christian music cruise 2009

Where to go to beat the credit crunch?

Ten of the best family-friendly recession-busting holiday destinations for the coming season

1. Lanzarote

Watch, admire and be glad it’s not you out there: what some call the world’s toughest Ironman competition takes place in Lanzarote on Saturday 23rd May 2009 – a 3.8km swim followed by a 180km bike ride and then a 42.2km marathon run all under the blistering Lanzarote sun. Why is it so tough? Lanzarote has one of the most equable climates in the world – and it’s great to bask in temperatures in the high 20s Celsius when all you have to do is lie on a beach, but try exerting yourself to this extent and the sun becomes merciless.

If you’re more of an active participant than a spectator, you’ll be glad to know that there are fiestas in different towns in every month between May and November.

2. Cyprus

The annual International Festival of Arts ‘Kypria’, coming up in September and October, features local as well as visiting artists performing ballet, flamenco, theatre and orchestral music at venues across the island.

There’s also Kataklysmos, or the Flood Festival, which takes place in Cyprus every year in June, 50 days after Orthodox Easter. It’s connected to the Christian religion but in Cyprus also to Greek mythology. Water is the main focus of the festival. All the coastal cities organise concerts, games and other events near the waterfront. Be ready to get wet at Kataklysmos!

3. A Caribbean cruise

Cruising may not strike you as the best way to have an economical holiday, but some companies are offering excellent deals on winter cruises. Check out companies that are holding sales, especially deals for children sharing their parents’ cabin. Big savings are to be made.

4. Budapest

The recession has hit Hungary hard: many people have lost their jobs and the national currency, the Florint, has hit rock bottom. What this means is that a holiday in the capital, nicknamed the Pearl of the Danube, can be cheaper than in any other city in Europe. Costs in restaurants and shops in the main tourist area near the Chain Bridge are higher than elsewhere, so, for lower prices, head a little further back from the river.

As the city awakens from its winter sleep and the blossoms start to grace the trees, along comes the spring festival, a fortnight of music, art, theatre and dance in the city’s finest Baroque buildings. A boat trip on the river is relaxing and interesting at any time of year, as well as inexpensive – around £10 for a two-hour cruise. Budapest has an extensive network of buses and trams and a three-line underground, offering a journey for a flat fare of about 30p. A £22 Budapest Card gives unlimited public transport for a weekend and free or cheap access to museums and attractions.

5. Goa

According to Thomas Cook’s annual Holiday Cost Of Living survey, which looks at prices of daily essentials in sixteen popular tourist destinations worldwide, Goa is still far and away the cheapest option. Here, a cup of coffee costs less than a tenth of what it does in the UK and you can stay in a five-star hotel for around £30-40 per person per night, in a guesthouse for £2 pppn or in a beach hut for – well, almost for a song.

Goa is best known for its magnificent beaches – but take care, as the undercurrents can be dangerous. Don’t, though, neglect to visit the wonderful towns, admirable for their lovely settings, their cathedrals, basilicas and crumbling, Portuguese-style residences and their winding lanes. The market towns of Mapusa and Anjuna are also worth a visit for their colourful and cheap clothes, local produce and souvenirs.

6. Botswana

According to figures compiled for This is Money by NatWest, the pound has strengthened by 12.4% against the Botswana pula in the last year, making this an appealingly inexpensive destination.

Of the thousands of attractions in the country, let us suggest the Maun Environmental Educational Centre, an area of 2.5 square kilometres on the eastern bank of the Thamalakane River, which aims to provide schoolchildren with an appreciation of wildlife and the bush. From the office there, you can pick up maps of the four walking trails and game hides where you can observe lechwe, wildebeest, impala, giraffe, zebra, warthog and other species. Or take a family safari to learn survival skills from the Bushmen of the Kalahari or view the wildlife from a dugout canoe or a four-wheel-drive vehicle in the famous Okavango Delta.

7. Japan

Good news for travellers to Japan: sterling is 12.3% stronger against the yen than it was a year ago.

If your children are 13 years or more, consider canyoning, a thrilling activity for which you need no previous experience and no special equipment, other than the wetsuit that will be provided for you. Destinations include extremely popular, easily accessible and scenically beautiful Fox Canyon. Take a half- or full-day course in canyoning and experience the excitement of navigating waterfalls, drops, whirlpools and natural chutes and of swimming in crystal-clear pools. Alternatively, go snowshoeing in the winter wonderland of the beech forests and glaciers of the Minakami mountains.

8. Spain

Ever beloved of Brits, Spain remains a super holiday destination, offering great value for money. In the UK you’d be hard pushed to find a good three-course meal for only £11.50, but that’s the average price in Spain.

The Costa Brava and Costa del Sol are old favourites for beach holidays, but for something a bit different, try the Costa Dorada, where the sun, sea and sand are just as glorious but there are also some fantastic family-friendly resorts, the world-class Port Aventura theme park and two splashtastic waterparks. The ‘gold coast’ is two hours’ flight from the UK and an hour’s drive south of Barcelona, one of Spain’s most cosmopolitan cities. Resorts include Salou, the top hotspot, Cambrils and La Pineda; and for a day trip full of fascinating history head for Tarragona, the ancient Roman capital of Spain.

