Jetsettersblog

Windstar to sail from Venice

Luxury yacht cruise operator Windstar is to run fly-cruises from Venice next summer as part of deployment plans for 2009-2010.

Return sailings from the Italian city will be run by each of the company’s three vessels, 312-passenger Wind Surf and 148-passenger Wind Star and Wind Spirit.

The voyages will take in destinations in Croatia such as Rovinj, Split and Dubrovnik.

New ports to feature in the line’s new Voyage Planner include L’lle Rousse in France and Ischia in Italy.

Mediterranean departures next summer will run from Barcelona, Lisbon, Nice and Rome (Civitavecchia) in addition to Venice. Itineraries of between six and eight nights have been scheduled.

Greek island fly-cruises on Wind Star lead-in at £2,279 per person for seven nights between Athens and Istanbul departing the UK on July 9, 2009.

Wind Surf will operate seven-night Caribbean sailings from Barbados and Wind Spirit from St Thomas this winter. Wind Star winter itineraries cover the Panama Canal, Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

The company has also re-established its Signature Collection Series featuring guest lecturers on selected cruises next year covering subjects such as wine, art, food and sports.

Tripwolf Free Guides to Europe

Tripwolf.com, a social travel guide that specializes in Europe but also offers content about other pats of the world, is targeting the U.S. market. It combines professional editorial content with user-generated content from travelers worldwide. Tripwolf is backed by MairDumont, Europe’s largest publisher of travel guides, including Baedeker, Dumont and Marco Polo. Through collaboration with tripwolf, MairDumont has put all of its content - covering more than 200,000 destinations and points of interest - online for free.

For more information, visit www.tripwolf.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.

Exotic Mediterranean with Ya’lla Tours

Ya’lla Tours USA, Inc., is a Portland base tour company operated by President and Owner Ronen Paldi who took his travel industry expertise and moved from Israel to Melbourne Australia where he initially started the company in 1990.

Ya’lla Tours USA, Inc., is a Portland base tour company operated by President and Owner Ronen Paldi who took his travel industry expertise and moved from Israel to Melbourne Australia where he initially started the company in 1990. He then moved to Portland, OR in 1993 and established Ya’lla Tours USA.

Ya’lla Tours offers travel services to six countries of the exotic Mediterranean including Egypt, Morocco, Israel, Turkey, Jordan, and Greece. The company prides their services on welcoming every traveler to their home, the exotic Mediterranean, where each one of their visitors is welcome and treated as their personal guest and they do not spare any effort or expense when it comes to providing for the experience of a life-time. In 2002 they also added Cuba as a new destination as they were approved by the US Treasury as one of the few travel entities to offer legal travel to Cuba.

Ronen Paldi, who started out his business in Israel as a licensed tour guide offering tours to more than 22,000 English and Spanish speaking Pilgrims and tourists explains what attracted him to the travel business and stated, “I always had a great passion for travel and to share my knowledge and experience of it, as well as my ability to “tell a story”. What I did as a tour guide, and my current position as the owner of Ya’lla Tours, is a real privilege. I am able to be a witness to a life changing experience for people, and I’m very proud to be able to provide that experience”.

The company believes in quality travel and hopes to make a difference in the market by competing in quality and not in price and being innovative in creating new ideas and new destinations like Cuba (Ya’lla is the ONLY tour company in the USA that has a license from the US Treasury to sell legal travel to Cuba). Saying “yes” is also a part of the experience because while the tours are not the cheapest, the company prize themselves on maintaining the highest standard of service and quality which reflects in their prices.

Ya’lla Tours is also looking forward to accomplishing some of their corporate goals including enhancing their programs and getting more segments of the population expose to their tours.

To learn more about Ya’lla Tours USA including current specials, please visit their website at;
http://www.yallatours.com

Discover History In Rhodes

Beyond the sun, sea and sand, the Greek island of Rhodes is steeped in thousands of years of heritage and legend. Next year marks 700 years since the founding of Rhodes Medieval Town, just one of the historical treasures that can be explored on the island.

2009 will also mark 250 years since the ruins of Kamiros were discovered in the west of the island.

Kamiros was once the third most important city in Rhodes and remains one of the best-preserved classical archaeological sites in Greece. The city was built amphitheatrically on a hill with an acropolis at its highest point and nowadays the extensive ruins are open to visitors. Amongst them can be found the foundations of the temple of Athena Polias (circa third century BC); a large cistern reservoir capable of supplying 400 families (circa sixth century BC); a stoa (portico) measuring 200 metres (circa third century BC); and the remains of private houses, built around courtyards.

On the opposite coast of Rhodes, the city of Lindos flourished in the same period as Kamiros, but has remained inhabited continuously for around 3,000 years. Lindos Acropolis - which is dominated by the massive temple of Athena Lindia, dating back to around 300 BC - is another of Rhodes’ most interesting historical sites. It sits on a hill above the medieval town of Lindos, which is well-known for its white-washed buildings and narrow cobbled streets.

The most famous ancient monument in Rhodes is, unfortunately, untraceable today, although it remains a key emblem of the island.

