Where To Find Vacation Deals Right Now

     Summer has officially begun and there are still many people who haven't decided where they want to vacation. A big part of their procrastination is the economy. Vacations are expensive. When people are cutting back on expenditures, the vacation is usually one of the first things to go. But I have found five great vacations that are not very expensive and will help you get away with your family, your friends or just by yourself.

1) The Caribbean - I know it may sound silly to take a trip to the sunny and warm Caribbean when it's summer where you live. But the Caribbean is never 100 degrees and, even though beaches along the Jersey Shore, Long Island, Cape Cod and California are beautiful, the water is never as warm as it is down south.

a) Dominican Republic - Some of the best vacation deals right now, for all-inclusive resorts are in the Dominican Republic. Santo Domingo is probably not where you want to vacation. Santo Domingo, for th emost part is just a large, corwded city and it's not very photogenic. You want to go to other areas on the island. The beaches and hotels in Punta Cana, Puerto Plata, La Cieba, Samana and La Romana are beautiful. One of the best web sites to find Dominican Republic deals is Cheap Caribbean.com I have found vacation packages for as little as $549 for five nights at an all-inclusive resort with airfare from Fort Lauderdale. Airfare may be slightly higher from other cities.

                                         One of the beautiful beaches in Puerto Plata

   Dominican Republic Vacation Deals:

     1) La Romana 
     2) Puerto Plata
     3) Punta Cana
     4) Samana

2) Cancun - I know many people are scared to travel to Mexico due to the extreme violence that has been going on across the border. But there is one place in Mexico where tourists are still safe and the deals are incredible. Cancun is one of the most beautiful destinations of Mexico and if you are looking for a great beach vacation, or if you would like to party all night long, this is a great, inexpensive vacation for you. Once again, Cheapcaribbean.com is a great place to find the deals. Here are some of the best vacation deals to Cancun and Riviera Maya. Cancun Vacation Deals. I have seen deals to Cancun at beautiful all-inclusive resorts for as little as $659 for four nights, including airfare.

                                                  The white-sand beaches of Cancun

Another great web site for deals to Mexico is TravelbyJen. I don't know who Jen is but she has deals to Cancun and Riviera Maya that amaze me. Take a look at this deal for a romantic, adults-only vacation where all your food, airfare and taxes are included for 5 nights. You also get your own suite with a private jacuzzi. It's $999 for 5 nights, including airfare. Romantic All-inclusive Getaway

Take a look at the video we did in Cancun. There's more than just the beach. Travel TV in Cancun, Mexico

3) Ireland - If you don't think you can get a vacation together this summer, think about the fall. One of my favorite web sites for finding great deals to Ireland is Sceptre Tours. They have deals to Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom. Some of the best deals I have seen are to Ireland. Sceptre Tours caught my attention when they were selling a 7 night vacation to Dublin, with a room at the Ritz Carlton, car rental and airfare from New York for only $889 per person. They always have amazing deals.

                                                            A picturesque Irish town

4) Hawaii - One of the best times to travel to Hawaii and get great deals is at the end of the summer and just after Labor Day. Hawaii is never cheap but there are places where you can find much better deals than what you will see on Expedia.com or the major travel web sites. I found a great web site called Save On Aloha. The site has severely discounted rates at hotels on all the islands of Hawaii. I found this site while I was planning a trip to Hawaii. When I was looking for hotels on Maui, I wanted to stay at the Fairmont Kea Lani. The price on Expedia for 5 nights, with nothing else was $2939.56. The same room, with breakfast on Save On Aloha was $1532. That's a savings of $1407.56. Guess where I booked.

                                                   Waikiki Beach on the island of Oahu

5) Cruises - I love to cruise. Cruises are one of the best values for a vacation, since you pay for the cruise and all your food is included. Of course, you will need extra money for alcohol and shore excursions. In the summer, cruises are deeply discounted. As we get into hurricane season, especially in September, October and November, you can find great deals because most people are afraid to cruise during hurricane season. There is no reason to be afraid. If you cruise gets cancelled the cruise line will reschedule you or refund your money. Cruise ships never go through storms. In fact they avoid them by hundreds of miles. I took a cruise last year where we were diverted due to a hurricane. Instead of going to the Western Caribbean, we went to the Eastern Caribbean. No big deal at all. One of the best deals on cruises is through Cruise.com. I found some cruises for as little as $449 per person and that was for a balcony stateroom. My favorite cruise lines are Celebrity, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Princess. If you like Carnival, you can find cruises for even less. Another great cruise web site is Cruise Compete. This site gets travel agents to compete for your business, so you end up with the best price. It's free to use. Holland America is having a sale right now on cruises to Europe and Alaska. You can see the deals here. Travel News & Deals

You can see the video we did on board the Celebrity Solstice Class ships here - Celebrity Solstice Class Ships

I hope you will bookmark our web site at Travel News & Deals We update great vacation deals every day and, if you register on the site, you can be eligible to win FREE vacations. Please become our Facebook fan as well. Just click on this link and like us. Travel News & Deals Facebook Fan Page Happy travels everyone!

