Ultimate Vacations News, Reviews and Photos

Great Things on the Horizon for a Leading River Cruise Line New Itineraries for 2018 AmaWaterways will offer over 30 itineraries in 2018, ranging from eight to 21 days in Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia. Eight of these itineraries will be completely new. AmaLea will become the newest AmaWaterways ship to launch. We love the innovation expected from AmaLea - featuring connecting staterooms and triple accommodations, both much needed in the river cruise arena. AmaLea will carry on with signature twin-balcony staterooms, multiple dining venues, a sun deck pool with swim-up bar and a lot more. AmaLea coming online in 2018 While complimentary beer and wine have long been included with lunch and dinner on AmaWaterways , the line will introduce a complimentary daily "Sip & Sail" cocktail hour before dinner.  Combining the above two topics of itineraries and drinking, AmaWaterways will host 50 wine-themed cruises. Destinations have been designated t...

Southwest Airlines Despises Bag Fees As Southwest Airlines grows its map to include the Caribbean and Mexico ... and soon Hawaii, it is important to remember the value of not having to pay for checked bags as you travel for a vacation experience.  At ULTIMATE VACATIONS we often recommend Southwest flights as part of Funjet Vacations and Southwest Vacations vacation packages. For a traveling couple, or especially for a family, the value of free checked bags can be very advantageous. Most carriers charge $25 per checked bag, per direction. So-called "low cost" carriers charge much more than that, and often restrict or charge fees for carry-on bags. We know. We just flew on Frontier last week to Cancun.  We recently read a quote from Southwest chief revenue officer, Andrew Watterson that seemed on point. And made us laugh a little bit as well. Way to go Southwest. "It is terribly inhospitable to charge bag fees," Watterson said recently. "It d...

Introducing 20 New Windstar Itineraries 40 Europe Itineraries in all for 2018 Windstar Cruises has just introduced 20 new European itineraries for the 2018 season. Eight new itineraries will serve Norther Europe while 12 brand new itineraries will entice sailing fans to the Mediterranean. If you like variety, sailing into popular ports as well as fascinating ports a bit off the beaten path, Windstar Cruises may be for you. 2018 could be the perfect time to explore these 40 marvelous new itineraries in Europe alone.  Windstar now has six intimate yachts - 3 that are fully motorized catering to only 212 guests in all suite accommodations; and three that combine both magnificent sails and motorized power - two accommodate 148 guests while their largest vessel accommodates still only 310 guests. With a limited number of guests you enjoy personalized service as well as the ability to explore ports where larger ships simply cannot get to.  Dubrovnik, Croa...

Antigua & Barbuda Are Growing Their Tourism News on Cruise & Resort Growth from Antigua & Barbuda Colin C James, CEO of Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority recently laid out ambitious yet realistic plans for the sister island nation to develop improved infrastructure to facilitate more cruise passengers. ULTIMATE VACATIONS has word that a major All-Inclusive Resort is headed to Antigua . During 2016 Antigua & Barbuda received 658,000 cruise passengers, James reported. His goal is to receive 1 million passengers by the 2019/2020 cruise season. Ambitious but doable. Antigua is blessed with a beach for every day of the year - 365 to be exact. So the lure to cruise passengers is an obvious one. With English speaking residents and only 45 inches of average rainfall per year, even greater reason to expect more tourist will find their way here. By the way Antigua is the sunniest of the Eastern Caribbean islands. In 2016 Antigua updated its port area to ac...