FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA: RECOMMENDED NORTH AMERICAN TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES

By Tom Gannon, Lynn Travel Inc. 

Many people are desiring to stay close-er to home in the short-term, at least. You have a variety of ways to accomplish that goal, including motor coach tours, riverboat cruises and trips incorporating train travel and cruise ships.

For those interested in a motor coach tour, Collette, which recently was cited by Travel Weekly Reader's Choice Awards as the top tour operator-domestic and the top tour operator-Canada, is the number one option. Tauck is also recommended and Trafalgar's premium, Insight Tours, is another option.

It is neck and neck between American Cruise Line (ACL) and American Queen for the best domestic river cruise line, Viking is now in the market, but many have universally panned them as overpriced and not delivering on service. I go back and forth on which is better, but ACL has, now, edged American Queen. Their ships are newer, the itineraries more varied and they have not experienced the number of high or low-water events on the Mississippi that American Queen has.

Train travel, particularly in the West and Canada, is an emerging trend. Collette offers one tour featuring the Rocky Mountaineer which spends two days on the train with an overnight in a four-star hotel at the end of day one. The other tour, Canadian Rockies by train, is two days of train travel and a night in a compartment on the luxurious VIA Rail Canadian. More extensive train-only itineraries are offered by Rocky Mountaineer and VIA.

Norwegian Cruise Lines offers the only itinerary that is from Honolulu to Honolulu. All other Hawaiian Island cruises start or end in the US or Canada and that requires spending 4 or 5 days at sea. The most popular four-island tour of Hawaii is offered by Perillo, and this is closely followed by Collette's tour with a similar itinerary. Both offer a three-island alternative. 

With Collette's 40 coach tours of Canada and the US, it is hard to narrow the list down, but here are some suggestions: National Parks of America, Montana; Exploring Big Sky Country; America's Cowboy Country; Islands of New England; Roaming Coastal Maine; Spotlight on Santa Fe; California Dreamin'; Alaska: America's Last Frontier; Canadian Rockies & Glacier National Park; The Best of Eastern Cana- da; and Maritimes Coastal Wonders.

American Cruise Line's varied itineraries include the Mississippi River, Puget Sound, Columbia and Snake Rivers, Alaska, various New England journeys, other east coast trips featuring the Chesapeake Bay/Potomac River, the intercoastal waterway, the west coast of Florida from St. Petersburg to Key West and several featuring National Parks tours.

American Queen does not have as many ships or itineraries, but they do have the American Queen, the largest steamboat ever built at 420 feet long and accommodating 417 passengers in an elegant style. The theater is reminiscent of a 19th-century opera house and offers Broadway-style performances. American Queen concentrates on the Mississippi, Illinois, Tennes - see and Cumberland Rivers, while also offering Alaska and British Columbia. 

Celebrity continues to be the preferred cruise line for Alaska, with varied itineraries and the opportunity to add a land pack- age at the beginning or end of the cruise. After suffering huge financial losses during the Pandemic, Carnival, Holland America, Princess and Norwegian are not offering the same quality meal service and entertainment as before and are engaging in some deceptive advertising as well as "nickel and diming." Celebrity, and parent company Royal Caribbean, have not been immune from this but have a reputation for rebounding faster than the others.

For those wanting to explore New England, Nova Scotia and the St. Lawrence River to Quebec City on a large ship, Celebrity offers several Boston-to-Boston cruises of 9, 10, or 11-night durations. To explore the Pacific coast, Celebrity has six- and seven-night cruises originating in Los Angeles or Vancouver.

I thought things would slow down for both domestic and international travel by now, but that is not the case. Book early and know the trip protection policy that you purchase.