Rain, Rain go away June 5, 2008
Posted by yp2m in Geography, Shopping, Sightseeing, Spring 2008/2009, Summer 2008/2009, Travel, car rental, cruise.Tags: beaches, calgary, catamaran, montreal, pitons, quebec city, rain, sailing, st. lucia, taxi, vancouver, volcano
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They say Vancouverites don’t tan because they rust. That’s because of all the rain that falls in Vancouver in the Spring. I hear it’s not any better in Calgary because they forecast rain all this week. Two weeks ago when we were cruising Eastern Canada and New England, we were lucky to escape the rain on several occasions. Rain greeted us when we arrived in Montreal but after sailing away, it was sunny in Quebec City, Halifax, Charlottetown, Bar Harbor and Boston. We got rained on just one day, when we were in Sydney.
If and when you travel to St. Lucia, bring your umbrella. To avoid the rain, you might choose to go there between January to May because June to December is considered to be their wet season. Because of the rainforest, it practically rains everyday at the same time. When we were there, we would tour the island in the morning, do alittle shopping in Castries then by 4pm, it would pour. Around 6:00pm, the sky would clear up and the air gets humid.
The main attractions in St. Lucia include the world’s only drive-in volcano, botanical gardens, twin pitons and the soft sandy beaches. Getting around is easy with most tourists taking a cab between the resort and Castries market or by water taxi if you want to get to the beach. I do not recommend renting a car and driving yourself, unless you are ok with hair pin turns and wild island driving.
The must-do activity is to take a catamaran down the west coast of St. Lucia. For about $90 per person, you board a catamaran and sail to the Soufriere area where you take in the drive-in volcano, waterfall and botanical gardens. As you sail in, you will see the two Pitons as they rise up from the ocean. People actually hike up and climb the Pitons. On your return sail, the catamaran will stop at Anse Cochon where you can do some swimming and snorkelling before sailing into Marigot Bay. The captain will tell you that pirates used to frequent this bay to hide their treasures. Nowadays, you see luxurious yachts from all the world in Marigot Bay.
If you want to visit St. Lucia for a day, find a Caribbean cruise that stops there. Otherwise, if you want to spend a week relaxing on the sandy beaches, you might want to look into a Sandals Resort.
Lobster Everyday May 31, 2008
Posted by yp2m in Food, Geography, Lifestyle, Sightseeing, Spring 2008/2009, Travel, cruise, money, saving money.Tags: blueberry, boston, canada, celtics, charlottetown, chowder, cruise, halifax, heritage, holland america, jost, lobster, maritimes, montreal, port, quebec, shore excursions, Sightseeing, sydney, tours
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As most of you knew, I sailed on the Holland America Maasdam cruise ship on the May 17th voyage from Montreal to Boston. They call it the Canada / New England itinerary. When asked by my brother-in-law, why I chose that cruise, I answered that we were always curious about Eastern Canada and the Eastern seaboard. Now I can say that I have been to the Maritimes and visited Bar Harbor in Maine and Boston.
I did not want to spend a lot of money on shore excursions so I kept to a budget. I also did not fall for the marketing ploy that most shore excursion desks seem to do, hurry me to preorder before the cruise sails in case a particular tour sells out. I normally wait until I get onboard, attend the port talks then decide the best tour for the value.
Here are the shore excursions that I took:
1. City Tour of Old & New Quebec – If I knew what I know today, I would have skipped this tour and walk into Old Quebec myself. The main sight is the Chateau Frontenac which you see on top of the hill when you sail in. It’s a nice walk from the ship and if climbing stairs is not your thing, you can take a funicular up the hill for a small price.
2. Panoramic Island Drive – Charlottetown is pretty bland for our taste so if we had skipped a tour, we would have been bored. The drive was ok with the highlight being the Confederation Bridge and the souvenir shops they take you to. My advice: skip buying the Paderno cookware and save yourself lugging it home. You can buy Paderno at Winner’s when you get home.
3. Titanic Tour: The Halifax Connection – After reading comments on the internet about this tour, I was prepared to be sombre when we began this tour. They drive you through residential streets to various houses owned by passengers who sailed the Titanic then they visit the Fairview cemetery where most of the victims are buried. The tour also includes admission to the Maritime Museum where they have a collection of recovered artifacts from Titanic. We spent the morning touring the Halifax port and the Citadel on our own and left the afternoon for the bus tour.
