Q My wife, two teenage sons and I want to visit Caracas, Venezuela, next July or August and go by cruise ship. What options are available?
Arthur Negrin
Fairfax
A Poor visitor ratings have dropped Caracas off the list of ports of call for a number of Caribbean cruise ships. Visible poverty and some street crime against tourists have contributed to this, says cruise specialist Richard Bruce Turen, managing director and owner of the agency Churchill and Turen of Naperville, Ill. That plus the scarcity of cruise ships in the summer make this a difficult excursion.
If you were willing to fly to Puerto Rico, you could take a cruise ship that stops in Aruba, disembark and then take a 1 1/2-hour flight to Caracas on Santa Barbara Airlines. Both Carnival Cruise Lines (888-227-6482, www.carnival.com) and Royal Caribbean (800-398-9819, www.royalcaribbean.com) sail from San Juan to Aruba and back throughout July and August -- the Carnival ship takes five days, with stops in St. Thomas, Dominica and Barbados (from $819 per person double). Royal Caribbean takes two days, with no stops (from $589).
You would have to pay the full cruise fare and make arrangements with the ship ahead of time to disembark in Aruba. And there's the question of how to get home; again, if you made arrangements to board a different cruise ship in Aruba and return to Puerto Rico, you'd have to pay the full fare.
Cruises are not designed to be transportation, and if you use them as such, they can be extremely expensive. Most of the time you're better off flying; United has flights from Washington Dulles via Houston for $531 round trip.
We are planning a move to the United Kingdom next year and will want to take our dogs and cats. Where can one find information about safely moving animals abroad?
James Miller
Washington
