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 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.
 What's your New Year's resolution? Norwegian Cruise Line is hoping it will be to spend some of its money, with the help of its new "Freestyle Resolution" promo. Book a sailing by February 1, and you’ll get an onboard credit of anywhere from $30 to $500 per stateroom. The amount of credit is calculated on a sliding scale, based the length of the cruise and category of stateroom. For example, a family booking an inside stateroom for a three-day sailing would get a $30 credit. If you booked a suite for a six-day sailing, you would get $500 to spend as you like on the ship. Book online or by calling NCL at 866/234-5647, or go through a travel agent. Mention code PGWAVE.
 Nothing puts the ho-ho in your holidays quite like a few well-chosen family outings. So all season long, we're turning for inspiration to ParentsConnect Local, whose great events calendar features hundreds of merry-and-bright happenings in 51 cities around the country. Here's a sample of what we found on the calendar for Louisville:
Lights...Energy...Elves!: Head to the Louisville Science Center for holiday-inspired science activities and an exclusive showing of the IMAX film “The Light Before Christmas.” Kids can help make a super-sized candy cane, dissect common holiday plants and explore them under a stereoscope, make snow, and even take a taste of an astronaut's holiday dinner. Tickets must be ordered in advance, online or by phone. Best for ages 3-18. (December 21, 2pm-5pm; 502/561-6100, ext. 6111; $4-$12.)
A Christmas Carol: Charles Dickens' classic holiday story is performed on the Brown stage at the Actors Theatre. Purchase tickets in advance. Best for ages 6-18. (December 20, 21, 23, show times vary; 502/584-1205; $25-$44.)
The Brown-Forman Nutcracker: A holiday tradition returns to the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, featuring choreography by Alun Jones and Helen Starr and Tchaikovsky's classic score. Tickets can be purchased by phone and online. Best for ages 6-19. (December 20-21, 1:30pm and 7:30pm; 502/562-0100; $27-$85.)
See more holiday events in Louisville on ParentsConnect Local.
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.
 If you've been thinking about taking your family on a Disney cruise, you'll want to know about a fantastic new deal. Kids age 12 and under can sail free on most three-night Bahamian cruises from January 22 to
May 28, 2009, when traveling with two full-fare guests in the same stateroom. The offer covers a variety of stateroom categories, ranging from deluxe family staterooms
with verandahs to standard inside staterooms. Act fast: There are a limited
number of staterooms available for this special offer. Book online or call 800/951-3532 or contact a travel agent. Be sure to use the booking code FREE.
Note: Our own review of a three-night Disney cruise aboard the Disney Wonder is coming next month.
 New Orleans is a one-of-a-kind city—ghosts! alligators! music!—which makes it a no-brainer for a family adventure. (See our 25 reasons to visit New Orleans with kids.) The Big Easy's newest must-see kid magnet is the 23,000-square-foot Audubon Insectarium, the largest in the US
devoted to the 900,000 known species of insects.
The Whitney, a historic bank-turned-hotel in downtown New Orleans (and part of the Wyndham group), has a two-night family package that includes lodging, tickets to the Insectarium, and a stop at Café du Monde for some of its famous beignets. To know whether this is a good deal for families, we need to do the math.
At $230 a night, the two-night package would cost $460, including:
- Two nights' accommodation (typically $159/night at a refundable rate or $143/night at the non-refundable rate. Let's say two nights is worth $318)
- Tickets for two adults and two kids to the Audubon Insectarium ($15 x 2 adults + $10 x 2 kids = $50)
- $10 gift certificate to Café du Monde (worth $10)
Deal or no deal? No deal. If you booked a two-night stay in this hotel at the higher, refundable rate and visited both the Insectarium and café, you'd spend $378—or $82 less than if you went with the package. If you booked the same stay at the non-refundable rate, you'd spend only $346—or $114 less than the price of the package.
 'Tis the season for spending quality time with the Big Man in the Red Suit, and the web is full of expert advice on where to find him. ABC News dished about 10 great places to see Santa, and we just love the idea of hitching a ride on one of the special Christmas trains operating this time of year. Feel like a longer getaway? Cookie magazine's Going Places blog has found some terrific Christmas packages at family-friendly resorts around the country.
 Want to slip a vacation under the Christmas tree? Nothing gives us that Santa feeling like an airfare sale. Yesterday we told you about JetBlue's airfare sale, which ends tomorrow. And today, Virgin America (another airlines that gives every passenger her own TV) announced its own fabulous airfare blowout, with one-way fares ranging from $59 to $149 between these six destinations:
- Las Vegas
- Los Angeles
- New York
- San Diego
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Washington, DC
To nab the sale fares, you need to book by next Thursday, December 11, and travel between January 6 and March 1, 2009.
 JetBlue has just announced a major sale on flights with airfares ranging from $39 to $149 each way between over 56 destinations, including Mexico and the Caribbean. Fares on some of the
routes save you up to 50% off other airlines. The catch is that you need to act fast and book by Thursday, December 4. The travel window is January 7 to February 11. Here are some sample one-way fares from JFK:
Boston - $59
Washington, DC - $59
Charlotte -
$59
Raleigh/Durham - $59
Pittsburgh - $59
Jacksonville -
$79
Tampa - $89
San Francisco - $109
The Travelzoo staff test-booked this offer and found the lowest
prices on flights with Tuesday, Wednesdayand Saturday departures. January 20 is a blackout date.
Nothing makes your travels jingle all the way like a fun outing during the holiday season. Once again, we turn for inspiration to goCityKids (now called ParentsConnect Local), whose superduper events calendar features hundreds of festive happenings in 51 cities around the country. Here's a sample of what we found on the calendar for Dallas/Fort Worth:
Posada Dallas: A Latin American tradition that represents the journey Mary and Joseph took on their way to Bethlehem, the fifth annual Posada Dallas celebration winds through the streets around Central Square Park, with traditional Latin American carols and live mariachi music. (December 14, 4pm-8pm; 214/670-3320; free.)
Candlelight at Dallas Heritage Village: Victorian Texas is brought to life by characters dressed in historical costumes and 100-year-old buildings decorated for the holidays. Festivities include musicians, dancers, storytellers, crafts, carriage rides and visits with a 19th-century-style St. Nicholas. Discounted advance tickets are available online. (December 13-14, 3pm-9pm; 214/421-5141; admission $10/adult, $6/child 4-12, free for kids 3 and under.)
Birds' Christmas Tree: Kids are invited to bring their homemade, bio-degradable bird treats (think peanut-butter-and-birdseed-covered pinecones) to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden and hang them in the Garden's Grove, providing food for wildlife and a little holiday cheer for the birds. This event is one of Fort Worth’s oldest holiday traditions. (December 6, 11am; 817/871-7686; free.)
See more holiday events in Dallas/Fort Worth on ParentsConnect Local.
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