Apr 25, 2008
At last! Sharp discounts on seven-night cruises to Alaska, starting and ending in Seattle
The Alaskan cruises leaving from Vancouver (as many of them do) usually involve a higher airfare than those leaving round-trip from Seattle. Cost-conscious travelers will therefore favor the Seattle-originating ships, even though they generally stop at one fewer port in Alaska than the Canadian-originating ships, a very small price to pay.
It's therefore surprising to find Online Vacation Center (tel. 800/329-9002) currently offering prices as low as $699 for a seven-night cruise of Alaskan waters, leaving round-trip from Seattle, and stopping in Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka, Glacier Bay, and Victoria along the way. These are aboard five departures of three Holland-America ships, as follows:
June 27, 2008, seven nights aboard the Amsterdam, Seattle round-trip, as little as $699.
June 22 and 29, 2008, seven nights aboard the Westerdam, Seattle round-trip, as little as $699.
June 21 and 28, 2008, seven nights aboard the Oosterdam, Seattle round-trip, as little as $699.
All three are excellent ships of a high-quality cruiseline with a long record of cruising Alaskan waters. Because Holland America has grandfather rights to go into Glacier Bay for a day (a towering highlight of Alaskan cruising), the cruises themselves are as good as they get, and the $699 price a major bargain. I'm happy to have spotted the deal.
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It's therefore surprising to find Online Vacation Center (tel. 800/329-9002) currently offering prices as low as $699 for a seven-night cruise of Alaskan waters, leaving round-trip from Seattle, and stopping in Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka, Glacier Bay, and Victoria along the way. These are aboard five departures of three Holland-America ships, as follows:
June 27, 2008, seven nights aboard the Amsterdam, Seattle round-trip, as little as $699.
June 22 and 29, 2008, seven nights aboard the Westerdam, Seattle round-trip, as little as $699.
June 21 and 28, 2008, seven nights aboard the Oosterdam, Seattle round-trip, as little as $699.
All three are excellent ships of a high-quality cruiseline with a long record of cruising Alaskan waters. Because Holland America has grandfather rights to go into Glacier Bay for a day (a towering highlight of Alaskan cruising), the cruises themselves are as good as they get, and the $699 price a major bargain. I'm happy to have spotted the deal.
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By referring favorably to the pate de foie gras served on a recent riverboat cruise, did I contribute to cruelty towards animals?
A listener to my Sunday radio program (noon-2pm on WOR in New York City) has written to complain about my reference to the pate de foie gras served on a recent riverboat cruise of the Rhine. Because I now believe she is right, and because I, for one, will avoid making such references in the future, I am reprinting below her comment in full:
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Today on radio, you spoke about a river cruise line (European, I think). It sounded lovely until you came to the part where you mentioned that they serve pate de foie gras. You were pleased that they did this and used it as an example that the cruise is more elegant than it appeared.Ms. Gonzales is, of course, right, and I apologize for recommending this cruelly-obtained dish. None of us should ever advocate, or even mention (without condemning), it.
Do you know how pate de foie gras is made? The birds are force fed via tubes inserted into their esophaguses (the practice is called gavage) until their livers are near bursting. Try to imagine what this must feel like. But, it is just an animal, you may say. But, animals are sentient creatures, just like us. They feel love, sadness, fear, and certainly pain.
If those who have platforms, such as you, raise their voices, perhaps the world will eventually become aware of these kinds of cruelty.
If you agree, then I ask you please, firstly not to advocate those that in any way support such practices, and secondly, to use your ‘voice' whenever you can to educate and speak out against them. If you don't agree, then there is just one more lost opportunity. -- Lucy Gonzalez
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Labels: food
An interesting fact about the structural advantage that Congress gives to appropriations for highways over rail transportation
Were you aware that state governments have to pay far more of the cost of light-rail transit than of highways? Last week's online edition of The New Republic carries this remarkable revelation:
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It's no secret that Congress has always spent far more to promote driving than it's spent on public transit -- note that the White House requested $40 billion for the federal highway budget in 2008, versus $1.08 billion for railroad funding. But that's only the beginning. While doing some searching around, I came across an old Brookings report from 2003, which usefully compared the funding process for highway and mass transit projects, and laid out some glaring differences.
Under current law, the federal government usually covers about 80-90 percent of the costs for a new highway project, compared with only 50 percent of the costs for a transit system. Local communities have to pick up most of the rest of the tab for public transportation, with state governments chipping in what's left. Since doing that usually requires raising property taxes, most local governments just prefer to build highways. (Indeed, some 30 states restrict their gas-tax revenues to highway purposes only.)
