Travel briefs

Apprentice cruise

NEW YORK - Two words sum up a trip being offered to fans of "The Apprentice."

You're sailing!

An eight-day cruise themed on the hit NBC show will sail from New York to the Caribbean on Sept. 26, after a bon voyage party in Manhattan with a send-off from Donald Trump. Cast members from the show - including Bill Rancic, the first apprentice, and Stacie J., Jennifer C. and Raj from the second season - will be on board. The trip will take place on a Carnival ship, The Legend, which is being renamed Trump World Legend for the week.

Guests can meet and talk to cast members about the show, but there will also be on-board competitions involving teams and tasks, just like there is on TV. Participation will be open to all passengers. In addition to cash prizes, one person will win the grand prize - spending a day as CEO of Expedia.com, which is sponsoring the cruise. The CEO-for-a-day will get a $15,000 paycheck for all that hard work, first-class airfare to New York and ground transportation by limo, plus a stay in a five-star hotel.

On-board events will also include lectures on business and career topics; a masquerade ball; singles-only events; and a poker tournament. Regular cruise amenities will be offered as well, including children's programs for guests traveling with kids and shore excursions. Stops are planned in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where there will be an evening of club-hopping; Tortola; and St. Thomas, where a golf tournament is scheduled.

The ship has 1,062 cabins and tickets start at $1,199 per person, based on double occupancy. The price covers basic meals but not taxes, gratuities, liquor and other extras like taking part in the golf event.

For details or to make a reservation, contact www.expedia.com/apprentice or call (800) 504-3398.

--- Trinidad carnival

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad - What they call Mardi Gras in New Orleans is called Carnival in the Caribbean, and although it's celebrated on several islands as a symbolic time of spiritual renewal, Trinidad is seen as the heart of the party.

The annual pre-Lenten festivities officially being Feb. 7 but locals flock to raucous parties and concerts for a week leading up to the main events. The climax of the celebration is a parade through the streets of the capital by thousands of masqueraders and bikini-clad revelers to soca music, a popular calypso-fusion dance music.

The events include shows, parties and contests for dancing, steel pans and costumed bands.

Refugees of the French Revolution brought Carnival to Trinidad in the 1700s. Slaves later adopted the custom, dressing up in pantaloons and petticoats to parody their British colonial masters.

Some costume-makers complain the design quality of outfits has dropped in recent years as Carnival becomes a more tourist-oriented, flesh-baring affair.

Trinidad and Tobago, a two-island country of 1.3 million residents, is located in the southeastern Caribbean, less than 10 miles off the coast of Venezuela.

For details on carnival in Trinidad or on planning a vacation there, check out www.visittnt.com/.

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Minority skiing

DENVER - The ski industry wants to lure more minorities to the slopes, hoping to cash in on the population boom of Hispanics, blacks and Asians across the United States.

"I'm here to tell you that the time for diversity in the mountains has come," consultant Roberto Moreno told business leaders and ski industry officials meeting in Denver in December.

Moreno, a former ski patroller who owns Denver-based Moreno & Co., last year founded the group Alpino, which gives Denver-area minority kids a chance to ski and snowboard at Colorado ski areas.

Studies by the Leisure Trends Group in Boulder show that 47 percent of potential skiers who say they are seriously interested in trying skiing or snowboarding are black or Hispanic. More than 25 percent of skiers who have tried the sport once are minorities.

It is a vast market that so far has been largely ignored by resorts looking to boost revenues.

"There is enormous interest and enormous opportunity among the various minority groups," said Jim Spring, president of Leisure Trends. "They just need to be invited."

The challenges include finding transportation to the mountains from urban areas and changing what Moreno described as a "Eurocentric vibe" at ski resorts that makes some minorities feel unwelcome. Fewer than 8 percent of the nation's skiers and snowboarders are nonwhite.

Manny Fields, co-founder of Denver's Alturas Communications, said the key is finding a ski industry message that will resonate across cultures.

One resort official said deeply discounted season passes are already available to everyone.

"Every Hispanic, every African-American, every Asian has an opportunity to participate," said Bill Jensen, chief operating officer of Vail Resorts, which is supporting Moreno's Alpino group. "But if you've never experienced it, if it's not a part of your lifestyle, then price really doesn't matter. We need to do a better job with our visibility and communication."

Most of the state's large resorts direct limited marketing at deep-pocketed vacationers, the so-called "destination skiers" who are the most lucrative segment of the industry. But while the big resorts work to stem a statewide decline in destination skiers, smaller resorts may turn to overlooked minority groups.

"The market is ripe for skiing," said Rob Linde, marketing director at the Eldora ski area.

--- Busch Gardens

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Busch Gardens has raised daily admission by $2 but cut back the price of its tickets for Florida residents after a down year in attendance.

The Tampa theme park has raised pretax daily admission prices to $55.95 for adults, $45.95 for children 3 to 9.

The park also raised the price of its Fun Card, good for unlimited visits for one year, by $2 to $61.95 for adults, $51.95 for children.

Despite the increase, Busch Gardens still sits below the Orlando-area theme parks in terms of daily ticket prices.

Walt Disney World, SeaWorld and Universal Orlando all announced increases to $59.75 before taxes for a single-day adult ticket.

Meanwhile, the new Busch Gardens discount for Florida residents is $49.50 for adults, the park's lowest in three years. The new ticket can only be bought online. Buyers must include a Florida mailing address to buy one and display a Florida photo ID with a Florida address at the park gate.

Busch gets more than half its traffic from local residents, while that figure is less than a quarter for the Orlando parks.

