The effects of flooding on the many casino boats that ply the Mississippi River will be chronicled in the next issue of Casino magazine, available the first week of August.
“People think, `Riverboats? Well, they float,’ ” says managing editor Catherine Jaeger. “But it’s not as simple as that because they all have these huge facilities they dock near, and it’s those places that really got socked.”
The monthly magazine, which is aimed at Midwestern consumers interested in visiting gaming establishments, will publish a “scorecard” on the riverboats, primarily those between Galena, Ill., and the Quad Cities but also some downriver, that will detail how each is coping.
In June, the United States Army Corps of Engineers closed sections of the Mississippi to all commercial traffic, forcing riverboats to stay dockside. According to Casino magazine, the Mississippi Belle in Clinton, Iowa, is offering free admission to draw customers. The Alton Belle in that Illinois town has reduced its ticket prices and is donating $2 of each ticket to flood-relief efforts. The President Riverboat Casino in hard-hit Davenport, Iowa, has been relocated and has been back in business since July 14. (Across the river on the Illinois side, the Casino Rock Island riverboat has maintained service without interruption.)
The two-year-old magazine is available for $2.95 at many newsstands, convenience stores and malls; subscriptions are $26.55 for 12 issues. Call 800-950-9467.
Soviet, Baltic history
Russian and Soviet military history is the theme of a 2 1/2-week tour led by Bob Feldman, professor emeritus of Russian history at California State University, Fullerton, from Sept. 2-19. Formerly closed areas such as the Kronstadt and Sevastopol naval bases and the Kubinka tank grounds outside Moscow are on the itinerary, as are Yalta, Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) and the Crimean. Entertainment and meetings with Russian military veterans also are included. Cost is $3,730 double occupancy (single supplement, $475) and includes airfare from New York, accommodations, all meals, tours and transportation. For information, call 800-359-6719.
A span of seven days and six nights aboard the MV Sergei Kirov on waterways in the Russian interior between St. Petersburg and Moscow will be the centerpiece of a two-week tour from Sept. 17-30. Three days and nights in the two cities will be filled with performances at the Maryinsky and Bolshoi theaters, visits to the Hermitage and Pushkin museums, the Kremlin, Catherine the Great’s palace and more. Cost is $5,828 double occupancy (single supplement, $1,748) and includes Russian language lessons and lectures and all meals aboard ship, accommodations at the Hotel Europe in St. Petersburg and the Hotel Metropol in Moscow, plus buffet breakfast and dinner in both cities and all sightseeing expenses. Call Traveltime at 312-726-7197 or 800-621-4725.
Stanley Balzekas, of the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture in Chicago, will lead a tour to the Baltic region, visiting Lithuania and the Latvian capital of Riga Aug. 16-28. Among the many cultural stops: the hill forts and archeological excavations of Kernave, the first capital of ancient Lithuania, near Vilnius; universities and cathedrals in Vilnius; the Ciurlionis and War museums in Kaunas; folk art and music and the Museum of Amber in Palanga; Klaipeda’s sculpture park; the Hill of Crosses shrine near Riga; numerous castles and more. The cost of $2,795 double occupancy ($350 extra for singles) includes airfare, all meals except in Copenhagen on the return leg, transfers, tours, Lithuanian language cassette and tour guides. Deadline for reservations is Aug. 3; call 312-582-6500.
Fun for Fantastic Flyers
Delta Air Lines has introduced the Fantastic Flyer Funfeast meals and games for children at no extra charge on all meal/snack flights in the U.S., from the U.S. to destinations abroad and on flights originating in Frankfurt, Germany. Travelers aged 2 to 12 can have pepperoni pizza, chicken nuggets or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, plus a take-home container with puzzles and games, toys and stickers. Parents must request the Funfeast when making reservations or at least six hours before departure.
The newest overseas edition of the “Airline Seating Guide” is available and includes VASP Brazilian Airlines for the first time. The pocket-sized guide compiles 248 seating charts from 45 airlines with information on seats with the most leg room, seats for disabled passengers and smoking and non-smoking sections. The overseas edition is $17.50; the U.S. edition, covering domestic carriers, costs $15. Call 310-493-4877.
Eyeing the Bears and cranes
Football season is around the corner. Travel packages for all away games are being offered by Sports Passion Tours Inc., with the first slated for Sept. 11-13 in Minneapolis. The $269 a person cost for a double ($239 triple, $219 quad) includes roundtrip motorcoach, sandwiches, snacks and soft drinks en route, pregame breakfast buffet, two nights’ lodging and lower-level ticket for the Bears-Vikings contest. For reservations or information on tours throughout the season, call 708-357-9100.
Visitors to the Wisconsin Dells or elsewhere near Baraboo might consider stopping at the International Crane Foundation, which labors to replenish the numbers of endangered birds. This year has seen a bumper crop of chicks, including wattled cranes, which are indigenous to Africa; whooping cranes, the most threatened species; Siberian and black-necked cranes; many of these birds are on display in the chick yard. Admission is $5 for adults, $4.50 for seniors, $2.50 for children aged 5-11 and free for those 4 and under. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, with guided tours at 10 a.m. and 1 and 3 p.m. at no extra cost. ICF is five miles north of Baraboo, off U.S. Highway 12 at Shady Lane Road. Call 608-356-9462.
Nature in the Caribbean
The island of Bonaire in the Dutch Caribbean is sponsoring its second annual Birdwatching Olympics and Nature Week Sept. 19-25, focusing on environmental protection and offering access for birders to private property and expanded hours at the Washington/Slagbaai National Park. Some of the avian rarities among the 190 species indigenous to Bonaire include the Caribbean eleania, the Amazona parrot and the Caribbean parakeet. A $75 registration fee provides visitors with an information packet and maps, bird checklist, competition rules, T-shirt, ticket to an awards luncheon plus a half-day snorkeling trip at uninhabited Klein Bonaire island and a tour of an experimental nursery. For information, call 800-826-6247.
A 15-day tour of Costa Rica will explore the varied habitats in that environmentally conscious nation. Sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund, the trip, from Jan. 22-Feb. 5, 1994, will take in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, home to the quetzal; the wetlands and dry tropical forest of Palo Verde National Park; Corcovado National Park’s white beaches and virgin rain forest populated by scarlet macaws and howler monkeys, and more. Cost is $4,290 a person double occupancy ($440 single supplement) and includes accommodations, most meals, roundtrip airfare from Miami to San Jose and land travel, guides, park fees and WWF instructional materials. Non-WWF members pay $15 for one-year membership. Call 202-778-9683 or 415-328-3636.
