Imagine traveling on a cruise ship and not having to worry about how many drinks you enjoy.

I read this article from Budget Travel today, and it piqued my interest because the last time we went out a cruise, we couldn’t decide if we should try to sneak on some booze or just pay for the drinks on the ship. We made our final decision when we realized that drinks on the ship were at least $5-$8 each, times two for the both of us, which amounted to about $70 a day in drinks or over $350 for our 5-day cruise. I based this estimate on us having five $7 drinks per day per person, which is not a lot on a cruise. Can you guess which option we went with?

Now, though, it appears as though cruise lines are offering more of an all-inclusive option. Royal Caribbean is the first out of the gate to offer such an alcohol-included package that costs about $310 per person for a week-long cruise. That’s about $45 in drinks a day, assuming the average price of a drink is $7. Not terrible, but still — $620 per couple is a lot of money to spend on alcohol! Maybe it’s just sticker shock; we would have spent over $500 for the both of us in drinks if our cruise had been 7 days, and it wouldn’t have even been unlimited.

I’m sure this type of all-inclusive alcohol program will sell very well, because when most people are on vacation, they do not want to worry about how much they’re paying for things or about keeping track of drinks per day to stay within their budget. Cruises are huge, floating hotels, and anything the cruise ship can do to make the vacation easier for passengers is usually welcome. What would really be cool is if cruise ships allowed people to pay for these packages over many months, so that you’re not hit with one huge bill as you leave the ship. “Thanks for coming, here’s your $600 bill!” Yikes.

Perhaps it is time to retire the sneakiness. Perhaps.

Photo: kansasphoto

Holiday Inn - not exactly home for the holidays

There was a moment when I wondered if this was such a good idea.

The empty dining room felt lonely rather than private and we missed the jostling and shoving that comes from trying to fit too many people at a too small table.  It was odd to place an order instead of spending an entire day juggling cooking times and oven space.  As we waited for a woman we’d never met before to bring us our plates full of turkey and stuffing, we didn’t feel adventurous.  I worried that my family holiday vacation was a sad substitute for a family Thanksgiving feast at home.

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When vacationing on Treasure Island in St. Petersburg, Florida, there are more than enough resort properties on the Gulf of Mexico from which to chose for your family vacation. Finding the best package deal for your family vacation on the Gulf isn’t a challenge, but finding a good hotel special with the amenities like those offered at The Bilmar Beach Resort are hard to come by.

Playground on the beach at Bilmar Beach Resort, St Petersburg, FL

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Halloween Horror Nights Universal Orlando Vacation Package

Each year, Universal Orlando Resort^® hosts the scariest, most frightening Halloween-themed experience in Florida: Halloween Horror Nights^®. It’s so popular, and so entertaining, and so fright-worthy, visitors make it a destination for a vacation in October.

Hundreds of thousands of people will be in Orlando for the 20th annual Halloween Horror Nights^® XX: Twenty Years of Fear* this year. Universal Orlando Resort^® is offering hotel vacation packages to visitors who want to scream their way through the park for three nights of fright.

All three on-site hotels (Loews Portofino Bay, Hard Rock Hotel, and Loews Royal Pacific) are offering packages for visitors. The three night package deal starts at $649 and included round-trip airport transfers, a 2-day Park-to-Park pass including access to Halloween Horror Nights^® XX, 3 nights hotel accommodation at your selected hotel, and hotel tax and service charges.

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