Travelers' Intercom

In fall 2003 I led a group through the Himalayas on our “Jewels of the Himalayas” program, Sept. 23-Oct. 17. Among places we visited in India were Darjeeling, west and east Sikkim and Kalimpong, then we entered Bhutan at the southern border town of Phuntsholing.

The road conditions in western Sikkim were particularly bad, with potholes and eroded roads that added much time to our road journeys from Darjeeling to Gangtok, the capital of the state of Sikkim. The worst stretch was from...

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We wanted to share notes from a vacation we had in Sweden, July 16-28, ’03. This trip certainly is one we will repeat. We gathered information from the Swedish Travel & Tourism Council (www.visit-sweden.com) and from articles written by ITN subscribers, some of whom we contacted.

We were a little reluctant to try the express train from Arlanda Airport to Stockholm, but it was inexpensive; we paid a family rate of $23 for the two of us. We had our luggage carts from entry and...

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My wife and I took an extended business trip to Cairo in October ’03. During our stay at the historic, downtown Windsor Hotel (al-Alfy Street, Cairo, Egypt — $54 for a double), which was the British Officers’ Quarters prior to the ’52 revolution, we met Samir Fayek (cell phone 011-20-12-399-5147 or e-mail samirfayek@hotmail.com).

Samir is an experienced guide who runs tours for small groups of four to six people on a half-day or full-day basis. He is extremely knowledgeable, speaks...

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In the past few days I have received so much mail from Grand Circle Travel that I wondered how they could offer a decent trip paying so much for mail. I get mailings from them at least twice every week.

A couple of weeks ago (late June ’03) I tried to book a cruise with them that promised free singles and/or only an additional 25% charge for singles. After being told there were no openings, I asked to speak to a supervisor. The representative with whom I spoke admitted to their having...

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Thank heaven for Norwegian Cruise Line and its imitators who have initiated Freestyle Cruising (Aug. ’03, pg. 33). I enjoyed Freestyle Cruising on my 12-day cruise from Dover to St. Petersburg, June 3-15, ’03, aboard the Norwegian Dream, booked through Grand Circle Travel (800/221-2610).

Gone is the 3-times-a-day, permanently assigned seating with six to eight people, usually all strangers. A 7- to 10-day cruise had meant meeting these folks for meals 21 to 30 times, and how long does...

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In the January ’04 “Boarding Pass,” the editor asked readers to comment on the trend among cruise lines to automatically add $10 per day for tips to shipboard staff.

Having been a cruise lover for many years, I have witnessed several policies used by cruise lines regarding tipping.

• I like Holland America Line’s policy the best: “No tipping required.” That does not mean that a staff member does not accept a tip; it means that HAL does not give any suggestions on the amount to...

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With reference to the growing trend of cruise lines to charge each passenger $10 per day for gratuities to shipboard staff, we booked for September ’03 an 18-day Mediterranean cruise on Cunard’s Caronia and noticed in their brochure that they would charge that much per day per passenger as a gratuity for shipboard staff.

We advised Cunard through our travel agency that we chose to tip their service personnel as we so desired and would cancel any automatic charge for gratuities charged...

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Regarding tips being placed on passengers’ credit card bills on cruises, we have encountered this twice recently.

The first time was on an eastern Mediterranean cruise aboard the Azur of Festival Cruises (888/983-8767), Oct. 29-Nov. 8, ’03. We were informed in advance that a charge of $9.50 per day per passenger for tips would appear on our bill. However, we were informed when we got on board that they had canceled this charge, and we tipped the cabin steward, waiter and busboy at our...

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