Jetsettersblog

Captain Cook Cruises is combining the best of the Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands by announcing that for the first time since beginning operations in Fiji, its new Fiji cruise ship MV Reef Endeavour will be offering pick-ups for guests staying at Mamanuca Island resorts.

MV Reef Endeavour will moor off Honeymoon Island near Castaway Island at 1800 every Saturday night allowing Mamanuca Island resorts guests to transfer to the vessel for a 3 or 7 night Yasawa Islands cruise.

Plantation, Musket Cove, Lomani Island resort, Malolo, Liku liku, Castaway and Mana Island Resort have all offered guest’s complimentary boat transfers to MV Reef Endeavour.

The new pick ups allow visitors to Fiji to experience the very best of both the Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands.

“We are delighted MV Reef Endeavour’s sophisticated navigation systems and faster cruising speed have allowed us to add even more value to our Fiji cruise itinerary including a return to the Mamanuca Islands” said Joint Managing Director Jackie Haworth.

The new pick ups allow visitors to Fiji to experience the very best of both the Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands.

The 3-Night Southern Yasawa Island Cruise departs Denarau Marina every Saturday and Early Booking Savers (EBS) fares start from FJ$1439.00 per person.

The 7-Night Yasawa Island Cruise departs every Saturday from Denarau and EBS fares are available from FJ$2999.00 per person twin.

Captain Cruises also offer a 4-night Northern Yasawa Island cruise with EBS fares available from FJ$1799.00 per person twin share.

Prices include all meals on board, guided village and island tours, glass bottom boat excursions, on board entertainment and use of the ship’s facilities including swimming pool, spa, pool bar, sun deck, sauna, cocktail bar, day spa and library.  Read the Jetsetters Magazine feature about the Captain Cook Cruises Date Line Adventure.

The Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York has launched the new Finger Lakes Cheese Trail.

About a dozen farmstead cheese houses have sprouted up in the past few years amongst the myriad wine trails.

Some have started making cheese as a way to enhance the low prices farmers get for their milk, but all are in it for a love of the product they craft, which includes sheep’s milk cheese, goudas, goat cheese, cheddars, jacks, colby and even cheese curds.

Samples and sales are part of the trail, allowing folks to buy cheese, stop at a winery, grab a loaf of bread, and enjoy a day touring the Finger Lakes. There is no charge and no advance registration is required for self-guided tours.

Four events are planned for this year, including

May 29, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.;
July 10, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.;
Oct. 9 and Oct. 10, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.;
and Dec. 11, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For an interactive map of the Cheese Houses, visit

www.maps.google.com/maps/ms?client=firefox

Moab Adventure Center creates opportunities to explore a red rock area that borders both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

Now for the first time this spring, visitors can take hour-long balloon flights that begin at sunrise and give passengers a bird’s-eye view of multi-colored sandstone formations, mesas, buttes, deep canyon mazes and natural arches.

Rates are $235 for adults and $195 for children 6 and up. Lou Bartell, who owns and pilots the six-passenger balloon, said, “The sensation of climbing over a sandstone butte then suddenly watching the ground drop hundreds of feet below you can only be compared to rock climbing.

The biggest difference with a flight in Moab to anywhere else is that you are actually a part of the landscape, not just an observer.

Conditions permitting, I also like to fly up to 4,000 feet above the valley floor to give everyone an overview of the entire area.”

The rate includes the flight itself, return transportation to the launch site, a post-flight toast ceremony and digital on-ground and in-air photos (upon request).

Moab hot air balloon rides can be combined with two other Moab Adventure Center activities for a 10 percent savings on each. Established in 2004, Moab Adventure Center serves active travelers with half, full, and multi-day adventure programs including Moab rafting, Hummer safaris, Arches National Park Tours, canyoneering, Moab mountain biking, Colorado River jetboat tours, horseback riding and hot air balloon rides.

In addition to activities, the Adventure Center also offers Moab lodging and Jeep rentals as well as complete Moab vacation packages.

For more information, call 866-904-1163 or visit www.moabadventurecenter.com

Auberge Resorts, developers and operators of luxury resorts Auberge du Soleil, Esperanza, Calistoga Ranch, The Inn at Palmetto Bluff, Encantado and Rancho Valencia, is expanding its presence in Mexico.

The company announced plans to open a new 50-suite luxury resort on Mexico’s Riviera Maya at Kanai, an exclusive master-planned beachfront community being developed by joint-venture partners Alhel and Gim Desarrollos.

