We enjoy being nice to our readers whenever we can, and now comes along Troy Tours, a Los Angeles firm we have recommended before, to help us. They say they will give a discount of $100 per couple if you mention "Frommers.com Newsletter" before booking a neat cruise they are sponsoring this November in the Mediterranean. The price is already a low $1,375 per person, airfare included from Boston or New York, with seven days on the Wind Surf.
Moreover, the price includes an outside cabin, all gourmet meals on board, roundtrip transfers, and more. This works out to about $152 per person per day, considering that it's really a 9-day trip, door to door.
The cruise, a beauty in my opinion, departs the USA on Swiss Air on November 2, 2002, and is fully escorted. You visit the Eternal City (barely), the lore-laden island of Corsica, Elba (where Napoleon was sequestered), chic Portovenere, even chicer Portofino, St. Tropez (much more chic), Monte Carlo (beyond chic) and Nice (we said it was a nice trip, and Nice is the nicest of all). If you want to see more of Rome and Nice, where all you do pretty much on the tour is transit, arrange for a day's or more extension at the beginning or end of the cruise.
Best of all, you'll be sailing along in one of the world's most glamorous ships, the Wind Surf, part of the Windstar fleet. The Wind Surf, built 12 years ago as the Club Med I, is a five-masted sailing vessel, but it's a mechanized craft, with engines turning the sails and raising or lowering them. There's no running around the deck pulling on ropes and such, and certainly none of the Windjammer's "care to give us a hand?" requests when all you want to do is lean on the rail and soak in the sea air and sun. Critics report good food, great cleanliness everywhere, friendly and efficient staff, comfortable staterooms and a generally peaceful and quiet atmosphere.
Note that departure taxes of about $98, port charges of about $225 and tips to ship personnel and drivers are not included.
For more information, go to Troy Tours' Web site at www.troytours.com, e-mail them at info@troytours.com, phone at 310/417-3460 or fax to 310/417-8849.