Jetsettersblog

Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun introduced the Feel Like Craps package.

Available Sunday through Thursday nights, the package includes a one-night stay and a complimentary copy of “No-Nonsense Craps Consummate Guide to Winning at the Crap Table,” a $30 credit for a protein-filled lunch for two at Bobby’s Burger Palace, and two complimentary “The Remedy” martinis at Lucky’s Lounge or The Dubliner.

Feel Like Craps starts at $99 per person, based on double occupancy.

To book, call 888-777-7922 and mention code “PTCRP.”

For more information, visit www.mohegansun.com/special-packages

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants is ushering in the New Year with savings for travelers that stay grounded in 2010.

More than 30 of Kimpton’s nearly 50 hotels will offer 15 percent off the best available rate when guests book the “Ride the Rails” rate code in advance and show their train ticket at check-in.

Participating Kimpton hotels are located in Alexandria, Arlington, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Cambridge, Chicago, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

Starting rates vary by market and reservations must be made in advance by calling 800-KIMPTON or at

www.kimptonhotels.com/promotions/ride-the-rails.aspx  

by navigating to the hotel of choice, and entering RAILS in the rate code box.

The Charles Hotel located in Cambridge’s Harvard Square, has a new Smart Start meeting package that is available through March 31, 2010, for $2,010.

The Smart Start Meeting package includes LCD projection deal and wireless Internet access, continental breakfast, morning and afternoon refreshments, deli buffet luncheon, and a team-building skating session on the hotel-owned 2,900-square-foot ice rink.

For more information, visit www.charleshotel.com

Nomadic Expeditions, a Mongolia tour operator and expedition outfitter, will join forces with Massachusetts Audubon to create new conservation programs aimed at protecting Mongolia’s vast and fragile ecosystems.

By establishing this alliance, Nomadic Expeditions President Jalsa Urubshurow hopes to pioneer a new concept in environmental conservation — a for-profit company and a non-profit organization working together towards the goal of promoting environmentally sustainable tourism.

This multifaceted program, the brainchild of Urubshurow and Mass Audubon’s Christopher Leahy, will focus on eco-tourism, environmental education, interpretive publications, green building design and earth-friendly operations.

The partnership will combine Nomadic Expeditions’ knowledge of Mongolia with Mass Audubon’s extensive experience creating conservation strategies and programs.

Urubshurow, the founder and CEO of Nomadic Expeditions, is a proponent and leader in the development of sustainable tourism in Mongolia since 1990.

Urubshurow was enlisted by the first prime minister of the newly democratic Mongolia to advise the government in expanding accessibility to Western travelers and to actively promote travel to Mongolia from North America.

In the post-communist period since 1990, Urubshurow has advised Mongolia’s prime ministers and presidents on sustainable eco-tourism, environmental protection issues and business development.

He has twice been named the world’s Top Travel Specialist for Mongolia by Condé Nast Traveler magazine, and was the co-founder and former chairman of the North America Mongolia Business Council, a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding bilateral economic, investment, and trade relations between Mongolia and North America.

As designer and founder of the Three Camel Lodge, an award-winning eco-lodge in the Gobi Desert, Urubshurow has made environmental sustainability a priority of his business operations in Mongolia.

Named one of the world’s Top 50 Ecolodges by National Geographic Adventure and Best Lodge of the Year by the Mongolian Tourism Association, the lodge was built in accordance with environmentally and culturally sustainable development guidelines, and is powered by renewable energy resources, including solar and wind power.

The Three Camel Lodge also forged a first-of-its-kind cooperative agreement with local Mongolian authorities for sustainable development and conservation, and is an active contributor to the local community’s conservation efforts, including planting native trees, sponsoring anti-litter clean-up programs and anti-poaching initiatives, as well as school conservation and cultural programs.

Urubshurow intends the partnership with Mass Audubon to lead the way in solidifying and strengthening an environmental ethic within Mongolia’s for-profit travel operators. “Nomadic Expeditions and Mass Audubon share the same interests and have parallel goals,” said Urubshurow.

