Looking for a relaxing winter getaway? Eastern Shore Vacation Rentals has a $500 weekend package that's all-inclusive - you get everything from linens to firewood to the taxes. Sounds cozy cool. The company specializes in providing vacation homes on the Chesapeake Bay like the one shown at Caulk's Cove, a waterfront home that sleeps up to 8 people and features a private dock. There are several properties to chose from and the deal is good through April.
If you have money to spend on travel there are plenty of deals kicking around out there. If you don't, you can always rent your house out for the Inauguration and go someplace really special -and warm. Here are a few deals from my inbox this week:
Cruise Europe's Danube River with CruiseWest any time in 2009 and save $550 if you book by Dec. 19. Save up to $1,100 on cruises to Alaska when you book by Dec. 12. CruiseWest.com
Closer to home, take a holiday shopping staycation at the Loews Annapolis Hotel and save 10-25% at a variety of shops and spas. Rates start at $129/night. Loews Hotels
If you prefer the Doubletree Annapolis, guests can receive a $25 gift card for each night of their stay with the hotel's Holiday Money Rate. The gift card is good for shopping at nearby Westfield Mall, Annapolis Towne Center or shops in the historic downtown area.
Air Jamaica has 50% off flights from Baltimore to Barbados. Roundtrip fares start at $279. Must book online only by Nov. 20 using coupon code EGEVPGF and promotion code BGI08.
Southwest Vacations has savings from $25-$125 on Las Vegas packages including flight and hotel. Book by Nov. 27 and at least 5 days in advance.
Military personnel can get a $200 onboard credit on a "Smooth Music" cruise aboard the Celebrity Century ship. The cruise leaves from Miami Jan. 31 and features performances by Boney James, Mindi Adair, Acoustic Alchemy and many more musicians. Members of the military can also get buy-one, get one free on select inside cabins. Prices vary. SmoothMusicCruise.com.
AAA members can get free full breakfast at Hyatt Hotels through Feb. 28. USe code BREAKF when booking.
Occidental Hotels offers a $500 air credit to couples booking a 5-night stay at Royal Hideaway Playacar in Mexico. The offer includes a "night of romance" with chocolate-covered strawberries, champagne and a couple massage.
Kids eat free this ski season when parents book a 3-night ski vacation stay through Vail Resorts. You get $30 in dining credits per child, but you also have to purchase three days worth of lift tickets for the kids. Resorts include Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, Keystone and Heavenly.
Talk about cheap. CheapCaribbean.com is saving travelers $100 on a 3-night trip to Jamaica from Washington, starting at $499 and including roundtrip airfare, hotel, all meals and drinks and water activities. In addition, if you book by Nov. 19, you'll save another $100 off a future trip. Yes, this is leaving from DC - to fly from Baltimore it'll cost another 100 bucks. Still, not a bad deal - I can't think of another warm beach you can get to and stay a few nights for less than $500.
Hotwire tipped me off to this deal which includes a stay at the beachfront Holiday inn Sunspree Montego Bay. The resort has two pools, hot tubs, four restaurants, six bars and activities that include parasailing and miniature golf. Other Caribbean destinations are also on sale, but this is the best deal. You have to travel by Dec. 19 and the rates are based on double occupancy. Use code NOWLATER.
The week is nearly over and everyone's getting ready for tomorrow's big, scary night. Before you head off, here are a few spookily good deals that showed up in my e-mail recently:
Save $45 on tickets to see the Tony Award-winning musical Spring Awakening. It's a bittersweet story of young love, but there's nothing bitter about Broadway on the cheap. Use code SAKAY82.
Hyatt Hotels is in the midst of a 10-day sale offering discounts of 21% (why 21?) on their hotel brands, including Hyatt Regency and Summerfield Suites. Among the participating hotels is the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay in beautiful Cambridge. Sale ends Wednesday. Use code LTP106.
