The pace and glitter of Las Vegas gives way to a leisurely cruise on Ruby Princess through the Caribbean and right around South America – with a stop in Rio de Janeiro timed to catch the climax of the city’s thrilling Mardi Gras carnival.
It’s all there in ‘Carnivale, Casinos & California’, the latest fly-cruise-stay holiday from Worldwide Cruise Centres (worldwidecruisecentres.com.au).
This exuberant holiday lasts eight weeks – 56 days to be precise – and costs from A$7479 per person twin share, valid for sale at that rate until 30 September 2014. That price includes flights from Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne to Fort Lauderdale (via Las Vegas) and return from Los Angeles – plus a massive seven-week (49-night) Ruby Princess South American circumnavigation cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles and three nights accommodation at the Monte Carlo Casino and Hotelin fabulous Las Vegas.
‘Carnivale, Casinos & California’ starts on 27 January 2015 with a flight from Australia to Las Vegas. Your home for the next three nights is the lavish four-star Monte Carlo Resort Las Vegas, right on the famous Vegas Strip. This vast MGM Resorts International playground provides the full Vegas experience, complete with 1400 slot machines, 60 table games and 15 poker tables. The sensational Blue Man Group is just one attraction here, with electrifying music and innovative new ways of interacting with the audience.
After that, jet down to Fort Lauderdale for a night in local hotel, with complimentary airport pickup and transfer to the port to board the magnificent Ruby Princess.
Ruby Princess is a holiday destination in its own right, featuring a dramatic piazza-style atrium, complete with boutique eateries and performing street entertainers. Dining venues include the signature Sabatini’s Italian restaurant and the Crown Grill steak and seafood restaurant, plus a relaxing oasis called The Sanctuary. Also popular: the ship’s Movies Under the Stars; multiple entertainment options; Personal Choice Dining featuring traditional or ‘anytime seating’ and Lotus Spa with fitness centre. All shipboard main meals (excluding specialty restaurants) and most entertainment aboard are included.
The 49-night cruise heads south through the Caribbean, down the east coast of South America, around Cape Horn and up the west coast, circumnavigating the whole continent in the process.
First port of call is Antigua, largest of the British Leeward Islands, known for its 366 beaches. Next, St Lucia, where the pastel-coloured colonial buildings of the island’s capital, Castries, nestle below 800-metre twin peaks. Visit Bridgetown, Barbados, birthplace of steel pan and calypso music.
Next: Brazil, which you’ll explore in some depth, first at Recife, sun-drenched city of rivers and bridges, hailed as the “Venice of Brazil”. Next, a full day in Salvador de Bahia, a birthplace of Brazilian culture with an old town precinct that’s World Heritage listed.
Santos, the port of Sao Paulo, biggest city in Latin America, comes next, followed by a true highlight – Carnival in Rio.
Ruby Princess will arrive in Rio on the morning of Shrove Tuesday, 17 February 2015, at the height of the carnival action – the big parade starts near midnight. Two days here gives time to do you own thing, dance to the Samba beat, thrill to the metropolis nicknamed Cidade Maravilhosa (‘The Marvellous City’). Stroll Copacabana beach, catch the sights, sip a caipirinha cocktail.
Now the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires, birthplace of the tango, with it wide boulevards and grand European architecture. Then Uruguay’s capital Montevideo, on the River Plate, and the British outpost of Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands. To remote and picturesque Ushuaia now, where most inhabitants are descendants of seafarers, explorers, gaucho cowboys and local Indians.
Rounding Cape Horn, you’ll visit Chile’s Punta Arenas, looking out over the Strait of Magellan, then Valparaiso, gateway to Santiago, the Chilean capital, with the Andes Mountains glimmering in the distance.
Visit the port of Coquimbo between the Atacama Desert and Chile’s fertile central valley, then San Martín in northern Peru (a region in the upper part of the Peruvian Amazon rainforest) before heading to Callao, the port of Lima, Peru. Ruby Princess spends a day here to take in the great Peruvian capital, one of the most interesting and fashionable cities in South America.
Three days at sea give plenty of time to enjoy Ruby Princess before visiitng Puntarenas, gateway to San Jose, Costa Rica. The beach port of San Juan Del Sur in Nicaragua is followed by Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco, the Mexican state that provides the world with the best tequila.
Your final cruise destination: Los Angeles, City of Angels. After a wonderful two-month holiday, disembark here before jetting back home to Australia.
To find your local Worldwide Cruise Centres agent go to:
www.worldwidecruisecentres.com.au
Source: World Wide Cruises Centres