Jetsettersblog

Setting sail from Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas the idyllic capital of the US Virgin Islands, you will find yourself in shopping heaven before embarking upon a 5 night journey around the Caribbean. Widely known as the duty free shopping capital of the world – Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas combines rich history with some of the world’s best shopping.

SeaDream I is an exclusive & intimate mega-yacht which hosts just 56 couples who are serviced by a team of 95 crew, providing a truly 5 star luxury experience.

Leading cruise holiday specialists ecruising Asia Pacific are providing you with this dream opportunity at a saving of up to 65%. Through ecruising you can enjoy 5 nights aboard luxury mega-yacht SeaDream I for only HK$19,249.00 usually HK$61,000.00

ecruising Asia Pacific is a fully registered and licensed travel agency who are specialists in cruise holidays. Recently launching their regional centre for Asia Pacific in Hong Kong, their team of dedicated customer service agents are providing Asia with a gateway to the world of cruising.

This exclusive package on SeaDream I includes all main meals, complimentary beverages, personal refreshment bar and entertainment. The mega-yacht also features an Award-winning Thai certified Spa (massage rooms, steam shower and sauna), Fitness center with state-of-the-art equipment, Outdoor whirlpool, pool and spa facilities.

Caribbean Itinerary

18 Jan - Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

19 Jan - Cruz Bay, St. John

20 Jan - Anguilla, British West Indies

21 Jan - Gustavia, St. Barthelemy

22 Jan - Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands

23 Jan San Juan, Puerto Rico

Details
For sale until: 16 January 2009
Destinations: Caribbean
Ship: SeaDream I
Embarkation Port: Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
Duration: 5 Nights
Departure Dates: 18 Jan 2009

Other great cruise holidays available through ecruising Asia Pacific include:

China, Vietnam & Thailand HK$13,499.00
14 nights on board Costa Allegra from Hong Kong to Singapore. Departing 21 Feb 2009
For sale until: 21 February 2009
Destinations: Asia
Cruise Line: Costa
Ship: Costa Allegra
Embarkation Port: Hong Kong, China
Duration: 14 nights
Departure Dates: 21 February 2009

ecruising Asia Pacific can be contacted for information about cruise holiday products here and world-wide by simply visiting

 www.ecruising.travel/hk

or phoning (852) 3711 3238.

Eden Rock – St Barths is unlike any other resort on the French island of St Barths - often referred to as the Saint Tropez of the Caribbean. Situated on a rock high above the ocean and surrounded by turquoise waters and white sand, Eden Rock – St Barths provides the ultimate in service and quality and offers a quiet haven for uninterrupted relaxation by guests, clients and friends.

Eden Rock – St Barths, boasts a wide range of accommodation, from individually designed diamond suites to the brand new Villa Rockstar (which launches in January 2009) and is an ultra luxe 6 bedroom beachside villa.

Designed for luxury living, Villa Rockstar will rival any villa in the Caribbean; with 16,000sqft spread over three floors, facilities will include a screening room, a private gym, a business office, use of a couple of house cars being a mini cooper and a Landrover, dining facilities for 12 people, a pool table and sports area, lawns for croquet, two pools and a fully equipped recording studio. Guests will also have a dedicated butler service to look after their every need.

The same goes for next door brand new Villa Nina which is available now and comprises about 6,000sqft of ultra luxury living and with just two suites and a private art gallery and a couple of pools - and much else besides…

Eden Rock – St Barths has an ongoing relationship with key figures in the music industry with the sound engineer partner for the Villa Rockstar recording studio being the market leading Oceanway, Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood which studio recorded the ‘Thriller’ album for Michael Jackson and very much else besides. Oceanway’s proprietor – Allen Sides – links the legendary work of Frank Sinatra with that of Paul McCartney…

At Eden Rock – St Barths music, art and food combine to be three creative sources joining perfect accommodation and friendly affirmative staff in making for a uniquely world-class holiday resort.

French cuisine is brought to a new level at the two Eden Rock restaurants ‘On the Rocks’ and ‘The Sand Bar’. On The Rocks has become a landmark destination offering first class service and perfectly executed cuisine in a glorious setting high above the coral reef and the Caribbean ocean beyond. Since opening, the restaurant has achieved a loyal following of guests and visitors and friends and celebrities. The menu interprets timeless French favorites and includes new ones of delicate flavour devised by Head Chef Jean-Claude Dufour. The Sand Bar’s lunchtime approach to food offers healthy cuisine made from the most beautifully fresh and well chosen ingredients. For instance most of the fish is flown in ice (not frozen) via Air France from Paris…

Janes Gallery and its art is another highlight and passion of Eden Rock – St Barths. Set on the beach next to the ocean Janes Gallery is the perfect relaxed place to exhibit art collections which range from young scholarship artists participating in the Eden Rock ‘Artist in Residence Program’ – to exhibits of some of the most successful artists in the world today. Guests too are invited to paint… or perhaps arrange lessons for their children who are able then to combine art and beach…

For St Barths frequent visitors and guests, Eden Rock also invites people to join its limited fractional ownership development - The Eden Rock Owners Society (EROS). Also, the society provides the opportunity to own part of one of five newly built one, two or three bedroom houses. Owners have the right to stay in their vacation home for four weeks a year for a period of 71 years, which affords them all the benefits of owning their own beachside property in St Barths without the hassles of day to day management – and at a fraction of the cost and commitment of buying a house in the hills on the island.