4. Sydney, Nova Scotia – We decided to skip the tours and walk into town ourselves. One of the best sights that we saw was the Jost Heritage house located at 54 Charlotte Street. The admission fee was $2 and it was well spent because volunteers greet you and tell you some history about the house, its inhabitants and how life was back in the 1800’s. Another house up the block called the Cossit House, was not worth the $2 admission that they charge. We also visited a local craft show at a church and talked to some of the locals. (Next time around, weather permitting – visit the Bird Islands of Cape Breton to see puffins, eagles and seals)
5. Acadia National Park – For $39, you don’t get a lobster out of it but you save yourself $60 and you still see the main sights of what Bar Harbor has to offer. The bus winds its way up from the port to the top of Cadillac Mountain where you have a 360 degree view of the area. It is spectacular up there but it will be more dramatic if you go in the fall.
6. Boston City Highlights & Airport Transfer – Considering a taxi would have cost just $20 from port to airport, this tour was not worth it. They charged $71 each and for $50, we had a drive-by of MIT, Boston Tea Party wharf, downtown Boston and where the Celtics play.
Aside from the shore excursions, I would highly recommend that you skip the tours that includes lobster on the menu and order it on the ship (at the Pinnacle Grill where you get 2 tails for a $10 fee). In Bar Harbor, go to the Westside Cafe on West street and tell them you want the special that the ship advertises on their newsletter. For $24.95 (a saving of $4), you get a whole lobster, a cup of New England chowder and a slice of their delicious blueberry pie.
And you ask…how did I gain my 2 extra pounds?
Quick Shuttle Cruise May 8, 2008
Posted by yp2m in Car, Her's, Shopping, Sightseeing, Spring 2008/2009, Travel, cruise, money.Tags: alaska, cruise, mom, princess, quick shuttle, sea, seatac, seattle, vancouver, yvr
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Did you know the distance between Vancouver and Seattle is just 119 miles or so away? If you live in Vancouver or nearby, that’s the distance you would have to drive to catch the Golden Princess that leaves from Seattle on Saturday, May 10th. The Golden Princess will make a roundtrip through the inside passage to Juneau, Skagway, Tracy Arm Fjord and Ketchikan. Before returning home, it will stop in Victoria, BC. If you really want to get on this cruise, be prepared to pay up to $2601 for a suite since all of the other cabins are not available.
If you live in Seattle or Vancouver or nearby, you can catch the Quick Shuttle that picks up and drops you off from either port. For about $49 per person, you can get on in Vancouver and get dropped off in Seattle, or vice versa. Your other alternative is to fly in and out of the airports but remember, you’ll have to taxi cab your way to the port from the airports, adding to the overall cost of the trip. An airfare between Vancouver and Seattle isn’t cheap. For instance, if you took Alaska Air, a one-way fare is already $146. The other option is to rent a car but you’ll have to consider paying one-way charges and asking yourself whether there is a drop-off location at the port in Seattle. (no worries in Vancouver because there is a drop-off location at the Canada Place pier). One of the places you can catch the Quick Shuttle in Vancouver is at the airport. Other places include the Ballantyne pier and the Canada Place pier. Same goes for Seattle where you can catch the shuttle at the airport, pier 30 and 66. The Quick Shuttle also picks up from the Bellingham airport too. If you are interested, book it online and get 5% off.
I like to give my Vancouverites one more option. Catch the Golden Princess tomorrow as it sails from Vancouver to Seattle for as low as $70. If you choose to book that, you’ll have to disembark when you get to Seattle. It’s like going to the movies and letting them clean the place before the movie starts. It’ll be the same for you, get off for a few hours to let them tidy up the place before they welcome guests for their sailing to Alaska.
If you haven’t got Mom anything yet, this might be a nice surprise for her but you will have to hurry. Be sure to bring your passport.
Packing for an Extreme Golf Vacation April 24, 2008
Posted by yp2m in His, Shopping, Sports, Spring 2008/2009, Travel, golf.Tags: compression, golf, golf balls, mountains, rockies, skiers, snow, sweaters, wooly socks
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It’s deep freeze where we are headed this weekend for a guys’ golf vacation. There is no canceling it, unless we are prepared to walk away from our deposit. All I have to do is to remember not to blame my brother-in-law for choosing the BC Rockies and the time of year to go. I always think it’s risky planning a golf vacation in the same mountains where you find avid skiers.
It is going to be a high of 14 degrees celsius on Sunday, the warmest day of the week. Then the weather will make a drastic turn for the worst. Temperatures will drop to single digits and snow showers are forecasted for Monday and Tuesday. We may be forced to play under winter rules.
