Jetsettersblog

PALM SPRINGS, CA – A Summer Ride ‘n’ Dine Special will be offered July 1–August 31, 2011.

Prices for the combination tickets will be reduced to $30.50 adults and seniors and $20.50 children ages 3-12.

Tickets can be purchased at the Valley Station after 4pm, dinner is available from 4:30-8:30pm.

The price includes round trip Tram ride and dinner at Pines Café. Reservations are not taken.

Guided Nature Walks will be offered by volunteers for the Mount San Jacinto State Park and Wilderness Area Saturdays and Sundays through Labor Day.

The Nature Walks will feature a choice of two easy trails: the Desert View Trail, a 1½-mile beginning at 11 am or the Long Valley Nature Trail, a ¾-mile loop beginning at 1:30pm.

Those interested should meet at the bottom of the cement walkway located just outside the Mountain Station.
Family Days will offer activities for kids on September 3rd from 11am to 2pm.

Activities take place in the amphitheater in front of the Long Valley Ranger Station.

The first Tram up Monday-Friday 10am; first Tram up Saturday and Sunday 8am; last Tram up 8pm and last Tram down 9:45pm.

For more information please call 888.515.TRAM or 760.325.1391 or visit us at www.pstramway.com

American Cruise Lines launched its new sternwheeler, Queen of the Mississippi, on July 17 at Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Maryland, nine weeks ahead of schedule.

Immediately after the launching, tugboats nudged the new riverboat into the shipyard’s Outfitting Basin Number 2, where the upper decks and outfitting will be completed.

The launching comes just a few weeks after the joining of the two hull sections, which weigh almost 500 tons apiece.

With the completion of the fourth and fifth decks up next, Queen of the Mississippi’s superstructure will come together quickly.

The Queen of the Mississippi will boast staterooms larger than any former Mississippi riverboat and private balconies, while maintaining the Victorian appearance of classic Mississippi riverboats.

American Cruise Lines will operate the sternwheeler over the entire Mississippi River system, with the option of cruising at significantly higher speeds to make more itineraries possible, with longer visits to the river towns.

A number of seven-, 10-, and 14-day cruises are planned that will take passengers as far as St. Paul, Minn., on the Mississippi River and Pittsburgh on the Ohio River.

For more information, call 800-814-6880.

MLT Vacations is expanding its destination wedding and honeymoon offerings in the Caribbean and Mexico for all of its brands, including Delta Vacations Lifestyle Collection featuring Romance, Continental Airlines Vacations SelectEscapes Romance, and United Vacations Romance.

The romance offerings of all three brands will be enhanced with a wider variety of hotels than ever before, with the addition of 24 newly added hotels to the honeymoon program in Mexico and the Caribbean, including, in Los Cabos, Barceló Los Cabos Palace Deluxe and Zoëtry Casa del Mar Los Cabos; in Puerto Vallarta, Garza Blanca Preserve Resort and Spa and Meliá Puerto Vallarta All-Inclusive Beach Resort; in Riviera Nayarit, Marival Residences & World Spa and Marival Resort & Suites Nuevo Vallarta; in Antigua, Hermitage Bay; in the Bahamas, Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort; in Turks and Caicos, Regent Palms and The Somerset on Grace Bay; and in Punta Cana, Majestic Colonial, Majestic Elegance, Larimar Punta Cana, Melia Caribe Tropical, Paradisus Punta Cana Resort and Paradisus Palma Real Resort.

MLT Vacations is one of the largest providers of vacation packages in the United States, manages multiple vacation brands, including Delta Vacations, Continental Airlines Vacations, United Vacations, and Worry-Free Vacations.

Through its airline partnerships, MLT Vacations is able to offer the lowest available airfares, plus discounted hotel rates at thousands of hotels worldwide, sightseeing excursions and activities, bonus miles for travelers through frequent flyer programs and a best price guarantee.

For more information, call 800-727-1111

Crystal Cruises is rewarding past guests who refer new passengers with the new Referral Rewards Program. Crystal Society members can earn up to $6,000 cash for referring new guests on all 2011 cruises and 10 cruises in the first quarter of 2012.

In its spring issue of its repeat-guest magazine, “Passport,” Crystal included three redemption certificates to pass on to a potential Crystal cruiser. Crystal Society members will receive $1,000 for each guest who redeems a certificate and sails on a Crystal cruise of eight days or more.

The new-to-Crystal guest will save $250 per person off the cruise fare.

For seven-day cruises, the Crystal Society member will receive $500 and the new Crystal cruiser will save $125 off the cruise fare. Should all three certificates be redeemed for applicable double-occupancy cruises, the Society Member could earn up to $6,000.

Even travel agents who have sailed at full revenue are eligible to redeem certificates for their referrals. Applicable redemption sailings include all remaining 2011 cruises of seven days or longer, and select first-quarter 2012 cruises, covering Europe, the Caribbean, Alaska, the Pacific Coast, Mexican Riviera, Panama Canal, New England, Canada, Hawaii, the Pacific, Australia, Asia, Russia, South America, and across the Atlantic. Complete details for the program can be found in the Crystal Society section at www.crystalcruises.com

B Ocean Fort Lauderdale, the first hotel of the new B Hotels and Resorts brand, introduced its dedicated spa concept, B Indulged. The B Indulged Spa Suite at B Ocean Fort Lauderdale allows guests to customize their own experience.

