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Archive for Past Cruise Trek Updates

Update – June 29, 2021:

Hey there

Goodness – this eMail serves as just a “catch up” so as to bring us all onto the same page – as most of you know our Iceland trip has been canceled by the cruise line. Seems governments could simply not get things together for this one.

Joining us on our river voyages in
August 2021 are ~

actor Dom Keating
the Menyuks, Eric and Laurie
and our hosts, Charlie and Aaron.

Though again our river cruises are a go – the one item for one of the river cruises – the itinerary & ship for August 12 - 19, 2021, has changed to a similar but different itinerary – from “Burgundy” to “Colors of Provence” – again, though the sailing date has not changed. In this, Aaron has been in touch with you all via phone and eMail on all already.

In any case, the point in all this is that working on flights and changes for all is and has been very a huge exercise in patience & understanding to say the least. Being on hold with airlines for hours is the norm as has waiting for quotes for pricing or scheduling on necessary changes. Then to be clear on the process... wow! ;-)))

Please pardon our own consternation in all. ;-)))

And thank you for understanding & patience with us.

We’ll all get through it together! ;-))

See you in August and seriously looking forward to it!

Remote from the beaches of Culiacan for the next week – to celebrate Aaron’s 50th birthday with his family ;-))

XO
C

Best regards,
Charlie




Update – May 14, 2021:

Hey, CT Family!

Been a long time for sure . . . mostly the world has been so crazy and changing that every time I get ready to send a note – things change again.

However, directly to the point of this eMail and some great news – we are hearing many rumblings that the EU will open up to fully vaccinated American travelers this summer. A good thing for those of those ready and willing to explore again! ;-)

~ Do You Need Travel Insurance? ~

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One option is Trip Insurance.

There are other choices, but we offer Travel Guard for informational purposes.

With that, we are both fully vaccinated and are currently in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, both for R & D and as well as to experience how travel takes place these days. We have also bounced about the States a bit as well these last few months to take part in the different experiences. Interestingly, Mexico seems to have safer protocols in order than in the US . . . just saying . . . but then here, they also don’t have the same level of vaccine available.

With that, what many in the travel business see coming is a large surge in travel demand, and we sure hope suppliers can keep up with all of it. In that, it may be time to start looking at flights for this year’s cruises. But don’t jump too fast in that – and stay in touch with us and mostly with Aaron for the best way to arrange airfare. We know some can easily be booked through the cruise line and others maybe not as easily. Case by case is best as is timing, and upon confirmation that we will for sure be able to enter the EU.

Aaron and I already have our airfare to manage all three cruises – though we used mileage awards.

During this last year + we sincerely thank you all for staying in touch with all the notes, cards and phone calls. Sadly, we have lost some friends and family during this time – not necessarily from COVID. And we have been very grateful to the Menyuks and Moores, who have allowed us a place to crash and for engagement as opposed to “confinement” . ;-))

We now have T-Mobile cell service – promo “Magenta 55” – this new service (as opposed to Verizon) allows a much better & more cost-effective program for communications to/from Mexico, Canada and Europe.

Aaron’s cell is 310-909-9685, and his eMail is cc’d herein.

In an effort to keep this communique short – I will sign off now.

Hope to see you all this summer!! And getting out of the “bubble” life even more!

Charlie & Aaron
remote from Playa Del Carmen, Mexico – where the ocean water is almost 90 degrees!! Luv that!! ;-))

Best regards,
Charlie




Update – August 5, 2020:

Hello!

~ Cruise Trek 2021 Cruises Changed ~

Unfortunately, the Iceland cruise has been cancelled.

As of June 2021, our cruises are ~
August 12-19, 2021 – Colors of Provence
August 19-26 – Cruise Trek 2021 Bordeaux

After some juggling – we now have new cruise dates for 2021! Even better, we now have a fabulous brand new ocean liner to sail for our Iceland adventure! We will be sailing on her shortly after her inaugural sailing.

