we can help you find the perfect cruise you’re looking for. Contact Us! Oh yeah . . . . If my inference was not clear, we have been making arrangements for many of our Cruise Trek Family to cruise and/or travel either with us or on their own to many near and/or faraway places. In fact, we have a CT actor family doing a 15-day re-position cruise from Tokyo to Vancouver, another family doing the Galapagos, and another couple sailing from Singapore. When we think about where we have been as a group of travelers, if not as a “family,” sharing and experiencing together – the science, the culture, the people, the societies, the economics of each, the geographies of each, the history of each and, of course, the huge differences and yet the obvious similarities – memories come rushing back. To mention only a few – Paris, NYC, Boston, Sydney Harbor, Buenos Aires, London, Stonehenge, the Historic Beaches of Normandy, CERN in Switzerland, Cape Horn, Australia/New Zealand and Tasmania, the rivers Danube, Seine & Rhine, and really so very much more. And I mention all this not to be a braggart but to express the gratitude for our shared fascination to seek out different experiences, adventure, connectedness and commonality. All in this moment brings me back to a reflection as a young child crawling around on my father’s garage shop floor where he was building the original Star Trek Enterprise model and Shuttle Landing Bay. The model has now undergone a full restoration at the Smithsonian. Alas, certainly another destination on my list. Okay, enough of that personal stuff . . . Below is the quick and short for CT 2017 and for CT 2018: CT 17 – “California Gold” ~ New information – Cruise Trek 2017: “California Gold” – Click here for the booking information sheet – BIS CT 2017. We are very much looking forward to this sailing with our CT family. Sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge together will be a sight and experience to remember always. We are still working on logistics with the cruise line and ports of call. Though, since we are a smaller group, we are thinking of producing some opportunities to enjoy each other’s company on various tours and/or family-style meal gatherings in various ports . . .
~ Fun in California! ~
Griffith Park Observatory Los Angeles Science Center Hearst Castle Monterey Aquarium Carmel Cannery Row ~ Tours in California! ~ Hollywood Tours and Sightseeing Warner Bros. Studio Tour A Day in LA Tours Starline Tours Universal Studios More info to follow. In any case, please see the below bullet points for current/new ideas and happenings.
Announcing Cruise Trek 2018: “Danube II – Bucharest to Budapest” – Click for more information – Cruise Trek 2018. CT 18 – European River Cruise ~
~ Pre-Cruise – Optional ~
3 nights – Oct. 17-19, 2018 City tours in Bucharest and Brasov CT Family Cocktail Party Tour Peles Castle Tour Dracula’s Castle ~ Post-Cruise – Optional ~ 2 nights – Oct. 27-28, 2018 Budapest and/or Vienna City tours of Budapest and/or Vienna Many of you have been asking for another European River Cruise. So here you go – fall 2018!!! Remember, most tours, Wi-Fi, beer & wine & soft drinks at lunch and dinner, and bicycles are all included in the cruise price. Oh, and if you have not joined us on a river cruise in the past, English is spoken on board and we’ll have a very professional and personal cruise manager to help in so many ways which makes for a very easy and manageable vacation adventure. Again, please see the below bullet points for where we are at this point of the event production. Important note – up to $200pp off if booked before July 31, 2017 – Please be aware that the lower categories are very limited.
Looking forward to seeing you once again . . . Best of safe & bold travels,
Update – June 30, 2016: Reminisces of our last adventures & past CT Family and announcing Cruise Trek 2017: “California Gold” Hello, Cruise Trek Tribe!
