Here is a review from one of our Mexico Specialists who recently returned from Iberostar Gran (Iberostar Grand) in the Riviera Maya, Mexico just South of Cancun.  Read about this luxurious, gourmet, spa resort. 

 I did not feel like I was in Mexico when my mom and I checked into the Iberostar Grand as Mr. and Mrs. Barnett (you can tell this romantic resort mainly caters to couples).  With it’s giant chandeliers, beautiful artwork, and rich ambiance I felt like I was in a luxurious Las Vegas hotel.  We were taken to our oceanfront room in a golf cart by one of the employees who told us about the 5 delicious restaurants we could eat at any night, the 3 beautiful pools, and the giant spa.  It was when we were walking into the building where our room was when I finally said to myself, “Ah, Mexico.”  The building was maybe 15 yards from the ocean and mere steps away from the first lounge chair.  I couldn’t believe how nice our room was.  It had 2 lounge chairs on the large balcony, a giant bed, and french doors that open to a bathroom that had his and her sinks even.  Our personal butler greeted us immediately and we told him we preferred Corona in the free minibar fridge and  wanted 8pm reservations at the surf and turf for our first big meal.  I couldn’t believe the high quality of the food as well as the relaxed atmosphere of the resort.  My goal is to go back as often as possible.

James TravelPOINTS 1-800-538-7461, www.travelpoints.com

The adventurous snorkeler in Mexico ought to try snorkeling with Whale Sharks.  These glorious animals come to the Mexican waters, all the way from Africa,  every year to feed   on the plankton, when you’re out in the water don’t be surprised to see 20-30 of these giant creatures.  The Domino, as they call it in Mexico because of it’s spots, can grow to be over 15 yards long and live to be over 100 years old.  Despite the word shark in their name, Whale Sharks do not eat fish, much less humans.  They have sensors on the front of their faces so that when one is coming at you, it will make a turn to avoid the swimmer.  Our tour guides took 8 of us snorkelers on the hour long boat ride out to where the animals eat.  We went out to the water 2 people at a time with a guide and got within inches of the Domino.  My fears quickly subsided as I realized that they didn’t mind us with them in the water and I loved looking for the next closest Domino to make a quick swim to and look at.  Our guides were very knowledgable and made sure we got to spend most our time in the water as close to the Whale Sharks as possible.  Snorkel gear and life jackets are provided, so you just have to be comfortable with snorkel gear and swimming in open waters for this trip.  It was a great experience that makes you appreciate nature and the diversity of the ocean.

Call James TravelPOINTS to book your adventure 1-800-274-0436, www.travelpoints.com

Consider Ceiba del Mar Resort and Spa in the Riviera Maya, Mexico just south of Cancun.  It’s a perfect quiet, luxury getaway for couples, honeymooners or anyone who likes to be spoiled.  You can choose from  gourmet all-inclusive or “Al a carte”.  I just returned from this beautiful property and here is my report. 

Do you want Mexican luxury that’s only 20 minutes from the Cancun airport?  Try Ceiba del Mar, a small resort, with under 100 rooms.  The service can’t be beat.  They will transfer you to and from the airport, enjoy a bottled water on the trip.  Once you arrive at the hotel you get a lovely drink while the front desk workers explain the many things Ceiba del Mar has to offer its guests.  Leave your breakfast request outside your door and it will be delivered to the butler cabinet at the time you request in the morning, no worries about answering the door in your pj’s.  All rooms are just steps away from the private beach which is swept clear of sea grass everyday.  If you don’t like salty water, the saline pool is large and looks out over the ocean.  Don’t worry about bringing a towel to the beach, pool butlers will cover your chair with a giant towel and leave another for drying off.  At the Ceiba del Mar, you can get an all-inclusive meal plan or go European style.  The food is delicious and one appetizer was more than enough for the two of us to be satisfied for dinner.  Every morning and evening we went to yoga, usually outside on the hotel’s covered dock.  This is the yoga you imagine you’re doing when you’re at the gym at home, listen to the waves and relax.  The spa offers a large variety of treatments for such a small hotel.  The Ceiba del Mar is great for all travelers, we saw families, honeymoon couples, and sisters out for a last hoorah.

Call James TravelPOINTS to book this or anyone luxurious hotel and spa 1-800-538-7461, www.travelpoints.com

Secrets Resorts & Spa located on the Riviera Maya just south of Cancun Mexico is a luxury all-inclusive resort  for honeymooners and romatice couples looking for a beach vacation getaway.  Jan Geiser, CTC, with James TravelPoints International recently visited this Resort &  Spa on the Riviera Maya in Mexico and is considered a  Master Agent for Secrets Resorts & Spas.

I had the wonderful opportunity to stay at Secrets newest resorts — Secrets Silversands and Secrets Maroma Beach. I also re-visited Secrets Capri where I had previously stayed.

Secrets Maroma Beach and Secrets Silversands are both exceptional resorts. Secrets Maroma Beach is set on Maroma Beach, voted the World’s Best Beach by the Travel Channel four years in a row. You will understand why the moment you step foot on this beautiful white sand beach. This impressive all-suite resorts offers an infinity pool that breaks off into 12 smaller pools providing direct swim-out access to many of the suites.