The Colossus of Rhodes was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – a giant statue of the Greek god Helios that was said to stand over 30 metres tall at Mandraki Harbour.

Legend dictates that the Colossus was destroyed by an earthquake in 226 BC and it was recorded by Pliny the Elder that its broken remains lay where they fell for centuries afterwards.

Visitors to Mandraki Harbour will today find two statues of Rhodian deer in the location the Colossus was said to have stood.

Mandraki Harbour lies just outside the fortified walls of Rhodes Old Town, the medieval city which was founded by the Knights of St John in 1309. The city is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest inhabited medieval town in Europe. Attractions in Rhodes Old Town include the Street of the Knights, the most important and imposing avenue of the town that includes the former residencies of the various nationalities (“tongues”) of the Order of the Knights of St John.

The Street of the Knights leads up to the Grand Master’s Palace, a strong fortress and former headquarters of the leader of the Knights. The Palace today serves as a museum containing important archaeological finds from ancient and modern Rhodes.

To find about more about the historical attractions of Rhodes, see

www.rodosisland.gr

Key Tours Upgrades Shore Excursion Experience

Key Tours is offering private shore excursions and pre- and post-cruise packages.

Keys Tours private shore excursions include a wide variety of options in many ports starting at $39 per person for Izmir City Tours for a group of four to nine people. Listed below are some of the destinations and shore excursion sites: Italy, including Civitavecchia, Naples, (Pompeii), Livorno, Genoa, Venice, Palermo, Catania, Tuscany;

Turkey, including Istanbul, Kusadaci, Izmir, Ephesus; Greece, including Piraeus, Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Crete and Delphi; Spain, including Barcelona, Valencia and Malaga; Croatia, including Dubrovnik, Split; Portugal, including Lisbon; France, including Nice, Monaco, Marseille; Morocco, including Casabanca.

Many other ports with shore excursions are available on request. All shore excursions are customized for the agent’s clients and including groups and families. To kick off the program Key Tours is offering a free half-day shore excursion for groups of 10 or more who book a full day Istanbul shore excursion. Key Tours Pre- and Post-Cruise packages offer you a Taste of… a city from $269 per person Itineraries are tailored to the clients needs and can include every detail and personal choices of sightseeing and activities.

Sample Port Packages include: Taste of Barcelona from $559; Taste of Rome from $569; Taste of Venice from $789; Taste of Athens from $479; and Taste of Istanbul from $269.

Rates are per person based on double occupancy. All packages include: three nights Superior Tourist/Traditonal hotel accommodation; Hotel taxes and service fees; breakfast daily; private arrival and departure transfers; half-day sightseeing tour; highlight dinner at a hand picked local restaurant. Key Tours has been serving for 16 years serving travel agents and offers guaranteed departures, value added approach to custom vacations; custom, flexible itineraries; local experts in all destinations; bulk airfares in coach and business class and travel protection, all monies are held in escrow.

For more information and reservations, call 800-576-1784 or visit www.keytours.com

Blue Water Launches The Desktop Cruise

Now everyone can plan their cruise and explore cruise ports from a computer screen using a new online program from Blue Water Holidays.

The online cruise and boating specialist has created a webpage where anyone can go, select the cruise ports they wish to visit, then click to generate a Google Earth virtual cruise travelling between the ports. “Viewers can pause and zoom in to explore each port, then continue their virtual cruise” says Barry Peters, Blue Water Holidays Managing Director. “This allows everyone to see where the cruise port is in relation to nearby towns, and even to see where the nearest airport is in relation to the cruise terminals”.

Technically known as a ‘mash-up’, the Blue Water Desktop Cruise covers ports worldwide, and includes links to port reviews written by visitors and other sources. “We feel this is an extra aid to help people choose where to go for their cruise – destinations are now becoming the main factor in cruise choices” added Barry Peters.

Blue Water has added the Desktop Cruise to its mainstream cruise website at www.cruisesonline.co.uk . A modified version is also available on its Europe river cruise website at www.cruisingholidays.co.uk which shows a Google Earth view of the towns and cities visited on over 60 cruises on rivers such as the Rhine and Danube.

Web Links

Ocean Desktop Cruises:
http://www.cruisesonline.co.uk/desktop-cruise.asp

Europe River Desktop Cruises:
http://www.cruisingholidays.co.uk/river-cruise-search.asp

MSC Cruises Credits on 2009 Europe Sailings

MSC Cruises is offering shipboard credits to those who book 2009 Europe sailings by July 31. The amount of the shipboard credit will be determined by the type of stateroom booked. An interior stateroom booking will lead to a $25 shipboard credit per person for a maximum of $50 per stateroom.

Ocean-view staterooms include $50 shipboard credit per person for a maximum $100 per stateroom. Balcony staterooms net a $100 shipboard credit per person for a maximum $200 per stateroom).

Fares for the line’s 2009 Mediterranean and Northern Europe itineraries begin at $799 per person, double occupancy, for a seven-night cruise. Children under the age of 17 sail free on all sailings when sharing a stateroom with two full-fare-paying adults, and guests need only place a deposit of $100 per person.

