The fishing port of Vizhinjam, Kerala, India

We were aboard the 120-passenger, all-suite Spirit of Oceanus (formerly the “Renaissance Five”) on the itinerary “Song of India” with CruiseWest (Seattle, WA; 888/851-8133, www.cruisewest.com). Booking through Worldview Travel (800/627-8726), we paid $8,500 per person, excluding international airfare but including all gratuities, a precruise hotel overnight on March 20, 2010, and a post-cruise day room on April 5. All but two excursions were included and were very good. Our lecturer and expert on India, Doranne Jacobsen, was superb. Here is the scene in the fishing port of Vizhinjam, Kerala, India, where we got off our ship’s Zodiacs to board buses for Trivandrum, which I found hot and blah. Vizhinjam, where, unfortunately, we spent almost no time, had two mosques and lots of local color. — J.P. WILLIAMS, San Jose, CA