Cruise Holidays - Attheta Travel

Cruise passengers who are fortunate enough to call on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, quickly understand why the International Olympic Committee chose the city to host the 2016 Summer Games. Rio’s beauty, lively spirit and delight in welcoming visitors make a visit to this city a truly memorable experience.   Two of Rio’s most recognizable symbols – the statue of Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain – are also two of its most popular attractions. You can ride a funicular railway up Corcovado Mountain to the base of the statue, enjoying spectacular views of Rio’s bays and beaches. A cable car can take you up imposing Sugarloaf Mountain, which also provides panoramic views of Rio’s incomparable setting.   If you enjoy touring historic buildings, Rio’s walkable downtown includes several churches that date back to the 17 th century. Candelaria Church, constructed over 100 years, has Baroque and Neoclassical influences. Inside the city’s Old Cathedral, the walls, ceilings a...

Those who cruise to Rome and Venice expect to be awed; but, those same vacationers are often pleasantly surprised by how much they enjoy visiting some of Italy’s lesser-known ports, such as Florence, Amalfi and Sorrento. I t’s not possible to actually sail into Florence, which is located a 75-minute drive inland from the port of Livorno in northern Tuscany. After docking at Livorno, your cruise line may provide shuttle buses to Florence or tickets for the train that leaves from the Piazza Grande. Florence was a center of culture during the Renaissance, and walking through the historic areas can feel like a trip back to the time when Michelangelo created exquisite sculptures, paintings and architecture. The artist’s iconic sculpture of David is housed at the Galleria dell Accademia, and the Uffizi Gallery has a fantastic collection of Italian masterpieces. At the city’s immense Gothic cathedral, the Duomo, you can climb more than 400 steps into the dome and be rewarded with a fabu...

This is part two of our cruisetour of SE Asia on the Azamara Quest - a 25 day tour of China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thialand, and Singapore. After our first night on the ship (Azamara Quest), we took a walking tour of Hong Kong. Fortunately, we didn’t duplicate many of the sights that we saw during our tour on the day before we boarded the ship. Have a good breakfast before you take this tour, you may lose your appetite! That evening, we watched the laser light show on the major high rise buildings in Hong Kong. I don’t believe Disney could have done a better job. It was great! About the time the laser show ended, we pulled out of the Harbor. What a view! I still believe that Hong Kong appears to be a mixture of New York City, San Francisco, and Las Vegas! They do it all in Hong Kong. Click HERE for our pictures of Hong Kong. Denang After a day at sea, we stopped at our first port: Denang in Vietnam. We skipped the war memorial tours and settled for a rickshaw ride and...

One of the reasons that a cruise is a great vacation choice is that it offers something to please every passenger. With a variety of accommodations, menus, games, pools and hot tubs, gyms and spas, on-deck activities, clubs for kids and teens, nightly entertainment, lounges, dance clubs and shore excursions – not to mention stellar service – even the most finicky travelers are bound to enjoy themselves. This is also the reason that a cruise is a fantastic choice for a group vacation. Perhaps it’s not possible to please all the people all the time, but if it can be done, it’s likely to be on a cruise ship. You can make arrangements with the cruise line for planned activities – such as receptions, lectures, meals and shore excursions – that the members of your group can enjoy together; or, you can simply let people do what interests them most. Cruise Holidays’ recent Cruise Trends survey revealed that a wide variety of groups choose to cruise together. When Cruise Holidays’ cruise expert...

Copenhagen, the largest city in Denmark and all of Scandinavia, has been a center of culture, business and science since the early 15th century. The city, known for its high quality of life, began as a merchants’ harbor. Today, the modern city is very welcoming to cruise ship passengers. Disembark at Langelinie Pier and take a short walk to the first photo opportunity of your visit: the statue of the Little Mermaid, a memorial to poet and fairy tale author Hans Christian Andersen. There are shops and cafes right in the pier area, but it’s just a 10-minute walk (or a quick taxi or bus ride) to all the sights of downtown. Copenhagen also has hundreds of brightly colored “City Bikes” that residents and visitors can use for free – you’ll just need to insert a 20-kroner coin to unlock a bike (you’ll get another coin back when you return the bike to any of the 125 City Bike racks around town). Some great neighborhoods to tour include Stroget, which is full of wonderful shopping, and the fash...

Cruise into Stockholm, Sweden, and you’ll understand why it’s called the “Venice of the North.” From the Baltic Sea, you’ll pass an archipelago of roughly 24,000 islands dotted with cottages and summer homes. The city itself is located on 14 islands, connected by more than 50 bridges, at the mouth of Lake Malaren. The main cruise ship dock is right in the city, though if it’s a busy day, your ship may dock at a commercial port a short distance away. At either port, shuttles and taxis make it easy to get to downtown Stockholm. Gamla Stan (Old Town) is located just a bridge away from downtown. This original part of the city, which dates from the 13th century, is on an island surrounded by medieval walls. Inside the walls is Stockholm Palace, where you can tour some of the 680 rooms (others are used as offices by Sweden’s royal family). The city’s 15th century cathedral, Storkyrkan, is a stunning example of Swedish Brick Gothic architecture: inside, don’t miss the famous wooden statue of ...