John and Ellie Concannon and Julie and Ken Collier at the Great Wall
Meetings will resume on October 9 in the Cottonwood Country Club, Phoenix Room at 6:30 p.m. Come join us as we kick off the fall season. There will be lots of brochures and flyers on short getaways. There are no dues. Join us for some refreshments and to say hello.
The October 9 meeting will be hosted by ISRAELTour Company ISRAM World Wide Tours – Margie Bell, District Sales Manager will be talking about Israel and Jordan. Bring your questions – many of us have Israel on our bucket list and we want to better understand how safe it is and many other issues. The Savvy Travelers have long wanted to put together a Land tour but world affairs have gotten in the way. We are planning now for mid-October 2015.
Future meetings: November 13 – Jerry Lankin – South African Airways Vacations
December: Sue Arko, Free Spirit Vacations – we are working with Sue to bring you some short getaways.
January: TBA
February: Viking Cruises: All about the new cruise ships launching in 2015 and new itineraries in river cruising.
We would like to hear from you on topics or information you would like to know more about to support your travels. Please Contact Vic Hermann at 480-883-3897; e-mail [email protected]; or contact our resident travel agent Jeanette Rajamaki in Oakwood at 602-909-2000; or e-mail [email protected].
Savvy Travelers has partnered with Free Spirit to bring you a few fall and holiday bus trips. We have several trips in October; Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta from October 7–10; or California, Huntington Beach to San Diego from October 11-14; Rose Bowl activities and more. There will be lots of information at our October 9 meeting. Call Jeanette or Vic for more details or for a flyer; but if you want to do the Balloon Festival call now as space is limited.
Time to start your holiday travel plans. Some ideas might be to think about a river cruise to the Christmas Markets of Germany – great prices and reasonable air. Royal Caribbean has some great offers for the holidays or the week before the holidays in the Caribbean. Celebrity and Royal Caribbean have several beautiful port intensive and reasonable cruises. Quantum of the Seas launching in November has space in December; call Jeanette for more information at 602-909-2000; or e-mail [email protected].
Princess has the new Regal Princess in the Caribbean this winter; Celebrity has the amazing new Silhouette; and, of course, Royal Caribbean has the Quantum of the Seas.
Below are cruises we have planned.
The new Viking Sun launches in 2015 – many sailings are totally sold out so call Jeanette at 602-909-2000; think about planning for 2016 when Viking Cruises will have a total of three 900 passenger ships.
December 12, 2014 – eight nights on Quantum of the Seas – Royal Caribbean’s newest ship with bumper cars and the production show Mamma Mia. Balcony staterooms are $1349 plus tax; Ray and Jeanette to host.
December 20 – Quantum of the Seas holiday cruise – seven nights; combine these two for 15 nights on the newest ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet. Balcony rooms are $1699, partially obstructed.
January 31, 2015 – 14 nights on Caribbean Princess; East and Western Caribbean with $200 onboard credit – hosted by Kathy Kroupa
February 1, 2015 – 14 nights on Celebrity Millennium – Singapore to Hong Kong with Vietnam; great pricing with $200 onboard credit -Hosted by Vic and Joanna Hermann
March 9, 2015 –12 nights Panama Canal cruise– Unique sailing Miami to Caldera Costa Rica with $200 onboard credit; gratuities are included! Also included are water, soda, specialty coffees, wine, beer and cocktails; special event exclusive – an AZamazing evening March 16 in Panama City and overnight; a full day to explore Panama City; Golfito, Costa Rica overnight; Quepos, CR; ending in Caldera on the March 21; there are 18 people booked.
May 28, 2015 – 12 nights Mediterranean cruise– Roundtrip Barcelona w/overnight in Venice with $100 onboard credit – Hosted by Bob Duhon
June 11, 2015 – Russian river cruise; Viking Rurik – 13 days; Moscow to St. Petersburg on Volga; 14 people already booked, eight people are extending to Helsinki, Finland – Tami Bogdanoff to host.
June 16, 2015 – seven nights on Oceania Riviera – Rome to Monte Carlo; six people are booked; gratuities are included.
September 27, 2015 – seven nights – West coast sailing includes Monterey, CA with Royal Caribbean on Jewel of the Seas
October 5, 2015 – seven nights on Viking Rinda – Paris and Normandy Beaches – hosted by Carl Humecki.
October 15, 2015 – 13 days/11 nights Land Tour – Israel and Petra, Jordan; includes two nights in Tel Aviv, one night in Haifa, one night in Tiberius, five nights in Jerusalem, one night in Petra and one night in Amman – Join Jane and Randy Roter
Cuba – waiting for fall/spring dates with Collette Vacations.
February 14, 2016 – Liberty of the Seas – seven nights; Belize–Honduras–Cozumel – fly into Houston and sail from Galveston. Liberty has been refurbished and now has the Broadway production Saturday Night Fever. Balcony is $1129 and includes tax and gratuities with onboard credit and a cocktail party.