AirTran is offering a Winter Wonderland sale with airfares from BWI starting at $49 one-way to Burlington. This city doesn't usually light my fire, but at this time of the year it can be a gateway to some fun skiing adventures in upstate New York. Lake Placid is just a couple hours away. Anywho, on top of the pretty reasonable fares, AirTran is also offering lay-away (memba that?). Well, not exactly, but you can pay for your flight with "Bill Me Later" and have no payments or interest for 90 days.
United Airlines is matching AirTran's sale with flights from Baltimore starting at $49. One-way to San Diego, one of my favorite cities, is just $99. Not bad. United is also offering a new baggage service called "Door To Door." Basically you can overnight your suitcases, golf clubs, kids, whatever to your destination for a fee that starts at $149.
If you're thinking of spending the holidays at Disney, the Orlando World Center Marriott Resort is offering one night free when you book for five nights. Room rates start at $179.
Sad to say, but the absolute meltdown of Iceland's economy has created a generous opportunity for travelers on the cheap. The country was once known for being quite icy and pricey. No more. Well, it still has ice. But the cost to visit there has dropped dramatically.
A year ago, $1 got you about 60 krona, Iceland' s national currency. Today, $1 will earn you more than 110 krona. That's the best exchange rate for U.S. visitors to Iceland in about six years.
It's too bad that Icelandair doesn't fly out of BWI any more, but the airline - still based in Columbia - has great deals on travel to Iceland. Their Winter Airfare special has flights from New York to Reykjavik starting at $399 roundtrip. Even better, the airline offers an air+hotel package - Iceland Winter Frenzy - for 3 nights starting at $559 pp. Taxes and fees add another $100-180, but it's still a great deal. Gotta book by Oct. 31 and travel by Dec. 15.
Photo of Reykjavik courtesy Iceland Tourism Board
Starwood Hotels, owners of some fab places to stay like W, Westin, St. Regis and Sheraton hotels, has a new offer called "Better Tomorrows" that starts this week and goes until March 31. For every night you book, you can stay the next night for 50% off. Sounds like a deal, right? Well, maybe. Maybe not.
As with all "special" offers, there's a lot of detail in the small print - including that you must prepay for your stay and that it's nonrefundable. If you're certain about your travel plans, that's no problem. But here's a problem that I did find when I eagerly began plotting my holiday stay at Starwood's new Resort at Singer Island in Palm Beach. (Yes, as usual, I'm headed to Florida for Christmas. Why? Because I have a mother who knows how to use a cell phone and guilt.) I found three different rates for three different specials for four nights during the same week.
Starwood's "Better Tomorrows" special would cost me $867. Their "Winter Sale" offers a 30% discount and would cost $688. They also have a "4th Night Free" special - the word "free" is so enticing - which would cost $1,067. The last two specials I checked for the very same dates. So you would have two guests staying the same nights, with one paying $400 more and both thinking they got a deal. I know it happens all the time, what with Priceline and corporate discounts and bidding site. Nobody pays the same. So the deal is you gotta do your research.
If it's a "Go Home For the Holidays" sale, why are so many Thanksgiving dates blacked out? Hmmm. I guess you could go home "before" the holidays or just after. I've done that in the past just to get a cheap fare. The black out dates are a couple days before Thanksgiving and then several days after - you can also fly on Thanksgiving day, a sometimes overlooked option. Southwest has to make money too I guess, especially if I want to keep checking my bag for free.
Here are the details: Sale fares from BWI start at $59 one-way (to Cleveland, Pittsburgh, etc) and $79 to West Palm Beach, the lowest fares I've seen in a long while for my South Florida hometown. Book your tickets online by tomorrow for travel Nov.4-Dec. 17.
The all-inclusive Club Med is offering a 7-night stay for the price of 3 nights. The package includes family resorts in Mexico, Florida, Turks & Caicos, Dominican Republic and the West Indies. Price starts at $793-$925 per person. You have to pay your own way there. Book by Nov. 1 and travel by Feb. 9.
