Purplelady1

My mistake. It was on Crystal.

We have also flown South African airlines not anywhere near BA or the Middle East airlines in comfort or service.

Qatar is very good but I highly suggest Emirates. With Emirates on a long layover they will put you up a the Meridian and chauffeur you to and from the hotel if you are booked in Business or First. BA does not offer this service and the Emirates lounge is huge. The downside to the lounge is that they have their own duty free shops which is my downfall.

Diana and John, I am hoping for the Sunday Brunch on our November crossing, too. Crystal puts on an amazing Gala buffet. The offerings sound similar.

 

Has anyone posts photos of the Explorer brunch?

Yes and they have an amazing lobster tail tower. Regent I think is about equal from our experience.

Gary, my husband has a disability and we always pay for meet and greet services. Most of the time they will meet you plane side and assist you through customs and immigration if flying international. We arrange this through our TA that uses a very good company worldwide. Yes, it costs more but you will have no worries.

I agree, all US carriers cannot hold a candle to the international carriers either inflight or ground services.

Wes, we have used them and the Points Pro and both are excellent. We never use the cruise air programs including Regent as we come out far better ahead and usually they can snag first class seats on the best airlines. It is certainly worth the small fee.

We are points hoarders and charge everything we can with the cards. It is very easy to transfer miles from Chase and Amex to airline programs. Why fly business when you can fly First on some of these airlines and pay very little?

Yes - BA is not as good as it used to be but I still like their seats. IMO, one of the worst airlines is United. It seems that United changes their itineraries every month and sometimes the change causes hours of waiting. We received our second flight change from United yesterday and they warn that there could be more to come (only booked them because it didn't cost any money - only credit card points). If you are on BA's 747-400, Regent will book the seats for you but you can immediately go into the website and change them to the ones you desire (at no cost).

 

In terms of comparing a Coach seat to a Business Class seat, I would pay double 300 GBP per person to sit in a comfortable seat with better food and service. Regardless of the airline you select, I bet that you wife will be as happy as one can be when you don't like flying. Based on the airlines we have flown, I would rate their Business Class seats as follows:

 

1. Cathay Pacific

2. Singapore Airlines

3. Qantas

4. British Airways

5. Air Canada

6. Lufthansa

7. American

8. KLM

9, United

You should try Emirates sometime on the A-380 with a bar shared with business and first. They are rated number 1. BA has gone downhill in the last few months with all their cost cutting. Cathay and Singapore are also our favorites.

We us a points service as well as they will find seats in business and first. We have the Chase card and the Amex Centurion. Trying to use your points on your own can be frustrating so we pay a very reasonable fee for them to work on it. We have used our points to fly First or Busniess on Singapore, Cathay Pacific and Emirates. We have not paid full fare in years.

We love Belvedere Vodka. Stoli is way to harsh for our palate and no longer a premium vodka and Smirnoff is a well drink at most of our bars...cheap.

Jeff are you a trained chef? Your personal food photos look yummy. I am addicted to the Food Network they make it look easy. I just dislike the prep work.

Thank you both for the welcome! This has been a fun thread to read. We are not big foodies but with all the international people here I can come up with new things and seek advice. I hope to see more and sharing our cruise experiences with yours.

As I am new here and just came across this salivating thread and love all the food cooking tips!

Dave, perfect. The side items are wonderful and don't forget the wonderful Key Lime pie.

Be very careful with Ambien. My sister took one on a overseas flight after two drinks and she ended up on the floor trying to reach the bathroom and had to be assisted to her seat. I have taken Ambien but I was warned no alcohol four hours before. It is a great sleeping aid but please be careful.

Here is a link about the medication.

https://www.drugs.com/food-interactions/zolpidem,ambien.html

Dave, stone crab season is October 15th to May 15th. I was just in Miami. I agree Joe's is great!

You have two groups, the newlyweds and the nearly dead. Oh we will all get there. So enjoy life.:D

We just booked a land trip to Asia on Singapore and used our Kris Miles and we have two First Class seats $200 each that's all and round trip.

AMEX does charge a small fee for the 2-4-1 plus airport taxes and still a good deal if you cannot use your miles. Emirates and Singapore are still part of the program as well as well as Lufthansa and others.

With AMEX you just transfer miles to the airline. We just learned that if you have miles they can be transferred to a cash credit on your bill as well to us we just use a service that will or shall I say try to grab the seats using miles. You also can buy miles on some airlines and AMEX. So many tricks to beat the airline game but it will save you so much money.

As my mother would say, knowledge is power.

Dave, you will have a wonderful cruise.

Well, we use our miles and are top tiered with Delta, United and American. It is harder and harder to use them but we use a service that can get us First or Business. We never have used Regent Air or for that matter any cruise air program. Sometimes we use AMEX Centurion/Platinum for two for one and we can deviate at no extra charge. It's a no brainer for us. We still have to pay the taxes and security fees which is a drop in the bucket.