For sale: Three-bedroom homes with heart-stopping ocean views. Big properties. Resort nearby.
Price: $139,000
Location: Not the Hamptons (or Malibu or Palm Beach)

What, you thought it was 1950? No matter. If you're willing to fly to Managua, Nicaragua, and make the two-hour trek to lovely San Juan del Sur, you will find your dream vacation house (or land on which to build it). High prices on home turf lured legions of American, Canadian and European buyers to this low-priced Pacific Coast town and other Central American destinations during the real estate run-up earlier this decade. When the bubble burst, investors stayed home, agents and developers say. Now, prices are in oh-my-god territory, and buyers are trickling back. In San Juan del Sur, you can build your own vay cay getaway for $85 a square foot. Compare that with $625 per square foot in Malibu last month. The median price of a home there was $2.1 million in October, according to San Diego-based MDA Dataquick.

On Saturday morning an amazing deal popped up on the Dealnews.com Web site -- a free engagement ring. But, like all great deals this one came with a catch, it was only good for Stefanie Setlock of Atlanta, GA.

The deal, set up by groom to be Brian Chernick, required a coupon code of, "I DO" and came complete with "free on-one-knee delivery." All this added up to, what Dealnews called, "the lowest total price we've seen for any marriage proposal, excluding refurbs."

Included in the deal is a lifetime of, "having and holding, for better or worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, and till death do you part," but there is no warranty provided!

It's definitely cruise ship season. Royal Caribbean just made a major splash by launching the largest cruise ship in the world, Oasis of the Seas. That made headlines, but there have been other news stories in the industry. Last week, the huge Carnival line also had an unveiling of its own in New York City. Oscar-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden was the godmother for its new ship, the Dream.

WalletPop was invited to take a two-night ride on the ship, which is impressive but no record-breaker, as a guest of Carnival. Since the ship was packed with die-hard cruisers and travel writers eager to get their first peek at Carnival's newest vessel, it was the perfect opportunity to ask experienced cruise travelers for their favorite money-saving tips for taking a cruise.

Once you've paid your fare, your room is taken care of. So are your meals, provided you stick to the few on-board restaurants that are included in your ticket price. But after that, the costs start mounting. WalletPop's Jason Cochran, who has taken quite a few cruises himself as a travel writer, asked passengers on the sparkling new Dream for their best money-saving tips.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are being announced or leaked at such a rapid rate its getting difficult to keep track. Of all the retailers, Toys R Us may well be the most aggressive with the deals and now it is expanding online discounts for the big day, with free shipping, bonuses with purchase, and some special payment plans.

There's even an online layaway program called Bill Me Later. Through Saturday, November 28, new Bill Me Later customers will receive $10 off purchases of $30 or more, with no payments for up to 90 days. In addition, all customers who opt to use Google Checkout will receive $10 off purchases of $60 or more.

So here I am, writing this from off the coast of Florida as part of the first two-day preview cruise of the magnificent Oasis of the Seas. Royal Caribbean has launched the largest cruise ship in the world, a towering dagwood of action-packed decks and over-the top superlatives: longest cruise ship, widest cruise ship, tallest cruise ship, heaviest cruise ship.

And as of today, the coolest cruise ship. Rihanna was on here yesterday, and I'm told Richard Branson has come and gone, too. By now, most of America has seen the particulars of this gargantuan, billion-dollar chunk of devil-be-damned engineering. Here on board, one of the stateroom TV channels plays, on a loop, the segments of yesterday's Good Morning America in which Sam Champion and his crew romped around the Aqua Theatre, the Solarium, the cocktail bar that rises and falls between three decks (pictured above), the huge Central Park and Boardwalk atriums (atria?) that carve an airy middle into the ship.



The ship is, simply put, astounding. I have never seen anything like it in my years of cruising. It took me about six hours to explore fully from Deck 3 (the Studio B ice rink) to Deck 17 (the stunning, and ridiculously expensive, duplex loft suites with two-story sea views). There's nearly no way to take in the enormity of the endeavor. If you could pack a small shopping mall together with a 2,400-room resort and send it off to sea, you might start coming close (one cynic described it as "a hotel on a barge," which omits the considerable frills and dazzle), but you'd still have trouble wrapping your head around it all.

