AAA members get Cedar Point deals
AAA members getCedar Point deals
INDEPENDENCE -- AAA members can save on Sunday-only and any-day passes to Cedar Point Amusement Park.
Sunday tickets are discounted from $42 to $27.99. Tickets not used on Sundays will have a $10 surchage added.
A ticket good for any day is available to members for $31.75, a savings of $10.25.
AAA members may buy tickets at AAA Ohio Motorists Association offices or online at www.aaa.com. The tickets are available while supplies last and are refundable through Sept. 7.
Web site helpsyou get away
A Web site that helps travelers plan last-minute getaways has been named a "Forbes Favorite" and "Best of The Web" company for 2002 by Forbes magazine.
The site, www.site59.com, uses packaging technology to offer discount rates on spontaneous weekend travel. The getaways are available for purchase from 14 days until three hours before departure. Most customers book within a seven-day window.
"Being named ... is a testament to the power of our terrific content and our packaging technology," President Michelle Peluso said, "We plan to continue the commitment to our customers by providing the best last-minute deals in the travel industry."
Frontier Airlinesto offer satellite TV
DENVER -- Frontier Airlines will offer live satellite television in each seat of its airplanes, becoming only the second U.S. carrier to do so.
The airline has announced it contracted with Irvine, Calif.-based LiveTV to offer free satellite programming from DirecTV, a subsidiary of Hughes Electronics.
Frontier CEO Jeff Potter says he first considered the idea three years ago and discussed it with David Neeleman, chief of JetBlue, the other U.S. airline offering the service.
Frontier, which flies to 32 cities, plans to have the system installed on 26 of its 35 aircraft by March. It will not install the televisions on leased Boeing aircraft it plans to return early.
The televisions will also be installed on new planes as Frontier switches to an all-Airbus fleet.
Passengers will get 24 channels, including CNN, ESPN, The Discovery Channel and the Cartoon Network. ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox will not be offered.
Sydney's newestattraction is whales
SYDNEY, Australia -- In addition to its landmark harbor bridge and opera house, Sydney is boasting a new waterfront attraction for visitors -- whales. Hundreds of them.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service says Australia's most populous city is also one of the country's best for catching a glimpse of migrating marine mammals and now is the time of year to go looking.
One of the best spots for watching the whales while keeping both feet on dry land is Kurnell at the mouth of Botany Bay, where British explorer Capt. James Cook moored his ship, Endeavour, when he first came ashore at what later became Sydney.
"On one day alone last year, June 23, a record 48 whales were spotted passing Kurnell," says Brian Gilligan, director general of the parks and wildlife group.
"The sheer cliffs and clear horizon at the end of the Kurnell Peninsular make it an ideal vantage point and seems to be a milestone for the migrating whales, which can come within yards of the shore at this point," Gilligan added.
Volunteer spotters recorded 723 humpback whales over 61 days last winter.
And thousands of people visited Kurnell, in southern Sydney, to watch the migration.
"Many were international tourists who were thrilled they could see Australian wildlife so close to Sydney," Gilligan says. Other good vantage points are North and South Heads at the entrance to Sydney Harbor and Ben Buckler Point, a headland overlooking Sydney's most famous beach -- Bondi.
Eurostar passes extendto British, French rails
Rail Europe is offering new passes that combine a Eurostar train ticket with rail passes for France and Britain. The passes can save passengers up to 25 percent. The Eurostar Plus France Railpass, with prices starting at $222 a person, combines a rail pass, good for four days of travel in France over a month, with a one-way or round-trip ticket on the Eurostar.
The Eurostar Plus BritRail Pass, starting at $279, combines a rail pass, good for three days of travel during a two-month period in Britain, with a one-way or round-trip Eurostar ticket.
Call (800) 387-6782 for more information.
Mediterranean cruises
Three luxury cruise lines are cutting prices by half or more on Mediterranean cruises this summer and fall to lure American travelers abroad.
"Bookings have been very slow in the Mediterranean and Europe," said Jessica Agate, editor of CruiseReports, an industry publication. "Consequently, cruise lines are doing heavy discounting."
Among the deals:
USilversea Cruises (www.silver sea.com), considered an ultra-luxury line, is offering an 11-day Barcelona-to-Athens trip for $3,695 per person. The price before discounting was $7,395. Prices for a seven-day Sept. 11 sailing from Athens to Nice will begin at $2,495 instead of $4,995.
USeaDream Yacht Club (www.seadreamyachtclub.com), a new line that features small, upscale ships, has marked down many of its Mediterranean voyages by 50 percent.
UCrystal Cruises (www.crystalcruises.com) has a 12-day sailing on Oct. 1 from Athens to Rome that has been cut from $6,390 per person to $3,495.
For more information, contact a travel agent.
Trips on Celebrity caterto child-free traveling
With squiggly water slides, rock-climbing walls, mouse ears and the like, lots of lines work overtime to lure kids on board. But premium line Celebrity Cruises seems to be bucking the tide of family-oriented vacations with its "Celebrity Escape" -- a quartet of no-kids-allowed cruises for passengers age 21 and older.
According to Ares Michaelides, Celebrity's senior vice president of marketing, the provisional program is in response to passengers who said they would like to experience a Celebrity cruise without kids.
Surely, kid-centric cruises aren't a thing of the past just yet, but Celebrity's option could herald a welcome alternative for adults who might like a piece of the vacation pie for themselves.
The four variable-length cruises are scheduled this fall during periods in which the fewest youngsters are on board anyway.
The sailings will depart from three ports in Florida and from Hawaii. Caribbean itineraries include an 11-night Millennium cruise from Fort Lauderdale on Sept. 23; a seven-night Mercury cruise from Miami on Oct. 25 and a seven-night Horizon sailing from Tampa on Nov. 17. A 10-night Hawaii cruise on Infinity sets sail from Honolulu on Nov. 28.
For more information, contact a travel agent.
Tallest windmillgoes up in Iowa
PELLA, Iowa (AP) -- The country's tallest working windmill has been erected in this central Iowa town known for its tulip festival and Dutch heritage.
The 135-foot tall windmill is part of a $3.5 million project that will be the entrance to the city's Historical Village.
The eight-sided wooden windmill is a replica of an 1850s city mill, built by Luka Verbij, a windmill maker from the Netherlands.
The brick-and-concrete, four-story base of the windmill was built on the site. The top portion was constructed in the Netherlands, dismantled, and shipped to Pella.
The project was funded by private donations and a grant from Vision Iowa's Community Attraction and Tourism Fund.
For more information, visit www.pellatuliptime.com/windmill.html on the Net.