“Our aim is to reach beyond tourism to form partnerships with local schools and communities, as well as with other conservation organizations and agencies that work in Mongolia.”

Through Nomadic Expeditions’ new conservation unit, Urubshurow also hopes to magnify awareness of the region’s extraordinary natural beauty and biodiversity, as well as the threats faced by Mongolia’s largely unspoiled ecosystems. By enlisting Mass Audubon to enhance and further define Nomadic Expeditions’ conservation efforts, he wants to expand the Three Camel Lodge’s role as a center for environmental education in the Gobi and throughout Mongolia.

Directing the new conservation unit will be Leahy, the first holder of the Gerard A. Bertrand Chair of Natural History and Field Ornithology at Mass Audubon. Leahy was the organization’s director of conservation for 18 years, and has continued to explore Mongolia’s natural wonders since his first visit there in 1982.

He has led education programs in over 70 countries and was instrumental in developing the organization’s international natural history travel program.

He is the author of “The Birdwatchers Companion to North American Birdlife” and many other works on natural history subjects.

Massachusetts Audubon, which successfully founded a program to protect more than 250,000 acres of bird habitat in Belize, is the largest conservation organization in New England and one of the oldest in the United States.

Leahy will lead a Natural History Exploration in Mongolia with Massachusetts Audubon, operated by Nomadic Expeditions, May 22 to June 7.

The trip will visit Lake Hovsgol, the Mongolian steppe, and the Three Camel Lodge in the Gobi Desert. Nomadic Expeditions, the pioneer of adventures in Mongolia and beyond, offers more than two dozen authentic active adventures and cultural journeys, as well as customized adventures throughout Mongolia, Tibet, Bhutan, Siberia and China, and operates the Three Camel Lodge luxury ger camp in the heart of the Gobi Desert.

For more information on Nomadic Expeditions, call 800-998-6634or visit www.nomadicexpeditions.com

For more information on Massachusetts Audubon, visit www.massaudubon.org

World On Skis is offering a five-night air/hotel ski package including air from New York to St. Moritz, Switzerland, with fuel surcharges, priced from $1,393.

Also included are roundtrip rail transfers and breakfast daily. A Washington, D.C. departure is available.

Book by Feb. 28 and save 5 percent on the land portion of the trip.

The offer includes roundtrip airfare from New York JFK to Zurich (via United or Lufthansa Airlines) including fuel surcharges; roundtrip rail transfers from Zurich to St. Moritz, and five nights’ hotel stay (Sunday through Friday), including hotel taxes and service charges and breakfast daily.

Washington, D.C. departure, with nonstop flights from Dulles on United, is an additional $214 per person.

Hotel options include the three-star Hotel Laudinella for Feb. 27 to Apr 9 from $1,393; four-star Hotel Monopol, March 14 to April 17, from $1,709; and five-star Kempinski Grand Hotel Des Baines, March 14 to April 5, from $2,448.

For more information, call 866-678-5858

or visit www.WorldOnSkis.com

An eco-friendly 12-room lodge called Amee Farm is now open to the sporting and vacationing public in Pittsfield, Vt., on scenic Route 100.

Amee Farm is designed for sustainable yet luxurious living with such touches as hand-selected antiques in guest rooms that are dressed with organic bed and bath linens and organic toiletries.

Rooms offer king, queen and double beds.

The structural refurbishment of the lodge was executed in a sustainable manner.

On-site operations are fueled with hydroelectric, geo thermal and solar; there is soy insulation throughout and the interior is dressed with milk paint.

There is also a solar green house across the road servicing Amee Farm’s organic gardens.

In season produce is available at an on-premise farm stand. A new working barn is designed to accommodate a herd of Scottish Highlanders, sheep and chickens.

For more information, call 802-746-8196 or visit www.ameefarm.com

MSC Cruises has scheduled Baseball Greats and Big Band theme cruises on seven-night Caribbean cruises this winter onboard the MSC Poesia from Fort Lauderdale.

