Welcome to Premium, SoundVillage’s exclusive, daily haute culture blog, committed to bringing you news on events, accommodation, and nightspots, with a little swag and insider info sprinkled on top.

At the height of the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival season, we’re shifting gears and focusing solely on this festival of rhythm, colour and debauchery. So for the next 20-odd days, consider this your high-end Carnival handbook - your bespoke guide to enjoying the most excellent parts of the 2009 season in the finest ways possible. And since we on the Premium team tend to wine in the face of recession, the emphasis is on high-end, so move accordingly.

Unofficially, the islands’ Carnival season kicks off with mas band launches taking place from August; but the real action is from Boxing Day onward with an almost endless array of all-inclusive parties and fetes taking you straight through to a climactic Carnival Monday and Tuesday. If you haven’t already arrived on the island there’s still time, for even the Carnival virgin, to get yourself situated…

But first, you might want to pack your bags…