Moreover, transit projects have to undergo intensive scrutiny: a cost-benefit analysis, a land-use analysis, an environmental-impact analysis, and, usually, a detailed comparison among various alternatives. That all sounds pretty reasonable, except that highway projects don't have to undergo any of this -- save for a (considerably less strict) environmental analysis -- federal oversight is rather minimal. Highway money is basically a gift to states and local governments.
Not surprisingly, most communities find it far easier to build new highways than to set up, say, a light-rail system, no matter how popular the latter might be. (The Brookings report gives an example of a popular light-rail proposal in Milwaukee going down in flames for exactly this reason.) So, sure, any decent plan for reducing emissions and curbing gasoline use should include more money for public transit. But it also seems like a lot of funding rules need to be changed, so that transit and highway projects can compete on a more level playing field. -- Bradford Plumer
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Labels: trains, washington dc
Apr 24, 2008
You now need a complex chart to tell you what can and cannot be checked on, or carried aboard, your flight, within the U.S. and abroad
Would you believe that the United States Tour Operators Association is now displaying (on its website) a multi-page chart showing you the numbers and sizes of suitcases you can check on, or carry aboard, the plane? It's at www.ustoa.com and reveals such stunning details as the fact that the weight allowance for domestic U.S. flights is totally different from the weight allowance on intra-European flights. There's even a different standard for flights within South America, and you can be hit in the purse if you're not aware of it.
To make things worse, a slightly different chart is published by the travel-clothing house known as TravelSmith at www.travelsmith.com setting forth -- to my eye (maybe I've been too hasty) -- slightly different dimensions or weights. Luggage is getting loonier all the time.
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To make things worse, a slightly different chart is published by the travel-clothing house known as TravelSmith at www.travelsmith.com setting forth -- to my eye (maybe I've been too hasty) -- slightly different dimensions or weights. Luggage is getting loonier all the time.
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Riverboat cruises of Europe are getting all the attention, but self-drive small boats (2 to 6 passengers) are growing, too
Riverboat cruises are not the only cost-conscious way to tour Europe in the coming year. In previous posts, I talked about a surge in the rental of small, sleep-aboard, eat-aboard, self-drive ships for sailing the canals and waterways of Europe, which are far more extensive than Europe's rivers. Hundreds of years ago, these waterways were the major arteries of commerce, and they remain almost entirely in good working order today for leisure travel.
In those earlier blog posts, I wrote particularly about a British firm called European Boating Holidays (www.europeanboatingholidays.co.uk), which has recently set up an office in the U.S. to take bookings of self-drive boats stationed on the waterways of France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Holland, Poland, and elsewhere in both western and eastern Europe. European Boating Holidays is represented in the U.S. firm by the travel public relations firm, Diana M. Orban & Associates, and especially by Diana's husband, Mike Brown. When Mike (whom I know) recently read my paean to riverboating and especially my enthusiastic post about the river stop we made in Strasbourg, France, he wrote to point out that I could also have visited Strasbourg on a self-drive boat rented from European Boating Holidays. His description of a potential trip by self-skippered boat is so interesting that I thought I'd repeat it below. Here's Mike Brown's letter to me:
In those earlier blog posts, I wrote particularly about a British firm called European Boating Holidays (www.europeanboatingholidays.co.uk), which has recently set up an office in the U.S. to take bookings of self-drive boats stationed on the waterways of France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Holland, Poland, and elsewhere in both western and eastern Europe. European Boating Holidays is represented in the U.S. firm by the travel public relations firm, Diana M. Orban & Associates, and especially by Diana's husband, Mike Brown. When Mike (whom I know) recently read my paean to riverboating and especially my enthusiastic post about the river stop we made in Strasbourg, France, he wrote to point out that I could also have visited Strasbourg on a self-drive boat rented from European Boating Holidays. His description of a potential trip by self-skippered boat is so interesting that I thought I'd repeat it below. Here's Mike Brown's letter to me:
Value-conscious travelers who like the freedom to set their own itineraries can rent a Locaboat Penichette from European Boating Holidays (EBH) for a week (or longer) independent boating adventure, exploring the Alsatian region and piloting their own personal cruiser right into the heart of Strasbourg on those historic canals, for as little as $365 per person for the full week's accommodations and travel.Write and read comments about this post.
From the EBH base at Lutzelbourg, it's an easy cruise through the Alsatian Plain on the Marne-Rhine canal past the scenic town of Saverne and into the heart of Strasbourg. Once in Strasbourg, travelers on an independent boating vacation can take their time to enjoy this wonderful city at their leisure without the constraints of a fixed itinerary. They can even moor their Penichette at the Bassin de l'Hospital for an overnight stay in the city, if they wish. (There is no fixed charge for the overnight mooring, but it is customary to give the association that runs the marina between €10-15 for use of the water, electricity and showers available there; an Internet connection is available for an additional €5.)