If you are insane like us and need to pack for extreme weather, don’t be afraid to cross dress yourself. Don’t deny yourself of warmth by bringing dri-fit golf shirts, windshirts and light jackets that only makes you more fashionable on the links. Instead, bring golf mitts (lined with fleece), a wool sweater, a winter hat, earmuffs, turtlenecks, wooly socks, long johns and a blanket to drape over the cart seat.
Remember that you can lose 30% of your body heat if you don’t wear a hat. And visit your local golf store for winter golf gloves. FootJoy is one brand that makes gloves for the occasion but don’t expect to find them in a hot place like California or Florida. Every proshop in Canada carries winter gloves.
On colder days, I choose to play with softer golf balls. Choose a compression of 60, 70 or 80 at the most. If you choose higher compressions, you may lose some distance off the tee. Remember to pack rain gear. You will need something to protect yourself from the elements in case it rains or snows. I know when I am wet, I get colder faster. In my golf bag, I carry waterproof pants, an extra glove in a ziploc bag and a light jacket with a hood.
It sounds like a lot of gear to bring but you will thank me in the end. It’s better to be safe than sorry. Stay warm because I plan to.
Don’t Pay Retail for a Cruise April 23, 2008
Posted by yp2m in Shopping, Spring 2008/2009, Travel, cruise, money.Tags: boston, canada, cruise, cruise lines, cruise ships, discount, montreal, new england, retail, saving money, wholesale
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You would think that booking directly with the cruise line would save you the most money. But not in most cases. It is like walking into a hotel and making your way across the lobby to the reservations desk and asking for the price of a room. They will simply quote you the rack rate which is like the mrsp or the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.
Cruise lines operate in the same way. If you make it to their website, be prepared to pay retail prices. Unless a cruise itinerary is not popular and is not selling well, they may discount it and call it a hot deal. Otherwise, they have your attention and they are going to market their cruises to you at mrsp.
Lets put this to the test. I am shopping for a cruise to Eastern Canada/ New England, leaving from Montreal on May 17th. We have friends who live in Montreal that we have not seen for a couple of years. They have since had a baby that we would love to meet for the first time. We plan to fly in and stay a few days before boarding our ship that leaves for Boston. In Boston, I have a niece who works at the hospital as a nurse.
When I check the cruise on Holland America’s website, I see that the lowest price for an inside cabin is $1,0618.01, an oceanview cabin from $1,245.01 and it goes up from there. I will compare that with our cruise supplier and see that the lowest price for an inside cabin is only $576 an oceanview cabin from $670 and the most expensive suite is $1,328.00. (I’m ignoring the currency factor because the US dollar is almost par with the Canadian dollar). It is almost like comparing retail with wholesale prices.
I would hate to share my dinner table with someone who paid less than what I paid for, for the same cruise and possibly the same cabin category. I think it was our second cruise when we met a couple that paid less than what we paid and they had a penthouse suite on the top deck. From then on, we learned our lesson not to pay brochure prices and not to buy directly from cruise companies.
There are a number of cruise suppliers on the market. We choose to deal with one in particular because they have a price guarantee. If I find a better price elsewhere, they will match it and give me a free vacation. And as a bonus right now, they will give you the free vacation when you book a cruise with them. That should be enough incentive to get you thinking about taking a cruise this year.
3’s Company April 21, 2008
Posted by yp2m in Activities, Car, His, Sightseeing, Sports, Spring 2008/2009, Travel, golf.Tags: banff, calgary, fairmont, fish, golf, hot springs, lake louise, mineral springs, spring, trout
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Our spring golf getaway in Fairmont will most likely be cancelled. The 3 guys were going to head out next Sunday and play 3 rounds of golf in 3 days. But with the storm that blew in on Thursday evening, the whole place is under a foot of snow. I think it’s very unlikely that the snow will melt in time. And even if the snow does melt, the golf courses will be too wet to play on.
Fairmont is located about 3 hours from Calgary. It’s usually a nice drive in the Spring as you head west on Highway 1. After an hour drive out of town, you reach the tourist town of Banff. Just for fun, I heard that Banff is an acronym for ‘Be Aware, Nothing For Free’. I remember I had a good laugh when I heard about that. I’m sure it’s not funny for those who live in Banff so I apologize for laughing.
It’s another half hour from Banff to reach the majestic Lake Louise. I remembered going to see Moraine Lake and Lake Louise the first time when I visited the area. These lakes are so blue that you have to see it to believe it. I urge you to make a visit there one day to see it for yourself. And if you are curious to google-it, believe me when I tell you that the pictures were not enhanced.
