W elcome to the Sea Tales 2018 Family Cruise Travel Planner! We are so excited to share this 2018 revised edition, which offers updated information for the cruise lines, as well as all-new sections to provide you with the most comprehensive guide to family cruising available. You’ll find that the cruise lines have expanded the children’s programs, helping to make this year’s cruise a vacation to remember, and one that they’ll ask for year after year. There are more family-centered activities for every interest—whether
you’re looking for an adrenaline rushes or quiet days basking in the sun on a private island, educational classes or expeditions that visit historic villages, museums and castles. Look for three new sections, which will give you the latest information on family suites, children’s dining, and the interactive experiences the lines offer with popular children’s book and movie characters. With a cruise vacation, the excitement begins as you begin planning … there is so much to explore, and the memories made on your family cruise vacation will remain in the months and years after your return. We’re so pleased to help you begin this journey with the Sea Tales 2018 Family Cruise Travel Planner.
We are sitting in a very unusual bar, staring—just a few feet from us—at a waterhole in Kenya. Numerous zebra are enjoying a cool drink, and I am enjoying the exotic sights and sounds and the fragrances of warm bread and appetizers being prepared…things that I have never encountered before anywhere else on my travels. The sky is utterly black, allowing me to witness millions of stars. It is truly breathtaking, and calls to mind the song, “The Circle of Life,” from the movie The Lion King. Where exactly is this magical wilderness paradise?We are inAmboseli National Park (yes, it’s part of a cruise itinerary), dominated by majestic Mount Kilimanjaro, which rises to over 19,000 feet—15,000 of which are aboveAmboseli’s acacia-dotted grasslands. Local people didn’t think that God, or gods, lived on Kilimanjaro. They thought the mountain was God, and casting your eyes on the still, glacier-topped behemoth, you are able to understand why. Kenya’sAmboseli National Park is famous for its big game, including lions, cheetahs, baboons and large elephant herds that traverse the savannahs in search of watering holes or feeding grounds. We are staying in nearby Campi ya Kanzi , one of the premier lodges inAfrica. Created by Luca andAntonella Belpietro and their Maasai partners, ya Kanzi is nestled in peaceful isolation at the base of the Chyulu Hills—the very Green Hills of Africa that so captivated Hemingway. The highlight of most Kenyan safaris is the world-famous Maasai Mara National Reserve, widely regarded as the best game- viewing park in Kenya. The “Big Five” (lions, leopards, buffaloes, elephants and rhinos) can be spotted here, and more than a million wildebeests and zebras migrate annually to Maasai Mara from the parched Serengeti plains of neighboring Tanzania in the annual “Great Migration.” Our tour also included visits to Maasai villages, where we were able to interact with local villagers. A tribal chief fell in love with the baby wipes I was using on my hands; his wife, who had never seen anything like them, became very disturbed and thought they were magic. In Kenya’s semi-arid, rugged northern region lies the Samburu Game Reserve, a small oasis that is home to many rare animals, including Grevy’s zebras, long-necked gerenuk antelopes, Somali ostriches, and reticulated giraffes. Many Kenyan safaris also visit Lake Nakuru National Park, a relatively small preserve that has been designated as a rhino sanctuary and is considered to be one of the finest places on earth for bird watching.
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2018 Sea Tales Family Cruise Travel Planner
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