Jetsettersblog

Rail Europe, a distributor of European rail products in North America, announced the launch of Trenitalia’s new Milan to Rome high-speed rail link. The new line shaves an hour off the route, connecting Italy’s political and financial capitals in 3 hours and 30 minutes. The new route establishes Milan as Italy’s main point of connection with Europe’s high-speed larger rail network for the benefit of business and leisure travelers alike. Milan is currently served by Artesia trains from Paris, Cisalpino from Basel, Bern and Geneva, Riviera from Nice and Elipsos overnight trains from Barcelona.

Trenitalia’s ETR500 AV Red Arrow Train, which will service the new route and will be available for reservations on www.agent.raileurope.com in January, was designed by Italian automotive designer, Giorgetto Giugiaro. Giugiaro was recently named Automotive Designer of the Century for his achievements in designing for Audi, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Maserati, Volkswagen and others. The Red Arrow reaches a maximum speed of 186 miles per hour, offering rail travelers in Italy an equivalent level of speed, service and convenience as other European countries.
Passengers can order from a menu of breakfast, lunch and dinner selections from the restaurant car, as well as snacks and beverages from the bar car. TrenItalia’s InterCity Plus and Eurostar Italia trains, offer speedy connections between Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, Bologna and Naples and convenient access to many smaller Italian towns. Rail Europe offers a full range of TrenItalia tickets that can be tailored toward each traveler’s individual needs.

To book any of Rail Europe’s wide range of economical railpasses and point-to-point tickets on trains throughout Europe, call 888-382-7245 or visit Rail Europe’s website at the banner at the right.

Windstar Cruises is offering family rates on summer European sailings aboard Wind Surf.

Families who book one full-fare stateroom on sailings departing June 7 through Aug. 30 will receive a second stateroom for family members on the same sailing at 50 percent off per person. Wind Surf’s seven-day summer Europe itineraries include Venice roundtrips, between Venice and Rome, between Rome and Nice, from Rome to Barcelona and from Barcelona to Nice. European cruise rates start at $2,749 per person, double occupancy. Space is limited. Families are considered two adults and two children between 2 and 18 years of age. Rates are capacity controlled and can be removed at any time. Taxes are additional.

The family offer expires March 31. For more information, call 800-258-7245 or visit www.windstarcruises.com

Auto Europe has announced details of a new partnership with Europe’s largest golf travel company, Golfbreaks.com. Auto Europe will now be a sole supplier of rented vehicles for www.Golfbreaks.com  offered via its call centre and website booking system. Auto Europe will be providing Golfbreaks.com with a system designed specifically to help its call centre process car hire requests simply and quickly. Golfbreaks.com was formed in 1998 to make booking golf breaks as simple and straight-forward as possible. It offers a range of golfing breaks and holidays across the world.

For more information, visit www.golfbreaks.com or www.auto-europe.com

 Topdeck’s program for 2009/10 has been unveiled, with the new season’s trips including even more activities and Earlybird fares offering a 10% discount on all trips paid for before December 31, 2008.

With 35 years experience in creating memorable holidays to Europe, Egypt and Africa for 18-30 something travellers, Topdeck goes beyond the iconic sites to experience local cultures and gives travellers free time to explore destinations their way.

New for 2009 is the 36 day European Pioneer EuroClub trip. Offering excellent value-for-money, this five week trip covers 18 countries, visiting the French Riviera, Greek Islands, Croatian Coast, Prague as well as the must-see capitals of Europe. Activities and sightseeing tours of all cities are included.

Also new for 2009 is the Britain + Ireland (from $2530), a 15 day adventure through the UK and Ireland, visiting the capitals of London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Belfast as well as lively, historic towns such as York and Galway. Passengers can join for particular sectors or for the whole trip.
“We’re constantly upgrading our trips to include more activities within the price and expanding our itineraries. For 2009 we’ve introduced wine tasting and dinner at a Chianti vineyard outside of Florence, which we’re sure will be popular,” said James Nathan, Managing Director, Topdeck.

Topdeck offers three accommodation styles. EuroHotel trips stay at charming hotels in great locations; EuroClub trips use multi-share accommodation in cabins, castles, yachts and hostels for budget conscious travellers and EuroCamping trips stay at Europe’s best campsites (many with nightclubs and swimming pools!) with roomy twin-share dome tents and air mattresses.

