NY Times
FOR years, Linda Graef Jones planned the family ski vacation over Christmas or during Presidents’ Day week, to coincide with her children’s school vacation. That meant paying the usual holiday premiums for airfare and lodging, and dealing with throngs of skiers and snowboarders on the mountain. This year, with both her children in colleges that have longer winter breaks, she is going in January instead.
“January is currently the softest-looking month for cruise pricing of the year,”
“It was a no-brainer,” said Ms. Graef Jones, a sales executive for an insurance brokerage firm in New York. She had a variety of less expensive flights to choose from, she said, and estimates she is saving more than $500 a night on the cost of the condominium. “Lodging was relatively inexpensive,” she said, and without the crowds, “you can ski and get a lot out of your expensive pass.”
Also, she added, “it’s nice to get out of the holiday craziness.”
January may be the best time of year to take a vacation, as passenger traffic drops and resorts, airlines and cruise companies all roll out deals. Yet the start of the year is often overlooked when it comes to vacation planning: families return to school schedules and New Year’s reveling is traded for resolutions of eating in, working out and spending less. And it’s no wonder. People are tired, or broke, or dreading the thought of getting on another plane.
“You could call it vacation fatigue,” said Evan Eggers, president of the cruise vacation site SureCruise.com. But a lot of travelers are missing out. It’s a great time to travel, Mr. Eggers said, “since you’re escaping the cold and getting a killer deal.”
Just how killer? Discounts range from 30 to 50 percent compared with the holidays and other busy travel periods. Hilton Hotels just introduced a January Sale with weekend rates 33 percent off hotels in North and South America. The average domestic airfare for a weeklong trip departing Saturdays in January is $274 round trip, according to Bing Travel, the Microsoft search engine that predicts airfare prices. That’s down from about $447 on average for Christmas week.
January and February also have the fewest airline passengers, according to the Department of Transportation, easing the airport experience. And with fewer crowds, you could have that beach or fresh powder trail all to yourself.
So it’s time to shake off that holiday hangover and plan a trip. But don’t just jump at the first cheap fare that comes your way. Think about what you want to do once you get there in order to find the best destination for your budget. Though Florida beckons with bargains, the water can be chilly in the winter, and temperatures, while warm, tend to hover in the 70s or even lower. So you may want to look farther south to Caribbean cruises. But if pub crawls and hot springs are your thing, Reykjavik may be just the place, with two-night packages, including flights from New York or Boston, from $499 a person at Icelandair.com.
To help you plan your post-holiday escape, here are some of the best bargains for popular winter getaways, whether you’re seeking, sun, snow or a cruise vacation.
Sun lovers: It’s high-season for cold-weather getaways like Hawaii cruises and the Caribbean, where warm sands beckon sun worshipers, and discounts tend to be scarce. But it’s still a heck of a lot cheaper than it was over Christmas. And some resorts are offering extra incentives to fill rooms in January. The Reef Resort on Grand Cayman has Summer in January rates from $230 a night, down from $325. On Nevis, Nisbet Plantation Beach Club is offering seven nights for the price of six with its January Thaw package. The deal starts at $3,750 based on double occupancy — $630 less than a similar package over the holidays — and includes daily breakfast, afternoon tea and dinner.
Hawaii’s deals may soon dry up as Alaska, Continental, Delta and Hawaiian Airlines add flights next year, bringing more visitors. So strike now to nab a bargain like $135 a night with breakfast at the Hotel Renew, half a block from Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. On the Kohala Coast, Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, normally $600 a night, has rooms from $450 with a fourth night free.
Deal seekers may get the most bang for their buck from Mexico cruises, which are still offering discounts to win back visitors scared off by reports of Mexican gang and drug violence and the H1N1 outbreak earlier this year. Fares are about 40 percent less to Cancún in January on average compared with the December holidays, 34 percent less to Puerto Vallarta and 30 percent less to San Jose del Cabo, according to Kayak.com.
Occidental Hotels & Resorts, which has six all-inclusive properties in Mexico, is running a winter sale with rates starting at $81 a person a night at the Allegro Nuevo Vallarta, north of Puerto Vallarta, for travel beginning Jan. 4.