The Baseball Greats theme cruise includes free interactive guest/player activities including a player-hosted trivia game, question-and-answer sessions with the players, and a guest pitching contest.

Players will also host pitching, hitting, fielding and base-running clinics. There is a free autograph session at the end of the cruise. The player line-up on these itineraries will be announced at a later date. Caribbean cruises featuring the baseball theme include the Nov. 14, Jan. 9, Jan. 23 and Feb. 23

Eastern Caribbean cruises to St. Thomas, St. Maarten and Nassau, and the Dec. 5 Western Caribbean cruise to Key West, Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman and Cozumel.

The 16-piece Les DeMerle Big Band, with vocalist Bonnie Eisele, will be featured on the MSC Poesia’s nine-night Oct. 23 Canada/New England cruise.

Drummer DeMerle has toured and recorded with the Harry James Big Band and Wayne Newton; the band has also accompanied many performers such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Manhattan Transfer, Mel Torme and Al Jarreau.

In addition to their performances, the band will present a Big Band Jazz Concert and conduct a lecture on the Big Band Era.

The cruise departs Quebec City and calls at Sydney, Nova Scotia; Boston; Newport, R.I.; New York City; and Fort Lauderdale.

For more information, call 877-665-4655 or visit www.MSCCruisesUSA.com.

Renaissance Hotels has partnered with Dylan’s Candy Bar to create the Escape! Romance Valentine’s Day package, available at participating Renaissance Hotels throughout the United States and Canada.

The package is available for stays from Feb. 11 to 15, 2010.

To launch this Valentine’s Day package, Dylan’s Candy Bar created an exclusive fantasy candy land suite with over 300 pounds of candy at the Renaissance New York Hotel 57, which will be available this Valentine’s Day as well. Renaissance Hotels Dylan’s Candy Bar Sweetest Suite features accommodations in the “Sweetest Suite,” available at the Renaissance New York Hotel 57 for two nights only, Feb. 13 to 15. for $2,500.

The package includes an edible candy wall, white chocolate fountain, cotton candy machine, over 300 pounds of candy, and gumballs and chocolate in every draw.

Other Valentine’s Day packages are offered for $169 at Renaissance Blackstone Chicago Hotel, $199 at Renaissance Washington, D.C. Hotel, $169 at Renaissance Houston Greenway Plaza Hotel, $159 at Renaissance Atlanta Downtown Hotel, $349 at Renaissance New York Hotel 57, $529 at Eden Roc Renaissance Miami Beach, and $289 at Renaissance Palm Springs Hotel.

The “Escape! Romance Valentine’s Day” package includes a complimentary bottle of champagne; late check-out; $100 Renaissance savings coupon towards a future two-night stay; Dylan’s Candy Bar three-pack of special Valentine’s Day treats including gumballs, gummi bears and chocolate-covered cookie-dough; and Dylan’s Candy Bar chocolate candy heart on the bed.

For more information or reservations, call 212-651-3205 or visit www.RenHotelsRoamnce.com

JetBlue Airways has begun service between Boston’s Logan International Airport (BOS) and Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport (MBJ) in Jamaica. The new flight will operate on Saturdays all year long and becomes JetBlue’s 33rd destination from Logan.

In addition, from May 5 through Sept. 1, JetBlue will operate a second weekly flight (on Wednesdays) between Boston and Montego Bay for the summer.

The new route complements the airline’s daily connecting service to Montego Bay via New York/JFK and, starting Feb. 8, 2010, via Orlando.

MSC Cruises’ 2010 Canada/New England brochure is now available.

The brochure features the new departure ports of New York City and Quebec City. Guests can choose from 14 itineraries with nearly 25 ports of call.

MSC’s inaugural 2010 Canada/New England season features six-, seven-, nine-,10- 13-, 14-, 16-, 17-, 18- and 19-night cruises aboard the MSC Poesia.