Travel plan idea blog

Summer vacation deals

This article recommends some warmer destinations as well as some ski resorts this summer - you save money going to a place like Scottsdale, Arizona or a ski resort in the summer. Just make sure the heat won't make you miserable.

One place mentioned in the article I link to above is the Sheraton Vistana Resort in Florida, which "features seven outdoor heated swimming pools, on-site car rental, free shuttles to all the Walt Disney theme parks, free wireless Internet access throughout, three arcade/game rooms, DVD rental library and restaurants."

Maybe that will appeal to some British travelers (or travellers for you Brits) who are advised to consider America instead of Europe this summer - the British currency is strong against the dollar but not so strong against the euro - this makes the US a better value.

Another interesting vacation deal is the "Escape! Earth Day" package from the Desert Springs JW Marriott Resort and Spa and the City of Palm Desert, California. During the month of April, the package starts at $399 a night and includes a stay in a standard guest room at the Desert Springs, two 50-minute organic date scrub spa treatments, use of spa/fitness facilities, breakfast buffet for two at the resort's Lake View restaurant (including an organic honey tasting) and a 'free' admission to Palm Desert's Living Desert (in exchange for turning in a used cell phone).

Vegas hotel deals and a few random links

First let me just say that this post on poverty tourism and rich people's morals has gotten a number of interesting comments in the last day or two - it might be worth your time to join the discussion.

Second, while this article changes subjects a few times I really like how the author shares some deals he received by being on mailing lists of well-known Vegas hotels:

ITEM: The Palazzo­the Venetian’s new deluxe sister hotel/addition wants me to stay for what is a really low $179 per night with free drinks, special VIP check in, discounts on dining, free desserts and other goodies. The rack rate at this hotel is around $300 at a minimum.

ITEM: Mandalay Bay has dates in April, May, and June during which a 3-day stay will only cost 2 day’s pay -- a serious savings indeed.

ITEM: MGM Grand is having a “sale” for upcoming dates for $99 per night.

ITEM: The Mirage is offering 15% discounts on regular rooms, and 20% off on Premium rooms, 25% off on De Luxe, and a whopping 30% off on Tower and Penthouse Suites­the ones that appeal to the highest of high-end travelers who, you’d think, they would not have to discount for at all, recession or no recession.

ITEM: Most telling, the admittedly not ultra-deluxe New York/New York has a 10%-off / $10 at Starbucks / $10 free gaming play deal in April, that escalates to 15% / $10 / $10 in May, then 20% off in June with 2-for-one breakfast at Il Fornaio, $15 off a spa treatment, free welcome drinks and a pass on the roller coaster.

I've never been to Vegas but when I get close to going I will certainly try to get on these mailing lists.

I have no transition for my next link but this article has some interesting advice. I had never heard of the International Association for Medical Assistance to Travelers before but it sounds like a good idea. Basically they have a network of English speaking doctors worldwide in case you get sick on an international trip.

And that's what I have for you today - have a great one!

Combination passes / Museum Passes

Today I’d like to talk about these combo passes that you see in nearly every major city in Europe. I realize this topic has been covered many times over and the majority of people just don’t want to waste their time figuring out which pass is best. Still, I’d like to throw in my two cents worth.

I travel as often as I can as cheap as I can, because I was raised to be frugal, if not super frugal. This makes me sit down and actually go through each pass to see if I can save even a couple of bucks at any given point in my journey.

I am a constant planner and like to thoroughly go through several guide books and websites making sure that I know of every possible sight there is to see at my destination. I plan for weeks, if not months, knowing that when I get there one third of that plan is going out the window. The important thing to me is that I see everything I wanted to, because in the grand scheme of things I really don’t know if I’ll be back and my list of things to see elsewhere is constantly growing.

So, if you’re like me you can get your money’s worth out of nearly any of these combination passes, although it is increasingly difficult to do so with some of them. The major difference is who is selling the passes. Many cities (such as Rome archeology card, Paris museum pass, and Berlin SchauLUST pass) offer a pass sold at museums owned by the state that can save you a substantial sum if you are going to several museums. Alternatively, there are the types of passes offered by private companies or in combination with the local transit system which in most places are private companies. These transportation-inclusive passes or private passes usually offer very small discounts making it quite difficult to get your money’s worth. Examples of these are the city tour card in Berlin and Munich.

