Southern exposure> Mainers favoring winter treks to Mexico, Caribbean

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Palm trees, ocean breezes, beaches and balmy temperatures beckon Mainers when cold weather descends on the local landscape.

Travel agents throughout the state are busy booking reservations south — anywhere south for some clients. In fact, many of the package trips to southern destinations are sold out or selling fast.

Aruba, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, the Virgin Islands, Orlando and the multitude of cruises in the Caribbean vie for the top spot on a Mainer’s winter vacation list, agents say. Disney World and Orlando continue to be the top draw for families during the winter and spring school vacations. People seeking a relaxing vacation in the sun or on the water are more likely to book cruises or tropical vacation packages.

“They want warm weather, and they want it to be inexpensive,” said Chris Faria of Travel Ambassadors in Pittsfield.

The best value is in trips to the east or west coasts of Mexico. Destinations such as Cancun on the east coast, Puerta Vallarta on the west and Cabo San Lucas at the tip of the Baja Peninsula are becoming increasingly attractive to U.S. citizens because of the favorable currency exchange. In late September, the exchange was quoted at 13 pesos to $1, according to Eric Baxter of Hewins Travel in Portland.

“It’s an amazing exchange rate, and it’s continuing to go down. Just two years ago, it was seven pesos to the dollar,” he said.

Cancun has become a tourist mecca in recent years, with an abundance of high-rise hotels and beaches. An added attraction there are the ancient Mayan ruins. On the west coast, visitors can find a heavy Spanish colonial influence near Puerto Vallarta, Baxter said.

Cabo San Lucas is only beginning to grow in popularity. The Sea of Cortez, rich in nutrients, is a fertile feeding ground for humpback whales during their migration south. According to Baxter, it is not unusual during the winter months to sit on your hotel balcony and watch the whales pass. For many years, Cabo San Lucas was an undiscovered vacation hot spot for U.S. west coast residents.

Baxter also has witnessed growth in “eco-tourism” to Central America, particularly Belize and Costa Rica, for “incredibly beautiful and lush” landscapes.

“It’s still very pristine in the forests there,” he said.

Carnival, Holland American and Royal Caribbean are popular cruise lines featuring the Caribbean, agents report. More cruise ships participating in the growth of the industry are creating more capacity and more competition. The result is a variety of attractive packages for a pampered vacation.

“Cruising is very big [with Maine customers]. And, you don’t need a queen’s wardrobe or a king’s ransom to go,” Faria said. “If you need formal wear you can rent it. Cruises are very casual and relaxed. You can be wined and dined and waited on for a week. You don’t even have to unpack if you don’t want to.”

All meals and entertainment are included in cruise packages.

“A lot more people can afford cruises who think they can’t,” she said. “A vacation doesn’t have to cost a second mortgage.”

Trips to Cancun for a week can start at $499 per person, while three- or four-night cruises to the Caribbean start at around $700.

Another deal Faria favors is a month in Spain, where an apartment can cost $900 to $1,000 for the month.

“It’s balmy. It’s a different country and a different culture,” she said.

Charter cruises with a single destination and a single flight are very affordable, according to Baxter, but require taking an early flight out of Boston. Often the cost of a night in Boston before the trip equals the money saved on the cruise for Maine residents. Southern Mainers are more likely to take advantage of the charter offers, and have the advantage of more flights leaving out of Boston than from Maine.

Reliable jet service out of Maine is a problem for travel agents, particularly in northern Maine. There just aren’t enough flights out to make many of the packages economical.

“It’s hard to put people in a package if you can’t get the air,” said Karen Hamilton of Bangor Travel.

Many cruise lines still offer last-minute discounts to fill seats on the plane or cabins on the ships.

“They [cruise organizers] try to offer their discounts up front,” Baxter said.

“We still get a lot of faxes at the last minute [on cruise and vacation packages],” Faria said. “But it’s not as frequent as it used to be.”

Faria said retired people, or anyone with a flexible schedule, have an advantage if they can leave when the discounts are available, or if they want to take a chance on getting a vacation that interests them at a savings.

“We see a lot of Caribbean specials every year,” said Kathy Carney of Camden Travel. “They’re trying to get away from the last-minute specials.”

People from the Camden area are more likely to fly out of Portland, she said, simply because there are more flights available. And they usually are headed some place warm.

“I like Hawaii. But we don’t sell a lot of those packages because it’s just too expensive to get there,” Carney said. “If I had a ticket to go anywhere I wanted, it would probably be New Zealand or the South Pacific. Just as long as it’s warm.”

Contrary to popular belief, travel agents don’t get better deals, she said.

The type of vacation people are planning is changing, Carney said. Many people want active vacations or something that includes a new interest or hobby. For her, it’s hiking, and she finds a lot of people planning hiking vacations.

“It’s a case of `Been there, done that,’ now I’m doing this,” she said.

People in Aroostook County are headed for Florida most of the time, according to Steve Leighton, manager at American International Travel in Presque Isle. Many of them are “snowbirds” headed back to Florida for the winter months. Others are just taking advantage of very attractive prices, he said. A round-trip ticket to Orlando is about $250, while a round-trip ticket to Boston can cost $319.

“The trip sells itself at that price,” Leighton said. “We have a small market for cruises. And the packages we sell are usually for Aruba, the Virgin Islands and Cancun, in that order.”

Still, many Mainers opt for exotic vacations. In Camden, Carney said she is always surprised when someone books a vacation for Turkey. In Portland, Baxter would plan a crewed sailboat vacation in the Greek Isles, if it were up to him. Faria, however, favors the exotic and remote and would head off to Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.

“Fabulous beachs. Too many people are finding it,” she said. “I’ll have to look for another place.”

Leighton’s favorite destination is where many New Englanders travel in the summer or “shoulder months” before and after the winter season.

“Hands down, I like England,” he said, “But I’d like to see mainland Europe now.”

England and Ireland are perennial favorites for Mainers, according to Baxter, at least for people who choose to leave Maine duringthe summer.

“It’s the rich heritage of the people here. There’s no language barrier, and its affordable,” he said.