Brendan Offers Deep Ireland Discounts, Variety Cruises Extends Agent Rates, and more Leisure Travel News
Cruise and Tour News
Brendan Offers Ireland Savings
Brendan is offering savings of up to $470 per couple on escorted Ireland vacations. Select departures must be booked between May 1 to May 15 to qualify for the discount.
Options include: May 28, Irish Pubs and Folkore, $1,755, promo code LMD190; May 29 and June 5, Irish Jaunt, $751, LMD191M and LMD191J, respectively; and June 26, All of Ireland, $2,100; LMD192.
These last-minute deals may be booked through Brendan’s online booking portal at www.iBookBrendan.com or through the company’s reservations center at (866) 275-1389.
Tauck Announces New Christmas Market River Cruises
Tauck is expanding its 2010 European river cruise offerings with the company’s first-ever itineraries to highlight the annual Christmas markets in Germany and France. Tauck will offer two new cruise, on the Rhine and Danube, with two departures of each cruise to operate this December.
Besides visiting the most popular Christmas markets in towns along the rivers, Tauck will also include overland excursions to markets in Aachen, Germany, in Colmar, France, and in Salzburg, Steyr and the “Christmas village” of Christkindl in Austria.
Guests can also enjoy a number of meals ashore, including Christmas lunches in Vienna and Salzburg.
The new Christmas market cruises are:
Christmas Markets Along the Rhine, eight days, from $1,990 pp, double, traveling from Cologne to Basel aboard MS Swiss Sapphire on a Dec. 5 departure. A second departure follows a reverse itinerary beginning Dec. 12.
The Christmas Markets Along the Danube, eight days, from $1,990 pp, double, departs Dec. 4 aboard the MS Swiss Jewel, and travels from Nurnberg to Vienna. A reverse itinerary begins on Dec. 11.
For more information, visit www.tauck.com or call (800) 468-2825.
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Princess Debuts eZAir
Princess Cruises is introducing a completely redesigned, new-generation air program giving passengers easy and full control of their flights and the ability to seamlessly coordinate them with their cruise itinerary.
The eZAir program provides passengers and their travel agents access to a single booking source for both cruise and air reservations. Princess passengers will now have access to real-time pricing and flight availability, immediate flight confirmation, competitive airfares and port protection in the event of flight delays.
Travelers and agents using Princess eZAir can choose air carriers and flights, as well as select their preferred cabin level and seating, all with no extra customization fee. And, they can order special meals, request a wheelchair and apply their frequent-flyer number.
Unlike air purchased through online air booking Web sites, Princess will assist Princess eZAir passengers with re-routing to the next port of call should they experience a flight delay that causes them to miss the ship’s departure.
Princess eZAir offers two options – flexible and restricted. The flexible plan allows passengers to cancel or modify their reservation without charge, while the restricted option offers the benefit of a typically less expensive fare for travelers who are comfortable with cancellation and change restrictions. Flexible air tickets are fully refundable up to 45 days before the flight. Restricted air tickets are not refundable and are subject to change fees. In addition, restricted air tickets must be paid for at the time of booking air to lock in the schedule and lower rate.
With Princess eZAir, flights can be purchased from approximately 330 days to four days before cruise departure. The new program will be in effect for virtually all Princess voyages sailing after Sept. 1. Passengers with existing air bookings will automatically be transferred to the Flexible pricing option.
In other Princess news, Princess Cruises will launch its largest Canada & New England program ever in 2011, with a new itinerary and an expanded season offering nearly a 30% increase in capacity over 2010. The summer cruises will sail between the line’s Caribbean sailings from New York, offering a selection of summer destinations from New York.
The expanded Canada & New England season begins May 17, 2011, and introduces a new nine-day itinerary that adds calls in Sydney (Nova Scotia) and Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island). The Caribbean Princess will offer four sailings on this roundtrip New York route, in between its nine-day Bermuda & Eastern Caribbean itinerary.
In fall, the Canada & New England program continues with 14 sailings on two itineraries – weeklong roundtrips from New York on Caribbean Princess and the classic 10-day route between New York and Quebec City aboard Crown Princess. In addition, Crown Princess will offer a 12-day Canada and Colonial America sailing.
Fares for seven-day Canada & New England sailings begin at $799 pp. Sailings open for booking May 6, 2010. (www.princess.com)
Oceania Cruises Debuts Fall Foliage Cruise
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Oceania Cruises will debut two New England and Canada cruises in 2011. Scenic highlights include cruising aboard the Regatta in the Bay of Fundy, Saguenay Fjord and St. Lawrence River.
The 12-day “Colors, Coasts & Coves” cruise departs on Sept. 30 and Oct. 12, 2011. Fares start at $3,999 pp, double, and include free air from 21 gateway cities. The sailings are open for booking.