You can save money using all of the passes listed above, though it does take planning.

However, if you really can’t be bothered with going through each of the places you plan on visiting and figuring out if it’s worth it, I suggest sticking to the ones sold by the state owned museums and staying away from the ones that include transportation. As for transportation, I would stick with buying what the locals do, weekly tickets.

-Mike Richardson, The Professional Tourist

Vacation deals: family resorts and just staying home

This article recommends some family resort vacation deals. I don't know much about family vacations except those for husband and wife so i can't say too much about the choices in the article.

I can comment on this article about staying home on vacation to spend time with friends and loved ones. As an educator I get more vacation than most so luckily I have time both for traveling and relaxing at home. I'll never criticize anyone for staying home on vacation. Staying home to cook for your wife if she's not on vacation, take your dogs for long walks, meet friends for luch, etc. can be a wonderful way to spend some vacation days.

Saving money on airfare and European vacations

This article has 2 parts - Rick Seaney talking about shopping for airfare and Rick Steves talking about saving money in Europe.

Here we have vacation deals ranging from cruises and the Caribbean to road trips & camping (no deals here but some recommendations nonetheless), Las Vegas, Washington DC, and New Orleans (anyone know if the restaurant I want to visit there is still open?).

Mobil travel guide, a few deals, cruise talk

I had never heard of Mobil Travel Guide before reading this article, but the author recommends the guide, which seems to be pretty exclusive: "A total of 41 lodgings, 17 restaurants and three spas earned five stars from Mobil."

I wonder if we can afford any of them...

Speaking of affordability, this article has a few deals including tours of Yellowstone (river rafting, horseback riding, hiking, canoeing and wildlife watching), Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate (poolside cabanas, zero-entry family pool, aquatic playground, 850-foot Lazy River, two Greg Norman-designed golf courses and a full-service European Spa), Occidental Hotels & Resorts (I think they were one of the resorts that never answered my email a while back), Viva Wyndham Resorts, and various resorts in Curacao.

What is a zero-entry pool anyway?

Here's an article on Voyager of the Seas from Royal Caribbean. It focuses on the health and fitness options, which my parents noted when they went for a free cruise on Liberty of the Seas.

ABC vacation deals

This article comes in two flavors, video and regular article. The article part is set up kind of weird so I liked the video better but the information is the same:

Apple Vacations tour of Los Cabos, Mexico
3 night Royal Caribbean Cruise of Bahamas
The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida
The American Club in Kohler, Wisconsin

Single vacation deals for everyone

I blogged a while back about traveling alone even if you are not single and do receive requests for more articles geared toward single travelers. I do try to honor those requests, but don't see that many articles on single travel...

Anyway, here is an article on travel deals for the single traveler.

There are several resorts trying to attract solo travelers with special packages. These include the Arawak Beach Inn in Anguilla, Le Meridien Cancun Resort and Spa, South Seas Island Resort off Florida's Gulf Coast, Tortuga Bay in the Dominican Republic (Punta Cana actually - where I reviewed Sirenis), and Westin St. John Resort.

They also have a bunch of "activity" or "adventure" based vacation packages. Getting mentions here (on page 2 of the article) are Intrepid Travel's Solo Active program, Tauck World Discovery, "the gorgeous Villa San Michele's popular Single Is Beautiful and Tasty, Too! package", International Expeditions, and Country Walkers.

Finally, the article lists a few sites for people who are single and looking (not just solo travelers).

Vacation deals for Fort Lauderdale and more

The Washington Post has a lot of different vacation deals for us. They mention the American Express Going once sale, an all-Asia pass from Cathay Pacific, some hotels, and more.

American Express "Going Once" sale

If you want some extra excitement and complication (as if booking your own travel wasn't complicated enough), American Express has a vacation package promotion for card holders on their Going Once website.

The promotion lasts from February 4 to 14 and works like this. Each day a different package goes on sale at noon. Every twenty minutes until 8:00 pm (or until the package sells out) the price drops.

