Jun 13, 2008
In celebration of Father's Day, I have five father/daughter (or father/family) trips to recommend
Though it's too late to book a trip taking place on Father's Day itself, you still have the time to advise Dad he's going on one of five suggested trips in future months, of which four are fairly inexpensive and only the last-named a real splurge. Here they are:
1) A three-night cruise from Miami for $229 per person. It's another of those Norwegian Cruise Line. specials, this time on the nine-year-old Norwegian Sky, leaving Miami every Friday afternoon from mid-July through the autumn, returning three days later on Monday, and going to Nassau, a private island for a day; and back to Miami. The $229 per person price is available in September and October for inside cabins, and occasionally goes up to $249, while departures in August are about $40-to-$80-or-so higher. Either way, the value is there. Go to www.ncl.com.
2) A ranch vacation out west, for as little as $950 per person for the week. If you'll choose a working property like the Andrus Ranch in Idaho, you‘ll pay just $950 per adult for the week, $850 per child, for all meals, room, trail rides into the Caribou National Forest, cattle drives, sheep herding, lessons in riding and roping, trips to nearby hot springs, swimming, fishing, and children's activities. Go to www.andrusranch.com.
3) A four-night stay at Colonial Williamsburg (Virginia) for $600 per family, that famous living history museum (of America in the $1750s) populated by costumed actors who play such roles as those of Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. A special $600 summer package, the total for four persons, brings you good hotel accommodations for four nights at an on-premises property, unlimited admission for all four people to all attractions and exhibits at Colonial Williamsburg, $200 worth of food; and many other extras. Go to www.colonialwilliamsburg.org.
4) The Boundary Waters of Minnesota for canoeing, $70 per adult per day. Here, a totally unspoiled one million acres of wilderness criss-crossed by rivers, streams and lakes, beckons fishermen and canoeists alike. Local outfitters will set up your group with all the gear and food you'll need (tents, fishing poles, canoes, sleeping bags, cookstoves, food) for about $70 per adult per day ($55 per child). A weekly camping permit is an additional $28 for adults, $8 for children. Try local outfitters: Wilderness Outfitters (www.wildernessoutfitters.com) or The Rockwood Lodge (www.rockwoodbwea.com).
5) Five days of baseball thrills for $1,600 per person, July 25 to July 30. (Our only splurge). You start in Albany, New York, from which you're taken to the Baseball Hall of Fame in nearby Cooperstown, New York, and there you attend an actual induction ceremony for baseball greats, this year including Rich (Goose) Gossage (famous relief pitcher), Dick Williams (famous manager), and Walter O'Malley (famous former owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers). After also thoroughly viewing the Hall of Fame Museum, you're taken to Fenway Park in Boston for a game, and then to Yankee Stadium in New York for a thorough tour of the stadium and the players' locker areas and then a game between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles. Throughout, on the five night trip, you stay in fine hotels, receive all transportation, guided tours, all admissions, a reception, and more, for that (ouch!) $1,600. But what the hell.
I'm indebted to my daughter, Pauline, for two of the above suggestions.
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1) A three-night cruise from Miami for $229 per person. It's another of those Norwegian Cruise Line. specials, this time on the nine-year-old Norwegian Sky, leaving Miami every Friday afternoon from mid-July through the autumn, returning three days later on Monday, and going to Nassau, a private island for a day; and back to Miami. The $229 per person price is available in September and October for inside cabins, and occasionally goes up to $249, while departures in August are about $40-to-$80-or-so higher. Either way, the value is there. Go to www.ncl.com.
2) A ranch vacation out west, for as little as $950 per person for the week. If you'll choose a working property like the Andrus Ranch in Idaho, you‘ll pay just $950 per adult for the week, $850 per child, for all meals, room, trail rides into the Caribou National Forest, cattle drives, sheep herding, lessons in riding and roping, trips to nearby hot springs, swimming, fishing, and children's activities. Go to www.andrusranch.com.
