family cruise vacation ideas

Cruise Deals: Little Known Ways to Save Big on Your Vacation

You might not think you could actually save money by cruising on your next vacation, but with some careful planning, you can do just that! Special packages can take you on a three-night cruise to some sunny locales for under $200 a person. (Of course airfare is separate and prices are based on adult double occupancy.)

Check out some of these specials:

A three-night cruise out of Miami, Fla., with stops at Cococay and Nassau, both in the Bahamas, for just $169 a person.
A four-night cruise out of Miami, stopping first in Key West, Fla., and then on to Cozumel, Mexico, for $179 per person.
Go a different direction with a seven-night cruise to the Southern Caribbean for $675 a person. It leaves from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and stops in Bridgetown, Castries, St. John’s, Philipsburg and St. Croix.
For still another direction, how about a seven-night cruise to the Mexican Riviera, starting at $499 a person? It leaves out of San Diego, Calif., and stops in the Mexican ports of Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas.

These are just a few of the discounted cruise deals that can help you save money on your next vacation. Almost all of the major cruise lines offer some kind of discount package. And once you’re onboard, relax and enjoy all the amenities – from activities for the children to world-renowned dining to nightly entertainment. And don’t forget, once you drop anchor, get off the ship and explore the ports of call.

One word of advice – space on these discounted trips is often limited. You need to plan in advance and see what is available. And once you’re booked, try not to change the date as most cruise lines will charge a change fee.

Special packages are not the only way to cruise for less. There are other tricks for traveling in style and for less.

Book it now. If you’re on a cruise and you’ve had a great time, you can realize significant savings by booking your next cruise right there on the spot – or right there onboard. You won’t necessarily need to commit to the location, but the cruise line will be looking for a deposit to hold your place on your next cruise. If you’re not sure where on board to conduct this business, ask if there’s a cruise consultant or booking agent who can help you plan your next trip.
Repeat business. Some cruise lines reward their repeat customers with incentives or room upgrades. If not those perks, they may reduce the amount of your deposit or offer you onboard credits.
Transfer the booking. Even after you’ve booked a cruise, don’t think you’re locked into it. Often, you can transfer your booking to an online discount agent. These sites are able to help you monitor your booking, make changes and sometimes even find additional offers or savings. It’s nice to have someone on your side.
Cabin guarantee. When booking a cruise, you can sometimes get a cheaper price or a discount if you go with a cabin guarantee. This means you will be guaranteed to get a cabin in a certain category – inside, outside, with a verandah – for a cheaper price. In exchange, the company gets to select which particular cabin you’ll get – whether it’s midship, low deck, high deck, etc.
Get a consultant. If you’re new to cruising or you’re not sure what kind of cruise you want to take, where you want to go or what’s the best price available, contact a travel consultant. These are experienced travelers with an expertise in cruises. Let one of them help you arrange a floating family reunion, a quiet getaway for you and your spouse, or maybe a special group trip. Consultants can also help you make plans to fly into the port city and find you a hotel to stay in after you dock, if that’s what you want.

If you’ve not taken a cruise before, be good to yourself and make this the year you step out and step onboard!

Hal McDougal is a freelance writer who writes about several topics including cruise deals.

