Arthur Frommer Online

Comments, opinion and advice from the founder of Frommer's Travel Guides

Act Now to Snare an Unusual, Three-City, Irish Fly/Drive Vacation this October for $879

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:07:00 GMT

Ever heard of Dooley Vacations? It's a long-established, well-regarded, Irish tour operator that doesn't seem to enjoy the same attention that travel writers heap on SceptreTours, Aer Lingus Vacations, and Brian Moore International. But now it has created a product -- good only if you book on or before August 3 -- that seems to me superior to all other current air-and-land packages to Ireland. It costs $699 plus $180 in taxes and fees, flies you round-trip (from New York or Boston) to Dublin this October, puts you in a manual-transmission rental car with unlimited mileage for a week, and then gives you accommodations in four-star hotels (with full Irish breakfast daily) for two nights apiece in Dublin, Belfast, and Sligo.

It other words, it gives you the ingredients for a far-ranging, six-day, self-drive vacation not simply to the Republic of Ireland, but to Northern Ireland (Belfast), and not simply to the east coast of Ireland (Dublin) but to the west of Ireland (Sligo). I, for one, have never seen a fly-drive Irish vacation that invites the visitor to cross the border into Northern Ireland. Having extensively visited Northern Ireland myself, I can attest that its attractions (which include the birthplaces of the families of numerous early U.S. presidents) and scenery aren't simply on a par with that of the Republic but are considered by many to be superior to it.

You book the package by phoning Dooley Vacations (tel. 877/331-9301; www.dooleyvacations.com) before the end of the day on August 3. And if a reservationist should ask you where you learned of the package, answer that it's one of this week's "Last Minute Pricebreaker Deals" of Priceline.com.

Travel Tidbits That May Have Bearing on Your Next Vacation

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:13:00 GMT

On June 21, nearly six weeks ago, China announced it would raise the value of its currency, the Yuan -- and in the next several days, the Yuan went from a rate of 6.82 to the Dollar to 6.77 to the Dollar; it strengthened, in another words, by a fraction of one percent, and everyone cheered. Today, six weeks later, all appreciation of the Yuan has ceased; it stays almost rigidly fixed at a rate of either 6.77 or 6.8 to the dollar; one day it strengthens to 6.77, the next day it returns to 6.8, the next day to 6.77, and the same back and forth continues day after day (you can follow the repetitious charade at www.xe.com). It's obvious to me that the Chinese know a good thing when they see it, and will not be increasing the value of their currency to any appreciable extent over the year to come. Chinese travel will thus remain a great value.

But incidentally: most of the China tour operators (see www.chinafocustravel.com, as one example) have recently revised their prices to include all government taxes, fees, and airline fuel surcharges, instead of adding those extras at a later time. This creates the misleading impression that their prices have increased; they are actually exactly the same as those that were announced six months ago.

One of my favorite Las Vegas websites, Las Vegas Advisor (www.lasvegasadvisor.com), has recently published a list of Vegas hotel prices for the month of August, and the information is tremendously revealing of the extraordinary low rates in that month: Aria Hotel ($109 a night per room), MGM Grand ($70 a night), NYNY ($42 a night), Harrah's ($33 a night), Luxor ($55 a night), Mandalay Bay ($89 a night), Imperial Palace ($25 a night), Excalibur ($54 a night), Bally's ($39 a night).

A travel reporter for the Wall Street Journal, Sarah Nassauer, has reported on the use by savvy hotels of the hotel comments sent by hotel guests to their friends and placed on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. Since every hotel can pull up all the tweets that contain the name of their hotel, and thus obtain direct knowledge of a guest's reactions to the hotel, an innocent tweet stating "I very much enjoyed my stay at the Marriott Chicago" could be followed by an e-mail from the hotel to that person suggesting that they send an approving comment to a user-generated hotel website. A tweet complaining about service will touch off a phone call to the guest asking whether anyone can be of help. A tweet stating that it's awfully hot in town will touch off delivery of a bottle of beer to the room of that tweet's author. Seems to me that a smart traveler can game the system by deliberately sending out tweets that he hopes will be read by hotel personnel. Some hotels, apparently, are assigning members of their staff to constantly read tweets containing the hotels' names.