3) A four-night stay at Colonial Williamsburg (Virginia) for $600 per family, that famous living history museum (of America in the $1750s) populated by costumed actors who play such roles as those of Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. A special $600 summer package, the total for four persons, brings you good hotel accommodations for four nights at an on-premises property, unlimited admission for all four people to all attractions and exhibits at Colonial Williamsburg, $200 worth of food; and many other extras. Go to www.colonialwilliamsburg.org.
4) The Boundary Waters of Minnesota for canoeing, $70 per adult per day. Here, a totally unspoiled one million acres of wilderness criss-crossed by rivers, streams and lakes, beckons fishermen and canoeists alike. Local outfitters will set up your group with all the gear and food you'll need (tents, fishing poles, canoes, sleeping bags, cookstoves, food) for about $70 per adult per day ($55 per child). A weekly camping permit is an additional $28 for adults, $8 for children. Try local outfitters: Wilderness Outfitters (www.wildernessoutfitters.com) or The Rockwood Lodge (www.rockwoodbwea.com).
5) Five days of baseball thrills for $1,600 per person, July 25 to July 30. (Our only splurge). You start in Albany, New York, from which you're taken to the Baseball Hall of Fame in nearby Cooperstown, New York, and there you attend an actual induction ceremony for baseball greats, this year including Rich (Goose) Gossage (famous relief pitcher), Dick Williams (famous manager), and Walter O'Malley (famous former owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers). After also thoroughly viewing the Hall of Fame Museum, you're taken to Fenway Park in Boston for a game, and then to Yankee Stadium in New York for a thorough tour of the stadium and the players' locker areas and then a game between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles. Throughout, on the five night trip, you stay in fine hotels, receive all transportation, guided tours, all admissions, a reception, and more, for that (ouch!) $1,600. But what the hell.
I'm indebted to my daughter, Pauline, for two of the above suggestions.
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Labels: family
Feb 4, 2008
Her publishers have now announced that the Pauline Frommer Guides are the most successful launch of a new travel book series in years
The article goes on: "Launched two years ago and written by the daughter of Arthur Frommer, the 17-title series will swell to 29 by 2009. 'Pauline makes no apologies for budget travel. I think she'd argue that the less money you have, the more you see,' says Spring. 'People know there's a voice behind the book -- a travel expert sitting down with them and telling them what they like and don't like'"
The following Pauline Frommer Guides are presently on sale in major bookstores:
Pauline Frommer's New York (named best travel guide of 2006 by a distinguished organization of travel journalists)
Pauline Frommer's London (named best travel guide of 2007 by the same group)
Pauline Frommer's Las Vegas
Pauline Frommer's Alaska
Pauline Frommer's Costa Rica
Pauline Frommer's Paris
Pauline Frommer's Orlando
Pauline Frommer's Italy
Pauline Frommer's Hawaii
Pauline Frommer's Washington, D.C.
...and additional Pauline Frommer titles will be joining them throughout 2008.
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Labels: family, travel guides
Jan 31, 2008
First, Mickey Mouse, and now Nickelodeon, will be found on major cruiseships sailing the Caribbean
As part of the transformation of giant cruiseships into floating amusement parks, the announcement was made this week of a partnership between the famous, sub-teenager TV channel, Nickelodeon, and Royal Caribbean International. On the sailing from Miami on August 10 of this year of the 3,500-passenger Freedom of the Seas, Nickelodeon live stars will be on board, subjecting little ones to the "sliming" -- jets of gooey green foam -- that have animated and taught so many generations of young Americans. On the high seas, children will be able to live the antics of Nickelodeon's TV programs.
