Archive for the 'Tours & Cruises' Category
Obama gets White House tour; what about you? How to book free tour + online White House floor plan
November 10, 2008 6:20pm
Sure, President-Elect Barack Obama got a tour of the White House today. He and his wife, Michelle Obama, were greeted by President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. It was Obama’s first-ever visit to the Oval Office. But what about you? When can you get your tour of the White House and what will you be able to see once you’re inside? Read on for the White House floor plan and how to organize a free tour for your family and friends.
White House: Did you know that the White House has its own website?
White House tour: In-person White House tours can be booked by through your member of Congress. Rooms that you will see on the tour include: Blue Room, Entrance and Cross Halls, East Room, Green Room, Library, Red Room, State Dining Room, and the Vermeil Room. There is no cost for the tours. To arrange one:
1. Figure out who your representative is
2. Go to their Web page
Cruise deal: Kids sail free in the Caribbean & Mediterranean
November 6, 2008 1:00pm
Cruise.com is having a big sale, and the first thing that caught my eye were the “Kids Cruise Free” deals. I found a list of eight different 7-10 night Caribbean cruises where kids could sail for free.
Deal: Children 17 and under can sail free when traveling as the third or fourth guest in a cabin with two full-fare paying guests. Make sure to ask for the “December Blowout” sale when you call. Here are a few sample packages I tested through the promotion.
7-night W. Caribbean — starting at $379 per person before taxes and fuel surcharges. Departs Dec. 13 on the MSC Lirica, round trip out of Fort Lauderdale.
7-day E. Caribbean — starting at $1,017 per person before taxes and fuel surcharges, but including several departure dates in April, May and June 2009.
10-day S. Caribbean — starting at $698 per person before taxes and fuel surcharges. Departs March 4, 2009 on the MSC Lirica, round trip out of Fort Lauderdale.
Last call for historic Delta Queen steamboat?
October 29, 2008 6:59pm
The 82-year-old Delta Queen, America’s best-known paddle-wheeler, will pull into Memphis, Tennessee, Thursday morning for what may be its final port call as a passenger vessel.
The historic riverboat, whose twin, the Delta King, is now a floating hotel and restaurant in Sacramento, has hit troubled waters. An exemption from safety laws that allows the Delta Queen to carry passengers on overnight trips will expire at midnight Friday, and the U.S. Congress has declined to extend it.
Even if Congress decides to act, “The vessel will not operate in 2009,” Joe Ueberroth, president and chief executive of its owner, Ambassadors International Inc. in Newport Beach, said today in a conference call with media and others. “It’s just too late to put her back in service.”
After calling on Memphis and unloading its final passengers, the Delta Queen will set sail the next day, in tandem with the American Queen, for its home port of New Orleans, with tributes scheduled at several ports along the way. From there, its future is anyone’s guess.
Halloween on Catalina Island: fun, sun and ghosts?
October 28, 2008 2:07pm
Chuck Liddell, Catalina’s unofficial island historian and walking tour host, has heard the stories for years: unexplained sounds, weird apparitions, lights that switch on and off by themselves.
This year for the first time, Liddell is examining the spookier side of Catalina Island with haunted Catalina tours, set to begin on Halloween (Friday).
Haunted tours: The two-hour tours will include stops at the iconic Catalina Casino, where Liddell claims to have seen a ghost wearing a brown, three-piece suit. He also claims to have heard the casino organ play by itself.
Read the rest of this entry »
Last-minute cruise deals starting under $60, $40 and even $25 dollars per day
October 28, 2008 10:31am
I had always thought that if you could get a cruise for under $100 per day, it was a decent price and dare I say, had come to be the standard way of measuring cruise rates (unless you were taking a luxe line). The way to look at it is, you’re not just getting the bed to sleep in, but also food and entertainment. Whether you’ve always loved or hated cruising in the past — now is the time to appreciate how low cruise prices are.
If you can pack your bags at the last-minute you’ll find cruises as low as $25-$60 per day, pre-tax.
CruiseOne/Cruises Inc is reporting 40 cruises under $40 per day. I thought I’d test this amazing deal for myself as well as have a look around at the market and see if anyone else was giving away their cruise trips at this low rate. Here’s what I found (but prices could change by the time you get there):
STARTING UNDER $30/DAY
> 19-Nt Voyage to South America - San Francisco to Santiago, on Norwegian Sun departing Nov. 4, 2008. Cost: $21/per day for an inside cabin, per person based on double occupancy, pre-tax. The total cost for two people was $1,165 after taxes, or $30.65/day. [CruiseOne]
> 7-Night Eastern Caribbean, Miami R/T, on Norwegian Dawn departing Nov. 15, 2008. Cost: $21 per day for an inside cabin, per person based on double occupancy, pre-tax. The total cost for two people was $922 after taxes, or $66/day. (Taxes and fees were $162 per person). [CruiseOne]
> 4-Night Bahamas, Miami R/T, on Norwegian Sky departing Nov. 10, 2008. Cost: $25 per day for an inside cabin, per person based on double occupancy, pre-tax. The total cost for two people was $425 after taxes, or $53/day. [Southwest]
Great bargains on cruises this fall & winter: Mexican Riviera, South Caribbean, Asia
October 25, 2008 3:05pm
I run hot and cold on cruises, but when the bargains start to roll in, I’m squarely in their corner. The notion of being on the water, of having someone else make my bed and fix my meals, is so completely decadent that I cannot help but be completely won over.