New York State's Governor Has Signed a Bill That Will Prevent Visitors from Making Short-Term Apartment Rentals

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:01:00 GMT

To the dismay of everyone in the travel industry other than hotel executives, Gov. David Paterson has signed legislation outlawing the rental of apartments in New York (which means primarily New York City) for periods of less than 30 days. A large pro-tourism industry has just received a staggering blow, and tens of thousands of tourists will have to pay expensive hotel rates for their stays in New York City. Manhattan, in particular, has just joined the island of Maui and the city of Paris, France, as a place where tourists can no longer enjoy a far more spacious, far more pleasant, form of accommodation at half the price that most hotels charge.

My thanks to those many readers who joined me in urging the Governor to veto this legislation. Because the vote in the state senate to approve this bill was fairly close, it may be that pro-tourism forces will be able at a later time to narrow the application of this far-reaching prohibition. For the time being, however, a vast number of low-income actors, actresses, writers, graduate students, interns, and others in need of extra income, will no longer be able to move out of their apartments for a short time (staying with friends) and rent those apartments to tourists seeking a cheap accommodation. This wholly innocent practice has been outlawed by a blunderbuss bill designed, supposedly, to thwart the short-term rental of apartments by greedy real-estate speculators. What a pity!

But for what it's worth, it should be pointed out that the legislation does not (as I read it) prevent an apartment owner from renting a spare room in their apartments to transient visitors, as long as the apartment owner remains in residence. That's like taking in a "boarder," a "lodger." And since that type of spare-room, spare-bed, spare-cot rental is the major stock in trade of such websites as airbnb (www.airbnb.com) or Crashpadder.com (www.crashpadder.com), the latter services should remain popular and legal.

Nor does the bill seem to outlaw free hospitality and cultural exchanges, such as those provided by CouchSurfing (www.couchsurfing.org), GlobalFreeloaders.com (www.globalfreeloaders.com), or Servas (www.servas.org). And where the owner of an apartment swaps it with another owner during the time of their respective vacations, in transactions where no money is exchanged, the practice seems entirely legal.

Still, New York City, Maui, and Paris will now be places where you can't simply contact a real estate broker and rent an apartment for the week of your stay. Let's all try to overturn this misguided effort, through the political process.

European Air-and-Land Package Operators Have Lowered the Price of Autumn Vacations

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:33:00 GMT

In the days (not so long ago) when the money merchants were charging $2 and even $2.10 for a single British Pound, it was hard to use the word "bargain" in relation to a stay in London. Now that the Pound has retreated in value to a usual exchange rate of about $1.52, things have radically changed. And since airfares will also be plunging downwards once we enter the autumn months, the word "bargain" can again be applied to air-and-land packages for London.

Starting October 18, a bit earlier than usual, such packagers as Go-today.com (www.go-today.com) will reduce their rate for six-night stays in London, including round-trip airfare between New York and London (including, as well, all government fees and taxes, and all fuel surcharges), to $889 per person ($699 plus $190 in taxes and fuel surcharge). If you assume that the value of six hotel nights is at least $240 per person, you are paying $649 (including fees, taxes, and fuel surcharge) for your trans-Atlantic air. In these days of trans-Atlantic taxes approaching $190, that airfare rate is a bargain.

The $699 rate (plus $190 in taxes and fuel surcharge) will then remain in effect all throughout the month of November, and for the first 16 days of December. Rising to $749 and $799 (plus taxes) during the Christmas and post-Christmas period, it will then return to $699 (plus taxes) for the rest of January (and of course for February). Similar packages for Paris are priced at $100 more.

So there's occasional good news in today's travel world. And you might want to consider the possibility of a late-autumn or early-winter trip to London or Paris.