Phishing Scam Targets Summer Travelers

      I always thought computer hackers had to be smart. But after receiving an email that said it was from Delta Air Lines, I learned that many computer hackers are just plain dumb.

      Still, millions of people have their personal information stolen and end up with viruses on their computers because they think these emails are real and they click on the link to see more information. It's called a phishing scam.

     Wikipedia defines a phishing scam as "a way of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Basically, someone sends you an email that looks like the real deal. They are hoping you will bite, thus the term phishing.

      The email I received on June 19, 2012 had a subject line that read, "Your ticket." The address it came from was information@delta.com. Since I travel all the time, that was enough for me to open the email and look into it more. This is when people behind this email phishing scam lost me as a potential victim.

      The email I received, claiming to be from Delta Airlines. This is not what a confirmation from Delta looks like.


     They lost me as a potential victim because the email didn't look anything like a real Delta Air Line's itinerary or confirmation email you receive after you book a flight. You may be wondering, why would anyone even look at this email if they are not flying with Delta? They probably wouldn't but during the busy summer travel season, the people behind this scam are hoping that they get inside a few in boxes of travelers who did book reservations with Delta.

     These travelers may think that Delta is notifying them about something or they may think Delta is sending them a receipt. They may also think it's a mistake and get alarmed when they see a line inside the email confirming their credit card paytment to Delta. This is when some of those potential victims actually become victims.

    Attached to the email is a "zip" file that says, "Ticket_Delta-Air_Lines. The scammers are hoping you will click on the "zip" to download the ticket and view it. Delta Air Lines tells us they have received complaints about this phishing scam and warn people if you click on the link, a virus could be downloaded to your computer or your personal information could be stolen.

       The top portion of a real Delta confirmation. Notice the Delta logo and bar code

The bottom portion of a real Delta email confirmation.

     I have posted two images above showing what a real Delta confirmation looks like. When Delta sends you an email, it usually comes from an email address called - "DeltaElectronicTicketReceipt@delta.com." There is always a confirmation number, a ticket number and the subject line of the email usually looks something like this: "Joel C FT LAUDERDALE 18JAN07" That subject line displays part of your name, the city you are departing from and the date of your trip.

     In the phishing email I received, the subject line just said, "Your ticket." Once I opened the email, it displayed a very elementary-looking itinerary, that listed a few key terms like "Number of bags" and my seat and phony ticket numbers.

     The question now is did these email scammers get our email addresses from data they stole from Delta Air Lines or is this just a mass email sent out to millions of people. My email appears to be a part of a mass email. I was one of several people listed as recipients.

     In a written statement to us, Delta Says, "because Delta is not the source of the fraudulent email, we cannot speculate on how the addresses were obtained or how many emails were sent. Delta’s information security team is continuing to monitor the situation and have confirmed that no customer data was compromised."

     Even though Delta says in their statement that no customer data was compromised, the airline goes on to say, "we recommend you change your SkyMiles account PIN immediately and monitor your account for any misuse."

     The bottom line is this was a very badly put together phishing scam that probably didn't hurt too many computers. But every phishing scam catches some victims. In a case like this, where hundreds of thousands of phony emails may have been sent out, some people had to fall for it and that is exactly what these scammers are hoping for. For them, even hooking one "phish" is a catch.

    

What does it mean when your cruise ship is sick?

     When I was a television news reporter and anchor, the assignment desk would erupt in activity whenever they heard about a cruise ship coming back to port with sick passengers. I was the anchor who read the story or tossed to the reporter, who was live on the scene, telling us about a macab-sounding disease called, "Norovirus."

     It did sound pretty bad. In fact, I thought there was something dangerous about sailing on cruise ships after I heard about case after case. That was until I talked to doctors at the Centers for Disease Control and found out that Norovirus is nothing more than the stomach flu and it isn't a disease that people only get on cruise ships.

                                       That's a mugshot of the Norovirus. It's actually kind of pretty.

     "According to the Centers for Disease Control, "The common cold is the only illness more common, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta estimates that there are more than 20 million cases of Norovirus annually."
     I have been on more than 70 cruises in my life and I have never gotten sick. I did get seasick once on a small boat in Miami but I have never contracted Norovirus or any other disease while I was on a cruise ship. I have gotten sick more often flying on a plane. More people get sick flying on planes every year compared to people who cruise. Less people cruise, of course, which makes the comparison a little unfair, but if anyone gets sick on a plane, should we all not fly?

