As many of you know, Chet and I are sailing to the Galapagos islands in a few weeks with Ecoventura. I thought you would be interested in this news:

Conde Nast Traveler Names Galapagos Small Ship Expedition Company Ecoventura Winner of 15th Annual World Savers Award

MIAMI, August 25, 2009 – Ecoventura is the winner of Conde Nast Traveler’s (CNT) 15th Annual World Savers Award in the category of Cruise Lines, announced Santiago Dunn, Ecoventura president. This award recognizes Ecoventura’s ongoing mission to be the pacesetter for responsible tourism in the Galapagos Islands.

Dunn will be on hand to accept the award on Sept. 21 at the third annual Conde Nast Traveler World Savers Congress at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. The Congress expects to draw some 200 CEOs of major travel industry companies.

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Hello everyone!

Chet and Cynthia Janssens

I am very excited about this cruise blog, something I have wanted to do for a long time and now I have found the proper home for it. All Things Cruise is going to be a terrific cruise site and I am proud to be a part of it.

There is so much going on in the world of cruising

that there will be much to talk about. As indicated in my biography, my next cruise coming up is to the Galapagos Islands and already I have learned that the first challenge to blogging on a cruise is that you have to have an internet connection. Most of the time, I will have no such connection while in the Galapagos.

So….my solution is that I am going to write my blog postings day by day and then post them day by day the week after I return. Makes sense and should work fine…

I first visited the Galapagos Islands in 1995 aboard a hulk of a sailboat called the Encantada. I was with a group of friends from the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) and we were on a post-trip after the Ecuador convention. We were spread out amongst many vessels, but I landed on this clunker…and a clunker it was. We didn’t even have hot water for showers for three days! And it never sailed, just motored from island to island.

But still the trip was fun, educational and enlightening and I am so anxious to share the experience with Chet…my loyal hubby and TC (traveling companion). We love wildlife and this is one of the ultimate wildlife trips.

We will be sailing for seven nights on a motoryacht ( the Eric, the Letty or the Flamingo 1) operated by Ecoventura, (www.ecoventura.com). These yachts each hold just 20 people. I will be posting photos from the trip so you will be able to see the ships and these fascinating islands. Right now I am reading up on Charles Darwin and his experiences in these islands.

Heidi Allison-Shane, Editor-at-Large, writes for numerous travel publications.  She created the CruiseTrends report for CruiseCompete — which is reproduced in many travel publications, like Travel Agent Central, MediaPost,  NEWS Marketing Daily, Cruise Industry News, Travel Mole, Black Meeting and Tourism, Cruise Industry Wire, Travel Weekly, Successful Meetings, ETurbo News and The Cruise Editor.

She also contributes frequently to Vacation Whispers, AllThingsCruise, CruiseCompete, ResortCompete, VacationCompete, and ExpertTravelAnswers.

Ms. Allison-Shane’s experience is diverse and her various assignments have included Princess Cruises, American Hawaii Cruises, Norwegian American Line and American Express Meetings & Incentives. She has enjoyed over 67 cruises on various lines and has managed projects for numerous Fortune 100 companies throughout the world including Africa, Antarctica, the Caribbean, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Asia and South America.

She is a member of Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) and the North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA). Her other writings include The Academic Job Digest, The International Academic Job Digest and How to Find an Exceptional Nanny.

Ms. Allison-Shane lives in Rochester, Michigan, with her husband and four children.

Cynthia Boal Janssens, AllThingsCruise’s Editor-In-Chief, is a veteran travel and cruise writer who became well known to Midwestern audiences during her stint as travel editor of the Detroit News. She has been a freelancer for a number of years now and has been specializing in cruising for most of that time. She has been published in newspapers and magazines across the USA (and in Africa, too!)

She is particularly interested in small ship cruises and those have taken her to Antarctica, deep into the Amazon, through the rivers of France and the Straits of Malacca. She has explored the Galapagos Islands and the Mississippi River. But she sails the big ships, too, and often participates in the inaugural cruises of new vessels like the Norwegian Epic and the Disney Dream.

Cynthia is a former national president of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) and when she isn’t cruising, chances are she is on the golf course … she also does a lot of writing about golf travel.

Cynthia and her husband Chet, who travels with her and takes most of the photos, live in Northern Michigan in the summer and Southwest Florida in the winter.

A long-time consumer advocate, Cynthia welcomes your questions about cruising…she has visited most every cruise area of the world and always wants to go back.