Food, service and entertainment were excellent! So if you are looking for luxury and opulence in an Adults only resort, Secrets Maroma Beach is the perfect match

Secrets Silversands is a chic, upscale and contemporary resort. It too is an Adults-only, all-suite, unlimited luxury property. It features oversized suites with Jacuzzis for 2, suspended king-size beds, captivating lighting and alluring décor. It offers 43,000 sq.ft. of pool area. Not to mention excellent food, service, and entertainment!

Finally, Secrets Capri is still a gem. Its design reflects the charm of a Mexican hacienda.

All 290 rooms and suites offer superior amenities. And, every floor has a private concierge! Its newest addition is an enlarged Secrets Spa by Pevonia.

So, whether you would like to plan your Wedding, Honeymoon, Special Occasion, or a well-deserved vacation, I am certain that there is a Secrets Resort perfect for you!

Please call Jan at 800-274-0436X231 or 303-442-2340X231 so that we can discuss your Secrets’ Unlimited-Luxury Vacation.

As you ponder great vacations consider these golf destination that offer beautiful scenery, activities you and your spouse can enjoy together and an atmosphere that is “Par Excellence”.  James TravelPOINTS has some ideas for destinations that offer unique features to explore new frontiers. 

Los Cabos, Mexico
Las Ventanas Al Paraiso is on the “Hot List of the World’s Top New Hotels and Resort” reported by Conde’ Nast Traveler’s 1998.  Las Ventanas is located minutes away to one of Cabo’s four championship golf courses along with a beautiful beach and colorful surroundings.  Las Ventanas offers luxurious accommodations, roof-top terraces, a private spa and more.  A perfect way to spend a long weekend or week.

Jasper, Canada
Come stay and play at Jasper Park Lodge, the grande dame of Canadian lodges, and you’ll enjoy this spectacular golf vacation.  The 18-hole, championship, Stanley Thompson-designed course is nestled in the majestic Canadian Rockies, along picturesque Lac Beauvert, an unforgettable environment in which to perfect your game.  Packages include two nights in a mountainview suite, with fireplace, two rounds of golf, breakfast and dinner daily and much more. 

Cruise and Golf
Golf and Cruising is not a new idea but an idea that has changed for the better.  Today, many cruise lines and specialty travel companies offer a wide range of cruises with golf options.  Whether you want to play or just watch, it’s now easy to cruise to some great golf destinations anywhere in the world.  Passengers have the opportunity play some of the world’s most beautiful golf courses and enjoy all the amenities cruising offers, from outstanding cuisine to great entertainment.  Other advantages offered by a golf-cruise combination include unpacking just once, visiting multiple destinations and golf courses in one trip.  If you want a vacation on a ship and on the links, cruise offers both with their new shoreside golf program.  With guaranteed tee times at top golf resorts, cruise guest is offered an excellent combination of golf and cruising. Most of the new golf program includes green fees for scheduled rounds of golf, roundtrip transfers between the ship and course, carts, pull carts and or caddies. A perfect selection of golf blended with a relaxing cruise.  Give James TravelPOINTS a call for designing your perfect golf or fun destination gets away, 1-800-538-7461, www.travelpoints.com.

Club Med Vacations offer All-inclusive packages for singles, families, adults, honeymooners world wide. 

If everyone in the family has a different interest, or maybe you’re travelling by yourself, or possibly planing a family reunion.  We’ve got the prefect vacation, one that will satisfy everyone’s needs…. CLUB MED.  Did you know that Club Med invented the “all inclusive” vacation back in 1950?  They are still offering the same great value that they did when it all started.  A single price covers your room, 3 meals a day with wine or beer at lunch and dinner, most sport, entertainment, activities for the kids, they even include the fun!

Each village at Club Med is set in the most idyllic location and each has its own personality, a few are only for adults, many include children’s programs (from babies to teenagers), some are more sports intensive than others are.  This is a world unto itself; everything is readily available and with easy reach: restaurants, bars theatres, nightclubs, sports and excursions. The clubs international flair allows you the opportunity to mingle with people from all over the world.  The villages most frequented by American’s are throughout Mexico, the Caribbean and the South Pacific, if that’s too close to home, don’t worry, there are villages throughout the world.    Here, is the freedom of choice and the chance to re-connect with your fun-loving, relaxed spontaneous self.

Club Med is the world’s largest sports school with facilities for all of the most exciting sports.  Trained instructors will help you learn something new or develop your skills.  Whether you’re an experienced athlete or an amateur - Club Med gives you everything you need to play and progress at your own pace: instruction at your level of ability, with plenty of the latest equipment, from tennis to diving to rock climbing to biking to kayaking.   Oh and did we mention; at many sites you will actually have the chance to run away and join the circus, flying on the trapeze, juggling and more.  (Many clients plan their Club Med vacation only at villages that offer a circus, it’s that much fun!).

Several villages offer intensive sports programs such as dedicated dive centers,  SCUBA Program, golf academies, tennis Academies and intensive tennis clinics. 

