Zacharius

Due to our crazy schedules and my unknown work travel schedule, my wife and I book vacations like four weeks out...so that solves a lot of those problems!

Even if it was an intra-Schengen flight (for example let's say you were flying Rome-Frankfurt-USA), 9:45am would be too early for any kind of comfort or risk in my book. If it's a flight outside Schengen (for example Rome-USA nonstop, or Rome-London-USA), it's way way too early. Just FYI, there's really no correlation between cruise fare and air fare, and it's not really fair to compare them. Usually, cruise lines know that your cruise fare will only be a portion (sometimes a small one) of the total money they get out of you...they'll get food, drink, excursions, souvenirs, gambling, etc. Whereas, aside from small things like a checked bag or a seat selection (and even those are usually optional), an airline knows the ticket is the only money they will get off of you. They're very different economic models.

Yeah, this is why Covid tests have two lines when you're positive and one when you're negative. If the two lines meant negative, everyone would just draw in a second line. In this case, it would make more sense to have a punched card be the non-vaxxed, and an un-punched card be the vaxxed because you can't easily fill in a punched hole in a plastic card. But...it would still be a silly system

Demand is only going to go up as travel between the US and Europe increases month over month. This will, in turn, cause prices to continue going up. The odds of prices going down are very small, but the odds of prices going up are quite high. I would book now. Be careful with Premium Economy. United has a (relatively) new "Premium Plus" product that only exists on some planes and some routes. Some (but not all) 767s, some (but not all) 777s, and some (but not all) 787s. Then, on most planes and most routes, there is "Economy Plus" which has been around for years. This is essentially just a few extra inches of legroom and nothing else...same old economy seat, just a little bit more seat pitch. Premium Plus and Economy Plus are very different things, so make sure you know what you're buying.

I've never been to CocoCay and frankly don't have any desire to go there. But having once been to Grand Bahama (not on a cruise), I can tell you that you're really not missing much.

Oh heck no. 5-7 days on a cruise is plenty for me. I like to get away from people. Sitting out around the pool with 500 other people isn't something that appeals to me on a long-term basis. Can't imagine working around people all day and then having to share your personal space all night.

That depends how quickly you swim

On Day 3, everyone stands at the back of the ship, rips their masks off, and lets them fly away in to the sky

Grab a taxi, there will be plenty of them outside the port

Quickest way is to jump off the side and swim

For tonight, I see zero flights out of Denver between 1am and 3am. I see six Frontier flights between 10pm and 11pm, all going west and gaining an hour, and an additional seven after midnight, all redeyes to the east or Mexico (which some people love, so it goes back to being inconvenient for some and perfect for others). Out of the roughly 50 Frontier flights departing DEN in the 24 hours between 8am today and 8am tomorrow, that is six out of 50...higher than most airlines, sure, but at 12% of their total DEN departures (which is their largest airport by far), it's not some overwhelmingly massive part of their operation. Source: https://www.flydenver.com/flight-results/frontier?search_type=departures

Someone's inconvenient schedule is another person's perfect schedule. Frontier and Spirit don't fly many 2am departures, for example. Some, sure, but not a ton. I love 6am flights, others may hate them; I hate 9pm flights, others may love them.

In this case, I can't think of many airports served by Spirit and/or Frontier that only have 2-3 total flights in a day (Latrobe, PA perhaps?) , so this merger shouldn't impact those super small airports very much. Both Spirit and Frontier mostly use mid to large-sized airports that are served by many other airlines.

Not always. Adjusted for inflation, the Southwest/Airtran merger didn't really raise fares. Let's take a look at Las Vegas, which was a major WN focus city both before and after the merger. In 2019, the average fare for a flight to/from Vegas was $256.93 adjusted for 2021 dollars; in 2012, which was the first full year after the merger closed, the average fare was $317.38 in 2021 dollars. So, adjusted for today's dollars, fares to/from Las Vegas have decreased since the merger. But let's look at a couple airports that both airlines served before the merger, again all adjusted for 2021 dollars: Los Angeles: 2019 = $376.92, 2012 = $473.01 Ft. Lauderdale: 2019 = $272.33, 2012 = $319.69 (Southwest is the largest airline at FLL) Chicago Midway: 2019 = $328.46, 2012 = $351.65 (Southwest is, by far, the largest airline at MDW) Kansas City: 2019 = $385.84, 2012 = $411.94 (Southwest is the largest airline at MCI) So, in most cases, the fares are actually down when adjusted. Now, using 2021 numbers is a bit...off...because of Covid and its impact on economics, but not so much that it makes the statements false. Airfares, when adjusted for inflation, really haven't changed much over the years, and mergers don't raise the prices of air travel in quite the same way as some other industries. (Source of data is US Bureau of Transportation Statistics, https://www.transtats.bts.gov/AverageFare/)

