Cruise Offerings

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SEADREAM YACHT CLUB is offering, with its summer Mediterranean voyages beginning or ending in Rome, pre- and post-sailing excursions driving a late-model Ferrari. On a four-day, three-night jaunt from Rome to Florence, you get to pilot an F430 Spider F1, an F360 Spider F1, a 575M Maranello F1 or all three. The “Tuscany by Ferrari” package includes one night at the 17th-century Villa la Posta overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea, two nights at the 17th-century Tuscan resort Fonteverde Spa & Hotel, several meals and a local guide who not only accompanies you but washes and fuels your Ferrari. Book your cruise at seadreamyachtclub.com, then contact Red Travel Italia (phone: 011-39-011-616-5219; fax: 011- 39-011-303-5952; e-mail: info@red-travel.com) and mention the SeaDream package.

ASIA IS GETTING HOTTER for cruise destinations, and the lines are responding. Viking River Cruises is launching a new ship, the Viking Century Sun, to join the Viking Century Sky on China’s Yangtze. For 2006, Viking features four all-inclusive itineraries in China, ranging from nine to 15 nights and including such landmarks as the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace and Terra Cotta Warriors. 877-66VIKING (84546); vikingrivercruises.com.

STAR CLIPPERS IS OFFERING free and discounted six-night land tours to accompany its seven-night Asia cruises on one of the line’s four-masted ships. The packages, available to North America and Latin America residents on select sailings from November to March 2007, include free tours of Bangkok, Singapore and Thailand on round-trip Phuket, Thailand, sailings and sailings between Phuket and Singapore. Passengers on cruises leaving Phuket also can choose the six-night Vietnam and Thailand tour for 50 percent off the tour rate. 800-442- 0551; starclippers.com.

THE CARIBBEAN has a sparkling new port facility——the multimillion- dollar Grand Turk Cruise Center, which opened in February with a docking by Holland America’s newest ship, the Noordam. The British West Indies island center boasts a state-of- the-art pier that can accommodate two large vessels, amid a 13-acre complex that encompasses an 800-foot beach, a swimming pool, cabañas, a variety of retail shops and the Caribbean’s largest Margaritaville-theme bar and restaurant, owned by Jimmy Buffett. Nearly two dozen shore excursions are available to cruise-ship passengers. Grandturkcc.com.

DIARRHEAL DISEASE OUTBREAKS on cruise ships rose considerably from 2001 to 2004, according to a study in the March issue of American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Yet, the report says, ship cleanliness inspection scores were high during this period, with an average of 95 points on a 100-point scale. The problem: Passengers don’t wash their hands enough. “Passengers are well-advised to wash their hands whenever possible,” says an epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “especially because the cruise ship environment is a high-density, closed environment with soft fabrics and furnishings that can harbor viruses for many days.”

Shore excursions are suspect too, the report says, citing the likelihood that people come aboard carrying viruses. Consequently, most cruise lines provide hand-sanitizing lotion dispensers at embarkation points and try to make their use mandatory. Still, I’ve often seen passengers rush by them, apparently worried that the ship will run out of food before they can get back aboard. Don’t be so anxious. On your next cruise, do yourself and your fellow passengers a major favor——keep your hands clean.

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