The company’s new MSC Fantasia will debut in December, followed in June 2009 by sister ship MSC Splendida. They will offer an exclusive VIP area of 99 suites (up to 700 square feet), plus a bar, solarium, two Jacuzzis, a pool with sky dome, and butler service. After its December christening in Naples, MSC Fantasia will sail two eight-night roundtrips from Genoa: the Dec. 20 sailing calls at Rhodes, Alexandria, Messina and Naples, while the Dec. 28 itinerary visits Barcelona, Lisbon, Malaga and Civitavecchia. The ship will then sail 11-night Western Mediterranean and Canary Islands roundtrips from Genoa that call in Barcelona, Funchal, Tenerife, Arrecife, Malaga and Civitavecchia through March 1, when it will begin seven-night “Mediterranean Fantasy” roundtrips from Barcelona to Marseille, Genoa, Naples, Palermo, La Goulette, and Palma.

MSC Splendida will begin its inaugural season June 29, 2009, sailing “The Splendid Mediterranean,” roundtrip seven-night Western Mediterranean itineraries from Barcelona through November.

MSC Poesia, which debuted in spring 2008, will spend the winter sailing alternating 11-night “Eastern Mediterranean and Egypt” itineraries with Western Mediterranean and Canary Islands itineraries roundtrip from Genoa. In April, it will begin a series of seven-night “Turkish Treasure and Croatian Coasts” Eastern Mediterranean itineraries from Venice.

The MSC Musica will operate seven-night “Greek Islands in the Sun” cruises from Venice April through October. MSC Sinfonia offers seven-night “Sparking Rivieras” Western Mediterranean itineraries from Livorno, from late April through October. MSC Opera will operate seven-night “Jewels of the Adriatic” roundtrips from Trieste in fall 2009.

MSC Orchestra will offer eight-night “Iberian Discovery” cruises from Barcelona in fall 2009, while MSC Lirica is set for seven-night “Mediterranean Marvels” roundtrip from Civitavecchia (Rome) in fall 2009.

MSC Cruises also will have three ships in Northern Europe in 2009. MSC Lirica will offer 11-night “Treasures of the Russian Czars,” “Fairytale Towns and Towering Fjords” and “Voyage to the Top of the World” itineraries from Dover May through August. MSC Opera will alternate 11-night “Czarist Russia Revealed” and “Land of the Midnight Sun” from Copenhagen May-June; alternating seven-night “Baltic Beauty and Russian Treasures” and “Route of the Vikings” from Copenhagen July-August. MSC Orchestra will alternate seven-night “Baltic Castles and Russian Palaces” and “Fascinating Fjordlands” from Copenhagen May-September.

MSC Cruises offers alternate departure ports, such as Bari, Valencia, Kiel and Amsterdam, on many itineraries. For more information, visit www.msccruisesusa.com.

FLOTILLA SAILING IN THE GREEK IONIAN SEA

TUITION FOR NOVICES

Departures 22 June from Gatwick: £459pppw

Join a social flotilla cruising the Greek Ionian islands with Sunvil Sailing departing Sunday 22 June from London Gatwick priced at £459 for one week or £729 for a fortnight with optional tuition for beginners. The price includes return flights from Gatwick, transfers and live aboard accommodation.

Beginners, or those with limited sailing experience, will literally learn the ropes under the watchful eye of a qualified instructor leading to a competent crew or day skipper certificate, dependent on their ability. Experienced solo travellers, or couples, can share-a-yacht with other sailors. After a day cruising around the islands, all the boats moor up in port together for a social evening ashore.

The live-aboard accommodation with or without tuition is based on two sharing a cabin and there is a contribution towards an onboard kitty for yacht damage waiver, fuel, a souvenir chart and other items including some meals and refreshments on board for those on a learn-to-sail yacht.

For further details call Sunvil Sailing on Tel: 020 8758 4780.

Email sailing@sunvil.co.uk

 or log onto www.sunvilsailing.co.uk

Silversea Resident Artist on Prince Albert II

Silversea Expeditions kicked off its new Resident Artist and Photographer Program aboard Prince Albert II’s inaugural sailing from London to Tromso, featuring Sharon K. Schafer as its first artist-in-residence.

An award-winning designer, Schafer’s background also includes wildlife biologist, naturalist, photographer and writer. As a self-employed artist, she combines her love of nature and art as she sketches and photographs the polar expedition.

Camille Seaman has been selected as the resident photographer for the following series of expeditions, starting from Tromso on June 30 and concluding in New York on Aug. 25. Seaman is a photographer best known for her polar images. Her work has been exhibited and published in magazines internationally.

As hosts of the Resident Artist and Photographer Program, Schafer and Seaman will lead art and photography workshops and lectures aboard Prince Albert II and accompany guests ashore to share their perspectives and offer photography advice. Using a camera and hydrophone, they will record the underwater environment and share these images with guests during evening presentations.

The photographers will also photograph and videotape each expedition. Guests will receive a complimentary collection of these photos on a CD. A special DVD will be available for sale containing a digital slide show, interactive map and video footage of the voyage. All proceeds from the sale of the DVDs will be contributed to the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation to support work in environmental conservation.