It is so big as to be humbling, and sometimes, that makes it a little frightening. As we left Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, a police boat rushed a smaller craft that was approaching us and warned its captain to back off, as it was entering "restricted waters." Something this big and this audacious would be an obvious target, and local police are clearly taking no chances.

Royal Caribbean, ever adept at cleverly harnessing social media (remember that unfortunate recent case in which it was nabbed giving freebies to people likely to populate user-review boards with praise?), has invited large numbers of journalists, travel agents, and VIPs to take part on two, back-to-back, two-night cruises. Attending for WalletPop, I'm on the first one. For this run only, alcohol is free.



There were some early reports this week that the line would be, in effect, bribing the press for good stories by plying them with booze and by giving them stuff that will actually cost passengers on "real" sailings. Although alcohol is free, I can't say I've seen this accusation to be the case, and the crowd is a lot less drunk than it was for a paid sailing on the Carnival Dream a week ago. Not everything is handed out: I've had to pay for things such as a $2.50 coffee on the Royal Promenade or $2.50 for a hyper-sweet cupcake from its on-board cupcake shop. Whenever anything is offered to us, I ask what the price will be for paying customers.

Again and again, the answer I get tells me that many of the things we're getting are included in the fare anyway. That includes midnight pizza at Sorrento's, afternoon burgers at Johnny Rocket's, and twilight doughnuts on the Boardwalk (where there's a working carousel), and even rides on one of the twin FlowRider sheet wave machines, provided you can score a time slot. So although Royal Caribbean is pioneering obnoxious fees such as surcharges for late-night room service and hefty upcharges for the privilege of eating better food than its main dining regularly serves, I can't say it's using the launch of the Oasis to foist a lot of new ones on us.

There are some issues, of course. The first is lines. Royal Caribbean was wise enough to only pack this ship about half-full, which means we're all likely to get into the shows we want to see and we won't write reviews complaining about crowds. When it's full of paying guests, though, you'll have to make many of your reservations online or in a queue, adding another layer of hassle to what's supposed to be your break from it all. I also suspect the main pool area, on Deck 15, will not be able accommodate everyone who wants to swim. On balance, though, this is a pretty dazzling achievement, and diversion is around every corner.

When I see a ship as marvelously bloated as this one, I have to separate my sense of travel snobbery from my admiration for what Royal Caribbean has done here. I can't deny that passengers who immerse themselves in this floating circus might as well not be at sea at all. It's less a ship than a floating resort, and most of the passengers seem to be hanging out below decks than enjoying the sun and the sea.

Today, while I was having lunch in the Windjammer Marketplace buffet on Deck 16, I looked down at the smooth blue water to see dolphins playing alongside the ship. While I was admiring that sight, the couple behind me was engaged in a lively debate about the quality of this buffet compared to those on other ships. They were oblivious to their surroundings. It's typical of the attitude on board the Oasis, which is so loathe to share any glory with the oceans than most of its vantage points over the seas are sheathed in glass.

That's all right. This ship is a product, and whether you're a theatre reviewer or a travel writer, you have to remember the audience for whom you're reviewing the product. This audience is agog. I myself can't help but be impressed. For the next year or so, until its sister ship the Allure of the Seas matches her feats, this will be the ship to book, and rates are likely to be at around $150 a night or more (I wrote about upcoming deals to be had that were even better). I can't say that if I paid that price, high for the industry right now, that I would ever find that I was feeling ripped off.

Now that I've seen this ship, though, I might consider any other vessel that dared to charge me so much would be a rip. In this way alone, the Oasis may have changed the industry: It will be difficult for less exuberant ships to charge the same price, and if they do, they'll have to find some other hook, be it a boast about smaller crowds, better food (Royal Caribbean's food is not widely considered its strong point), Mickey Mouse appearances, or larger cabins. The sheer magnitude of the Oasis, its biggest selling point, will also be the very thing that convinces some customers to choose a sailing with more modesty.

And more importantly, remember that traveling is not always the same thing as vacationing. Not everyone wants to engage with other cultures; for many people, the floating fishtank of a cruise ship is all the exploration they need. The Oasis is a fabulous vacation machine, but it's about the universe it has created for itself, not about its place in the outside world. In that, it's a home run.


More video to come! We're bringing you a second video shot all over the Oasis of the Seas, this time discussing lots of the extra charges you'll face every time you book a cruise. Check back for that!

