Zacharius

I guess it depends on how much you plan to travel. I practically live out of a suitcase, and loyalty is very rewarding to me (airlines, hotels, and car rentals). But even if you travel just a few times a year, you're unlikely to reach a level of meaningful loyalty unless you're spending a lot of money. 

37 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

Smoke signals, although not specifically banned in cruise contract, are likely frowned upon while on ship or private islands. 

To be fair, it's really a private peninsula, not an island...they just don't want you tell you it's actually attached to Haiti. So you should be good. 

12 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Does anyone even care about the Olympics anymore ?

I try to get to a couple each decade. I've been obsessed with the Olympics my entire life even though my country has never won a gold (and have never competed in Winter Olympics, which is actually my preferred Olympics). I do think I'll try to get to Paris. 

36 minutes ago, CruzOnBye said:

We use walkie talkies when there and on CocoCay and while on the ship. It's worked really well for us, just got a random set from Amazon for a pack of 4 for around $30 for a decent set (or what we consider decent)

Interestingly enough, most American walkie talkies are illegal in many parts of the world. I believe that includes Haiti (without Haitian government approval...and good luck getting their approval on pretty much anything haha) but am not 100% sure. 

Just now, Xaa said:

Your ship wifi will generally not work there.  I haven't tried to hit a cell tower, but you may be able to do that and incur whatever charges your carrier brings.

I had a cell signal because I remember getting a call while I was there. This was back in 2018ish so things may have changed. You would be calling on the Haitian cell network so do be aware of what fees your provider charges for being on said Haitian network. Pretty sure that area has a stronger Digicell and NATCOM are both pretty strong in Cap-Haitien (at least, they were last time I was in Cap-Haitien in 2022), one of Haiti's largest cities which is just a few miles away, so it should be pretty strong in Labadee too. 

3 minutes ago, dejavu21 said:

Interesting.  Thanks for looking.  I guess i need to check my filters and see why I would need to do an advanced search. You would think they would show all flights.  

I didn't do any kind of advanced search for mine...just searched IAH-YVR on 4 July and it popped right up

17 minutes ago, dejavu21 said:

@Zacharius  IAH to YVR - July 4th 2024 to July 14th, 2024.  Cruise is Brilliance, July 7-14. Let me know what you see.  Air2Sea has flight UA 6621 and United.com does not.  

I was curious as well, so, I called one of my friends who happens to be a United Pilot, and he can only see through June 18th at the moment.  

I definitely se UA6621 IAH-YVR on 4 July 2024. Departs 1630, Arrives 1925. Thing is, it's a codeshare and is operated by Air Canada as AC1301. So it's an Air Canada flight that happens to carry a codeshare UA flight number. 

I'm not an expert on Air2Sea or United, so I'll leave those questions for others, but...it's a little worrisome they're selling flights that United says may not exist. Willing to share the dates/flights? I'd be curious to look. 

18 minutes ago, DDaley said:

Yes but the flight prices are rising every single day you wait to book! I always book the day the date becomes available for booking, prices only go up from there these days. 

Still not completely true. In fact, it's often the case that prices are higher on the day they get released. The reason is that airlines are trying to judge demand and often throw out high prices to see if people bite. If they don't, it's common for them to come down as airlines try to find that sweet spot. It really is a crap shoot...I fly about 130,000 BIS miles each year and book flights for others that total another 500,000 BIS miles each year, if not more, and we see everything. A few weeks ago we were booking a couple of tickets between Kansas City and Accra, and the prices changed five times in seven days while we waited on the contract to be signed...up, down, up, down, and down some more (yay) before we booked. 

Give them a call. Also look at options booking directly with the airline and keep your options open. Pros and cons to both. 

16 hours ago, Rfk said:

If I’m ever on a ship that parks at Nassau, we’re not getting off the ship. 

We always get off. Walk around a bit, grab a few beers at Pirate Republic, and get out of the touristy area for some conch. 

17 hours ago, teddy said:

Tulum from Cozumel

The ruins were amazing but it was a long day going from the island.  

Tulum is the definition of someplace that should be its own destination, not something tacked on to a cruise 

15 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

Anything on Labadee. I loathe Labadee in general: we did the sip and paint and thought one drink for a 90min excursion was a rip-off. 

Labadee is actually home of our favorite ever cruise excursion...take a boat 30ish minutes away to a small little island and float in the water for hours with endless rum punch and Prestige beer. My wife and I still talk about it 10ish years later. 

11 hours ago, BMW Hoosier said:

Fair enough but if there is a cancellation most airlines will still let you route to LAX or SNA. 

It can depend on your fare, too. There are some discounted fare codes (including some that cruise lines use) that don't allow for a re-route, even including connection cities. That means, for example, even if you are routed JFK-PHX-LGB, and the JFK-PHX flight cancels, they will only re-route you JFK-PHX-LGB (not, say, JFK-DEN-LGB). 

44 minutes ago, Bowen said:

Thanks! I was looking at Long Beach, but I wasn't sure if that was the right area. There are two ports, right? Long Beach and Los Angeles?

As far as I know, the "Port of Los Angeles" is the one in San Pedro (right next to Long Beach). San Pedro is actually a neighborhood of Los Angeles, despite being quite a bit south of the rest of Los Angeles. It's an odd setup where Los Angeles city limits extend south to San Pedro via a narrow corridor only a few blocks wide (not sure the history, but I assume it's to include the port within the city limits...kind of like Chicago's weird panhandle to include O'Hare)

Plenty of good hotels in San Pedro and Long Beach. I tend to just find that area on Google Maps, search "hotels", and it'll show you the ones around and their ratings. They also give some pricing, though I've found that to be frequently incorrect. I recommend booking directly with the hotel on refundable/cancellable rates, as those can be cancelled and re-booked if the rate comes down.

