Good deals here, there, everywhere

BARGAINS have a way of selling out. It embarrasses me to tell readers about a deal, only to learn that the packages or berths sold out between the time I learned of them and when they appeared in my column.

I hope to do better with the following bargains. I feel confident that the majority of them will be on sale for a month or two. But, as they say, nothing is certain except death and taxes.

* Bargains to the Dominican Republic: The tour company CheapCaribbean.com, owned by an established firm called Inter-Island Tours), is selling a five-night stay at a new beachside hotel in the Dominican Republic, including round-trip airfare and three meals a day (as well as unlimited drinks, sports and entertainment) for $999 from L.A.

The hotel is the Majestic Colonial in the popular Punta Cana area. It has six restaurants, several swimming pools, Jacuzzis in every guest room and many other features. How long will this deal be available? I hope long enough for you to book it, but I can’t guarantee it. Call (800) 915-2322, or go to www.cheapcaribbean.com to find out.

* Club Med specials: The tour company Moment’s Notice Travel, (888) 241-3366, www.moments-notice.com, has rooms at Club Meds in the Caribbean and Mexico for $85 per person per night, including meals and drinks, entertainment and nonmotorized sports. The booking must be made within a month or so of departure.

Multiply $85 by seven nights and you get $595 per person for a week, plus $55 for a Club Med membership. The resulting total undercuts most other offers for Club Med vacations by up to $200 per person. Will Moment’s Notice still have rooms at that price when you read this? I think so, and I can only suggest that you call. But keep in mind that you’ll have to add about $400 to $500 for your round-trip airfare.

* Deals on a repositioning cruise: White Travel Service, (800) 547-4790, www.whitetravel.com, has cabins on a 17-night cruise from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Genoa, Italy, from May 3 to 20 for $599 per person (about $35 a day), plus port charges ($375 per person). The ship is the Lirica of MSC Cruises, a well-financed Italian company.

The itinerary starts with two days at sea, then the ship stops at the Dominican Republic, Tortola and Martinique, followed by six full days at sea crossing the Atlantic, arriving at the Portuguese island of Madeira, followed by another full day at sea, then Malaga (on Spain’s Costa del Sol), Barcelona and Genoa.

The purpose of the cruise: to reposition the Lirica from the Caribbean -- where it is no longer needed in May -- to Europe, where it’s in big demand for the summer. But because the public doesn’t usually take to these leisurely ocean crossings that don’t involve a port a day, lines heavily discount their repositioning cruises. I prefer them.

* Bargains afloat: Internet broker ICruise, www.icruise.com, is selling cabins for the Nov. 26 and Dec. 3 sailings of the 158,000-ton, 4,370-passenger Freedom of the Seas, which will be the largest vessel afloat (bigger than the Queen Mary 2) when it enters service in June as the flagship of Royal Caribbean Cruises, its itinerary for the two cruises will be a seven-night tour of the Western Caribbean, beginning and ending in Miami.

Although the ship is heavily booked for its early cruises, it apparently is experiencing weak bookings for the post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas dates. Because of that, ICruise is offering a price of $859 per person for inside cabins, which includes substantial port charges.

Will such cabins remain available in the next several weeks? I think they will, and if you’re game to sail with 4,370 other passengers, enjoying a rock-climbing wall, mini-golf, surfing pool, boxing ring and theater similar to Radio City Music Hall, this may be your chance.