It’s being reported that many luxury cruise lines are reducing their prices to try and attract holidaymakers as the recession hits hard. The current economic climate is putting many people off taking this sort of a holiday, but in actual fact it may be a better time to go on a cruise than previously.

While many people are spurning Caribbean cruises or Mediterranean cruises this year as a result of a conscious effort to spend less money, those who are still interested in luxury cruises are finding they can upgrade to grander accommodation for the same price they would usually pay for something quite functional.

By the same token, people who have never previously considered a cruise ship for their holidays are finding they are far more affordable, meaning they now have the chance to tour the Caribbean or wherever, just as they’d always wished.

American Airlines have announced that they have a number of cheap flights available from Manchester International to New York. The offer is in place for bookings made up until the end of the 22nd of September and you can book flights for dates up until next June.

Return lights to New York are priced at around £316 and there are similarly priced flights to Los Angeles and Colorado, also from Manchester.

As always when booking flights, flexibility is key, as these aren’t fixed prices, but vary according to demand. Weekend flights are likely to cost a good deal more, as are flights in peak seasons. Nevertheless, this a great offer for holidaymakers in the North-West and well worth taking advantage of.

American Airlines is also offering a number of similar deals departing from Heathrow, but with Boston and Miami in place of Los Angeles.

It seems that the simple beach hut is getting something of reassessment from the British public and is now seen as a potential place to stay for a cheap beach holiday.

The opening of Dukes Walk Beach Hut Resort on Tyneside means that holidaymakers can now spend the night in a beach hut, making for a more economical way of spending a summer break. The resort, not far from Whitley Bay, is aiming to open in time for Easter 2010.

The huts themselves will be joined together in pairs to allow more space. They will be able to accommodate six people and will feature living space and bathrooms and kitchens as well.

While spring in the region can sometimes see cold winds whipping in from the continent, the huts are robust enough to cope. They will be available to rent for all but one month of the year and are priced between £300 and £450.

The luxury holiday company, Kuoni, has revealed it made a £29million loss in the first half of 2009, giving a clear indication that the market for luxury holidays has reduced in the current financial climate.

Last minute holiday deals to high-end destinations like Dubai and Thailand were reduced to only about £700 per person by Kuoni as a response. The company are also looking at reducing salaries in order to manage costs.

Kuoni’s head of late trading says that last minute five star holiday deals are proving hugely popular with booking numbers increasing. Holidays to luxury destinations such as the Maldives, Thailand and Mauritius have all been selling well. However, holidays to the USA and India have shown a downturn in booking numbers.

The company are still confident of making a profit in 2009, with bookings in the second half of the year typically being greater in number.

A new TV campaign has been announced to help promote the Australian state of Queensland as a tourist destination.

The adverts feature a reworked version of ‘Hey Hey We’re The Monkeeys’ which unsurprisingly becomes ‘Hey Hey This Is Queensland’. The song soundtracks scenes of young tourists merrily bouncing about at Queensland’s major tourist spots.

The campaign, which also features print and internet ads as well, has cost five million Australian dollars and is set to appear in Sydney, Melbourne and in Queensland itself shortly. The concept is to sell Queensland as a fun, lively holiday destination.

It also plays on the recent campaign where Queensland offered ‘the best job in the world’ with a trip to the region now branded ‘the best holiday in the world’.

There are 119,000 tourism jobs in the north Australian state and the industry is keen to support those workers.

It’s unlikely to be financial hardship that’s driven celebrities to rent out their holiday homes, but if you’re after a Caribbean holiday and you’ve money to burn, there are a number of places that you could stay.

If you’re after a palatial Barbados pad, that of Sir Anthony Bamford and Lady Bamford is available. At £9,000 a week and no last minute deals, you can expect a certain level of luxury and with an Olympic sized pool, tennis courts and exquisite gardens, you should get just that.

Perhaps even more intriguingly, Richard Branson rents out his place in the British Virgin Islands for £8,000 a week and Bruce Willis rents his in the Turks and Caicos for £6,000 a week.

Mick Jagger has a seafront pad that was originally leased out secretly, but once it became known that it belonged to the Rolling Stone, the letting agents have played on that fact. Now holidaymakers looking on luxury rental sites might happen across it and be tempted by the bargain £10,000 a week price tag.

Other celebrities leasing out their own properties include Pierce Brosnan, Gary Lineker and Andrew Flintoff. The biggest bargain comes from Beatles producer, Sir George Martin however, who offers his rooms for just £50 a night – by invite only though.

