Travel is my great elixir. The anticipation of new experiences usually even stifles my fear of flying. My tastes are eclectic — I can’t get enough of London and Paris and just about any place in Italy, especially Florence and Venice. Historic places — the ruins of Pompeii, Ephesus and the Parthenon — are turn-ons and remain vivid in my mind’s eye. Likewise, but on another level, I won’t forget eating my way through the 3-star Michelin guide bastions of haute cuisine in France. Cruising is a favorite, low-impact (unpack once!) way to travel. For total relaxation, I head for the Caribbean. But, wherever I head for whatever reason, these are some of my very favorite places — and experiences.
Best luxury cruise in a small ship category: Sea Goddess I or II. Will it be caviar or foie gras or a shrimp cocktail with cocktails — served in your suite or in the bar? (Or, anytime/anywhere for that matter.) What’s a girl to do when she can have them all, cholesterol be damned. Ah, life aboard a Sea Goddess ship, just you and 115 (give or take a few) fellow passengers are faced daily with such heavy decisions. But having it all is part of living the good life on the yacht-like Sea Goddess ships, which cruise the world. Challenge the chef to a special meal. He expects you to. Tell the maitre d’ to serve dinner for two (or you and your new-found friends) on the deck overlooking the pool. No problem. Dine course-by-course in your room. “What time would you like dinner, Madam?” Don’t like the wine (included in the rate) that’s being served with dinner? Ask the sommelier if he has anything else tucked away, say, a nice Burgundy? Chances are, he’ll be back with a bottle faster than you can say Nuits St. George.
Even the beach parties are luxurious and elegant. Besides fine wine and food, a traditional scene is this: a few steps from shore (that means in the water), fully attired waiters serve champagne and caviar for daring guests who make the effort to wade out and partake. Quite a caper.
Back on the ship and before heading back to your suite to dress for dinner (elegant attire prevails), you might slide into the saltwater swimming mini-pool or have a massage. Minor complaint: No suites have verandas.
Best luxury cruise in a medium-sized category: Crystal Symphony. This 940-passenger ship has it all. (Sister ship is the Crystal Harmony.) Outstanding food, service, well-designed and appointed rooms (more than 50 percent of the 480 have verandas, handsome bars and showrooms, Broadway-style entertainment, guest lecturers (Linda Ellerbee is a favorite) and special theme cruises (food and wine is also a favorite). There’s butler service and other goodies for suites on the penthouse deck.
Besides the elegant main dining room with its top-notch wine list, there are two alternative and smaller restaurants (reservations a must): Prego (Italian) and Jade Garden (Chinese).
My two-week Mediterranean trip was a highlight of years of cruising. An outstanding lecturer prepared guests for trips to Santorini, Ephesus, Istanbul and other ports. And though I was thrilled to explore new destinations, I yearned for more days at sea to soak up the comfort and luxury of the ship: relaxing with afternoon tea accompanied by a string quartet, indulging in a delicious massage, checking out a book from the library, ordering a room service lunch on my veranda. Ah, the veranda.
Best ship in a class by itself: Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2). The last of the great ocean liners, and the only ship afloat with a class system — your room category determines where you eat. Tops is Grill Class: Guests in the most expensive rooms on the penthouse deck — with butler service — take meals in the Queens Grill; guests in ultra deluxe and deluxe rooms dine in the Princess or Britannia Grill. Then comes Caronia and Mauretania Class, also the names of the restaurants where passengers dine. (QE2 can carry about 1,700 passengers.) But with the exception of the cozy and private Queens Grill Lounge (for Queens Grill guests only), public areas are open to all.
A few years ago on a four-day cruise from New York to Bermuda, I had the chance to sample all the restaurants. Granted, the Queens Grill was most impressive with tableside food presentations, and the Princess and Britannia Grills were wonderful too, but the Caronia and Mauretania dining rooms held their own — perhaps not as fancy as the Grill dining rooms, but I was impressed by the food presentation, service and surroundings.
This is one ship I definitely want to return to — next time for a transatlantic crossing — regardless of what class I can afford.
