GO ASK JOAN:From convincing a spouse to cruise to train travel in India and culture in Singapore JOAN SCALESanswers your travel questions
Convince my spouse to cruise
We will be 30 years married next year and I would love to celebrate with a cruise. My husband is taking some convincing. He is not very good at relaxing and thinks that a cruise is not for him. On holidays he likes to wander, see things and explore places. He likes cultural tours, sightseeing and the odd game of golf. Any ideas on how to make my dream come true?
– CW, Westmeath
There’s a saying in the cruise business: put the right person on the right ship and they will have a great time. And I think that is what you need to do – find the right ship for him and he will enjoy it.
The cruise that might suit your husband would be on a smaller ship with an interesting itinerary and time to explore. Azamara Club cruises come to mind. These are on two smaller luxury ships, Azamara Quest and Azamara Journey. They each carry 700 passengers.
Smaller ships have access to a greater number of ports. For instance, on one Azamara cruise the ship goes up the Garonne into Bordeaux and stays overnight – perfect for exploring the city. The ships also stay longer in ports.
An example is an 11-night trip from Southampton to the Channel Islands, Belle Isle, St Jean de Luz, Pasajes for San Sebastian, Bilbao and ends in Lisbon. There will be lots of things to see and do. In Bilbao there is time to see the Guggenheim Museum. The price is from €2,549pps including flights.
Another example is a Mediterranean cruise that begins in Nice, sails around Italy with visits to Capri, Sicily and Corfu, and then on to Rome, Florence, Venice, Monte Carlo, San Tropez and Dubrovnik. That’s plenty of interesting places to explore over 11 nights. Prices are from €2,479pps including flights.
Azamara has a cruise from Dublin next July that will, over 10 days, sail to Hamburg, via Belfast, Glasgow, Invergordon and Edinburgh, and there will be golf opportunities in Scotland.
These prices are with Cruise Trailfinders (01-8814948, cruises.trailfinders.ie) and include flights from Ireland, cabins, all meals, wine with lunch and dinner, and entertainment. Book long enough in advance on azamaraclubcruises.com and there are discounts of up to 50 per cent.
Some culture in Singapore
My sister and I are travelling to Singapore for 10 days in early November to visit our brother who works there. Do you have any advice in relation to local culture? We’d love to visit Angkor Wat although the timing is tight.
– IC, Dublin
Singapore is a multi-racial society and it will be fun to explore its various cultures. You will find Indian culture in Little India, Malay culture in Geylang Serai and Chinese culture in Little China. With such diversity, food in Singapore is great. It also has a fine zoo, a bird park and the Singapore Zoo’s Night Safari is the first wildlife park for nocturnal animals. Night Safari is on a tram that goes through eight geographic zones where you see over 115 species of animal in the 40-hectare park. The ArtScience Museum is also worth visiting. It is designed in the shape of a lotus flower.
It may be possible to fit in a trip to Cambodia and Angkor Wat. Siem Riep is about two hours by air from Singapore and I have seen flights in November for around €240. Silkair.com and Jetstar.com both fly there. A local travel firm, dynastytravel.com.sg, arranges short trips, too.
Train tips for travel in India
My 10-year-old son and I are travelling to India. We’re flying into Mumbai and wish to travel by train to Varanasi, Darjeeling, Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and back to Mumbai in three weeks. Train travel is excellent value compared to Ireland and I have booked a couple of train tickets online with cleartrip.com but others I wanted to book are “wait listed”. I’m wondering if you can explain Indian rail tickets in plain English for me as I’ve read and reread the rules around wait listing and I still don’t get what it means. If I book a wait listed ticket will we be able to get on the train?
– SG, Dublin
I asked Roshan Patheira of Indian Dreams (01-294 8412, indiandreams.ie) about this as train travel in India can be complicated.
Patheira says that if you are wait listed, you will not know till one or two days before the journey if your tickets are confirmed. You have to keep checking the status of your booking online. Generally, it is difficult to get wait list seats unless you are number one or two on the waiting list.
Train travel in India is economical compared to Ireland but even first-class air-conditioned compartments are quite basic.
Patheira recommends train journeys on certain routes, that are more reliable, like Mumbai to Delhi or shorter day journeys between Agra and Delhi. But Patheira does not recommend trains as the only mode of transport for the trip as this could be quite exhausting and trains can get cancelled or delayed.