FlyerTalker

IMO, and it's nothing more, too many have been seduced by the whole "THE FINEST CUISINE AT SEA®" marketing. I've consistently found SS dining to overall surpass O, except for the grill to order in the Terrace. The O MDR is nothing to write home about. Specialties may well excel, but do we judge on the totality or on just our favorites?

Likely spoken by someone who doesn't want to use porters. And the less options you have for YOUR vacation. I don't want to spend mine "sink washing", hanging clothes up to dry in my room, or being known as "the guy wearing that same blue shirt". YMMV.

And that pretty much sums it up. If you are happy with "good enough", there's an option for you. And if you want better than "good enough", there are other options. All depends on YOUR wishes and expectations.

A couple things to remember when it comes to avoiding "lost" luggage (which really isn't in 99+% of cases - it's delayed) Computerized luggage systems have eliminated almost all of the old "wrong airport" on the luggage tags, by tying the printing of the bag tags to the flight record. However, there is still a potential for error - if several people are getting bag tags out of a check-in printer, it is possible that they get switched in the hustle. So always check that the luggage tags on your bag have your name and itinerary. Before they go zipping down the conveyor belt. The biggest source of delayed bags are short connections. Yes, I know folks don't like to sit around airports (though they will sit around on a cruise with no problem), but making sure you have a comfortable connection is, IMO, a plus all around. Neither you nor your bags will have to make mad dashes to the next flight. The next biggest issue is close check-in for the bags. Even though you may have met the airline's deadline, you might encounter a TSA screening backup, down in the bowels of the airport. Remember, it's a government process, so they pretty much answer to no one when it comes to their throughput. And if the bag doesn't get through screening, it won't get on your originating flight. Another issue is if you have a regional jet on any of your segments. These aircraft are the most likely to have load issues with baggage, or with large size bags. Sometimes, there is too much weight to fly, and airlines will bump the luggage. Or bags that are very large may get bumped in place of smaller, easier-to-fit bags. If small jets are the only option out of your airport, you may not have much control over this, other than booking longer connects. Finally, the number of "mishandled" bags for US carriers in the most recent reporting month is 0.48 per hundred bags checked. This category covers lost, delayed, damaged or pilfered bags.

FWIW, I'm a big fan of the free program, XNView, which makes for easy resizing, cropping and rotating of images.

Well, by buying the DL return from Tokyo, you have pretty well boxed yourself in. It will probably be about $3000 for you to get a one-way ticket to Beijing. That would be with either China Southern or Phillipine. Of the two, I'd take China Southern, as PR has you on a narrow-body for almost 5 hours from Manila. CZ has you wide-body for both segments, flying through Guangzhou. Hopefully that DL ticket was under $1800, which was the ANA price for the roundtrip. And ANA would have been a better experience than using CZ or PR plus DL.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Skytrax is well know for dubious ratings and conflict of interest. They are a consultancy that earns the majority of its income from the very airlines and airports that it "objectively rates". They give Houston Hobby a five star rating. Same for Rome. Neither comes close in reality. Hainan and Garuda are five stars, while Emirates, Etihad and Turkish are four? Air Transat is a four, while AA, UA, DL and AS are three? And how would it overall compare with a round-trip bought directly from the carrier? Just because it might beat an Oceania price doesn't deal with the complete picture. Especially if you were counting on a phantom ticket from Hainan to make it a bargain.

Posted for the benefit of ALL who are reading this thread.

Another issue can be that the photo is too large, both in terms of dimensions and/or file size. If you have a 12mp camera, you are generating an image that is 4000 by 3000 pixels in size. Huge. But if you are just looking at it on your phone, it doesn't seem that. When you download to your computer, you'll see the true size of the photo. In my experience, I download photos to my computer, then use an image editor to resize the photo to a much more manageable size. And then have few problems uploading to other sites, including e-visa applications. YMMV.

Hainan has long been known for phantom inventory, especially for award bookings. Yes, they may have been the cheapest on the route. However, there is much more to an airline ticket than just the price. Also, not certain why you are booking two one-ways, rather than a single open jaw. I think you might have increased the overall price.

A backgrounder from 2020: https://www.cruiseandferry.net/Home/articles/articles/cruise-ship-design-legend-giacomo-mortola-1 From the GEM website: https://gemsrl.com/project-list (Which says they did the Serenity and Symphony refurbs) https://gemsrl.com/the-studio https://gemsrl.com/

Curious question. If the parents are having a "special dinner" in Osteria, just a) where are the kids dining, and b) who is supervising/caring for them? I assume that you weren't volunteering. And Crystal does not provide babysitting services. So just what are you suggesting?

Well....that was yesterday. Haven't they gotten the results back and made the appropriate changes and announced it to the world? What kind of operation is this? 😀 (Written to save the impatient folks from having to post)

That will teach you for being a trouble-maker!!

In my experience, you will see things priced in Kroner, Euros and Dollars.