[Cdj1040]

We have traveled most of the world now and just returned from Morocco and Portugal. The two tours were almost back to back. Morocco was totally wonderful. It's a very active itinerary with lots of walking and exploring and we saw and did so many amazing things. Accommodations varied from nice hotels to a lovely Riad with a stunning courtyard and decor, to a tented desert camp in the Sahara. Our evening camel ride was awesome as well. We toured Roman ruins in Volubilis, adobe villages, souks, spice markets, a fossil factory, leather tannery, silver shop, and saw how they make shoes and buckets from old tires. We also went to an argon oil co-op and herb farm where we had a lovely lunch. We had a cooking class where we each followed the directions of the chef and made our own tangine lunch. I cannot tell about it all...so much more. Portugal was very laid back by comparison...all about wine, olives, fish and cork products. A stud farm stay was a highlight and a boat ride along the rugged coastline with natural arches and caves that we did on our own. We've toured with many companies inc OAT, GLOBUS,CARAVAN and more but this is our 5th with Gate 1 and we booked Antarctica for 2027. It's about half the price of Viking and we also go ashore in zodiaks. Gate 1 has good sales as well.

[dtennent]

Thanks for the review of your trip with Gate1. It sounds like a great trip.

Just a comment about your upcoming trip. While the Gate 1 ships look beautiful, they appear to have about 500 passengers. We have done Antartica twice, once on a larger ship and then on a ship with 100 passengers. On the smaller ship, we were able to land on several places on the continent and on near by islands including South Georgia. We were able to walk the beaches and see the penguins, seals, etc. within 20 ft.. We had a leopard seal pop his head up on either side of our zodiac. In all, we had a more amazing experience on the smaller ship with less people

The scenery is still beautiful on either ship. However, if you are going to make the trek down and then cross the rough seas of Drake’s Passage, I would opt for a small ship where I could put boots on the ground.