Jetsettersblog

MLT Vacations launched a Caribbean sale offering up to 10,000 bonus miles per person and reduced rates or additional amenities at select resorts throughout the Caribbean through the Delta Vacations and United Vacations brands. The sale is open for bookings through Feb. 18, for travel April 1 to Sept. 30.

MLT is promoting its Caribbean product in an effort to build on an impressive year in the Caribbean in 2011, when the company grew business in the Caribbean by 46 percent over the previous year.

MLT Vacations offers a variety of hotels, rental cars and activities in the Caribbean. MLT Vacations manages multiple vacation brands, including Delta Vacations, in partnership with Air France Holidays and Alitalia Vacations, United Vacations, and Worry-Free Vacations.

For more information, call 800-727-1111.

Travel Impressions has added new hotels, resorts and villas in the Dominican Republic, St. Bart’s, Barbados, the Grenadines, Jamaica and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, to its Caribbean product portfolio for 2012.

The added properties include Sanctuary at Cap Cana (Dominican Republic), a 176-suite, all-inclusive ocean front resort including five restaurants and bars, five pools, a spa and 18,000 square feet of event space;

Fishing Lodge at Cap Cana (Dominican Republic), located near the Caribbean’s largest inland marina providing sweeping views, designer furnishings and 299 villas;

Golden Bear Lodge at Cap Cana (Dominican Republic), a hotel with studios, one- or two-bedroom suites and two nearby golf courses;

Riu Palace Bavaro Hotel (Dominican Republic), featuring 610 guestrooms at the beach of Arena Gordon, with three swimming pools, two Jacuzzis, four conference rooms for groups of up to 500 people, a solarium-terrace, a gym, a steam bath, sauna and a spa;

Cobblers Cove (Barbados), a Relais & Chateaux property reminiscent of the English Country, with 38 one- and two-bedroom luxury suites, 10 two-story cottages with four suites each and the Great House featuring the Camelot and Colleton suites;

Ocean Two Resort & Residences (Barbados), a new, four-star, beach front resort located on Dover Beach on the south coast of Barbados, with 88 rooms in four room categories including hotel rooms, one-bedroom ocean front suites, two-bedroom ocean front suites and two-bedroom bay view suites;

Tamarind Beach Hotel & Yacht Club (Grenadines), an Italian managed hotel with 40 beachfront hideaways including eight suites and rooms with balconies overlooking the Caribbean Sea;

N Resort (Jamaica), a new, adults-only, all-nude, all-inclusive resort located on Jamaica’s north coast;

Hotel St. Barth Isle De France (St. Bart’s), a hotel on the beach with nine beach rooms, three junior beach suites and four new suites;

and The Palms at Pelican Cove (St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands), a hotel with 40 beach front guest rooms in two freestanding buildings each with its own balcony or patio.

In addition to the new hotel and resorts, Travel Impressions has added Club MoBay, a 10,000-square-foot lounge located at Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport (MBJ) in Jamaica.

Club MoBay provides a place for air travelers to unwind before departure. Access to the club offers Fast Track Access through security and immigration, complimentary non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages, complimentary snacks, free unlimited Wi-Fi Internet, business center, kids center, spa treatments and shower facilities. For reservations, call 800-284-0044. For more information, call 888-284-3786.

KINGSTON, Jamaica – The 2012 Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival – The Art of Music, set for January 26 to 28, has been lauded for its selected mix of current and more traditional offerings.

Putting together an all-star Jamaica lineup on the opening night of the festival is seen as significant as the securing of Canadian superstar Celine Deon, according to a prominent music writer.

Influential New York-based music writer, Patricia Meschino, who has covered all major Caribbean music festivals, credited Art of Music Productions (AMP) chairman Walter Elmore and his team for highlighting the indigenous music of Jamaica – past and present – during the festival’s opening on Thursday night (January 26).

“I am happy to see this move, linking the 50th anniversary of Jamaica’s Independence to the musical genius of Jamaica … it’s a nice idea and I look forward to see how it is presented,” said Meschino, the Caribbean correspondent for Billboard Magazine.

In honor of Jamaica’s 50th Anniversary of Independence, the opening night of the festival is dedicated to all the rich sounds that have shaped Jamaica’s music over the past 50 years, and so it will feature ska, rocksteady, dancehall and reggae, the island nation’s influential contributions to world music.

