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7-night Bountiful Bahamas Cruise

Price: $5,419 - # of Days: 7 days

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7-night Yachting the Bahamas Cruise

Price: $4,919 - # of Days: 7 days

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34-night Grand Transatlantic & Western and Northern Europe Cruise

Price: Please call for rates - # of Days: 34 days

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7-night Turks & Caicos Cruise

Price: $5,819 - # of Days: 7 days

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Overview

Introduction

Palm Beach, Florida, unlike many Florida beaches, is not a party beach; Palm Beach is a place for strolling and luxuriating.

The island of Palm Beach has long been a playground for the wealthy, dominated by estates such as the Bath and Tennis Club (known locally as the B 'n' T), the Woolworth Donahue home, John Lennon's former estate (which actually is the southern half of the former Vanderbilt mansion), the posh Breakers Hotel and the former Kennedy compound.

Along with the opulent digs, Florida's "Gold Coast" features shopping along Worth Avenue, with some of the ritziest boutiques in the world—and even a sidewalk-level drinking fountain for pampered pups.

Palm Beach's South County Road, housing additional shops, runs perpendicular to Worth Avenue. The thrift shops on Sunset Avenue to the north are full of bargain-priced clothes, accessories and other discarded luxury items.

Must See or Do

Sights—Stunning views of the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean.

Museums—Henry Morrison Flagler Museum.

Memorable Meals—Wiener schnitzel at Cafe L'Europe.

Late Night—Live music at the Leopard Lounge.

Walks—Walking in and out of upscale shops along Worth Avenue.

Especially for Kids—The playground at Phipps Ocean Park; the railroad car at the Flagler Museum.

Potpourri

Mansions abound in Palm Beach, but one property of special note is the 118-room, Mediterranean-style Mar-a-Lago estate, once a getaway for cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and now owned by President Donald Trump, who was married there in a celebrity-studded extravaganza.

In 1878, a Spanish ship sailing from Trinidad ran aground on the island and emptied its cargo of coconuts on the shore. The few residents planted the coconuts, which grew to create the palm tree-lined beach.

Ta-boo restaurant on Worth Avenue is heavy on celebrity legends—including being the supposed birthplace of the Bloody Mary as a hangover cure for heiress Barbara Hutton (although at least two establishments in Paris would beg to differ on the drink's origin).

Mary Lily Kenan, Henry Flagler's third wife, is listed in Guiness World Records for not wearing the same dress twice in a 12-year period. Her dresses are on display at Whitehall, the mansion that was her home and is now the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum.

Location

Oddly enough, the cargo-centered port does not accommodate cruise liners longer than 700 ft/217 m, even though it is accessed through the 300-ft-/93-m-wide Palm Beach Inlet and boasts a terminal with VIP lounge and federal inspection facilities. Rather, it ranks as one of the busiest container ports in the continental U.S. For information about the Port of Palm Beach, visit http://www.portofpalmbeach.com.

Port Everglades, about 50 mi/80 km south of Palm Beach in Greater Fort Lauderdale, offers cruises aboard luxury liners from most of the major cruise lines. For information about Port Everglades, call 954-523-3404 or visit http://www.porteverglades.org.

Overview

Introduction

West Palm Beach, Florida, was supposed to be the final stop on tycoon Henry Flagler's railroad through the state in 1893 and the commercial center for Palm Beach. West Palm has turned into its own city, however, where historic homes mingle with ultramodern high-rises, and the downtown area segues into suburbia.

Palm Beach, West Palm's sister island, is just across the Intracoastal Waterway, so visitors have seemingly endless options when it comes to fine dining, upscale hotels, sandy beaches and shopping.

In and around the area are theaters, restaurants, hotels, museums, historic sites, zoos, golf courses, tennis courts, parks and preserves, and watersports activities.

Clematis Street, the historical heart of downtown, is a popular area for concerts, films and street parties. There are activities there year-round.

Must See or Do

Sights—Clematis Street downtown.

Museums—Norton Museum of Art.

Memorable Meals—Chateaubriand at Okeechobee Steakhouse.

Late Night—Copper Blues Rock Pub & Kitchen.

Walks—Strolling along the waterfront on Flagler Drive.

Especially for Kids—Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee; Palm Beach Zoo; Rapids Water Park; South Florida Science Center and Aquarium; Yesteryear Village.

Geography

Streets in West Palm Beach run north to south and east to west, and are named in alphabetical order for native plants. The exceptions are Highway 1, which runs from Maine to Key West, Florida, and Flagler Drive, which parallels the Intracoastal Waterway.

Palm Beach is just across the Intracoastal Waterway, and it is known for its upscale shopping and dining, beaches, luxury accommodations (such as the famed Breakers Hotel) and posh estates, including the family home of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago and Henry Flagler's Whitehall. The island is accessed by the Flagler Memorial, Royal Park or Southern Boulevard drawbridges.

West Palm Beach is also within an hour's drive of several destinations in Palm Beach County—Boca Raton and Delray Beach are both at the county's southern boundary, and Jupiter and Tequesta are municipalities to the north. To the west is the polo capital of Wellington, as well as the more rural communities of Loxahatchee and the Acreage.

History

The Palm Beach wilderness was transformed into a posh resort destination after industrialist Henry Morrison Flagler visited the island in 1892. Although Europeans had settled in Palm Beach in the 1870s, cultivating fruits and vegetables, tourists spurred growth there after finding their way to Flagler's elaborate Breakers Hotel by way of his Florida East Coast Railway.

Flagler launched a construction boom in the area. By 1910, Palm Beach County had been created, with West Palm Beach as its county seat. The next decade saw high-rises and homes, from modest to grand, sprout on the landscape. However, real estate scams and hurricanes in 1926 and 1928 stifled further development.

Then in the 1950s and '60s, city residents began abandoning West Palm Beach for the suburbs. It was not until the 1990s that the city experienced a rebirth, with the revitalization of historic buildings, the development of Rosemary Square and major renovations along Clematis Street.

Potpourri

At one time construction workers outnumbered the general population in West Palm Beach. The workers who built Henry Flagler's two magnificent hotels in Lake Worth (The Royal Poinciana) and Palm Beach (The Breakers) were housed in West Palm.

West Palm Beach is the largest of 37 municipalities in Palm Beach County, both in population and area.

Because of the Palm Beach County "butterfly ballot" and the infamous "hanging chad," the county and West Palm became the center of the controversy over whether Al Gore or George Bush had won the 2000 presidential election.

Society architect Addison Mizner is credited with creating the old-world style of Florida's Gold Coast. He used untrained workmen to lay the roof tiles crooked on The Everglades Club and was known to spray condensed milk onto walkways to create grime.