For more information, visit www.oceaniacruises.com or call (800) 531-5658.
Travel Bound Offers Free Nights, Low Rates in Florida, Mexico & Puerto Rico
Independent travel clients headed to Florida, Mexico or Puerto Rico can receive free nights and low rates (from $33 pp) at a selection of three-, four- and five-star hotels when booked through Travel Bound. Agent commissions start at 10% with no minimum booking required. Commissionable sightseeing tours and activities are also available on sale.
Validity dates vary for bonus night offers, where a certain number of paid nights earn a free stay; most extend through the summer and into the fall.
Among the hotels featured in the promotion are three-star Best Western Lake Buena Visa (Orlando), from $33 pp; three-star Dorchester (Miami Beach), from $55 with one free night for four paid nights; four-star Hilton Miami, from $57 with one free night for three paid nights; four-star Presidente Intercontinental (Cabo San Lucas), from $78 with two free nights for five paid; five-star Fontainebleau (Miami Beach), from $115 with one free night for four paid nights; and the five-star Omni (Cancun), from $109 all-inclusive, plus one free night for two paid nights.
A total of 25 Florida, Mexico and Puerto Rico hotels and 15 sightseeing bargains are bookable from the “current promotions” page of Travel Bound’s Web site, www.booktravelbound.com.
Ritz Tours Offers Shanghai 2010 World Expo City Package
Clients looking to visit Shanghai for the 2010 World Expo can take advantage of a special four-night city package from Ritz Tours.
The Shanghai Expo tour features hotel accommodations for four nights at the Swissotel Grand, Crowne Plaza or Jin Jiang Hotel Cathay Garden; WorldExpo tickets for three days; daily American breakfast; and roundtrip airport-hotel transfers.
Rates are $350 pp, double for May 1 through Aug. 31 and $390 pp, double for Sept. 1 to Oct. 27. Extra nights are $110 or $140 per room, respectively, and include full American breakfast for two people.
For more information, visit www.RitzTours.com or call (800) 900-2446.
Airline News
JetBlue Increases Saint Lucia Service
Well ahead of the official start of the summer season, JetBlue is adding flights from New York’s JFK International Airport to Saint Lucia’s Hewanorra International Airport. The airline will increase flights from three to five per week from May 1 though Labor Day weekend in September.
Flights will be Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. (www.jetblue.com)
Booking Incentive, Travel Agent Rates, CLIA Training
CLIA Opens Registration for TrainingFest 2010
CLIA has opened registration for TrainingFest 2010, the two-day program that travels throughout North America and provides a “Fast Track” for travel agent training and certification. Between July and September, TrainingFest will visit 11 cities.
TrainingFest offers agents the opportunity to take four seminars, from a choice of eight, and participate in a CLIA member cruise line trade show while earning up to 70 Cruise Counsellor Credits. Full participation in TrainingFest completes the mandatory requirement for MCC (Master Cruise Counsellor) certification.
This year’s TrainingFest features seminars on social networking, group sales, principles of professional selling, time management, building business plans, and public relations techniques, as well as an introduction to selling cruise vacations and a seminar designed to help agents explore their own abilities, skills and strengths.
The two-day program is offered on consecutive Thursdays and Fridays, with a Friday evening trade show. The three-hour seminars are scheduled from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The TrainingFest 2010 schedule is July 8, Dallas; July 15, Atlanta/College Park; July 22, Denver/Greenwood Village; July 29, Los Angeles/San Pedro; Aug. 5, Washington, DC/Arlington; Aug. 12, Las Vegas; Aug. 19, St. Louis; Aug. 26, Ft. Lauderdale; Sept. 9, San Francisco/Burlingame; Sept. 16, Philadelphia; and Sept. 23, Toronto, Ontario.
For more information, visit www.cruising.org/training-certification/trainingfest.
Island Destinations Offers Booking Incentives – Free Nights & Higher Commission
Island Destinations is re-launching its National Travel Agent Appreciation Campaign to reward travel professionals for booking their clients at participating resorts. The program gives agents the opportunity to earn complimentary nights for new bookings in 2010, offering one free night for each new paid booking of four nights or more, and two free nights for each new paid booking of seven nights or more. Additionally, the luxury tour operator is offering travel agents the chance to earn up to 16% commission, just by referencing the extra commission at time of booking.
Both commission and free nights are available on new bookings made and traveled through Dec. 15.
To make it easier for agents to earn these incentives, Island Destinations has unveiled its Ultimate Exclusives in the summer/fall 2010 brochure, including 26 pages of offers at hotels and resorts in Florida, Costa Rica, Mexico, Maldives and the Caribbean.