Set to perform on the opening night are Shaggy, Richie Stephens and Gentleman, John Holt, Yellow Man, Half Pint, Marcia Griffiths, Lloyd Parkes and We The People, George Nooks, Luciano, Mykal Rose, AJ Brown, Pluto Shervington, Etana, Chris Martin, Marcia Barrett (Boney M), Derrick Morgan, Assassin (Agent Sasco), and Byron Lee’s Dragonaires.

The award-winning Meschino, who covers all aspects of Caribbean music and entertainment for other outlets like Air Jamaica’s SkyWritings magazine, predicts Thursday’s lineup will inspire pride in Jamaicans both at home and abroad with hundreds of Jamaican-Americans returning for the festival.

“I think it will be nostalgic for the Diaspora to see how Jamaican music has evolved and set the standard for so many other genres,” she said, adding such a presentation was “a first” for the jazz festival.

Meschino, recently honored for journalism excellence at the Caribbean Media Exchange symposium in the United States Virgin Islands, admired Elmore’s securing of Celine Deon: “Celine is bigger than a Top 40 artiste … she is on a stratospheric level in a class by herself … and her booking says a lot about the work Walter Elmore has being doing throughout the Caribbean over the years,” she asserted.

Other artistes slated to perform at the festival include Cee-Lo Green, Nicole Henry, Heads of State (featuring Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill and Ralph Tresvant), Jully Black, Earl Klugh, The Temptations Review featuring Dennis Edwards, Destra, and Tessanne Chin and Tami Chynn.

The 2012 Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival – The Art of Music is supported in part by the Jamaica Tourist Board, Iberostar Hotels and Resorts, FLOW, RIU Hotels & Resorts, Half Moon – A RockResort, Hilton Rose Hall Resort & Spa, Sunset Resorts, CVM TV (official television partner), The Gleaner (official print partner), Scotiabank, Pure Country, Loyal Haylett Management Services, Delta Air Lines, Holiday Inn SunSpree Resort, Heineken, Johnny Walker and Smirnoff.

For further information, visit

www.jamaicajazzandblues.com 

About Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival – The Art of Music

Started in 1996 by Air Jamaica, in association with the Jamaica Tourist Board and several other business entities, Walter Elmore took over the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival in 2004. It has grown over the years and is now a favorite on the calendar not only of Jamaicans but people from all over the world. Attracting more than 25,000 patrons annually, the event has now been expanded to include the resort regions of Montego Bay and Ocho Rios.

Sandals Resorts is offering free vow renewal ceremonies with receptions to couples who book stays of six nights or more in any room category at any of the company’s Caribbean resorts. Ceremonies feature services of a personal consultant and a romantic “honeymoon” dinner the evening of the ceremony. Ceremonies include recorded musical accompaniment, a reception with chilled hors d’oeuvres and sparkling wine, a renewal of vows official and a personalized commemorative certificate.

Following the festivities, couples also receive a full breakfast in bed on the morning of their choice, a romantic in-room turn down service, a 5-by-7-inch “second honeymoon” photograph and a branded beach bag. For families, Sandals’ sister brand Beaches Resorts is also offering the free vow renewal promotion with stays of six nights or longer. For more information, call 877-SANDALS.

Sandals Resorts is offering a free night’s stay to travelers who book a minimum six-night, land-only or air-inclusive vacation at Sandals Grande Riviera by Jan. 12, 2012, for travel through Dec. 26, 2013. The package feature accommodations in an Ocean’s Edge Riviera Honeymoon beachfront one-bedroom suite, or an Ocean’s Edge Riviera beachfront one-bedroom suite. Each room category comes with butler service and deluxe amenities.

Guests can also receive a free night with a minimum seven-night stay in select villas, suites and rooms in resort’s three distinct areas: the Riviera Seaside, Riviera Great House and Riviera Villas. For more information, call 800-SANDALS.

Sandals Resorts is extending its $350 airfare credit offer for guests who book either a land-only or air-inclusive vacation at any Sandals Resort or Beaches Resort in the Caribbean.

Travelers who book a minimum six-night stay by Jan. 26, 2012, for travel between Aug. 10, 2012, and Jan. 31 2013, or to any Beaches Resort from Aug. 20, 2012, through Jan. 31, 2013, will receive an airfare credit of $350 per room.