Rates for a one-week excursion on a fully-equipped Penichette -- including a complete kitchen with all utensils and tableware, linens, and training by the EBH staff to make even boating neophytes confident captains of their private canal cruisers -- start at less than $1,300 for a two-person boat.
Families and friends traveling together can hire a top-of-the-line Penichette1500FB that accommodates 8 people in four private cabins with separate shower/toilet facilities for each cabin at a weekly rate as low as $4,390, or just $548 per person. For budget-minded family groups, this model can sleep up to 12, bringing the per-person cost to just $365 for the one-week excursion.
You can find more information about this itinerary and the base at Lutzelbourg at the Locaboat website. And you can rent such a boat by contacting European Boating Holidays.
Labels: deals, europe, river cruise
In just two months from now, Zoom Airlines will be greatly expanding its low-cost, U.S.-origin flights to Gatwick Airport in London
A great many savvy U.S. travelers were able to cut their airfares to England last summer by flying on Zoom Airlines (www.flyzoom.com), the trans-Atlantic carrier that was formerly engaged in operating those flights from Canadian cities only. It was then that Zoom began New-York-to-London flights at prices undercutting the usual ones by at least $200.
Next month, Zoom will commence twice-weekly flights from San Diego to London/Gatwick for $365 each way (a big saving over what the usual London-bound carriers are charging), and in June it will do the same from Fort Lauderdale. The inventory of cut-rate fares to London will suddenly expand, and you really ought to periodically check the news at Zoom's website. (Zoom will also be continuing its New York-originating service to London, and the prices will again undercut the normal levels).
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Next month, Zoom will commence twice-weekly flights from San Diego to London/Gatwick for $365 each way (a big saving over what the usual London-bound carriers are charging), and in June it will do the same from Fort Lauderdale. The inventory of cut-rate fares to London will suddenly expand, and you really ought to periodically check the news at Zoom's website. (Zoom will also be continuing its New York-originating service to London, and the prices will again undercut the normal levels).
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Labels: airlines, deals, london
Apr 23, 2008
There's greater reason than ever for active travelers to download Skype to their laptops (and buy the other paraphernalia for making calls)
Skype (www.skype.com) works best, of course, when a Skype-enabled caller makes a call to another person with Skype. The call is then entirely free. Making a call to a land-phone or mobile-phone that doesn't use Skype incurs a per-minute charge.
That's about to change. Skype has recently announced a program costing $9.95 a month that will enable Skype callers to make unlimited phone calls to land-line phones that don't have Skype, in 34 countries. Those include most of Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Malaysia. Skype callers are already permitted to make unlimited calls within the U.S., even to phones without Skype, for only $3 a month. They can phone Mexico for $5.95 a month.
If you're a heavy traveler, and you travel with a laptop, you really ought to download Skype; and you really ought to consider signing up for its unlimited use plan. For $9.95 a month, you'll be able to place calls to the U.S. or most other foreign countries as you travel within most of Europe, the South Pacific, and Asia.
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That's about to change. Skype has recently announced a program costing $9.95 a month that will enable Skype callers to make unlimited phone calls to land-line phones that don't have Skype, in 34 countries. Those include most of Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Malaysia. Skype callers are already permitted to make unlimited calls within the U.S., even to phones without Skype, for only $3 a month. They can phone Mexico for $5.95 a month.
If you're a heavy traveler, and you travel with a laptop, you really ought to download Skype; and you really ought to consider signing up for its unlimited use plan. For $9.95 a month, you'll be able to place calls to the U.S. or most other foreign countries as you travel within most of Europe, the South Pacific, and Asia.
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Labels: tools
Help! The penalties and fees added to airfares are becoming a serious matter, and should cause us all to take the train wherever possible
You may want to bring an electronic calculator to the airport, to tote up all the fees, surcharges and penalties that airlines have recently added to their basic airfares. The pricing picture is worsening with every passing moment, and it's important that you act in advance to head off the possibility that some of these fees may badly affect your own travel budget.
Let's start listing them: just three days ago, United Airlines raised the penalty to a hefty $150 for changing reservations once made, and it's likely that other airlines will soon copy. Your own response: think carefully about committing yourself to a flight, and adhere to those plans once they are made.
