Carnival Cruise deals, Jet to Florida this fall, Amtrak sale...sort of, and Grand Canyon train packages.

Save on some Carnival Cruises:

Orbitz.com is offering a sweet deal right now on its website. It is offering passengers "free upgrades on most sailings." For full details of this sale, check out Orbitz, and book early to lock in a good deal. Sale ends Friday October 31st. Here is one sample deal:

7 Night Western Caribbean: January 3-10, 2009

1. Depart Miami at 4pm
   
2. At sea
   
3. Cozumel, Mexico 8am-10pm
   
4. At sea
   
5. Grand Cayman 7:30am-4:30pm
   
6. Ocho Rios, Jamaica 8am-3:30pm
   
7. At Sea
   
8. Return to Miami at 8am
   

Interior: $449 p/p
Oceanview: $599 p/p
Balcony: $759 p/p
Suite: $1199 p/p

Jet to Florida this fall and save:

Jetblue has yet another sale on their website (seems like they have a new one every other day). The airline is offering the "Getaways Sunshine Sale", in which you can book some great packages (hotel and air) to the Florida between November 12 and December 17. Some of the packages JetBlue are advertising include:

• Tampa Bay, 4 nights, for $445
  
• Jacksonville, 3 nights for $395
  
• Orlando, 3 nights for $295
  
• Miami, 3 nights for $379
  
• West Palm Beach, 4 nights for $335
  

Hurry- travel must be booked by October 26!

Amtrak wants to thank you for your continued service...with a gift... well actually its a gift with terms and conditions:

Amtrak is celebrating their 25th anniversary of Auto Train service with a 25% discount. But like many Amtrak deals, it comes with many catches...actually more catches than I have ever seen for a sale of any kind from a company. Here are the terms and conditions:

• Valid for sale October 25, 2008 (one day only).
  
• Valid for travel between February 3 and February 25, 2009 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays only. Travel prohibited on all other days.
  
• Valid for 25% off the regular (full) adult rail fare.
  
• Valid on Auto Train (trains 52 and 53).
  
• Offer is subject to any restrictions, blackouts and refund fees that apply to the type of fare purchased.
  
• Use discount code H784.
  
• Valid for Coach seats only.
  
• Seating is limited.
  
• Not combinable with any other discount offer.
  
• Other restrictions may apply.
  

Ok...you still there? Yes that is a laundry list of rules to follow in order to save some cash. I really think Amtrak has some nerve making passengers going through all these hoops in order to save money in such a tight economy. People should just choose to use the other train service...oh yeah...thats right...there is no other train service in America. That is what can happen when you monopolize a service in this country, it gets abused. Pretty soon with all of the airline carriers consistently losing money, it will be just a matter of time before we all have one major airline to choose from...by then airline travel will be so expensive none of the regular travelers will care anyways because they will be either staying home or driving to their destinations.

A less stressful train deal:

The Grand Canyon Railway in Williams, Arizona, has a great "train-and-lodging"
package available for customers. Starting at $119 per person, passengers will get
overnight lodging at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel, a round-trip coach-class train ticket to the Grand Canyon, and breakfast and dinner. Other packages are also available.

Going with this money saving package is a great way to see the beauty that is the Grand Canyon. Booking all of this on its own will definitely cost much more, so check out their website and see their great rates.

If you are coming from out of town, use kayak.com to check for the lowest fares to Arizona.