With this change, it is still possible to join us for one, two, or all three adventures!

Please check out the chronologically ordered itinerary links below:

August 12-19, 2021 – Burgundy/Provence
August 19-26 – Cruise Trek 2021 Bordeaux
August 29 - September 12, 2021 – Iceland, Norway & British Isles

The Booking Information Sheets are:

The Essence of Burgundy & Provence
CT main event – A Taste of Bordeaux
Iceland, Norway, and the UK Isles adventure, sailing on a brand-new ocean liner from Amsterdam

As another FYI – very briefly – part of the safety protocols and new industry standards so far have been to limit passenger occupancy to about 2/3 of capacity, to mandate mask-wearing and health checks/screening along with many more sanitizing & cleaning efforts.

Please stay safe – we too are indeed wearing our masks and gloves – let’s do our part – we want to travel next year!! ;-)))

Charlie & Aaron




Update – July 23, 2020:

Hey, Cruise Trek family,

We have already spoken with most of you booked for our new itineraries for 2021 – so, this is a shout out to others not yet “on board.”

In a nutshell – The dates have changed for all our cruises for 2021. Our itineraries for our River cruises are the same – though maybe reversed for one. However, the larger change is that our ship for the Iceland trip was sold, and now we have a new itinerary, sail date and ship! So, all cruises have changed somewhat.

In any case, we are working on all and will post this info to our website as soon as we can.

Hope you are all very well!!

C & A

Best regards,
Charlie




Update – June 15, 2020:

Greetings to all! Hope you are very safe and healthy.

Exciting news! Since we missed out on travel for 2020, we are certainly going all out to make up for that travel deprivation – in that, we have a replacement sail date, a new/different Iceland Itinerary, and an additional 2021 river cruise to announce herein!

Please check out each of the itinerary links at the top of the Cruise Trek Home Page or here as follows – in chronological order, the first two are river cruises: August 5-12, 2021 Burgundy/Provence, August 12-19, CT2021 Bordeaux, and August 23 - September 6, 2021 Iceland Military Tattoo.

The Booking Information Sheets are: 1) The Essence of Burgundy & Provence, 2) CT main event A Taste of Bordeaux, and/or 3) an Iceland big ship adventure sailing from Amsterdam – and it is definitely possible to join us for one, two or all three cruises.

Plus, there are pre and post options according to your cruise needs/desires and/or choice(s).

Cruise lines will be handling things differently since health safety and cleanliness will be an even larger priority. In that, the best thing during these times is that ships will be capacity controlled – i.e. fewer passengers will be on board each cruise. Other new policies have yet to be officially announced, though we will advise as those become official. To note: at this time our Bordeaux cruise will be themed a wine event as well – Meaning – more tastings and presentations on the history and making of wine. Of course, like I am – you don’t have to really be a drinker to enjoy the amazing Chateaux and food that goes with all!!

Honestly, this early on in preparations and announcements, there is no telling who will join us on these next adventures. However, our friend John de Lancie expressed a desire to join us for the two French River cruises, and we will indeed have him if all our schedules work. John spent a lot of time in Sarlat on the Dordogne River in his younger years with his family/grandparents. So, he’ll be able to share even more!

Additionally Eric Menyuk said, “Of course.” ;-) And like The Mississippi cruise last year – more than likely we will add more! Hopefully, we will have a special someone join on the Iceland cruise too! While not intended to be a CT event we will make it “family”!

So, for those of you booked on the Pandemic-cancelled Bordeaux cruise for this year, we will process and snail-mail new CT invoices to confirm your booking for next year. And the same goes for the Pandemic-cancelled Iceland cruise. For the latter, please note the very large change in itinerary – that is in short, now we get to see a whole lot more of Iceland! ;-)

For those of you that now wish to join us, please complete and send in a new booking form. And for those River cruisers from 2018 that did not sign up for 2020 – you can still use your credit from that cruise to join us on either river Cruise for 2021! To Note – we could possibly juggle the August 5 and 12th departure dates if needed for your travel itinerary desires.