United, U.S. Air, and five other copycats scheduling their own announcements for next week, are now charging $25 one-way, and $50 round-trip, for checking a second suitcase. They are also increasing the penalty-per-pound on the excess weight of the one suitcase you do check with them; people avoiding the second-suitcase penalty by stuffing all but the kitchen sink into the first suitcase, will learn the errors of bringing heavy wardrobes with them when they travel. Your only recourse: learn to travel light. Repeat: learn to travel light.
U.S. Airways has announced a new "Choice Seat" program to begin May 7, whereby travelers will be charged an additional $5 per flight for an aisle or window seat in the first several rows of coach. Your response should be: take the train wherever possible, don't subject yourself to cattle car-like conditions in the air.
Fuel surcharges on many trans-Atlantic airlines are now hovering close to $200.
Numerous airlines are charging $10 extra if you make your reservations by telephone rather than on the internet.
Curbside check-in fees at Delta are going up to $3 from $2.
Airfares themselves are rising by at least $10 almost every week.
And finally, United Airlines is adding a Saturday overnight stay requirement to nearly all their discount fares, thus effectively blocking their use by business travelers determined to return home quickly from their short business trips.
In Europe, fees like these would cause most of the population to yawn; they possess a rail alternative for most of the trips they contemplate. We don't have such options. We are paying the price for our failure to maintain a viable rail system in the U.S.
We are also jamming our airports, and overburdening our air traffic control system, with hundreds and hundreds of daily flights to close-in destinations that should be serviced instead by high-speed rail: between Los Angeles and San Francisco, for instance, between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, up and down the east and west coasts of Florida, between Washington, D.C., New York and Boston, from New York to upstate New York. If these city pairs possessed high-speed rail, we could eliminate hundreds of daily flights and ease conditions at our badly-overstretched airports.
Remember that when you vote this November on those members of Congress who have almost playfully opposed additional appropriations for Amtrak.
Write and read comments about this post.
Let's start listing them: just three days ago, United Airlines raised the penalty to a hefty $150 for changing reservations once made, and it's likely that other airlines will soon copy. Your own response: think carefully about committing yourself to a flight, and adhere to those plans once they are made.
United, U.S. Air, and five other copycats scheduling their own announcements for next week, are now charging $25 one-way, and $50 round-trip, for checking a second suitcase. They are also increasing the penalty-per-pound on the excess weight of the one suitcase you do check with them; people avoiding the second-suitcase penalty by stuffing all but the kitchen sink into the first suitcase, will learn the errors of bringing heavy wardrobes with them when they travel. Your only recourse: learn to travel light. Repeat: learn to travel light.
U.S. Airways has announced a new "Choice Seat" program to begin May 7, whereby travelers will be charged an additional $5 per flight for an aisle or window seat in the first several rows of coach. Your response should be: take the train wherever possible, don't subject yourself to cattle car-like conditions in the air.
Fuel surcharges on many trans-Atlantic airlines are now hovering close to $200.
Numerous airlines are charging $10 extra if you make your reservations by telephone rather than on the internet.
Curbside check-in fees at Delta are going up to $3 from $2.
Airfares themselves are rising by at least $10 almost every week.
And finally, United Airlines is adding a Saturday overnight stay requirement to nearly all their discount fares, thus effectively blocking their use by business travelers determined to return home quickly from their short business trips.
In Europe, fees like these would cause most of the population to yawn; they possess a rail alternative for most of the trips they contemplate. We don't have such options. We are paying the price for our failure to maintain a viable rail system in the U.S.
We are also jamming our airports, and overburdening our air traffic control system, with hundreds and hundreds of daily flights to close-in destinations that should be serviced instead by high-speed rail: between Los Angeles and San Francisco, for instance, between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, up and down the east and west coasts of Florida, between Washington, D.C., New York and Boston, from New York to upstate New York. If these city pairs possessed high-speed rail, we could eliminate hundreds of daily flights and ease conditions at our badly-overstretched airports.
Remember that when you vote this November on those members of Congress who have almost playfully opposed additional appropriations for Amtrak.
Write and read comments about this post.
The Department of Homeland Security is pushing to have foreign tourists fingerprinted when they leave -- that's right, "leave" -- the U.S.
If you hadn't read the exact words of Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, you wouldn't have believed it. The department charged with protecting us from terror, is proposing a multi-billion-dollar program to fingerprint all foreign visitors to the United States upon their departure from our country. And you heard that right: "upon their departure"!
The program is known as "US-VISIT air exit." It is not certain what its exact practical effect is supposed to be. Some members of the Administration have thrown about the words "overstaying their visas" to indicate that a possible purpose is to catch illegal immigrants. Yet all this is being done when they leave our country rather than enter it.