Most relaxing, secluded — and romantic — resort: For the last 30 some years, I’ve traveled to just about every island in the Caribbean in search of the perfect hideaway. A resort with plush, not stuffy rooms, tasty food with an accent on local specialties and enough of a beach — or surrounding grounds — where I can get up from my chaise longue and a good book to take a walk. I don’t need sailboats or windsurf boards. A nice place to snorkel counts, as does a tennis court for when I’m feeling feisty.
A few years ago I found my nirvana: Petit St. Vincent in the Grenadines, about 100 miles south of Barbados and 40 miles south of St. Vincent. Part of its charm is its remoteness. Guests take a small plane from Barbados or St. Vincent to Union Island, then board the resort’s boat launch for the 15-minute ride to PSV (no airstrip on the island), then are whisked to one of 22 one-bedroom stone cottages scattered on the hills, built into the cliffs and nestled along the beach around the 113-acre island amid palms, bougainvillea and sea grapes. Each has a private sundeck, but no phones or TV. For room service, hoist a yellow flag outside the cottage. Or, send up a red flag for privacy.
Cottages are so comfortable that it’s tempting to stay put — even for all meals. (Some guests do.) But the bluff-top pavilion dining room is enchanting by candlelight for dinner. (Buffet lunches are served there too.)
For water enthusiasts, PSV offers the usual array of possibilities. There’s also a tennis court and a fitness trail. No swimming pool, but plenty of beach for taking a dip.
Runner-up to PSV: Meridian Club, Pine Cay, Turks & Caicos Islands.
Closer to the States (90 minutes by air from Miami) is the Meridian Club on Pine Cay, a small island off Providenciales (Provo) in the Turks & Caicos Islands. Like Petit St. Vincent, it’s the only resort on the island. Unlike PSV, there is an airstrip for the short hop from Provo, or guests can take a boat launch to the 800-acre island.
Fronting a beautfiul 2-mile-long beach are 12 suites, which have separate sitting and sleeping areas, a screened-in porch and outdoor patio. Near these is a very private, free-standing, on-the-beach cottage.
There’s a nice swimming pool, sailboats, windsurf boards, bicycles and a tennis court. Bonefishing is excellent.
Favorite small island: Two miles from St. Kitts in the British West Indies is the 39-square-mile island of Nevis, birthplace of Alexander Hamilton and home to a group of small, charming 200-year-old inns. The new kid on the block, the award-winning Four Seasons Resort Nevis (196 rooms and suites), has perfected island elegance and boasts an 18-hole golf course with dramatic views of the sea. But I’m lured to places like the 38-room Nisbet Plantation Beach Club (built as a sugar plantation in 1778), or the 17-room Montpelier Plantation Inn high above the sea near Nevis Peak (3,232 feet). The late Princess Diana once was a guest, and it was at the Montpelier estate that Lord Admiral Nelson met and married local girl Frances (Fanny) Nisbet in 1787.
Favorite upscale island: St. Barthelemy (St. Barts) in the French West Indies. The St. Tropez of the Caribbean is tres chic and, in season, tres expensive. But if you’re after glamorous hotels, excellent restaurants (usually French), beautiful beaches (topless bathers at some), designer shops and great people-watching (I once saw Christie Brinkley in the airport), look no further. On a recent visit, I checked out the newly revamped Eden Rock hotel as well as Le Toiny, Francois Plantation, Hotel St. Barth Isle de France and the Carl Gustaf. All are luxuriously appealing, and I’d be hard pressed to pick one over another. On the other hand, renting a villa is an option too. I’ve enjoyed doing that. Supermarkets stock gourmet foodstuffs, but who wants to cook when the island is filled with some of the best restaurants in the Caribbean?
Best train ride: Venice Simplon-Orient Express. OK, so the cabins are crunchingly cozy and the bathroom is down the corridor. But my overnight ride from Venice to Paris was well worth such “inconveniences.” Like a trip on the QE2, a journey on a vintage Orient Express train is a throwback to an age of opulent travel. Cars are outfitted with Art Deco lamps, marquetry panels, upholstered armchairs, glass-etched panels. The bar car comes with a resident pianist. Dining cars have tables set with china, crystal and silver, and French chefs amaze passengers with multi-course meals prepared in a kitchen the size of a closet. The Venice to Paris leg is part of the Venice to London route.
