Posts for 'Flights/Cruises/Trains' Category

Air Canada is launching new flights for seven U.S. cities, as well as four international destinations, fortifying its Toronto hub and bolstering its leading number of daily flights between Canada and the U.S.

This spring, the carrier will offer new daily service from Toronto to Orange County (Santa Ana) and San Diego in California; Portland, OR, Memphis, Cincinnati, Portland, ME; and Syracuse, NY.

Flights will be nonstop and timed for connections with flights on Air Canada's domestic and international network.

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Taking a holiday on a cruise ship has become a very important part of the travel industry over the years, as the industry has changed from catering almost exclusively to the upmarket tourist to offering holidays to the masses.

The very early cruise ships were built with more functionality in mind than comfort or leisure. Their purpose was to travel the oceans and seas, delivering passengers and goods to distant places. Transatlantic crossings took several days and were often perilous. The journey between North America and Europe was never shorter than four days. The introduction of steamships made the trip safer, faster and more reliable.

As cruise ships became a more popular and viable form of travel, the ships became ever more luxurious. The Titanic is probably the most famous cruise ship - unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. Construction of The Titanic included ballrooms, luxury dining areas and staterooms.

The Titanic was the largest passenger steamship in the world, and many people looked forward to her maiden voyage. Because of the tragic events that followed, many maritime laws were passed to ensure the safety of future luxury ship voyages.

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Etihad Holidays, a division of Etihad Airways, continues to offer fantastic packages to Cyprus with the beautiful Mediterranean island set to become one of its leading destinations. Etihad Airways began flights to Larnaca on June 14 and since then demand for holiday packages has risen considerably ensuring that Cyprus is now already in the top ten Etihad Holidays global destinations.

To celebrate the launch, Etihad Holidays has unveiled a number of fantastic deals to Cyprus with lead-in fares starting from Dh1,215 for two nights accommodation at the four-star E-Hotel including return economy flights 
from Abu Dhabi.

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Caribbean Cruises are offered year-round from Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Cape Canaveral, Tampa and San Juan, Puerto Rico. With so many island paradises, Caribbean cruises often include stops at one or two islands on 3-day cruises and as many as four islands  on 7-day cruises. Major cruise lines offering Caribbean cruises are Carnival Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Holland America and Norwegian Cruise Line.

The newest ship in the Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) fleet will power out from Ft. Lauderdale on its maiden voyage on Nov. 23. The $750 million Celebrity Solstice has onboard features to wow even jaded cruise hounds—a half-acre lawn with real grass for picnics or putting, a two-story spa, and a wine-tasting cellar. Want to gaze at the sea in your bathrobe? By stacking more decks above the hull, 85% of its 1,425 rooms have private balconies, one-third more than other ships.

Royal Caribbean couldn't have picked a rougher time to set sail, however. The travel industry is in its worst slump since the September 11 terrorist attacks seven years ago. To lure customers, cruise lines are slashing prices, eliminating fuel surcharges, and redirecting ships from exotic locations to ports that don't require expensive air travel. "Our bookings held up well until mid-September," says Richard D. Fain, Royal Caribbean's longtime chairman and chief executive officer. "Then mid-September came with a crash."

Slumping demand isn't the only problem. With customers galore a few years ago, the industry ordered an armada of bigger, fancier vessels. Because they take so long to construct, the new ships are now just hitting the water. Royal Caribbean will add six ships by 2012 at a cost of $6 billion. Rival Carnival Cruise Lines (CUK) estimates the industry will launch 38 ships in North America and Europe over the next three years, adding 28% to capacity.

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"Every night in my dreams..." rendered by Celine Dion is a song that'll remain etched in the memory of young lovers all around the world.

Who wouldn't fancy to be at the forward well deck of a cruise liner holding his romantic partner and mimic the most famous 'Jack and Rose' act a la Titanic?

According to the Washington Post, Delta Air Lines is going to be offering Wi-Fi services to all their passengers.

This service will cost those who wish to connect Laptops, PDAs or smartphones to Wi-Fi service, $9.99 on flights that are three hours or less and $12.95 of flights longer than three hours.

Delta Air Lines is partnering up with Aircell, which provides in-flight Wi-Fi solutions to other airlines such as Virgin America and American Airlines.According to reports this service will initially only be available on shuttle flights between Washington’s Reagan National.

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Alaska Airlines passengers may gain more direct flights to more international destinations, in what the airline is calling “a major marketing alliance,” to be announced Monday.

The new agreement is with Delta Air Lines, which merged with rival Northwest Airlines after getting antitrust approval Oct. 29. Both Delta and Northwest already had code sharing agreements with Seattle-based Alaska Airlines, which meant flights could be booked for either of the carriers on Alaska.

One benefit for Alaska is that Delta is now moving some aircraft from redundant routes within the U.S., into less-served and more lucrative international routes, said Steve Danishek, president of TMA Inc., a Seattle-based industry consultant and agent.

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Local holidaymakers can experience the true magic of Christmas in London this season with special fares on British Airways from just HK$3,340 return.When booking between now and 30 November 2008, customers can also fly to other UK cities and Europe from as low as HK$3,920 in World Traveller economy class through London Heathrow Terminal 5, British Airways’ exclusive new home.

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Yay, another massive cruise ship to fill our oceans with sewage and sludge so that bored pensioners can distract themselves from their impending deaths is being built in Finland, and this one's going to be the biggest one yet! Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas has a 1,200-foot-long hull that rises 213 feet above the waterline and displaces 220,000 gross register tons.

That's 42 percent grosser than the Independence of the Seas, which was the largest when it was christened two years ago, and five times the displacement of the Titanic, according to the Post.

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