Imagine being in Phuket (Southern Thailand), boarding a yacht equipped with six luxury en-suit cabins and an attentive staff that includes a gifted cook.

Perhaps you will head off to the clear waters of the Andaman Sea—or the Indian Ocean—or the Gulf of Thailand; whatever the itinerary, it will be tailored as you desire, as will your activities. You might ask to stop for swimming, diving, snorkeling, fishing, or beachcombing on a slew of virtually virginal tropical islands, or perhaps you prefer to lounge on one of the decks and soak up the sun and then chase the sunset, always surrounded by ever-changing, spectacular scenery.

Too good to be true? No, indeed. The Siam Junk is yours for the charter.

Built in 2007, of Burmese teak and ironwood, The Siam Junk is designed to resemble the ancient sailing vessels used for centuries to carry goods between Thailand and Myanmar. The Junk’s Asian decor reinforces the ships exotic exterior providing a perfect marriage of function and style. At 113-feet long and 23-feet wide, the Junk is large enough to accommodate 12 to 18 overnight guests or up to 60 day trippers in comfort—and it is small enough to squeeze into tight passages unavailable to larger ships.

Charter The Siam Junk for the day, a week, a month or two—but once you taste the food, you will want to stay forever (that’s a promise—see sample recipe below).

In addition to charters, The Junk offers a few set cruises, many designed for photography groups and all satisfying to food lovers.

Unique, delightful, relaxing, fun—oops, as I said, I really shouldn’t talk about it too much.

THE SIAM JUNK’S

YELLOW CURRY WITH CHICKEN AND SQUASH 

Yield 2 to 4 servings.

13 to 14 ounces coconut milk

2 tablespoons yellow Thai curry paste

10 ounces skinned, boned chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces

10 ounces butternut, acorn or pumpkin squash flesh, cut into bite-size pieces

1 tablespoon or more sugar

1 tablespoon or more of good quality fish sauce

Thai basil or mint leaves, optional garnish

Put coconut milk in a heavy wok or frying pan, set wok over moderate heat and bring milk to a simmer.  Add the curry paste and stir well. Once the curry paste has been thoroughly incorporated, bring mixture back to the simmer. Add the chicken and squash and stir well.

Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through and squash is tender, about 30 minutes.

Add sugar and fish sauce until the taste is good to you.

Serve immediately garnished with basil or mint leaves if desired.

And the sippin’ is easy.

Bars are jumpin’

And the patrons are high.

The menu’s rich.

And the cocktails’ good lookin.’

So I’m thinking maybe

You’d like to give some a try.

ROYAL DREAM

It takes a dictionary’s worth of adjectives to describe the Hotel Danieli, and all of them mean magnificent. In addition to architectural glory, sumptuous décor and luxurious service, this once-upon-a-time palace turned hotel could have the best location of any property in Italy. The ground floor opens to the Riva degli Schiavoni, Venice’s principal waterfront promenade. And the top floor holds the Ristorante Terrazza Danieli offering an unparalleled panoramic view of the Grand Canal and Adriatic sea. Nothing short of Champagne is good enough for the Danieli’s specialty cocktail, but as if Champagne alone is no match for the glory of the surroundings, the Danieli decorates the drink with fresh strawberries and a splash of cherry flavored liqueur.

ROYAL DREAM

Yield: 1 cocktail

3 large ripe strawberries, hulled

1 teaspoon sugar

1 ice cube

2 ounces Kirsch (cherry brandy)

Chilled Champagne

1/2 strawberry for garnish

Sprinkle strawberries with sugar and mash; set aside 5 minutes. Put strawberry mixture and ice cube in a blender and blend until smooth. Strain puree into a Champagne flute. Add Kirsch and fill glass with Champagne. Stir lightly with a spoon and serve immediately.