For further information please contact chloe@quintessentiallyestates.com

Martinique is offering several travel bargains for winter 2009.

 Travelers can take advantage of free night offers, special savings and discounts on air service. Club Med Buccaneer’s Creek’s Half Off Your Better Half promotion rewards couples, or any two people traveling together, with 50 percent savings for one member of the traveling party.

Eligible bookings must be made by Feb. 28 for travel between Feb. 14 and Oct. 31. A minimum seven-night stay is required, and blackout dates apply. For more information, call 888-WEB-CLUB or visit www.clubmed.us

La Batelière Hotel’s Pay 5-Stay 7 or Pay 10-Stay 13 allows travelers to opt for two free nights on seven-night stays, or three free nights on 13-night stays when selecting the four-star, 193-room La Batelière Hotel (www.hotel-bateliere.com) for winter 2009. Eligible bookings must be made by May 31 for travel between Jan. 6 and June 30.

This offer is available exclusively through travel agents and tour operators, and additional restrictions may apply.

For reservations and information, travel professionals are encouraged to contact Corinne Picaut, sales and promotions manager at La Batelière, via email at corinne.picaut@orange.fr  or call 011-331-426-39762.

American Eagle is offering round-trip flights from its hub in San Juan, Puerto Rico, starting at $298.

The new low rate represents a discount of 36 percent over previously published fares and is available exclusively through travel agents and tour operators subject to space availability. American Eagle operates four times weekly, offering connections with American Airlines flights from cities across the U.S.

 For more information, call 800-433-7300. The Martinique Promotion Bureau can be reached at 212-838-6887, email at info@martinique.org  or visit www.martinique.org

Marriott and Renaissance Caribbean & Mexico Resorts announced the Winter 2008 Partners in Paradise Award recipients: Richard Poitras, strategic planner and founder of Horizons.com, and Carrie Plato, Caribbean strategy and buying leader of the Mark Travel Corporation.

Poitras was recognized with the Meeting Planner Partner Award and Plato received the Travel Industry Partner Award. The highly esteemed Partners in Paradise Awards are presented to the most extraordinary meeting and travel industry partners, recognizing their overall contributions to Marriott and Renaissance Caribbean & Mexico Resorts.

“These two, dynamic professionals have been selected to receive Marriott’s top industry honor for displaying qualities that exemplify the ideal Marriott partner — organization, leadership, flexibility, creativity and enthusiasm,” said Steve Cook, area director of sales and marketing for Marriott and Renaissance Caribbean & Mexico Resorts.

Launched in 2006, the bi-annual Partners in Paradise Award program is a way of recognizing individuals whose contributions to Marriott and Renaissance Caribbean & Mexico Resorts properties go above and beyond the financial opportunities alone.

Twice a year, the sales team nominates one meeting planner and one travel industry partner to receive this prestigious award. Winners are not only featured on ParadiseByMarriott.com and in a newsletter that is distributed to travel and meeting trades, but they also receive a personal letter, an engraved plaque and a $500 American Express gift certificate.

MLT Vacations added three popular island destinations in the Caribbean through the company’s NWA WorldVacations and Continental Airlines Vacations brands. The tour operator began offering Antigua, Turks & Caicos, and St. Lucia vacation packages Dec. 18.

NWA WorldVacations will offer all three island getaways while Continental Airlines Vacations will offer the islands of Antigua and Turks & Caicos. Vacations package components will include round-trip air, accommodations at a Sandals or Beaches Resort, and ground transportation.

Rental car options and more lodging selections will be announced in the spring of 2009, and optional car rental. More accommodation options are coming in spring 2009.

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

NWA WorldVacations offers vacation packages via scheduled air service on Northwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines and other airline partners, with convenient connections from many U.S. and Canadian cities, to destinations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia, including luxury vacation packages and destination weddings and honeymoons.

Worry-Free Vacations offers charter vacation packages from several U.S. cities to destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean. Continental Airlines Vacations offers vacation packages via scheduled air service on Continental Airlines with convenient connections from many U.S. and Canadian cities, to destinations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia.

For more information, visit www.worldagentdirect.com

Air Canada has announced the re-introduction of the only non-stop scheduled service between Montréal and Fort-de-France, Martinique. The weekly service will be initially offered on Saturdays during the summer between July 4, 2009, and Aug. 29, 2009, and will recommence on a year-round service basis on Dec. 5, 2009. Air Canada’s Montréal-Fort-de-France non-stop service will be operated on Saturdays using 120-seat Airbus A319. For more information, visit www.aircanada.com

Wimco Villas is launching a dining card, available exclusively to its clients, that peels 10 percent off the cost of a meal at a growing list of island restaurants for guests booking a Wimco Villas vacation (villa or hotel) on St. Barts for travel anytime from Jan. 4 through Dec. 14.