                                             Sailing on that ship would make me toss my cookies.

     According to the braniacs at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, "Norovirus is a very contagious virus. You can get norovirus from an infected person, contaminated food or water, or by touching contaminated surfaces. The virus causes your stomach or intestines or both to get inflamed (acute gastroenteritis). This leads you to have stomach pain, nausea, and diarrhea and to throw up."

    Okay, so you barf and get the runs. But, why do we hear about Norovirus all the time on cruise ships if it is not a cruise ship disease? Shouldn't we all be scared to go on cruises, since we can all end up in our staterooms barfing and pooping? The answer is no.

                                     Welcome aboard folks! Woops, sorry. That photo should be here.

     We hear about Norovirus on cruise ships all the time for two reasons. One is because news stations love to report the story. It is selacious and makes a good, "if it bleeds, it leads headline." The second and more important reason is cruise ships are one of the only hospitality industries that must report every sickness on a ship to the CDC.

     "The CDC tells me, ""the reason you hear about Norovirus on cruise ships is because they are required to report every incidence of gastrointestinal illness. Nowhere else in the public health system of the United States is Norovirus a reportable illness. Norovirus is not a 'cruise ship' illness, but an illness commonly seen in many settings throughout the United States."
     When you stay in a hotel, there may be several people who are suffering from the stomach flu. You wouldn't know about them because you probably won't see them. When someone gets sick in a hotel, they don't go downstairs to the front desk and ask to see the hotel doctor. Even if they do tell the front desk they are sick and they know they have the Norovirus, the hotel does not have to report it to any official organization, thus there are no records. On a cruise ship, there is a doctor, so sick passengers go to the medical office on the ship, they tell the doctor they are sick and the doctor has to notify the CDC that a passenger was treated for that illness.

                                                      Dr. Adam Bricker from the Love Boat

    The CDC says, "Anyone can be infected with norovirus and get sick. Also, you can have norovirus illness many times in your life. Norovirus illness can be serious, especially for young children and older adults."

     The people who cause Norovirus on cruise ships are usually sick before they get on. The reason other people get sick is becasue they haven't washed their hands properly, they are elderly or they have some sort of disease that compromises their immune system. I just came back from a cruise with my parents who are in their eighties. If anyone would be sensative to illnesses or the Norovirus, it would be my mom and dad. None of us got sick after 12 days at sea onboard the Celebrity Silhouette.
The point is, healthy people who wash their hands and eat their vegetables are unlikely to get sick on a cruise ship, even if there are people with Norovirus onboard. Thanks mom.

                                   My mom and dad on the ship. I don't see any Norovirus in this photo.

     Norovirus, just like the flu and, even a cold, is more dangerous to the elderly and small children. The smart people at the CDC say, "Norovirus is the most common cause of acute gastroenteritis in the United States. Each year, it causes about 21 million illnesses and contributes to about 70,000 hospitalizations and 800 deaths. Norovirus is also the most common cause of foodborne-disease outbreaks in the United States."

         By the way, while researching this story, I found out that scientists have discovered that re-usable grocery bags contribute to the spread of Norovirus. No more grocery shopping for me.

    You should also know that the CDC inspects all cruise ships that dock in the United States. It's part of their Vessel Sanitation Program. Cruise ships are scored, just like many restaurants are scored by health inspectors. You can see cruise ship inspection scores here. The Most Recent Cruise Ship Inspection Scores

     If you go to the link I just showed you, you will see that most cruise ships get health inspection scores in the 90's and even perfect scores. The Vessel Sanitation Program also monitors vessel cleanliness and there is no correlation between scores and outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness. In fact, Crown Princess, which was forced to end a cruise early in February 2012 to contain an outbreak, scored a 100 on its November 2011 inspection. The twice-yearly exam is notoriously thorough and challenging; 86 or above is considered passing.

                                            Purell landed the big deal. It's all you see on cruise ships.
     The doctors at the CDC say, this might even be an incredibly healthy time to sail, as cruise lines are developing proactive procedures to ensure that passengers on voyages, particularly throughout the winter season, don't get sick. If you cruise, you will see the staff cleaning everything all the time and you can't walk into a restaurant or dining area without have your hands sprayed with hand sanitizer.

                                       You have to sanitize your hands even after you just sanitized them.

     I think cruising is one of the best ways to travel. If you like to pay one price and see several destinations with all your meals included, it is one of the best all-inclusive vacations around. If you are nervous about getting Norovirus, then wrap yourself in a plastic bag wherever you go.  You have probably had it before and you are exposed to all the time. Thank God for our immune systems and Purell. If you ever have a question about cruising or travel or you want to share your stories, send me an email at joel@travelnewsanddeals.com. Happy travels everyone!