America

North America

Location. Located in New York, N.Y., the Hotel Plaza Athenee is on a residential street lined with trees and stately stone construction. The hotel is one block from Central Park. The hotel is one-half mile from Radio City Music Hall and three blocks from Blackfriars Reparatory Theatre. Hotel Features. Red awnings adorn the Hotel Plaza Athenee's European-style façade and the lobby floor is elegant white marble. The hotel restaurant, Arabelle, serves modern French cuisine. The gold domed dining area features murano glass and brass chandeliers, chiffon colored walls, murals of pagodas and faux conservatory windows. Amber-lit Bar Seine features a combination of North African and European décor, rich velvet curtains and lacquered walls. The hotel offers a fitness center, business center, meeting space and high-speed Internet access.

Guestrooms. Guestrooms at the Hotel Plaza Athenee are decorated with French-style furniture and gold linens. Beds feature down comforters. Amenities include CD players and cable television. Minibars are included. In-room safes are provided. Bathrooms feature complimentary toiletries and marble countertops and floors.

Expert Tip. The Central Park Carousel is one-half mile from the hotel, in the middle of Central Park. The carousel, which dates back to 1908, features a Ruth Sohn band organ playing a Wurlitzer 150 music scroll.

This hotel is renovating its guestrooms and suites through the fall of 2009 (completion dates subject to change).

The hotel remains open and assures that it will make every effort to minimize construction noise and related disturbance.

Location. The Waldorf Astoria is a New York Art Deco landmark and icon hosting dignitaries, presidents and Hollywood celebrities since opening in 1931. The hotel is within 20 miles of La Guardia, JFK and Newark International Airports. Located in East Midtown Manhattan, this hotel is a four-block walk from the Broadway Theater District and Bloomingdale's is only nine blocks away. Occupying an entire block on prestigious Park Avenue, the Waldorf Astoria is one of the original grand hotels.

Hotel Features. The large, opulent lobby area has been restored to its original splendor. This extraordinary hotel offers elegant amenities to make guests feel comfortable and at home. Three on-site restaurants and one lounge serve an array of international cuisines and cocktails. Dining options include the Peacock Alley restaurant best known for its delectable Sunday brunch and fish and seafood menu. Guests can relax in the Cocktail Terrace for afternoon tea and drinks. The Waldorf Astoria features a 2,500 square-foot fitness facility (surcharge). The hotel's concierge staff speaks multiple languages and help guests obtain theater tickets and arrange transportation and babysitting. The Waldorf also houses the biggest ballroom in Manhattan and offers 40 meeting rooms, eight boutiques, a bridal salon and room service.

Guestrooms. Guestrooms and suites symbolize old world elegance with high ceilings, rich brocades, marble bathrooms and designer bath products, formal window treatments, crystal-and-brass lamps and triple-sheeted bedding. Amenities offered in guestrooms include desks, minibars, high-speed Internet access (fee applies) and cable television. Select suites feature entry foyers and living areas.

Expert Tip. Two blocks away from the Waldorf Astoria is famed Fifth Avenue, a shopper's paradise that includes Saks Fifth Avenue and Rockefeller Center.

Location. The beachfront Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows is located in Kamuela, Hawaii. The hotel rises from the midst of a 16th century lava flow, known as Kalahuipua'a, or "mountain reaching heaven." This ancestral home of Hawaiian monarchs is three miles from the Puako Petroglyphs and five miles from Puukohola Heiau.

Hotel Features. Pacific Rim cuisine is presented at CanoeHouse, which boasts panoramic beach and ocean sunset views with offerings including China Town Duck with Tequila Sauce. Honu Bar serves cocktails, liqueurs, sashimi, and sushi adjacent to the atrium lobby, and Bay Terrace presents Mediterranean cuisine and daily breakfasts in its open-air, garden dining room.

Conference rooms, a business center and wireless Internet access are provided. Fire & Ice spa features specialty services including the Opu Huli, Lomilomi Hula and Pohaku Pa'a treatments. Carefully preserved ancient Hawaiian fishponds, petroglyphs, archaeological sites and marine life, including green sea turtles and tropical fish, punctuate this Big Island resort. Two onsite, 18-hole golf courses are built around the lava formations. A fitness center is available, as are tennis courts, historic and fish-feeding tours, water sports, horse riding and a children's camp.

Guestrooms. The 350 guestrooms feature teakwood furnishings, private lanais and décor in shades of white, tan and pale blue. Bathrooms contain dual vanities, polished Jerusalem stone floors, bathrobes, slippers and designer toiletries. Each room includes high-speed Internet access and video game consoles. Rooms feature coffeemakers with Kona coffee. Mini fridges are stocked upon request, for a fee.

