Cruises
Oceania’s Regatta Offers Holiday Cruise
Oceania Cruises’ ship, the Regatta, will sail on a 12-day “Sun-Splashed Holiday” Caribbean cruise roundtrip from Miami departing December 21. Stops are in Turks & Caicos, Dominican Republic, Tortola, Antigua, Barbados, Martinique, St. Barts and St. Croix. Fares for interior staterooms are from $4,299 per person double, including airfare. A limited number of suites and staterooms are still available. Oceania Cruises’ holiday sailings have a special culinary emphasis. Menus include Christmas favorites such as roast turkey, goose or ham, traditional trimmings, sweets and eggnog. Also on the menu are potato latkes, matzo ball soup and challah bread. A gala outside New Year’s Eve deck party – weather permitting – will feature live music, noisemakers, party hats and champagne. Visit www.OceaniaCruises.com.
Princess Heads to South America Cruise
Traveling down the Amazon River, around Cape Horn, on a Brazilian Adventure, or up to the fabled Machu Picchu are among the highlights of Princess Cruises’ South American cruises and cruisetours for the fall 2011/spring 2012 cruise season. Clients can choose from ten departures aboard Star Princess and Pacific Princess, encompassing 31 destinations. Rio de Janeiro figures prominently on several cruise and tour itineraries. Throughout their South America voyages passengers can visit a variety of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including not only Iguazú National Park, Machu Picchu, and the Amazon River basin, but also Olinda Historic Center (near Recife), Salvador Historic Center, and the Historic Quarter of Valparaiso, Chile. Call (800) PRINCESS or visit www.princess.com.
Hotels & Resorts
Hawaii Disney Resort to Open in 2011
Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa, Ko Olina, oceanfront in Hawaii, will begin accepting reservations for hotel rooms and vacation packages August 2 through the Walt Disney Travel Company and is scheduled to welcome first guests on August 29, 2011. Introductory room rates start at $399 per night. Disney reps say they are creating an immersive family-fun experience “unlike any other on the islands.” Located 17 miles from Honolulu International Airport, the resort has golf course access. Travel agents can find bookings details and package pricing at www.disneytravelagents.com or by calling the Walt Disney Travel Company at (866) 50-DISNEY or visit www.disneytravelagents.com.
Destination Wedding Packages on the Riviera Maya
El Dorado Spa Resorts & Hotels and Azul Hotels by Karisma, a collection of Gourmet Inclusive properties in Mexico’s Riviera Maya, have unveiled enhanced new destination wedding and renewal packages. At any budget, the packages include custom touches and personalized services such as a concierge for wedding guests, wedding attendant for the bride on her wedding day and a well-stocked dressing room for the groom. Destination weddings can easily transition into romantic honeymoon escapes without an additional cost. Rates at El Dorado Spa Resorts & Hotels and Azul Hotels begin at $155 per person, per night. For a selection of resorts, packages and customization possibilities, visit www.karismahotels.com.
Tours
Trafalgar’s Christmas Vacations in Europe
Trafalgar Tours suggests experiencing the holidays in Europe this year with visit to places where many Christmas customs originated on one of its four escorted tours or on a river cruise. For example, the eight-day English vacation, starting at $1,025 per person, land-only, explores London, Stratford-upon-Avon, Bath and Stonehenge (eating hot chestnuts from street vendors; listening to carolers singing in Covent Garden; and visiting the house where Shakespeare was born, the ancient city of Bath, and Stonehenge). A nine-day escorted Paris tour starts at $850 per person double. The nine-day Christmas Markets of Austria, Germany & Switzerland starts at $1,399; it highlights places where many Christmas traditions were born and visits Christmas Markets in Mozart’s Salzburg, Oberammergau, Zurich, Liechtenstein, Lucerne and more. Trafalgar’s newest holiday vacation called the Rhine-Main Holiday Markets starts at $2,349 per person and features an 11-day relaxing cruise along the Rhine where clients can opt to escape all the commercialism. Call (866) 544-4434 or visit www.trafalgartours.com.
Pleasant Holidays Introduces US to Portfolio
Pleasant Holidays has announced the addition of the continental United States to its destination portfolio, providing a much larger product line. The four destinations are Arizona, California, Nevada and Florida and feature accommodations in every category and price range at 116 hotels and resorts. Arizona destinations include Phoenix, Scottsdale and Sedona. The California portfolio includes Los Angeles, Anaheim/Orange County Beaches, Palm Springs, San Diego, San Francisco, Monterey, and Napa Valley and Sonoma in the Wine Country. In Nevada, Pleasant Holidays offers Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe. Destinations in Florida include Miami, South Beach and Orlando. Hertz is the preferred car rental partner for the USA program. Pleasant Holidays offers competitive airfares nationwide on all airlines and participates in the USTOA $1 million travelers assistance program. Booking is at www.PleasantAgent.com or Reservation Call Center at (800) 448-3333.