Snowhounds: The snow is falling and so are prices at ski resorts this January. Four nights and three-day lift tickets at the Village at Squaw Valley near Truckee, Calif., start at $828 a person, according to Ski.com, down from $1,115 a person last January and $1,383 a person in December. Bachelor Gulch Village in Beaver Creek, Colo., is offering 25 percent off lodging, a $50 resort credit and three-day lift tickets for the price of two, bringing four nights in a two-bedroom with three days on the mountain to $642 a person when four people share a room. Last January a similar package was $868 and didn’t include resort credits or the lift-ticket special.
Vancouver may seem out of reach as it readies itself for the 2010 Winter Olympics in February. But it’s cheap if you go now. “Visitors assume the host city is busy in the months leading up to the Olympics,” said Emily Armstrong, a spokeswoman for Tourism Vancouver. “We’re not.”
For less than $400 a person, skiers can fly round trip to Vancouver from San Francisco or Denver and stay two nights at the Fairmont Hotel with United Vacations, Jan. 11 to 28, according to Travelzoo.com, and hit the local ski slopes at Grouse Mountain, Cypress and Mount Seymour.
Cruisers: “January is currently the softest-looking month for cruise pricing of the year,” said Evan Eggers of SureCruise.com. The average price of a seven-night cruise on major lines such as Princess Cruises is about $600 a person, he said, compared with $900 in December.
Some cruise lines have adopted airline-style yield-management strategies and are now changing prices multiple times a day, according to Mr. Eggers. Travelers can check for such rate cuts by clicking on Price Cut Tattletale at SureCruise.com and sorting by date, line or region. There was a 7-night Western Caribbean cruise from Galveston, Tex., starting at $420 a person (down from $2,033) on Royal Caribbean Cruises, for example, in a recent search for January; a $650 a person (down from $2,464) 14-night Amazon River cruise from Manaus Brazil to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Princess; and a $300 (down from $2,599) seven-night Hawaii cruise on Norwegian.
Another site for spotting deals is CruiseMarketplace.com. And if all you want is a diversion, consider Norwegian’s one-night sail to nowhere on the Norwegian Gem, from just $159 a person. It departs New York on Jan. 2 and 23, cruising about seven miles out to sea so it can open the casino and duty-free shops, and then returns to its starting point.
Also, she added, “it’s nice to get out of the holiday craziness.”
January may be the best time of year to take a vacation, as passenger traffic drops and resorts, airlines and cruise companies all roll out deals. Yet the start of the year is often overlooked when it comes to vacation planning: families return to school schedules and New Year’s reveling is traded for resolutions of eating in, working out and spending less. And it’s no wonder. People are tired, or broke, or dreading the thought of getting on another plane.
“You could call it vacation fatigue,” said Evan Eggers, president of the cruise vacation site SureCruise.com. But a lot of travelers are missing out. It’s a great time to travel, Mr. Eggers said, “since you’re escaping the cold and getting a killer deal.”
Just how killer? Discounts range from 30 to 50 percent compared with the holidays and other busy travel periods. Hilton Hotels just introduced a January Sale with weekend rates 33 percent off hotels in North and South America. The average domestic airfare for a weeklong trip departing Saturdays in January is $274 round trip, according to Bing Travel, the Microsoft search engine that predicts airfare prices. That’s down from about $447 on average for Christmas week.
January and February also have the fewest airline passengers, according to the Department of Transportation, easing the airport experience. And with fewer crowds, you could have that beach or fresh powder trail all to yourself.
So it’s time to shake off that holiday hangover and plan a trip. But don’t just jump at the first cheap fare that comes your way. Think about what you want to do once you get there in order to find the best destination for your budget. Though Florida beckons with bargains, the water can be chilly in the winter, and temperatures, while warm, tend to hover in the 70s or even lower. So you may want to look farther south to Caribbean cruises. But if pub crawls and hot springs are your thing, Reykjavik may be just the place, with two-night packages, including flights from New York or Boston, from $499 a person at Icelandair.com.