Best Mexican town without a beach: Oaxaca. Blame it on the brightly painted, whimsically carved wooden animals, which made me curious about Oaxaca, about an hour by air from Mexico City. This charming colonial town is filled with beautiful old churches and cathedrals, fine architecture, bustling markets (some of the best in Mexico) filled with foodstuffs and crafts (black pottery and textiles are specialties) and friendly Zapotec people. A great way to soak up the atmosphere of Oaxaca (pronounced wah-HAH-kah) is to have lunch or a drink at one of the cafes on the zocalo (central plaza) and watch the town’s goings-on. Food was excellent. A bonus for a visit to Oaxaca are the ruins of the ancient city of Monte Alban a few miles from town.
Best place (in Europe) for a hike: Italy’s Cinque Terre — which means “five towns” and adds up to some of the most spectacular scenery I guarantee you’ll ever see. About a three-hour drive from Milan and 60 miles from Genoa (trains run from both cities) are the Lugurian coastal hilltowns of Monterosso, Vernazza, Riomaggiore, Corniglia and Manarola. Linked together by ancient footpaths — and accessible by a local train — the towns are less than two hours apart, and the walk takes you through vineyards terraced into the steep hillsides and along the coast where cliffs overlook the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean. Largest is Monterosso with the only beach and the most restaurants and hotels, all small. Dramatically positioned is the Hotel Porto Roca, built into a cliff above the town; rooms on the top floor have large terraces facing the sea and beautiful sunsets — get one. Pesto is a Ligurian specialty. Seafood is outstanding too.
Best place (in the Caribbean) for a hike: Dominica, a dot of an island between Guadeloupe and Martinique. About 250 inches of rain yearly make for lush rainforests to hike, but the sometimes steep terrain isn’t for the physically unfit. Hot sulphur springs, waterfalls and abundant bird life add to the experience. There are beaches, but you don’t come to the “nature island of the Caribbean” to loll in the sand.
Best meal with a view: Just north of the Cinque Terre is the ultra-posh seaside resort of Portofino, which attracts the Beautiful People and yachts from around the world. Perched on a hillside above Portofino is the equally ultra-posh Hotel Splendido with its drop-dead view of the harbor and a list of former guests the likes of Garbo, Bogie and Bacall, Liz and Dick. You get the idea. But, you don’t have to stay at the hotel to soak up the atmosphere — and the view. Last May I lunched at the hotel’s open-air La Terrazza restaurant (reservations a must). The day was spectacularly beautiful, the food a culinary feast and then there was the view of picturesque Portofino glistening below.
Best destination worth a long plane ride: Australia — about 14 hours from Los Angeles. A two-week trip makes me yearn to return to Sydney (yes, the Opera House is as neat as it looks in pictures), Adelaide and the wine areas around them — the Hunter Valley near Sydney, the Barossa and Clare Valleys near Adelaide. (In the Clare Valley I highly recommend staying at Thorn Park inn in Sevenhill.) Excellent restaurants serve seafood with funny-sounding names and dishes with “bush tucker” ingredients (a standout is the Red Ochre Grill in Adelaide). A memorable excursion from Adelaide was nearby Kangaroo Island and encounters with koalas, fairy penguins, sea lions and, yes, kangaroos. Cosmopolitan Sydney can hold its own with any major city, and we’ll be hearing more about its attractions because it’s the site of the 2000 Summer Olympics. A close second: Hong Kong.
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Meet the staff
Carolyn McGuire, a former editor of entertainment sections, has been with the Travel section for 10 years and specializes in cruises, skiing and the Caribbean. Her wish list for future travel includes Cairo and the pyramids, a safari, Antarctica, the Galapagos, Rio and Buenos Aires, China, a ride on the Concorde, an around-the-world cruise and yearly visits to decompress at Petit St. Vincent. Her e-mail address is cmcguire@tribune.com