Parents have differing views on child upbringing. Some parents whom I greatly admire discourage their children from endlessly viewing television, especially such mindless programs as the "sliming" contests of a Nickelodeon. And they hope, when they go on vacation, that their children will be absorbed in better sights and activities wholly unlike the tinsely attractions of U.S. television. In a post we published yesterday, a mother wrote in about the electronic equipment designed to entertain children on vacation drives. She wrote, in words that apply to cruises as well: "The last thing I want is a drop-down TV screen or a hand-held electronic game in my son's hand. I want the passing fields to lull him into a daydream composed by his own imagination. I'm on a mission to train my six-and-a-half-year-old son to treasure the peace he can have with oneself....contemplating the beauty of creation, of which he is a part., [gaining] tranquility and relaxation that isn't adrenaline-induced..."
Royal Caribbean Cruises' collaboration with Nickelodeon will apparently be repeated on other sailings if families react positively to the August 10 sailing.
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Parents have differing views on child upbringing. Some parents whom I greatly admire discourage their children from endlessly viewing television, especially such mindless programs as the "sliming" contests of a Nickelodeon. And they hope, when they go on vacation, that their children will be absorbed in better sights and activities wholly unlike the tinsely attractions of U.S. television. In a post we published yesterday, a mother wrote in about the electronic equipment designed to entertain children on vacation drives. She wrote, in words that apply to cruises as well: "The last thing I want is a drop-down TV screen or a hand-held electronic game in my son's hand. I want the passing fields to lull him into a daydream composed by his own imagination. I'm on a mission to train my six-and-a-half-year-old son to treasure the peace he can have with oneself....contemplating the beauty of creation, of which he is a part., [gaining] tranquility and relaxation that isn't adrenaline-induced..."
Royal Caribbean Cruises' collaboration with Nickelodeon will apparently be repeated on other sailings if families react positively to the August 10 sailing.
Write and read comments about this post.
Dec 20, 2007
For inter-generational travel, the newly-reopened Club Med Ixtapa is a top choice; it's also excellent for parents traveling with very young children
Several years ago on a trip to Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, I had a look at the Club Med Ixtapa (tel. 888/WEB-CLUB; www.clubmed.us)and was tremendously impressed by the unusual mix of people it served. There were vacationers of all ages (20-somethings to middle-aged and elderly people) all dining exuberantly at the same tables, and there were a substantial percentage of families staying there with young children. It was unusual at that time to find a Club Med that wasn't dominated by singles in their 20s and 30s.
Now I have nothing against the Club Meds catering to the 20 and 30-year-old set; they are perhaps the predominant clientele of Club Med, and all power to them. But for older vacationers, and for families, it was exciting to find a Club Med that permitted them to enjoy all the classic pleasures and policies of a Club Med without feeling out of place. And it was fascinating to find a resort where all the generational differences seemed unimportant.
The Club Med Ixtapa has apparently been closed for renovations for some time now, and has undergone a major renovation (its physical setting, high above an excellent beach, is as good as you'd want). It will reopen on December 22, 2007 with 80-or-so functioning rooms for families, and will then bring on an additional 250-some-odd rooms in March 2008. Apparently, it will again cater to people of all ages and to families, even those with children barely older than a year.
If you're in one of those categories, you'll want to know that there's now a classic Club Med just for you.
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Now I have nothing against the Club Meds catering to the 20 and 30-year-old set; they are perhaps the predominant clientele of Club Med, and all power to them. But for older vacationers, and for families, it was exciting to find a Club Med that permitted them to enjoy all the classic pleasures and policies of a Club Med without feeling out of place. And it was fascinating to find a resort where all the generational differences seemed unimportant.
The Club Med Ixtapa has apparently been closed for renovations for some time now, and has undergone a major renovation (its physical setting, high above an excellent beach, is as good as you'd want). It will reopen on December 22, 2007 with 80-or-so functioning rooms for families, and will then bring on an additional 250-some-odd rooms in March 2008. Apparently, it will again cater to people of all ages and to families, even those with children barely older than a year.
If you're in one of those categories, you'll want to know that there's now a classic Club Med just for you.
Write and read comments about this post.
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
