Capture the spirit of America in three weeks with a new fly-cruise-stay holiday from Worldwide Cruise Centres (worldwidecruisecentres.com.au).
Called ‘The Grand American Getaway’, the holiday combines US icons like New York, San Francisco and Washington DC with a tour of historic America, Boston and Maine. Highlight is a seven-night cruise of the New England region, departing New York aboard Royal Princess, a superb new Princess Cruises ship.
‘The Grand American Getaway’ costs from A$8299 per person twin share, including return flights from Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne to Washington (via San Francisco) and back from New York. That rate is valid until 30 June 2014 or until sold out, whichever happens first. As well as two nights in San Francisco, two nights in Washington DC and two nights in New York, ‘The Grand American Getaway’ includes all sorts of other fascinations, ranging from the beards and buggies of Amish Country to Gettysburg, the Liberty Bell and two Canadian provinces.
The holiday departs Australia on 18 September 2014 with a flight to San Francisco for a two-night stay. After transfer from the airport by private car you’ll spend a couple of nights at the Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf hotel in San Francisco’s most popular neighbourhood, a short walk from top city attractions like Pier 39, Ghirardelli Square, Alcatraz Island ferries and the famed San Francisco Cable Car lines.
Next, jet to Washington DC, where the city’s fine Doubletree Hotel, or similar, will be your home for the next two nights. Time to explore the US capital, crammed with some of the world’s best museums. ‘The Grand American Getaway’ includes extensive exploration of Washington DC including Arlington Cemetery, plus an after-dinner illuminated tour of the city. A seven-night Historic America coach tour, with accommodation and many meals included, takes you through the region where the United States was founded. See Mount Vernon and the Jamestown settlement, with dinner at a colonial Williamsburg tavern. Spend two nights in gracious Williamsburg, Virginia, founded in 1632 as a fortified settlement on high ground between the James and York rivers.
Visit Richmond, Virginia and see Jefferson’s Monticello Estate. Enjoy a scenic drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains en route to Shenandoah National Park and historic Gettysburg, where Abraham Lincoln delivered his renowned Civil War address.
You’ll head through Amish Country, where folks still clip-clop around in horses and buggies, on your way to Philadelphia. Visit Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell before arriving finally in New York, where your ship awaits.
Set sail now on a seven-night New England cruise round trip from New York aboard Royal Princess, launched in June 2013 by (appropriately) Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn and Lady Carrickfergus (once known more simply as Kate Middleton).
Special features aboard this 3600-passenger, 17-deck, 141,000-ton ship include a top-deck glass-bottomed over-the-water SeaWalk – described by one British newspaper as “a design so obvious one wonders why no-one thought of it before”. The first of a new generation of ships for Princess Cruises, Royal Princess also offers private poolside cabanas that appear to float on the water and a Chef’s Table Lumiere that surrounds diners in a curtain of light; and balconies on all outside staterooms. All shipboard main meals (excluding specialty restaurants) are included and a bonus US$50 of onboard credit is provided per twin cabin, as a special treat.
The cruise takes you to Newport, Rhode Island, home to great mansions like The Breakers and The Elms. You’ll visit Boston, Massachusetts, America’s first great city, hailed as the “Cradle of American Independence”. Crossing into Canadian waters, Royal Princess heads to Saint John, New Brunswick and the Bay of Fundy, known for the reversing River Rapids. The fierce tides here rise with such force that they actually cause the St John River to reverse direction and its waters to flow upstream. Next, Halifax, Nova Scotia, largest city in Canada’s Atlantic Provinces. Found as Great Britain’s major military bastion in North America, it’s a beautiful city.
The next city you’ll visit is perhaps the world’s greatest: New York. You’ll spend two nights here in a four-star hotel in the Manhattan area. Time to take in Chinatown, stroll trendy SoHo and Greenwich Village, Little Italy, the Flatiron District and Gramercy Park. About 170 languages are spoken in New York City and over 35 percent of its population was born outside the USA.
After a phenomenal taste of North America, time to jet back home to Australia.
To find your local Worldwide Cruise Centres agent go to:
www.worldwidecruisecentres.com.au
SOURCE Worldwide Cruise Centres