It’s irritating that many airlines, such as Jet2, don’t include airport taxes and the like in their prices, but most of us have come to accept it. What I don’t expect is the cold-hearted exploitation of those less familiar with the internet when booking tickets.

The Jet2 booking process is an absolute minefield, only instead of being blown-up, you find yourself £50 worse off. I work in web marketing. I know how important usability is and I know for a fact that Jet2 do as well, which means that they know exactly what they’re doing in turning their flight booking process into a booby-trapped labyrinth.

The best flight booking process is straightforward. There are minimal clicks and you can add in all the extra stuff that you might want, seeing the charges as you do so. Jet2’s flight booking process includes most of the extra stuff by default and you have to remove it.

Some of Jet2’s extra charges are really needless as well. I don’t want holiday insurance selected as standard. If I need holiday insurance through Jet2, I will add it.

The real killer is the seat selection charge though. This is the point where the website’s malicious design becomes most apparent. You can choose what seat you want when you book and Jet2 charge you for that, which is fair enough. However, it’s really, really hard not to choose a seat.

At one stage in the booking process, you’re confronted with a picture of the plane seating. If you click ‘continue’ there is a pop-up with text and then a green ‘yes’ or a grey ‘no’. Years of using the internet have taught you to click yes. Unfortunately, the question at the very end of the text is: “Do you want to select remaining seats?” – so the correct answer is actually ‘no’.

Perhaps even worse is the baggage check-in section if you opt for hand baggage only. The pop-up asks (if that’s the right word): “It’s 25% cheaper if you select checked-in bags now” – to which you’re supposed to answer yes or no. The correct (cheaper) answer is no, which doesn’t actually make sense because it’s not a yes or no question.

Furthermore, it’s not 25% cheaper to check bags in than not check bags in. It’s 25% cheaper to let Jet2 know at this point that you’re intending to check bags in rather than doing so on the day. If you’ve no intention of checking a bag in, it’s obviously more expensive. This is wilfully misleading and expoitative. Also, again you have to select ‘no’ to proceed without parting with further cash.

I booked some flights with Jet2 this week. Obviously, they were fairly cheap. At least they were advertised as fairly cheap.

I was quite alarmed to see that the ‘taxes and charges’ were about £90 for two tickets. I checked the information and it turned out that Jet2’s extra charges covered pretty much anything and everything: baggage, choosing a seat, checking in offline, insurance.

No matter, I thought. I’ll just remove all that crap. I’m web-savvy. I’m not falling for their tricks. But no, apparently THESE extra charges were extra extra charges. Having gone through Jet2’s viciously money-grabbing booking process and selected NOTHING, I then found that this £90-odd quid remained. Presumably they’re airport taxes and so forth, although it isn’t really explained anywhere.

Assuming this is airport tax and the like, I can just about cope with it. What I can’t cope with is Jet2’s booking process. I also bridle at Jet2’s assertion that any form of checking-in warrants an extra charge. In what way is it ‘extra’? How the hell am I meant to get on board the plane without checking in?

A Teletext survey of two thousand children has revealed that the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida is the most popular holiday destination among youngsters.

Over a fifth of children, aged between five and 15, voted the Florida amusement park their favourite. Other destinations that rated well were Spain as well as the USA in general – not specifically holidays in Florida.

Also popular were many areas of the UK, with Wales picking up 6.1 percent of the vote, Cornwall 5.9 percent and Devon 4.1 percent, although most of those asked said they would prefer to go abroad.

The survey also covered holiday accommodation and surprisingly only 7.8 percent said they preferred camping and only 11 percent preferred campervans or caravans. The most popular form of accommodation was a hotel, which 42.8 percent of the children voted for.

In terms of activities, most children (60.1 percent) said that they enjoyed spending their time in the swimming pool, 56.1 percent said they liked going to the beach and 44.6 percent wanted to visit a theme park.

It’s a little known fact that Montechoro on the Algarve was the site of the world’s finest example of the paunchy, bald-headed, red Englishman.

Back in 2002, Terry Jessop of Doncaster woke on the third day of his holiday to find that his previously immaculate alabaster white skin had not been protected by the patchy covering of hair all over his torso. He was the colour of his beloved Man Utd shirt and this, allied to his middle-aged spread and shaven head, led to him being granted the title of Most English-Looking Man in History.

Things to do in Montechoro

With its lines of traditional English pubs, this is an area where you can embrace the traditional English lifestyle where you drink lager, watch football, go bald, grow a paunch, get sunburnt and be a man. The last point is particularly important. If you truly want to live the lifestyle, you should on no account be a woman. It’s just not the done thing.