For those of you travelling with children, you’ll enjoy your vacation that much more, knowing your young ones are have the time of their lives, with other children from all over the world! You have the opportunity to spend as much or as little time together as your child prefers.  Your child will be delighted with the sports, arts, learning experiences, and even kid-size meals, all under the safe guidance of qualified leaders.

No matter what your age or vacation inclination it’s at Club Med that you will have the time of your life.  Call the travel professionals at James TravelPOINTS, together; we can pick a village that is just right for you 1-800-538-7461, www.travelpoints.com.

Fifteen million years ago, Mexico’s Baja Peninsula and the Sea of Cortez were formed when an earthquake tore a section of land away from western Mexico.  Today, this terrain features beautiful crystal clear waters, exotic flowers and playful wildlife. 

With its whales and sea lions, isolated fishing villages and uninhabited islands Baja is a beautiful coastline of fine white beaches, peaceful bays and imposing cliffs; the interior of Baja is harsh and undeveloped. Highlights include remote mission village’s volcanic plateaus containing extraordinary rock sites and the botanical wonderland where aspens, cacti, oaks and palms grow side by side and mountain streams rush through granite canyons - a paradise for hikers.
 
An uncommon destination like the Sea of Cortes requires an unconventional approach to experience the wonder and beauty of this expansive area.   Adventure cruise lines have embarked on seven-day soft-adventure cruises featuring remote unspoiled beaches, quaint mission villages, and Mexico’s protected biosphere, where whales and other sea life abound. Each cruise line features small ships with a shallow draft to easily slip into secluded coves, narrow passages and the shallow beaches of uninhabited islands. These non-traditional cruises offer attentive service, abundant cuisine, cleverly laid out cabins, bar/lounge, observation decks and knowledgeable staff, accredited naturalists and guest lectures.  The small ships hold less than 100 passengers and depart from Cabo San Lucas or La Paz for 7-night cruise through the Sea of Cortez beginning in December through April.

The itinerary includes a stop at the mission town of Loreto, a sleepy seaside village home to the very first mission dating back 1697 with a historic walking tour.  Guided nature walks and hikes in-land and along the coast. Exploration to sea caves; bird sanctuaries and marine life aboard the inflatable Zodiac launch boats, sea kayaking with experience guides and whale watching from aboard small motorized boats.  The ships itinerary can vary and be very improvisational, with anchorages often chosen at the last minute with off-vessel activities tailored to passengers’ interests and fitness levels.  Activity days include hiking, kayaking or snorkeling.  Other days are spent whale watching, and visiting quaint fishing villages.  These cruises allow passengers to experience the destination up-close, the way nature intended.
 
If you would like to know more about these unique cruise adventures in the Sea of Cortez, please contact James TravelPOINTS at 1-800-538-7461,
www.jamestravel.com. 

There are golf courses and then there are those golf course resorts that have the drawn, appeal and reputation of providing the finest vacation experinces for the golfer and non-golfer.

The Arizona Biltmore & Resort & Spa

Since it opened in 1929, practically every celebrity on the continent has passed through the doors of this Frank Lloyd Wright-designed hotel.  The ever-popular Arizona Biltmore entertains with 730 guest rooms and villas, seven heated swimming pools, a lavish new spa, a 92-foot water slide, seven lighted tennis courts, and a championship putting course.  Two PGA 18-hole golf courses await nearby.  The older of the two courses, the Abode proudly points outs that its elegance hails from an era when “graphite was for pencil lead and golf balls came in only one color”.

The Gleneagles Hotel- Scotland

To duffers the world over, the name Gleneagles means golf.  It is here, in the wildly beautiful Scottish Highlands, that James Braid designed the King and Queen’s 18-hole courses nearly a century ago.  They are well matched by the 18-hole Monarch’s course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, who deemed it no less than “the finest natural parcel of land in the world I have been given to work with.”  The 229-room property, established in 1924, was the honeymoon haven of King Hussein and Queen Noor.

Grand Bay Hotel - Isla Navidad, Mexico

Hole by hole, shot by shot, the setting never repeats itself on Isla Navidad’s three nine-hole courses: Ocean, Mountains and Lagoon.  Located in Manzanillo on Mexico’s Pacific coast, between Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta, the 27- hole course has been likened to a work of art; niches housing handmade folk art surprise golfers at every turn.  The golf course and palm-studded 192-room hotel are part of the exclusive 1,200-acre peninsula community of Isla Navidad.  Guestrooms have bay views and balconies.

The Greenbrier - West Virginia

Presidents and members of Congress have vacationed here for as long as anyone can remember.  Located on 6,500 acres in the Allegheny Mountains, the 650-room Greenbrier, a National Historic Landmark offers three championship golf courses designed by Charles Blair Macdonald, Jack Nicklaus, and Bob Cupp respectively.  The property set new standards for resort golf with the opening of it’s Sam Snead golf Academy.  It has a 65,000 square-foot tee area, a 165-foot long practice bunker, a practice fairway bunker, and four different putting, chipping, and pitching greens.  If you would like to inquire more about these and other resort golf properties, please contact James TravelPOINTS at 1-800-538-7461,  www.travelpoints.com.