It may be 80 degrees outside, but it’s time to think of Christmas-- Early bird sales in a few key destinations make planning ahead for the holidays worthwhile this year

MSNBC, By Pauline Frommer ARTHUR FROMMER'S BUDGET TRAVEL

June 23 — I address this article to my mother-in-law, and to all the buyers out there like her. It’s mid-June, you see, which means that my mother-in-law has just finished her Christmas shopping. If she were the type to travel over the holidays (she isn’t) she’d probably be booking her trip around now. And for once, she’d be in luck. Top travel deals        BECAUSE THIS year, for the first time in recent memory, Christmas and New Years vacations have gone on sale months earlier than usual. There are holly jolly European vacations, Feliz Navidads in the Caribbean, even getaways to popular Hawaii. It seems that the ongoing slowdown in travel is going to mean big savings for vacationers for months to come.        Below are just a few of the options, but if you visit us at BudgetTravel.msnbc.com (or visit our Deals File periodically), you can bet we’ll bring more offers your way as they come down the pike.  Sandy Klim answers your questions on road trips. Read the transcript.  A BRITISH NOEL        Christmas and New Years are a big deal all across Europe, but the holidays are particularly raucous in London. New Year’s Eve for the past few years has been the one time all year that Pubs can stay open legally into the wee hours; things get so rowdy that the fountains are turned off in Leicester Square to prevent drunken drowning deaths. Christmas is of course more sedate, but still quite jolly with pantomimes at the theaters, crushes of shoppers at Harrods (wait until after Xmas for the blowout sales), and the entire city done up like a reenactment of the last scene of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, with festive lights and holly boughs everywhere.        Brit expert Go Today (www.go-today.com) has put London on sale for two weeks, for travel Dec. 15 through Jan. 11. And the price is good enough to wrap up in a red bow and set beneath your tree: from just $499/person for airfare and six nights at the appropriately names Pavilion Holiday Villa (a simple little budget property within walking distance of Portobello Road). An upgrade buys more festive digs: The Thistle Kensington Palace starts at just $529 or you can hole up at the classy Montcalm Nikko Hotel for $699.        Though the holidays are still many months away, this offer is set to disappear on July 1. “This is one of those early bird specials that you need to book soon,” says Tove Pederson of Go-Today,”It’s based on a special fare that we got from the airlines which expires at the end of the month; if you wait, there’s no guarantee that it will still be as low as it is right now.”        Rumor has it that holiday travel to Paris, Rome and Amsterdam may be on sale soon; as we go to press those rates aren’t yet available. Stay tuned. CRUISING UNDER THE MISTLETOE        We haven’t yet been able to beat the price we found last week for Christmas sailings aboard Celebrity’s Galaxy, and it appears that discounter Cruise Club of America (www.cruiseclubofamerica.com or 800/982-2276) has the inside track for these markdowns. It—and no other firm that we could find—is advertising the remarkable price of just $549 for an eight-night cruise on this cushy ship, round-trip out of San Juan on Dec. 18. The boat spends Christmas Day at sea, calling at St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Barbados, Venezuela, Aruba in the preceding days.        The only downside to this offer is on the airfare front. With its many resorts and cruiseship departures, San Juan will be a tough gateway from which to find reasonable airfares at this time of year. Therefor it may behoove travelers to look closer to home. For ships leaving from Stateside ports, turn to Carnival, which has a number of $110/day cruises leaving from Miami, Galveston and New Orleans. Among them, there’s the $429/four night sailing of the Carnival Fascination out of Miami on Dec. 22; the Carnival Holiday which docks in New Orleans and is making four night jaunts to Cozumel for $449; and the Carnival Triumph, with seven nighters out of Miami (the one over Xmas starts at $779) to San Juan, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. You’re not likely to find these prices from Carnival directly. Instead turn to one of the large discounters such as Cruise Direct (www.cruisedirect.com or 888/407-2784), Cruises Only (www.cruisesonly.com or 800/CRUISES) or Cruise Value Center (www.cruisevalue.com). A LEI UNDER THE TREE        I spent part of my honeymoon in Hawaii, our associate editor Brad got engaged there, and I’ve known countless people who’ve celebrated anniversaries on the islands. It’s simply the classic destination for special occasion travel. So why not New Year’s Eve or Christmas Day?        Thanks to Sun Trips (800/SUN-HELP or www.suntrips.com), Christmas in paradise is going to be particularly affordable this year, whether you decide to plan the whole shebang with their help, or simply use them for the ride over. You see, SunTrips is a charter operator, so year round its flights to the islands can shave hundreds off the regular airfares. For travel during the holiday period, flights from California to either Maui or Oahu will be a low-for-the-peak-season $599 round-trip. Add on a hotel/car package, and the price is even better: just $899 for seven nights in Honolulu at the OHANA Maile Sky Court and roundtrip transfers from the airport or $989 for seven nights at the Aston Maui Lu including rental car. Prices are per person based on double occupancy (you wouldn’t want to be alone at Christmas anyway, would you?)        We expect that these are going to be just the first in a series of articles on holiday vacations, so if you haven’t seen a destination (or price) you like, please visit us again. We’ll do our best to keep you apprised of all the holiday markdowns, as they appear.        Copyright © 2003 Newsweek Budget Travel, Inc.