“We’re very excited to introduce the B Indulged Spa Suite at B Ocean Fort Lauderdale,” said Veronica Miranda, B Ocean’s B experience manager.

“Allowing guests the opportunity to customize their experience breaks the mold of the standard spa treatment menu that’s available in other spas.

B Indulged is yet another example of the innovative B brand and its mission to provide personalized guest experiences.”

B Ocean Fort Lauderdale’s B Indulged Spa Suite, which features Pure-ssage products and amenities, allows hotel guests and locals to be pampered and feel invigorated with a variety of treatments, including traditional Swedish massage, deep tissue massage, hot stone massage, reflexology, prenatal massage, B Together couples massage and aromatherapy.

B Ocean Fort Lauderdale’s B Indulged Spa Suite is available for up to two hours, with rates starting at $85 per person for 60 minutes. During that time, the above treatments can be combined in any way. JB Ocean Fort Lauderdale is located at the corner of Sunrise Boulevard and A1A across from Fort Lauderdale Beach.

For B Indulged reservations, call 954-564-1000.

For more information on the 240-room B Ocean Fort Lauderdale, call 888-66-BHOTEL or visit www.boceanfortlauderdale.com

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company will open Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, in December 2012 in Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico. The 114-room property will be located on a secluded, three-mile outcrop along Puerto Rico’s Caribbean coastline and encompass 1,400 acres.

Accommodations will include 100 guestrooms and 14 one-bedroom suites, all located directly on the beach, and Su Casa, an original plantation hacienda renovated to its original 1920s style as a five-bedroom beachfront VIP villa available for weddings and private parties.

The project secured construction financing one year ago with a guarantee from the Tourism Development Fund of the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico.

The resort will be the company’s first Reserve property in the Americas. For more information, call 800-241-3333.

In its 80th anniversary year, New York City’s Empire State Building unveiled a new, permanent exhibit that captures the global icon’s astonishing history, engineering and construction. Curated by Carol Willis of New York City’s Skyscraper Museum, the installation is located on the 80th floor of the World’s Most Famous Office Building and further enriches and enhances each visitor’s Observatory experience.

As part of a more than $550 million Empire State ReBuilding program, the Observatory experience has been completely upgraded, including the restored art deco masterpiece lobby. With content from The Skyscraper Museum’s archives, the exhibit illustrates three main themes: Speed — construction took only 11 months from the setting of the tower’s first steel columns on April 7, 1930, to the completed building by March 31, 1931, a full month before the official opening ceremonies on May 1, 1931; Scale — gigantic in every dimension, the record-breaking tower required immense amounts of materials and equipment to build what is still one of the tallest and largest man-made structures in the world; and Steel — the building’s steel frame was intricately designed with remarkable proportions.

Empire State Building visitors view the exhibit along route to the world-famous 86th and 102nd floor Observatories.

The building is open daily, 365 days a year, from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.

For more information on the Empire State Building, visit

www.esbnyc.com

Dinosaur Hall has opened at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The 14,000-square-foot Dinosaur Hall features the debut of Thomas the T. Rex, along with more than 300 fossils, 20 dinosaur skeletons and multi-media, interactive exhibits. The new, permanent exhibition is twice the size of the museum’s old dinosaur galleries.

The Dinosaur Hall’s other exhibits include a Triceratops; the armor-backed Stegosaurus; the predator Allosaurus; a 68-foot, long-necked Mamenchisaurus; and giant marine reptiles that swam in the oceans covering what is today California.

Using the exhibit’s interactive touch screens, guests can engage in simulated, paleontological role-play as excavator, prospector or illustrator and learn about dinosaur senses and how they may have sounded, based on a CT scan of a dinosaur brain. The opening marks the midway point of the museum’s institutional transformation, as well as a reconsideration of what science and the story of our planet means to visitors.

The transformation continues with the opening of an exhibition about Southern California’s natural and cultural history in 2012, and more than three acres of urban nature experiences and exhibits serving as a new front yard for the museum and the Otis Booth Pavilion in 2013.

Museum admission is $12 general, $9 for seniors (ages 62 and older) and college students with ID; $8 for youth ages 13 to 17; $5 for children ages 5 to 12; and free for children ages 4 and under and for NHM members.

For more information, call 213-763-3466 or visit www.nhm.org

Bermuda’s Department of Tourism will sponsor the Bermuda Sand Sculpture Competition at Horseshoe Bay Beach on Sept. 3, 2011. The competition, in its 16th year, invites travelers of all ages to show their creativity by constructing sand sculptures. Cash prizes will be awarded to the best amateur sand sculpture, with a grand prize of $1,000. The second place contestant will receive $500, and $250 will be awarded to the third place finisher.

For more information, call 800-BERMUDA or visit www.gotobermuda.com

Avis Rent A Car has added the Chevrolet Camaro Convertible to its “Cool Car” collection of fun-to-drive vehicles.

Renters can choose from the Camaro SS with a 400-horsepower 6.2-liter V8 engine, or the Camaro LT which features a 312-horsepower 3.6-liter V6 engine.

The new Camaro Convertible, available with automatic transmission, can be rented exclusively at Avis.

The 2010 Camaro Coupe was declared the most searched car on Yahoo for all of 2009.

The Camaro also received MotorWeek’s 2010 Drivers’ Choice Award for Best Sport Coupe and was named a Consumers Digest “Best Buy.”

For more information, visit www.avis.com