Before reaching Lake Louise, you turn off on highway 95 and head south to Radium. There are a few resorts in Radium but my destination is Fairmont. Fairmont is only 20 minutes south of Radium and is near the small town of Invermere. If you golf, fish or like soaking in natural mineral hot springs then Fairmont is the place to go. It is a year round resort, with world class skiing and snowshoeing in the winter and golf and fishing in the summer. There are some incredible fishing holes as the Columbia river flows through the town. Brown trout and rainbow trout are an abundance in these areas. (Unfortunately, so are the bears.) Some of the best golf include Greywolf, Copper Point, Radium Springs and Eagle Ranch.
I was really looking forward to golfing with my 2 buddies. Instead, I think we are heading to the hot springs to soak.
Spring Cleaning your Music Collection April 11, 2008
Posted by yp2m in Activities, Spring 2008/2009, money, music.Tags: cd, cleaning, ebay, iPod, music, selling, spring
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Here’s a little spring cleaning tip for you this weekend. If you are organizing your CD collection and find that there are CD’s that you just have not played with lately, put them aside and sell them. I just did with about half of my collection. With an iPod (or other music player), this is the time to transfer your music from CD to your PC or download it directly to your player.
Selling CD’s on ebay is not easy – you still have to take a picture of it, upload the picture and write something about the artist, music, its condition, terms and conditions of the bid, sale and shipping costs. To me, that’s too much work. Go to our website to find out where to sell your unwanted CD’s, DVD’s or games painlessly and quickly. You just sign up by entering your email address, shipping address and payment type, either by PayPal or a check. Then you search for the CD that you wish to sell to get the value or their buying price. Depending on how current or how popular the CD is, they will pay 25 cents up to $5.00 for each single CD and more for boxed sets. I think in general, they are pretty fair. I just sold a Mary J Blige CD for $3 but the Aida music from Elton John and Tim Rice only fetched 25 cents. If the price is satisfactory then you check it and add it to your cart. When you checkout, all the CD’s that you plan to sell will be in the cart and the total will show a credit. From there, you can choose to buy CD’s from them or just checkout. Upon acceptance, they will display a page with your order number on it and an email will be sent to your email address. You will receive an email detailing what to do next which is to package your CD’s and address it with the order number that is in the email. When they receive your CD’s, they will credit you by sending you a check or crediting your PayPal account. And one more thing, they will credit you back for the postage that you paid when you shipped them the CD’s using the media mail rates.
When it comes to spring cleaning, the key is to reduce the clutter and this is one painless way to reduce dusty CD’s from your music collection.
There and Back in Style April 9, 2008
Posted by yp2m in Activities, Home, Lifestyle, Spring 2008/2009, Travel, cruise.Tags: balcony, cruise, los angeles, mini-suite, repositioning, vancouver
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I still remember the looks I got when I boarded our 3-day repositioning cruise to Vancouver with two sets of golf bags, four large 26” pullmans and two carry-ons. People probably thought I was nuts or moving house. I hope they thought the latter because that was exactly what I was up to, moving house. I had just finished my gig in Los Angeles and needed to haul our stuff to Vancouver, so what better way was there than to cruise in style? We sailed up on the Diamond Princess, one of the larger and grandest ship in the Princess Cruises’ fleet.
When I entered our suite, I thought I walked into the Captains’ quarters by mistake because it was so large. We had chosen to pay just a little under $300 for a mini-suite that included a queen size bed, sofa bed, sitting room and our own private balcony. And a television of course, actually there were two of them, one in the master bedroom and the other in the sitting room. Unfortunately because we had so much luggage, we used the sitting room to store our golf bags and pullmans since it would have been impossible to roll underneath our beds.
Just outside of the sitting room was a patio door that led to our private balcony. Out there were two lounge chairs and enough room to stretch out, relax and take a snooze. However, it would be too cold to attempt that on this trip. What would be nice is to have a balcony on an Alaskan cruise because from the comforts of your own cabin, you can view the glaciers in Glacier Bay, College Fjords or in Tracy Arm, instead of getting up on deck. The cruise on a repositioning usually does not include visits to intermediate ports. This cruise sailed from Los Angeles to Vancouver with no stops. Cruises like this one allow the cruise line to sail their ship to Vancouver where they will start their Alaska Cruise season later in the month. If you want the reverse route, you would have to wait until late September or early October before repositioning cruises are available from Vancouver to Los Angeles. And one more thing, unlike other cruises, casinos and onboard shops are usually closed during the sailing.