So the longer you wait, the cheaper you get the vacation. However, the package could sell out before 8:00 if enough people want the package. There are also fixed-price packages.

So start thinking (assuming you have an American Express card) about how much you're willing to pay for each package. I'm also assuming that you have more money than I do.

Croatia (starts at $13,570 which is the retail price)
Tuscany ($9,000)
Alaska ($12,480)
Cabo San Lucas ($15,000)
Tanzania safari ($18,590)
Polynesia ($18,790)
Greece & Turkey
Buenos Aires
Hawaii

According to American Express, last year Going Once package purchasers saved an average of 32 percent off of retail prices. It's a significant discount, but personally I'd wait a bit longer and risk having the package sell out. They do show you the number of packages available (it says 10 for each right now).

Deals for Canada, Italy, more

The Washington Post has collected some good deals. Many of them are ones I'm very interested in and have blogged about before. There's a cooking tour in Italy, the Rocky Mountaineer in Canada, a couple of cruises, airfare specials, and more.

What do travelers have to be thankful for and useless travel trivia

This article on what travelers have to be thankful for wasn't particularly interesting except for one piece of useless trivia:

Moans and groans beyond counting and back injuries along with them have been averted because in 1987 a Northwest Airlines pilot named Robert Plath thought to put wheels on luggage and build in a retractable handle. Before that, the emphasis in the word "luggage" was definitely on the "lug."

Of course now you end up with people who have crazy heavy bags they refuse to check. They can roll them around but not lift them so the poor flight attendants have to struggle with these massive things on wheels. I always feel like helping the young, thin flight attendants but I never do. I also want to walk up to these people and tell them that if they can't lift it into the overhead compartment they should check it. Seriously - you are slowing everyone down standing in the aisle struggling and it's dangerous. One time I actually saw someone drop her bag on a seated passenger mid-flight. I hope it wasn't too heavy...

The second page actually gets better (saving the best for last) with a mention of Rocky Mountaineer (I mentioned that once) winter train (I bet the views are awesome), and a trvel deal:

China for $1,699

In a trip open to anyone, the Exeter Area Chamber of Commerce in New Hampshire is sponsoring a trip to China March 14-22 for $1,699 a person. Highlights include transportation to and from John F. Kennedy Airport, round-trip airfare from JFK, hotel stays, three meals daily, English-speaking tour guides, admissions, and airport taxes. Highlights include visits to attractions in Beijing, the Great Wall of China, Shanghai, Suzhou, and a lake cruise.

Then there's the prison-turned-hostel travel site...

Travel deals and a jazz cruise

It's midterm week and I'm busy looking at students' papers so you might see fairly short entries the next few days.

Today I just have a few travel deals from AM New York. Deals to Grenada, the UK, and Thailand sound good, but not as good as this cruise:

A jazz cruise, Dec. 1-8, round-trip from Miami, with stops in Key West and ports in Mexico and Belize, will feature a jazz brunch with lecture by an expert in this field of music and nightly performances throughout the ship. Available staterooms are priced from $2,920 a person plus fees; shore excursions are extra. (888-799-4625; crystalcruises.com)

Not sure it's really a "deal" but it sounds like a whole lot of fun.

Arizona ranch vacation deals

This travel deal article talks about two ranches in Arizona.

Bison Ranch Resort Suites (see bison, fish, hike):

Couple packages, family packages
One- and two-bedroom condo suites (with kitchens and electric fireplaces)

"Suites Stampede" promotion lets guests reserve a condo stay through March 31, 2008, (excluding holidays) at rates from $119 a night and receive a second consecutive night or a second condo unit on the same night at half-price.

Autumn in the White Mountains means beautiful sunny days and cool crisp evenings. On Sunday-Thursday, arrivals rates start from $69 on the "Tree Huggers and Leaf Lovers" package.

The "Explore Northern Arizona" package includes a six-day self-drive tour of northern Arizona with a two-night stay at the Prescott Resort and Casino in historic Prescott; two nights of lodging in the stunning red rocks of Sedona at the Junipine Resort, and one night at the Bison Ranch Resort Suites. Rates vary by season, but start from $575.