The airlines, as you'd expect, are up in arms, claiming not only a fearsome cost of the program, but tremendous additional delays at our airports, as lines of exiting foreigners wait patiently to hand over their prints. Is the benefit worth the effort? Though I can theoretically imagine a particular individual being exposed by his post-stay fingerprints, I can also see how any professional terrorist can obtain a visa and both enter and leave our country without anyone learning about his/her intentions because of a fingerprint program upon departure from the country. And that slight benefit should be measured against the dismay and outrage felt by legitimate foreign tourists to the United States made to stand in line and be fingerprinted like criminals when they leave the country.
Can any reader advise me how such a requirement confers a practical benefit on us?
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The program is known as "US-VISIT air exit." It is not certain what its exact practical effect is supposed to be. Some members of the Administration have thrown about the words "overstaying their visas" to indicate that a possible purpose is to catch illegal immigrants. Yet all this is being done when they leave our country rather than enter it.
The airlines, as you'd expect, are up in arms, claiming not only a fearsome cost of the program, but tremendous additional delays at our airports, as lines of exiting foreigners wait patiently to hand over their prints. Is the benefit worth the effort? Though I can theoretically imagine a particular individual being exposed by his post-stay fingerprints, I can also see how any professional terrorist can obtain a visa and both enter and leave our country without anyone learning about his/her intentions because of a fingerprint program upon departure from the country. And that slight benefit should be measured against the dismay and outrage felt by legitimate foreign tourists to the United States made to stand in line and be fingerprinted like criminals when they leave the country.
Can any reader advise me how such a requirement confers a practical benefit on us?
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Apr 22, 2008
In the travel trade press this week, three interesting items having a bearing on your own vacation plans
There's a considerable industry of magazines and newspapers published solely for travel professionals, which often contain news that isn't passed on to just-plain-travelers. Here are three items of which you may not have heard:
First, interviewed in the trade press, the president of Club Med, worldwide, has announced that the Club Med resorts are on their way to becoming "upscale" resorts with a heavy emphasis on families, family facilities, and couples (and less, apparently, for singles). He (Club Med's new leader) is Henri Giscard d'Estaing, son of a former president of France, and obviously brought up in a setting of great wealth (which is perhaps why the word "upscale" drips from his lips). While some of the Club Meds may still for a time be operated for swinging youngsters, their days are apparently numbered, if I read Giscard d'Estaing's remarks correctly. The Club Meds, which used to be promoted as "antidotes to civilization," are rapidly being made over into sophisticated, worldly resorts. As someone who used to value the insouciant atmosphere of Club Meds, the lack of a dress code, the pure democracy, the unpretentious high-jinx and games, I regard these new policies as a disaster. And I predict that in a few years, when the new "upscale" policies have failed miserably, Club Med will return to its former state of being, probably under a new Club Med president
The competing political parties of Kenya have entered into a "Grand Coalition," according to the country's Ministry of Tourism, and all tourists can now safely return. At a ceremony attended by Kofi Annan, former secretary-general of the U.N., everyone announced their determination to achieve peace and stability, and their agreement to assign specific cabinet posts in equal measure to the two parties ("the Grand Coalition"). The few elements that have continued to riot and parade have been asked to cease their protests. As I have pointed out before, if the truce does hold, Kenya's games parks will be offering spectacular low rates in order to re-start the flow of safaris. You are again advised to check with Adventure Center, Lion World Travel, or 2Afrika for their announcements of cut-rate trips to Kenya
A bit of good news: the Department of Transportation has just doubled the penalty that airlines must pay to overbooked passengers who have been denied boarding. Henceforth, such unlucky souls will receive twice the airfare they earlier paid, up to a maximum of $800, in addition to being later transported for free to their destinations. However, if the passengers can be flown to that destination within two hours of the earlier-anticipated arrival time, the maximum penalty is reduced to $400.