Photo Caption: Houses of Parliament. Mr. Fred/Frommers.com Community

Don't Forget to Visit Rent-A-Wreck's Website for a Low-Cost Car Rental

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:55:00 GMT

A recent article in USA Today about car rentals, examining the efforts by Rent-a-Wreck's (www.rentawreck.com) new owners to upgrade its image, caused me to scratch my head and wonder if Rent-a-Wreck's products are included in the searches performed by the big car rental search engines on the Internet. And wouldn't you know, they aren't! Nowhere, as far as I can tell, are the offerings of Rent-a-Wreck ever set forth alongside the dozen-or-so auto rental companies whose prices are surveyed by BreezeNet.com (www.bnm.com) and AutoSlash (www.autoslash.com).

Why is that? I assume it's because Rent-a-Wreck's automobiles are second-hand ones, and the various search engines want to compare apples with apples. But the precise point made by USA Today is that the second-hand Rent-a-Wreck cars are only slightly different from the heavily-used autos in the other fleets, and that Rent-a-Wreck's franchisees are being encouraged to acquire better cars than ever before. Despite the upgrading of its fleets, Rent-a-Wreck's prices are known to be low ones, and price is the reason that people rent from them. Rent-a-Wreck is supposed to be cheaper than the other big names.

So on your own next search for a car rental, it's clear that you may want to study three sources of them: BreezeNet.com, AutoSlash, and Rent-A-Wreck. Not to do so is to pass up a chance for major savings.

Did Cruise Lines Misjudge Their Market By Building Ships Filled with Youthful Entertainment?

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:21:00 GMT

An observer of cruise ship trends -- the decision to fill ships with discos, rock-climbing walls, surfing boards, and loudspeakers blaring heavy metal rock -- will obviously conclude that the cruise lines have decided to lower the average age of their passengers, that these humongous and wildly active new ships are primarily designed to appeal to 20-somethings and 30-somethings. I don't think anyone will dispute that conclusion. Youth is the hallmark of the new ships.

But are there sufficient young people enjoying vacation time and surplus cash to fill those ships? Or have the builders of the new ships misjudged the demographics of the population market for cruises?

These thoughts were occasioned by the surprising discounts that are already being offered for the giant, new, 4,000-passenger Norwegian Epic. Despite the fact that Norwegian Cruise Lines' PR department has now issued two successive news releases claiming historic high sales for the new vessel, the offers made for cabins aboard the Epic by prominent cruise discounters tell another story.

If you will turn to Vacations To Go (www.vacationstogo.com) -- one of the giants among the cruise brokers -- and specify sailings of the Norwegian Epic in September, October, and November, you will find that inside cabins on every seven-night sailing of the Epic (other than for the Thanksgiving week) are already being offered at 44% to 50% off (Thanksgiving is marked down by 35%). If the giant new Epic is as popular as NCL claims, then why has it had to slash the prices so drastically and so early in that ship's existence?

Here's my explanation (you may well disagree):

Except during the summer months, the number of young people able to enjoy a cruise is severely limited. Young people are embarking on their careers, and earning much less than they will at a later stage; they can generally afford only a single summer vacation per year. Or they are working in hotly-competitive occupations and are too anxious about their jobs to absent themselves from business during fall, winter and spring. Or they are starting a family and are unable to travel except during the summer months or short school vacation periods. Or they are working for employers who give them only a limited amount of vacation time -- two weeks, let's say, usually to be taken in the summer only. Or they simply don't have the savings for a non-summer vacation.

In the past, people in the travel industry have understood these limitations on youthful travel and have geared their marketing mainly towards the middle-aged and older traveler. The evidence of your own eyes will confirm this. If you visit any resort hotel or standard cruise ship in fall, winter and spring (except during school breaks), you discover that almost every guest or passenger is middle-aged or older. The number of young people able to take off time, or without family obligations, or with sufficient vacation time, or with sufficient funds for fall, winter and spring travel, is extremely limited.

We will now see whether the dearth of young travelers in previous fall, winter or spring periods is because of the economic or family limits on such travel -- or whether it was because vacation facilities (like cruise ships) were not geared towards young passengers. We will soon learn whether surfboards, rock music, boxing rings and rock-climbing walls will suddenly unlock a torrent of travel by young people in fall, winter and spring.

And if you think me daffy, then ask yourself this question: if the new Norwegian Epic is such a superb amusement park for young vacationers, why is Norwegian Cruise Line already selling its cabins at up to half off?

