Holiday Insurance

Arthur Frommer's 20 best bargain vacations Toronto Star

14.06.10

I’ve updated this most current list of my bargain selections primarily by adding the prices for September departures to several of the packages I’ve listed. Generally speaking, September prices decline to the tropics (because of the public’s fear of hurricanes) and trans-Atlantic (because the high-summer season is over). But the mathematical possibility of encountering a hurricane is slight, and a great many savvy travellers take advantage of September sales to enjoy a lower-cost vacation. Here is the currently valid list:

1. Cruising Elegance: $799 per person for a veranda cabin aboard the Celebrity Solstice, making seven-night sailings of the Caribbean all throughout September and October. When Royal Caribbean Cruises announced it would sell balcony cabins aboard its Celebrity Solstice for only $799 per person (for one-week cruises of the Caribbean), the news was somewhat startling. The Celebrity Solstice was launched less than two years ago to unprecedented acclaim. The big ship (2,800 passengers) was designed to provide an unusual degree of comfort and space, and $799 was a very low price for such quality. Now a major cruise discounter, Online Vacation Center (phone: 800-329-9002), has gone even further. It is selling veranda cabins — that is, cabins with a full outside balcony — for seven-night cruises of the eastern and western Caribbean (alternate weeks for each) leaving Fort Lauderdale, Fla., throughout September and October, for the same $799 per person.

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