How close to the port are the tourist attractions?

I was doing some research for a passenger the other day about excursions on their cruise from Bangkok or as it turned out Leamchabang port which is about 2 hours from Bangkok.

So that made me think how many other destinations are a distance from the port and so may impact on your opportunity to do that important bit of sightseeing.

As it is an embarkation port for Celebrity, Cunard and others we are all aware that Civitavecchia is about 45 miles from Rome, and takes about 1 1/2 hour to get there.

Of course in Italy there is still Livorno for Florence, a modest 56 miles or just over an hour. Then what about the cruise lines that advertise Paris, from Le Harve a massive 120 miles and over 2 hours travelling time.

Don't think that other countries get away with it, but what about those cruise lines that offer Berlin from Warnemunde, a massive 150 miles and 2 1/2 hours by road.

These are all things that we have to look at when considering which excursion to buy or whether to do our own thing.

Now going back to Leamchabang, on the Celebrity cruise I was looking at this is a 2 day stay and on the following day there are some more local options with a trip to the Tiger Zoo or an Elephant encounter.

Its such a long way to go, and I could see the Elephants or Tigers on my birthday, so I don't think I am going to miss out on the opportunity, what about you?

Animal Magic, would you do a Cruise Line excursion?

If, like me, you are of a certain age and you remember fondly watching Animal Magic with Johnny Morris on BBC, and in Black & White! With his silly voices for all the different animals.

Perhaps it is this that gave me, and many others a love of animals and a desire to learn more about them.

So go on read on to see the cute animal photos........................


So how does this fit into cruising you might ask? Well, why not look through the excursions offered by the cruise line or search on the internet to see what options you have in your port of call, or have a think about a few of these ideas.

You can swim with Dolphins, see the Stingray, go to a Turtle Santury and go on an airboat in Florida to see the Alligators.

Alligator in the Everglades, from an Airboat!

But having just been to Costa Rica on Celebrity Equinox we decided to go the the Sloth Sanctury, have a look at the video!

What an amazing place, all run by volunteers and the only Sloth Sanctury in the World.

 Baby Sloths at rest

Not so sure about the chair!

Buttercup, the original Sloth now just over 20 years old

Around the back they have a part of the Mangrove swamp and jungle and we took a little canoe journey to see what we could see! You can just see the wild monkeys in the trees!

So I know that a number of people don't want to pay the rates the cruise lines charge for excursions, but if it means seeing something you will not see at home or you might not get back to see again then why not?