September 1 to December 15 Is a Period of Stunningly Low Prices for Caribbean Cruises

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:59:00 GMT

Chalk it up to the fear of hurricanes. Add the mild weather that usually prevails in the places from which passengers come. Toss in the uncertain economy. Whatever the reason, September 1 to mid-December is when the total number of cruisers plummet and cruiselines frantically discount their rates. If you're looking for one of the cheapest vacations of the year, you'll find it among cruises scheduled to sail the Caribbean in the September through mid-December period.

No website reflects this situation better than Vacations To Go (www.vacationstogo.com), one of the few to list what appears to be every cruise departure of every line, grouped logically by date, destination and departure port. It's interesting to survey the rates it presents and the discounts those rates represent off brochure levels.

The heaviest discounters appear to be Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line. To the Caribbean (from Florida) in September/mid-December, such Carnival ships as the Destiny, the Miracle and the Liberty discount the rates for their inside cabins by from 69% to 72% to 75% and 77% on numerous dates. What results is a chance to buy a 7-night cruise (inside cabin) for as little as $349 to $399 to $419 per person on various dates in that period.

Most NCL ships do almost as well by us ultra-cost-conscious vacationers. A ship like the Norwegian Pearl, sailing from Florida through the Caribbean, discounts its rates in October, November and early December by as much as 68% to $71% to 74%, resulting in prices as low as $359 to $369 to $399 to $429 on many of its 7-night departures. Even the brand-new, heavily-touted, meant-to-be-costlier Norwegian Epic discounts its autumn rates (as I recently pointed out) by a heavy 44% to 49% to 50%, resulting in minimum prices of $649, $659, $679, and $719 per person per week on numerous dates.

MSC Cruises are only slightly more expensive. A ship like the MSC Poesia, sailing from Florida into the Caribbean during these months, discounts most of its rates by a uniform 55%, and therefore charges as little as $479 per person in an inside cabin for a seven-night cruise.

Royal Caribbean is next, and though Vacations To Go doesn't quantify its discounts in percentage terms (as it does for the other lines), it offers rates as low as $459 to $599 to $602 on many of the dates I've cited. The only Royal Caribbean ship charging more is the giant (6,000 passengers) and much-publicized Oasis of the Seas charging $819, $849, $879 and $939 per person for inside cabins on many September-through-mid-December dates.

The lesson is clear. If you're willing to brave the possibility of poor weather (and the chance of a hurricane nearing your ship is slim), you'll take advantage of rates that are almost comically-low for a seven-night cruise on a ship feeding you many times a day for seven days.

Iceland Express' Bargain New York to London Flights Will Continue Beyond October

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:48:00 GMT

The only basis I have for this important report is an article by Bev Fearis on the British travel news website TravelMole. She claims that the end of October termination date for Iceland Express' four-times-a-week service from Newark to London-Gatwick (via Reykjavik) has been removed, and the upstart, cost-cutting, heaven-sent Iceland carrier will now fly year around between North America and Britain.

What's strange is that no such statement appears on Iceland Express' website (www.icelandexpress.com), nor in any Iceland newspaper or other news outlet. But it's hard to imagine that the reliable, cautious TravelMole would make such a statement without firm support -- and the time for rejoicing, therefore, is now at hand. Iceland Express has been flying round-trip from the U.S. to London for as little as $450, including all taxes, fees and fuel surcharge, and even when it charge more, it undercuts the normal U.S.-to-Britain carriers by at least $300.

Those sensational fares have filled 90% of the seats of the Newark-originating, four-times-a-week departures of Iceland Express to date, creating an obvious profit for the upstart carrier, and it's good to see a budget-oriented company succeed so brilliantly. Keep in mind that, from Reykjavik, Iceland Express flies to a dozen other European destinations as well, and you will see how useful its services have been to the cost-conscious American traveler.