To help you plan your post-holiday escape, here are some of the best bargains for popular winter getaways, whether you’re seeking, sun, snow or a cruise vacation.
Sun lovers: It’s high-season for cold-weather getaways like Hawaii cruises and the Caribbean, where warm sands beckon sun worshipers, and discounts tend to be scarce. But it’s still a heck of a lot cheaper than it was over Christmas. And some resorts are offering extra incentives to fill rooms in January. The Reef Resort on Grand Cayman has Summer in January rates from $230 a night, down from $325. On Nevis, Nisbet Plantation Beach Club is offering seven nights for the price of six with its January Thaw package. The deal starts at $3,750 based on double occupancy — $630 less than a similar package over the holidays — and includes daily breakfast, afternoon tea and dinner.
Hawaii’s deals may soon dry up as Alaska, Continental, Delta and Hawaiian Airlines add flights next year, bringing more visitors. So strike now to nab a bargain like $135 a night with breakfast at the Hotel Renew, half a block from Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. On the Kohala Coast, Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, normally $600 a night, has rooms from $450 with a fourth night free.
Deal seekers may get the most bang for their buck from Mexico cruises, which are still offering discounts to win back visitors scared off by reports of Mexican gang and drug violence and the H1N1 outbreak earlier this year. Fares are about 40 percent less to Cancún in January on average compared with the December holidays, 34 percent less to Puerto Vallarta and 30 percent less to San Jose del Cabo, according to Kayak.com.
Occidental Hotels & Resorts, which has six all-inclusive properties in Mexico, is running a winter sale with rates starting at $81 a person a night at the Allegro Nuevo Vallarta, north of Puerto Vallarta, for travel beginning Jan. 4.
Snowhounds: The snow is falling and so are prices at ski resorts this January. Four nights and three-day lift tickets at the Village at Squaw Valley near Truckee, Calif., start at $828 a person, according to Ski.com, down from $1,115 a person last January and $1,383 a person in December. Bachelor Gulch Village in Beaver Creek, Colo., is offering 25 percent off lodging, a $50 resort credit and three-day lift tickets for the price of two, bringing four nights in a two-bedroom with three days on the mountain to $642 a person when four people share a room. Last January a similar package was $868 and didn’t include resort credits or the lift-ticket special.
Vancouver may seem out of reach as it readies itself for the 2010 Winter Olympics in February. But it’s cheap if you go now. “Visitors assume the host city is busy in the months leading up to the Olympics,” said Emily Armstrong, a spokeswoman for Tourism Vancouver. “We’re not.”
For less than $400 a person, skiers can fly round trip to Vancouver from San Francisco or Denver and stay two nights at the Fairmont Hotel with United Vacations, Jan. 11 to 28, according to Travelzoo.com, and hit the local ski slopes at Grouse Mountain, Cypress and Mount Seymour.
Cruisers: “January is currently the softest-looking month for cruise pricing of the year,” said Evan Eggers of SureCruise.com. The average price of a seven-night cruise on major lines such as Princess Cruises is about $600 a person, he said, compared with $900 in December.
Some cruise lines have adopted airline-style yield-management strategies and are now changing prices multiple times a day, according to Mr. Eggers. Travelers can check for such rate cuts by clicking on Price Cut Tattletale at SureCruise.com and sorting by date, line or region. There was a 7-night Western Caribbean cruise from Galveston, Tex., starting at $420 a person (down from $2,033) on Royal Caribbean Cruises, for example, in a recent search for January; a $650 a person (down from $2,464) 14-night Amazon River cruise from Manaus Brazil to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Princess; and a $300 (down from $2,599) seven-night Hawaii cruise on Norwegian.
Another site for spotting deals is CruiseMarketplace.com. And if all you want is a diversion, consider Norwegian’s one-night sail to nowhere on the Norwegian Gem, from just $159 a person. It departs New York on Jan. 2 and 23, cruising about seven miles out to sea so it can open the casino and duty-free shops, and then returns to its starting point.
