Ports of Call: Planning Cruise Ship Excursions

One of the decisions you have to tackle after you pick a cruise is whether or not to partake in organized ship excursions or to wing it and do your shore excursions alone.

The choice is dependent upon many factors including the size of your group and the size of your budget and, for our family of four, we find that a blend of the two works best.

Some ships dock in ports that are well located and easy to get around. Others, not so much.

Some cruise ship excursions add benefits that are hard to obtain on your own and others are simple to replicate.

If you are travelling to the Caribbean, you should check out Fodor's Caribbean Cruise Ship Ports of Call on Amazon by clicking right here.

Bon voyage!
Brenda

Cruising in Europe: How To Choose A Cruise

My family travelled to Europe and enjoyed a Baltic cruise. It was wonderful and I returned home full of enthusiasm for recording some of our adventures. It is my hope that the pages that I put together will prove helpful to others contemplating a cruise in Europe.

Tthe first page I wrote was How To Choose A Cruise in Europe. If you are thinking of cruising in Europe, you might want to check it out. On that page, you will find a discussion of things to consider when thinking about a cruise in Europe including the wonderful reasons for cruising in Europe, what to think about before you pick a cruise and some excellent travel guides.  Plus from there, you will find links to my other travel pages with new ones coming just as soon as I complete my next vacation.

Of course, I always say to buy a couple of great travel books. They are very inexpensive and very helpful. If you are spending a lot of money on a trip, don't begrudge buying a good travel guide like this Complete Guide to European Cruises by Fodor's. I promise you won't be sorry that you did.

EDITED TO ADD:

This book is currently out of print. But you can see what Fodor's travel guides are available now by clicking right here.

Happy Trails To You!

Travel to Venice, Italy with Johnny Depp in The Tourist

Excited I was. I was looking forward to going to Venice on December 10, 2010 with Johnny Depp. Did you want to join us?

Along with Johnny Depp, you will find Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany, Rufus Sewell and Timothy Dalton along for the journey.

In the 2010 movie The Tourist, Depp played an American travelling in Italy who was befriended by the beautiful Jolie.  Jolie was, however, trying to fool the people who were trying to locate her boyfriend into thinking that Depp was the one they were looking for...

Billed as a thriller, this movie is also a romantic comedy.

Take two of Hollywood's top stars throw in a bit of Venice...and it looked like a winner. 

So? What do you think? Would you like to go travelling with Johnny Depp? Did you join him in the beautiful city of Venice, Italy or would you like to? Perhaps you would prefer to go with Angelina Jolie?

Brenda
Treasures By Brenda
You Never Know What I
Might Have In Store For You

Quick Links:

Buy The Tourist on Amazon.

Not Really Scary Movies For Halloween

In advance of Halloween, I know that a few of you are looking for a good scary movie that's not quite so scary so I thought I would give you a few to consider.  These recommendations are all based on pages that I have written on other blogs and websites. By following any of the underlined links, you will be able to read more about each of the movies.

Starting with scary movies for tweens, you might want to consider my list, Not Too Scary Movies For Tweens or Pre-Teens on Halloween on which you will find six movies that are appropriate for tweens.

On that list, you will find one of the best best Blu-ray movies of 2009, the 3D stop motion movie, which is suitably eerie,  Coraline.

You might also check out Under Wraps, a lesser-known cult-favorite Disney movie. If you don't enjoy watching dated footage, you will not want to watch this one but if you can put those concerns aside, you might have fun with this movie.

Audrey Hepburn's Wait Until Dark is an excellent choice for those of us who like psychological thrillers. This is one to watch with the lights out, exactly as they did when this Audrey Hepburn movie first aired in the movie theatres in the 1960s.

Then there is Oliver's Ghost, a Hallmark Halloween movie. Nothing about Hallmark can be too scary, can it?

I hope you find an interesting scary movie choices for your Halloween viewing...and I'd love to hear your recommendations, particularly for scary movies that are thrillers rather than horror movies.

Brenda
Music and Movie 

Treasures By Brenda

The Charlie Brown Valentine Television Special

Recently, I watched the classic children's television program by Charles Schulz featuring all of the Peanuts gang.  I don't know when I last saw it, but I had definitely forgotten what happened to Charlie Brown in this television special.

Do you know what happened? How'd it make you feel?  My bottom jaw hung open for literally minutes. I honestly could not believe that those kids were that mean.

If you've seen the special and know what happened to Charlie Brown, I'd love to hear what you thought. 

Are you ready?  Seems like it was just Christmas but Valentine's Day IS coming and it is coming quickly!

Brenda

Quick Link:

Buy the Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown television special.