~ Do You Need Travel Insurance? ~
One option is Trip Insurance. There are other choices, but we offer Travel Guard for informational purposes. It’s been too long for sure . . . and simply getting back to reality after our grand South America adventure has not been all that easy! I am simply too desirous of wanting to go adventuring all over again! More so, I miss our people! Remember Cape Horn day . . . cruising the Beagle Channel & more? It was another amazing trip . . . but, this one got to my core. At times we were so immersed in natural beauty and yet still able to see humanity and its effects on our planet in both good and sometimes not so good ways. It was a truly life-broadening experience. Our passion, intellect & cultural curiosity were hugely piqued and so much so that I am still seriously missing our CT tribe. Perhaps maybe it was just because we shared it all together . . . taking meals together in culturally enriching Buenos Aires and exploring the many ports of call could have not have been any more enjoyable. Family style dinner in the Argentinian way at our home base hotel in Buenos Aires and touring the city together will always be ingrained in my fondest of memories. And the 20-day long second cruise segment left me wanting for so much more. In fact, these feelings are shared by more as we even have some of our CT family booking additional cruises with us this year as they loved being away and the adventures so much! And then to balance all the inspirational brain food was the zany silliness we also had on-board, which only comes from being able to enjoy each other at a higher and more intimate level. Right, Dominic!!?? In any case, thank you very much for the opportunity to share our commonalities and our curiosities, as well as for perhaps broadening our human perspectives. Though speaking more of silly, generous, and wonderful, we all remember our friend Dominic Keating (Enterprise’s Malcolm Reed) sharing very personally/intimately of his start in show biz, his talents and his work regarding the Iliad while in South America; he just recently performed the same piece in front of a live audience in DC. Next time he performs, I hope to get the word out to all of you for your own enjoyment. We also had the ever-energetic Jerry Hardin with us on such a grand trip and at 86 years young!! I aspire to be just like him! Then additionally, we had our friend and visual effects guru Ron Moore (5-time Emmy award winner), for the first time, sit down with actors to discuss the very essence of the movie/TV business at a very personal level. It was certainly enlightening. Besides getting back into the reality groove upon our return, we have been changing our computer system to allow being on the road more often. We might become even more vagabond-like (remember Rolf Potts and his book Vagabonding?). With that, we have changed our CT phone line to be a “Magic Jack” or VOIP line. This way we can bring or forward our phone line anywhere in the world while we travel. A really cool device/app and one we thought to recommend as a way to avoid land line costs. NO WORRIES THOUGH. WE WILL KEEP THE SAME MAILING ADDRESS, PHONE NUMBERS, AND EMAIL ADDRESSES. And perhaps more importantly to the CT Tribe, we have also been researching alternatives for our next CT adventures for 2017 and beyond . . . With that, we have the pleasure of announcing our next adventure, this time, much closer to home – “California Gold”: September 24 to October 1, 2017. We will sail from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Monterey, and Catalina Island, and then to Ensenada, Mexico, to meet the Jones Act requirements. In Los Angeles, we will gather for our pre-cruise hotel (Universal Studios area) and perhaps tour to several places including the Griffith Park Observatory (and the Leonard Nimoy Theatre within), JPL for a science lesson, and the Reagan Library (and it does not matter your political affiliation – this place is just cool for all, especially history buffs).
~ Fun in California! ~
Griffith Park Observatory Los Angeles Science Center Hearst Castle Monterey Aquarium Carmel Cannery Row And on the day of our transfer to the pier, we will stop at the Los Angeles Science Center, where the Space Shuttle Endeavor is displayed . . . by itself, a fun day to be had for all . . . and again . . . there’s no telling which actors will join us on all of it! A possible optional tour may include a Central Coast road trip to Hearst Castle (overnighting near Cambria) and perhaps to Paso Robles to a special locale. Sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge, a part of our next adventure, is a sight to behold. Then we’ll enjoy all that the Bay Area has to offer. In any case, options for this day and night are still in development, though we may tour the Napa Valley wine country and/or trip over to Lolita Fatjo’s for a barbeque or simply explore the city and hang for a CT family gathering/dinner. We will let you know as it all evolves. Other possible excursion options include visiting the Monterey Aquarium or Golden Gate Park (Remember The Voyage Home?). Also, the 17 Mile Drive, Carmel (home to Clint Eastwood), Cannery Row, are additional scenic possibilities. Driving the Central Coast on Highway 1 is consistently listed one of those trips you have to do before you just can’t. Then there are meals and/or tours in other ports to plan. How about a family outing (if not simply a big party) in Ensenada at a local restaurant? Remember past festivities at Carlos & Charlie’s? We were last there a few years ago on our Hawaiian cruise . . . great food, great people and good times! We will be arranging this afternoon beforehand. And we’ll let you know as this one, too, evolves.
~ Want to Take a Regular / Non-Event Cruise? ~
Cruise Trek can help! We’ve been on more than 100 cruises, and we can help you find the perfect cruise you’re looking for. Contact Us! In 2018, we are looking forward to a European River cruise once again . . . how about from Budapest, Hungary to Bucharest, Romania? More to follow. As an additional side note – looks like the Star Trek® model my father worked on so many years ago has undergone a huge renovation – “Smithsonian Sets Phasers To Restore On Original Starship Enterprise”, NPR. I know he would be happy to see it displayed in a much more worthy locale. Enjoy . . . Once again, we believe Cruise Trek 2017: “California Gold” will be another great opportunity for family, tribe, and friends both new and old. Though sadly, we have lost a few CT Tribe members these past few months – Tom Pacuk and Jug Tivald. My memories with them will always be fondly cherished. Again, and of course, my sincere condolences go out to their respective families. Loss is difficult. Looking forward to seeing you once again . . . Best of safe & bold travels,
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