Even if you want to go as "far" as St. John from St. Thomas, I always vote for going on your own. 

2 hours ago, Ray said:

It costs me less to fly aberdeen to Amsterdam then onto leeds than it does Aberdeen to Leeds direct. 

How does it compare to a train? 

3 hours ago, Rene Desmarais said:

I guess my future mediterranean & european cruises are on hold till flight prices come down..   hope..

You might be waiting a while. Tourism between North America and Europe, especially in the summer, shows no signs of slowing down. Additionally, business ties are continuing to ramp back up. Demand is there, and prices are matching. 

26 minutes ago, TessFromFlorida said:

I have alerts direct to London for example if cruising out of Southampton, but also Dublin, Paris, and other cities where I may find deals.

 

Don't forget Southampton itself. KLM does fly there via Amsterdam, and KLM is a Delta partner, so it's very possible to get routed (say) USA - AMS - Southampton.

KLM offers flights in to British cities that a lot of other major airlines don't...places like Southampton, Cardiff, Leeds, Teeside, Bristol, and more. I only say that for people who may be looking to fly to the UK (for cruises or not) and don't always want to go straight in to London. A rather simple connection via AMS can dump you in to smaller, easier British airports that could be a great place to start (or end) a vacation. Or business for that matter...my colleague and I split some work in Bristol, and she (as a Delta frequent flier) pretty much always goes via AMS straight in to Bristol. Myself, as an AA frequent flier, just goes in to Heathrow and takes ground transit from there. Often times, it ends up being a wash time wise. 

On 9/24/2023 at 12:45 PM, Traveling Mike said:

I was told because of the homeless and drugs downtown Seattle was not a nice place to visit.  

You missed out on a really enjoyable downtown because of that person (or people). Bummer. I've never had a problem in downtown Seattle. Granted, it's been a solid seven weeks since I've stayed in downtown Seattle...

28 minutes ago, Mike6453 said:

we just took odyssey for greek isles out of rome, we flew to rome from NY family of six (all economy) on delta came out to 9500. i was shocked when i booked, i even watched the prices for six months (the prices never dropped below 8500 and went as high as 15,000). 

One thing to consider when booking groups - it can sometimes be cheaper to break the group up in to smaller groups, and it's worth checking that out for future trips. An example of why (with hypothetical numbers and such): There are 3 tickets available in Fare Bucket A, and 10 seats tickets in the more expensive Fare Bucket B. If you're pricing six together, it's going to bypass the Fare Bucket A (because there are only three tickets available) and book all six in to the higher Fare Bucket B. If you split is up three and three, it would book three of you in to Fare Bucket A, and the other three in Fare Bucket B, resulting in a lower grand total. This isn't going to happen every time, but it's worth pricing out. The risk is that something happens during travel and three get re-booked on one route, and three on another route, because you're technically separate groups...but most flights do make it, and the risk still may be worth it depending on the savings. 

18 hours ago, Ryan79 said:

Chops is highly overrated. It’s about on par with Applebees as far as the quality (or lack there of) of the meat. I would choose Izumi because of the entertainment factor as well. It’s a much more enjoyable experience than Chops. My kids are 100% carnivores when it comes to steak and didn’t care for it either.

Maybe I've had unusually good experiences on my five or so visits to Chops...but I have always found my steaks fairly good. I get the opportunity to visit a LOT of really high end steakhouses around the world for business dinners/meetings, which are of course much, much better than Chops, but that's my way of say that I am no stranger to phenomenal steaks but have always enjoyed by Chops steaks. Of course, being on vacation tends to skew tastes a bit (most things seem to taste a bit better on vacation). 

On 9/25/2023 at 1:42 PM, smokeybandit said:

Not if you're moving from California.

I guess it kind of depends where in California. Even in So Cal (where it appears OP is from), there's a big difference between LA, San Diego, and...Calexico

5 hours ago, Happy Cruisers said:

Most people are looking for some secret handshake/book at 2:52 am on a Tuesday kind-of-trick to save money on airfare in a way that involves minimal action, but if someone is actually willing to try to help themselves, good standard advice for overseas travel is to search all available international airports, and then as-needed book a positioning flight to get there.

Just a caveat to be careful with something like this. Very careful. If you're booking separate tickets, you are not protected. Example - you want to fly Denver to London, but it's cheaper to fly Chicago to London. No problem, let me just book a separate, cheaper ticket on, say, Southwest or Frontier from Denver to Chicago, and then United/BA/AA from Chicago to London. 

Well, you're now on two separate origin/destination tickets - Denver to Chicago, and Chicago to London. Southwest/Frontier is only responsible to get you from Denver to Chicago; United/BA/AA is only responsible to get you from Chicago to London. If your DEN-CHI (be it MDW or ORD) is delayed, and you miss the ORD-LHR flight, you're in trouble and will probably have to buy a new, last-minute ticket to get yourself to London...and and subsequent flights on that registration are likely to be cancelled as you're now a no-show. 

So, if you do decide to book positioning flights, be smart and book BIG layovers (preferably overnight), and make sure it's really worth it (factoring in things like hotels, meals, ground transportation if needed (such as between Midway and O'Hare in my example), cost of your time, etc. etc.) 

Another vote for downtown. Although I am a Hilton loyalist, I absolutely love the Hyatt Regency Seattle Downtown (on Howell St.) and usually stay there if I am staying downtown (versus suburbs).