Jetsettersblog

Cruise West Extends Panama, Costa Rica Season

Cruise West announced two additional spring departures and six themed cruises to its 2008 and 2009 “Between Two Seas” itinerary.

Additionally, one enhanced and two new land tours are offered as add-ons. Guests may choose from two holiday cruises, two Pentax photography cruises or the option to travel in the company of a Panama Canal expert on two departures.

The nine-night “Between Two Seas” voyages sail on the 100-guest Pacific Explorer and visit the San Blas Islands and Portobelo and traverse the entire Panama Canal. Guests continue to Emberá Village in the Darién Jungle, Coiba National Park, Golfo Dulce, Caletas Beach and Manuel Antonio National Park. Costa Rican and Panamanian holiday activities and traditional cuisine complement the Dec. 20 departure.

Guests will ring in 2009 on the Dec. 29 New Year’s sailing with a New Year’s party including a midnight toast and late-night buffet. Guests on the two Pentax photography cruises, offered Dec. 2 and March 2, can attend onboard workshops with instruction by professional Pentax photographer Kerrick James.

A Panama Canal guru will share knowledge about the history and future expansion of the canal on the Dec. 11 and April 7 departures. The two new land tours include a two-night visit to Monteverde Cloud Forest or a four-night stay in Tortuguero National Park. Prices start at $3,799 per person, based on double occupancy.

Early-booking incentives of up to $175 per person are offered to those who pay in full by Sept. 5, 2008, for departures January through May 2009. Or, they can receive savings of $350 per person when booking the cruise and paying in full by March 27, 2009, for departures October through December 2009.

For more information, call 800-689-1783 or visit www.cruisewest.com

Lifetree Adventures Voluntourism Programs

Lifetree Adventures, a Christian tour operator based in Loveland, Colo., recently launched tours to meet the growing demand for Christian travel, and is the first of its kind to offer voluntourism specifically from a Christian approach.

Lifetree Adventures is a new travel option that’s part vacation and part Christian service, enabling Christian travelers to put faith into action while exploring the world. Every Lifetree Adventure has two key components:

adventure activities and Christian service projects — packaged into one trip. With tours operating in the fall of 2008, participants can discover exotic destinations while serving the needs of indigenous people through eight trips to four Latin American countries: Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru.

In 2009, Lifetree Adventures will offer 30 trips in 12 countries as well as the U.S.

Lifetree Adventures is a new division of Group Workcamps Foundation, a leading non-profit mission organization offering Christian service trips for youth and adults for over 30 years. Through Group Workcamps, more than 250,000 volunteers have provided more than seven million hours of volunteer service to projects in hundreds of U.S. and international locations.

For more information, call 800-747-2157 or visit www.lifetreeadventures.com

Future Vacations New Price Match Policy

Future Vacations launched a new Price Match policy. Under terms of the new policy that will match any competitor’s price on comparable vacation packages within three hours, ensuring that travelers always receive the best value for their vacation dollar.

Travel agents or consumers who book a Future Vacations package and find a lower price on a comparable package elsewhere can call Future Vacations’ new Price Match Hotline – 800-373-7801 – and speak directly to a Price Match Specialist for immediate service.

Comparable packages must feature the same airline, hotel, room category, travel dates and inclusions (e.g.: rental car, ground transfers, theme park/show tickets, etc.). For the fastest service, calls must be made during the following Price Match business hours: Monday to Saturday 9 am to 7 pm EST and Sunday 10 am to 4 pm EST.

Calls made outside of these hours will receive a return call the following business day. If Future Vacations is unable to match the price of a package, travelers will receive a $25 travel credit for future use.

The Price Match Policy is effective now and until further notice on all packages in the Future Vacations portfolio, which spans the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean, Central America, Hawaii, Mexico, Europe, South America, Africa and the Middle East.

For telephone reservations, call 800-456-2323.

TACA adds flights between Peru and Guatemala

TACA will operate a new route between its hub in Peru and Guatemala. This new direct flight between the two destinations will be operated with aircraft from the Airbus fleet.

Aerolineas may move its operations to San Pedro Sula, in El Salvador

The cancelation of international flights in the Toncontin airport would leave Tegucigalpa isolated, which would affect tourism. The airports of San Pedro Sula and Comalapa in El Salvador would benefit the most from the closure of Toncontin.

Travel Impressions Offers Free Golf, Spa Treatments

Travel Impressions is offering a special promotion for golf and spa aficionados with its Back Nine & Spa Time package available at participating hotels and resorts in Mexico, the Caribbean, Hawaii, Arizona, California, and Central and South America.

Clients who book four nights or longer at a participating resort, such as the Fiesta Americana Grand Los Cabos, receive amenities that may include (depending upon hotel selected): a free round of golf; free golf equipment rental; a complimentary massage; 50 percent off spa treatments; free use of spa facilities.

The promotion is offered in addition to standard packages which feature roundtrip airport and hotel transfers, hotel accommodations, hotel tax and service. Clients who book an all-inclusive property will also enjoy all meals, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, non-motorized watersports, daily activities and nightly entertainment.

For more information, call 800-284-0044/631-845-8000, or visit www.travelimpressions.com

Hurtigruten Seven North American Segment Options

Hurtigruten, formerly known as Norwegian Coastal Voyage, is offering seven segment departure options from St. John’s, New York, and Port Canaveral for North Americans who want to join its 67-day Longitudinal World Cruise.

The company’s 318-passenger Fram expedition ship travels the East Coast of Canada and the U.S. as it makes its way from above the Arctic Circle to Antarctica. Booking a New York or Port Canaveral segment by July 31 discounts a companion’s fare by 50percent, a savings of $4,424 to $18,650.

