Travel & Leisure Magazines Best 2012 Family Vacation Award

Travel + Leisure magazine announced its 2012 World’s Best Awards for Families, and the St. Regis Deer Valley in Park City, Utah, was named best family hotel in the U.S., Disney Cruise Line was ranked top large-ship cruise line for families, and Austin-Lehman Adventures was voted top adventure outfitter for families. Lindblad Expeditions was named top small-ship cruise line while Tauck was honored in the river cruising category.

Top hotels for families by region include The Four Seasons Resort, Whistler, B.C., (Canada); Beaches Negril Resort & Spa, Jamaica (Caribbean, Bermuda & the Bahamas); Grand Velas Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen (Mexico); Hotel Museo Casa Santo Domingo Antigua, Guatemala (Central & South America); Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at the Bosphorus (Europe); Discovery Shores Boracay, Philippines (Asia); Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge, Tanzania (Africa & Middle East); and Lodge at Kauri Cliffs, Matauri Bay, New Zealand (Australia & New Zealand).

The awards are based on data collected in the Travel+Leisure 2012 World’s Best Awards readers’ survey. The complete list of 2012 winners is now available on www.TravelandLeisure.com. The results of the World’s Best Awards for Families will be featured in the September issue.

Fresh Lobster Galore as Tourism Works for America!

Just a week after Holland America Cruise Line announced it was going to buy a ton of local lobster from fisherman in Maine, Celebrity Cruises is following suit. The line will buy about 3,800 pounds of Maine lobster when Celebrity Summit stops in Portland and Bar Harbor this fall, The Washington Post reported. 

The purchase decision comes after U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree sent letters to the heads of every cruise line visiting Portland this year asking them to buy live Maine lobster during ship visits. The purchases will help support the local lobster industry, which has been suffering from rock-bottom pricing, due to oversupply.

Be Kind To Your Travel Agent & Get Out of Town! 

Official Airline Guide says North American air traffic at lowest level in 10 years

While looking for flights into Nassau, the Bahamas I was amazed at the limited amount of flight offering out of our area

Then I received a report from airline data company Official Airlines Guide (OAG) stating that North America air traffic is expected to hit its lowest level in a decade

OAG said that there will be nearly a million fewer seats available in this August compared to last August. Flights have decreased 2% and seats 1% for the first eight months of the year

North American airlines have excelled at managing their capacity, keeping planes full as they face a troubled economy and high fuel prices, OAG said.

What does this mean for you the traveler? HIGHER PRICES!!!  

Most Honeymooners Book with Travel Agents & Look for All-Inclusive Packages.

A survey of travel agents, published by Travel Guard Insurance says honeymooners prefer to book their post nuptial bliss with travel agents (48 percent) over their own Internet research (14 percent).

It also found that 44 percent of respondents looked for all-inclusive resorts.  Seventeen percent looked for luxury accommodations and four percent wanted adventure-driven honeymoons.

Destinations most popular were Mexico and the Caribbean (73 percent for both together) along with Hawaii and the South Pacific at 21 percent and Europe toward the bottom of the list at four percent.

Sixty-five percent of agents polled said honeymoon spending remained the same as in years past and 77 percent said their honeymoon clients purchased travel insurance.

To help plan your perfect honeymoon or destination wedding contact your local travel specialist!

Carnival Cruise Line testing an all-you-can-drink, alcohol-included beverage package

Carnival has become the latest cruise line to jump on the all-you-can-drink, alcohol-included beverage package bandwagon. If the trial run of the “My Awesome Bar Program," which is currently underway aboard Carnival Victory, is a success, the beverage package could be rolled out to the entire fleet.

The per-cruise cost for the My Awesome Bar Program is $42.95 per person per day, plus a 15 percent gratuity. Purchasers can partake of a wide variety of wine, beer and spirits, as well as sodas, bottled water and non-alcoholic frozen cocktails throughout their cruise. However, all included beverages, including wines by the glass, beers and individual cocktails, must be less than $10 to qualify for inclusion. 

 

I’ve got to sit down and do the math to determine if this is a real value…at $7.00 a beer you’d have to pound down at least 7 of these a day to break even

What do you think? A value or not?

Be Kind To Your Travel Agent & Get Out of Town. Of course you'll let them book your travel plans!