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Balcony Travel

Worldwide bucket-list tours & cruises

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River Cruise on the Danube River-Nuremburg to Budapest

October 1, 2011 by Linda May Leave a Comment

Took my first river cruise along the Danube River in Europe and I was hooked.  It was with AmaWaterways aboard the AmaDolce from Nuremburg to Budapest and I fell in love with every city we stopped at but my favourite was Budapest, it is the most picturesque place to visit.

One of the best parts is that the ship only carrys around 150 people so you get to know your fellow travellers. It was so nice to dock either right in town or very close to it and no lineups to get off and on !  They even had small group walking tours  (divided into slow and fast walkers so you could keep pace with your own group).   Very relaxing dinners and truly an enjoyable way to see the heart of Europe. They even had free Wifi onboard so I could catch up on some work while away.

 

 

 

Filed Under: River Cruises

Oasis of the Seas

October 25, 2010 by Linda May Leave a Comment

In 2010 I was lucky enought to be invited to the inaugural sailing of the Oasis of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world.

It was an incredible experience, I couldn’t believe what they built into this floating megaship.   It has a rock climbing wall, an indoor ice rink, a wave runner to practice your surfboarding, an outdoor water show, a replica of Central Park New York complete with real grass, a full broadway play production in the theatre and too much more to list.  We went from dawn to dusk trying to do everything and felt amazed to be a part of what would change the cruise industry forever.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Cruises

Multigeneration Cruise

September 30, 2006 by Linda May Leave a Comment

In 2006 our family did a Pacific Coastal cruise to celebrate a 50th Anniversary.  We had a variety of ages from 75 down to a 1 year old and a great time was had by all. It is always interesting to play tourist in your own backyard and we had fun visiting cities that we would normally not get to.  When we visited Prince Rupert, we were trying to look up the birthplace of a family member who was no longer with us and we were shocked when we went into the public library there to find a women who not only knew what we were looking for, gave us directions to the exact location !  (the beauty of friendly small towns)

 

Filed Under: Cruises

Disneyworld and the ride that’s always closed (for me)

June 18, 2006 by Linda May Leave a Comment

The funniest thing happened to me when I went to DisneyWorld in 2006 with a group of travel agents to check out Epcot and MGM Studios.

To backtrack a bit, I had been to Disneyland with my parents when I was a kid and the only ride that was closed when we visited was Pirates of the Caribbean.  We didn’t think it was that big of a deal until we got home and everyone commented about how they said it was their favorite ride so we felt like we’d really missed something when had to admit when didn’t get a chance to go on it.

Fast forward to when I had children and we arranged a surprise trip for them in which my parents were also joining us.  My dad talked about how the only ride he really wanted to go on was the one we missed years ago so we couldn’t believe it when we got there and much to our dismay, it was closed for renovations !!  We had a great laugh and told the story many times.

This catches you up to my trip to Disneyworld where I told this story on the first day of our group meeting. The woman who was in charge audibly gasped after and started apologizing before I could even decipher what she was talking about.  Well, lo and behold, when we headed out the next morning, just look at the reason for her gasp !   I guess it just wasn’t meant to me but what are the crazy odds that it would be closed for a third time ?

Pirates of the Caribbean closed!

Pirates of the Caribbean closed!

Filed Under: North | South America

Baltic Cruise

June 26, 1990 by Linda May Leave a Comment

In 1990, I sailed aboard the Sun Viking (part of the  Royal Caribbean Cruise Line) from England to Norway, Sweden, Finland and into Russia winding back via Poland and Germany to end up in London again.

This was probably the most memorable cruise in that my son just happened to be born exactly 9 months after taking it !

The midnight sun in was amazing, you could be out on deck at midnight and still light out. St Petersburg (called Leningrad when we visited) was such a contrast between old and new.   You can see the street pictures are so gray, yet the Hermitage and Catherines Palace were shimmering with gold.  We went into a grocery store to look around and saw the meat in the freezers, except they had no power to them so not actually sure how they kept the stuff cold.

One of the most interesting things about this cruise (and obviously way before privacy laws) they published a “Passenger List” which was circulated to every cabin and listed each passenger and the city they came from.  It was a really nice keepsake and too bad they had to do away with it.

Loved the beautiful Baltic cities of Helsinki, Olso and Stockholm – it was hard to pick a favourite.