BLUE DREAM

Dolce La Hulpe Brussels bills itself as a hotel, resort and conference destination serving both business and leisure travelers. Located in the midst of a lush forest on the outskirts of Brussels, the property’s contemporary architecture and minimalist décor adds sleek sophistication to the nature-packed setting. In addition to 265 guest rooms and suites, extensive conference facilities, several restaurants and full-service spa, the center sports two great bars serving smashing cocktails, many of which have won top awards in national and international cocktail contests. Top winner, the Blue Dream, scores points for taste as well as beauty.

BLUE DREAM

Yield: one serving.

1 ounce dry French vermouth

1/2 ounce banana liqueur

1/2 ounce Blue Curacao

1-1/2 teaspoon Marie Brizard Manzanita green apple liqueur

1-1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Ice

1 lychee for garnish

1 vanilla bean for garnish

Put all ingredients except the garnish in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain into a martini glass. Cut lychee to resemble a flower. Garnish drink with the lychee “flower” attaching the vanilla bean as a stem.

GATUN PUNCH

Perhaps building the Panama Canal was man’s most arduous task. Blood, sweat and tears marked construction where upwards of 25,000 people died, fortunes were lost and disasters lurked around every bend. It’s hard to imagine the turmoil when transiting the canal today, especially if the crossing is aboard a luxurious, six-star, Crystal Cruises ship. Life with Crystal Cruises is as good as it gets. All that’s required of passengers taking the short cut from the Pacific to the Atlantic is that they relax and enjoy. Crystal doesn’t pull punches when it comes to passengers’ pleasure, that is unless the punch was created for the occasion of the ship entering the Gatun Locks (the locks closest to the Canal’s Atlantic side). Cheers!

GATUN PUNCH

Yield: one serving.

2 ounces fresh orange juice

2 ounces pineapple juice

1 ounce sour mix

Dash grenadine

Ice

2 ounces rum

Cherry for garnish

Orange slice for garnish

Put orange juice, pineapple juice, sour mix and grenadine in a 12-ounce hurricane glass. Stir. Fill glass with ice. Float rum on top. Garnish with cherry and orange slice.

Not that I expected the contemporary cruise to channel the namesake’s adventure. At least I hoped it wouldn’t.

I was certain that with 75 cabins, a swimming pool, fitness center, two lounges, tiny spa, well-stocked bar and graceful dining room, my cruise ship, the MV Reef Endeavour, would have more comfort than the HMS Endeavour, the navel ship Cook commanded on his first voyage to the area.

MV Reef Endeavour

Also the original Captain Cook described Fijians as ferocious cannibals, and, of course, I was eager not to follow in his footsteps and run into an old-timer who relished historical tradition.

Not to worry on either account.

As its captain Brian Larcombe is fond of saying, “The Reef Endeavour is a 3-1/2 star ship offering a 5-star experience.” Although the ship showed a bit of wear, it was perfectly comfortable and the cruise was terrific, as the smallish ship took us to remote reefs, shallow bays and tiny islands inaccessible to larger ships.

Manava Cay, a Reef Endeavour stop.

As to the Fijians, as if to overcompensate for the bad cannibal rap, they were all exceedingly friendly, warm and welcoming (I am sure Kava had a lot to do with it, but more about Kava later).

Reaching the ship was the most difficult part of the journey. I left LAX with fellow travel writers on a Thursday night at 11:30 p.m. flying Air Pacific for 10-1/2 hours and landing at Nadi International Airport (on Viti Levu, the largest of the 330 Fiji islands and the gateway for air travelers) on a Saturday morning. You will note that Friday disappeared. Losing a day is disconcerting under any circumstances, but losing a day in gorgeous Fiji is almost unbearable. Blame it on crossing the International Date Line. Everyone said you’ll make up a day on the way home. But I ask you, would you rather have an extra day in paradise or sitting on a plane returning from a heavenly trip? No contest.

From Nadi, we jumped on a tiny Pacific Sun plane for an hour’s flight over emerald-colored islands and sapphire-tinted water to Matei Airport (recently upgraded from a gravel runway to a paved one—yippee) on Taveuni, the fourth largest island in the archipelago and so lush and green it is known as the Garden Island.

View from a window of a Pacific Sun flight.