Restaurants range from the beachside Nikki Beach café to Le Gaiac, the Relais & Chateaux centerpiece of Hotel Le Toiny; and from the traditional Wall House to the cutting edge cuisine of Tamarin. “Enjoying outstanding food in a relaxed unhurried setting is one of the main reasons our clients come to St. Barts,” said Stiles Bennet, Wimco Villas’ vice president of marketing and sales.

“Typically a couple eating out at a top-notch restaurant could spend $150 or more for a dinner. Based on five nights out this card represents a $75 savings — or a bottle of good champagne.” Another way to look at the savings, he says, is to note that it almost wipes out the 12 percent “service compris” tip that restaurants in France, and St Barts, automatically apply to a dinner bill.

For more information, visit www.wimco.com/caribbean/st-barthelemy/restaurants.aspx

Certified Vacations Group entered into a partnership with CaribbeanWeddings.com, the largest site on the web dedicated to destination weddings in the Caribbean, to launch a new CaribbeanWeddings.com brand offering complete travel and destination wedding planning and booking services to the Caribbean.

The partnership provides CaribbeanWeddings.com professional travel industry expertise to back up its web marketing prowess. Roberta Backus Turner, chairwoman and founder of CaribbeanWeddings.com, said, “We worked with our visitors this way for many years, but our call volume and email requests became so enormous that we needed to find an experienced travel partner. Certified’s 28-year track record of excellence in developing packaged leisure travel, combined with our wedding expertise makes a perfect marriage. We interviewed some excellent firms and found the right relationship with Certified Vacations.”

CaribbeanWeddings.com, with more than 1.3 million page views a year, claims to be the leading Internet site dedicated exclusively to the Caribbean wedding and honeymoon market. The Internet company is ranked number one in over 5,000 first page rankings on the major search engines and continues to establish itself as a major Internet player in the Caribbean. Destination weddings are not only popular but they continue to increase each year according to most industry research, and wedding, honeymoon and romance packages sales remain solid year-round, despite a down economy.

According to the most recent “American Wedding Study” conducted by Condé Nast Bridal Media, an estimated 2.3 million Americans got married in 2006, with approximately 16 percent of couples enjoying a destination wedding. This represents an increase of 400 percent since 1996. Destination weddings and honeymoons generate an estimated $5.4 billion in annual revenue for the Caribbean.

To better serve brides and grooms-to-be, Certified Vacations has established a dedicated Caribbean Weddings call center staffed with destination wedding reservations specialists.

CaribbeanWeddings.com was launched in 1999 and is the largest site on the web dedicated exclusively to providing information about destination weddings in the Caribbean.

Before entering into its arrangement with Certified, CaribbeanWeddings.com provided information about weddings and honeymoons in the Caribbean to its visitors and sent leads from those visitors to participating hotels. Now, its visitors will be able to contact Certified directly to handle all or any part of their travel, wedding and honeymoon needs. For reservations on CaribbeanWeddings.com, call 877-312-LOVE (5683).

For more information on Certified Vacations, visit www.certifiedvacations.com

Martinique’s reputation as a Caribbean destination for culinary travel has been reaffirmed by Caribbean World Magazine, which recently named the island Best Gourmet Island of the Year 2008.

The award was presented during the 14th Caribbean World Annual Awards, held recently during World Travel Market (WTM) in London. Muriel Wiltord, director Americas for the Martinique Promotion Bureau/CMT USA, commented on the award, saying, “Gastronomy is everything in Martinique; it is at the core of what makes Martinique a special place for special travelers.

This award is a credit to our wonderful chefs, restaurateurs, hoteliers and everyone that continues to put their hard work and passion into offering a standard of culinary excellence that is second to none.” Traditional French cuisine is widely available throughout the island, but what really sets Martinique apart is its Creole flair, a blend of African, Indian, European and Caribbean flavors.

The Caribbean World Annual Awards, now in its 14th year, is firmly established among Britain’s award ceremonies and has become an exclusive club within Caribbean tourism.

For more information, call 212-838-6887, email info@martinique.org  or visit www.martinique.org

The Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) has unveiled its new website, which is which is designed to streamline pertinent information to the organization’s hotel and affiliate members, while allowing for new capabilities such as an online membership directory, access to CHTA publications, and the ability to register online for conferences and events.

Through the website, members can access their profile in the CHTA membership directory at any time to update company profiles and records as well as employee contact information. The site also features CHTA manuals, publications, committee minutes and presentations.

The new website will provide information on conferences and events, as well as the ability to register online. Registrations processed online will receive immediate confirmation.

A new feature CHTA expects to have in place shortly is the ability for members to renew their membership dues online. Online purchases such as membership dues and conference registration will require credit card payment through PayPal, a secured credit card transaction company.

For more information, email marketing@caribbeanhotelandtourism.com  or visit www.caribbeanhotelandtourism.com