SHORE EXCURSIONS

Depart the Port of Miami by air-conditioned coach with a knowledgeable guide and drive for approximately one hour to enter Everglades National Park. This world renowned eco-system covers about 5,000 square miles and is home to most of Florida's alligators, snakes, black bear, wild pigs, over two hundred species of birds including herons, egrets, white ibis, anhingas, roseate spoonbills, wood storks, ospreys, hawks, vultures, eagles and more, plus the endangered and nocturnal Florida Panther - less than 100 remaining in the wild. Board your airboat for a thirty-minute exhilarating ride over this “River of Grass” and hopefully come face to face with a number of these different creatures. Afterwards enjoy the various crocodilian exhibits, visit the souvenir shop or perhaps try out the alligator nuggets in the snack bar. On the drive to the airport learn about the Miccosukee and the extremely wealthy Seminoles, the two Florida tribes of Native American Indians.

OVERVIEW

Experience the very best of the island on this delightful tour! Learn about the famous fictional character Anne of Green Gables, see the sandy beach and red cliffs at Prince Edward Island National Park and enjoy a delicious traditional lobster lunch. En route, soak up the Island’s spectacular scenery and learn about island life from your local guide. You’ll drive through Charlottetown, Canada’s birthplace, before traveling into the countryside. View rolling farmlands, stunning seascapes, tiny villages, bustling harbors and enjoy a stop at a working fishing harbor. Visit Green Gables, the homestead that is featured prominently in Lucy Maud Montgomery’s book, Anne of Green Gables. Explore the rooms in the house or take a stroll down lover’s lane. Take in the stunning scenery at the beaches of Prince Edward Island National Park, gazing across the white sandy shore and sapphire blue water to the red sandstone cliffs. Enjoy a delicious lobster lunch at the Prince Edward Island Preserve Company, an island landmark. This 1913 butter factory is now a shop showcasing island products, including preserves. Take your time to browse the shop and take in the beautiful gardens before returning to Charlottetown.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Learn about the famous fictional character Anne of Green Gables.
• See the sandy beach and red cliffs at Prince Edward Island National Park.
• Enjoy a delicious traditional lobster lunch.

HELPFUL HINTS

• Weather appropriate attire.
• Comfortable Walking shoes and light jacket recommended.

Meet your guide for the day and board your comfortable air-conditioned bus and prepare yourself to experience Aruba at its finest. Enjoy your narrated tour while driving through charming Oranjestad with its Dutch Colonial architecture. Your first stop will be the Aloe Factory for a brief overview of the Aloe plantation and a tour of the Aloe Museum.

Then drive through the countryside and discover Aruba’s flora and fauna in route to the Casibari Rock formation – huge diorite boulders found in the center of the island. Board your bus and continue on to the mysterious California Lighthouse for a short stop to enjoy a breathtaking view of the island. A quick stop at the beach for a dip in the spectacular turquoise ocean concludes your tour, before returning to the cruise terminal.

Where else in the world can you tour the launch areas of a working space flight facility, have the opportunity to meet a real astronaut and stand inches away from the largest rocket ever built? Only at Kennedy Space Center! Located just minutes from Port Canaveral on Florida's Space Coast, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers a rare, behind-the-scenes look at one of mankind's most fascinating and remarkable achievements - the space program where history was, and still is, made every day. On your tour into KSC, you'll have the chance to see the Apollo/Saturn V Center which offers an inspirational and exhilarating look into mankind's quest for the moon.

There's a lot of activities offered at the Apollo/Saturn V Center, including reliving the historic launch of Apollo 8 at the Firing Room Theater; also, being able to marvel at a monstrous 363-foot Saturn V moon rocket. Pick and choose wisely since you won’t have time to see everything. Your options include seeing an IMAX® movie, the interactive Astronaut Encounter program or the Shuttle Launch Experience. Finally, your chance to be an astronaut!

Enjoy a fun cruise along St. Lucia’s coastline to experience the magnificent Pitons. As your catamaran sails out of Castries harbor, you’ll cruise along the west coast, passing the picturesque peninsulas of Vigie and La Toc. Sit out on deck to enjoy the sun and beautiful views – there’s also a cockpit onboard for those that may prefer shade. Take in the lush vegetation of the coastline and the small villages of Anse la Raye and Canaries. Continue to Soufriere Bay where you’ll see the Petit and Gros Pitons rising majestically 2,600 feet out of the sea. Enjoy great photo opportunities, capturing this wonder of nature as the catamaran circles the bay.