Travel Deals: “It’s a Garage Sale Out There!” Part II

Filed under: travel — Tags: activities, advantage, Afford, Affordable, air, airfare, Airline, airlines, airport, allow, amazing, american, Amount, amp, ana, around, art, ask, back, bars, beach, before, best, between, big, board, book, booking, Border, Bottom, break, budget, but, call, Cancun, car, caribbean, Charge, charges, charter, charters, cheap, Check, children, cities, compare, Cost, cruise, da, day, deal, deals, Design, die, different, dining, Dont, down, end, eve, Every, Extra, fall, families, family, fare, Fast, few, fill, five, fly, food, four, free, frequent, front, fun, going, Golf, good, growing, has, having, here, holiday, hot, hotel, ice, inc, Include, inclusive, increase, information, inn, Just, kids, kit, la, las, le, lead, life, like, line, lines, list, look, low, mad, made, Major, many, may, Mean, men, mini, modern, money, mount, must, my, need, needs, new, next, night, not, ny, offer, Option, options, Order, pa, palace, part, perfect, person, plan, plane, Port, Price, Profit, questions, rate, Rates, ready, real, really, red, rent, republic, resort, resorts, rica, right, rooms, Running, sale, saving, Savings, sea, seas, season, see, Seen, Sell, service, ship, Shop, site, sites, Size, spa, special, Specific, spend, spending, spring, Star, Start, stay, Still, style, Suit, suite, Suites, summer, sure, taking, target, than, thing, think, thinking, three, through, time, top, tour, tours, travel, traveling, Tremendous, Trend, trip, two, Under, up, Used, using, vacation, vacations, valid, Want, war, way, ways, Well, where, will, win, year, Years — libertees @ 5:00 pm June 12, 2010

Just when I thought we had hit bottom (travel deals, I mean), the rates are getting lower!  I have outlined the best deals I have seen through out the Caribbean, airfare sale and a special Tahiti deal that will blow your mind!

This is a MUST READ if you are thinking of taking the family on vacation between now and next Fall.

There are more kids stay free deals than ever seen before. I also notice the additional costs for upgrading to suites or having connecting rooms are being cut up to 60%!

Another change I notice is the increase in resort and cruise credits.
Cruise ships always made their real profit by what they sell on the ship such as alcohol, clothes, tours, etc. Now more than ever before, the cruise lines are offering up to $300 on board ship credit.

The trend for resorts to also offer credits is growing tremendously. Resort credit used to be something I saw in the low season or an infrequent special. Resort credit can go towards spa, tours, golf, drinks and food if it is not an all inclusive, or simply fun nick knacks.

When you see these credits in the deal, always check what it is for and make sure it is valid on the dates you are going. Once verifies, just think of it like someone handed you cash towards spending money on your vacation.

Here are a few very new amazing deals for families this Spring, Summer & Fall!  Some of these deals have not even been published yet, so take advantage of them and happy traveling!

Caribbean Family Vacations:
I had to check this one a few times because it looked to good to be true, but it is correct:

CheapCaribbean’s 48 hour sale, all inclusive three star resorts for $48 per person, per night. Yes, all inclusive – meals, taxes, drinks, activities, kids activities, etc…many of these resorts allow children under 12 free, so all you have to pay is the airfare!  I would compare the resorts on sale to a nice Holiday Inn, this resort is midway between deluxe and moderate. The deal is for travel from May – June 30, a perfect family trip before summer activites begin.

Check out all of the $48 deals for families! This sale ends 11:59pm Friday, April 3.

Apple Vacations’ Spring Savings Sale! If you do not see your gateway, they may still have it, using the booking engine on the top of the page. It is really cool as you can specify your needs when you begin (airport, amount of people, budget, amount of nights, etc) and that will reflect every deal you click on. This eliminates the irritating task of having to fill out your information over and over to shop around. The lead pricing is $459+: 60% off: All-Inclusives w/Air.

Apple Vacations charters their own planes, so the airfare is very reasonable. The add-ons for different gateways are reasonable as well.  $499 per adult for 3 nights all inclusive five-star resort including airfare, two kids under 12 stay and fly for $199 per child!  Not interested in the all inclusive, ok, there are resort deals for $599.99 including 7 night resort stay and airfare!

Future Vacations is running my favorite kind of deal – up to $300 in Spa and/or Golf Credit! Ahhh, I would have no problem using up that Spa Credit! The resort is Cancun Palace, a Four-Star beachfront, all inclusive. I stayed here years ago and it was ok, a bit run down and a little big for my taste. Now the resort has had a fuill make over, ready to impress.