We were picked up in a van, driven to a small beach, where we took a glass bottom boat to the Reef Endeavor and settled into cabins.

Nicest cabin (not mine) on the Reef Endeavour, a suite with a bedroom and attached sitting room.

From then on it was smooth sailing. We cruised making frequent excursions, reaching shore by glass-bottom boat and traveling through paved as well as unpaved roads on an open-air bus.

We drove to the Bouma National Heritage Park’s waterfall for swimming and a picnic

And joined locals for a service at the Wairiki Catholic Church on Taveuni.

We stopped at the International Date Line (or where it used to be) for a photo op.

Standing between today and tomorrow.

And visited a Village for a dinner feast.

Kava welcoming ceremony at Naselesele Village

Now I’ll tell you about Kava

Kava, a drink the color of the Mississippi after a mudslide, is narcotic, not alcoholic, and said by Wikipedia to have “sedative” and “anesthetic”  properties. It is the ceremonial drink of Fiji, and guests to villages are expected to bring gifts of Kava root and participate in Kava-drinking ceremonies.

On board we drank, slept, had massages, read, attended  lectures, danced, mingled, took the glass bottom boat for snorkeling and diving, and watched the ever-changing scenery as we cruised by various islands.

We picked up new words, such as BULA, the most commonly heard word on the islands with a variety of meanings ranging from “good morning” to “have a wonderful happy life.”

Ate the freshest of all possible seafood.

Prawns served on the Reef Endeavour

And learned that  Fiji Women dress modestly with knees and top of shoulders covered. Women do not wear pants. Visitors are expected to dress similarly in villages and frequently don sulus (sarongs) to meet the modesty requirements.

Women wear sulus made of colorful fabrics.

All too soon, the cruise was over leaving us with not only great memories, but also new friends of fellow passengers (mostly from Australia and New Zealand), sunburns, seashells and some super recipes.

Which brings me to a particularly delicious rice and fettuccini stuffed pumpkin. I first sampled the pumpkin at a village lovo dinner. As is the tradition, dishes at a lovo feast are wrapped in foil and native plant leaves and buried to bake in an earth-covered “oven.”

Although villagers cooked the pumpkin, the recipe came from the Reef Endeavour’s hospitality manager, Florian Haber. Florian  said that the dish could be baked in a regular oven as well as in an earth oven and that although pumpkins growing on Fiji differ from those in the United States, any edible pumpkin would work in the recipe.

Florian Haber serving Stuffed Pumpkin

STUFFED PUMPKIN

How to make rice and fettuccini stuffed pumpkin according to Florian Haber:

Get a smallish pumpkin and cut a star-shaped a hole in the top, but save the top as you’ll want to bake the pumpkin with the top on. Hollow the pumpkin, removing all seeds and fibers.

Combine an equal amount (enough to almost fill the pumpkin) of cooked rice and cooked fettuccini (halve fettuccini strips). To boost flavor, add some cooked diced vegetables, such as cauliflower, red bell pepper, carrots and corn. Stir gently to combine ingredients. Put half of the mixture in the pumpkin. Pour a generous amount of coconut cream and dairy cream over mixture in pumpkin and stir gently to distribute the liquid. Add the remaining mixture to pumpkin and again pour in equal amounts of cream and coconut cream; stir gently. (The pumpkin should be filled to the top and ingredients should be quite moist but not soggy.)

Put the lid back on the pumpkin. Wrap the entire pumpkin in foil. Set pumpkin on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated 325°F until the pumpkin shell is soft and the rice/fettuccini mixture hot, 2 to 3 hours.

Yield depends on size of pumpkin, but plan on people having seconds and thirds—this dish is that good.

To learn more about Fiji see: http://www.fijime.tv/

HOW TO FIND CRUISE DEALS (according to Bob Levinstein)

Bob Levinstein

CRUISE IN LOW-DEMAND TIMES Choose to cruise in non-peak times, such as when most children are in school. In particular, avoid cruising over holidays as these sailings are typically higher priced due to demand. Less demand equals a lower price.

