Q & A
Cruising to Charleston
Q.  I would like to take my mother, who is 80, on a tour of plantations in the South, by bus or barge. She has mentioned visiting Charleston and thereabouts. Any suggestions? -- Kathleen Sullivan, Manhasset, N.Y.
A.  A number of companies, like the Delta Queen Steamboat Company, (800) 215-0805, and Riverbarge Excursions, (888) 456-2206, offer plantation cruises on the Mississippi River. There is no such great river meandering through the Southeast, of course, but there is the Intracoastal Waterway.
The Nantucket Clipper is a 100-passenger ship that makes several seven-night tours of the antebellum South in March, April and November, between Jacksonville, Fla., and Charleston, S.C., calling at Savannah, Ga., among other places. On Oct. 19, the vessel is also scheduled to depart on an 11-night Colonial America and Civil War cruise from Washington to Jacksonville, also calling at Charleston and Savannah.
There is time for touring on your own at the ports of call, or optional excursions can be booked at extra cost, according to Elizabeth McQuinn, a spokeswoman for Clipper Lines.
At Charleston, for example, a three-and-a-half-hour outing to Middleton Place, an 18th-century plantation with landscaped gardens on the Ashley River, costs $46. A three-hour Historic Charleston tour, including the 1803 Joseph Manigault House, costs $33. Similar tours are offered in Beaufort, S.C., Savannah and other ports.
The prices for the antebellum cruise are $1,950 to $3,490 a person; the Civil War cruise costs $2,900 to $5,000. For more information, contact Clipper Lines, 7711 Bonhomme Avenue, St. Louis, Mo. 63105; (800) 325-0100, fax (314) 727-6576; www .clippercruise.com.
If you go to Charleston directly, Charleston Tours offers several tours of the area, using 15- and 25-passenger buses. These range from a 90-minute city tour for $15 to an 'all-day adventure' combining the city tour and a trip to Boone Hall, a plantation with gardens, slave cabins and an Avenue of the Oaks, for $45. Jane Kiser, the owner, said she also arranges custom tours.
Contact Charleston Tours at 545 Savannah Highway, Charleston, S.C. 29407; (843) 571-0049, fax (843) 571-6248; www.charleston.net/com /charlestontours/tours.htm.
There are no true preserved plantations around Savannah, but there are plenty of historic sites. The Savannah Convention and Visitors Bureau, (877) 728-2662, and its Web site, www.savcvb.com, can lead you to about three dozen tour operators.
Among them is the River Street Riverboat Company, (800) 786-6404, which uses two paddlewheelers for 60- and 90-minute narrated tours, some with meals and entertainment (including gospel music), for $13.95 and up. It offers occasional special tours in conjunction with the Georgia Historical Society, a spokesman said.
By land, Gray Line Historic Landmark Tours, (912) 234-8687, offers daily bus tours to museum and private homes in the city and low country for $16 and up. It can arrange for a private guide and a car, as well, said Betsy Clapcott, director of sales and marketing.
Montreal to Europe by Ship
Q.  I would like to explore France and the British isles on foot. Since I've grown wary of air travel, can I take a ship across the Atlantic from Montreal or Boston? -- Hillary Smith, Peacham, Vt.
A.  Most trans-Atlantic crossings these days are out of Florida or New York, the latter mainly on the Queen Elizabeth 2. I could find only one ocean liner calling at Boston from Europe. But you can leave nearly any week from Montreal on one of two passenger-carrying freighters operated by Canada Maritime, according to Kerry Touloumis of Travltips, freighter cruise specialists in Flushing, Queens.
The ships, the Canmar Pride and the Canmar Honour, are 40,881-ton vessels built last year. Each has a double and two single cabins, which are carpeted and air-conditioned, and have a refrigerator and a sitting area, as well as private bath with shower. Each also has a passenger lounge with television and VCR. Passengers dine with the officers on Western and Indian cuisine.
The ships leave Montreal on Sunday and are due in Thamesport, Kent, England, a week later. On the return trips, they leave England on Monday and stop in Antwerp, Belgium, and Le Havre, France, before returning to Montreal. The cost is $1,740 one way, $3,165 round trip.
Contact Travltips at Post Office Box 580188, Flushing, N.Y. 11358; (800) 872-8584; www.travltips.com.
If you'd like to return in luxury and the timing is right, the Seabourn Pride, a Cunard line ship, leaves London on Sept. 5 for a 14-day cruise to Scotland, Iceland and Newfoundland, arriving in Boston on Sept. 19. The cost is from $11,550 a person, double occupancy. Information and reservations: (800) 528-6273; www .seabourn.com.
Summer Skiing
Q.  For my husband's 50th birthday, we would like to plan a ski trip for July. Are there choices for summer skiing other than Portillo, Chile? -- Susan Zimmer, New York, N.Y.
A.  Portillo, where the United States ski team has trained, is but one of more than a dozen ski resorts in Chile, including several -- La Parva, El Colorado and Valle Nevado -- close to Santiago. And across the border in Argentina are another dozen. The main centers for skiing in Argentina are around Mendoza in the northwest (including Valle de Las Lenas) and around Bariloche, farther south, in the Lakes District.
Another alternative is to head for the South Pacific, New Zealand specifically. There are a number of ski areas, but the most popular, according to Anna Synnott of the New Zealand Tourism Board, are those on the South island, near Queenstown. These include The Remarkables and Coronet Peak.
Holidaze Ski Tours, 810 Belmar Plaza, Belmar, N.J. 07719, (800) 526-2827, www.holidaze.com, offers Southern Hemisphere ski trips. Bob McErlean, the owner, said his most popular trip to New Zealand was five nights in Queenstown. Including air fare from Los Angeles, a Milford Sound cruise and transfers, it is $1,325 each, double occupancy. Four days of lift tickets is $87 more.
The agency also books summer ski trips to Chile and Argentina. In Chile, seven nights at Valle Nevado, including air fare from Miami, breakfast and dinner daily and lift tickets, start at $1,716, a person double occupancy. Holidaze has similar trips to Bariloche or Las Lenas in Argentina, with prices from $1,716.
RAY CORMIER
Correction:  May 30, 1999, Sunday  An answer in the Q & A column on May 16 about cruising to historic areas in the Southeast misstated the name of a cruise and a telephone number for the line. The Oct. 19 cruise on the Nantucket Clipper is 'America's Colonial Heritage Along the Intracoastal Waterway,' not the Civil War site cruise. Clipper Lines' toll-free number is (800) 325-0010.