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Grandeur Home Ported in Barbados


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52 minutes ago, Galveston Steve said:

That's exactly his point.  Since Hawaii is domestic there is no testing requirement for that 10 hour flight.  However a short 40 minute flight internationally does require testing.  It seems that the science of 10 hrs vs. 40 minutes doesn't make sense.

 

45 minutes ago, PurdueFlyer said:

yes I'm aware of the difference between domestic and International.  The point was  "COVID is COVID" whether you caught it abroad or at your local grocery store.  Why is a negative test required to board a 40 minute flight just because its international, but its not for a 10 hour domestic flight?  In either situation, if I'm infected and asymptomatic, I put people on the plane around me at risk, and people I interact with when I get home.  

I guess I'm of the mindset that the CDC shouldn't be making a distinction, but they do.  

 It has absolutely nothing to do whether it's a 10 hour flight, 40 minute flight or a 30 hour flight. It has to do with bringing/transporting/personal or carrier transmission covid from another country which may be a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th or 10th variant  of this virus back to the States or bring it to any other country. That is what it comes down to. It doesn't take a brain scientist to know what the respective governments are doing to protect their citizens.

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  • 3 weeks later...

So most of the people we work with think we're nuts, but I bet some of you understand the excitement.

We just booked a 7-night on Grandeur Jan 30, 2022.  The "Island Hop" itinerary.

We've only sailed on one Vision class ship.....Vision....and really enjoyed her.  We're looking forward to experiencing Grandeur now as well.

 

A humongous thanks to @michelle at MEI for her patience with us while we were getting our ducks in a row so we could book it.

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12 minutes ago, vmagestro said:

So with these cruises setting sail at 10 pm is there any chance the cruise line allows us to stay onboard on debarkation day a little longer? As of right now the first flights back to the US aren't until 3:05 and 4:55 pm. 

Likely not. The change to keep the ship in port longer on embarkation day is extending boarding window. My expectation is the start time for embarkation will not shift backwards.

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2 hours ago, Matt said:

The change to keep the ship in port longer on embarkation day is extending boarding window.

I would assume that this is because so many flights by those "same day" flight/cruise people (BAD IDEA!) will arrive in the afternoon/early evening.

2 hours ago, vmagestro said:

So with these cruises setting sail at 10 pm is there any chance the cruise line allows us to stay onboard on debarkation day a little longer?

This will likely be offset by boarding as early as possible on day one to begin taking advantage of all the ship and it's cruise planner has to offer; provided that you follow the often given (and very sound!) advise of planning to arrive the day before.

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2 hours ago, SPS said:

I would assume that this is because so many flights by those "same day" flight/cruise people (BAD IDEA!) will arrive in the afternoon/early evening.

I always agree that same day flights are a bad idea. However, when I called Air2Sea, it seems like the only decent flights available were same day.  If I do in fact go (I have it booked), then I probably won't feel like I have much choice.  I'll book it through Air2Sea and hope for the best.  Royal guarantees you'll make your cruise, so at least it would fall on them to figure something out.

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14 minutes ago, steverk said:

 Royal guarantees you'll make your cruise, so at least it would fall on them to figure something out.

I can't stress enough how important this is.  I tried never to fly on embarkation day but when  I did, I would always use Air2Sea for the air portion just to reduce the risk.  IMO it is worth whatever small upcharge there may be with using A2S.

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Booked Air2Sea.  Fully refundable until final payment due date to go along with my refundable cruise fare.  

Air2Sea is $50 less than AA direct.  

El Cheapo airline offered through A2S is a charter airline that has terrible reviews and only BBB 1 star complaints.   As much as i despise AA I think I'll pass on El Cheapo.  

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21 hours ago, twangster said:

Air2Sea isn't a terrible uplift from direct.

I might even go with a cheapo airline through them on the premise I can avoid flying AA and if cheapo airline has issues it's on Air2Sea to deal with.

How far in advance can you normally book Air2Sea?

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On 2/17/2021 at 1:30 PM, teddy said:

So most of the people we work with think we're nuts, but I bet some of you understand the excitement.

We just booked a 7-night on Grandeur Jan 30, 2022.  The "Island Hop" itinerary.

We've only sailed on one Vision class ship.....Vision....and really enjoyed her.  We're looking forward to experiencing Grandeur now as well.

 

A humongous thanks to @michelle at MEI for her patience with us while we were getting our ducks in a row so we could book it.

Happy to help you as always!  excited for Barbados sailings, beautiful island

 

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On 2/24/2021 at 3:50 PM, teddy said:

For our cruise next Jan, Air2Sea shows $535 per person from BOS to Bridgetown (Jan 30/Feb 6 2022, arriving the day of the cruise).   Non-stop on Jet Blue both ways.

$80 pp for round trip shuttle to/from airport

Neither Google Flights nor any airline site lets me see flights past Jan 23rd or so.

 

Royal negotiated space on flights and in some cases chartered planes.  In other cases they worked with carriers like United to add flights to Barbados from Washington DC that they don't normally fly. 

