Sherman's Travel

Hollywood stars (and all the paparazzi who stalk them) will descend on the French Riviera this week for the year’s most prestigious cinema event: the Cannes Film Festival. La Croisette – the city’s Mediterranean-facing boulevard – is transformed into a veritable catwalk of stylish A-listers. And this year, the festival is highly anticipated because of the premiere of Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. For a fleeting moment, the red carpet, rolled out in front of the Palais des Congrès, will become the most photographed event of 2013. But there’s more to glitzy Cannes than this 15 minutes 12 days of fame. Just off the coastline where Zelda and F. Scott used to party, the island of Saint-Honorat is home to a colony of Cistercian monks who tend 20 acres of vineyards. And you’re invited to pay them a visit. Read more

If a Mediterranean, Adriatic, or Baltic cruise is on your 2012 travel wish list, check out the $1,776 July 4th sale fares now being offered by Windstar Cruises (must be booked by July 6). Windstar, which operates three tall-masted luxury ships – 312-passenger Wind Surf and 148-passenger Wind Star (shown at left in Greece) and Wind Spirit – has lowered fares on 20 European voyages sailing from mid-July to mid-November (with some fall voyages priced as low as $1,476 and December Caribbean voyages priced from $976).

I have cruised around Europe extensively and have sailed on both Wind Star and Wind Surf. If, like me, you prefer smaller ships to the behemoths, you’ll enjoy the intimate ambiance, wonderful service, superb cuisine, and easy camaraderie that these ships offer. Here are few of my recommendations for itineraries among those on sale until July 6:

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