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Tags: Travel Deals / Cruises / Cruise Travel / Bahamas Travel / → All Tags

Tis The Season To Start Booking Bahamas Cruises for $99

If you're looking for a cheap, quickie getaway, do it up right and go tropical. Set sail on a two-night cruise to the Bahamas for only $99. To make it a weekend-long trip, you can sail away on a three-night cruise for $149. Travelzoo is offering the two cruise deals through Dec. 22 for all you snowbirds and those who just plain hate raking up autumn leaves.

Nassau is the island destination for both round-trip cruises, and rest assured there will be a number of Nassau shore excursions to take advantage of those crazy-clear blue waters, including the Atlantis water park, snorkeling with tropical fish above the coral reefs and taking glass-bottom boat tours. When you board the MS Bahamas Celebration, run by Celebration Cruise Line—oh yea this is totally a party cruise—all meals and entertainment are included. This new cruise line features four restaurants, a two-deck nightclub, a casino, a full-service spa and two pools.

The two-night trips depart from Fort Lauderdale on Mondays and Wednesdays, while the three-nighters leave on Fridays. To snag this deal, you have to book it by calling (800) 314-5527 and mentioning Travelzoo.

Related Stories:
· Lower-Upper-Middle-Class Cruisers Aghast at Influx of Unwashed Masses [Jaunted]
· Pink Floyd Cruise Wishes You Were Here [Jaunted]

[Photo: bryce_edwards]

Tags: Animal Travel / Animals / Pigs / Beaches / Beach Travel / Caribbean Travel / → All Tags

Caribbean Beach Overrun by Family of Cute Pigs

I like animals as much as the next guy, but I'm not sure I'd be thrilled about swimming with pigs. It would be impossible not to think about that scene from Y tu mamá también where the porcine invaders befoul a tent that the protagonists had pitched on a remote beach, rendering it uninhabitable. But if you've never seen the film and you're not particularly bothered by pig shit, then make a beeline for Big Major Spot Island in the Bahamas. There, on aptly-named Pig Beach, a family of cute piggies frolics and swims with tourists, hamming it up (sorry) for the cameras and generally proving that they're just as smart as dogs and twice as funny. The brown and pink boars and piglets are known as the famous Swimming Pigs of the Exumas, and they've been an island fixture for generations, rooting around in the underbrush and living off scraps fed to them by passing boaters. You won't see me there, though, as I'm skeeved enough by the water quality of non-pig beaches.

[Photo: worldmaxtravel.com]

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· Never Mind Swine Flu, These Pigs are Swimming in the Bahamas [worldmaxtravel.com]
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Tags: Volunteer Travel / Laid-Off Travel / Earthwatch / Bahamas Travel / → All Tags

Save The Planet and Work on Your Tan At The Same Time

Volunteer vacations promise to be one of 2009’s biggest travel trends as more people are looking for opportunities to give back. They can also provide the nearly 2.6 million recently unemployed a way to learn new skills and build up that resume.

The Earthwatch Institute is just one organization supporting scientific field research by bringing together scientists, teachers, students, and everyday citizens to create research teams around the world. These teams actively contribute to protecting the environment by gathering much needed data about our ever-changing world.

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Tags: Cruising with Celebs / Cruises / Music Cruises / Pink Floyd / → All Tags

Pink Floyd Cruise Wishes You Were Here

Is John Mayer's Mayercraft cruise not your type of scene on the high seas? Then you might be interested in the Pink Floyd Themed Cruise: Great Gig in the Sea traveling to the Bahamas featuring a Pink Floyd tribute band of course.

This one-of-a-kind voyage will feature the music of Think Floyd USA: The American Pink Floyd Show, and will celebrate material from Pink Floyd’s earliest days through the present. Think Floyd USA will take listeners on a musical and visual flight through the Pink Floyd galaxy performing all of Pink Floyd’s classic hits from legendary albums such as Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and the all time classic, The Wall.

The cruise sets sails on May 1 from the Port of Miami and lasts for three hazy days, disembarking in Nassau, Bahamas.

Pink Floyd fans will be sailing on Carnival Cruise's Imagination, which features a 24-hour pizzeria (for late night munchies), a late-night bistro, a full gambling casino, spa, nine-hole mini-golf course, water-spray park, pools and an adults-only retreat.

An inside cabin starts at $389; that includes all meals and non-alcoholic drinks. Go here for more pricing info and to make your reservations. Or hit up this dude who wants a roommate for the cruise. Don't forget to bring your copy of The Wizard of Oz.