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First, interviewed in the trade press, the president of Club Med, worldwide, has announced that the Club Med resorts are on their way to becoming "upscale" resorts with a heavy emphasis on families, family facilities, and couples (and less, apparently, for singles). He (Club Med's new leader) is Henri Giscard d'Estaing, son of a former president of France, and obviously brought up in a setting of great wealth (which is perhaps why the word "upscale" drips from his lips). While some of the Club Meds may still for a time be operated for swinging youngsters, their days are apparently numbered, if I read Giscard d'Estaing's remarks correctly. The Club Meds, which used to be promoted as "antidotes to civilization," are rapidly being made over into sophisticated, worldly resorts. As someone who used to value the insouciant atmosphere of Club Meds, the lack of a dress code, the pure democracy, the unpretentious high-jinx and games, I regard these new policies as a disaster. And I predict that in a few years, when the new "upscale" policies have failed miserably, Club Med will return to its former state of being, probably under a new Club Med president
The competing political parties of Kenya have entered into a "Grand Coalition," according to the country's Ministry of Tourism, and all tourists can now safely return. At a ceremony attended by Kofi Annan, former secretary-general of the U.N., everyone announced their determination to achieve peace and stability, and their agreement to assign specific cabinet posts in equal measure to the two parties ("the Grand Coalition"). The few elements that have continued to riot and parade have been asked to cease their protests. As I have pointed out before, if the truce does hold, Kenya's games parks will be offering spectacular low rates in order to re-start the flow of safaris. You are again advised to check with Adventure Center, Lion World Travel, or 2Afrika for their announcements of cut-rate trips to Kenya
A bit of good news: the Department of Transportation has just doubled the penalty that airlines must pay to overbooked passengers who have been denied boarding. Henceforth, such unlucky souls will receive twice the airfare they earlier paid, up to a maximum of $800, in addition to being later transported for free to their destinations. However, if the passengers can be flown to that destination within two hours of the earlier-anticipated arrival time, the maximum penalty is reduced to $400.
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Labels: accommodations, airlines, kenya, safari
You'll want to alert any retired persons to an "extended stay" bargain in winter on Spain's Mediterranean coast
Ten years ago, when oil was selling at $20 a barrel, Orlando-based Sun Holidays was able to offer a three-week stay at a beachfront resort hotel on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, in wintertime, for as little as $999 per person, including round-trip air from the east coast of the U.S.
That was then, but things have changed, and this coming winter, eight months from now, Sun Holidays will be offering a lesser two weeks on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, including round-trip airfare, for a higher $1,325 per person, still a remarkable value. And because it flies you there non-stop from New York on Delta Airlines (a flight from New York to Malaga), in a limited number of seats set aside for Sun Holidays, it's important for would-be winter vacationers to make their decisions soon. The Sun Holidays catalogue for the upcoming winter of 2008-09 has just been issued, and is available in either a print version or on the Internet.
This is a substitute for a winter vacation in Miami Beach or Phoenix. It is available for departures in 2009 on January 14, 21 or 28, February 4, 11, 18 or 25, and March 4, 11 or 18, at the $1,325 price. It is also sold for even less ($1,295) on the departure of January 7, 2009.
Extra weeks selling for an extraordinary $215 per week per person enable the retirees booking this "extended stay" vacation to lengthen their vacation to between three and 12 weeks. (I assume that only retirees will book the program, because who else is able to take off two and more weeks in winter?)
Accommodations? They're at the big, beachfront, apartment-hotel known as the Sol Timor (where participants receive a studio apartment with private bath, kitchenette and balcony), and included in the price are 14 buffet breakfasts, one farewell dinner on the last night of the stay, a non-alcoholic "open bar" every day from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and three sightseeing tours to communities in Andalusia. The airfare, as noted, is from New York, but there are advantageous "add-on" fares from 22 other U.S. cities.
A final lure: there's no single supplement for solo travelers on most departures.
In describing the lure of this unique program, in various classroom discussions of travel, I used to say that low-income retirees had a choice between a shabby, rusting motel in Miami Beach or Phoenix, eating in fast-food restaurants, or an exotic, high-quality stay on the Costa del Sol of Spain, eating off white tablecloths in a proper restaurant. I'm no longer confident that $1,325 per person is necessarily less than some Americans would pay to fly in winter to Miami Beach and rent a motel there for two weeks. But $1,325 is still a major value, and mature people (your relatives or friends) will surely enjoy scanning the literature for this program, which has now been successfully operated for decades. Tell them about an "extended stay" winter vacation on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, for which the contact is either www.sunholidaytours.com or tel. 800/422-8000.
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That was then, but things have changed, and this coming winter, eight months from now, Sun Holidays will be offering a lesser two weeks on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, including round-trip airfare, for a higher $1,325 per person, still a remarkable value. And because it flies you there non-stop from New York on Delta Airlines (a flight from New York to Malaga), in a limited number of seats set aside for Sun Holidays, it's important for would-be winter vacationers to make their decisions soon. The Sun Holidays catalogue for the upcoming winter of 2008-09 has just been issued, and is available in either a print version or on the Internet.
This is a substitute for a winter vacation in Miami Beach or Phoenix. It is available for departures in 2009 on January 14, 21 or 28, February 4, 11, 18 or 25, and March 4, 11 or 18, at the $1,325 price. It is also sold for even less ($1,295) on the departure of January 7, 2009.