Tanque Verde Ranch (a Travel Channel Top Ten Family Vacation Destination with all inclusive packages plus hiking mountain biking, horse riding, tennis, kids programs and spa): from $370 to $610 / night.

Mancation vacation contest

This is an article about Mancations that has a cryptic reference to a contest for a free mancation:

If you win the Great Winter Escape Contest, the Winnipeg Free Press and Signature Vacations has a week-long holiday in the sun for two as your prize, with four possible destinations and vacation themes. (There is only one prize at the contest's end).

Maybe I'm not reading carefully but I still don't know how to enter the contest...

Very inexpensive driving tour of Ireland

In this list of vacation deals, we have one that sounds truly amazing:

Sceptre Tours is offering an eight-day Ireland Coast-to-Coast independent vacation package with rates starting at $499 per person. Travelers must book by Wednesday for travel from September through February 2008. The package includes round-trip airfare on Aer Lingus from New York to Shannon or Dublin; six nights' hotel accommodations, including two nights at the Clare Inn (Clare), two nights at the Breaffy House (Mayo) and two nights at the Green Isle Hotel (Dublin), and weekly standard car rental.

Vacation deals: cruises, resorts, rafting, Ireland, and more

Here's an article on vacation deals, including lots of cruise deals:

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line: Splendor of the Seas 7-night Greek Isles (Visit: Athens, Mykonos, Katakolon, Corfu, Split)

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line: Voyager of the Seas 7-night Mediterranean (Visit: Nice, Rome, Naples, Vallette, Palma de Mallorca)

Celebrity Cruise Line: Summit 7-night Southbound Alaska (Visit: Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait, Ketchikan, Cruise Inside Passage)

and 9 more...

Plus a few land package vacation bargains:

Resort Riu Palace in Aruba ALL INCLUSIVE 5 nights from $1175 per person

Paradise Island Harbor Resort in Bahamas ALL INCLUSIVE 3-nights from $699 per person

and 4 more...

For me the really weird part is when they say to call someone named Amanda. Is Amanda the travel agent for 3 on your side's vacation deals or something?

Here's an article on a British consumer's experience looking for a vacation bargain. This particular problem was with Thomson travel agency but the author makes it seem like a problem common to most British travel agencies.

This New York Daily News article mentions deals for a few places we've blogged about here, including white water rafting the Ocoee River and St. Maarten. The Irish history tour sounded pretty great too.

Here are some travel deals for our New Zealand readers. This one seemed pretty unique: "Herald Travel readers staying at California's Mendocino Hotel will find their Kiwi dollars are temporarily worth the same as United States dollars."

Alaskan cruise travel plan from last year and news + a travel deal today

On this day last year, I published a contest entry: Voyage of the Glaciers Alaskan cruise on the Sapphire Princess. I decided to do a news search today to see what's going on.

The first thing I found was unfortunate, a cruise ship run aground. There are a billion stories on this cluttering up my search results but I'm only linking to this one.

I needed to find some better news so I kept searching. Even though stories about the troubled cruise ship dominated the results I was able to find this blog entry on an Alskan cruise for seniors (55+) at a discounted price.

There's also an article on the fairly new law that Alaskan voters passed to curb the environmental impact of the cruise ships.

Health Magazine says try buying plane tickets midnight Tuesday to 1:00 AM Wednesday morning

Got this tidbit from Men's Health Magazine:

Here's how it works. Airlines usually release their deals late on Fridays, so you can troll for bargains then. But if you're willing to take a gamble, wait until the offers expire, often on Tuesdays. Tuesdays at midnight, unpurchased fares flood into the airline computer system. That 1-hour window from midnight until 1 AM Wednesday morning (in the city where the airline is based) is when you strike.

It would be nice if they actually told you where to strike and how (online?). Has anyone had success at this Tueday midnight time?

How to make US dollars go further in Europe

Here's a good WFAA article (the Google news feed said it was subscription but I was able to follow the link without trouble - I hope you can also read this article - if you can't it is an AP article but I couldn't find it published anywhere else).

The article notes that while London is most popular with US tourists, it's also very expensive thanks in part to a weak dollar. They recommend getting deals in Croatia, Prague, or Germany (but I really want to visit Germany in winter). Then again, it does seem cheaper to fly to London than any other European city. You might try to get the best of both worlds by flying to London and then traveling around Europe a bit.