This offer is not valid for inside cabins or MG category suites. Guests can sail on a 13-day segment between St. John’s and Port Canaveral, departing Oct. 6. Segments departing New York Oct. 14 include a 22-day segment to Callao, Peru; a 29-day segment to Valparaiso, Chile; and a 46-day segment to Ushuaia, Argentina. From Port Canaveral, segments depart Oct. 18 on 18-, 25- and 42-day segments to the same ports as those departing New York.

Fares range from $3,849 to $22,049 per person, double, for cabins and from $8,649 to $45,999 for suites. Rates include in-depth exploration lectures, expedition guides and all meals onboard.

The World Cruise begins in Reykjavik, Iceland, Sept. 23 and sails to the U.K., Canada, the U.S., Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama (including a Panama Canal crossing), Ecuador, Peru and Chile. Additional North American ports of call include Sailor’s Island, Sydney and Halifax in Canada and Bar Harbor, Gloucester, Martha’s Vineyard, Newport, Charleston and Key West in the U.S.

Call 800-323-7436 or visit www.hurtigruten.us

Celebrity adds Panama Canal Cruises

Celebrity Cruises will offer more variety for sailings through the Panama Canal’s Gatun Locks.

The line’s 2009-10 Panama Canal sailings are open for sale. In its late 2009, early 2010 season, Celebrity will offer 18 open-jaw sailings through the canal, more than it has offered during any previous single season. Highlights include a range of 13- to 16-night cruises, a Panama Canal cruise from Seattle, and five homeports from which the canal cruises will depart — Fort Lauderdale, Miami, San Diego, Seattle and Valparaiso, Chile. Celebrity Infinity will sail 10 open-jaw Panama Canal voyages between September 2009 and April 2010.

After a 16-night eastbound canal voyage from Seattle to Fort Lauderdale, it will sail a series of 13- and 14-night voyages between San Diego and Fort Lauderdale before a 15-night canal voyage from Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco.

Celebrity Infinity also will operate a 15-night voyage from Fort Lauderdale to Valparaiso on Dec. 5, 2009, and a 14-night voyage from Valparaiso to Fort Lauderdale on March 14, 2010; these two sailings will open for sale in a few weeks. From November 2009 through May 2010, Celebrity Constellation will alternate 13- and 14-night Panama Canal sailings between Miami and San Diego.

Celebrity is offering a 14-night canal voyage from Fort Lauderdale to San Diego on Celebrity Mercury in April 2009. Celebrity Mercury also will sail a 14-night eastbound Panama Canal in October 2009, from San Diego to San Juan. Celebrity Cruises’ 2009-10 Panama Canal sailings calls at ports in countries such as Aruba, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico.

Mayan Cuisine and Culture with Vagabond Gourmet

France and Italy are typical destinations for culinary trips. But for an interesting change of pace, Vagabond Gourmet offers Chocolate Treats and Yucatan Eats.

This adventure centers at the La Villa Merida, a charming seven-room 19th century estate in the heart of Yucatan’s Merida for seven nights. Yucatecan dining has been called the first fusion cuisine, as it blends ancient Mayan and Spanish techniques with a touch of French and Caribbean influence.

Guests will spend two days learning about chocolate and spices at the renowned Los Dos cooking school, as well as cooking at the hacienda’s kitchen and enjoying excursions to the Mayan areas of Puuc and Uxmal.

Along the way, there will be opportunities to meet Mayan women who demonstrate the art of making tortillas and the famous sopa de lima, enjoy a meal in a cocina economica and savor the world’s best Poc Chuc at El Principe in Mani.

This trip is offered Jan.14-21, 2009 for $3350 per person, double. The company also offers an itinerary on Oct 30-Nov. 10 that centers in Oaxaca in the Yucatan and combines culinary experiences with Day of the Dead festivities.

http://www.vagabondgourmet.com

Saga ship celebrates Darwin’s birth

Saga ship Spirit of Adventure is to mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth with a cruise around central and southern America next year.

The 352-passenger ship will visit the Galapagos Islands, Costa Rica and the Amazon Rainforest during its 2009 cruise schedule.

These are habitats made famous by Britain’s greatest naturalist who was born in 1809.

After exploring Antarctica, the High Andes and Galapagos, the itinerary will follow the footsteps of Darwin during his research on the diverse Galapagos Islands, which helped formulate his theory of evolution.

Departing on February 21 and starting in Chile, Spirit of Adventure sails north to Peru and Ecuador before passengers join a three-night cruise aboard MV Galapagos Explorer II – to visit the Charles Darwin Research Centre.

Prices start from £4,354 per person for the 18 might adventure.

Air Europa new Latin American Flights

Spanish airline Air Europa has opened a UK sales office to support new scheduled services from Gatwick.

The carrier is to run double daily flights to Madrid, with connections onto an expanding long haul network to South and Central America, and the Caribbean.

Air Europa is already well known in the UK market for its European charter services and is expanding its long haul scheduled service network.

Destinations available this summer include Buenos Aires, Salvador De Bahia, Caracas, Santo Domingo, Punto Cana, Cancun and Havana.

Tickets are also available on the connecting flights between Gatwick and Madrid which are operated on an Air Comet Airbus 320.

The scheduled departure times from Gatwick are 10.10 and 17.40 each day of the week.

Air Europa head of international sales María del Mar Ayudarte, said: “The UK market to Latin America is booming and the specialist UK tour operators here are amongst the best in the world.

“Air Europa is well known as a holiday airline to the Mediterranean and our challenge is to make it equally well known as the best way to Latin America, We believe we can do this by working closely with the travel trade here in the UK.”