Extra weeks selling for an extraordinary $215 per week per person enable the retirees booking this "extended stay" vacation to lengthen their vacation to between three and 12 weeks. (I assume that only retirees will book the program, because who else is able to take off two and more weeks in winter?)
Accommodations? They're at the big, beachfront, apartment-hotel known as the Sol Timor (where participants receive a studio apartment with private bath, kitchenette and balcony), and included in the price are 14 buffet breakfasts, one farewell dinner on the last night of the stay, a non-alcoholic "open bar" every day from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and three sightseeing tours to communities in Andalusia. The airfare, as noted, is from New York, but there are advantageous "add-on" fares from 22 other U.S. cities.
A final lure: there's no single supplement for solo travelers on most departures.
In describing the lure of this unique program, in various classroom discussions of travel, I used to say that low-income retirees had a choice between a shabby, rusting motel in Miami Beach or Phoenix, eating in fast-food restaurants, or an exotic, high-quality stay on the Costa del Sol of Spain, eating off white tablecloths in a proper restaurant. I'm no longer confident that $1,325 per person is necessarily less than some Americans would pay to fly in winter to Miami Beach and rent a motel there for two weeks. But $1,325 is still a major value, and mature people (your relatives or friends) will surely enjoy scanning the literature for this program, which has now been successfully operated for decades. Tell them about an "extended stay" winter vacation on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, for which the contact is either www.sunholidaytours.com or tel. 800/422-8000.
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Labels: mediterranean, packages, spain
Were you aware that a riverboat resembling those that sail the Rhine and the Danube, is also making river cruises in the U.S.?
I have reported so frequently about my recent cruise on the Rhine that I should mention, in fairness, that we also have river cruises in the United States. And these are not limited to the quaint, antebellum-like American Queen and Mississippi Queen paddlewheelers-with-calliopes, but to a giant modern boat the length of a football field known as the R/B River Explorer, now enjoying its 10th anniversary. It sails on both the upper and lower Mississippi, on the Ohio River, the Cumberland River, and the Texas/Louisiana Intracoastal Waterway, among others, and services such major ports as St. Louis, Cincinnati, Nashville, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Galveston and Brownsville, Memphis and Louisville, Kentucky, at rates averaging around $300 a day per person for all-inclusive arrangements and large cabins.
The cruises are generally of 7, 8 and 12 days' duration; and to book them, you go to www.riverbarge.com.
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The cruises are generally of 7, 8 and 12 days' duration; and to book them, you go to www.riverbarge.com.
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Labels: american, cumberland river, mississippi river, ohio river, river cruise
Apr 21, 2008
A website called Rentalo.com is currently listing one-bedroom apartments in Paris, capable of housing up to six persons, for $134 a night
Evidence continues to accumulate that the most cost-effective means of visiting London, Paris or Rome is to schedule at least a one-week visit there and to stay in an apartment, not a hotel. An example is the current offer by Rentalo.com (one of the several major worldwide apartment rental firms) of one-bedroom apartments in the center of Paris for as little as $134 and $135 a night.
In a 17th century building on the Rue Jean Jacques Rousseau, two blocks from the Louvre and the Seine, a one-bedroom apartment with kitchen and living room features cable TV capable of receiving CNN, and high-speed Internet, for $135 a night (plus a small cleaning fee, if you desire to have a maid come in). Why so cheap? The apartment is in a five flight walk-up, and therefore only for vigorous people, who will be thrilled once upstairs to look out "sur les toits de Paris" ("over the rooftops of Paris"). Your landlord will usually require at least a one-week stay, but has been known to rent in slow periods for as few as four nights.
Elsewhere in Paris, a one-bedroom, one-bath apartment sleeps six (vai a king bed in the bedroom and two double sofa beds in the living room) on a quiet street near the Place de la Republique, a three-minute walk from a metro (subway) and a supermarket. The kitchen here includes a washing machine, dishwasher, iron, microwave, coffeemaker and toaster. And the price is $134 a night, with a three-night minimum.
It can't be sufficiently stressed that the rental of apartments in major European cities is an effective way to cut the cost of your European vacation. In addition to using Rentalo.com for finding these apartments, you can also go to Homeaway.com, to VRBO.com (now owned by Homeaway), to EVRentals.com, Zonder.com, and numerous local rental firms found by accessing information on the city in which they are found.
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In a 17th century building on the Rue Jean Jacques Rousseau, two blocks from the Louvre and the Seine, a one-bedroom apartment with kitchen and living room features cable TV capable of receiving CNN, and high-speed Internet, for $135 a night (plus a small cleaning fee, if you desire to have a maid come in). Why so cheap? The apartment is in a five flight walk-up, and therefore only for vigorous people, who will be thrilled once upstairs to look out "sur les toits de Paris" ("over the rooftops of Paris"). Your landlord will usually require at least a one-week stay, but has been known to rent in slow periods for as few as four nights.