We have the London and Amsterdam travel plan, but Amsterdam was mentioned as one of the more expensive destinations. They don't mention the cost of visiting other British cities, but Oxford, York, and Scotland might be a nice addition and a little less expensive than London.

The article I linked to at the beginning lists some new flights but notes that prices are going up despite the greater number of seats:

Delta Air Lines Inc. is continuing to add new routes to second-tier international destinations, including flights from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Pisa, Italy, and Bucharest, Romania, as well as from Atlanta to Vienna, Austria, and Prague, Czech Republic. Northwest Airlines Corp. has several new routes and extra flights, including a new Hartford, Conn.-to-Amsterdam route starting July 1 and a second daily nonstop from Detroit to Frankfurt, Germany, operating from May 7 through Oct. 27. Austrian Airlines has a new Chicago-to-Vienna route set to start in May, and Air France will offer a daily Seattle-to-Paris nonstop starting June 11.

They do mention that airlines often have sales in March so perhaps in a week or two we could see better deals.

The article also mentions cruising as a possibility. Cruises typically charge US dollars so you won't get killed on the exchange rate. There are also a few hotels with special US dollar prices to attract American tourists.

Fairmont Hotel 2007 centennial special offers

To celebrate their centennial, Fairmont is offering a number of packages for $1,907.00 (or British Pounds, or whatever the local currency is). This make the Fairmont Dubai an afforadble $500 but London's Savoy quite a bit more for those of you with US dollars in your banks (or on your credit cards).

Here's a good article that explains a couple of the Fairmont packages.

The packages are valid through Dec. 30, 2007 according to the Fairmont website so there is time to plan!

Discounts if you have a new passport

Most of you already have passports I'm sure. If you don't, there are a few Caribbean specials you might consider in addition to "no passport" vacation spots like Puerto Rico. The St. Maarten special reminded me of this crazy planes by the beach video.

Sandals' Red Lane Spa or Resort $250 Credit Offer

A special notice for everyone based on an email I got from Sandals. They are having a special "$250 Red Lane Spa or Resort Credit offer to April 15th" and sent me this link to share:

Sandals' Red Lane Spa or Resort $250 Credit Offer - Click here to learn more and to access the discount code!

This takes you to their specials page. The $250 off I'm talking about is way down the bottom (if you're booking make sure you use the code they give you or you won't get the discount). The other specials are pretty interesting too. I didn't see anything for ones I've covered here like the Sandals Beaches Negril Resort & Spa in Jamaica.

Other Sandals related blog entries: Selling Sandals, Sandals and St. Lucia politics.

If you've experienced a Sandals or Beaches vacation, please share by leaving a comment.

Cruise deals

If you're reading this, my web hosting situation has been resolved. As things go back to normal, I thought I'd share some cruise deals being offered by the different travel sites out there:

Expedia.com is having its 2007 Cruise Getaways Sale through February, starting at $189 (for a three-night Carnival Caribbean cruise). You can get up to $100 onboard credit with Princess Cruises and, with Royal Caribbean, up to $200 off. If you go for the cheaper cruises, you get less money off.

Travelocity.com has a sale, through Feb. 15, with 56 daily sweepstakes prizes of $2,500 and a grand prize of $125,000. You can get such goodies as $400 off with Celebrity (Alaska), upgrades with Carnival, and shipboard credit plus an upgrade with Norwegian Cruise Line.

Orbitz.com has a Winter Getaway Sale with offers good through mid-February. If you book a cruise totalling $2,000 or more with an American Express Card, you get double Membership Reward points, good for assorted merchandise, and a free portable DVD player.

Well, there's something. I'll be blogging almost everyday now. I am flying back to America soon so I'll miss a couple of days in the middle of the week.

Vacation bargains from the Washington Post

Here's a Washington Post article from a couple of days ago that has travel deals from Hawaii, Grace Bay Beach on the island of Providenciales, Las Vegas, various cruises (Caribbean, Thames River in England), flights on AirTran and American, as well as packages to Venice and the Azores, a group of islands in the mid-Atlantic about 970 miles off the coast of Portugal.

