Travel briefs
The Pride of Aloha ship, which cruised Hawaiian waters from 2004 to early May, will shift to a Miami-Bahamas route beginning July 14. Pride of Aloha also will get back its original name -- Norwegian Sky -- for its new cruise duty.
The ship is to join Norwegian's international fleet and be outfitted with a casino. It originally was supposed to shift to Asian cruises after completing its service in Hawaii. But Norwegian Cruise Lines, the ship's owner, now says it will be redeployed on the Florida-Caribbean route with three- and four-day cruises.
Norwegian once had three U.S.-flagged cruise ships plying Hawaiian waters. Citing increased expenses and insufficient revenue from the Hawaii cruises, it's now left with just one -- Pride of America.
One of Washington's new high-priced museums is lowering its admission fee in response to the economic slowdown. The Madame Tussauds wax museum cut its admission price from $21.15 to $18 for adults. The price for children will be reduced from nearly $16 to $12.
There will be even bigger discounts for Washington-area residents, with prices lowered to $13 for adults and $9 for children ages 12 and under.
The regional discount applies to residents of the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.
Museum officials say they want to make it easier for people to visit exhibits that include lifelike figures of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Hollywood stars and other Washington celebrities.
The watermelon seeds will fly again in Pardeeville, Wis.
The 41st annual Watermelon Festival, complete with its trademark seed-spitting contest, has gotten the go-ahead after a core of about 10 volunteers stepped forward to run the event.
A decline in volunteers in recent years left only a few people trying to put on the event. When a community meeting on the fest was held in late March, few turned out and planners said the fest might be called off this year.
But fest chairman Clark Hodgson said a group of Pardeeville residents met and decided they have enough people to hold the event at Chandler Park as scheduled Sept. 6.
Featured attractions include free all-you-can-eat-watermelon for everyone, the seed-spitting contest and a contest to see who can eat watermelon the fastest.
AP