Continue your cruise along the coast to the scenic bay of Anse Cochon where an assortment of dry snacks will be served along with refreshing beverages before taking a relaxing swim in the lovely waters of the Caribbean Sea. Cruise to the idyllic Marigot Bay, one of the island’s most beautiful bays, famous for many battles between the English and the French. Enjoy Caribbean music as you cruise back to the pier.

OVERVIEW

Travel to a rural wildlife park for up-close looks at Tasmanian devils, kangaroos and some most-unusual other animals, then enjoy a driving overview of Burnie. Your leisurely drive inland toward Mount Dial Nature Recreation Area traverses idyllic terrain and scattered villages where life has changed little over the centuries. Once at Wings Wildlife Park, you’ll have ample free time to ramble the trails and encounter famous fauna like the Tasmanian devil and Australia’s trademark kangaroo, as well as obscure ones like the bettong, a tiny marsupial that hops around like a mini-kangaroo. Other strange and unfamiliar creatures who call the park home include boobook owls, crab-eating macaques, quolls and long-nosed potoroos. Somehow, even American bison and Japanese quail are on the resident list. The more you learn about this immense menagerie of Tasmanian wildlife and their behaviors, the more interesting they seem. Back in Burnie, you’ll enjoy a downtown drive before returning to the pier. Founded in 1828 around an excellent natural harbor on Emu Bay and surrounded by vast eucalyptus forests, the timber industry dominated the town for the next 100 years. Today, the creative arts and culinary endeavors are what Burnie is most known for.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Travel by coach to Wings Wildlife Park, the largest collection of Tasmanian wildlife in Australia.
• Spend about two hours meandering the park’s paths and encountering its residents.
• See Tasmanian devils, kangaroos, bettongs, quolls, potoroos and others in this curiosity-shop of indigenous fauna.
• Settle in for a scenic return drive across an unspoiled landscape, followed by an informative orientation spin around Burnie itself.

HELPFUL HINTS

• Dress in weather-appropriate clothing.
• Flat, comfortable, closed-toe walking shoes are recommended; no heels.
• Bring a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen as needed

After departing from the pier in a sleek catamaran, you will soon be sailing across the heart of Boka Bay. The surrounding landscape is so wild and the cliffs so precipitous that the bay is often referred to as the southernmost fjord in Europe. It’s that stunningly beautiful.

In time, the ancient village of Perast will come into view. Like Kotor, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with extraordinary Venetian-style architecture and abundant Catholic churches. One of the most beautiful churches is Our Lady of the Rocks, which sits on a tiny island in the bay. As you circumnavigate the island, you can expect to hear the legend of how it was formed—supposedly by sailors who dropped rocks in the same spot every time they sailed by in honor of the image of the Virgin Mary being seen there.

Then it’s on to the exclusive Movida Beach Club, where you might stroll along the sea, take a refreshing swim in the typically calm waters and relax in a lounge chair under the shade of an umbrella. The scenery is just as impressive as the beach, and you will have plenty of time to soak it in before boarding a coach and driving back to the pier.

Enjoy the highlights of the Danish capital with leisure time to take in the activity of your choice.

Stop for photos at The Little Mermaid, inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale. An outside visit of the Amalienborg Palace – winter residence of the Royal Family is another opportunity for more memorable pictures of your visit to the city. From the square in front of the palace you can enjoy the view just across the harbor to the beautiful Royal Danish Opera house.

Your drive takes you past some of the major highlights of the city including the colorful harbor district of Nyhavn, The Old Stock Exchange, Christiansborg Palace home to the Danish Parliament and the National Museum. You'll also drive by the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek an art museum and Tivoli Gardens, both founded by the owner of the Carlsberg Brewery, Carl Jacobsen.

Enjoy approximately two hours at leisure to explore more of the city on your own, do some shopping or simply relax and people watch.