Given their relationship with the airlines you can access flights through Air2Sea before the airline is selling seats on the same flights directly.  It's also how Air2Sea is offering refundable airfare.

When I added Air2Sea flights for my Grandeur cruise it was like adding prepaid gratuity.  It's on my booking but I don't have to pay for the flights now, I will pay when final payment is due.  Since it's refundable I can cancel the flights anytime before final payment.  In other words there is no risk adding A2S flights now and then shopping around.  However the guarantees that come with A2S makes them compelling if flying the same day.

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I booked Air2Sea flights over the weekend.  They weren't cheap, but I didn't think they were marked up either.

As @twangster said, I can cancel or change them up until final payment date, so why not reserve them?

I one word of caution though: I'm under the impression that if you pay off your booking prior to final payment date, then it makes refunding the flight more complicated.  Therefore, I'd suggest that you pay off your booking at the last possible date. (Of course, with the COVID situation, that's probably wise regardless of the flight arrangements!)

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5 minutes ago, teddy said:

@twangsterThank you for that information.  We hadn't booked the flights through Air2Sea since we assumed it required full payment (and didn't realize it would be refundable).

 

My flights work that way but it would always be wise to ask A2S or your travel agent to make sure the same applies to different cities or your flights.

Royal only secured space on Sunday flights since the ship departs Sundays.  You can book A2S flights to arrive a few days early or to stay after the cruise but Royal didn't secure space on other days of the week.   I'm not sure how those flights work in terms of refundable or not.

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53 minutes ago, joshgates said:

For one data point, I'm flying into Barbados a day early via A2S (leaving the Sunday we get back) and it is refundable. 

Still debating on changing to self booked since I'm really not a fan of AA, just haven't found anything better yet.

Same with respect to AA but for where I am they are currently the only viable option short of adding two layovers and a nine hour travel day.  It's killing me but AA is really my only choice.

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I just booked R/T from MIA for our 20 Feb 2022.  It is an AA charter.

I guess charter flights don't offer First Class so it's an economy flight at the moment but the Agent told me that there is no penalty for me to call back when I am within the 330 day window and rebook FC on a regular AA flight.  Not sure I will do this since this [charter] fare is already over $1K....which I think is outrageous from MIA, but I will know more after the first of April.  No harm in asking.

They also had a Swiss Air charter but I don't know what that fare was since I prefer AA.  I've had no problem with AA since they started allowing no-questions changes.  That has been a godsend for me since we had so many flights cancelled since the beginning of the plague.  I still have a few air vouchers hanging out there but we also have quite a few fly-away cruises booked so I should be able to use them up with no problem as long as cruising starts back up in the relatively close future.

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We're doing both holiday sailings and wanted to fly first/business class.  Booking direct with AA was way less than Air2Sea in our case. We didn't want to take the chance of losing preferred flights and paying more later, so we booked 'em with AA, arriving a couple days early.  With the change fees eliminated that makes it somewhat reassuring, except that if I cancel I still have to fly AA to somewhere!

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41 minutes ago, twangster said:

Same with respect to AA but for where I am they are currently the only viable option short of adding two layovers and a nine hour travel day.  It's killing me but AA is really my only choice.

About the same.  I'm almost equal driving distance between Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Buffalo and so far the A2S flight they booked on AA is the cheapest and shortest duration on both legs.  Everything else is either a fairly large price increase, a 14 hour flight usually with overnight layovers, or both.

I just keep reminding myself it'll be worth it as soon as I touch down.

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17 hours ago, Galveston Steve said:

We're doing both holiday sailings and wanted to fly first/business class.  Booking direct with AA was way less than Air2Sea in our case. We didn't want to take the chance of losing preferred flights and paying more later, so we booked 'em with AA, arriving a couple days early.  With the change fees eliminated that makes it somewhat reassuring, except that if I cancel I still have to fly AA to somewhere!

Are you on the Dec. 19 Cruise?

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Some more info on booking flights to Barbados through Air2Sea.

We are booked non-stop on Jet Blue from Boston (Jan 30, 2022) and there is a $215 pp cancellation charge.  I was made aware of the charges before I booked.  We booked economy, so that may play into it.

It's not a big deal to us, but I figured I'd share so people are aware.

 

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56 minutes ago, teddy said:

Some more info on booking flights to Barbados through Air2Sea.

We are booked non-stop on Jet Blue from Boston (Jan 30, 2022) and there is a $215 pp cancellation charge.  I was made aware of the charges before I booked.  We booked economy, so that may play into it.

It's not a big deal to us, but I figured I'd share so people are aware.

 

That's why you put a hold/reserve until final payment.  This way, you aren't liable for the $215 cancellation charge if you decide to cancel your flight. 

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29 minutes ago, princevaliantus said:

That's why you put a hold/reserve until final payment.  This way, you aren't liable for the $215 cancellation charge if you decide to cancel your flight. 

Right.  We haven't paid anything yet and won't until final payment is due. 

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