Florida vacation deals: Miami, Disney, and more

A few days ago I was busy blogging about lines in Disney (thank you for the comments on that one) and Port Orleans vs. Caribbean Beach (again, we got some very useful comments). Today we have a nice range of Florida vacation deals. Deals include St. Augustine, Miami Beach, the Florida Keys, Daytona Beach, and Disney.

Toward the end are some deals for Hawaii, the Netherlands, Maine, and Provo in Turks and Caicos.

Vacation deals for Hawaii, Bahamas, Bali, Ireland, and more

This USA Today article talks about some nice island vacation travel deals:

Four nights in the Bahamas from $299
Five nights in Hawaii from $433
Seven nights at an all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic from $569
Three nights in Ireland from $499
Seven nights in Singapore and Bali from $799
Six nights in Tahiti from $1,198
Eight nights in the Greek Isles from $1,299
Seven nights in New Zealand from $1,399

Offseason and shoulder season Europe vacation deals

Here's an article on finding travel deals in Europe in non-summer months:

Europe's offseason, from late October through April, is full of deals for the smart traveler. Better yet, you'll avoid the crowds that can make a European vacation insufferable in the summer.

The article goes on to mention some countries to look at (Austria, Ireland, Germany, Greece and Iceland) and some advice (like packing layers since it gets cold in Iceland during the winter).

If you can't handle the offseason, try the shoulder season, right before the high season for "decent weather, smaller crowds and better prices."

A nice variety of travel deals

The Washington Post has some travel deals for you, from Italian rail passes to the Lake Austin Spa Resort in Austin, Texas. There are some package, airfare, and cruise deals too. One of the cruises sounds a little familiar:

Save $350 per person on a Mekong River cruise through Vietnam and Cambodia departing Nov. 7. Price on the Value World Tours trip now starts at $2,149 per person double plus $98 port charges. The tour includes three nights' hotel in Ho Chi Minh City; three nights' hotel in Siem Reap; most meals; seven-night cruise ; sightseeing tours; shore excursions; and guide. A Dec. 19 departure has been discounted by $250.

That reminds me of this cruise to raise money for disarming landmines. That cruise is November 7-21, 2006 so there's still a little time. It's a bit more expensive, but it seems like a worthy cause. It was put together by the guy who told us about climbing Kilimanjaro.

US cruise and airfare deals

All AirTran Airways destinations are on sale with fares from $39 one-way. Book your tickets by Tuesday, October 17, 2006 and travel by February 1, 2007. AirTran serves many popular destinations like Las Vegas and New York as well as smaller places like White Plains (a suburb of New York)..

I've also got some cruise deals for you - all prices are per person:

Celebrity: 11-night cruise of the western Caribbean on the Constellation. Ocean view cabins $799, balcony cabins $999. Sail from Bayonne, NJ on October 27th.

NCL: 10-night cruise of the southern Caribbean on the Norwegian Spirit. Inside cabins $549, ocean view $799. Sail November 9th from NYC.

Holland America: 10-night Thanksgiving Cruise of the eastern Caribbean on the Noordam. Inside cabins $749, ocean view $799, balcony cabins $999. Sail November 15 from NYC.

7-night cruise of the western Caribbean on the Westerdam. Inside cabins $799, ocean view $899, balcony cabins $999. Sail December 31 from Ft. Lauderdale.

Carnival: 7-night Thanksgiving cruise of the eastern Caribbean on the Valor. Inside cabins $419, ocean view $519, balcony cabins $769. Sail November 19 from Miami.

Win a trip to Jacksonville to see a football game

If you're in or around New York than this vacation contest from JetBlue Airways and the New York Giants might interest you. Two lucky winners and their guest will win a trip to Florida to see the Nov 20th game against the Jaguars. The trip includes round-trip air on JetBlue Airways from JFK to Jacksonville, 2 nights hotel and game tickets.

Some more vacation deals

The Baltimore Sun has some travel deals, and they mention the same Air Jamiaca vacation deals I did yesterday. You'll notice that I give more detailed information...