Topdeck’s 36 day European Pioneer EuroClub trip

Visits: Starts in London and travels through France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Greece, Albania, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and back to London.
Cost: From $4395, plus food fund $1030 per person.

Includes: Modern coach transport, accommodation, many meals, sightseeing tours of cities, knowledgeable guide.

Stays at: Six free hotel upgrades, a variety of hostels, bungalows, cabins and one overnight ferry.
Highlights: Sightseeing tours of all cities, fun in the sun in Mykonos, beautiful Belgrade, Berlin night life, celebrity spotting on French Riviera, vaporetto on Venice canals, cycling tour of Amsterdam.
Contact: Topdeck on 1800 077 250 or www.topdeck.travel

To request a new Topdeck 2009/10 brochure to make a reservation, please contact Topdeck on
1300 886 332. For more information on Topdeck’s extensive range of European holiday options, visit www.topdeck.travel

The Eurail Group, owner of the Eurail Passes for European rail travel, has announced further expansions to the product range. From Jan. 1, the Czech Republic will be included in the Eurail Global Pass, as well as becoming a Eurail Select Pass member.

In addition, Bulgaria has been added to the range of One Country Passes on offer. The Eurail Global Pass, introduced simply as the “Eurailpass” in 1959, has seen many extensions over the years increasing from the original 13 countries to the 20 countries available today, following the inclusion of Croatia and Slovenia at the beginning of this year. The Czech Republic will therefore become the 21st member of this pass, giving customers more freedom and value for money. With direct borders to Eurail Select Pass members Germany and Austria, the number of adjoining three, four and five country combinations to choose from has increased drastically, maximizing the appeal of the Select Pass.

The Czech Republic is a favored destination for many overseas travelers; the country receives over 6.5 million visitors annually. The dense railway structure, which is continuously being modernized, links the capital, Prague, to many interesting cities and villages within the country, as well as having excellent international connections. The capital cities of both Vienna and Berlin can be reached in less than five hours by direct train.

The Eurail Group offers a wide range of passes from single country options to the Eurail Global Pass, valid, from 2009, in 21 countries.

MSC Cruises is offering a Balcony Blowout special for European and Mediterranean sailings, with savings of up to 60 percent on balcony staterooms. Balcony Blowout rates start at $999 per person, double, for a balcony stateroom on a seven-night cruise.

The special rates are available for new bookings made by Nov. 30, 2008, while space lasts on select sailings of the MSC Poesia’s Eastern Mediterranean roundtrip from Venice, the MSC Orchestra’s Baltic or Norwegian Fjords roundtrip from Copenhagen, the MSC Splendida’s Western Mediterranean roundtrip from Barcelona, and the MSC Fantasia’s Western Mediterranean roundtrip from Genoa.

For more information, call 800-666-9333

or visit www.msccruisesusa.com .

 Skyscanner.net, Europe’s most popular flight search engine, has just launched the Skyscanner Maps Tool API , the first in a new series of free tools that allows third party websites to integrate Skyscanner flight functionality into their own sites.

The Skyscanner Maps Tool API is a Flash travel map that webmasters can easily embed on their own sites to display Skyscanner flight route information and is free to download from www.Skyscanner.net.

Barry Smith, Skyscanner Director of Business Development said:

“The Maps Tool API has been developed in response to the huge demand we’re getting from businesses who want a way to integrate Skyscanner’s search functionality into their websites.

“Much of that demand is coming from businesses in the travel sector, such as resorts and hotels, tourism organisations and airports, but the Skyscanner Maps API is a powerful marketing tool for any business that depends upon people travelling to or from them. The fact is that if you don’t make it easy for people to find out how to do that, they’ll go somewhere else.”

The tool is fully configurable, allowing webmasters to display a fixed departure point, fixed destination point, fixed departure and destination, or an ‘anywhere to anywhere’ open search. Webmasters can also select their preferred language from a choice of 20, including Spanish, Japanese and Russian.

The new Maps Tool API is the first in the series of new online travel tools that can be integrated into third party sites.

To download the Skyscanner Maps Tool API visit: Skyscanner Maps Tool API.

About Skyscanner

Skyscanner is the most powerful and flexible flight search engine in Europe, which provides instant online price comparisons on over 300,000 flights and over 600 airlines. With Skyscanner, users can browse without having to enter specific dates, departures or even destinations. The site is available in 20 different languages including: Russian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Polish and German. Skyscanner fans can join the Skyscanner Facebook Page to view Skyscanner’s photo albums and interact with other travellers.