Located on a beachfront site, the Auberge resort will feature 50 suites, each offering unobstructed ocean views, a signature Auberge Spa, waterfront dining, swimming pool and beach club bar and grill.

The Auberge resort also will feature six luxury oceanfront villas that are destined to become the finest resort residences on Mexico’s Riviera Maya.

Designed by internationally renowned California firms Backen, Gillam & Kroger Architects, along with George Girvin & Associates landscape architects and planners, the Auberge resort will feature a contemporary design that is inspired by Kanai’s natural landscape of tropical foliage, long white-sand beaches and panoramic water views.

Auberge and the design team, in concert with the Kanai developers, are creating a distinctive plan for the property that respects and preserves the natural environment by adhering to the highest standards of sustainable and conservation-oriented development.

The structures comprising the Auberge resort will appear to float like islands among fields of dense green vegetation and will be connected by a series of boardwalks and pathways.

Every guest room at the new Auberge resort will feature expansive views of the Caribbean Sea and offer large terraces, private plunge pools and outdoor showers for extraordinary indoor-outdoor living.

Both the architecture and interiors will juxtapose contemporary materials with regionally authentic design elements and natural materials.

A long shaded garden will characterize the inland-facing side of the resort, providing guests with the option to step out of their rooms and relax either by the beach or in a lush garden environment.

The resort will offer several dining venues.

At the water’s edge will be a beach club with a long infinity-edge swimming pool, a casual beachside bar and cabanas on the sand for spa treatments and relaxation.

For private parties, celebrations and weddings by the water, there will be a beachside pavilion with a large event lawn leading to the sandy beach.

The Auberge Spa will be located in an island setting overlooking a sea of protected mangroves and accessed by an elevated walkway.

Treatment rooms will feature private gardens with outdoor showers and baths, and fitness and yoga pavilions will be integrated into the natural environment.

 Situated on the eastern coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and surrounded by the natural beauty of the Mayan Rivera’s lush lagoons and pristine mangroves, Kanai is located just 24 miles from Cancun International Airport and six miles from Playa del Carmen. In this private beachfront enclave, Auberge guests will have exclusive access to an array of resort amenities, including white sandy beaches, two 18-hole golf courses designed by award-winning professional golf players Nick Faldo and Jose Maria Olazabal, tennis, water sports and a variety of culinary options.

For more information, visit www.aubergeresorts.com

The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay, situated 23 miles southwest of the San Francisco International Airport, will launch Segway Tours providing guests with training and use of Segway Personal Transporters for guided rides throughout the destination.

Available Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for individual guests and by prior arrangement for groups, the 90-minute tours will be priced at $75 per person and include equipment and helmet use, 30 minutes of instruction, and an hour of riding.

The self-balancing, motorized Segway Personal Transporters are ridden standing up, with only a slight movement forward or backward needed for propulsion.

Navigating and steering is accomplished via a simple twist of the turning grip.

Participants must be 16 years of age or older, and equipment speeds will be limited to 12.5 miles per hour.

For tour reservations, call 650-712-7863.

For hotel information, call 800-542-8680

or visit www.ritzcarlton.com

RCI, a vacation exchange company and one of the Wyndham Worldwide family of brands, added 32 new resorts, including five resorts from existing affiliations, to the world’s largest vacation exchange network in the first quarter of 2010.

The additions include five resorts under construction as well as three from The Registry Collection program, the world’s largest luxury exchange program and one of the three worldwide exchange programs under the RCI umbrella.

“Developers understand the importance of working with a quality exchange company that provides valuable services to help them increase sales and lower marketing costs, especially in today’s economy,” said Geoff Ballotti, CEO of RCI. “Whether it’s through technology or product innovations, RCI continues to demonstrate the value it offers to its affiliates worldwide. In just four months we surpassed the 1 millionth click-through from www.RCI.com  to our developers’ websites and we’re very focused on helping to drive new leads and new business to our affiliates.

In addition to the work we continue to do on RCI.com to get the word out about our great industry, we were also very pleased to announce this quarter the launch of RCI Points Platinum membership, a new premium membership that will offer exclusive exchange and lifestyle benefits to subscribing members.”

Following the addition of 100 resort affiliations in 2009, RCI announced a new agreement earlier in the quarter with InnSeason Resorts, a vacation brand in New England, and most recently in April, RCI announced the addition of nine new resort affiliations across Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.

For more information, visit the banner below.

