Jetsettersblog

Regent Seven Seas Cruises has unveiled its 2012 Grand Voyages in response to past guest requests for extended sailings in Europe and South America. Among the voyages: The 29-night Northern Odyssey cruise from London to Stockholm departs June 3, 2012, and visits ports in the British Isles, Ireland, Iceland, Norway and the Baltic.

The 27-night Latin Sojourn from Monte Carlo to Buenos Aires departs Nov. 9, 2012, visiting Barcelona, Cartagena and Granada before cruising to North Africa and the Canary Islands.

Fares, which include roundtrip air, unlimited shore excursions and bonus savings of up to $8,000 per suite, start at $10,799 per person, double.

Passengers booking Penthouse Suites and higher categories will fly business class.

Raffles Hotels & Resorts will open a hotel in Istanbul in 2012. The hotel will be a key feature of the new Zorlu Center, one of the largest developments the city has seen for many years.

The hotel is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2012, under the name of Raffles Istanbul Zorlu Center.

The Zorlu Center is Turkey’s first and only mixed-use project with five functions which will bring together a performing arts center, offices, residential property, retail and the hotel — all with a Bosphorus view. Raffles Istanbul Zorlu Center will be developed by Zorlu Property with an investment of over $175 million, excluding the land value.

Its design will reflect the cultural and characteristic features of Istanbul, with 130 guestrooms and 50 suites.

The size of the rooms will be above average, with standard rooms at 65 square meters, and suites with a maximum space of 370 square meters.

The hotel will have a ballroom with a 1,200-person capacity, two restaurants and bars, indoor and outdoor swimming pools and a heliport.

It will also be home to a signature Raffles Spa, which is set to be one of the largest spas in Istanbul at approximately 32,000 square feet.

Hotel guests will have direct access to the Performance Arts Centre, which will offer dramas and musicals simultaneously with their openings in London and Broadway.

Raffles Hotels & Resorts is a luxury international hotel company with a history dating back to 1887 with the opening of Raffles Hotel, Singapore.

The portfolio currently comprises nine properties, from secluded resorts to chic hotels in key locations around the world, including Singapore, Cambodia, China, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles and Paris. The company is embarking on a new phase of expansion, with openings in the Maldives, Indonesia, the Philippines and China scheduled over the next two years. Raffles Hotels & Resorts is owned by FRHI Holdings Ltd, a leading global hotel company with 98 hotels and resorts worldwide under the Raffles, Fairmont and Swissôtel brands. The company also manages Fairmont and Raffles branded residences, Estates and luxury private residence club properties. For more information, visit www.raffles.com

Crystal Cruises has announced a film- and theater-themed cruise, featuring more than two dozen performances and presentations, departing Aug. 25 on the Crystal Symphony.

The cruise is presented in partnership with the Roundabout Theatre Company, which is donating Broadway show tickets and merchandise for guests. Michele Lee, star of the original “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” and theater impresario John Loesser, son of the play’s composer/lyricist, will be featured guest presenters.

Performance highlights include the late Zero Mostel and Ethel Merman reincarnated on stage by actors Jim Brochu and Rita McKenzie in their respective hit biographical shows about the stars.

Guest vocalists will pay musical homage to celluloid memories using authentic costumes from Hollywood legends, courtesy of guest speaker Greg Schreiner, who owns of one of the world’s largest private collections of Hollywood costumes.

Theater-phile Herb Keyser, author Brian Kellow, and talent agent Victoria Morris will join the performers in speaking about theater history, stage personalities and the business of show.

Screening room matinees with live introductions and post-film discussions are scheduled in the ship’s surround-sound Hollywood Theatre.

Guests can also watch exclusive, behind-the-scenes interviews from Broadway’s “Anything Goes” (now at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre) from their staterooms.

Two-for-one fares for the 19-day Panama Canal sailing start at $5,425 per person, double, including air from 24 North American cities and a $1,000-per-couple “As You Wish” spending credit. Additional savings are available via Crystal’s Family Memories program.

Norwegian Cruise Line has announced the addition of 15 nine-day Canary Island sailings on the 2,402-passenger Norwegian Jade, departing Barcelona, beginning Dec. 8.

The cruise will call on Funchal, Madeira; Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, Canary Islands; Arrecife, Lanzarote, Canary Islands; and Granada (Malaga), Spain.

There will also be four days at sea.

Guests have the option to board the ship in Granada. Balcony staterooms start at $799 per person, double.

London’s Lanesborough Hotel’s latest package allows children, just like their parents, to have their own butler.

The hotel’s head concierge has designed an exclusive three-day family program to showcase the highlights of London and Windsor, with a Lanesborough chauffeured car to escort them.

The four-night package, valid from July 25 to Sept. 5, includes accommodation in a two-bedroom Apsley Suite for two adults and two children and a three-day tour program that includes attractions and chauffeur-driven car.

The package is priced at £6550 ($1,045), plus VAT.

The tour calls at such London icons as the Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Covent Garden, a list of musicals to choose from, Windsor Castle, Hampton Court Palace, Buckingham Palace, London Eye, River Thames Cruise and Harrods.

The package also includes daily English breakfast, children’s welcome gift and evening treats, family pajama night with popcorn and ice cream sundaes with complimentary movies, complimentary Internet games and laptop in room, butler, Jr. Bath accessories, children’s slippers and robes, guaranteed connecting rooms in suite categories, no extra charge for roll-away beds, and an afternoon tea.

For more information, call 01144 (0)20 7259 5599 or visit www.lanesborough.com

Norman Carr Safaris introduced Luwi River Trail, an eight-night, privately-guided safari adventure in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park, one of the finest wildlife sanctuaries in Africa.

