Exotic trips to Africa (in this case, actually a pre-trip to my cruise aboard the Marco Polo) aren’t the only memorable excursions I’ve had during my cruise travels. The emergence of “water tourism”—greatly expanded from times when ships were simply a means of transportation from one continent to another—has come a long way in making such memorable excursions attainable to travelers of every age and background. Ecotourism—allowing travelers to discover the fragile and pristine places of the earth—has also grown in recent years, fostering the opportunity for a greater public awareness and promoting better ways to save and protect our global environment for the benefit of future generations. Over the years, my travel companions have been many and varied. They include a member of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, a young artist in St. Petersburg who drew beautiful paintings that hang in my home, famous sculptors from Nairobi, and travelers from all walks of life throughout the world. It never fails to strike me that, while we may all originate from different nationalities and cultures, we all share common hopes, dreams and aspirations that unite us in the truest global sense. The opportunity for global travel has increased the ability of people worldwide to broaden their horizons in every sense of the world. From my own experience, some of these personal enrichment opportunities have included, and taken me to…
The Hawaiian Islands, where Captain Woo of the lovely SS Independence once sent one of the staff to my cabin to awaken my family at 4 a.m. Once on deck, we watched the sunrise illuminate hundreds of majestic female humpback whales, frolicking with their calves. The Panama Canal, aboard the Pacific Princess, where once I travelled with David McCullough, author of “Path Between the Seas.” This book, about the creation of the Panama Canal won the National Book Award in History. Former President Jimmy Carter later said that the treaties that handed over ownership of the Canal to Panama would not have passed had it not been for David’s book. My travels gave me the opportunity to lecture throughout Canada with
Lars-Eric Lindblad, a noted environmentalist and a man who pioneered tourism to many remote and exotic parts of the world. I met him as part of the Orient Lines team when they acquired a Russian ice-breaker and refitted it as the Marco Polo, an expedition ship. Lindblad also believed tourism had been responsible for saving many threatened ecosystems and species. In opening remote and exotic areas of the world to tourism, he became widely recognized as a prominent figure of ecotourism. I’ve had the good fortune of experiencing 67 cruise voyages (some of which were inaugural journeys) on such well- known lines such as Princess Cruises, the former Norwegian American Line which owned the Sajafjord and Vistafjord and American Hawaii Cruises (the only line to carry the American Flag in the last century), Cunard Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, Sitmar, Royal Viking Line, Royal Caribbean Line, Celebrity Cruises, Carnival, Holland America Line, and my personal favorite, Regent Seven Seas Cruises. (You can read more about my experience and background in travel here.) Dear reader, my hope is that you find this story so compelling that you cannot wait to take a cruise vacation with your family. I have been blessed with a career that mixes my love of travel with writing about and sharing it with others. This book is truly a labor of love! Bon Voyage! Heidi Heidi M. Allison Shane CruiseCompete & AllThingsCruise
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