No more trans-fats aboard Crystal Cruises, effectively immediately. The luxury cruise line announced the ban today, saying its chefs have removed all trans-fats from their kitchens. Instead, alternatives like pumpkin seed, walnut seed, corn and olive oils are being used in everything from French fries to salad dressings.

You won’t find deals on fares from Gary, Ind. to Orlando, Fla. during Superbowl week from your usual suspects, but a small airline called SkyValue is offering $79 each way tickets between the aforementioned destionations. Gary/Chicago International Airport is a SkyValue hub. You’ve got to book a ticket on the 7am departure flight on Thursday, Saturday or Sunday to get that fare, according to an airline rep quoted in the story linked below.

Of course, once you get there, you’ve got to drive over three hours to reach Miami. But the drive may be worth the savings, especially when you consider how much you’re going to have to thrown down for a hotel once you get there. Yesterday afternoon, I looked for Superbowl weekend hotel rooms - a Saturday through Monday stay - on Hotwire. There were no rooms available. Orbitz and Expedia only returned “rooms may be available” results for Miami that weekend - no actual average prices. On Craigslist, everything from one-bedroom apartments in South Beach to mansions with chauffeurs is available. A cursory glance at the prices showed options start at $450 and going up from there.

Airline Hoping To Win Bears Fans With Low Fares

The two-day Fusion concert scheduled for Feb. 13-14, 2007 at Las Vegas’s Aladdin Hotel and Casino is a pretty cool concept: Gather some of the most popular music acts from the U.S. and China and feature them on one stage right in time for the Chinese Lunar New Year. The line-up includes big names like Kanye West and Gnarls Barkley, as well as Chinese acts from Jackie Chan, A-mei Mayday, Zhang Zhen Yue and Supergirls. Tickets range from $55.24 to $179.05 through Ticketmaster.

Lonely Planet’s Bluelist 2007 is one of those books avid travelers will want to read - both to find inspiration for future travels and to find out what destinations and activities other adventurous travelers are raving about. In addition to covering “the 11 most popular travel destinations” in the world, the book describes 400+ travel experiences (like seeing Egypt’s pyramids by hot air balloon) and explores more unusual travel trends like celebrity death tourism (i.e. visiting celebrities’ graves) and disaster aid tourism.

When you buy the new 2007 edition, Lonely Planet will throw last year’s edition in for free. Cost: $19.99.

We’ve blogged before about the Fairmont Boston Copley Plaza canine ambassador name Catie, but we’ve only recently obtained her head shot for publication. Thanks to a recent TravelPoster who visited the hotel and uploaded this photograph, we can all admire her dashing good looks!

The all-suite Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort has opened. The 25-story hotel offers one-, two- and three-bedroom suites with separate whirlpool tubs and showers (great amenity for beachgoers), separate kitchens, high definition TVs, private balconies and Crabtree & Evelyn bath products.

The 100 percent non-smoking hotel also offers several interesting services for guests. The Grocery Concierge will stock guests’ refrigerators before they arrive, and the hotel will arrange to have guests picked up at the airport by a private chauffeur who will check them in on the ride to the hotel.

And of course the resort offers a pool, private cabanas, beach concierge, fitness classes, three restaurants and a full-service spa.

For Friday March 23, 2007, room rates for two adults in a king room start at $389/night for a Net Direct room that’s assigned at check-in. A one-bedroom studio with ocean view will run you $500/night. If you don’t care what type of room or bed configuration you end up with, you can save by allowing the hotel to assign your room at check-in. You can also save by paying in full up front. On Hilton’s web site, that’s called the Net Direct program.

Might want to leave the anti-Bush t-shirt at home the next time you fly. Or at least save it for the beach, not the airport. An Australian traveler was recently turned away from a flight on Qantas for wearing a shirt likening Mr. President to a terrorist. Airline officials say the shirt could have upset other travelers. The jilted passenger is threatening legal action.

Man kicked off flight for Bush-bashing T-shirt

Earlier this month, the Grand Summit and Jordon Grand Resort Hotel and Conference Centers in Sunday River, Maine announced a blustery achievement. The all-season resort has offset 100 percent of its electricity usage with wind power. But that doesn’t mean you’ll find windmills all over the property. The resort actually purchases Renewable Energy Certificates that are used to pay for the generation of renewable energy that replaces traditional energy in the national electric grid. It’s the same idea as carbon offsetting for travelers, where you’d pay an amount equivalent to the cost of fossil fuel required for your transporation. That amount is then used toward renewable energy creation, reforestation, etc. But I digress.

Hotel and Conference Centers at Maine’s Sunday River Ski Resort Running on 100 Percent Wind Power

Via Budget Travel, I learned about the current Hotels.com Pack More Save More promotion that gives customers cash back for each hotel stay of two nights or more purchased through the site. The offer is good for travel through March 31, 2007, but rooms must be booked by Jan. 31, 2007.

The longer you stay, the more $ you get back. Stay two or three nights, and you’ll get $25 back. Stay more than six nights for $100 back.