The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

No cruise this year.

We had been looking at the options of how to get from Halifax to New York in early November in time for our November 6 departure to Windhoek, Namibia.

Thought it might be interesting to hop on one of those fall New England cruises that is heading south, and there was one that stopped in Halifax and did a 3 day trip before stopping again in New York.

But it is not meant to be.

After sending several emails (not impressed with the response time from the cruise lines!) I finally got through to someone who answered my questions.

It turns out that sure, you can get on the boat in Halifax and disembark in New York. No problem. But you have to pay the full price of the entire cruise! Why would anybody do that? Well, I guess nobody does. But you can if you want to.

So instead we have to fly from Halifax to New York. That in itself is not bad, but there is only one direct flight and it's on United...at $316 each for the one way two hour flight. Sorry, too much. The other option is a cheaper connecting flight, but at $277 each it's no great deal either and you have to fly to Montreal or Toronto first.

But, we have just enough Air Miles points for the two one way flights. We still have to pay taxes and fees of about $130 each, but that makes the trip economical enough for us! So that's what we'll be doing. Now just have to figure out which of the New York City area airports will be the most convenient to use, JFK, La Guardia, or Newark. Using Air Miles gives us the option.

Anyway, that will mean we are fully booked for our fall travels.

Okay, some more exciting news! We're hosting another giveaway!

This will be of special interest to anybody in North America who loves to explore Canada and the United States in their RV (motorhome, fifth wheel, travel trailer). And we're giving away THREE prizes, to increase your chances of winning! So be sure to check in here Monday morning when the contest begins and we'll tell you all the details...

14 comments:

  1. Too bad the cruise didn't work out, it sounded like a great idea. Good thing you're plans are so flexible.

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    1. We can do a cruise some other time where we can do the complete cruise...hmmm, the Mediterranean sounds nice!

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  2. Could you perhaps take a train from Halifax to New York via Montreal?

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    1. Yep, thanks Dugg. We've already looked into it though. We did the Halifax to Montreal train last October, so not really any ambition to do it again. And flying to Montreal then taking the Amtrak from Montreal to New York is doable, but we use exactly the same number of air miles getting to Montreal as we would flying right to New York.

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  3. I'm sorry too that the cruise didn't work out; but, it has to mean there's something better / different planned for you two. BTW, when will you two be heading to Mexico? March?

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    1. The current plan (it's such a long way off!) is to fly New York to somewhere in Mexico around March 7 and then quickly make our way to Hacienda Contreras. A short visit there and then head north with the motorhome.

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  4. Loved your header picture of Waterton today. It made me look back at what you did in Nov. 2007. Was excited that you were going to Vancouver Is., but then didappointed when your plans changed. Did you ever make it there in other years?

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    1. Waterton is one of our favorite Canadian parks. My sister worked there one summer! Yes, part of the original plan involved possibly going to Vancouver Island for the winter, but we found a way to make it to Baja California instead. We have been to Vancouver Island before, but the last time was in 1993...a long time ago!

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    2. I must say that Glacier/Waterton, like Niagara Falls, looks so much better from the Canadian side.

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  5. The cruise lines are running nearly fully booked all the time now, so they are rather inflexible on cost. Sounds like you have found a good solution.

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    1. Yes, they may make an exception last minute if they still had rooms available but I can see why they don't allow partial trips when they could fill the ship for the complete cruise. We will save the cruise for another time.

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  6. So much planning, and so far off. My head hurts.
    I know where I'll be.

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    1. Don't worry about it Bob, just let Kevin do the planning and you can sit back and read all about it instead.

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  7. Hi K and R: We went to NYC in april and were told that AC and Westjet only land in La Guardia. It is a $50.00 cab ride to downtown NYC. Cheers tom

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