Archive for the 'Monterey Peninsula' Category
Pleasant Holidays adds hotel and air packages in California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida [Updated]
July 26, 2010 5:24pm
For more than 50 years, giant Pleasant Holidays has specialized in offering all-inclusive discount vacation packages to Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean, Costa Rica and the South Pacific. Now the Westlake Village-based company is expanding to destinations in Arizona, California, Nevada and Florida.
What does this mean for travelers? Pleasant Holidays is starting to offer deals on air-inclusive and hotel-only packages at 116 hotels and resorts in the four states.
In California, the company is beginning to market packages — particularly for group travel — to L.A. and Orange County beaches, Palm Springs, San Diego, San Francisco, and Monterey, as well as Napa Valley and Sonoma. Las Vegas also joins the lineup, along with Reno and Lake Tahoe.
In a news release, Pleasant Holidays President Jack E. Richards said this is the first phase of the company’s domestic expansion, which will add more destinations in coming months.
The company waited out the worst of the economic downturn that hit the travel industry hard before making this move.
“We delayed the U.S. expansion until the economic recession and travel demand improved,” Richards said in a statement. “We believe there is pent-up demand for vacation travel to these destinations.”
[For the record, added at 7:16 p.m. July 26: An earlier version of this post incorrectly attributed Richard's quote to company spokeswoman Wendy Gigliotti.]
— Mary Forgione, Los Angeles Times Daily Travel & Deal blogger
Image: Screengrab from Pleasant Holidays home page. Credit: www.pleasantholidays.com
Celebrating Steinbeck: 30th annual festival set for Aug. 5-8
April 24, 2010 9:56am
The 30th annual Steinbeck Festival, set for Aug. 5-8 in Salinas, Calif., John Steinbeck’s hometown, will focus on the role of travel in the author’s writing.
More than a third of Steinbeck’s works are set in Mexico or feature characters of Mexican descent. Steinbeck also spent time in Europe and was a correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune in Britain and the Mediterranean during World War II.
The four-day festival includes lectures, tours, film and live performances. Speakers include Petr Kopetky, a Fulbright scholar from the Czech Republic who will discuss Steinbeck “Behind the Iron Curtain.”
To buy tickets, call (831) 775-4721 or go to the National Steinbeck Center’s website at www.steinbeck.org.
— Chris Erskine, Times deputy Travel editor
Photo: A portrait of John Steinbeck inside the National Steinbeck Center. Credit: Stephen Osman / Los Angeles Times
Gray turns to blue for Monterey Bay whale-watching deals
April 21, 2010 5:58am
Call it the shoulder season for whale watching.
At this time of year, just as gray whales vanish from the California coast and start arriving in Alaska, humpback and blue whales begin moving into Monterey Bay to feed on anchovies and krill. Occasionally, killer (in the dolphin family, despite the name), minke and fin whales join the crowd. Dolphins, porpoises, sea otters, sea lions and harbor seals can be sighted year-round on trips to the bay.
Tours: Monterey Bay Whale Watch estimates that passengers will see three to seven species of whales and dolphins, particularly on its four- to five-hour tours starting at 9 a.m. daily ($45 for adults, $35 for children 12 and younger, children 3 and younger ride free). The company also runs a three- to four-hour daily trip at 2 p.m. ($36 for adults, $25 for children 12 and younger, children 3 and under go free), though it may be more prone to cancellation because of windier conditions in the afternoon. An experienced marine biologist leads each trip to spot and identify whales and answers questions.
Many hotels and motels in the Monterey area offer some type of whale-watching package, but here are three that I think are worthy values.
‘Celebrate Her’ — a package that pampers the ladies at Four Sisters Inns
April 9, 2010 5:57am
Sure, Mother’s Day is just a month away, and pampering mom is certainly a worthy cause. But why not pamper the other women in your life too — say, your girlfriend or best friend or even that daughter who grew up in the blink of an eye? Four Sisters Inns, the collection of 14 boutique inns on the West Coast between Dana Point and Seattle, has a getaway to make any of these important ladies smile.
Deal: The “Celebrate Her” package gives you a 15% discount off regular room rates; complimentary upgrade at time of check-in, if available; a box of four gourmet chocolate truffles; evening turn-down service; afternoon wine and hors d’oeuvres (at most inns); and a buffet breakfast.
Need help finding the package? Go to the “Special Offers” page on the Four Sisters website, select the inn that interests you, click on its link and you’ll find the deal next to the other special offers.
Dates: Valid Sunday through Thursday nights, through June 10, except for Memorial Day weekend.
Participating locations include Dana Point, Newport Beach, Claremont, Pacific Grove, San Francisco Bay area, Santa Cruz, Napa, Yountville/Napa Valley and Sonoma. The package is not available in Seattle or the California cities of Healdsburg and Santa Monica.
$100 birthday bonus from Joie de Vivre hotels
March 29, 2010 8:58am
Joie de Vivre wants to help you celebrate your birthday. The hotel chain is giving guests $100 in “Birthday Bucks” when they schedule a stay within seven days of their birthday. Just book two or more nights and get $100 credited to your room. You can even use the credit for spa treatments or in-room dining because the $100 will be taken off your total hotel bill at checkout.
When: For travel through Jan. 31.