Peak season rates start at $5,436 per person sharing and drop to $3,636 per person for a group of four.

Rates are all-inclusive except for international airfare and $360 per person park fees.

The maximum number that can be accommodated is eight.

The Luwi River, a seasonal sand river, meanders through some of the most remote and least-traveled parts of Zambia’s game-rich park, carving its way across the park’s Northern sector through dramatically varying habitats.

There are three Norman Carr camps along the stretch of this beguiling, winding river.

The adventure starts at the eponymous Luwi Camp, continues on to Nsolo, downstream of Luwi, and then on to Kakuli Camp at the confluence of the Luwi and Luangwa rivers.

Along the way, safari-goers explore wild places towards the source of the river; areas that are not only unpopulated, but unexplored.

For more information, visit www.normancarrsafaris.com

The 12-room El Portal Sedona Hotel, which is celebrating its eight-year anniversary this year, is offering an anniversary deal. Guests booking one midweek night for stays from June 1 to 15 receive a second, consecutive night free.

For more information, call 800-313-0017 or visit www.elportalsedona.com

Fraser Island is the world’s largest sand island and is as famous for its beaches and four-wheel-driving adventures as it is for its pure-bred dingoes.

But each August there’s another animal which swims in to steal the limelight and provide the ultimate in Australian wildlife encounters, Hervey Bay’s humpback whales.

The World Heritage-listed island lies off the Queensland coastline, at the start of the Great Barrier Reef.

These giants of the deep (and the men and women who track them) are the star attractions on Hervey Bay’s event calendar and visit like clockwork from Aug. 1 until the end of October each year. Each year an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 whales take time out of their migration down the eastern Australian coastline to wallow in the warm waters on Fraser Island’s lee side.

These calm waters provide natural protection and allow the humpbacks to socialize before setting off on the long journey back to Antarctica.

Kingfisher Bay Resort, on Fraser Island’s western side, is just a short cruise away from Platypus Bay and the humpback action and can help put whale watchers in the thick of the action.

The resort’s Head Ranger Colin Anderson said researchers believed there were only two places in the world where whales took time out of their migration schedule — one is in Hervey Bay, the Australian whale watch capital, and the other is Hawaii.

Skipper Brian Perry, who captains the daily whale-watching excursions from Kingfisher Bay Resort, said humpbacks were the most surface active of all the whales and were extremely inquisitive, which made great viewing.

The resort’s Fraser + Whales package includes two nights’ hotel accommodation with breakfast, half-day whale tour and return ferry transfers, and is priced at $379 per person (twin share) or $121 per child when sharing with an adult.

Daily Whale Watch trips cost $115AUD ($122) for adults and $70AUD ($74) for children.

Each ticket sold includes a levy which assists local marine park management. For more information, call 011-617 3032 2809 or visit www.kingfisherbay.com

Historic Hotels of America announced a new website. Launched this week and developed in partnership with Sabre Hospitality Solutions, www.historichotels.org  makes researching, planning, and booking cultural travel accommodations easy, engaging and educational.

By connecting Historic Hotels of America’s collection of more than 235 historic hotels with the locations, events and places in history, the new website provides an enhanced search criteria console, a dynamic map-based hotel finder, and an interactive timeline that mixes historic events, famous people, inventions and economic milestones with member hotel openings, as the website proves to be as much of an interactive history guide as it is a hotel booking site.

Historic Hotels of America’s new website provides visitors with the ability to search beyond just availability and location.

Now, visitors may locate their hotel by favorite historic era; 39 different architectural styles; 15 property styles, from mansions to factories to resorts; and four distinctive levels of service, categorized by platinum, gold, silver and bronze.

With the site’s dynamic map-based hotel finder, locating a historic hotel in a specific area of the country has never been easier.

Found under “Destinations,” the map allows visitors to search by geographic location, and then further refine their search by luxury level, property and architectural style.

Travelers will enjoy planning their itinerary with a detailed map. With a quick click, visitors can research local attractions, museums, battlefields and historic sites. Visitors also have the option of searching for their next travel experience by theme.

Catering to a vast range of interests, the “Experiences” section enables visitors to find hotels based on distinctive experiences and activities that include Vacations and Leisure, Spas and Retreats, Golf and Outdoor Activities, Food, Family, Groups and Romance.

In celebration of the launch of its new website, travelers who book their hotel accommodations BEFORE Sept. 30, 2011, on the new Historic Hotels of America website will receive a complimentary one-year family membership ($30 value) to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Terms and conditions apply.

During this complimentary membership year, families will receive a savings of 10 percent at participating Historic Hotels of America, a subscription to Preservation magazine, and discounted admission to over 600 historic places worldwide.

Members of the National Trust for Historic Preservation also receive invitations to National Trust Tours, featuring domestic and international destinations, discounts on preservation books and merchandise at many National Trust Sites’ gift shops, and e-communications on the latest news and advocacy alerts where travelers can take action to help save places that matter.

For more information, visit www.historichotels.org

Go Visit Ireland is offering a family self-guided tour that includes walking, cycling, horseback riding, a boat day trip, a bus tour of Dingle peninsula and more.

Guests spend days exploring the Kerry Way and discovering Ireland’s blue flag beaches on a coastal walk.

Other highlights include visiting Killarney’s craft and book shops, playing golf (pitch and putt), fishing, swimming in local rivers and lakes, spending time at a local spa, cycling around Killarney’s Lakes and Fells, a boat trip on the Lakes of Killarney, a horse and carriage tour through the Gap of Dunloe and more.

Price starts at $785 per person sharing (four-person minimum). Minimum age is 10 years old. For more information, call 832-755-7661 or visit www.govisitireland.com