General Tours World Traveler will include a “Be Our Guest” $100 benefit on all European river cruises aboard the ships of Peter Deilmann, which can be used for wine with dinner, drinks in the lounge, a shipboard spa treatment, or for extra sightseeing beyond the included daily shore excursions.

General’s small ship cruises offer all-inclusive vacations worldwide, with meals, sightseeing, and port charges all included in one low price. In addition, General Tours World Traveler has guaranteed the pricing for all of its 2009 European river cruises with Peter Deilmann, with no fuel surcharges and no currency adjustments.

The company’s 2009 European cruise collection includes the Seine, Rhône, Rhine, Elbe, Danube, and Oder Rivers. Programs range from eight-day cruises aboard the continent’s finest river ships to unique 13-day cruise and tours that combine a luxury Deilmann cruise with five-star hotel stays and in-depth sightseeing, either privately guided or in small groups of never more than 20 guests.

 Prices start at $1,869 per person. General Tours is an AARP Travel Partner and AARP Members enjoy $140 per person savings on all European river cruise vacations.

 For information and brochures, call 800-221-2216 or visit www.GeneralTours.com

Building on the success of its initial venture into Eastern Europe last year, CIE Tours International is offering a full program of escorted vacations in Eastern Europe as part of its 2009 repertoire. Destinations include Austria, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Russia, Baltic Republics, Croatia and Slovenia.

A sample of the tours is featured in CIE Tours’ largest-ever vacation program — Ireland & Britain with Italy and Eastern Europe 2009, a 108-page brochure. CIE Tours also plans to produce an additional 44-page brochure concentrating solely on vacations in Italy and Eastern Europe for 2009.

Leading the list for Eastern Europe is Prague, Vienna and Budapest, an 11-day/9-night/12-meal vacation using first-class hotels. Departures are on selected Thursdays, March 19 through Oct. 29, with land-only prices starting at $2,250.

The package starts in Prague and ends in Budapest, with Vienna in the center, providing relaxing three-night stays in each city.

Activities aim to impart the ambiance and cultural highlights of each city, such as visits to landmark palaces and castles, a Strauss and Mozart concert in Vienna, an opera performance and a folklore show in Prague, a walk around Prague’s Old Town, and dinner at a typical csarda restaurant in Budapest.

The price includes first-class hotel accommodations with private bath for nine nights; nine buffet breakfasts and three dinners;

 entertainment and sightseeing including admissions to Royal Castle of Hradcany, St. Vitus Cathedral, Hofburg Palace, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Kunsthistorische Museum, Fisherman’s Bastion and Matthias Church; sightseeing by luxury motorcoach with professional tour director; all local taxes, hotel service charges and porterage; deluxe flight bag, ticket wallet, luggage tags and strap.

 For more information, call 800-CIE-TOUR or visit www.cietours.com

The Eurail Group is bringing out several special edition extended rail passes, offering free travel days good for travel throughout Europe in the spring. With fewer crowds, lower airfares and more availability in hotels, spring is a pleasant time to travel to Europe. Eurail is launching a special off-peak promotion, offering free travel days on two of its classic products: the Eurail Select Pass and the Eurail Global Pass.

The Eurail Select Pass allows customers to choose three or more adjoining countries in which to travel, enabling a practically tailor-made rail pass. For those wishing to cover more ground, a Eurail Global Pass will give travelers access to 21 participating countries from January 2009. Travelers can plan the itinerary to meet their particular travel needs.

Customers buying a 15- or 21-day Eurail Global Pass will instead receive 21 days or one month, respectively. The Eurail Select Pass 3 Countries, valid for six or eight days within two months, now comes with an additional two travel days. These promotional passes went on sale worldwide (outside of Europe) on Oct. 1. To be eligible for the additional travel days, passes must be purchased before the end of November. Travel can start from March 1 and must be completed by May 31.

All Eurail Passes are available from Eurail’s network of authorized Sales Agents worldwide: ACP Rail International (www.eurail-acprail.com ; Eurail (www.Eurail.com)  Flight Centre (www.flightcentre.com) ; www.OctopusTravel.com  Rail Europe (North America: www.raileurope.com  rest of the world: www.raileurope.fr), and STA Travel (www.statravel.com)