Examples include:
Viceroy Anguilla Resort & Residences in Anguilla is offering clients booked by travel agents through Island Destinations a $250 resort credit and complimentary second room in any room category, including villas, based on room category booked (up to $11,750 value). Valid on vacations booked by Oct. 31 for travel through Dec. 18.
Tucker’s Point Hotel & Spa in Bermuda and Island Destinations is offering clients complimentary room upgrade to a deluxe room at time of booking, a beach towel to take home and Dark and Stormy cocktails for two. Valid for trips traveled through Dec. 31.
In Los Cabos, Capella Pedregal is offering clients booked by travel agents through Island Destinations a fifth night free, complimentary upgrade at time of booking to an Estrella suite or a two-bedroom villa, $150 resort credit and $100 spa credit. Valid for travel through Dec. 18.
Additional offers are available at many other resorts. For more information agents should call (800) 844-8568 and to view the brochure online go to www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/islanddestinations_2010summerfall/.
Variety Cruises Unveils New Agent Rate Program
Variety Cruises has announced a new rate program for travel agents interested in sailing the waters of Greece, Turkey, the Adriatic Sea and Egypt onboard a yacht.
Agents and their immediate family can now take advantage of special rates on the Classical Greece, Aegean Odyssey, Jewels of the Cyclades, Tales of the Adriatic and Kings and Pharaohs cruise programs.
For all these cruise programs, agents receive up to a 50% discount when a specific cabin category is requested at the time of booking. For instance, on seven-night cruises in Greece, Turkey or the Adriatic Sea, agents can sail for $500 per person if they reserve within 60 days of the sailing date and $750 if they reserve within 120 days of the sailing date.
For agents looking to head to Egypt, the five-night Kings and Pharaohs program is also available to agents. For reservations confirmed within 60 days from any sailing date, agents pay $390 per person for run of house cabin, while reservations confirmed within 120 days of sailing date cost $540 per person.
Port taxes are not included in the agent rates. Agents must show proof of affiliation to a travel agency, and accompanying guests must be immediate family members in order to be eligible to receive the agent rates.
For up-to-date availabilities, e-mail reservations@varietycruises.com or call (800) 319-7776 in the U.S. and (866) 944-8498 in Canada.
Hotel & Resort Deals
Hilton Arc de Triomphe’s Art Deco Journey package
Hilton Arc de Triomphe Paris is offering travelers the Art Deco Journey package, which includes complimentary upgrade to the next room category, breakfast in Le Safran restaurant for two, a half-day tour of Art Deco monuments in Paris with guide, access to Spa Mosaic’s Hydro Zone for two, and a copy of “The Designer’s Archives,” a book about Art Deco artist Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann.
Nightly rates start at 425 euros, with a minimum of three nights required. Bookings available through May 31 at www.hilton.com.
Doral Golf Resort & Spa Offers Golf Packages
The Doral Golf Resort & Spa, a Marriott Resort, is offering two golf packages with savings of nearly 50%. The Championship Unlimited Golf package includes accommodations, 18 holes on the Red, Gold or Jim McLean Signature Course, complimentary replay rounds on same day, daily breakfast buffet at Terrazza Restaurant, one introductory golf clinic, golf bag storage and unlimited driving range usage. The package is available from May 13 to Oct. 8, with rates starting at $109 pp, double. Single occupancy rates start at $159 per night. Promotional code: G4X.
The TPC Blue Monster at Doral getaway includes a two- or three-night stay, 18 holes on the TPC Blue Monster at Doral and the Great White with complimentary replays on the Red, Gold or Jim McLean Signature Course, daily breakfast at Terrazza Café, one introductory golf clinic, golf bag storage and unlimited driving range usage. Those who book a three-night visit receive an additional round on the Red, Gold or Jim McLean Signature course. Available through Dec. 23, seasonal rates start at $169 pp. Promotional code: G4Y. (www.doralresort.com)
Casa Magna Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa Invites Families to Stay for Less
The Casa Magna Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa is offering families two packages to make it more affordable to take a summer vacation this year.
The Escape Family package includes complimentary breakfast daily for two adults and two children 12 and under; pizza and movie night; milk and cookies nightly turndown service; free entrance into the kids club for ages 4 to 12; and children 12 and under are free. The package is valid through Dec. 10, with rates starting at $162 per room, double, with a minimum three-night stay required. Booking code: MAJ.
The Sand Dollar Family Vacation promotion features: book two rooms, get the second room at 50% off, deluxe garden view room, daily breakfast buffet for two and the fourth night free. Valid for travel through Dec. 18, with rates starting at $160 per room, double. Booking requires a minimum four-night stay. Booking code: S3Q. (www.puertovallartamarriott.com)