Elsewhere in Paris, a one-bedroom, one-bath apartment sleeps six (vai a king bed in the bedroom and two double sofa beds in the living room) on a quiet street near the Place de la Republique, a three-minute walk from a metro (subway) and a supermarket. The kitchen here includes a washing machine, dishwasher, iron, microwave, coffeemaker and toaster. And the price is $134 a night, with a three-night minimum.
It can't be sufficiently stressed that the rental of apartments in major European cities is an effective way to cut the cost of your European vacation. In addition to using Rentalo.com for finding these apartments, you can also go to Homeaway.com, to VRBO.com (now owned by Homeaway), to EVRentals.com, Zonder.com, and numerous local rental firms found by accessing information on the city in which they are found.
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Labels: accommodations, apartment rental, europe, london, paris, rome, websites
Buy your Caribbean cruise nine months in advance and you'll save! (How's that for a new travel tactic?)
It used to be that the last-minute purchaser got the biggest bargains. No longer. For reasons I don't quite understand, numerous cruise ships are now placing their cabins on sale as many as nine, ten and eleven months in advance of departure. Latest example: the one-year-old MSC Orchestra, a gleaming new, 2,500-passenger giant that will be making seven-night round-trips of the western Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale in January, February, March and April of 2009, visiting Key West, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Cayo Levantado. On those far-in-the-future dates, including some highly-desirable February sailings, Online Vacation Center will sell you outside, balcony-equipped cabins for as little as $699 if you buy them now. Specifically, the $699 price (which, presumably, includes fuel surcharge and most other added fees) is for the departures of January 10 and 24, February 7 and 21, March 7 and 21, and April 4, 2009.
For $20 more, or $719 per person, Online Vacation Center will take you in outside, balcony-equipped cabins of the MSC Orchestra on seven-night roundtrips from Fort Lauderdale to Cayo Levantado, Philipsburg, St. John, and Nassau, on January 3, 17 and 31, February 14 and 28, March 14 and 28, April 11 and 18, 2009. Book that far out and you enjoy stunning bargains.
Phone Online Vacation Center at 800/329-9002 or go online to www.onlinevacationcenter.com.
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For $20 more, or $719 per person, Online Vacation Center will take you in outside, balcony-equipped cabins of the MSC Orchestra on seven-night roundtrips from Fort Lauderdale to Cayo Levantado, Philipsburg, St. John, and Nassau, on January 3, 17 and 31, February 14 and 28, March 14 and 28, April 11 and 18, 2009. Book that far out and you enjoy stunning bargains.
Phone Online Vacation Center at 800/329-9002 or go online to www.onlinevacationcenter.com.
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Labels: caribbean, cruise, deals
The New York Times suggests that you start a typical tour of London by checking in to the $600-a-night Cadogan Hotel
The Sunday travel section of the New York Times gets more irrelevant and absurd with every passing week. In its edition of April 20, 2008, in an article suggesting how to spend 36 hours in London ("36 Hours London"), the opening words of the article -- think about it -- are "Check into the Cadogan Hotel . . . " Rates at the Cadogan Hotel start at £295 ($600) for a double room.
Then, in its weekly survey of practical travel matters by Michelle Higgins, who invariably uses examples taken from the top tier of utterly unaffordable hotels, the Times' down-to-earth adviser doesn't disappoint. Offering a lifeline to the suffering American tourist, she eagerly points out that the organization known as Leading Hotels of the World has announced a "guaranteed dollar rate" of $490 a night for a room with a queen-sized bed at the Raphael Hotel in Paris. To get this stunning bargain, you must provide a "discount code" and pay in full when booking.
Just when it seems that the Times' travel section can't get worse, it plumbs new depths. When will top editors at the Times restore reality to their Sunday travel section?
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Then, in its weekly survey of practical travel matters by Michelle Higgins, who invariably uses examples taken from the top tier of utterly unaffordable hotels, the Times' down-to-earth adviser doesn't disappoint. Offering a lifeline to the suffering American tourist, she eagerly points out that the organization known as Leading Hotels of the World has announced a "guaranteed dollar rate" of $490 a night for a room with a queen-sized bed at the Raphael Hotel in Paris. To get this stunning bargain, you must provide a "discount code" and pay in full when booking.
Just when it seems that the Times' travel section can't get worse, it plumbs new depths. When will top editors at the Times restore reality to their Sunday travel section?
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Labels: london, new york times, paris
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