Think about traveling at the beginning or end of a season (shoulder season) when prices are more competitive and also consider a repositioning cruise. Repositioning cruises are those where cruise lines sail from winter to summer homes or visa versa. As the purpose is to move the ship, these cruises tend to have more days at sea and fewer port stops, but are cheaper than regular cruises.

The Crystal Serenity

BOOK FAR IN ADVANCE OR AT THE LAST MINUTE Cruise ships offer discounts for both. If early, you have the added advantage of choice of rooms AND you can turn in a frequent flyer to cover airfare or take advantage of advance airfare specials.

Close to sailing time—three to six weeks out—cruise ships, eager to fill empty rooms, can drop prices significantly.  Individual travel agents can also offer unadvertised discounts close to sailing time, so check out a few and compare prices.

Sail Away party on The Ruby Princess

CHOOSE THE RIGHT CABIN Cruise ships offer different price structures for different type cabins. Cabins on certain decks, and without certain amenities are cheaper to book than the premium cabins with all the bells and whistles. Right choice of cabin can drop costs dramatically.

Keep in mind that if you book a “category guarantee” you can reserve a category of cabin, but not a specific room—which will be assigned. You pay the lowest rate available and often end up being upgraded to a better category.

At a popular port.

CONSIDER ALL DEALS When factoring costs, consider the value of onboard credits. An extra $100 in your onboard account is just as good as a $100 discount off of your cruise fare. This onboard credit can be used for tips and anything else on board.

Think about a specialty soft drink option. For example, on Princess Cruises, soda cards are approximately $9 per person, per day for all you can drink. Some cards included such items as hot chocolate, “mocktails,” and specialty ice creams in addition to soft drinks. Specialty coffee cards are also available.

Purchase your shore excursions directly rather than through the cruise line.  A good site to research your options is AllThings Cruise.com.

The Silver Cloud in London

SEARCH THE WEB Use the Internet to locate the sailings with the lowest demand. Find the cruise you want, the exact date and the type cabin, but don’t buy at the price advertised as cruise lines only let agencies promote retail prices.  Get custom quotes directly from agents. You can contact multiple travel agencies yourself, or you can put a quote request into CruiseCompete.com and let the 1000 member agents come to you with their best offers.

Here’s how CruiseCompete.com works: You register on the site and then type in your cruise choice being specific about ship, sailing date and cabin type. Member travel agents will bid on your cruise. They will be competitive. You can communicate with agents by phone, E-mail or live chat to ask questions or to see if they can “sweeten the deal” with extra discounts or on-board credit. Compare prices, making sure that your price includes all charges and then you can book with the agent of your choice. There is no cost to you for this service and you will remain anonymous until you make your booking.

Watching movies on the Ruby Princess

DIETING ON THE CRYSTAL SERENITY

If there is anytime to dish the diet it is on a cruise where you can have food 24/7. And if any cruise overloads with quality as well as quantity, it is a Crystal Cruise, where the food is always a feast. So it is odd that Michael Falla, the hunky 24-year old, sports scientist and personal trainer on the Crystal Serenity offers terrific advice for dieting. Michael encourages dieters to: (1) eat within one hour of waking up (YES!); (2) eat every three to four hours (no problem there); (3) eat in moderation (the catch); and (4) make wise choices.

As to those choices, Michael explained his concept of hand-to-mouth eating.

“Look at your hand,” he said. “A reasonable meal should have no more than one closed fist portion of bad carbohydrates (white rice, potatoes, white bread) and two closed fists full of good carbs (whole grains, leafy greens, veggies). The protein portion of the meal should match your open palm without the digits. And you can add as many beans, lentils and the like that can sit, in one layer, on the outstretched palm without falling off. As to fat, the top of your thumb, up from the first notch is what you get in way of butter, oil, etc.—and that is for the whole meal—not just as a spread.”

I’d like to add another secret to cruise control that is especially easy on the Serenity. Aim for the luxuries in your choices. Pick caviar over the donuts, salmon for breakfast over the bacon and eggs and the low-calorie frozen yogurt over the…well,  you get the picture.