The current economic turmoil may rekindle my love affair. “The most recent turndown in the market … has left vendors with a lot of space for the remainder of 2008 and into 2009,” said Tom Baker, president and owner of CruiseCenter, a full-service travel agency that specializes in cruises. ”We’re seeing prices on cruises like we saw post-9/11.
“Right now it’s a buyer’s market because the industry is also feeling some pain with what’s going on with the worldwide market.”
How much pain? Here are samples of deals I found just browsing the Web:
— Seven-day Mexican Riviera round trip on NCL’s Norwegian Star from $249 per person. Holiday cruises from $449 (Thanksgiving), $649 (Christmas) and $1,049 (New Year’s). Departs L.A. and includes Cabo, Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan, Mexico. [Norwegian Cruise Line]
— A 14-night South Caribbean cruise that leaves from Philadelphia on Saturday and goes to the Bahamas, Aruba, Curacao and Charleston, S.C., among other ports on NCL’s Norwegian Majesty, starting at $499. [Norwegian Cruise Line]
Looking good while doing good: great gifts from Southeast Asia and a cause to match
October 25, 2008 12:02pm
Imagine a brass pendant that’s a symbol of peace, or a brass bracelet emblazoned with the Khmer word for “community.” They are, at turns, both beautiful and horrifying when you realize that the brass is actually old shell casings hammered into these exquisite shapes by Southeast Asian craftsmen.
Perhaps it’s the juxtaposition that makes products from the new Nikaya Handcrafted so appealing — that and the fact that they’re an outgrowth of Journeys Within B&B and Tour Co., based in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Journeys Within was founded by Andrea and Brandon Ross, whose ambitious plan is to fight poverty and improve health, education and life. They started with a bed and breakfast, then created a tour company that provides customized trips to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar and now have added Nikaya to their repertoire of tools to create change and promote economic development.
Journeys Within was recently honored as one Condé Nast Traveler’s “World Savers” for work in health, poverty alleviation and preservation. The Rosses and their company have begun chipping away at the ills that plague the once war-torn nation, including addressing serious health problems caused by water-borne illnesses. Through their efforts, scores of clean wells have been added; they’ve also made possible micro-loans for small businesses, scholarships to university students and free English classes.
Besides helping artisans make a living, 10% of the profit from Nikaya goes back to Journeys Within.
For information on the products, which include jewelry, scarves, pillow covers and handbags, go to www.nikayahandcrafted.com. For info on Journeys Within, see www.journeys-within.com or call (877) 454-3672.
— Catharine Hamm, Times Travel editor
[Photo: Melissa Rosete-Wolfe]
Carnival’s cruise ships returning to Galveston, Texas
October 23, 2008 12:00pm
Carnival Cruise Lines next week will return to sailing from Galveston, Texas, just seven weeks after Hurricane Ike devastated the city. The company’s two Galveston-based ships, the Ecstasy and the Conquest, began using Houston’s port for their Caribbean cruises after the hurricane.
In a news release Tuesday, Galveston’s port director, Steven Cernak, said Cruise Terminal 1, damaged in the storm, had been overhauled, with work crews tearing out carpeting and walls, installing new amenities and repairing equipment. Beaches and many hotels and restaurants were open, according to the Galveston Island Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Although the port’s news release said “Web-based prepaid parking” was available, it did not address the condition of the cruise parking lots, which it earlier said had been flooded with about seven feet of salt water, leaving vehicles “probably not drivable.”
When Sarah Palin's ships came in
October 23, 2008 10:25am
Did the course of American history change on a pair of Holland America cruises in the summer of 2007, sometime between the flotation-device drill and the farewell dinner?
Maybe. In the latest New Yorker, reporter Jane Mayer suggests that two passing cruise ships that summer played a crucial role in lining up Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for the Republican vice presidential nomination this year.
Of course, the timing could have been coincidental. Also, McCain-Palin could lose on Nov. 4. But if McCain and Palin should win, those Alaska excursions just might join the list of great moments in waterborne tourism that have changed American history — a list that, for our money, should include Christopher Columbus, Mark Twain and Leo DiCaprio.
So how did Gov. Palin’s ships come in? Read the rest of this entry »
QE2’s final voyage: Do you have memories to share?
October 15, 2008 7:52am
So you only just heard that the Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2), arguably the best-known passenger ship in the world, is making its last voyage? Don’t even think about getting last-minute tickets: The final 16-night trip from Southampton, England, to Dubai that begins on Nov. 11 sold out last year just 35 minutes after booking opened.
If you are in New York on Thursday (Oct. 16) and get up at 4:45 a.m., you can watch the arriving QE2 and the Queen Mary 2 sail under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge; at 5:30, they’ll pass the Statue of Liberty. That evening, at 5 p.m., both ships are scheduled to depart, amid fanfare, on what will be the QE2’s final transatlantic crossing to England.
