FareFinder: Thursday, April 16

Get ready to cruise: Carnival Cruise Lines' 72-hour Summer Sale is going on now, which offers a free stateroom upgrade plus up to $240 on board credit with select bookings. Oh yeah, 3-4 day Baja Mexico cruises start at $209 a person.

Piggy-backing on Tuesday's post, Southwest has started selling its Boston (Logan) flights, which take off in August. The airline will fly Boston to Baltimore/Washington and Chicago (Midway).

Between May 1 and July 31, 2009, the Starwood Preferred Guests' Free Weekends promotion lets any new or existing SPG member earn one Free Weekend Night Award after every two stays. Redeem awards any Friday, Saturday or Sunday through the end of September with no blackouts.

JetBlue is now offering frequent flyer miles for you and your pets. Thanks to Jaunted for the heads up.

FareFinder: Tuesday, March 31

Spring is here, which means golf season is, too. Marriott Vacations and the Faldo Golf Institute are offering “Class Is In” packages starting at $955 for 3-Day Golf Schools and $635 for 2-Day Golf Schools, which includes villa accommodations, personalized instruction and three rounds of championship golf in Orlando or Palm Desert, CA.

In honor of its 50-year celebration, the four-star Caravelle Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam is offering 50% off hotel rates through 2009 when you book your stay online in the month of May.

Your weekly, last-minute airfare specials from Continental.com and Delta.com for the week.

Carnival Cruise Lines' summer sales include $50-$120 in onboard credit for select Caribbean cruises.

Last-minute cruise deals on Royal Caribbean International ships include a five-night western Caribbean sailing for as little as $349.

FareFinder: Thursday, February 26

Sandals Resorts offering last-minute getaways, including four nights in the Bahamas for as little as $2,100.

Hurtigruten slashes prices on 17- to 21-day Greenland cruises, including airfare from NYC.

In response to AirTran specials, airlines rush to discount competing fares. Case in point: this Continental flight from Raleigh-Durham to Newark-Liberty.

Five-star Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich celebrates it re-opening anniversary with buy-one, get-one up to four nights.

Today is Carnival Cruise Line's one-day sale. Specials include a 5-day Caribbean cruise from Galveston for $279.

FareFinder: Tuesday, February 24

47 last-minute airfare deals from Continental hubs in Newark Liberty, Houston and Cleveland

Apple Vacations offering three night, all inclusive values from $599.

Discount airline Southwest to begin Boston flights into Logan this fall

MSC Cruises offering 60% off Transatlantic sailings from Ft. Lauderdale on MSC Orchestra and MSC Lirica

Divi Resorts in the Caribbean offering up to 40% off vacation packages, as well as food & beverage credit

Vantage Travel offering 16-day South American tour, including hotels, meals, airfare and sightseeing, for $3,999

Carnival Cruise Lines' one-day sale is this Thursday

FareFinder: Wednesday, January 7

We love celebrities almost as much as we love travel deals. Just imagine our joy when found a combination of the two:

Concert at Sea: Carnival Cruise Lines's March 27 sojourn to Cabo is gonna be rocking. Literally. John Mayer (okay, "rock" is a stretch), as well as a host of other musicians will perform on board the Carnival Splendor when it docks in Cabo. No word on whether Jennifer Aniston will make an appearance. Cabins available through January 31.

Canadian wilderness tour: The luxury tour group Horizon & Co. is offering discounted rates and free airfare for booking its 8-day Great River Journey by January 15. The only catch is that you must take the tour in June.

Jet-set with JetBlue: Weekly airfare deals for the unencumbered (i.e. Can get away from the kids, job, wife, etc.) are all over the place. JetBlue's weekly specials include flights between Long Beach and Vegas for $39 each way, West Palm and Newark Liberty for $84 each way and JFK and Phoenix for $129 each way. Book by January 14.

Aruba resort deal: A PTG Editor's Pick, the Radisson Aruba Resort, Casino & Spa is offering the Larimar Spa Package, which includes accommodations for two guests for four, five or seven nights and choice of spa treatments or rounds of golf based on number of nights. Rates starting at $2,375 and available through April 18.

Photo cred: E! Online

Bondian Boats Could Be the Future of Cruising

Everyone loves James Bond. How can you not? Unless you're e-vil anyway. And as such, everyone should be pretty excited for the newest "cruise ship" that is being slowly introduced to the public.

It's the Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel, it's freaking awesome, and Santa apparently forgot to bring me one this year.

But designers say the vessel could, in the future, be used as a luxury cruiser, a scuba diving boat or a passenger ship for up to 12 people.

They say they have already designed, manufactured and tested 8ft radio-controlled models and a 50ft personal craft as well as the 100ft Proteus.

A spokesman for the group said: 'The WAM-V is a new class of watercraft based on a patented technology that delivers a radically new seagoing experience.

Now, obviously the particular boat in the pictures (which would be insanely cool to drive) isn't going to be used right away for luxury cruising -- it's the technology that will be utilized, if I understand correctly -- in order to better equip cruise ships for the high seas.

This is primarily because the hulls of the ship -- two giant inflatable tubes -- adapt (i.e. mold themselves) to the contours of the ocean (you know, because they're inflatable).

But still, if normal, everyday folks like you and me ever get to ride on one of these things, well, that's enough of a technological application to make me happy for now. In the meantime, I recommend Carnival.

Carnival Cruise Lines Sues Rolls Royce for $100 Million

These are not the halcyon days of the auto-industry. That is, if you can have a time, usually in the past, of greatest happiness or success actually in the present. Which you probably can't, but that's neither here nor there. The point being that with GM, Ford and Chrysler all already in trouble, it appears as if luxury automotive dealer Rolls Royce might be facing a little financial problem too.

Only they're not running out of money; they're just getting sued by Carnival Cruise lines. For $100 million.

According to the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Carnival seeks more than $100 million, claiming that Rolls-Royce defrauded Carnival into the "selection, acceptance and continued use" of the Mermaid pod propulsion system.

"The Mermaids are simply defective and do not function as it was represented that they would," the suit states. "Most importantly, it is now also clear that the defendants have known about this situation all along and that they have deliberately conspired to mislead, deceive and defraud Carnival into believing otherwise."

The Mermaids are, obviously, made by Rolls Royce (engines, natch) and used by Carnival on their boats. And oddly enough, this isn't the first time that Carnival has come after the high end auto maker -- in 2003, the cruise line sued them for issues with a propulsion pod system and asking for $300 million.

So, at least on the bright side, Carnival recognizes that these are tough economic times and is being reasonable about how much they're asking for from Rolls.