Photo Caption: Aerial view of Reykjavik. Kevin Posey

Flights to Rome Are Cheap & An 18-Day Re-Positioning Cruise Headed Back Is Even Cheaper

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:26:00 GMT

Smart travelers have known for some time that re-positioning cruises are among the least expensive and most pleasant of vacations. An example? The upscale Westerdam of Holland America Cruises leaves Rome this coming October 25, sails for 11 days to all sorts of colorful Mediterranean ports, then passes through Gibraltar and spends seven days sailing across the south Atlantic to Fort Lauderdale. The total cost: $1,399 per person in inside cabins, or only $77 a day for the entire 18-day itinerary.

The only problem is that you must first travel to Rome, Italy, to pick up the ship for that re-positioning idyll. In previous years, such one-way flights from the U.S. east coast to Rome would cost as much as $1,500 -- and on many airlines, they still do.

But not if you use an effective aggregator like Momondo (www.momondo.com), or Kayak (www.kayak.com), to find a hungrier airline (or two of them) that will take you to Rome one-way for as little as $467, including all taxes, fees and fuel surcharge. And currently, such upstarts as Jet Airways (a powerful airline of India) and Brussels Airlines (anew airline of Belgium) are combining flights to bring you from Newark to Rome on many dates for that smaller amount of money.

Yesterday, I made a test booking on Momondo, one-way to Rome, for a hypothetical departure on October 23 (figuring I could rest up in Rome for one night before boarding the ship on October 25), and found, to my amazement, that I could fly Jet Airways to Brussels, and then Brussels Airlines to Rome, for that tax-included $467 price.

In these uncertain economic times, there are plenty of hungry airlines in the late autumn months. Combine a $467 air crossing to Rome with a luxurious $1,399, 18-day ocean voyage from Rome to Fort Lauderdale (stopping in Florence/Livorno, Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Cartagena, Malaga, Cadiz, Lisbon and Funchal, Madeira, on the way) and you have a 20-day vacation for under $1,900, on a top-notch ship.

As mentioned many times before, you can find this October's many re-positioning cruises from Europe to Florida, New York or the Caribbean (and October is only two months from now) at Vacations To Go (tel. 800/338-4962; www.vacationstogo.com).

Photo Caption: Statue in Rome. jesseziebart/Frommers.com Community

An Air/Land Package to Beijing and Shanghai for Only $884 Demonstrates that China Continues to Play an Important Role in Mass-Volume Travel

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:18:00 GMT

Yesterday I wrote about the failure of China to give meaning to its announcement of about six weeks ago that it would increase the value of the Chinese Yuan. It obviously doesn't plan to strengthen its currency to any meaningful extent. The fact that China will remain one of the great travel bargains for some time to come is confirmed by the action of several tour operators in announcing stunning rates to China for this coming autumn. What makes those programs so significant is that they are offered not by specialists in China tours, who you would expect to enjoy preferential air and hotel rates, but by general tour operators that have simply added China to a large array of destinations.

SmarTours (tel. 800/337-7773; www.smartours.com) provides a dramatic example (I'll name others in blogs to come). It certainly isn't a China specialist, and yet it has just set a price of $884 to $984 per person for 10 days/8 nights in China, including round-trip air to China (on Air China) from San Francisco (including all air taxes, fees and fuel surcharge), air transportation within China between Beijing and Shanghai, all transfers, high-quality hotels in China (Marriott Courtyard Beijing for five nights in Beijing and the high-rise Holiday Inn Vista for three nights in Shanghai), and full buffet breakfast each morning.

Now it's true that these stunning prices for an air-and-land package to a destination as remote as China are brought about in part by the elimination of meals other than breakfast (you are free to choose your own restaurants for lunch and dinner). And the package deliberately excludes escorted sightseeing (you are offered optional full-day tours in each city for $60 per full-day). And yet the price, which is less than the airfare alone that you'd pay to some locations, remains a sensation.

(The program is also well-suited for travelers who have been to China before and want to dine and tour on their own.)

Some further details: persons choosing to fly round-trip from New York can do so for only $129 more. And the $884 price is for the departures of November 29, November 30 and December 6; $984 is charged for the departures of November 2, 8, 15 and 22. SmarTours accepts payment by check only.

You can imagine the response we will soon be receiving from the companies known for their price leadership to China. If little SmarTours can charge $884 for a decent-quality tour of China, what will China Focus and China Spree come up with?