From Pestilence and Other Troubles Spring Forth Discounts

The big news in travel continues to be the extension of price reductions by major tour operators and airlines. As the deadline nears for each set of cuts, the date is extended. Bargains that were available only in April are suddenly there for May. Specials limited to May suddenly become available for June.

Here are some of the more dramatic tour price reductions, along with a few that always come down in summer.

Foot-and-mouth disease continues to depress tourism to Britain and Ireland, resulting in some frantic price reductions. Until the end of May, you can fly round trip from L.A. to Ireland for $629 on Aer Lingus, the Irish airline. Call Aer Lingus at (800) 474-7424.

The foot-and-mouth problem has created fire-sale conditions in other European destinations. A good example is this escorted tour to Holland, Belgium and France: For $799 plus taxes, the long-established Sunny Land Tours will fly you from New York or Boston to Amsterdam for an overnight stay, then take you for three days of escorted touring through Holland and Belgium, finishing with three nights in Paris. You get first-class hotels throughout (double occupancy), breakfast daily and motor coach transportation from city to city. For dates throughout May and most of June, call Sunny Land, telephone (800) 783-7839.

Distress sales have also broken out in the South Pacific. The political upheaval in Fiji in May 2000 and the subsequent military put-down of an attempted coup have so badly affected tourism that even the best hotels there are eager for business. How eager is shown by a package that gives you air fare from Los Angeles and seven nights at the Shangri-la Fijian Hotel for $699 per person. This deal is available through September. Call Discover Wholesale Travel at (800) 576-7770.

Low-cost ocean cruises also abound in these nervous economic times. The best bargain I’ve seen for sailing the waters of Europe this spring and early summer has just been announced by a discounter called Cruises Only. It’s on the Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Dream, which passengers board in Britain. After a two-day cruise of the Baltic, the vessel docks for a day in Tallinn, Estonia, then takes you to St. Petersburg, Russia, for two days, followed by a day each in Helsinki, Finland; Stockholm; and Copenhagen, before cruising the North Sea back to Britain.

The 12-day trip sells for as little as $1,998 for two in an inside cabin on the June 5 departure, including port charges and just about everything else, other than your air fare to London. At press time early last week, outside cabins were available for $200 more per person. Call Cruises Only, tel. (800) 545-7447.

Cut-rate prices to suffering Russia? The same group of immigrants who several years ago startled the U.S. travel industry with their $599 and $699 winter tours to St. Petersburg and Moscow have done it again with a remarkable summer holiday that combines the two cities with a five-night river cruise between them. For a blini-busting $1,299, you get round-trip air fare from New York, five nights at hotels, the river cruise and all meals. There are two departure dates in June, three in July and two in August. Call Eastern Tours, (800) 339-6967.

There have been more cuts in package prices to Rio de Janeiro. Brazil’s Varig Airlines, which announced a $699 price for its package from Miami a few weeks ago, is now charging $624 from Miami and $679 from Los Angeles, plus about $78 in international taxes, for a round-trip flight to Rio and five nights in the Copacabana Sul Hotel. The price is good through June, and in the latter half of August and in September if you book by June 30. Call Varig Travel Vacations, tel. (800) 352-9188.