OT---TA for European land tour

Do any of the TAs on this group book European land tours....or are they all
just cruise specialists? We are looking at an Irish tour. Or could someone
suggest a more appropriate newsgroup. Thanks. Kat

Katt, I think a few of us do Land vacation packages that do escorted tours.
Diane Giambalvo
Travel Consultant
GalaxSea Cruises And Tours
East Brunswick, NJ
1-800-357-9393
http://www.galaxseaeb.com

Kat,

As an aside, your inquiry isn't entirely OT--several cruise ships make port
stops in Dublin and Cork (it was the last port stop of the Titanic).

We made our first--but not last--trip to Ireland this summer on our own.
Have you considered self-touring? It is one of the easier places to see your
own because there is no language barrier, the country and most towns are
relatively small, and the locals are extremely friendly and helpful. Conquering
the left side of the road thing isn't that hard, either!

Here are a couple of 'net resources that I found very helpful--they will
prove handy even if you stick with your plan to go on an organized tour:

http://www.ireland.travel.ie/home/ (Irish Tourist Board)
http://www.ireland-withpatpreston.com/welcome.htm

Have fun researching and planning!

Diana Ball
Near Houston, TX
http://www.dianaball.net

NCL Sea – W Carib - Holidays 99
RCI Explorer – E Carib - Holidays 00
RCI Rhapsody – W Carib - Holidays 01 (back-to-back)
NCL Star – Hawaii - June 02
Dawn Princess – Alaska - July 02
Star Princess – Mex Riviera - Holidays 02
RCI Serenade – Transatlantic – Maiden 08/04/03
RCI Mariner – E Carib - Holidays 03



(Pandg8) wrote:
Do any of the TAs on this group book European land tours....or are they
all
just cruise specialists? We are looking at an Irish tour. Or could someone
suggest a more appropriate newsgroup. Thanks. Kat

Most of the agents who contribute to this forum also handle land and tour
packages as well as Cruises. It is just that Cruises are the primary focus here.
There are no doubt many agencies local to you that can help you as well.

Do some research to see what is available and determine what it is that is most
important to you. It may very well be that you want to go independent, or with
an escorted tour, or some combination of elements in between. There are lots of
options open these days. Good luck ......

Cal Ford
Lido Deck Cruises


In article , Pandg8 says...

Do any of the TAs on this group book European land tours....or are they all
just cruise specialists? We are looking at an Irish tour. Or could someone
suggest a more appropriate newsgroup. Thanks. Kat

just cruise specialists? We are looking at an Irish tour.

Cal Ford does land tours, have a look at his website.

http://www.lidodeckcruises.com/

Getting my husband to take a vacation when the weather is good in
Europe, is the hard part. He wants to go at Christmas, and that is
too cold for me.

It looks like we will go to Disney World.

Becca -----a warm weather wimp...

GGC http://www.ggc2004.com/
Norwegian Dawn http://www.cruisemaster.com/dawn.htm
Sleazy3 http://www.cruisemaster.com/sleazy3.htm
MOAGC http://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com/

Thank you all for the helpful replies. We are looking at an escorted tour with
CIE. The reason I came to the newsgroup is that our local agencies will not
discount at all.
Kat



Most of the agents who contribute to this forum also handle land and tour
packages as well as Cruises. It is just that Cruises are the primary focus
here.
There are no doubt many agencies local to you that can help you as well.

Do some research to see what is available and determine what it is that is
most
important to you. It may very well be that you want to go independent, or
with
an escorted tour, or some combination of elements in between. There are lots
of
options open these days. Good luck ......

Cal Ford
Lido Deck Cruises


In article , Pandg8 says...

Do any of the TAs on this group book European land tours....or are they all
just cruise specialists? We are looking at an Irish tour. Or could someone
suggest a more appropriate newsgroup. Thanks. Kat

Hi Becca:
With your husband on this one. Summer is warm enough, even hot, but off season
is when there are no big mobs of people and the prices are way down. We spent 3
weeks doing onsite research in Italy last February and it was for the most part
quite pleasant. A lot less rain than I expected. Sunny and about 65 during the
day but after the Sun set it got windy and cold. Patty got some great deals on
jackets and scarfs though. The outdoor market near San Lorenzo in Florence is a
great place for all that sort of thing.

Not this year, but in '04, we hope to do the Christmas Markets in and around
Strasbourg. Thats where Chrismas Trees were invented so seems like a good place
to start. It will be cold though with several inches of snow on the ground. All
the better for me.

What you do on a cold evening is find a Pizza place with one of those big oak
burning fireplace/ovens. Get a carafe of the house wine and spend a few hours
drinking and munching. Life don't get much better. As there are not a lot of
tourists the locals have more time and inclination to spend some time with you
and really open up and you can get a feel for their way of life, their
ambitions, their problems.

Cal Ford
Lido Deck Cruises


In article , Becca says...

just cruise specialists? We are looking at an Irish tour.

Cal Ford does land tours, have a look at his website.

http://www.lidodeckcruises.com/

Getting my husband to take a vacation when the weather is good in
Europe, is the hard part. He wants to go at Christmas, and that is
too cold for me.

It looks like we will go to Disney World.

Becca -----a warm weather wimp...

GGC http://www.ggc2004.com/
Norwegian Dawn http://www.cruisemaster.com/dawn.htm
Sleazy3 http://www.cruisemaster.com/sleazy3.htm
MOAGC http://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com/