About a week or so ago, everyone going on the voyage received a booklet in the mail that lists all of the finalized field trips being offered by the Semester at Sea program (these are trips that Semester at Sea has organized and are operated through local travel operators in the areas being visited). Many times in a port, people choose to go off on their own and that is perfectly fine too - especially beause there are only so many spots open on each trip...so it is inevitable that independent travel be done by many people. There are something like 600 - 650 students onboard and then another 30 - 35 faculty members and probably 20 - 30 staff members (ie. residence life staff, student activities staff, an AV coordinator, an IT person, etc.)...there are also family members and travel companions of people working on the trip as well. For instance, the Academic Dean for the voyage is bringing his wife and two children along (apparently, you just have to pay an added supplemental fee for these accompanying family members and there is a limit to two minor children, I believe...if you bring a college-age child along, he/she has to take classes and receive academic credit...I think it's something like $2,000 per extra person that accompanies someone working on the trip).
At any rate, along with the booklet, I also received a form for trips that I had to pre-sign up for. Most of the trips for the first destinations (Puerto Rico and Brazil) were listed on the form as well as some of the bigger trips in South Africa, India and Vietnam (and Cambodia). I had to circle which trips I wanted to be considered for and indicate if I had any second choices. From my understanding, anyone who gets in his/her form by the deadline of December 30 will be put in a lottery to be considered for each trip...so it's really a matter of luck in terms of what organized trips you get selected to go on.
Being the planner I am, I took a lot of time to try to map out what my first and second choices were...the booklet was overwhelming because there were so many interesting choices!
I made the following decisions/choices about the "bigger" trips in each country...
Brazil: There is a chance to go on a trip to Rio de Janeiro. However, it will be Carneval in Brazil during that time and I just think it will be way too hectic for my taste. There is a higher crime rate in Brazil (especially during Carneval) so I decided to not do a trip to Rio on this voyage. I'm sure I will try to get back to Rio at another time in the future when it's not so crazy there. For this trip, though, I decided to try to do trips that were closer to where the ship is docked in Salvador, Brazil.
South Africa: I signed up to be considered for a safari that requires participants to fly from Cape Town to Durban. The safari is a 3-day safari to Kwazulu Natal. It lists accommodations at the Ubizane Tree Lodge which seemed neat after looking at it online. They also offer 4-day safaris through Semester at Sea, but I've read some people think the 3-day safaris are just about the right length of time. The cost of that 3-day safari is $1073.00 and a maximum of 39 people can go on it. Apparently a lot of people make independent safari arrangements because it is sometimes cheaper to do it that way...if I don't get selected for the safari trip I want, I guess I can also make arrangements once I'm in the country.
India: I signed up to be considered for a trip up to northern India that includes a flight from Chennai (where the ship will be docked) up to Delhi. From Delhi, you take a 2-hour train ride to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Also on the particular trip I want to be considered for, it will stop in the towns of Jaipur and New Delhi as well. The cost of that trip is $1222.00 for 4 days and 3 nights - I could have gotten the reduced rate of $1042.00 for the trip if I were 29 or younger!...missed the Indian airline discount it by 2 years!!!). I hope that I'll get chosen for that trip too...a maximum of 70 people will be chosen for that.
Vietnam/Cambodia: When in Vietnam, there are some side trips to Cambodia. I really would love to go on the one that goes to Phnom Penh and then to Siem Reap (where the Angkor Wat temples are). I've heard people have liked this trip a lot when it was done in the past. I'm sure there will be a lot of people who want this trip though...a maximum of 60 people get chosen to go on it. The cost is $847 for three days and two nights.
So those are the "big" trips I put in my requests for. If a person gets chosen for a given trip, payment is made in advance so that hotels and flights can be booked by the Semester at Sea people. A credit card number or check was to be included with the form for all of the trips you wanted. I think we will find out what we definitely "got" about two weeks after the deadline of December 30.
There are smaller trips in Puerto Rico and Brazil that I signed up for too, but if I don't get selected for them, I'll just come up with alternate plans...I'm not as worried about getting them as I am for the trips mentioned above.
I also will eventually have to select a trip that takes me up from Hong Kong to Beijing once in China. I won't have to sign up for that until I'm on the ship though.
I think that's all I have to report for now...I'll post more once I find out what trips I'm "definitely" signed up for.
