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Philip H. De Turk posing outside of Harrison's Cave, Barbados. Photos by fellow <i>Prinsendam</i> passenger Ronald McDonald

Often, a cruise ship heading to Florida will stop at Barbados, the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. This was the case on my return from an around-the-world cruise in 2009 and again when my “South America Grand Voyage” was returning home on March 18, 2019. I was on the Prinsendam, which was making one of its last cruises as a Holland America Line-owned ship.

In Barbados, I took the “Harrison’s Cave Experience.” While I had signed up for about seven...

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After flying from Miami, Florida, to Barcelona, Spain, I headed for the cruise terminal to board the SS Marina, which would be my home for the next two weeks, Nov. 16-28, 2018.

I would travel to Iberia and nearby islands in the Atlantic with Oceania Cruises (855/623-2642, www.oceaniacruises.com). For the cruise, airfare, insurance and transfers, I paid $7,891 as a single.

Following the mandatory boat drill, we sailed that evening for Valencia, Spain, sometimes called the City...

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My wife (holding ski poles) at the Ilulissat Icefjord’s viewpoint. Photos by David Selley

My wife and I had a wonderful experience on the “Route of the Vikings” cruise with Seabourn Cruise Line (800/442-4488, www.seabourn.com). We started in Reykjavik, Iceland, on Aug. 6, 2018, and ended in Montréal, Québec, on Aug. 30.

Carrying up to 450 passengers, the luxury MV Seabourn Quest is a smallish ship. The cost for the two of us was about $35,000, which included six stops in Greenland and time in the Canadian Arctic, including in Newfoundland & Labrador. Unlike...

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Old Town Hall in Bamberg, northern Bavaria, Germany. Photos by David Anderson

My wife and I took a wonderful cruise-tour, “Amsterdam to Budapest by Riverboat,” and I want to share some of the things that made it such a great trip.

Our cruise aboard the ms Esprit, June 2-17, 2019, was with Tauck (Wilton, CT; 800/788-7885, www.tauck.com), and, excluding trip insurance and international airfare, it cost $22,680 for the two of us.

I know that makes the trip expensive, but in my view many of the things provided by Tauck made the journey worth it,...

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In 2012, as a way to celebrate my granddaughter’s Bat Mitzvah, my wife and I took our immediate family to Israel. Five years later, it was my grandson’s turn to celebrate, so as his Bar Mitzvah approached, my wife and I told him we would take him and the family anyplace he chose. Jake chose Italy, much to everyone’s delight.

In my immediate family there are seven of us, spanning three generations. At the time of our 2017 trip, my wife and I were healthy and fit 70-...

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Despite the fact that it houses not a single original painting by Johannes Vermeer, the Vermeer Centrum Delft (Voldersgracht 21, Voldersgracht 21, 2611 EV Delft, Netherlands; phone +31 15 2138588, www.vermeerdelft.nl/en), in Delft, offers a fine experience to visitors. My wife, Kathy, and I visited on Aug. 2, 2018, during a visit to the Netherlands.

The center’s ticket office, gift shop and café are on the ground floor. Entry costs €9 (near $10) per adult, and the viewing...

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For our trip to Armenia in May 2019, my wife and I hired Hayk Avagyan (phone +374 93 57 22 66, armeniantourguide.com) as our driver and guide. He turned out to be one of the best guides we’ve ever had.

From our initial contact with him at his website through the end of our four days in Armenia, Hayk (pronounced “hike”) was engaging and very informative. He responded quickly to my emails, and we soon had our 4-day itinerary set.

We paid him $1,025 for his guide...

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To find guides and drivers local to destinations outside the US, I have usually used Toursbylocals.com. While I have had some luck with this website, it can sometimes be overly expensive, so be careful.

With ToursByLocals, it’s possible to contact individual guides and get custom quotes until you find someone willing to take you where you want to go for a reasonable price.

This spring, while planning a trip to Prague, I Googled “Prague local tours,” and a...

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