Bermunda turns 400 years old this year and is hoping you'll help celebrate her birthday with a vacation.  Visit the island this winter and you can get up to $400 in credit (typically in the form of companion air credit from the airline with which you book the package). The credit amount is calculated on a sliding scale, based on the number of nights you stay. Folks booking a two-night stay will get $200 in credits; book a three-night stay and get $300 back; come for four nights or more, and you'll get $400 in credit. As a bonus, you'll also receive a booklet containing coupons worth $1,000.

This air + hotel package gives you a choice of 10 hotels and is available through various airlines and travel operators from major East coast hubs (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Miami, as well as multiple airports in Canada). Though the deal is the same, the airline depends on your departure city. A family departing from New York City, for example, could purchase the package through JetBlue and receive up to $400 in companion air credits.

Book by March 27 and travel by March 31.

What are our top three reasons for loving Southwest Airlines? No hidden fees, no hidden fees, and no hidden fees. We also like how airfares just got lower with the "Wanna Get Away?" sale. Fly on Tuesday or Wednesday and you can snag fares for $49 to $99 one-way on select routes nationwide. Fly Thursday to Monday, and sale prices range from $59 to $159 one-way.

Book by January 19 and fly between January 15 and April 30 with a 14-day advance purchase.

For travelers, the silver lining in this weakened economy is the tidal wave of vacation deals we're seeing. Still, it's important to keep your giddiness in check and stick to common-sense travel strategies like our original 20 recession travel rules. Our latest lesson is about researching taxes and fees before you go. It's also the first time we've uncovered a deal that turned out to be too bad to be true. 

Atlantis, the megaresort on Paradise Island, the Bahamas, just announced a Winter SunScape promotion, which slashes prices on winter and early spring stays by as much as 35% below regular rates.  For stays between Sunday to Wednesday, the promo rate starts at $265 a night. For stays between Thursday to Saturday, the lowest rate bumps up to $319 a night. To take advantage of this offer, book a stay of two or more nights by December 31 and travel between January 4 and April 1, 2009.

When we priced out a three-night midweek stay for a family of four with two kids under 12, the least expensive option was a Terrace room in the Beach Tower, the most affordable of eight properties at the Atlantis resort. At a nightly rate of $265, our three-night total came to $795. Or so we thought until we glanced at the fine print, and this jumped off the screen:

"Add up to $144pp for mandatory taxes, mandatory housekeeping grats., & utility svc. fees."

Uh-oh. Up to $144 per person in taxes and fees?! We scuttled over to the Terms & Conditions page, clickable from the footer of the Atlantis web site, and scrolled down to the subhead "Additional Charges." And there it was:

"Atlantis guests are subject to $50 per night for each additional person, 12 years old and older; 6% guest room tax per person, per night; 3% Paradise Island Tourism and Development Association levy per person, per night; 3% Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board levy per person, per night and up to $24 per person per day mandatory housekeeping gratuity and utility service fee."

Holy moly—if that wording were accurate, we'd be looking at some crazy additional fees in the neighborhood of $670 for a three-night stay. This can't possibly be correct, we thought. And we were right. When we called Atlantis' reservation number (888/877-7525) and spoke to a reservations agent, we found out that the reality is far less nasty. Here's how the taxes and fees actually break down for our family of four for a three-night stay:

• 12% in taxes per room—not "per person" as stated on the web site ($31.80 x 3 nights = $95.40)
• For this level of accommodation, the housekeeping and resort fee is $19.50 per adult, per night—not "per person, per night" as stated on the site ($19.50 x 2 adults x 3 nights = $117)

So we're now talking about $70.80 per night in taxes and fees, which works out to $212.40 for the three-night stay.

The moral of the story: Always think of a promo rate as your base price until you verify taxes, resort fees, housekeeping fees, parking fees, and all the other charges hotels impose on top of their advertised rates. In this case, your true spend would be an additional 27% on top of the promo rate. 

Tough economic times call for savvy travel strategies, like our 20 recession travel rules. Today we turn our attention to no. 18, which is also one of our 6 Genius Travel Buys. If you travel even once a year, then springing for membership in the AAA is a no-brainer. Basic membership costs just $59 a year, and it entitles you to discounts on all kinds of travel services, from hotels and restaurants to cruises, car rentals, and train travel. 

