Group Travel News
Houston Museum to Display Faberge Treasures
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:37:53 -0600
The Houston Museum of Natural Science presents Faberge: Imperial Jeweler to the Tsars through April 4, 2010. Featured are the imperial Easter eggs and other luxury objects created for the Russian royal family by the House of Faberge.Included are personal gifts to the tsar and tsarina, an extravagant tiara, a magnificent "fire-screen" picture frame, and the famed Nobel Ice Egg, one of the few imperial eggs in private hands. Jewelry, clocks, picture frames, boxes and eggs in this collection exemplify extraordinary materials and workmanship. In recent years, the McFerrin Collection has become one of the world's most important private collections of Fabergé. While many of the pieces in this collection have been featured individually in other exhibitions and publications over the past 60 years, this event marks the first time that the McFerrin Collection has been presented for public display. (713-639-4629, www.hmns.org)
Read Full Article
Princess Cruises Offers Alaska Expert Courses for Agents
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:28:08 -0600
Princess Cruises’ new Alaska Expert certification program from Princess Academy is an extensive online training program offering travel agents in-depth information on Princess cruisetours and the best way to plan a client’s Alaska vacation. By completing the Alaska Expert four-course unit, agents are eligible for a number of special Alaska features, including bonus commission coupons and the chance to win an Alaska cruisetour. Agents become a Princess Alaska Expert after completing these four courses: Voyage of the Glaciers – A detailed look at this itinerary, which is a staple of every Princess cruisetour. The course offers information about the route, which features the state’s most popular ports, plus the magnificent Glacier Bay National Park. Agents will learn about shore excursions and Princess’ variety of onboard programs just for Alaska. Alaska Cruisetours 101 – A day-by-day examination of one of the line’s most popular cruisetour itineraries (number BB4) to give agents an in-depth understanding of this type of vacation. Agents will learn about the Denali National Park region, Princess’ wilderness lodge experience, dining choices, land excursions and other ways passengers can spend their time at the lodges. Specialty Alaska Cruisetours – This course details two Princess cruisetours to off-the-beaten-path areas of Alaska not typically visited by other cruise lines. Agents will learn about itineraries to the Kenai and Copper River areas, with specifics about Princess’ wilderness lodges in these regions and the unique features found in each location. Selling Tips for Alaska – Agents can learn from Princess’ 40 years of operation in Alaska with tips and strategies to leverage the line’s expertise in the region to grow their business in the profitable cruisetour market. When agents complete the Princess Alaska Expert program, they earn a certificate of completion, a Princess Alaska Expert Sales Kit, opportunity for incremental co-op money to promote Alaska, two Bonus Commission Coupons worth $50 each and the opportunity to win one of three Alaska cruisetour vacations. Additional information about Princess is available through the line’s online travel agent center at www.onesourcecruises.com. To contact the travel agent customer service department, call 800-421-1700.
Read Full Article
Giglio Travel Offers Tuscany Fam Trip in March
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:19:02 -0600
Giglio Travel US offers a nine-day "Tuscan Adventure" fam trip from March 17-25. It spends two nights in Florence, followed by five nights in a family-run Tuscan farmhouse that has provided country hospitality for over 20 years. Only a short distance from the well-preserved hilltop town of San Gimignano, this Agriturismo continues to produce its own wine. Included are tours to the Chianti region for wine tasting and visits to Siena, Vinci, Pienza, Montalcino, Volterra, Greve and Monteroegione. Tour members will have ample time to visit San Gimignano on their own. The Agriturismo stay includes daily breakfast and dinner. Each bedroom has its own bathroom. Agent cost is $999, companion $1,189. (727-289-8601, www.gigliotravelus.net)
Read Full Article
Columbia, Snake Rver Cruises Set for 2010
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:49:37 -0600
Starting in the summer of 2010, American Cruise Lines will operate seven-night Columbia and Snake River itineraries aboard the recently acquired Queen of the West. The 120-passenger, U.S.-flagged cruise ship is the only authentic paddlewheel, overnight passenger vessel operating in North America. In early 2010 American Cruise Lines plans to announce plans for further expansion on the West Coast. Several different itineraries will depart from Portland, Ore., and Clarkston, Wash. Stops along the route will include the Columbia River Gorge, Multonomah Falls, Mt. St. Helen’s, The Dalles, Hells Canyon and Astoria. Passengers can look forward to a few modifications to the ship, including a number of larger staterooms and a decrease in passenger capacity, allowing for an even higher level of personal service from the all-American crew. (800-814-6880, www.americancruiselines.com)
Read Full Article
Illinois Park Lodge Offers Eagle Watching, Other Tours
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:18:46 -0600
The stately eagle steals the show this winter on Bald Eagle Trolley Tours offered by Starved Rock Lodge at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, Ill.Tours are available on Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday in January and February, except Jan. 23-24, when the Illinois Audubon Society hosts its Eagle Watch Weekend. Visitors ride the trolley to the Illinois Waterway Visitor Center for eagle viewing and an educational program. The tour ($24 or $29 for adults) includes lunch during the week and brunch on Sunday in the lodge’s Main Dining Room. Visitors are encouraged to bring binoculars, spotting scopes and cameras. For reservations, call 800-868-7625, ext. 386; www.starvedrocklodge.com)Narrated trolley tours of the Starved Rock/Utica area are offered on Sundays from March through December. Visitors board a trolley outside of the lodge and enjoy a historic trolley ride with stops at the Starved Rock State Park Visitor Center, where a short video of the area is shown. The tour continues to the Illinois Waterway Visitor Center for views of Starved Rock from across the river and river traffic going through the locks. The trolley also visits the village of Utica, which grew up on the Illinois and Michigan Canal. For information, call 815-220-7386.The lodge’s newest history tour, a canal boat-trolley combo, starts with a lunch buffet, followed by a trolley ride to the park’s Visitor Center and to the New Canal Boat in LaSalle. Interpreters in period dress provide narration on this one-hour, mule-pulled boat ride. The tour ($35 adults) also includes a stop at the Lock 16 Visitor Center. Also available are Illinois River cruises on the Belle of the Rock paddlewheeler. On Fridays in March and April, Starved Rock Lodge offers three-hour wine and shopping trolley tours, which include a wine tasting at August Hill Winery and a tour of Illinois River Winery. Cost is $17.On selected dates throughout the year, The Legacy Girls perform an Andrews Sisters tribute with music from the 1930s and ’40s and another show with songs from the ’50s and ’60s. The programs ($30) include a buffet lunch in the lodge’s Great Hall.