Ah...well, the beaches are the best part of St. John, so that cuts down on a lot of activities. Hiking around the national park (which takes up a good chunk of the island) is a nice alternative with some nice views. There's some info on individual hikes at https://www.nps.gov/viis/planyourvisit/hiking-in-paradise.htm. Those are really the main things to do in St. John aside from a few shops in Cruz Bay.

Just do St. John on your own. It's oh so easy. Grab a taxi over to Red Hook, take the ferry, and a taxi on the other end to whatever beach or other part of St. John you want to go. Then reverse it on the way back...even easier if you can get your original taxi driver to meet you at Red Hook for the ride back. I always give myself one extra ferry as a buffer - if you think the 4pm ferry is the last one to get you back to the ship on time, take the 3pm ferry just in case.

I've seen some nasty traffic even at 1pm on a weekday. Once got stuck in traffic so bad a guy was full on painting a canvas in his car at like 11am on a Thursday in Norwalk.

Oh I get it. But yeah, unless you can (financially and legally) catch up with the ship the next day, it just looks a bit tough. But hey, in 2022 you have TWO grand prix in the US for a change! And of course the Mexican GP. And, who knows, maybe Canada won't be cancelled this year.

Howdy from a Namibian currently living in the US. I agree about looking in to a car hire that allows you to drop it near the port. That will make things easier and would be worth spending some extra money as it would offset any Uber/Lyft/shuttle/taxi cost. I don't think there's a need to have Royal Caribbean travel insurance. It's an option, but it may or may not be the best option and doing some research in this area to compare insurance plans and providers could pay off greatly if things go wrong.

I doubt it. Most F1 races start at 3pm local time in Europe. That puts an end time around 4:30-5pm without any delays (and it seems like half the races these days get red flagged...but maybe not on a boring track like Barcelona ), which is around when a ship would leave (unless you're doing an overnight stay). Factor in the couple hours it would probably take to get out of Circuit de Catalunya due to traffic and get to the cruise port (which, without traffic, is at least 30 minutes I believe) and the ship is long gone. EDIT: I found what I assume is your cruise and it leaves at 6pm. That has you being back on the ship by, I assume, 5:30pm at the latest. No way you could make that with a 3pm start time of the race. Only option is if you wanted to catch back up with the ship the next day in Palma, if it's allowed and if you want to pay for a hotel and flight. Just my recommendation as a huge F1 fan - the Barcelona race isn't worth that, it's a bit of a snooze fest compared to other tracks.

I'm a big lover of the package (ahem), but there's no way I would pay that price. I do tend to get my money's worth between drinks (cocktails, whiskey, wine...rarely beer), bottled waters, sodas, and coffee...but not sure I would get $900 worth. Wild.

Yes, I am definitely aware of how much pricing can change, I practically live on planes. But I also know sometimes people get so set on an idea and may not think about researching alternatives, so I figured it was worth throwing out there. Wanting to spend three days in Rome doesn't mean it couldn't possibly be 2 + 1.

If you haven't already booked your flights, could you consider doing 2 days early and 1 day on the back end instead of 3 on the front and 0 on the back?

I always like to remind everyone that there is no 100% promise or guarantee. They'll do their best, but they can't create seats or add flights to destinations, so it's still a risk. I think flying in the day before is a better guarantee than using Air2Sea for a day-of-departure flight. I can't imagine they would. Their whole purpose is to sell tickets that they have procured from airlines at a discounted/bulk rate. If they aren't making money on your flights, I don't know why they would protect them.