Travel news: Cirque du Soleil in Riviera Maya, the Big Island’s big price tag and more

Cirque du Soleil’s JOYÀ, Riviera Maya, Mexico

Jungle love
We’ve seen them in Las Vegas (and everywhere else), and will soon see Montreal’s Cirque du Soleil in Riviera Maya, for a resident show. The $20 million production called Joya is an all-encompassing dinner and show featuring just 600 seats. We can’t wait to see their interpretation of Montezuma’s Revenge!
http://experience.usatoday.com/caribbean/story/2014/12/22/cirque-du-soleil-joya-riviera-maya-mexico/20584071/

Yule be sorry
Don’t bah-humbug Christmas or it may ground you—literally. According to the New York Post, a passenger bound from La Guardia Airport to Dallas was escorted off American Airlines flight 1140 yesterday after scolding the flight crew for wishing him a Merry Christmas and subsequently becoming unruly. Too bad he’s a Scrooge—a stress ball would be the perfect gift for this guy.
http://nypost.com/2014/12/25/plane-passenger-tossed-after-angry-reaction-to-merry-christmas/

Good things come in large packages
No wonder Portuguese soccer player Christiano Ronaldo is smiling these days. According to Yahoo! Travel, not only is the forward arguably among the best footballers in the game but a statue recently—ahem—erected in his honor in his hometown of Funchal depicts him as exceptionally well-endowed. We expect bookings to the seaside city of Funchal to—dare we say—rise by like 1000%.
https://www.yahoo.com/travel/christiano-ronaldos-big-statue-105973087627.html

How do you say ‘yowzers’ in Hawaiian?
Got $50,000 lying around? You can live like royalty for a week on the Big Island if youdo. According to the Los Angeles Times, the  Mauna Kea Beach Hotel is celebrating its 50th with a 50K package that includes first-class airfare from the mainland, transfer to the hotel by private chopper, a top-floor suite and more. Geez, for $50,000 let’s hope they also give away free pineapple plantations.
http://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/la-trb-hawaii-mauna-kea-50000-anniversary-big-island-20141222-story.html

Flying high
It’s easy to begrudge the airlines, but sometimes they get it just right. FOX News rounded up five heartwarming stories including one in which a Jet Blue manager drove a passenger from Baltimore to DC to make her flight and another in which KLM agents wrote heartwarming notes on passengers’ seat backs. Wow, what’s next? Perhaps TSA agents who turn pat downs into massages?
http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2014/12/24/airline-did-what-5-heart-warmingly-wonderful-travel-stories/

Tagged: Mexico