This scenic rail tour runs in a complete circle around the island allowing visitors the opportunity to see the entire country by rail and by road. No trip to this two-island federation is complete without the experience of traveling on the new St. Kitts Scenic Railway, one of the most interesting train rides in the world. This one-of-a-kind narrow gauge railroad was built almost a century ago to deliver sugar cane from the fields to the sugar mills in the capital city of Basseterre. This still operational railway now provides a fascinating way to see the island from the comfort of double-deck railcars built specifically for touring the island of St. Kitts. All guests will have a seat on both levels of the railcar. The upper level features a spacious open-air observation deck with panoramic views of the surrounding countryside.

The lower level provides air conditioned comfort with expansive vaulted windows. Island ambiance is evoked with comfortable rattan furniture, complimentary specialty drinks, island music and a colorful narrative. The railway hugs the northeastern coastline with fields of sugarcane from the shoreline up to the mountains. The volcanic mountain ranges rise nearly 4,000 feet above sea level coated with lush green rainforests. The train rolls across tall steel bridges spanning deep canyons, and winds through small villages and farms. Your conductor will point out old sugar estates, sugar mills and windmills while giving insight in to the island’s unique history. Your experience is complimented by a scenic drive along the southern coast. Enjoy excellent vistas of Brimstone fortress, the British "Gibraltar of the Caribbean", Middle Island where an ancestor of U.S. President Thomas Jefferson’s is buried and the neighboring island of Nevis. A truly unique experience!

Observe the abundant wildlife in the naturally beautiful Patagonian steppe, highlighted by a leisurely walk among a large colony of Magellanic penguins.

After departing from the pier, you will settle in for an immensely scenic drive along the New Gulf and on to rugged Punta Ninfas on the Patagonian steppe. The vegetation here is shrubby, wind-blown and an ideal wildlife habitat. Gray fox, llama-like guanacas and various species of seabirds, including oystercatchers and albatrosses, are found in this dry landscape.

Even so, penguins are the star attractions in this part of Patagonian, as you will discover from your base at El Pedral Lodge. Perched on a cliff, the lodge was built in 1904 and some of the period furnishing still remain, including the mahogany dining table.

From here, you will head to a nearby Magellanic penguin rookery for an extended walk among these highly social birds. If you hear the penguins braying like donkeys, it is simply the way they seek mates.

You can expect to see the penguins tottering about, tending to their young, interacting with each other, and perhaps hunting small fish just offshore. A group of penguins floating in the ocean is called a raft; a group on land is sometimes called a waddle because of their awkward walk.

Lunch at the lodge follows, after which you will return to the pier.

The emerald-green sea captures the spotlight on this jaunt around Miyakojima and its neighboring islands that presents one picturesque setting after another. Not far from port, you will pause at Maehama Beach, a four-mile stretch of white sand that consistently ranks among the finest in all of Japan. The island that you will see to the north is Irabu, which you will reach by crossing the Irabu Ohashi Bridge. The span was constructed with a double-hump design and curved shape so it looks more like a natural feature than a concrete bridge. It leads to Makiyama Observatory, which offers spectacular sweeping views as well as Irabu Ohashi Bridge. From the sea, the observatory looks like a bird spreading its wings in flight. The twin Toriike Ponds are the must-see attraction on Shimojishima Island. An underground channel connects the ponds, and you may see adventurous divers emerging from it. Be sure to ask the guide about the mermaid legend associated with the Toriike Ponds.

Drive through the city of Oslo passing the Akershus Fortress, the Opera House and the Royal Palace, on your way to the Vigeland Sculpture Park. Centrally placed in the park is a 55-foot-high monolith featuring 121 stone figures of men, women, and children in their struggle for life. There are more than 200 sculptures, all symbolizing the different stages in the life of mankind. Your guide will explain the different sculptures and monuments. Your scenic drive takes you to the Bygdoy Peninsula for a visit to the Open-Air Folk Museum. Here, you can get a glimpse of traditional Norwegian culture and history. Among the 150 wooden buildings constituting the museum, is one of Norway’s unique Stave churches, dating back to around the year 1200. You’ll also visit the Kon Tiki Museum, housing a range of boats and artifacts from Thor Heyerdahl’s expeditions. See the original balsawood raft, Kon Tiki, used to cross the Pacific Ocean in 1947. The museum also contains the reed boat RA II and an exciting collection of archaeological finds from Peru, Polynesia and Easter Island.