1990SunVikingBalticCruise
1990SunVikingBalticCruise
1990SunVikingCruiseCaptain
1990SunVikingCruiseCaptain
1990SunVikingCruiseHighlights
1990SunVikingCruiseHighlights

 

Oslo visit
Oslo visit
Frogner Park Oslo
Frogner Park Oslo
Oslo
Oslo

Filed Under: Baltic Cruise, Copenhagen, Cruises, Europe, Leningrad, Oslo

The Love Boat

October 30, 1988 by Linda May Leave a Comment

Who doesn’t remember the theme song for the television show The Love Boat ?  I’m sure I could still recite every word today so I was very excited to be travelling on the Sun Princess in 1988.  Even though most people associate the Pacific Princess as the true Love Boat, the 1977 pilot show was filmed aboard the Sun Princess in Mexico.

I loved watching the cliff divers in Acapulco and visiting Cabo San Lucas when it was just a sleepy little Mexican town.  I didn’t realize at the time that I was on one of the last voyages for the Sun Princess as it was sold to Premier Cruises right after we finished our sailing.  Look at the people gathered around the decks as they are set to release the balloons for our sailing send off.

Filed Under: Cruises

Greece Turkey Cruise with Epirotiki

April 16, 1987 by Linda May Leave a Comment

My Greece/Turkey cruise in 1987 was aboard the Oceanos which was was built in 1952. Little did I know that it would become famous a mere 4 years after I sailed on it.  Highlights for this itinerary were the Greek Islands of course and spending the day zipping around Rhodes on a scooter.  Plus the day visiting Ephesus in Turkey was amazing, the ruins that they have uncovered were jaw dropping.  

How the ship became famous was that it sank off the coast of South Africa on Aug 4th, 1991   All 571 onboard were saved but Captain Yiannis Avranas was accused by the passengers of leaving them behind with no one other than the ship’s onboard entertainers to help them evacuate. Avranas claimed that he left the ship first to arrange for a rescue effort, and then supervised the rescue from a helicopter. A Greek board of inquiry found Avranas and four officers negligent in their handling of the disaster.

Filed Under: Cruises

North to Alaska

August 8, 1986 by Linda May Leave a Comment

My next cruise was in 1986 and left from my beautiful home town of Vancouver BC from their new cruise ship terminal which opened during Expo ‘86. I fell in love Holland America on this cruise and not because of their stellar service and wonderful staff but I was an ice cream-aholic at the time and they served up an ice cream buffet every day at 4pm with all kinds of toppings that you could choose from.  After a few days I kept telling myself that the next day I would take a break from it but somehow or another, always seemed to end up really close by as they were serving up !

In Juneau, we were able to actually walk right up to the Mendenhall Glacier and it was a spectacular site.  Visiting Sitka and Ketchikan was in some drizzly rain but when they get an average of 220 days a year of precipitation, it’s hard to avoid. We did our own walking tour in each place and enjoyed Creek Street in Ketchikan with the colourful buildings raised on pilings and the Russian influence meandering through Sitka.

 

 

Filed Under: Cruises

My introduction to cruising

September 8, 1985 by Linda May Leave a Comment

I took my first cruise in 1985 just as cruising was starting to take off. It was on the Mardi Gras which was the very first “FunShip” and it really did live up to its name as much fun was had onboard. It was built in 1961, formerly called the Empress of Canada but purchased by the Carnival Corp in 1972 and the name was changed to the Mardi Gras. It was a Western Caribbean sailing so lots of great ports and long days in the sun which was good because the cabin was, lets just say, interesting. It had 4 bunk beds (2 upper and 2 lower) and the bathroom sink was outside the washroom (so inside the main cabin area which was strange for brushing your teeth in front of your cabin mates !) Had a wonderful day climbing up Dunns River Falls when we were in Jamaica and the day we were in Grand Cayman, made our way to their special post office called “Hell” (I have an official document now that says I’ve been to Hell and back !)

 

Filed Under: Cruises

Taj Mahal Agra India

January 5, 1985 by Linda May Leave a Comment

Slider Image – The colors of the amazing Taj Mahal changed with the movement of the clouds – it was incredible to visit.

Filed Under: Slider Image

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Don’t forget your Travel Insurance!

You know that old saying "Don't leave home without it" but in this case, its travel insurance. Many people don't realize that they are not covered by their provincial or state health plans when travelling out of the country. I am able to provide quotes for both Canadian and US residents as long as you contact me before you depart. Please don't forget as the cost is minimal compared to the cost if something happens.

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Our last port was a rainy day in Prince Rupert but still walked around to see the Sunken Gardens at the back of the courthouse and then the statue of the sailer seems to be pointing to the Seabourn #venture as if to say, let me join the voyage!#balconytravel #Seabourn #cruise ... See MoreSee Less
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Interesting visit to Petroglyph Beach in Wrangell Alaska to search for the images engraved into the rocks. On our wander back to town, found the old IGA sign & the beautiful view that house has. Couldn’t resist the cute doggie hanging out of the truck #balconytravel #seabourn #venture #cruise #petroglyph ... See MoreSee Less
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Linda May Dinsmore

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