island destinations packages dubai with maldives
Island Destinations (www.islanddestinations.com) offers agents five options in accommodations for clients traveling to Dubai: the Ritz-Carlton, Burj Al Arab, Emirates Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa, Jumeirah Bab Al Shams Desert Resort & Spa and the One&Only Royal Mirage. What better way to take advantage of some of these offerings than through the company's 11-day Dubai and Maldives itinerary. 
In Dubai, the package includes two nights in a duplex deluxe suite at the five-star Burj Al Arab, two nights in a deluxe balcony room at Jumeirah Bab Al Shams overlooking the Arabian Desert, dinner at Al Hadheerah restaurant and private Cadillac transfers from the airport, between hotels and back to the airport. Clients then fly from Dubai to Malé International Airport in the Maldives, where they spend six nights.
The tour is valid year round, priced from $10,500 double land-only for summer travel. For reservations or information, call Island Destinations at 877-903-2525.
Egypt's Soma Peninsula Site for New Kempinski 
Kempinski Hotels (www.kempinski.com) will manage a five-star property being built on the Soma Bay Peninsula, on the Egyptian shores of the Red Sea. The Kempinski Hotel Soma Bay will feature 324 rooms and suites, including presidential suites. The hotel might be a desirable choice for clients traveling with their entire brood—most suites can be combined with connecting rooms to form extended suites of up to five bedrooms. 
Other planned amenities include six restaurants, an 18-hole golf course and a health club and spa, as well as four floodlit tennis courts and two squash courts. Parents traveling with the kids might also appreciate the Children's Club, which will have two swimming pools and a playground.
This will be Kempinski's third property on the Red Sea. It operates a hotel in Djibouti and is set to open one in Aqaba, Jordan, this spring. The Soma Bay resort, set to open the middle of this year, is 45 minutes from Hurghada city and 40 minutes from Hurghada airport. Travel agent liaison is the director of sales and marketing, Nasser Fawzi ([email protected]).
GENERAL UPGRADES, EXPANDS EGYPT TOURS
Responding to increased demand for high-end travel products in the Middle East, General Tours (www.generaltours.com) has created a new luxury Nile cruise package and added an upscale hotel stay to its existing Nile cruise itinerary.
Starting this year, General's "River of the Pharaohs" trip will feature three nights in Cairo's Nile Hilton Hotel before a four-night river cruise. The company says this package has long been one of its best-selling vacations. The Hilton stands on the banks of the Nile, next to the Egyptian Museum. Two days of guided sightseeing in Cairo is included in the package. Price starts at $2,399 per person, including all meals and flight to Abu Simbel for sightseeing and cruise embarkation.
A new cruise/tour product from General this year is "The Pleasures of Cleopatra," which follows two nights in a deluxe pyramid-view room at the Oberoi Mena House with a seven-night cruise aboard the 26-suite, five-star Zahra. Daily shore excursions include events arranged exclusively for passengers, such as a cocktail reception at the Temple of Hathor. The Zahra has Egypt's first shipboard spa.
The new package concludes with an overnight in a riverview room at the Four Seasons. It is priced from $3,199 per person. Call 800-221-2216.
—ADRIENNE ONOFRI