IsramWorld’s Escapade Vacations Launches Luxury Tours to Portugal
Escapade Vacations, a division of IsramWorld, has launched new customized deluxe tours to Portugal as part of its brand-new Spain, Portugal & Morocco brochure. They include full-time escort/guide and transport by luxury chauffeur-driven vehicles to sights ranging from the historic city of Porto with its UNESCO World Heritage sites and the Douro region, the birthplace of Port wines, to the capital, Lisbon, and the aristocratic town of Sintra, referred to as “Paradise on Earth” by Lord Byron. IsramWorld is a full member of the USTOA $1 Million Travelers Assistance Program. Visit www.escapadevacations.com. For more information on IsramWorld, visit www.isramworld.com.
Cox & Kings Adds Zimbabwe Safari Itineraries
Cox & Kings has announced several new 8-, 9- and 11-night safari itineraries in Zimbabwe, home to Victoria Falls. Some take in neighboring countries, too. For sophisticated safari goers, tours offer prime wildlife viewing, lodging at less-visited wildlife reserves, and safari excursions all sustainable tourism efforts that benefit conservation projects preserving vast herds of wildlife and aiding local communities. Itineraries are easily customizable and feature experiences in 4x4 vehicles, by boat and on foot, and include hosted game drives and wildlife walks. For more information, call (800) 999-1758 or visit www.coxandkingsusa.com.
In other Cox & Kings news, the company has appointed Merritt Howerton as director of sales for Cox & Kings USA. She will oversee all sales for the Eastern United States and Canada. Howerton has traveled to all seven continents and has more than 20 years of experience in the luxury travel and tourism industry at Lindblad Expeditions and more recently at TCS Expeditions.
Apple Tree Group Offers Novel Explorer Package
Apple Tree Group is resurrecting the legacy of the French naturalist and explorer Henri Mouhot. Lodging is at the historic 33-room boutique hotel named Villa Maly, in Luang Prabang, Laos. The new Explorer’s package, called Mapping Monsieur Mouhot, starts at US $467 for two nights. The package is the first in a series of novel packages by the Apple Tree Group. It invites guests to delve deeper into the region with a trip that is literary, adventurous and posh. For reservations, contact Villa Maly at (85 6) 7 253 903/4 or reservation@villa-maly.com.
Lion World Offers Luxury Package with Safari at Big Savings
Lion World Tours is offering its nine-day, five-star Classic South Africa package, featuring a stay in Cape Town, a safari at a private game reserve, and international airfare (check for airports) starting at USD $2,989 per person double in October and November, South Africa’s peak season. This is a savings of $1,500 per person compared with if it were booked separately. Included is a four-night stay in Cape Town at 15 on Orange, a trendy new hotel, and a two-night stay at the luxury Lion Sands River Lodge on banks of Sabie River in Lion Sands Private Game Reserve. For details, call Lion World Tours at (800) 387-2706 or visit www.lionworldtours.com.
Ya’lla Tours Discounts Morocco Pricing
Ya’lla Tours USA has reduced prices by 10% on all its published travel programs to Morocco. The reduction comes as a direct result of a more favorable exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Moroccan dirham, according to Ronen Paldi, president of Ya’lla Tours. Ya’lla has seven published tours to Morocco of seven to 10 days, from Casablanca to Marrakech. All include private guides, accommodations, some meals, site entrance fees, hotel taxes and service fees. Published prices are land only and include private transfers. (800) 644-1595 or visit www.yallatours.com/morocco.
Destination News
Anguilla Renames Airport, Increases Air and Sea Access
Anguilla has increased air service and easier access by sea, and has renamed Wallblake Airport. The new name is Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport. Having met requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization, the airport is now designated an international airport. Cape Air plans to add Anguilla to its inter-island Caribbean service on December 22. American Airlines, Continental, Delta and US Air already offer connecting service on American Eagle and Anguilla Air Express from San Juan. In addition to a seven-minute flight to Anguilla from neighboring St. Maarten (which has service from the US mainland on Jet Blue, American Airlines, Continental, Delta, Spirit, United Airlines, and US Air), Anguilla also boasts convenient 20-minute sea ferry service to the island on either a public ferry from the Marigot Terminal or from Princess Julianna Airport. Hon. Haydn Hughes, Anguilla’s parliamentary secretary responsible for tourism, said the increased access “bodes well for the remarkable resorts that have recently opened and the new product that will be ready for the upcoming winter season.” Contact the Anguilla Tourist Board at (877) 4ANGUILLA or visit www.anguilla-vacation.com.