Travel Deals for Holiday Vacations

Dec. 11, 2008— -- Carol Rosen and her family hadn't planned to go on vacation this week, but on the Internet she found a four-night Caribbean cruise for $550 -- for all three of them, meals included.

"I couldn't pass it up," Rosen said. "Actually, it's a crazy time of the year for all of us to leave, but the price was too good to say no."

The cruise lines try to leave port with every cabin full. With little demand for travel in a weak economy, they've had to keep lowering prices to avoid sailing on empty.

"We've really taken the prices down," said Terry Thornton, senior vice president of marketing for Carnival Cruise. "When people are booking now, they are really benefiting from those lower prices."

With the country in a recession, Americans aren't traveling like they used to, leaving hotels with empty rooms, cruise ships with vacant cabins, even airlines with unsold seats.

"They need vacation more than ever right now," said Thornton. "This is really a difficult time, stressful time, but what I think they are definitely looking for is value."

Deals and steals abound: A night at the Excalibur hotel in Las Vegas only costs $36.47.

Skiers can find unheard of Christmas offers at Breckenridge Ski Resort in Colorado for $113 a night, including lift tickets, which normally run around $75 per day.

And certain rooms at the elegant Casa Monica Hotel in St. Augustine, Fla., are going for only $18.88. The offer is limited to teachers in the area, and they've already sold out.

Some hotels are getting creative with inducements. The 3,400-room Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas is offering free tickets to a Jonas Brothers concert if you book a room for this weekend. They, too, are sold out.

"You know, all of us would like to have a crystal ball and look into it [and] say we know what's going to happen in the next six to 12 months -- but I have to tell you, it's the most unpredictable time for all of us," said Lauren Snyder, executive vice president of Atlantis Resorts/Kerzner International. "We've never experienced anything like this before."