What tour have you done that blew you away?

[cruisemom42]

I have been lucky enough to take some really memorable tours. It's difficult to choose -- but when I think of those where I really was pinching myself to believe I was there, I would have to go with:

 

-- Hot air balloon ride over Luxor and the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. I was a bit nervous initially as I am not too fond of looking down from heights, but I loved it. Ancient Egypt was my first-ever travel "crush" and it was just thrilling to see the temples and ruins -- and the Nile river -- from the air.

 

-- Overnight trip from my ship to visit Palmyra, in Syria. Even minus the implications now that the site has been virtually destroyed it was a very special look at a place that almost seems like a mirage in the desert. Plus we got to see it at night and at sunrise. And also got to shop and haggle with local nomads in the small nearby village.

 

-- Private tour of one (me) with a guide who specialized in Roman Israel; we saw some memorable sights and it was all geared around my specific interests. Included time spent at a site where the guide had led excavations just recently and was not yet open to the public, as well as walking along the Roman aqueduct on the beach at Caesarea, looking for inscriptions left on the stones by the legionaries who built it.

[George C]

4 hours ago, Lois R said:

 

Seeing David has to be at the top of my list. Seeing that statue up close is just an amazing event.

 

And a floatplane tour out of Ketchikan is up there.........

Agree you are just a couple of feet from that amazing statue without anything interfering with the view , would love to return to see it again. Hopefully we will do another Europe cruise when things return to at least something close to normal, our loved our last Europe cruise because of the 5 stops in Italy.

[SimplyMarvie]

On 6/24/2020 at 7:47 PM, cruisemom42 said:

 

-- Private tour of one (me) with a guide who specialized in Roman Israel; we saw some memorable sights and it was all geared around my specific interests. Included time spent at a site where the guide had led excavations just recently and was not yet open to the public, as well as walking along the Roman aqueduct on the beach at Caesarea, looking for inscriptions left on the stones by the legionaries who built it.

 

Caesarea is such a special place -- we were lucky enough to do a lantern-light tour with an archeologist when we were there (it'd be a tough one to do on a cruise ship, but maybe if you're overnighting in Haifa and have already done Jerusalem...?) that was definitely a highlight of my traveling life.

[Crew News]

Definitely dog sledding in the snow in Skagway, Alaska.

 

 

 

 

[ldubs]

3 hours ago, Crew News said:

Definitely dog sledding in the snow in Skagway, Alaska.

 

 

I don't blame you.  That looks very cool.  And cold too.  Seeing that guy in the T-shirt made me feel like a wimp.  haha.   

 

Great pic's.  Thanks for sharing.   

[cruznjan]

We did a tour by jeep on Aruba. It was fun, and we were SO dirty when we got back to the ship. I thought we would clog the plumbing. 😄

[Kate P.C]

We really loved the Baltic cruise. But the Norway fjords and Longyearbyen were so far the best. 

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, Kate P.C said:

We really loved the Baltic cruise. But the Norway fjords and Longyearbyen were so far the best. 

Hmmm. I consider our Baltic cruise for our 30th anniversary as our best one we ever had. In less than a month we were supposed to go on a Norwegian fjords cruise that of course has been cancelled. And we were really also looking forward to our excursion back to the airport stopping at Stonehenge.

[sverigecruiser]

Helicopter ride over Western Maui and Molokai.

[drsel]

Helicopter ride over red Rock canyon in the late afternoon and over the Strip in Las Vegas at sunset

[ElkGroveCruiser]

There are 2 that will always stand out for us.

A 2 day tour of St. Petersburg.  We were fortunate enough to be the tour organizers and thus had the opportunity to choose the itinerary ourselves as long as we gathered up a total of 10 people to go on the tour.  With the help of these boards we were able to do just that and we designed the tour of our dreams.

 

And then a combination helicopter sightseeing/dog sledding trip on a glacier in Alaska which was truly a magical experience.  We were lucky enough to get there about 6 weeks after the new pups had been born and it took everything I had to get my wife back on the helicopter without one of those darling puppies.

[Shorex]

I've mentioned this one recently: Ephesus in the evening for a classical string quartet concert.

 

 

[Lois R]

2 hours ago, Shorex said:

I've mentioned this one recently: Ephesus in the evening for a classical string quartet concert.

