Mind'sEyeTravel, Inc. is a non-profit organization creatingtoursfor peoplewho are blind or visually impaired.Our hosted trips include sighted guide services as needed. These services are guiding techniques for leading and assisting visually impaired people. Sighted guides are also available to accompany you on your future trips. Please call for availability and terms. 207-542-4438 or emailsue@mindseyetravel.com.
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You’ll hear the cracking of calving glaciers, hike in
hushed rainforests, paddle a native canoe, ride a dogsled and sip high tea
while experiencing old Alaska’s
Russian culture.
The Sea Princess offers us (and our friends and
families) deluxe staterooms, outstanding service, fine dining, cozy lounges, a
swimming pool and spa/fitness facilities, poolside Movies Under the Stars and
great entertainment. In addition, our group will enjoy a hosted cocktail party
and front-row seats in the ship’s theater while our dogs get play time, a
relieving area and even their own life jackets. Braille menus and sighted
guides for our onshore excursions are available upon request.
ITINERARYSan Francisco - Ketchikan - Juneau - Skagway - Tracy Arm Fjord - Victoria - San Francisco
SPECIAL RATES start at $1,249 double occupancy; singles add
$700.
Plus a government fee of $117.25 per person.
The San Francisco, Sonoma and Napa Wine Tasting
SensoryTour, below, falls just
before this cruise. Save $100 when you book both.
The best of both worlds: San
Francisco and the famous wineries to the
north. Trip includes four nights deluxe accommodations, full breakfast each
morning, one lunch, all wine-tasting fees, cable-car ride, Alcatraz
excursion and a private coach and driver on the wine-tasting days. Experience
the clang of the cable cars, the calling of the birds on AlcatrazIsland, the
water under our boat on San
FranciscoBay. Smell
the sea air, the bouquet of chardonnays, cabernets and artisanal olive oils.
Squeeze the ripening grapes on the vines as they come ready for harvest. Taste
dim sum in Chinatown and chocolates at Ghirardelli
Square, savor fresh bakery breads that
complement our wines, and so much more . . . .
On our first night we’ll stay in the famous Fisherman’s
Wharf area and begin with a walking tour to learn about the great earthquake
and fire of 1906, and the architecture and history of San
Francisco’s early neighborhoods. We’ll
board a boat to visit “the Rock”—Alcatraz, from
1934 to 1963 the home to some of America's most
notorious criminals. Then we head north to NapaValley. After
checking into our spa hotel, we’ll begin our wine explorations at the Vintners
Collective, a tasting room that represents eight wineries. On the following day
we visit Sonoma, where
we will sample boutique and nationally known wines, and have lunch over a wine
pairing session. The next day we’ll concentrate on NapaValley,
starting with a tour and tasting of olive oils. By the end of our week we will
have swirled, sniffed and sipped at a dozen or more vineyards.
SPECIAL RATES$1,295 double occupancy; singles add $400
(based on a minimum of
six guests)
The Alaska Inside
Passage Cruise is scheduled just after this trip. See above for
details. Save $100 when you book both.
Includes luxury accommodations in Manhattan’s Time
Square and breakfast each morning. A National Park Ranger will guide us through the Statue of
Liberty and Ellis Island, America’s
hallowed ImmigrationCenter. Are
you one of the 100 million Americans who can trace an ancestor back to Ellis
Island? We’ll also have a private tour of the Intrepid
Sea, Air & Space Museum (in addition to the famous WWII aircraft carrier,
there’s a submarine and 30 aircraft, including two of the fastest in the world,
the secret SR-51 Blackbird spy plane and the Anglo-French supersonic Concorde).
Then we will experience the ancient world in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s
Egyptian galleries, where we have been invited to touch sculptures of pharaohs,
gods and goddesses. A unique hands-on tour at MOMA, the Museum of Modern
Art is also on the schedule.
Additional-fee option: the Broadway show of your choice
SPECIAL RATES $1,095 double occupancy;
singles add $500.