A slightly better, but more limited offer, is the Air-Inclusive Fall Deal, which includes your airfare and starts at $999. But it's only at the Bahamas resort and you have to travel by Oct. 18 from Ft. Lauderdale - which means you gotta pay additional to get to Florida. (unless you have a fairy godmother). They do offer connecting flights from D.C., but there's an add-on fee. Still think it's the better way to go if you can go soon.
Say you and a friend pool together 999 bucks for a 3-night resort vacation. I know it sounds steep, but that's just $500 each. Not bad, especially when you also receive a $999 spa credit (to share). At first, I was thinking it was a typo because I couldn't imagine spending that much. I usually pore over the spa menu for something under $100 - like a pedicure for my left foot.
But Bedford Springs Resort's "Ultimate Cloud Nine" package is for real and available beginning in November. If you're not familiar with the resort, located in Bedford, Pa., it's newly refurbished and has lots of history and a 30,000 square foot spa with natural springs that have "healing" properties. (One of the spa offerings is the "Bedford Cure.")
Package includes three-night, mid-week (Sun-Thurs) stay and the spa credit. The 80-minute hydrossage is $170 and a Vitamin C facial is $160, so that might add up quickly. Take along your hubby or boyfriend and then use all the spa credit yourself while he chases the greens and ages prematurely.
(Photo: Bedford Springs Resort's indoor pool)
Fly Southwest from BWI to Albany, Buffalo, Detroit or Norfolk for $59 one-way. Also, $88 one-way to Indianapolis. Florida destinations start at $93 each way. You have to travel on a Tuesday or Wednesday from Sept. 16- Nov. 19. Book your ticket by Thursday.
Both Buffalo and Albany are interesting fall destinations. Albany is only an hour's drive away from the Adirondacks, a perfect place for leaf-peeping. Buffalo hooks you up with Niagara Falls, another place for fine foliage, though it does tend to turn a bit later than other areas of upstate New York. And the Ravens play at Indianapolis (in their brand new state-of-the-art stadium) in October, so if you're a fan, maybe it's worth the bucks.
If you plan on drinking a bit too much of the shire beer at the renaissance festival -- and really, who doesn't? -- you might want to check out Wyndham Hotel's Weekender package, which gives half-off the second room for one night or half-off your second consecutive night.
Take your pick and stay at Wyndhams located near Hershey, Gettysburg, or Pittsburgh. The deal includes many other hotels nationwide plus international destinations like Toronto, London, Cozumel, Nassau and St. Maarten. Since it's a weekend plan, you gotta stay sometime between Thursday and Sunday. Valid through Dec. 31.
Only thing I don't like is that the discount is given at checkout. What happens if I have a royal hangover and forget to check my bill? I mean, that would never happen to me, but I'm just sayin I like to see the discount in writing before I go.
The Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia is known for its heritage and its luxury. It's not known for being cheap. So, while this is a deal, it's not a steal. (If you want that, try this.)
If you've got a couple grand to drop, the hotel is offering a "Just One More Day" promo giving away the fourth night free, when you stay three nights. Most weekends are excluded, so plan to arrive on a Sunday. Daily rates start around $389 for a superior room and considerably more for a stay in a Baltimore Row Guest House.
The Greenbrier has undergone a recent $50 million renovation, adding a little hip to its historic profile. There are new restaurants, new rooms, new drapes -- the whole nine yards. You get the idea. If I had a better paying job, I might think about it myself.
(Photo: Associated Press)
A hotel room for under 10 bucks and it's not an hourly kinda thing? There's got to be a catch - and there is. Several, in fact. But don't let that stop you from getting in on Super 8's promotion offering a hotel room for $8.88.
First, all you Hampton Inn fans have to get past the fact that it's Super 8. There yet?
Now, here's the catch: gotta go online to their Web site after 8 p.m. tonight, tomorrow or Friday. Plus you have to be one of the first 800 people to request the room special online. And you can only request one night per person. (You can add on nights at the regular rates.) And you have to stay by Dec. 30. Whew. Got all that? Now go get your crazy eights.