Read Full Article
Collette to Debut California/Vegas Tour
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:10:42 -0600
Collette Vacations introduces a new tour in the lineup for 2010-2011, “A Southern California & Vegas Adventure.” The tour, premiering in May 2010, includes three nights in San Diego, with a guided city tour, lunch at the famous Hotel del Coronado, a 4WD exploration of the steep-walled canyons carved by the San Andreas Fault, a day at an old mining camp complete with cowboy entertainment and a BBQ dinner, and a wine tasting at a winery. A three-night Palm Springs stay includes a World War II veteran docent-guided tour of the Palm Springs Air Museum. Guests stay two nights at Planet Hollywood in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip and enjoy a full day at leisure. “California & Vegas Adventure” (from $1,799 per person, double occupancy, land only) includes 12 meals. (www.collettevacations.com)
Read Full Article
Israel Tourism Reaches All-Time High
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:24:05 -0600
Tourism to Israel hit an all-time high of 333,000 travelers in the month of October, a 9% increase from the same period last year, which was the previous record-high for travel to Israel. Also, Israel saw a 20% increase in cruise travel with 23,500 tourists arriving on cruise ships, and a 6% increase in the number of tourists who visited Israel and stayed for a minimum of one night compared with October 2008."We are thrilled to see such a large increase in travelers to Israel in October 2009 during this important tourist time," says Arie Sommer, commissioner of tourism, North and South America. "And we are encouraged by signs that the trend will continue throughout the December holiday season, bringing us a robust end to 2009."A total of 1,068,121 travelers passed through Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv this October, a 1.5% increase compared to the same period last year.(www.goisrael.com)
Read Full Article
Pittsburgh Penguins to Welcome New Consol Energy Center
Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:33:39 -0600
The Pittsburgh Penguins NHL hockey team will have a new home when the $321-million Consol Energy Center opens in August 2010. The arena, named after the largest producer of bituminous coal, will include a full-service restaurant, public bars and a food court on both the main and upper-level concourses, five retail shops and an enclosed bridge connected to a new parking garage. The building also will be home to concerts, circuses, stage shows and sporting events such as college basketball tournaments, indoor soccer and tennis. The replacement for the current Mellon Arena (built in 1961) will be the first LEED-certified National Hockey League arena in the country. (www.penguins.nhl.com)
Read Full Article
Baltimore Museum of Art Awaits Groundbreaking Exhibition
Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:26:04 -0600
The Baltimore Museum of Art’s groundbreaking exhibition Cezanne and American Modernism (Feb. 14-May 23, 2010) is the first to explore how Cézanne transformed modern art in America. The show features 16 paintings and watercolors by the French master alongside a wide range of works by more than 30 American artists, from Marsden Hartley and Maurice Prendergast to Alfred Stieglitz and Man Ray. (www.artbma.org)
Read Full Article
Downtown Pittsburgh to Welcome New Entertainment Venue
Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:18:25 -0600
On the Allegheny River in downtown Pittsburgh, The North Shore, a $1.1-billion, mixed-use development surrounding PNC Park and Heinz Field, will soon include an entertainment venue. The $12-million, 5,500-seat indoor/outdoor concert complex with a two-sided stage will open in summer 2010 next to Heinz Field and is expected to handle up to 100 concerts in the first year. The North Shore includes retail, restaurants and offices, with plans for three hotels. (www.northshoredr.com)
Read Full Article
Take advantage of our cutting edge group hotel booking forum for group discounts and special incentives customized for your group. Our network of group hotel sales managers will ensure you get the best group hotels rates for your business meeting, conference, wedding, reunion, religious or sports team travel.