 

 

Great photos............thanks for sharing.  I was there back in May 2012.  Didn't go to a concert but Ephesus itself is 

AMAZING.   I did go to the Terrace Houses.........really wonderful.

[JimnKaren]

One word: Alhambra

 

Jim

[Dixe Lee]

Baby sea turtle rescues in Cozumel. Digging the babies out of the sand knowing we were directly instrumental in their rescue and hopefully survival was by far the most rewarding experience we have had.

[Bookish Angel]

Our non-ship tour of the Sydney Opera House.  Being serious fans or modern architecture, furniture, art, etc., the extensive small-group tour was one of the highlights of our Australia/Southeast Asia trip.

[joytocruise27]

Our ship scheduled a shore excursion to the Vatican Museum after hours. Our guided small group was the only one in the entire museum.  And my most precious memory is being allowed to open a wooden door and be the first person to walk into the complete empty Sistine Chapel.

[Lois R]

I totally forgot about this.....last October I took a river cruise in Venice and we got a private tour of St Mark's

Cathedral in the evening.....no other people were inside the church....out of riverboat that held about 150 

guests I think there were about 50-75 of us---maybe 100 total and a private tour guide. No bus rides needed.

We  were docked in Venice and got off and walked to the church.  Our guide was a wonderful gal who was

a Historian of Italy.......it was an amazing evening. Oh, this was included in the price of the cruise.

[cruisemom42]

9 minutes ago, Lois R said:

I totally forgot about this.....last October I took a river cruise in Venice and we got a private tour of St Mark's

Cathedral in the evening.....no other people were inside the church....out of riverboat that held about 150 

guests I think there were about 50-75 of us---maybe 100 total and a private tour guide. No bus rides needed.

We  were docked in Venice and got off and walked to the church.  Our guide was a wonderful gal who was

a Historian of Italy.......it was an amazing evening. Oh, this was included in the price of the cruise.

 

Lois, I've also done that excursion, when I was on one of my Voyages to Antiquity cruises. Fantastic atmosphere in the place, wasn't there?  Did you guys also get to go down into the crypt?  

[Lois R]

4 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Lois, I've also done that excursion, when I was on one of my Voyages to Antiquity cruises. Fantastic atmosphere in the place, wasn't there?  Did you guys also get to go down into the crypt?  

Hi Cynthia,  yes, it was an amazing event.........and yes, you could walk down to the crypt. This was on a river cruise

with Uniworld. 

[rkacruiser]

5 hours ago, joytocruise27 said:

Sistine Chapel.

 

I have experienced this twice, once as part of a tour group and once when I was on my own and there were few with me.  One could almost feel the presence of our Heavenly Father in that Chapel.

 

10 hours ago, Bookish Angel said:

Sydney Opera House.

 

I attended an opera here after having a tour of the Opera House.  The tour made me appreciate even more my "Evening at the Opera".  

[Bookish Angel]

 

Quote

I attended an opera here after having a tour of the Opera House.  The tour made me appreciate even more my "Evening at the Opera".  

 

How wonderful!  We would have liked to do that as well but nothing fit with our departure time.

Edited July 5, 2020 by Bookish Angel

[George C]

19 hours ago, Lois R said:

I totally forgot about this.....last October I took a river cruise in Venice and we got a private tour of St Mark's

Cathedral in the evening.....no other people were inside the church....out of riverboat that held about 150 

guests I think there were about 50-75 of us---maybe 100 total and a private tour guide. No bus rides needed.

We  were docked in Venice and got off and walked to the church.  Our guide was a wonderful gal who was

a Historian of Italy.......it was an amazing evening. Oh, this was included in the price of the cruise.

Would love to do that river cruise. Sounds great . 

[Lois R]

8 minutes ago, George C said:

Would love to do that river cruise. Sounds great . 

Hi George😃 it was great!!!!!!!!!  I love river cruises as well as ocean.   River cruises have a totally different

feel to them.  Such a small amount of people and you really see the places you are visiting in a more close up way. 

[Ashland]

On 7/2/2020 at 12:12 PM, JimnKaren said:

One word: Alhambra

 

Jim

Maybe you should have said two words...Cause I'm sure you're not talking about Alhambra Calif.