travelwriter

Princess Cruises is offering an amazing 107-day world cruise that will take you to the north, south, east, and west with the experience and knowledge that only Princess can offer with over 40 years of sailing the ocean blue.

Sailing from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, to Rome, this 107-day luxurious cruise will stop at an amazing 40 ports including overnight stays in Sydney, Australia, and Xingang, China. 

If you don’t want to wait until 2010 for this cruise, a 104-day cruise is still available on the Dawn Princess sailing roundtrip from Sydney on July 5, 2009.  Ports include Cork, Ireland; Paris, France; Goa, India, plus an overnight stay in Bermuda.

Remember, cruising is the best vacation value for your money.  For more information, visit: Princess Cruises

Princess Cruises, offering “voyages as memorable as the places they visit,” is pleased to announce their 2010 & 2011 Exotic cruise line up visiting Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Tahiti & the South Pacific, and South America.

New ports of call include Toulon, France; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Manila, Philippines; Xiamen, China and Maputo, Mozambique.

Join Princess on an Exotic cruise with vacations ranging from 2-day experience to a 23-day West Africa, India, & Southeast Asia Grand Adventure voyage.  Among the Princess ships sailing to exotic destinations in 2010 and 2011 are all three of their small ships – the Ocean Princess, Pacific Princess and the Royal Princess .

Among the new itineraries is an amazing 107-day world cruise – see Part Two, May 23.

---

---

Princess Cruises is offering fantastic savings on great holiday 2009 sailings from now until June 15, 2009.

It’s never too early to start thinking about the holidays and with these incredible savings now is the time to book a magical winter cruise to the Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Panama Canal, South America, Asia or the South Pacific. 

This sale is offering savings of up to $1,600 per couple off Launch Fares with 50% off 3^rd & 4^th passenger fares plus free upgrades on select sailings.  To learn more information, visit Princess Cruises.

Today is Earth Day, April 22, 2009.  What better way to celebrate than to take action?

Earth Day events are happening around the world and it’s still not too late to participate!  Attend an educational workshop, a parade, wine tasting, or a concert – find a complete list of events here!

If you can’t attend an event, you can donate, join, or volunteer through the Earth Day Network (EDN).  Even easier - plant a tree or simply switch out an incandescent light bulb!  Everyone can do their part.

Today is also the official kick off for the Green Generation campaign started by EDN whose mission is to provide a healthy, sustainable environment for all people of the world today and for our future.

Happy Earth Day!

If you watch televisions ‘Jeopardy ’ game show from now until May 1, 2009, you could win the trip of a lifetime to the Galapagos Islands.

You are invited to watch Jeopardy each weekday, then go to jeopardy.com , and enter for your chance to win.  A total of 25 lucky winners will explore the spectacular Galapagos Islands with Alex Trebek. 

The Galapagos Adventure is taking place from October 16^th to October 25, 2009, and is being provided by Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic.   No purchase is necessary and the contest is open to permanent legal residents of the 50 states of the U.S. and D.C.   For the complete Official Rules, see jeopardy.com.

Royal Caribbean is asking you to join the ‘Nation of Why Not’, by offering activities that other cruise ships do not such as onboard surfing and rock-climbing walls.

Instead of asking ‘can I?’ citizens of the Nation of Why Not already know that with 21 ships covering 361,000,000 kilometers of ocean terrain, Royal Caribbean is almost its own independent country where anything goes.

With its highly interactive Nation of Why Not website , potential citizens of the Royal Caribbean nation are invited to learn how to say ‘why not’ in 24 languages, learn about their wildlife, holidays or to explore cool activities like ice skating.

And if you’d like to book a cruise on Royal Caribbean, you can do that, too.

Couchsurfing is a simple travel concept – it’s a network of people from around the world that have one thing in common besides the desire to travel.  That’s the desire to travel for free.

Located in Berkeley, CA, this non-profit organization has been helping people connect worldwide through the CouchSurfing website.  It’s free to use – simply join by creating a user profile, decide when and where you’d like to travel, do a search for other members in that area, and “request to CouchSurf” with those members of interest. 

How you choose to CouchSurf is up to you.  You can request accommodation or simply meet for a drink or coffee at the destination of your choice, plus you can host a similar encounter in your neck of the woods to others.  There is no pressure to accept or decline a hosting experience.

With over 1 million members in 232 countries worldwide, the majority of CouchSurfers are in Europe which provides a wealth of opportunities for those members in North America to go abroad.  According to CouchSurfing.com, the top 5 CouchSurfing cities are Paris, London, Berlin, Montreal and Vienna with 27 being the average age of travelers.

Already well under way, cities in Australia have already participated in this world wide environmental awareness event.

The idea is to turn off your lights for 1 hour at 8:30 p.m. at your own local time.  So far, the Earth Hour network has a commitment of 2,712 cities in 83 countries in participating in the event. 

In 2007, 2.2 million participated; in 2008 there were 50 million people; the ultimate goal is to have 1 billion people participating worldwide.

The results of 2009’s Earth Hour will be presented to the Global Climate Change Conference being held in Copenhagen this coming December.

You still have time!  Pass this along to your friends and let’s all do our part!

Holland America Line (HAL) has just released special fares for Canadian residents starting from only $599 CAD for a 7-day Alaska cruise.

This is part of Holland America’s “Vacation Stimulus Plan” where HAL has promised potential cruisers “more cruise, less cash” by offering unprecedented low fares, the suspension of the fuel surcharge, reduced deposits and cancellation protection savings.

If you’re not an Canadian citizen, HAL is still offering great priced on Alaskan cruises, especially for early spring or late fall.  If you’d like to learn more, check out HAL on Facebook, or the HAL blog, or the HAL website.

HAL offers cruises to Alaska, Canada, New England, Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, Europe, Panama Canal, South America and the Caribbean.

Tourism Queensland in Australia is offering a chance for anyone worldwide to apply for the “best job in the world” which consists of being the caretaker for six months of a private island paradise in the Great Barrier Reef.

The winner will live in a multi-million dollar three-bedroom beach front home on Hamilton Island while exploring all that Queensland has to offer: swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, sailing or simply relaxing on the gorgeous white sand beaches while writing the required travel blog.

Plus, the winner will receive $150,000 AUD which is equivalent to approximately $100,000 USD.  And the prize includes return airfare, travel insurance, and access to the internet with computers & digital video.  Entrants must be 18 years old and are required to submit a 60-second video to enter.  Eleven semi-finalists will be flow to Australia where the winner will be chosen.  The contest closes February 22, 2009, and the contract commences July 1, 2009.

What an amazing opportunity!  For more information, check out “The Best Job in the World.”  I’ve heard the website is jammed up but please keep trying for your chance to win this ultimate dream job.

Oh, did I mention that you also need to collect the mail?  This might be the deal breaker for some.

Cheers,

TravelWriter