You can dance all night and still feel the world floating under your feet long after the band has stopped playing on dance cruises sponsored by Ballroom Dancers Without Partners. Catering to singles over 50 who love ballroom dancing, Ballroom Dancers Without Partners has a full array of cruise packages available in the waters of North America, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.
You’ll see the California Coast, Pacific Northwest, western Canada and the Alaska panhandle on an 11-night dance cruise July 18-29 from San Francisco. There are stops in Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia, on the way to Sitka, Skagway and Ketchikan, Alaska, before returning to San Francisco. The cost of the cruise ranges from $2,150 per person double occupancy for an inside cabin to $2,350 for a cabin with an ocean view (single supplements available). Port charges are $210.
A weeklong dance cruise to the western Caribbean sails Aug. 2-9 from Ft. Lauderdale. Ports of call are Key West, Fla.; Playa del Carmen and Cozumel, Mexico; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; and George Town, Grand Cayman Islands. The cruise costs $1,075 per person double occupancy for an inside cabin and $1,150 for an ocean view (single supplements available). Port charges are $149 per person.
If you’re looking for a quick respite from next winter, Ballroom Dancers Without Partners has a four-night cruise Dec. 1-5 from Miami with stops in Key West, Playa del Carmen and Cozumel. The trip costs $600 per person double for an inside cabin and $625 for an ocean view (single supplements available).
Port charges are included.
The Ballroom Dancers Without Partners cruise includes all accommodations, all meals, pre-dinner dance get-togethers, daily dance activities including group lessons, and gentlemen hosts to make sure that every lady who wants to dance has a partner. For those who are traveling alone but do not want the added expense of a single cabin, Ballroom Dancers Without Partners will arrange a cabin share. Other dance-cruise packages are available. Call 800-778-7953
Turkish delight
Classic Journeys will take you to Turkey for an 11-night land-and-cruise package that features ancient civilization and the crystal blue waters of the eastern Mediterranean. Four trips run May 4-15, June 29-July 10, Sept. 21-Oct. 2 and Oct. 5-16 and include six nights aboard a 70-foot teakwood vessel sailing Turkey’s western Turquoise Coast. You’ll explore the sites of Istanbul, a crossroads of European, Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, and Ephesus, sometimes called one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World. Sailing from Izmir, you’ll visit the coastal villages and ancient ruins at Caunos, Oludeniz, Patara and Kas.
The trip is limited to 12 members and costs $2,295 per person double (single supplement $700) from Istanbul. The price includes all accommodations on land and sea, breakfast and dinner on land and all meals on board the yacht, two intra-Turkey flights, and all museum and attraction fees. The yacht has six double cabins with private baths and hot showers as well as deck area for sunning and lounging. If the tour dates are inconvenient, Classic Journeys is happy to make private arrangements for your group. Call 800-200-3887, or visit its Web site (http://www.classicjourneys.com).
Arctic blitz
It’s only a 32-hour tour, but this trip to the Arctic will give you enough memories and stories to tell for a lifetime. Marine Expeditions is offering a blitz tour from Chicago to the high Arctic that includes a cruise in Arctic waters under the midnight sun of the summer solstice. You’ll leave at 8 a.m., June 21, from O’Hare International Airport and return at 4 p.m. the next day without seeing the sun set. Your four-hour flight on a privately chartered Boeing 727 will take you to Sondre Stromfjord, just above the Arctic Circle on the west coast of Greenland.
Once in Greenland, you’ll tour the former U.S. military air base and then proceed on foot and by bus to see local populations of musk ox, reindeer, peregrine falcons, Arctic fox and hare. You’ll then board an ice-capable cruise ship and sail out the world’s longest fiord to view the majestic icebergs and glaciers of Greenland’s coast. You’ll have dinner onboard, which will be followed by an all-night cocktail reception under the summer sun. The next “morning” you’ll have a hot breakfast and take a zodiac excursion before returning to Sondre Stromfjord for the flight back to Chicago.
This midsummer tour costs $795 per person double (single supplement $400) and includes round-trip air fare from Chicago, cruise ship accommodations, all meals and the ground program. The price does not include air or ship taxes, which total about $100. Call 416-964-2569.
Exotic ports
Plan now for an exotic Indian Ocean cruise March 1-20, 1998. Natural Habitat Adventures is leading a 19-day voyage that explores the wildlife of the Seychelles, Madagascar, Comoros and Zanzibar, which have some of the world’s most unspoiled palm forests and coral lagoons. The tour begins in London with a flight to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where you’ll board the cruise ship. You’ll visit the isle of Zanzibar off the Tanzanian coast, the three-island nation of Comoros, make several stops in Madagascar, and then proceed to the Seychelles before returning to Dar es Salaam for your flight home. All the while you’ll have a chance to explore the rich wildlife of this relatively isolated region of the world.
The price of the tour ranges from $6,990 to $11,980 per person double (single supplements range from $9,786 to $16,772) from London and includes all accommodations, all meals, entrance fees and port charges. Natural Habitat can arrange for your round-trip flight to London. Call 800-543-8917, or visit Natural Habitat’s site on the World Wide Web (http://www.nathab.com).
Coastal exploration
Brookfield Zoo is taking a group to Peru May 6-19 in conjunction with its new exhibit, “The Living Coast.” The tour features an exploration of Peru’s coast, where you’ll search for jellyfish on San Lorenzo Island and view Humboldt penguins, sea lions and 215 species of birds on the Ballestas Islands.
Despite its billing, the trip is not restricted to coastal areas. You’ll also travel inland to see the 2,000-year-old Nazca Lines from the air as well as visit Arequipa to see its churches, cathedral and convents of La Compania and Santa Catalina. You’ll spend three days in the Colca Valley in the Andes viewing a wide array of flora and fauna.
“The Living Coast” tour costs $4,595 per person double (single supplement $550) and includes round-trip air fare from Chicago, land and air transportation, most meals and entrance fees.
A May 17-23 extension to Machu Picchu is available for $1,320 per person double (single supplement $210). Call 708-485-0263, ext. 307. (If you can’t make the trip, “The Living Coast” exhibit opens May 1 at Brookfield Zoo.)