9. Turkey

Still a bargain, Turkey is outside the Eurozone and remains one of the best-value family holiday choices. Turkey – where West meets East, Europe meets Asia – is a place of year-round festivals, wonderful, child-friendly Mediterranean beaches, charming villages, waters perfect for sailing and, so they say, more Greek ruins than there are in Greece itself. More to the point, everybody adores children in Turkey and spoils them rotten.

Spring and autumn are the best times to visit, when the weather is hot but not unbearably so, the flowers are in bloom and the resorts fairly quiet. The Aegean coast is a region with great accommodation choices for families, including stylish five-star hotels with spas and kids’ clubs, brilliant activity holiday centres and self-catering apartment complexes. While you’re there, head for the world-famous, 3,000-year-old city of Troy, whose impressive stone walls bear witness to the military significance of the citadel. Children, maybe not quite so taken with history, enjoy playing on the huge reconstructed wooden horse at the entrance to the site.

10. Cuba

Cuba is a poor country that has recently experienced a sudden boom in tourism and is one of the most popular destinations in the Caribbean. Holidaymakers can expect good deals here in bars and restaurants. Because of the American embargo, nearly everything that people eat there has been grown or caught on the island: the fruit and veg will be fresh and usually organic, the meat will have come from a local ‘free-range’ farm and the fish will probably have been caught that day.

The old city of Havana is a remarkable place, filled with crumbling mansions, narrow streets, cobblestoned plazas and sixteenth-century fortresses, all reflecting its Spanish colonial past. The people who live here, descended from slaves, pirates, colonists, seafarers and planters, have generated unique forms of music, dance and song that you can hear everywhere you go. Of course you’ll have to give the children their fill of beaches, which are gorgeous, but you can make the sightseeing fun for them by travelling round by horse and carriage, ‘coco-taxi’ (a motorbike rickshaw) or cycle rickshaw or by taking a taxi, which is likely to be a 1950s American Buick, Chevrolet or Cadillac. If you want to go out in the evenings, your guesthouse owner will usually lay on babysitting for just a few pesos.

About the Author

Harish Kohli is a mountaineer, winner of the lifetime achievement Award for National Adventure and a travel author. His book ‘Across the Frozen Himalayas’ is based on a real life incident of having survived – 48 Degrees Celsius temperatures on the summit of the Karakoram Pass for over 26 hours.

The Music Boat 2009 Cruise by Premier Christian Cruises

Birnbaum”s Disney Cruise Line 2009 $11.78 Birnbaum Guides take to the high seas with this comprehensive look at the Disney Cruise Line and all the events, activities, and ports of call to sample aboard the Wonder and the Magic…

Cruise $15.95 Cruise delightfully recalls a time of gracious travel, as well as the modern-day evolution of cruising at sea…

Carribbean Cruise/Music For A $9.99 Carribbean Cruise/Music For A

The Cruise Of The Snark $49.95 The Cruise Of The Snark

The Cruise Of The Alerte $13.5 The Cruise Of The Alerte

The Cruise Of The Cachalot $16.95 The Cruise Of The Cachalot

The Cruise Of The Dazzler $16.95 The Cruise Of The Dazzler

The Cruise Of ”the Dazzler” $11.5 The Cruise Of ”the Dazzler”

The Cruise of the Snark $14.95 The Cruise of the Snark

My Cruise $17.5 My Cruise

Tom Cruise $28.5 Tom Cruise

Cruise Ship $15.95 Cruise Ship

The Cruise of the Casco $21.45 The Cruise of the Casco

Death Cruise $17.95 Death Cruise

The Cruise of the Dazzler $24.38 The Cruise of the Dazzler

The Cruise of ”The Dazzler” $29.5 The Cruise of ”The Dazzler”

Cruise Savvy $14.36 Cruise Savvy

Birnbaum’s Disney Cruise Line 2009 $1 Birnbaum’s Disney Cruise Line 2009

Christian Writers” Market Guide 2009 $26.39 For 24 years running, the Christian Writers’ Market Guide has remained the most comprehensive, complete, essential, and highly-recommended resource for Christian writers, …

The Christian $30.03 The Christian

The Cruise $15.6 Second in the Mark Garrison adventure series.

