Travel Tips & Trends

Denver Restaurant Week
Emergency contacts for drivers
Passion Play seats still available
This year’s new cruise ships
Horses of Half Moon Cay

Denver Restaurant Week

This year, Denver Restaurant Week is a little inaccurately named. For the first time, the popular culinary event will officially run for two weeks, from Saturday, February 20 through Friday, March 5.

The event offers a chance for Denver residents and visitors to try restaurants they may not have considered before, or revisit an old favorite. Participating restaurants will each offer a multi-course dinner at a fixed price of $52.80 for two people, or $26.40 for one, not including tax or gratuity.

Last year, demand was so high that many restaurants continued to offer the meal special for an additional week.

“In 2009, 75% of the restaurants extended their Denver Restaurant Week participation,” said Richard Scharf, president of Visit Denver. “However, because not every restaurant extended for the second week, there was some confusion.” With the popularity of last year’s event in mind, this year all participating restaurants will offer their special multi-course dinner for a full two weeks. As this issue of EnCompass went to print, more than 100 restaurants were already confirmed participants—the final number is expected to be around 200. Reservations will be required in most cases.

Last year’s event saw 225 restaurants participating with nearly 300,000 meals served across the city.

Emergency contacts for drivers

Did you know the State of Colorado allows you to name one or two contacts, linked to your driver’s license so police can quickly identify the appropriate person to contact in an emergency?

The information doesn’t appear on the actual license. It can only be accessed by law enforcement or public safety authorities in the event of the license holder’s injury or death as a result of an accident, criminal act or other emergency situation.

To add an emergency contact, go to www.colorado.gov. The process takes a couple of minutes and is currently only available online.

Passion Play seats still available

For 400 years, the Bavarian village of Oberammergau has performed its Passion Play. The event, held every 10 years, spikes travel patterns to this beautiful part of Germany.

With Mount Kofel and the Bavarian Alps as a backdrop, Oberammergau softly beckons travelers. Its old homes and other buildings are brilliantly painted with frescoes. The charm of this historic village is enchanting and the sense of peace is absolute.

At the beginning of the 17th century, bubonic plague — the “Black Death” — reached these remote mountain valleys. In 1633, surviving villagers in Oberammergau swore to perform a Passion Play (the traditional reenactment of the death of Christ) every 10 years if God spared their village. The rest, as they say, is history. The village’s first Passion Play was staged in 1634. In 1680, the performance was moved to the first year of each decade. Today, it is still performed on an open-air stage, in German, but with enough verve and emotion that it transcends language barriers.

This decade’s performances run from May to September, 2010. Seats always sell fast, but, at the time of writing, tickets are still available as part of a variety of European tour packages. For more information, contact a AAA travel agent.

This year’s new cruise ships

In 2010, four new cruise ships will be introduced by AAA’s preferred partner cruise lines.

Cunard Line’s Queen Elizabeth
Named after one of Cunard’s greatest ships from the golden age of ocean travel, this new ship will reflect her predecessor’s grandeur. Public areas have Art Deco features, rich wood paneling, intricate mosaics, gleaming chandeliers and marble. Queen Elizabeth’s onboard programs will include period-inspired entertainment such as piano sing-a-longs, and dancing that ranges from ballroom to the jitterbug and jive. Her maiden season will run from October 2010 to January 2011 in the Caribbean, and Western and Central Mediterranean.

Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam
Launching in July, the 86,000-ton Nieuw Amsterdam will include well-known Holland America features such as outside-view glass elevators, a Culinary Arts Center and expanded Greenhouse Spa and Salon. The ship will feature the family-style Canaletto’s Italian restaurant, pan-Asian Tamarind restaurant and the Silk Den lounge. Other additions are a wine-tasting lounge, luxury jewelry boutique, new atrium bar area, reconfigured show lounge, and a photographic center. Nieuw Amsterdam will have 11 guest decks. Spa staterooms are available with additional spa amenities.

Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Eclipse
Celebrity Eclipse sets sail in April 2010 with itineraries in Europe and the Caribbean. Luxury and spectacular design are mainstays aboard this ship, from the AquaSpa Relaxation Room to the main dining room with its two-story glass wine tower. The 2,850- passenger vessel will continue several hallmarks of Celebrity’s Solstice-class ships, including a Lawn Club with real grass, glassblowing studio, Tuscan Grille steakhouse and Silk Harvest restaurant. Accommodation categories include AquaClass spa staterooms.

Royal Caribbean International’s Allure of the Seas
The largest new ship this year will be Allure of the Seas, sister to 2009’s Oasis of the Seas. The 5,400-passenger vessel will make her debut in autumn. Passengers will find two-story ocean views, a full-sized carousel, an adults-only Solarium and the largest dedicated youth area at sea. The Pool Zone includes cantilevered whirlpools, surfing simulators and a zip-line. Central Park, a meandering garden and lush public space, is lined with fine restaurants. Multiple balconies overlook the AquaTheater amphitheater. Allure of the Seas will have 16 decks, 28 loft suites and 2,700 staterooms, and will sail seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises from Fort Lauderdale.

Horses of Half Moon Cay

The sun shines down on the turquoise water. Hooves splash as your horse moves into the surf. With bath-warm water now above your knees, you ride parallel to the stunning mile-long beach—in the ocean and yet also floating above it on horseback.

The beach riding program on Half Moon Cay in the Caribbean is considered a once-in-a-lifetime experience by many visitors, but the horses don’t have it half bad either.

Montana, Apache and the program’s other 32 horses work only 175 “ship days” per year. They have their own well for fresh water, and hay is barged in from Florida to supplement their pasture grazing on the island. On work days, they’re treated to a fresh water bath after their swim. If the horses need any medical care that ranch manager Richie can’t provide (which is rare), there are three vets in Nassau who can reach the island in just 55 minutes by floatplane.

The first group of 26 horses arrived in 2004 as seasoned veterans of beach riding in Jamaica. They were first loaded on a Boeing 727 for a flight to the island of Eleuthera, and then barged 20 miles to Half Moon Cay. Two more groups of horses followed, with backgrounds ranging from show jumping to racing. It took between three and five months to train the horses for their new job.

In February 2009, a colt was born on the island. Aptly named Half Moon, he tags along on ocean rides, though he’s still too young to carry a rider.

Half Moon Cay is a stop on most of Holland America Line’s Caribbean itineraries. Besides beach riding, activities on the private island include snorkeling, fishing and parasailing. For more information, contact a AAA travel agent.

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