(based on a minimum of
six guests)
The Canada & New England Fall Foliage Cruise, below,
follows this trip. Save $100 when you book both.
Treat your friends, family and guide dog to a seven-day
autumn cruise aboard the Caribbean Princess along the scenic waterways
and quaint towns of Maritime Canada and New
England. You may walk Boston’s
Freedom Trail, kayak through spectacular AcadiaNational
Park, relax among the historic
mansions of Newport, ride
the famous tides of the Bay of Fundy, visit
lighthouses and savor a traditional lobster bake on the beach.
ITINERARY New York City - Newport - Boston -
Bar Harbor - Saint John - Halifax - New York City
SPECIAL RATESstart at$1,085 double occupancy; singlesadd $600.
Plus a government fee of $117.25 per person.
The
New
York City Tour, above, is scheduled just before this cruise. Save $100 when you
book both.
Private-coach Adventure Tour, Christchurch to Queenstown
Seven nights beginning November
13 or 20, 2010
February 5 or 12, 2011
The dollar is strong in New Zealand—this is a great value. The
first guests to book will set the dates. Summer ‘down under’ in New Zealand is from November to February.
Experience the stunning beauty and variety of the South
Island, where alpine glaciers co-exist with coastal rain
forests. We will be with sighted New
Zealand guides for the full week,
traveling by private coach along the length of the island, from lovely Christchurch to
awe-inspiring Mt.Cook and
ending in the resort city of Queenstown, New
Zealand’s Aspen.
All tour travel is included, from Christchurch airport
to Queenstown airport, as well as deluxe accommodations for seven nights, full breakfast each morning and four
gourmet dinners. We will see Christchurch by tram
and by punt on the River Avon, cruise AkaroaHarbor, visit New
Zealand’s famous Antarctic Centre and
the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Centre, visit a salmon farm, pan for gold at the
Kawarau Goldfields (where gold was
discovered in 1861, triggering theCentral Otago Gold Rush). We’ll have a hosted
wine-tasting at one of New
Zealand’s famous vineyards, then arrive
at Queenstown, a stunning resort town on an inlet of Lake Wakatipu in the RemarkablesMountains.
We’ll take the gondola up to the Skyline complex
overlooking Queenstown, where we’ll enjoy a Maori cultural performance,
surrounded by traditional decorations and mythical carved legends of the
Wakatipu. Then we’ll dine in the Skyline Restaurant before riding the gondola
back down to Queenstown.
Optional add-ons:
Swim
with the dolphins
For the
brave-hearted, bungy-jumping
Shotover
Jetboat ride
Milford
Sound flight and tour
Mount
Cook ski plane flight and ride
SPECIAL RATE$3,495 double occupancy; singles add $800.
(based on a
minimum of six guests)
Independent
Trip Packages
The
trips below are proven favorites and have been carefully detailed for visually
challenged people who prefer to travel on their own or with friends and family.
Included in the prices are accommodations and activities as listed. In each
case, we can recommend restaurants and other, optional activities. Please note
that a host and sighted guides are not included.
Four nights luxury accommodations at the Lord Camden Inn in
the heart of Camden, a
beautiful village on PenobscotBay.
Included is buffet breakfast each morning, a lobster boat tour and a sail
aboard a windjammer.
SPECIAL
RATE$595 per person,
double occupancy; singles add $300.
Four nights luxury accommodations at the La Fonda Hotel on
the Plaza, trolley tours of Santa Fe and an
excursion to Taos,
including a guided tour of the thousand-year-old Taos Pueblo.
SPECIAL
RATE$695 per person,
double occupancy; singles add $400.
Includes deluxe accommodations, Statue of Liberty &
Ellis Island tour, The Intrepid Sea, Air
& SpaceMuseum tour,
hands-on tours at MOMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Optional add-on: the
Broadway show of your choice.
SPECIAL RATES Four nights $795 double occupancy; singles add
$600
Two nights $495 double occupancy;
singles add $300.