Djuan Rivers, vice president of Disney Vacation Club and Resorts, Hawaii announced that the development of Aulani, a Disney Resort and Spa, Ko Olina, Hawaii, reached a major milestone this month with the last pouring of cement at the building’s highest point.

Aulani is located on 21-acres of oceanfront property in the Ko Olina Resort & Marina development on the western side of Oahu.

The 15-story resort contains two towers of 351 guest rooms and 451 two-bedroom-equivalent villas, each strategically angled to provide commanding views of the ocean, mountains and the magnificent grounds. Aulani is Disney’s first stand-alone family destination resort and is scheduled to open in 2011.

TourGuy.com, a new tour and travel source for adventure and ecotourism tours, launched its first major market, encompassing the tours around the Las Vegas metropolitan area during National Travel And Tourism Week.

The new tour site provides reviews and discounts on various types of tours, including helicopter, airplane, jeep, motor coach, horseback, all-terrain vehicle (ATV), kayak, raft, and other things to do in and around Las Vegas.

Las Vegas was chosen as the first travel and tourism destination for the diversity of its natural offerings.

“When people think of Las Vegas, they always think of casinos,” said James Hoke, president of TourGuy.com, LLC.

“There is so much more to explore and discover using this city as an adventure and ecotourism hub across four states including Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah.”

TourGuy.com will launch with more than 30 tours, including trips to the west and south rims of the Grand Canyon (Arizona); Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Red Rock Canyon, and Valley of Fire (Nevada); Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park (Utah); and Death Valley (Nevada/California).

TourGuy.com has teamed with Las Vegas tour operators that offer a variety of pedestrian, horseback, air travel and ground tours. According to Hoke, the variety of Las Vegas tours was chosen to offer experiences that range from comfortable, air conditioned buses and luxury hybrid SUVs to horses that transverse steep desert gullies and extreme desert race cars.

Despite the diversity of Las Vegas tours, Hoke says TourGuy.com is selective. While the company allows consumers to rate tours, TourGuy.com will only include tours that meet certain criteria, including friendly and knowledgeable guides, the highest safety standards for specific tours, a lower frequency of scheduled tours, and a commitment to “leave no trace” principles.

 “We are very sensitive to the preservation of national parks and historic sites,” said Hoke. “It was one of our first commitments in selecting the highest quality tours at the lowest possible rates. We want people to enjoy themselves, but not at the detriment of the areas they visit.”

Hoke says it is especially important because some of the Las Vegas tours take place near wildlife, like wild mustangs, and other tours are made available with exclusive arrangements with not only the U.S. government, but also the Hualapai Indian Reservation. Las Vegas tour operators appreciate that they are guests, Hoke said. Most Las Vegas tours offered through TourGuy.com include complimentary pick-up and drop-off from Strip hotels.

All tours have strict limitations on the number of participants.

For reservations or more information, call 888-801-1575

or visit www.TourGuy.com

The 27-room Fierro Hotel will open this September in Buenos Aires’ Palermo Hollywood district.

All rooms will feature rain showers, robes and amenities by Organyco. Accommodations also offer a kitchenette, 32-inch LCD flat-screen television, universal power outlets, iPod docking stations and complimentary Internet access.

The ground floor will offer a lounge and restaurant specializing in Mediterranean cuisine and overseen by Michelin-star Executive Chef Hernan Gipponi.

The restaurant will be open to the public for lunch and dinner, although hotel guests exclusively are invited to enjoy a complimentary breakfast each day of their stay.

The hotel will also showcase The Cellar, where weekly wine tastings will take place as well as privately arranged dinners.

Other facilities will include a 24-hour business center; and heated pool, sauna and Jacuzzi located on the seventh floor solarium where guests can also enjoy wet beds/hydro massages.

In-room massages and other spa services are also available upon request.

The Fierro will also house a private collection of original art specially commissioned for the hotel. Introductory rates start at $140 nightly through December 2010.

For more information, visit www.fierrohotel.com

Toftrees Golf Resort and Conference Center, in State College, Pa., completed renovations that included all 102 guestrooms, public spaces, and banquet rooms.

Toftrees — meaning “home among the trees” — is set among 1,500 wooded acres in Centre County, Pa. Toftrees Golf Resort and Conference Center features a championship golf course that offers a variety of membership opportunities including a new senior membership.

On-site recreational facilities including an outdoor heated pool and children’s pool, four lighted tennis courts, a sand volleyball court, a Par-Course fitness trail, and a modern fitness center are available to hotel guests and offered with memberships.

The golf course is also open to the public and to hotel guests.

For more information, visit www.toftrees.com