Travels with ATS

Improvements to ATS Web Site

We have recently updated our Web site to make navigation even easier. Useful links, government information (passports, customs, airport delays, etc.), subscriptions, and all specials are now available on the left-hand menu bar.

We have also added an ATS discussion forum, where you can discuss anything you wish about ATS, cruising, tours, etc. Your voice now can be heard, so join the discussion at http://www.antietamtravel.com/forums/index.php.

ATS Annual Winter Cruise - January 30-February 9, 2004

Join Antietam Travel friends for an unforgettable 10-night cruise to the eastern Caribbean on Princess Cruises' Sun Princess, which debuted in 1995. The 1,950-passenger ship rises 14 stories and measures nearly three football fields in length. This captivating itinerary, leaving from Ft. Lauderdale, includes Antigua, with 365 beaches - one for every day of the year; Barbados, very British and the easternmost of the Caribbean islands; St. Vincent, rugged and low-key and a wonderful place to do some island exploring; St. Maarten, consisting of a French side and a Dutch side and one of the most visited Caribbean islands; St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, famous throughout the world as a shopper's paradise with one of the world's most beautiful beaches at Magens Bay; and Princess Cays, Princess Cruises' private island in the Bahamas. You will visit all these islands plus enjoy all the activities and entertainment aboard the Sun Princess.

Outside Stateroom - 147-155 square feet

Balcony Stateroom - Average 183 square feet including balcony

Prices do not include airfare and are $1162.00* per person, double occupancy, for an inside stateroom; $1552.00* per person, double occupancy, for an outside stateroom; and $1762.00* per person, double occupancy, for a veranda stateroom! Some staterooms can accommodate a third and fourth passenger. Please call for availability and rates. Call Antietam Travel Service, Inc. at 301-662-8080 for further details or check out our specials on the ATS Web site at http://www.antietamtravel.com/specials/.

* Rates include all port charges and taxes and are subject to change without notice.

Travel Destination - Antigua and Barbuda

All the signs pointed towards Antigua (pronounced An-tee'ga). The largest of the British Leeward Islands had warm, steady winds, a complex coastline of safe harbors, and a protective, nearly unbroken wall of coral reef. It would make a perfect place to hide a fleet. And so in 1784 the legendary Admiral Horatio Nelson sailed to Antigua and established Great Britain's most important Caribbean base. Little did he know that over 200 years later the same unique characteristics that attracted the Royal Navy would transform Antigua and Barbuda into one of the Caribbean's premier tourist destinations.

The signs are still there, they just point to different things. The Trade Winds that once blew British men-of-war safely into English Harbour now fuel one of the world's foremost maritime events, Sailing Week. The expansive, winding coastline that made Antigua difficult for outsiders to navigate is where today's trekkers encounter a tremendous wealth of secluded, powdery soft beaches. The coral reefs, once the bane of marauding enemy ships, now attract snorkelers and scuba divers from all over the world. And the fascinating little island of Barbuda -- once a scavenger's paradise because so many ships wrecked on its reefs -- is now home to one of the region's most significant bird sanctuaries.

Antigua and Barbuda are located in the middle of the Leeward Islands in the Eastern Caribbean, roughly 17 degrees north of the equator. To the south are the islands of Montserrat and Guadaloupe, and to the north and west are Nevis, St. Kitts, St. Barts, and St. Martin.

Antigua, the largest of the British Leeward Islands, is about 14 miles long and 11 miles wide, encompassing 108 square miles. Its highest point is Boggy Peak (1319 ft.), located in the southwestern corner of the island. Barbuda, a flat coral island with an area of only 68 square miles, lies approximately 30 miles due north. The nation also includes the tiny (0.6 square mile) uninhabited island of Redonda, now a nature preserve. The current population for the nation is approximately 68,000, and its capital is St. John's on Antigua.

Temperatures generally range from the mid-seventies in the winter to the mid-eighties in the summer. Annual rainfall averages only 45 inches, making it the sunniest of the Eastern Caribbean Islands, and the northeast trade winds are nearly constant, flagging only in September. The islands boasts low humidity year-round.

The islands of Antigua and Barbuda became an independent state within the British Commonwealth of Nations in 1981. Some 3,000 refugees fleeing a volcanic eruption on nearby Montserrat have settled in Antigua and Barbuda since 1995.

Source: antigua-barbuda.org

Travels with ATS
is brought to you monthly by the professional travel consultants at
Antietam Travel Service, Inc.

We never send unsolicited email. You are receiving this newsletter because you have requested it or because you subscribed using the instructions below. See our Privacy Policy.

To subscribe to this newsletter, please send an email to Subscriptions with "subscribe_ats_news" (without the quotes) as the subject of the message. In the body of the message, please indicate which version you want - HTML or plain text.

To request that your name be removed from future mailings, please send an email to Subscriptions with "unsubscribe_ats_news" (without the quotes) as the subject of the message.