Break the ice

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/12/2010 (5573 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WE’RE BACK . . . and we’re going to give one lucky reader an extra-special way to ring in the New Year.

The Winnipeg Free Press has teamed up with Transat Holidays and Winnipeg’s Ixtapa Travel for this year’s Great Winter Escape contest, which runs from next Saturday, Jan. 8 until Feb 1, 2011. The grand-prize winner will get to chose from one of five one-week all-inclusive trips for two.

Ixtapa Travel may be new to Winnipeg, but the head office in Saskatoon has been in business for more than 20 years as a full-service travel agency.

Corwin Kostenchuk, former sales manager with Signature Vacations, opened the Winnipeg branch this year with the motto: “Advice Worth Getting.” His staff has 100 years’ combined travel experience and has visited almost all of the sunny resort destinations popular with Manitoba travelers.

This year’s prize packages are all beachfront, luxury hotels operated by Barcelo Resorts and offered by Transat Holidays, one of Canada’s foremost tour operators.

Air Transat Holidays specializes in airfare and package holidays to sun destinations and Europe. Barcelo is a family-owned Spanish hotel chain with 186 hotels and resorts in 17 countries, many of in Cuba, Dominican Republic and Mexico.

All of the prize packages include return airfare from Winnipeg, transfers, seven-night all-inclusive accommodation and departure taxes. All-inclusive means that all meals, drinks, activities and entertainment at the resort are included at no extra charge.

As an added bonus, four of the five packages will feature extra Barcelo Prestige Class inclusions ranging from private check-in to in-room bathrobes.

If the winner is a six-day Free Press subscriber, he or she will also win $200 in spending money courtesy of Ixtapa Travel.

So what are you waiting for? Here’s this year’s lineup of prize options:

Riviera Maya, Mexico — seven nights all-inclusive stay at the four-and-a-half star Barcelo Maya Colonial Beach Resort in a Prestige Class deluxe room.

Cayo Santa Maria, Cuba — seven nights all-inclusive stay at the four-and-a-half star Barcelo Cayo Santa Maria Beach Resort in a Prestige Class junior suite.

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic — seven nights all-inclusive stay at the four-and-a-half star Barcelo Punta Cana in a Prestige Class deluxe room.

Manzanillo, Mexico – seven nights all-inclusive stay at the four-and-a-half star Barcelo Karima Palace in a junior suite.

Varadero, Cuba — seven nights all-inclusive stay at the four-and-a-half star Barcelo Marina Palace in a Prestige Class junior suite.

Each Saturday for five weeks, the Free Press Travel section will feature an article about the prize destinations and resorts. Weekly contest entry forms, with a skill-testing quesiton based on that week’s article, will be available in print and online at www.winnipeg freepress.com.

Readers can enter each week by filling out an entry form in the Free Press Travel section and mailing it to or dropping it off at the Winnipeg Free Press (1355 Mountain Ave.). You can also drop it off at Ixtapa Travel, #105–3025 Portage Avenue.

Readers can also enter the contest online at www.winnipegfreepress.com (limited to one unique email address entry per day).