I wish I had voted. I am so glad you gave up on #1. 3 is good with 2 having much better colour for the search boxes.

Last minute cruise deals and the newsletter form need to be above the fold if you want any sales from them.

As you are going for the older market, feel sorry for their eyesight and use a larger font for default font size (what is wrong with 1em or 11-13pt?) and avoid light tone fonts unless they have a contrasting background.