Caribbean Cruise/Music for a Rainy Night $11.62 Caribbean Cruise/Music for a Rainy Night

WOW Hits 2009 $14.99 “>Christian Music’s flagship WOW release is back! This two CD set features 30 songs of the year’s top Christian artists and songs at its lowest price EVER! For more than 10 years the Christian music industry has partnered together to bring fans the most impressive collection of hits available anywhere.> >>>> >>>> >>>Disc 1:>>> > >Every man> >God with us> >Call My Name> >Jesus Messiah> >Let It Fade> >You Are Everything> >Cinderella> >How You Live (Turn Up the Music)> >Mighty to Save> >All Because of Jesus> >Set the World on Fire> >Your Grace Is Enough> >Song of Hope (Heaven Come Down)> >In Better Hands> >Sound of Your Name> > >>>DISC 2:>>> > >Everything Is Glorious> >This Is Home> >Friend Like That> >Best Thing> >Love Is Here> >Washed by the Water> >Give Me Your Eyes> >I’m Letting Go> >Love My Soul> >Jesus Loves You> >Count Me In> >Unbreakable> >Already Over> >All Along> >Sleeping In> > > >”

Christian to Christian $11.35 Christian to Christian

WOW Gospel 2009 $14.99 “>WOW Gospel 2009 continues in the trend of raising the bar for Gospel compilations each and every year. Chock-full of the songs that reigned on Gospel radio’s airwaves for the past 12 months, this 2-CD set is bursting at the seams with HITS, including music from Marvin Sapp, Kirk Franklin, Mary Mary, Byron Cage, Dorinda Clark-Cole, Yolanda Adams and many more!> >Each installment of WOW Gospel has been received with levels of success not typical of most music releases, with each edition receiving Gold RIAA status, and many of them achieving Platinum RIAA status as well. With the inclusion of songs from some of the biggest names in recent Gospel history, including “Never Would Have Made It” (Sapp), “Royalty” (Cage), and “Jesus” (Franklin), WOW Gospel 2009 is poised to shatter its own sales records.>”

Diaries of a Chocolate Cruise $19.95 Diaries of a Chocolate Cruise

The Cruise Of The Dry Dock $49.95 The Cruise Of The Dry Dock

The Girl Aviators” Sky Cruise $16.5 The Girl Aviators” Sky Cruise

Cruise Of The Alerte: In Search Of Treasure $12.76 Cruise Of The Alerte: In Search Of Treasure

The Evolution of the Cruise Missle $45.95 The Evolution of the Cruise Missle

The Cruise Of The Alabama And The Sumter $38.95 The Cruise Of The Alabama And The Sumter

Little by Little or the Cruise of the Flyaway $19.47 Little by Little or the Cruise of the Flyaway

Hip Hope Hits 2009 $13.99 “Hip-hop music is arguably the most prominent music in the pop world. It is art that moves the people. Hip Hope offers a positive, uplifting option in place of the negative lyrics dominating the mainstream music charts. With this in mind Hip Hope is back and this year it is loaded with exclusive songs you won’t be able to get anywhere else.”

Christian Music’s Most Requested $9.99 “Bringing together some of yesterday and today’s most loved and respected Christian artists, Christian Music’s Most Requested is a selection of top 10 radio hits that will be a stable in your music library for years to come.”

Christian Star Calendar 2009 $20.72 Christian Star Calendar 2009

Christian Hit Music $13.99 “>Join Bob, Larry and friends as they sing some of today’s top Christian hits! This release includes favorite CCM artists and the entire VeggieTales crew singing duets of everyone’s favorite Christian songs.> >>If you like >Veggie Rocks> you will love VeggieTales’ >>Christian Hit Music>>!>> >Ages: 4 to 8>Released: 10/2007>”

Caribbean Cruise/Music For A Rainy Night $35.95 Buy and sell [Caribbean Cruise/Music For A Rainy Night] at great prices.

Space Cruise (Fbi Music) Promo $6.99 Buy and sell [Space Cruise (Fbi Music) Promo] at great prices.

Tiger Cruise : 1607919583 $7.5 Do events happen by chance or are they orchestrated by God to achieve His purpose? A Tiger Cruise is scheduled by the U.S. Navy, and then tragic events occur to cause a postponement. Two years later, it finally happens. Two women are rescued off a fishing vessel by sailors of a Trident nuclear submarine. One is an attractive nineteen-year-old pianist with a concert scheduled in ten days at the Hollywood Bowl. Due to a threat from a North Korean fast-attack submarine in the vicinity, both women are required to remain submerged with the officers, chiefs, sailors, and navy dads until the crisis is resolved. Romance is in play as the younger woman, Julie, meets a handsome young sailor, David. He is immediately attracted to Julie’s beauty, but she wants nothing to do with the young sailor-especially his Christianity. As much as David is attracted to Julie and her music, he sees her internal war and wonders if their professional and spiritual differences would even allow romance to bloom. Roger Quam lives in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He enjoys gardening, writing, classical music, and church work. In 1963 he met Martha on a Greyhound bus and they have been happily married for forty-five years. They have four children, two grandchildren and attend Prairie Hills Covenant Church in Sioux Falls. He attended the U of Minn. and has had four careers: managing in various industries, owning a business, and working at a Christian rescue mission. He retired in 2006 from Citibank. In 2003 he was one of twenty navy dads invited to spend four days with their sons on the USS Michigan Trident Submarine on a Tiger Cruise. Roger has authored two other Christian novels: The Hobo and The Road to Gambela, both published by Xulon.

The Mystery Cruise $4.95 When the Alden family take a Caribbean cruise, they share their dining table with Max Greene, a very nice history professor…

Santa Cruise $10.44 Alvirah Meehan, lottery winner turned amateur sleuth, and private investigator Regan Reilly are guests, along with their spouses, on the Santa Cruise…