With dozens of new travel sites appearting every year, its hard to keep track of which ones really deliver. Based on research by a renowned magazine and travel guru, here are some samples revealing recommended websites designed to help you save money, travel smarter and enjoy your journeys more:

-Booking Hotels in the US and Europe: http://www.hotels.com/ (for delivering the best combination of low rates and functionality)
-Currency Conversion: http://www.xe.com/ (for its simple design and easy navigation)
-Rental Cars in the US: http://www.travelocity.com/ (for its various tools allowing you to quickly discern your options, being user friendly, and for its many lower rates as compared to other travel search engines)
-Travel Safety: http://www.travel.state.gov/ (for providing updates on travel warnings and clearances…often information that the tourism boards don’t fully divulge)
-Airport and Flight Information: http://www.faa.gov/ (for providing information about delays that the airlines won’t)
-Searching for Airline Tickets: http://www.kayak.com/ (for making quick work of leading you to websites that offer the lowest prices)
-Jewish Singles Vacations: https://amazingjourneys.net/ (just had to throw this one in. If you’re Jewish and single these are the BEST vacation options for you. They are, in fact, “vacations that could change your life!”)

When Mitchell Berns found out Delta canceled his flight due to weather (which meant no refund) he looked at the forecast and found that the cancellation was based on bad weather that would hit … five hours after his flight was to land.

The renewal of an alliance between two prominent cruise industry over-see-ers illustrates a strong affirmation to that question. The collaberation of these two organizations are set to address, among other key considerations, the priority issues of wastewater managment, ramifications of climate change and destination stewardship. This alliance will work together to:

• increase awareness and provide information and advice regarding ways to minimize the cruise lines’ greenhouse gas footprint.
• implement good practice standards and training tools for shore excursions
• support conservation projects in key cruise destinations
• raise awareness and support for conservation issues
• develop a rapid assessment tool for measuring changes in destinations over time

Creating an environmentally friendly cruise experience is complicated, but this premise has come a long way since the industry’s inception into the luxury travel market. The cruise experience, after all, involves lodging as well as transportation in a self-contained system. All forms of waste–and there a number of different forms ranging from sewage to solids (cans, bottles, etc) and hazardous (i.e. cleaning chemicals)–must be handled differently and follow regulations by the EPA and US Coast Guard.

While most of the major cruise lines comply to far above the minimum requirements, Celebrity cruises is a top notch leader on the seas. In 2002 Celebrity was awarded the top national honor for marine environmental protection given by the US Coast Guard. The cruise line actually hired a position on each of its ships to manage compliance with the international and US environmental regulations. This person is a senior manager with the responsibility to assist, teach and audit all shipboard personnel.

From recycling programs, to data-gathering devices, to awareness of reducing energy and fuel consumption, to a project that is currently under a feasibility evaluation to determine if a “sea water scrubber system” could reduce engine emissions while then being recycled back into the ocean….the cruise industry is laboriously dedicated to sailing the deep blue sea in the green.

Typically, though, in a given year, about 60% of our trips will be cruises and 40% land-based. Both types of trips have many positives and the choice of how to go is a personal decision….but because of the truly diversified experiences one can enjoy while cruising, cruising can be for everyone.

From lapping in luxury, to having many choices what one can do with their time, to having the ability to see so many destinations in one fell swoop that most people only dream of….to being serviced in such a first class way that we hate to return to our ‘normal’ lives where such pampering doesn’t exist the same way.

Back to the person who says “I’m not a cruise person”…my next question is “have you ever been on a cruise?” Most of the time I get something like “I was about 20 years ago” or “I’ve been on a riverboat”….or flat out “no”. Which tells me that the only reason someone may not be cruise person is because, well, they haven’t been on the kind of cruise Amazing Journeys provides.

The benefits of cruising are so vast that to list them all here would fault me with spacial awareness issues. Suffice it to say that with state-of-the art spa, fitness & recreational facilities, abundant food, top line entertainment, luxury accommodations there is something for everyone. Add to that, visits to destinations to almost anywhere in the world, and you have a most special vacation with unbelievable memories in the waiting…without having to unpack and re-pack at every stop. Also add to that all the great extras and unique brand of customer service that Amazing Journeys provides and you have a vacation even better than the best…and certainly better than all the rest.

The great thing about choosing to cruise is that you can do everything..or nothing at all. Its your vacation and you can do what you please. Want to read a book by the pool by yourself?…or want to take a dance class with 30 people?….or dine with 100 of your new friends? How about an outstanding broadway show with an audience of 1000? There are so many choices that you just cannot not have a great time.
As the commercial says, its “like no vacation on earth”.