The areas of France we will go to next year are extraordinary. Aaron and I have done both and thoroughly enjoyed them both – the people, the culture is very different than say the big city of Paris . . . dare I say much kinder and reflective. As to the Iceland & Tattoo adventure – well, that one will be brand new for us! Mercy, reading the descriptions of this particular Iceland trip is so wonderfully inspiring that I want to go right now! ;-)) In short, we are looking forward to all!

Stay safe & healthy
Please give us a shout out if you need.
Charlie & Aaron




Update – May 14, 2020:

Hello!

We hope this new Update finds you all continuing to be very well and safe.

This eMail is again to follow-up our recent phone calls and/or eMails to you all.

As you know, we have been busy with communications to the various cruise lines, as they have been more able to closely monitor the various authorities, local governments, and world situations concerning this pandemic.

So to the topic at hand and to follow-up – AMA Waterways has suspended their cruise departures now through the month of July 2020 as well. That is – as well as – the HAL Iceland & Military cruise has been cancelled.

With that, we are working on a sailing date for next year with a similar AMA Bordeaux departure. Again, we’ll simply move everyone from this year’s river cruise over to the new summertime date in 2021, and we will send paperwork accordingly.

Just to mention another possibility – we may even grab another sail date with a Burgundy and Provence itinerary – here we are thinking of those of you still with a credit from 2018 – you may want to do this one?? And/or maybe if you have the time – an additional great choice to ponder, if not only for those of you feeling exasperated & travel deprived. These two river cruises can be done back to back or individually and/or hopefully in combination with another Iceland/Tattoo event!

Aaron and I have done both of these river cruises, and they are both wonderful!!

More info to follow soon – in the meantime, please feel free to call or write.

Thank you again for being so understanding to all . . .

Be well & safe,
Charlie & Aaron

PS
Similarly – we are working on a Military Tattoo & Iceland Big ship cruise as well! ;-))




Update – May 11, 2020:

Hey there, CT Family,

Just a quick followup – All of you have already heard from Aaron via phone calls about our Holland America cruise being canceled for this August.

And again, you should have also received an email from HAL saying you needed to do something for the refund of the cruise to come back to you. However, there is no need for you to do anything.

In this, we just wanted to let you all know we have already requested refunds from HAL for everyone, so there is no need for you to do so. This refund process may take a few months as to the serious backlog of cxld cruises.

In the meantime, we are trying to arrange for another similar Tattoo & Iceland sailing next year. However, the cruise lines are currently & actively looking at changing deployments & systems in a rather large way. So we hesitate to say too much right now.

When we have a good idea as to the cruise for next year, we will let you know! ;-))

In the meantime stay safe & well.

Best regards,
Charlie




Update – May 11, 2020:

CruiseTrek 2019 guests
Joining us on our voyage on the Mississippi River in December 2019 are, left to right – Emmy-Award-winning visual effects artist Ron Moore; actor Jerry Hardin, in costume as “Mark Twain”; actor Dom Keating; our hosts Charlie and Aaron; and the Menyuks, Laurie and Eric.

Hey, CT Fam!

Here is a pic Brent Stein took of a suspicious looking group if i ever saw one!! ;-)) . . . actually a really wonderful photo!!

And here’s a little something Brent shared . . . .

I really liked the cruise this year. The ship was amazing, the theme was perfect – I swear I could feel the spirit of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn all along the Mississippi River, and I am sure that Samuel Clemens was with us all the way . . . or was that Jerry Hardin? He was magnificent by the way. I know that he has done Mark Twain for years, but to stand up and deliver a 40-minute Sam Clemens monologue about his travels; that was just amazing to see him do it one more time from memory.

Anyway, Brent graciously created a link to a bunch of his photos. And I will share it when i can get it working again ;-)) There are a ton of pics – you’ll just have to pick and choose.

Be safe!!

Best regards,
Charlie




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