Expert Tip. This unique property is the only locale where the five surrounding Hawaiian mountain peaks

Location. The Fairmont Orchid in Kamuela, Hawaii, is poised on 32 tropical acres within Hawaii's Big Island. Adjacent to the Francis H. I'i Brown Golf Course, this oceanfront property is one-half mile from the Puako Petroglyph Archeological Preserve. Complimentary shuttle service within the resort is available upon request.

Hotel Features. Hawaiian music accompanies the Hawaiian cuisine served at Brown's Beach House, where menu items include Crab Crusted Mahi Mahi and Kona Coffee Spiced Filet Mignon The Orchid Court provides al fresco, buffet-style breakfasts and a la carte selections, while Norio's Sushi Bar & Restaurant boasts a menu featuring tempura, fresh sushi and teriyaki. Oceanfront massage cabanas and waterfall massage houses are hosted at Spa Without Walls, where pampering services include the Big Island Coffee & Vanilla Exfoliation Treatment and the Lomilomi Massage. A 36-hole championship golf course is featured at the Francis H. I'i Brown golf course, while 10 tennis courts reside at the property's Vic Braden Tennis College. A fitness center contains free weights and cardiovascular equipment. Kayaking, surfing and snorkeling are available on site, with additional amenities including two lava-rock spa tubs, a sand-bottomed children's pool and a 10,000-foot oceanfront pool. Children's activities include the Keiki Aloha program, offering nature walks, snorkeling and arts and crafts activities for a fee.

Guestrooms. The 540 guestrooms feature crown molding, teak-wood furnishings, upholstered armchairs and decor in tones of khaki, saffron yellow and pale jade. Sliding-glass doors open to private furnished lanais with ocean or garden views. Bathrooms feature dual marble vanities, complimentary toiletries, bathrobes, phones and separate showers and bathtubs.

Expert Tip. Every afternoon at the property, Green Sea Turtles emerge from the waters and onto the shoreline to bask in the tropical sun. Guests may encounter the turtles while snorkeling offshore.

For Florida Fashionistas

Fashionistas and savvy travelers with a penchant for true luxury adore the new, five-star Bal Harbour Village, where chic boutiques and eateries commingle with watersports and beachfront accommodations. Virtuoso guests are entitled to their fourth night free at One Bal Harbour, this brand new outpost of style on North Miami Beach.

Sail with a legend as Cunard Line sails northbound through the Atlantic from Cape Town to New York City. Destinations include Rio de Janeiro and Barbados, among others.

Fairmont Kea Lani Maui, the pride of Polo Beach and Hawaii's only all-suite and villa oceanfront luxury resort. Take the extra time to bask in the three championship golf courses and fabulous spa.

Sail roundtrip on the ms Rotterdam from Seattle with Holland America Line, bound for Juneau, Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria, British Columbia. Depending on date of travel.

Latin America

Ensconce yourself in the intimacy and sophistication of small-ship sailing with Silversea Cruises as you make your way leisurely from San Juan to Martinique, Dominica, St. Kitts, St. Barts and St. Martin.

Come aboard the largest fully rigged sailing ship in the world, Star Clippers' Royal Clipper, as it sails roundtrip from Barbados with stops in St. Lucia, Dominica, Antigua, St. Kitts, Iles des Saintes and Martinique. It's a wonderfully romantic way to experience sailing traditions of the past with the modern creature comforts of today's cruising experience.

Experience the legend of Machu Picchu, making your home base the alluring Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge. Guests receive a room upgrade upon arrival, if available; all meals; and early check-in and late checkout, if available. Plus, depending on the route you take, enjoy a spa treatment and massages for you, or roundtrip transfers from the train station to the hotel and entrance to the Machu Picchu Citadel.

Crystal Cruises lavishes guests with exclusive amenities on this 11-night Caribbean voyage from Miami, transiting the Panama Canal to Costa Rica with a welcome reception, onboard host and prepaid onboard gratuities.

Set sail with Windstar Cruises from Puerto Caldera aboard the graceful Wind Star, spending memorable sunny days and romantic starry nights bound for San Juan del Sur, Playas del Coco, Quepos, Bahia Drake, Curu and Tortuga Island.

Holland America Line and Virtuoso invite you to experience this enticing voyage aboard the ms Maasdam through the Panama Canal with stops in Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica; Acapulco; San Diego; Cartagena, Colombia; and other mesmerizing ports.

The Black Sheep Inn, perched at 10,500 feet in the Ecuadorian highlands south of Quito, has transparent roofs to let sunlight into the indoor flower gardens, with views of the Rio Toachi Canyon. Everything else at this simple eight-room eco-retreat and bunkhouse follows in irrepressible green style. After hiking through remote Andean villages and canyons, feast on a vegetarian dinner from the organic garden, sit in the sauna, then cap it all off with a glass of Ecuadorian rum.