Black Friday to Cyber Monday: sales on hotels and cruises

Welcome to the busiest shopping day of the year. Today — known as Black Friday, when retailers hope that their accounts will shift from “out of the red and into the black” — shoppers are tackling store aisles about town. After all, Apple is offering discounts on iPods, iPhone accessories and lots more online and in person; Brookstone has some good prices on cool gadgets; and Best Buy advertised “doorbuster” specials on digital cameras, Magellan GPS units and more. And many discounts will be available through Monday, popularly known as “Cyber Monday,” when online retailers especially hope to get a piece of the consumer pie. 

But what about hotel rooms and cruises — things that traditionally don’t fall so neatly into the after-Thanksgiving-sale category but may mean more to travelers than fancy new knickknacks?

Well, not to be left behind, Hotels.com and a couple cruise lines are among those in the online travel world with price cuts, so get out those calendars and credit cards and get clicking.

Hotels.com 4-Day Sale
The website is offering discounts on nearly 500 accommodations venues in more than 100 cities, mostly in the U.S. but also international destinations including Mexico and the Caribbean. The sale went live this morning, and discounts are valid today through Dec. 1, 2008, and are valid on travel now through Dec. 31, 2008.

Just a few ideas of what they’ve got going: Save 30% at Omni Berkshire Place in New York City, a third night free at Best Western Pepper Tree Inn in Santa Barbara, and a fourth night free at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Celebrity Cruises & Royal Caribbean’s Post-Thanksgiving Sale
This sale offers secure discounts on limited-availability staterooms. The offer is valid for reservations made today through Dec. 2, 2008. In addition, if you book a balcony or higher-level stateroom on any 2009 cruise, your gratuities (up to $140) will also be covered.

Sample offers include a five-night Western Caribbean trip on Celebrity Cruises, departing from Miami in January 2009, for a starting rate of $279 per person (exclusive of taxes and fees). Reserve an ocean-view stateroom on a 14-night Royal Caribbean cruise departing from Los Angeles for as low as $549 per person (pre-tax).

– Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Photo: iCruise.com]

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 28, 2008 at 11:14 am by Susan Derby and is filed under Deals, Hotels, Tours & Cruises. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.