Anyway, they have the vacation deals but most just don't sound all that special. Like this $350 off a $5,000+ vacation. Big deal:Save $350 on vacations priced $5,000 or more at United Vacations through Oct. 31. Savings of $200, $100 and $50 also available on lower-priced packages. Use promotion code FALLSALE. For information, go to unitedvacations.com or call 888-328-6877.You can also spend a couple days in a New Hampshire spa for $400+ a person, American Airlines has some good deals to Mexico and the Caribbean, there's a Caribbean cruise on a line I've never heard of, and some hotel and museum packages in Atlanta.

Air Jamaica Caribbean vacation deals for winter 2006 (book by Oct. 12)

Air Jamaica Vacations offers packages to:

Jamaica: 3 nights, all-inclusive Sunset Beach Resort & Spa in Montego Bay starts at $655 per person from Atlanta, Baltimore, New York (JFK), and Philadelphia for travel Jan. 4-31.

Barbados: 7 nights, all-inclusive Sandy Bay Beach Club starts at $1,545 per person from Atlanta for travel Jan. 29-April 6.

St. Lucia: 6 nights, all-inclusive Rex St. Lucian starts at $979 per person from Atlanta, Baltimore, New York (JFK), and Philadelphia for travel Jan. 4-Feb. 2.

Curacao: 5 nights, all-inclusive Breezes Curacao Resort Spa & Casino starts from only $1,105 per person from Atlanta for travel Jan. 27-April 8.

You have to book by October 12 and there are some blackout dates. Other departure cities are available for a bit more money.

Inexpensive vacation destinations

The Boston Globe recommends 8 budget vacations: Minneapolis for the architecture; Maine's coast for windjamming and lobster feasting; Tunisia for beaches, Roman ruins, the Sahara Desert, sophisticated resorts, camel rides, jeep excursions, weavers, and traditional musicians; Sedona, Arizona for the nature and outdoors stuff; New York's Adirondack North Country for leaves changing color, Halifax and Cape Breton in Nova Scotia because its cheap during the offseason; Guatemala and Antigua for exotic destinations not too far from America; and Nashville for classical and country music.

This is a 14 page article (there's some detail on each destination) and to get past page 4 you need to register which takes a couple of minutes but is free.

Do the math when hunting for vacation deals

Here’s a good article about hunting for vacation deals. I’m sure we already knew that not all travel bargains are created equal, but consider this example:

The Sonesta Maho Beach Resort & Casino in St. Martin, for instance, advertised a "Fourth Night Free Special," good through Oct. 31, on its Web site. With that special, the four-night tab for Sept. 29 to Oct. 2 totaled $630 for a Supersaver King room. The package beat the hotel's "best available rate" total of $760. But I could have paid only $500 using the resort's $125-per-night "Web rate."

No. 1 lesson: It's not the "free" night; it's the cost of the paid nights that counts. Effectively, I would pay $157.50 per night under the free-night special.

No. 2 lesson: "Best available rate" isn't always the least expensive.

There are some more good examples in the article from golfing in Hawaii to buying vacation packages online.

Cruise deals, European vacation deals

While searching for winter travel deals, I learned that business airfares are getting more expensive. I learned that there are some real bargains from British travel agents, especially for people going to Turkey. I'm not sure anything will save Turkey as a tourist destination until travelers are confident they'll be safe there.

I did find some cruise deals for the fall, including an NCL 7-night cruise to Bermuda on the Norwegian Crown. Inside cabins $429, ocean view $479 per person. Sail October 22 from NYC.

I did find a few European travel deals, which is really what I want, but they were also for the fall rather than the winter. Maybe it's too early to book my winter vacation; I'm not quite ready for Thanksgiving in Prague...

Adventure travel tour deals

I've listed a few of the adventure travel tour deals described in this USA Today article. If you're looking for an adventure travel tour, this is a must read.

Morocco: Atlas Panorama (8 days for $490 for U.S. travelers, plus a small local payment)

Sailing the Greek Isles on a 49-foot yacht (8 days for $695 plus a small local payment)

Cycling in Provence, French Alps (7 days for $1,469)

Guided hikes in Yellowstone (4 days for $624)

Snowshoeing in Eastern Europe (5 days for $590 plus a small local payment).