To demonstrate how quickly that $59 investment pays for itself, we price-checked a stay at the historic Jekyll Island Club, on Jekyll Island, Georgia. The place was once the winter stamping ground for American millionaires such as Rockefeller and Morgan, but today it is a family-friendly resort (see our review). For a four-night stay in early March, the rack rate for a traditional room with two double beds is $189 a night. With the AAA discount, the rate drops to $159 a night. So you save $30 a night and make back the cost of your AAA membership after just two nights. Consider the additional $61 savings as gravy.

Note: For stays of three or more nights, the Jekyll Island Club will also give you a gas credit for $100 (be sure to mention code GASRED).

Last month, we told you how to get a 30% discount on a four-night stay at any of the three Loews hotels inside Universal Orlando Resort. Now there's a way to get two nights free—a 40% discount!—on a five-night Universal Orlando vacation package. Families that book three nights of accommodation plus three-day admission will get two more nights free, which works out to a 40% savings on the five-night stay. There are two ways to take advantage of this deal:

• Starting at $689 for a family of four, you get five nights accommodation at a hotel near Universal Orlando, five days of theme park admission, and complimentary shuttle transportation. This works out to as little as $138 a night for a family of four (based on two adults and two kids 3 to 9).
• Starting at $1,144 for a family of four, a VIP version of the package gives you five nights accommodation at one of the three Loews hotels located inside Universal Orlando Resort: Royal Pacific Resort, Hard Rock Hotel, or Portofino Bay Resort (see our review), plus five days of theme park admission with the "Universal Express" VIP fastpass that lets you skip the lines at most rides and attractions. This works out to as little as $229 a night for a family of four (based on two adults and two kids 3 to 9). Essentially you're paying an extra $91 a night for the in-park location and line-skipping privileges—well worth it if you can swing the added expense.

To take advantage of this offer, you need to book by January 31 and travel by June 27, 2009. If you go before March 31, you'll get an added bonus: a Universal Orlando Savings Guide worth $150 in shopping and dining discounts.

Amid the tidal wave of fantastic deals on Caribbean getaways, JetBlue has unveiled a More Beach for Your Buck Sale. The airline is selling 5,000 packages that bundle roundtrip airfare plus three nights accommodation for $599 or less per person. Destinations include Aruba, Bermuda, Cancun, the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and St. Maarten/St. Martin.

Actual prices depend on both the departure city and chosen resort. When we price-checked this deal using different departure cities, it quickly became clear that the "$599 or less" price applies only if you're flying non-stop from an East coast airport served by JetBlue—and even then, not always.

When we ran the numbers online for a family of four (two adults, two kids aged 5 and 9), here's what we found:

Flying New York JFK to Aruba for a three-night, Thursday-Sunday stay in mid-March, the package comes to $2,211.69 ($552.92/person) if you stay at the Westin Resort, Aruba (aerial of the pool area, right).

Flying Boston to San Juan for a three-night, Thursday-Sunday stay in early March, the package comes to $2,464.59 ($615.65/person) at the Four Points by Sheraton Resort and Casino at Palmas del Mar or $2,645.59 ($661.40/person) at the InterContinental San Juan Resort and Casino.

Note that JetBlue is limiting this sale to 5,000 packages. In other words, it's a limited offer and you need to act fast if you're interested. You can book online or by calling 800/JETBLUE, option 3. You must book by December 31 for travel between January 3 and March 31, 2009. Blackout dates are February 12 to 22 for the entire promotion; some individual resorts  have additional blackout periods.

Deal or no deal? A deal, but only if you live near a JetBlue-served East coast airport such as New York's JFK.

Grab your kids, your mittens, and your video camera. Smugglers' Notch, the ski resort perenially voted no. 1 for family programs by Ski magazine readers (see our review), is running a video contest on YouTube, and one lucky family will win a five-night/five-day winter vacation. To enter, create a homemade family fun video that explains what you think are the key ingredients to a fantastic winter family vacation, then share your masterpiece on YouTube. Click on the box for details.