Will This Year Offer More All Inclusive Travel Vacation Packages?

Locations in this article:  Los Angeles, CA San Francisco, CA

Suitcase of moneyYou may think you can’t afford a vacation this year, with the sagging economy and the rising cost of living.

Well here’s a travel news flash: The cost of a vacation is actually going DOWN in 2009, and one of the best ways to get even more bang for your buck is to go on an all-inclusive vacation.

As hotels, cruise lines and resorts struggle to attract customers they are laying on incredible all-inclusive deals everywhere from the sandy beaches of Florida to the outback of Australia.

With all-inclusive vacations, you’ll get your accommodation, food, drinks—and sometimes even airfare, tips and tours—wrapped into one price. Who wouldn’t want that?

Just make sure that your all-inclusive vacations actually include what you think they do.

We’ve featured plenty of all-inclusive deals—and more—right here at Peter Greenberg.com in the last few weeks. In his blog post this week, Year of Travel: Great Deals and Safer Planes, Peter writes at length about how the travel industry is responding to the recession and mentions some specific deals that are available right now.

In Peter On CNBC and the O’Reilly Factor you can see two videos clips where Peter discusses New Year travel deals on CNBC’s On the Money and Fox’s O’Reilly Factor.

Docked cruise shipsAnother option is Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL). NCL has a seven-night Hawaiian cruise that includes round-trip airfare from Los Angeles or San Francisco plus all meals and nonalcoholic beverages, and it starts at only $1,099 per person. Normally that type of cruise would cost at least $1,200—not including airfare, which currently starts at $360 round-trip from LAX.

On New Year’s Day Peter was on the Today show on NBC talking about travel trends in 2009, and what else—discount deals in the New Year. Among the hotspots? The Caribbean.

The brand-new four-star Grand Palladium Jamaica Resort and Spa is offering junior suites for only $99 per person through January, and just $119 per person between February 1 and April 3, 2009. The deal includes all meals, unlimited alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, taxes and gratuities, non-motorized water sports and nightly entertainment. Other four-star properties charge more than twice that amount.

On Christmas Eve Peter talked to Today host Amy Robach about early January “dead week” deals, many of which are still valid through the winter and early spring of this year.

How about a ski vacation near the slopes of Lake Tahoe? Harvey’s Lake Tahoe hotel and casino has a winter package starting at $81 per night through May 3, 2009 which includes lodging, $25 per day dining credit, tickets to an improv show and five percent off ski lift tickets.

In Last-Minute Travel Deals You Need to Know About you’ll find all-inclusive ski holidays in Colorado, Alaskan and Hawaiian cruises, and resort deals in the Caribbean.

By Karen Elowitt for PeterGreenberg.com.

Check out more ideas for accommodations in our Hotels section.

Find more offers in our Travel Deals section.

Watch more of Peter’s TV appearances and video clips here.