Sandals is also offering a last-minute air credit offer under which travelers who book a minimum six-night, land-only or air-inclusive vacation at Sandals Grande Riviera by Jan. 16, 2012, will receive a $285 per-room airfare credit for travel through Aug. 9, 2012. For more information, call 800-SANDALS or 800-BEACHES.

Sandals Resorts and Beaches Resorts are offering guests the chance to rekindle their love by providing an exclusive and intimate Renewal of Vows ceremony free of charge*.

Couples who book a minimum six-night stay by 27 January 2012, for travel between 4 September 2012 and 10 November 2012, will have the opportunity to celebrate their marriage all over again at some of the most romantic places in the Caribbean.

Sandals Resorts’ and Beaches Resorts’ Renewal of Vows ceremonies are offered in a picturesque ceremony location dressed with a Beautiful Beginning wedding theme by Martha Stewart™ and include recorded musical accompaniment.

After receiving a renewal of vows certificate, the newly vowed husband and wife along with six guests can celebrate with a sparkling wine and chilled hors d’oeuvres reception.

The happy couple will then enjoy a second honeymoon dinner at a resort restaurant of their choice and a continental breakfast-in-bed the following morning.

The Renewal of Vows package also includes a personal consultant for the ceremony, a beautiful bouquet and boutonniere, a Renewal of Vows marriage officiate, two-tiered cake and one 5×7 second honeymoon photograph. Sandals Resorts and Beaches Resorts make it easy for couples to say “I do” all over again in paradise.

As with all Luxury Included® holidays, a stay at Sandals Resorts or Beaches Resorts offers more quality inclusions than any other resort company on the planet with superior accommodations, endless gourmet dining options, unlimited premium brand wine and spirits, nightly entertainment, watersports including snorkelling and scuba diving for certified divers and a myriad of other exclusive amenities.

For further information about the Renewal of Vows package, call 0800 742 742 or visit the banner below.

 To redeem this offer, use promotion code ROV12.

*Complimentary Renewal of Vows ceremonies are subject to minister fees, which vary by island:

Jamaica – $35
Bahamas – $70
St. Lucia – $80
Antigua – $100
Turks & Caicos – $200

Breezes Resorts & Spas is offering discounts of up to 55 percent off published rates to vacationers who book 2012 travel to one of the company’s six properties in Jamaica, the Bahamas, Curaçao and Brazil by Feb. 15.

Under Breezes’ “super inclusive” policy, accommodations, meals, drinks, land and water sports and entertainment are included, and tipping is not allowed. The offer applies to stays through Oct. 31, 2012. For more information, call 877-BREEZES.

Hedonism II is sponsoring a free nude wedding contest, offering participants the chance to star on national TV. Couples interested in exchanging vows in an “au natural” ceremony can apply online by Jan. 6. Up to 10 couples will be chosen to star in the cable television program and receive a complimentary dream wedding and four-night stay at Hedonism II in Negril, Jamaica (nudity will be blurred for television). Located on 22 acres at the northern end of Negril’s seven-mile beach, 280-room Hedonism II features beach or garden view rooms, including 12 suites equipped with private Jacuzzis and terraces.

The website Price of Travel, which already ranks over 110 cities around the world by travel costs, unveils its first study comparing prices of the 32 most popular islands and destinations in the Caribbean for 2012.

The Caribbean Islands Price Index for 2012 combines the best-available high-season airfare from New York City to each of the 32 destinations, with the average price of the cheapest well-rated 3-star hotels in high season, to reach an index price that puts all destinations in order from cheapest to most expensive.

With a combination of cheap flights and very reasonable 3-star hotel rates in high season, Cancun, Mexico comes out as cheapest, and is also the only mainland destination on the list.

Negril, Jamaica, comes in as the cheapest island destination, followed by the area around San Juan, Puerto Rico and Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Barbados ranks as 5th cheapest, based on surprisingly cheap flights and hotel rooms for an exotic and remote island.

The well-heeled won’t be surprised to find that Saint Barthélemy ranks as by far the most expensive of the 32 destinations, with Anguilla and Tortola, BVI as the priciest of the rest.

The Caribbean Island Index helps to reveal which islands and destinations are best for the budget traveler and which are the best-value for those looking for something a bit more exclusive.

The Index also includes notes about each destination as well as which nationalities and groups are most common there. European countries each tend to have strong preferences of some islands over others (often based on languages spoken there) so it’s also revealed where to go to meet each group plus which destinations are best for surfing or for diving or for shopping.