Imagine a town so motivated to move houses out of the way of progress that it will pay you $10,000 to take one off their hands. Imagine buyers so unmotivated there are no takers.

This is no fantasy on either end. It's status quo in the Chicago suburban village of Barrington, Ill., though you can only collect the $10,000 if you agree to keep the house somewhere in the village itself. Still, even if you want to schlep it on over to a neighboring town, the houses are a relative bargain, with bids starting at $1.

The homes are old -- though not technically historic now that the village voted them out of the historic district -- and former and current users variously describe them as "claptrap" and "charming."

The Walmart Black Friday ad leaked out to many deal collecting sites earlier this week, but until yesterday they kept it offline under threat of legal action by the mega retailer. After the OK was finally given, the entire Walmart Black Friday ad has been posted and it contains a lot of deals. Best of all, you won't have to wait outside for any of the savings since Walmart will be open all night over Thanksgiving -- although you will have to wait until 5 a.m. to make your purchases.

Walmart's biggest Black Friday deals:

Sears and Kmart are going on the third week of early Black Friday promotions, with door-buster deals all weekend leading up to the actual Black Friday.

For the longest time leaked Black Friday ads have been a part of the bargain hunting game.

Sure you can wait until Thanksgiving to look at the ads, but who wants to fight off tryptophan to look for the best deal?

The practice of posting ads online has long been a thorn in retailers' sides, and some of them even continue to fight the leaks, but others are embracing the Internet and releasing their ads for all to see.

Just like Staples did last week, Meijer officially released its Black Friday ad for all to see.

The Midwest retailer has several deals that might actually be worth standing in line for, especially since the limited quantities are high compared to what we normally see.

While some are declaring that the recession is over, the good news has not trickled down to my pocketbook. My husband and I are looking closely at all our expenses to cut our overhead. Our wages have decreased in the last year, mostly due to the slow down in my business, but costs have continued to rise. Utilities, gas, taxes, and food are taking more and more of our shrinking paychecks. We decided to take some action after looking at every expense in our budget. Maybe some of these tips can help you too:

Travel may be down in this economy, but there's one area where business is booming: discount booking sites. With travel providers desperate to unload unused rooms and tickets, it seems like the only sectors of the travel industry that are exploding are the ones previously seen as a last resort by the industry.

Priceline.com reported that bookings through its site, which offers steep discounts on hotel rooms and other travel products, are at their best levels in nine years. Hotwire.com, which is owned by Expedia, reports a similar boost in revenue. The Hotwire Group's sales over 12 months have exceeded $250 million for the first time, and reps told WalletPop that compared to last year, hotel bookings in the biggest markets (meaning the most popular travelers' cities) are up between 20% and 30%.

More good news leaked out today for anyone looking for a Black Friday laptop deal. Both the Office Depot Black Friday ad and the Dell Black Friday ad have appeared online and show a selection of cheap laptops, digital cameras, monitors and other electronics.

If you are looking to stay warm and toasty on Black Friday you can hit up Dell where there are deals to be found on netbooks, notebooks and desktops as well as a few decently priced accessories.

Our house is a beautiful, 3,000-square foot home built in 1918 that sits across the street from South Shore Park and Lake Michigan in Milwaukee. But after living in our home for 25 years, we were faced with a difficult decision: Do we spend a chunk of money to fix up the place or move? We had done some remodeling in the past, but it was looking tired and the bathroom upstairs still had all of the original (read: very old) plumbing.

As much as we loved the place, the thought of undertaking another remodeling project was too overwhelming. I embarked on a house-hunting mission in nearby Madison and Middleton, WI, but soon discovered that to recreate anything close to what we have -- easy access to downtown, shops within walking distance, lake view, bike path and a quick commute to the airport -- was going to cost $1 million or more. So we reversed course and decided to remodel -- again. Our initial budget was $25,000 and our sights were on that horribly outdated bathroom upstairs.

Target's Black Friday ad has leaked, and there's definitely a reason that its ad is one of the most anticipated each year. This year there are several great door-buster deals, including $3 kitchen appliances and some of the closest prices to our Black Friday predictions we've seen so far.

Even though HDTV's, toys and computers are some of the biggest Black Friday draws, Target is making a bid to take over the kitchens of frugal shoppers with a selection of $3 kitchen appliances from Chefmate. The rumored $3 appliances include a 12-cup coffeemaker, sandwich maker, toaster and slow cooker.