Related Stories:
· Pink Floyd Themed Cruise [Great Gig in the Sea]
· Cruising With John Mayer, Only On EBay [Jaunted]

Tags: Andros Field Trip / Islands / Diving / Sharks / → All Tags

Cage-Free Swimming With Sharks

Lost Girl Jennifer Baggett continues her Andros Field Trip...

I was standing on the edge of a pontoon boat as a dozen Caribbean reef sharks circled below, watching, waiting, ready to feast. I popped my regulator into my mouth, adjusted my mask and lept fin first into the killer fish-infested waters.

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Tags: Andros Field Trip / Islands / Biking / → All Tags

Captain Bill’s Wild Blue Hole Ride

Lost Girl Jennifer Baggett continues her Andros Field Trip...

It was the sixth day of my week-long Andros Island vacation when I realized that I had yet to set even one (bare) foot outside the 100 yard beach radius surrounding Small Hope Bay Lodge. Between all the amazing scuba diving trips, an abundance of hammocks and a self-serve beach bar, there wasn't a whole lot of incentive to leave . But considering there were miles of uninhabited and virtually untouched wilderness just beyond the lodge's borders, I figured a little DIY exploration was in order.

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Mythical Creatures Of Andros

Lost Girl Jennifer Baggett continues her Andros Field Trip...

The Loch Ness Monster, Big Foot, The Abominable Snowman. Until a recent trip to the Bahamas, I thought I had all my legendary monster bases pretty much covered. That was before I landed on Andros and started hearing the names Chickcharney and Lusca thrown around in casual conversation. Apparently there were a few mythical creatures my school teachers neglected to mention.

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Tags: Andros Field Trip / Fishing / Islands / → All Tags

The Great Bonefish Debate

Lost Girl Jennifer Baggett continues her Andros Field Trip...

With a little time to kill in the Nassau airport before we hopped a puddle jumper to Andros Island, my travel buddy Mark and I had decided a little "Welcome to the Bahamas" drink was in order. So we pulled up a few bar stools at Marshall's--it's in the domestic terminal--and ordered our first of many island rums. It was Marshall, the delightfully friendly owner, himself who poured our drinks before asking us to fill out his NFL fantasy football card. Since I’m pretty much a college-ball only gal (Go Seminoles!), I can only hope I didn’t lose too much money for poor Marshall that day. But I digress!

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Tags: Andros Field Trip / Diving / Island / → All Tags

The Great Wall (Dive) Of Andros

Lost Girl Jennifer Baggett continues her Andros Field Trip...

I’ve hurled myself out of a plane in Switzerland, repelled down rock walls in Ecuador and conquered three bungee jumps in a row in New Zealand. But those were mere child’s play compared to my most adrenaline-inducing endeavor: Diving to a staggering 185 feet below sea level in the Bahamas!

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Tags: Andros Field Trip / Islands / Batik / Shopping / → All Tags

The Art Of Androsia

Lost Girl Jennifer Baggett continues her Andros Field Trip...

You’ve seen them used as beach blankets. You’ve watched women tie them around their bikini-clad waists. Perhaps your college roommate even used one as a wall hanging. Give up? The answer is batik.

I’m slightly embarrassed to admit this, but if you’d asked me what batik was before my recent visit to Andros Island in the Bahamas, my top three guesses probably would have been:

1) Exotic hard wood used to make furniture. Boring!

2) Stiff sugarcane rum. Much better!

3) An indigenous plant with hallucinogenic properties. Um... no comment!

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Tags: Andros Field Trip / Islands / Diving / → All Tags

Journey Into The Great Blue Hole

Lost Girl Jennifer Baggett just got back from diving in The Bahamas, and this week, she'll have a full report on the shark-seeing, rum and mythical creatures that make the islands worth visiting.

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Tags: Andros Field Trip / Islands / Diving / → All Tags

Masters Of The Andros Island Dive Universe

Lost Girl Jennifer Baggett just got back from diving in The Bahamas, and this week, she'll have a full report on the shark-seeing, rum and mythical creatures that make the islands worth visiting.

Before you (scuba) dive headfirst into the third longest reef system in the world (and second largest in the Atlantic Ocean), you’re gonna want to call in the professionals. So that’s exactly what I did on my recent getaway to the Small Hope Bay Lodge on Andros.

Check out my video interview with my two favorite dive masters, Amanda Lee and Loren Kearney, for an insider's take on diving the 142-mile long Andros Barrier Reef and all the bad-ass sites that make Small Hope a scuba diver’s paradise!

Related Stories:
· Bahamas Travel coverage [Jaunted]