Comment saved from the old server

Hi,

In South Africa, there is some nice adventure tours as well.
- The Sani pass (highest pub south africa)
- Trail horse in Lesotho
- South africa is a nice playground !!

Posted by: Afrique du Sud at August 28, 2006 05:20 PM

Saving money in expensive places

Here's an article on how to save money in select European cities like Venice, Athens, and Lisbon.

Another interesting article I found was on saving money on weddings and honeymoons. From destination weddings in Maui to cruise weddings to "shark feeding in Belize, swimming with dolphins in Hawaii, zip-wiring in Costa Rica, zorbing [rolling around in a giant hamster ball] in New Zealand" to Fleming Beach to Spain's Costa del Sol to a lot of other places, this is an interesting article. I especially like the part about honeymoon registries:

Honeymoon registries: Forget the department store gift registries. Honeymoon registries, whereby gift-givers pay for items such as airfare, hotel, upgrades and excursions, are the rage. The registries have raised some eyebrows in the etiquette set.

Be sure to read all the way through that article for cheap alternatives in places like Hawaii, Italy, Tahiti, Fiji, etc.

Travel deals in the news

This CBS TV4 article on summer travel deals says that flying to Europe will be expensive this summer thanks to greater demand fueled by The Da Vinci Code. They say that cruises are still reasonable, especially if you book now.

The International Herald Tribue has some very reasonable airfares and some deals on fancy hotels:

LANGHAM HOTEL, Melbourne "Memorable Melbourne" package for 16,300 Australian dollars for two includes two nights in Presidential Suite; three-hour spa treatment; workout in the Chuan health club or run on the Tan Track with an Australian Football League star; half day of hands-on cooking with the chef Michael Lambie, with working lunch and refreshments, followed by dinner; half day shopping with the style guru Cindy Sargon; a BMW limo with chauffeur for the duration of your stay, including airport transfers.

Sounds good, maybe I'll do that after my round the world cruise in 5 years...

Reasons to visit Maine for vacation

If you plan on entering the travel writing contest for a chance to win 1,000 dollars in cash prizes, you have less than two weeks to email entries to jtrotta@gmail.com. Other comments about my blog here are also welcome.

One place you might consider writing about is Maine. Maine is a good choice for 2006 because the state is trying to boost a tourist industry that has been flat for the past 5 years.

The result is FreeStayMaine, a program that will give out free vouchers for accommodations on return trips to Maine. Vouchers are being given out this summer and fall. Cruise ship passengers will receive vouchers that can be redeemed for a free night of lodging at participating hotels and bed & breakfasts.

I'm sure there are lots of things to do in Maine but the thing I know best is that there are a bunch of outlets in Freeport Maine. I went once but am not much of a shopper. A couple of years ago, my wife, sister, and mother went and had a great time staying in Captain Brigg's House Bed & Breakfast and shopping all day. They recommend that bed & breakfast by the way. The current owners are selling but hopefully the new owners will keep up the great work.

Cruise lines slash prices

Added capacity (think Freedom of the Seas) and reduced demand due to bad publicity has left cruise lines with nothing to do other than slash prices.

Royal Caribbean Cruises - has a deal on Bahamas, Mexico and Caribbean cruises: the third and fourth cruisers can sail for $99.

Carnival - has a seven-night eastern Caribbean trip beginning on Aug. 26 starts at $529.

Norwegian Cruise Line - has a Western Caribbean cruise leaving Houston on Oct. 21 is $439 per person for seven nights.

If the bad news hasn't spooked you, now is the time to get a good deal on a cruise.

Buy Walt Disney World's Magic Your Way package, get dining package free

Disney is offering the dining package free for travelers booking their Magic Your Way vacation package for stays starting August 13 - September 30 (you have to book the vacation by June 4th). A family of four saves almost $100 per day!

I know one person going to Disney in September who had already booked the Magic your Way plan with dining through AAA. Yesterday the travel agent called to tell them about Disney�s promotion. My friend is now saving close to $700 by getting the meal plan free.

I just wanted to make sure that everyone knew about this, because if you are considering a Disney trip in August or September, this is the Disney vacation package for you.