Busch attendance was down 4 percent in 2004. Park officials partly blamed hurricanes, which closed the park for four days and put a damper on fall tourism. For more information, visit www.buschgardens.com.

--- Vulcan Park

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A restored, century-old statue of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and metalworking, drew an estimated 100,000 visitors from around the world to Vulcan Park in the 10 months since it reopened.

The figure represents Birmingham and Alabama's iron industry. It was created for display at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis.

Vulcan Park officials said more than 80,000 people bought tickets in 2004 to travel up the tower platform or to see exhibits since the park opened to the public in March. An estimated 25,000 more are believed to have visited the park for lunch breaks or morning coffee.

"We feel overall attendance has been well in excess of 100,000," said Darlene Negrotto, the park's executive director. "We had visitors from every one of the 50 states in the first six months after we opened."

More than 3,000 students from area schools visited Vulcan in the fall as part of the fourth-grade curriculum. Other visitors have come to see the art gallery at the visitors center. Business conferences and wedding receptions have also been held at the Red Mountain site, which also generates money for the foundation.

Negrotto said the park is also being used as an economic development tool, with industrial recruiters bringing in prospects to illustrate the history of Birmingham's economy and get a view of downtown.

Beginning Jan. 20, the park gallery will feature works of Giuseppe Moretti, the New York sculptor who created the 60-ton statue. It was placed atop Red Mountain on a 124-foot pedestal in 1938, but was in a deteriorated state when it was taken down for repairs in 1999.

--- Pirate museum

KEY WEST, Fla. - Pat Croce, former president and part-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team, wielded a replica pirate's sword for "ribbon slashing" festivities to open his pirate museum in the Florida Keys.

Now a "life coach" as host of the daily television reality show, "Pat Croce: Moving In," part-time Key West resident Croce is a passionate collector of pirate memorabilia who says he uses a pirate's philosophy to steer his business ventures.

"It's that whole adventure attitude: go at life with an attack mode in mind, no holds barred, take no prisoners and 'carpe diem' -- seize the day," Croce said at the Jan. 5 opening. "I did it with the Sixers' business; we went from worst to first, just with that attack mode in mind."

The Pirate Soul museum features nearly 500 authentic artifacts, many from Croce's private collection, depicting piracy's golden age from 1690 to 1730. The 5,000-square-foot, $10 million museum uses audio-animatronic elements to explore the lives of notorious buccaneers like shipmates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, and Florida Keys pirate Black Caesar.

According to Croce, museum highlights include one of the only two authenticated pirate flags in the world and the world's only authenticated pirate treasure chest, which experts have traced to Capt. Thomas Tew.

Visitors also can view the original journal of Capt. Kidd's last voyage, a blunderbuss gun owned by Blackbeard, a 1696 "wanted poster" for the dreaded Henry Every, centuries-old surgical and navigational instruments, and an assortment of rare pirate gold and weapons.

For details, visit www.piratesoul.com.

--- Traveler 'Gold List'

NEW YORK -The Trump International Hotel in New York, Hotel Iroquois on the Beach on Mackinac Island, Mich., and the Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Va., were among the hotels scoring a perfect 100 on Conde Nast Traveler's annual "Gold List" of the 700 best places to stay around the globe.

Thousands of the magazine's readers rated properties and cruises for rooms, service, food, location, design and activities. The full list is published in the January issue.

Trump International was one of just seven places around the world to get a perfect score for rooms. The others were the Amankila, in Manggis, Bali; the Banyan Tree in Bangkok; the Fullerton in Singapore; the Moorea Pearl Resort in Polynesia; the Mombo Camp in Botswana, and the Singita Private Game Reserve in South Africa.

Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tenn., was among the resorts scoring 100 for service. The Inn at Little Washington was the only U.S. property to get 100 for food. The Hotel Iroquois got 100 for location, along with two dozen others around the world, including, in the United States, the Greyfield Inn in on Cumberland Island, Ga., and the Snake River Lodge & Spa in Jackson, Wyo.

For design, Nine Zero Hotel in Boston got a perfect 100, along with the Chateau de la Chevre d'Or in Eze, France; La Reserve de Beaulieu in Beaulieu-Sur-Mer, France; the Ritz-Carlton in Santiago, Chile; the Amankila in Bali; the Peninsula in Bangkok; and the Singita Reserve.

--- Tourist traps

NEW YORK - No self-respecting native would admit having fun at the local tourist trap, but that shouldn't stop the rest of us.

So says Budget Travel magazine in its February issue, which lists the country's eight best tourist traps.

They are:

-Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, where you'll find the Walk of Fame, the Kodak Theatre home-of-Oscar tour, the Hollywood sign seen from Grauman's Chinese Theatre and Frederick's of Hollywood.

-The Tonga Room in San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel, where you can sip a "Bora Bora Horror" and take in an outrageous fake tropical storm over the pool every half hour.

-Sunset celebrations in Key West, including the Mallory Square show with cats who jump through flaming hoops at the Hilton.

-Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in Seattle, with an inventory that includes shrunken heads, fleas wearing dresses and three mummified humans named Sylvester, Sylvia and Gloria.

-The Hope diamond at the Smithsonian Institution's gem collection in Washington.

-Durgin-Park in Boston, where you'll eat prime rib and chowder at communal tables as diners have done since 1855.

-Cafe du Monde in New Orleans, a place to have coffee with chicory, eat beignets and take in the performers, freaks and horse-drawn carriages of Jackson Square.

-The Circle Line in New York City, a three-hour cruise around Manhattan complete with corny jokes from the tour guide.