The make over includes a redesigned pool, modern spa, five fine dining restaurants, six bars including two swim up bars and a Kid’s Club. All rooms have a double Jacuzzi, balcony, first class amenities and 24 hr room service. 24hr room service at an all inclusive is the coolest – you can feed the midnight munchy attack without having to worry about exhorbanent hotel bills!

BookIt.com, one of the best web sites I have found for extra amenities and all sorts of goodies is running a Dominic Republic All Inclusive Sale. All Inclusive start from $59 per person, per night with tons of kids free deals, room upgrades and more.

Airfare sale:

American Airlines has a major sale domestic right now with travel through August 14. Airfares are starting at $49 each way. What is extra special about this sale is tround trip is not required. So if you want to fly somewhere and go back rfom a different gateway, you dont have to deal with all of the extra charges. For a listing of all the gateways and prices, click here.

The top value of the week (drum roll…)

Tahiti – the trip of a life time, suddenly became more affordable. Air Tahiti Nui is also offering slashed rates and free air from Los Angeles for kids! Add-ons from other cities are reasonable.  The feature sale is $1698/per adult+: Air, Breakfast & 5nts Manava Suite Resort Tahiti- there are other options, more nights – this is the lead rate (best deal) and it is specifically designed for family vacations!

Happy traveling!

You can view all of these deals by clicking here
If you have any questions regarding travel, email me

Last Minute Travel Deals: Save a Tremendous Amount of Money

Filed under: travel — Tags: Amount, deals, last, minute, money, save, travel, Tremendous — libertees @ 4:03 pm March 23, 2010

 

These days, there is a lot of competition going on in the travel industry. People are getting more and more options for finding the last minute travel packages. They, however, require to research a lot to find the best rates. Compare the cost of air tickets of different airlines and then make a choice.

No one likes to spend money on travelling. If you are looking forward to saving money, then you have to be flexible, willing to travel at odd hours, make your reservations around one to two months before the date of flying. One can search for the best rates in travel on the internet. The websites offer competitive rates

The last minute travel deals cover everything from hotel reservations, airline tickets, etc. The websites has an user-friendly interface and helps you to get the best airline travel deals for you. These online shops are a great way to compare the various rates online and find the one that fits your needs.

There are many airlines that offer discounts on weekends. Browse through for some fabulous travel deals. Often, people get amazing airfares but they are unable to go for the vacation because they think that they would not be able to do the packing in the last minute. So, you should pack your bags before looking for the right opportunity. The last minute travel can help you to save a significant amount of money. But you should be flexible enough to make compromises for the last minute travel.

Many of us are not great planners when it comes to going for vacation. The last minute travel deals which have become a very popular in the recent times. These exciting deals are cost effective and offer competitive rates. Visit the best travel websites and look for amazing options in travel.
The last minute deals are designed to meet your needs to a great extent. There are deals available for all classes like luxury, economy, budget and premium. As far as accommodation is concerned, the various options are guest houses, pubs, small hotels and apartments. For getting these last minute deals, you have to be flexible enough as you need to leave a day earlier or later to save fares. You do not get much time to think as may be you have to leave the very next day.

These brilliant and astounding travel deals are easily found on the Internet or through a travel agent. You would find these deals beneficial. Many airlines sell the tickets at lower rates to fill up the vacant seats. So, if you want to go on a vacation without spending a huge amount of money, these deals are the best for you. Take advantage of these deals and take those much needed holidays at the lowest price. Be prepared to go on a short notice and take full advantage of such deals. If you do not have much money to spend on travelling, the last minute travel deals are for you. Nothing can now stop you from going anywhere.
The internet is the best place to find such . It is packed with deals having cheap hotels, discounted Last Minute Travel deals , travel tickets, etc. One can easily find these deals on the internet. These are not only convenient but also affordable. These deals are updated on a daily basis. So, get your relaxing vacation this year by searching for the hottest deals. You do not need to spend too much this summer. Save your hard earned money and avail affordable prices while going to exotic locations. You just need to be flexible to make your travel exciting and full of adventure.

Read more about Last Minute Travel deals and Holiday Packages

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