WestJet Closes Sunwing Deal

Caesars Palace Dubai is closing its doors, with Dubai Holding now choosing Accor instead. A phased rebranding will follow and by November of this year, the property will become Banyan Tree Dubai. With Caesars Entertainment detaching itself from Dubai – even after the country announced a gaming authority – Banyan Tree and Ennismore will co-operate the rebranded hotel.

Ever wonder what it is like to be a National Geographic photographer or filmmaker, traveling the world, experiencing exceptional adventures and witnessing spectacular, even rare, sights? I interviewed the intrepid Bertie Gregory, whose new show, Animals Up Close With Bertie Gregory, premieres September 13th on Disney+. This six-episode series — which swoops and soars in Antarctica, Botswana, Central African Republic, the Galápagos, Indonesia and Patagonia — weaves stunning footage and compelling narratives about elusive pumas, imaginative B1 killer whales, distinctive forest elephants, endangered wild dogs, intriguing seals and sea lions, Godzilla-like marine iguanas, iconic gorillas, awesome devil rays, fierce guanacos and handfuls of other creatures that are often not entirely what you might expect them to be. For insightful specifics about each episode, read Forbes’ Love To Travel? Wild About Nature? ‘Animals Up Close With Bertie Gregory’ Will Astonish You. Gregory and I continue our conversation, below, about the power of passion to fuel your dreams.

Put your feet up, click on National Geographic’s wondrous new Animals Up Close With Bertie Gregory and feel remarkably energized. This six-episode series is a re-imagination of a previous program, Epic Adventures with Bertie Gregory. Premiering September 13th on Disney+, Animals Up Close is an eye-opening, horizon-expanding show — daring and dazzling in its content and cinematography — leading viewers on exceptional journeys to remote destinations. It is steered by 30-year-old visionary filmmaker Bertie Gregory, whose passion, charisma and engaging expertise entice aplenty. He soars and dives, climbs and splashes. An avid globetrotter, born in England, Gregory is a bright star among a fresh, fun, gifted generation of wildlife filmmakers. Gregory and I talked about some of this season’s prime highlights, below.

With fall on the horizon, the window for travelers to visit seasonal hotels and resorts is narrowing, and often shoulder season is the best time to visit seasonal properties as it brings less crowds, cooler temperatures and more affordable prices.

When Courtney Danser's Aer Lingus flight home from Croatia was delayed, panic immediately set in.

If there’s one site you cannot pass on while visiting Barcelona, it’s La Sagrada Família. The immense basilica is famed architect Antoni Gaudí’s most celebrated creation and the most iconic edifice in a city filled with great architecture. Taking a guided tour of this UNESCO World heritage site is a no-brainer, but you can do much better than a quick visit if you want to admire the site. Booking a hotel near La Sagrada Família (maybe even a hotel with views of the basilica) will allow you to see Gaudí’s last and most cherished project again and again. After all, you can never get enough.

The Grand Canyon National Park is situated in the northwestern region of Arizona. The park stretches over 277 miles, encompassing the Colorado River and its adjacent uplands. While the Grand Canyon sprawls across several states, it’s most commonly visited from Arizona, specifically via the well-equipped South Rim. Its sheer size, geological form, and changing colors of the thousands of rock formations makes this natural wonder deservedly popular.

Destination DC will spend nearly $20 million on marketing in an upcoming advertising campaign as the city deals with a slow travel recovery.

To give civilisation the slip, head north to Serra da Estrela Natural Park, where the country’s tallest mountains punch above valleys that echo with goat and sheep bells. At Senses on the banks of the Mondego River, you can camp under the fruit trees or glamp in a bell tent, safari lodge or yurt. Wild swim in the river with the otters and hike into granite heights, returning to eat at the farm-to-fork restaurant. By night the Milky Way shimmers in some of the country’s darkest skies. Pitches from €15 (£13), tents from €45 (£39), B&B. 

A new pilot program is introducing closed-loop packaging aboard Carnival Cruise Line ships through a collaboration that includes Bacardi and ecoSPIRITS, a circular economy technology company.The pilot will determine if re-usable containers developed by ecoSPIRITS can be used to serve Bacardi rum on Carnival ships, in turn reducing single-use packaging by 95 percent. The concept is being tested for three months on three ships operating from Miami: Carnival Celebration, Carnival Horizon and Carnival Sunrise.“As we continue to work towards our sustainability goals, the collaborative work of our beverage team, ecoSPIRITS, and Bacardi is a great example of thinking in ways that are truly out-of-thebox, or in this case—out-of-the-bottle, to develop new partnerships and practices that further our ongoing efforts,” said Zachary Sulkes, senior director of beverage operations at Carnival Cruise Line.To support the new collaboration with Bacardi and Carnival, ecoSPIRITS created a specialized version of its closed loop glass packaging format, the ecoTOTE 3.0SC Cruise Edition, specifically for the maritime environment.

Hyatt, Marriott, and MGM Resorts have been hit with lawsuits since 2019 over how they disclose mandatory resort fees. The companies have since changed how they disclose resort fees on their websites and apps.

H​urricane Idalia is barreling toward the Florida Gulf Coast and is expected to make landfall as a major hurricane on Wednesday and disrupting travel up and down the coast.