A lot of Vancouverites would fly down to Los Angeles, take the kids to Disneyland then cruise home in style. It is like having two trips in one, a visit to Hollywood and a cruise to finish off their vacation. A cruise like this is also ideal for people who live in the Los Angeles area. They simply get to the port in San Pedro and get on. Then they get off in Vancouver, stay a few days then fly back on a one-way ticket. The overall trip from either cities is as low as $420 including air fare. Again, if you apply the rule of dividing this through with the number of nights, you get a pretty economical trip at $140 per night that includes air, accomodations, entertainment and all the food you can eat.
Junos and Kudos April 5, 2008
Posted by yp2m in Car, Food, Spring 2008/2009, Travel, money, music.Tags: budget, calgary, coupons, juno, misato, money, restaurant, sushi
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Sorry about not writing sooner but today, I was traveling to Calgary, Canada where the 2008 Juno Awards is taking place this weekend. I heard from the cab driver that artists were performing on the light rapid transit every day this week, offering free music to riders. That is cool. And I guessed I missed the outdoor concert on Thursday night that rocked the city centre. But that’s ok, I have tickets for the actual Juno Awards on Sunday night before it gets broadcasted on tv.
The city is alive and kicking with music events planned all weekend long. Later today is a jam session at the Olympic Oval where they had the 1988 Winter Olympics speed skating competitions. It should be exciting for the fans to get up close and get autographs from their favorite Canadian artists.
I went out for a real nice dinner tonight at Calgary’s best sushi restaurant. It’s a little outside of the downtown core but it rocks. It’s call Misato and it’s in the Signal Hill area. Their signature roll is called the Calgary Roll and it has the freshest ingredients in it including salmon, tuna, shrimp, crab, avocado and seaweed. It is truly the best sushi in town. And talking about restaurants, please go to restaurant.com and use the code: DINING before pressing recalculate. That should give you a 50% discount off the certificates. But the coupon code is only good until Sunday, April 6.
I didn’t rent a car this weekend because I’m staying pretty close to the light rapid transit or LRT as they call it here. But if you need some codes and do not visit our site then I have two BCD codes for Budget Rent-a-Car in case anyone is renting. Use BCD U102900 if you want to pay $204 per week for a premium car rental from the airport or $194 per week from the neighborhood locations. I have weekend rates too where you can save $5 off economy rates in San Jose, compact rates in Baltimore and intermediate rate in Boston with BCD U030089. And weekly rates where you can save $25 off economy rates in Long Beach, intermediate rates in Tallahassee and standard SUV in Reno, use BCD U030088. These codes are not published anywhere, including our site so please take them down and use them in the future to save you some money.
It is a formal night again April 4, 2008
Posted by yp2m in Activities, Sightseeing, Spring 2008/2009, cruise.Tags: alaska, butchart gardens, cruise, formal, los angeles, night, Travel, vancouver, victoria
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It does not matter where you cruise to, you can never get away from bringing a suit or an evening gown, if you or your travelling companion wants formal pictures taken. Most people elect to do so but there are few that refuse to dress up for formal nights. I mean, it’s a major pain in the butt to carry a suit to a tropical location like the Caribbean or Mexico. It takes up space in your luggage and you only wear it once or twice, depending on the number of formal nights. I would just as well eat in the lounge upstairs where there are no formal nights.
On the longer cruises such as the one leaving to Barcelona on April 27th, over 13-nights there will be at least 3 formal nights. Even on the short 3-night cruises to Mexico from Los Angeles, expect to see at least 1 night. Some people say they dress up every night at home. Well, that’s probably why cruise companies have not done away with formal nights. I think it’s the night that the ship photographers get to make a killing on the professional photos that they take of you.
I’m planning on taking my mom on a 4-night cruise to Vancouver. We will have to fly to Los Angeles, take a shuttle to San Pedro where the cruise ship terminal is then sail up to Vancouver and stopping in Victoria, BC first. It is probably too early to see Butchart Gardens in Victoria this time of year. The gardens are in full bloom in May to October, but I’m afraid that the only flowers we will see are tulips and crocuses. That’s fine anyways, considering it is really the pampering that we are looking for. On these repositioning cruises, we cannot expect the casino nor the onboard shops to be open.
The cruise company is only sailing up from Los Angeles to prepare for their Alaska business that starts in May. It won’t be long for these ships to sail the inner passage to Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan. A lot of the interior cabins on the Alaska cruises are already sold out. Next are going to be the balcony suites to go. These suites are nice to be in, especially when the cruise ship enters Glacier Bay. That’s another topic for a blog in the future.