Choosing a hotel: It’s going to be a lot easier to spend the money than it will be to select a hotel. Joie de Vivre is a popular boutique chain with locations up and down the California coast, including San Francisco, the East Bay, Marin County, Sonoma, Silicon Valley, Sacramento, the Central Coast, Los Angeles and Orange County. Use its map of hotels to find one that suits your holiday best. Rooms at the Hotel Maya in Long Beach, for instance, start at $139 pre-tax, and I found them available May 23-25 for $159 per night. Two nights, including tax but before the $100 is taken off the bill, totaled $366.
California Highway 1 rock slide: Closures, delays continue north of San Simeon
March 8, 2010 2:59pm
If you’re driving from Southern California this week to the Big Sur area, south of Monterey, pack some patience and check out alternate routes because California Highway 1 has been hit with a hefty rock slide. Officials expect delays and closures to continue through the week. Here’s the 411:
Where: The March 4 slide, which happened after repeated rainstorms, is about 65 miles south of Monterey and 37 miles north of San Simeon, where Hearst Castle is located, said Jim Shivers, spokesman for District 5 of the California Department of Transportation in San Luis Obispo.
Restrictions: California 1 is being closed in the slide area from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. daily. The rest of the time, it is subject to one-way controlled traffic, causing delays up to two hours, officials said. Colin Jones, another Caltrans spokesman, said on Monday that the closures were being managed day by day.
“Right now, we have geologists out there assessing the situation,” Jones said. “We have engineers. We expect the situation to continue throughout the week.”
Businesses in the area remain open, he said.
10 round-trip weekend airfares under $250
January 18, 2010 11:59am
Is the rain making you restless? Sometimes — good weather or bad — I want to get out of town, and all that matters is that it’s cheap. I took a look at two websites to help point me in a budget-friendly direction: Airfare Watchdog and Kayak. First, I checked to see where the low-fare destinations were on Airfare Watchdog. Then I checked Kayak (using its feature for “upcoming weekends”) to find the cheapest weekend dates for flights. Here are some destinations where flights on a weekend (Fri-Sun) will cost you $250 or less round trip.
$129 LAX - LAS VEGAS (LAS) departing Feb. 19 (on US Airways)
$139 LAX - SAN FRANCISCO (SFO) departing Jan. 29, Feb. 5 or Feb. 19 (on Continental or United)
$198 LAX - TUCSON (TUS) departing Feb. 19 (on US Airways)
$198 LAX - MILWAUKEE (MKE) departing Jan. 22 or Jan. 29 (on AirTran)
$207 LAX - DENVER (DEN) departing Feb. 19 (on Frontier)
Monterey-Lake Tahoe Sea & Ski package deal
November 12, 2009 5:58am
I have two problems when trying to plan a weekender. The first: a weekend is just not long enough. The second: Choosing a destination can be difficult if the traveling parties want to do different things. I love being in the mountains during winter and my husband could spend every vacation at the beach. This Sea & Ski Package includes the best of both worlds (skiing at Lake Tahoe and a choice of Monterey seaside activities such as kayaking, a sailing cruise, bicycling or a whale-watching tour). Plus, the package saves you at least 30%.
Deal: Spend two nights in Monterey at the Portola Hotel & Spa, then hop in the car for a half-day road trip and continue your getaway in Lake Tahoe, where you will stay at Northstar-at-Tahoe. The package includes four nights’ accommodations, breakfast for two in Monterey, and activities for two, including ski lift tickets at Northstar and your choice of marine sanctuary or sailing cruise, whale watching, bicycling or kayaking in Monterey. The package price starts at $970, pre-tax for two people. ( A la carte, the package comes to $1,426, pre-tax).
Last-minute Labor Day campsites at California state parks
September 3, 2009 1:04pm
Time is running out if you want to reserve a campsite for Labor Day weekend at California state parks. And don’t expect to get a prime spot. Fortunately, about two dozen parks offer camping on a first-come, first-served basis. You just have to get there early; most of these campgrounds will fill up by early tomorrow ( Friday), park officials say. Here are your options:
Reserve a campsite: You need to book at least 48 hours in advance of arrival with the ReserveAmerica service. So the earliest night you can book today is for Saturday, and you need to book by 5 p.m. PDT. More than 30 parks still had weekend campsites available as of Wednesday. Typically, these are primitive sites, and you often must walk a ways to get to them. Or they are inland, in warmer areas. Among the parks with space were Orange County’s Crystal Cove (campsites, not the cottages, which were booked) and Cuyamaca Rancho in San Diego County.
Take your chances: A total of 26 California state parks and recreation areas accept at least some campers on a first-come, first-served basis, usually at sites with few services. Among them are Andrew Molera State Park (pictured) in the Big Sur area, and Castle Rock State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Monterey: Full moon hotel deal gives us something to howl about
July 18, 2009 10:33am
Here’s another one for the “Summer of ‘69” anniversary files. The newly opened Hotel Abrego in Monterey commemorates the 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s historical moonwalk with a unique package –only available on the remaining full moon nights in 2009.
Deal: At the 93-room hotel that opened this month, the family-friendly “Moon Over Monterey” offer includes the following components: a room for two nights, a turn-down treat of MoonPies; and a copy of the recently published children’s book “Mission Control, This Is Apollo: The Story of the First Voyages to the Moon” by Andrew Chaikin.
The two-night package will cost you $111 per night (pretax). Use promo code “MOON.”
When: This package is on sale beginning July 20, which was the date, 40 years ago, of the unprecedented landing, and the sale will end Aug. 6. Read the rest of this entry »
