the mice

12 minutes ago, fdnycruiser said:

Glad that you had such a nice experience. Yes, we’re traveling in the coveted Q suites, and looking forward too it. I’ll save my appetite for the lounge .

Food and service in flight is great, too.  My issue was the timing - our flight out of Seoul was 0:15 so I felt sleep was more a priority.  OTOH, my DH had dinner which he said was delicious.  There was another meal later so I only wanted yogurt and a croissant by the time we got to the lounge.  Had a yummy dinner on next flight,  later an ice cream sundae (not the UA variety) and then was sound asleep during breakfast.  DH told them not to wake me even though I had said to. Meanwhile, he had breakfast himself. 🤣. 

Sometimes when I read travel blogs and see how much some of them eat for meals, esp. breakfast, it kind of amazes me. And I like to eat. Anyway, enjoy your flights, DOH lounge, food and service. 

5 hours ago, fdnycruiser said:

We’re going from Capetown to Doha in March on SS. We used our Amex points to book business class tickets on Qatar Airways from Miami to Capetown,and the return from Doha to Miami for 300,00 points and tax of about $400 for both.

Sounds like a good deal.  Are your flights in QSuites?   We just flew our return from Seoul-Doha-JFK in QSuites in March, using 220,000 AA miles and $150 in taxes for both of us.  Was lucky to get this the day the seats opened on AA, as I understand this is a difficult award nowadays.  Happily flew the long way around from Seoul just to experience QSuites -and luckily, no plane swaps.   Lounge in Doha is amazing - too bad we weren't very hungry.   Enjoy!

3 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

Are you kidding, everyone should have an obsession👍 with points or miles.  If you don't you (not you or me) are leaving money on the table.  I'd hate to think about not having points or status in an airline and/or hotel program.  😃

Been collecting since 1988 but not seriously until 2011 when there was lots more info on blogs about this. I never followed FlyerTalker to learn about all the crazy stuff.  And never was a business traveler so it's all been on our dimes.  However, now every mainstream publication promotes the miles and points games so finding good awards/decent routing becomes more challenging every day.  Been lucky so far, but it's not easy these days.  

5 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

Just used for a final payment and it worked. So have used two AMEX offers on same cruise, both months after the initial deposit.  

Thanks for reporting back.    I figured it would work.  As I commented in post #17, I don't know how Amex would know if it was a new booking or not. 

I will be applying one to our booking in June  and another before FP in July.  (got it on both my Platinum and my AU's card).  Asuuming success, that will be 5 offers for this Cruise - 2 more from the March offers and the 5th when it was originally applied to a different cruise last year that was rolled over to this booking. 

40 minutes ago, roothy123 said:

That's how I do it - although on my desktop computer.  I've also encountered a couple "picture"  problems when a country (not Oceania) requires a document or photo in landscape versus portrait or vice versa. Then you have to pull up the picture, push the edit button, then push the crop button.  But I've encountered more "too large" (file size) problems than anything else. 

Haha!  I went thru this with photos for visas for our recent Asia trip.  After finally figuring it out on my desktop, I wish I had known about resizing on my phone first!  Life is a constant learning experience. 

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

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.

 

 

Have a Samsung S23 Ultra and encountered this today with my HOA website.  Photos were 4000 by 3000 pixels as you noted.  I went into edit then clicked the 3 dots upper right and chose Resize which gave me several choices.  This may be helpful to some trying to upload photos for ship, visas, etc. 

Also have T-mobile Magenta Max 55+ (I think it has a different name now but is essentially the same thing) and love it. I don't use up my 5GB but my DH does. Very easy to add on a data package once he runs out. 

I have also found WhatsApp to be very useful. (and I am not the most savvy about all this stuff). Most private tour guides use it, usually contacting me via text.  But I have called an Italian guide from home in NY on my cell with no charge. 

3 minutes ago, tigerfan75 said:

Not yet showing on my AmEx Delta Reserve card...😔

It won't.  Please see post #7.  Unless there is another offer for that card.  

1 hour ago, ORV said:

My wife has 2 Amexes and I have 3. We both get offers that are frequently the same. 

I have the Platinum and Green, both with AU cards.  Sometimes we get the same offers. 

However, if my primary Platinum and Green get the same offer I can only add it to one card per the rule change that Amex put in a couple of years ago.  If I get it on my primary card and my same AU card gets it then we can add it to both. 

I think if one has separate logins for each card that might be a workaround but that's not something I want to do at the moment since both cards are linked to one MR account.  And I'm not sure if that works anyway. 

1 hour ago, pettapil said:

Yes — same here - got the same offer for both Platinum and Reserve Amex card.  Pretty sweet deal. 

How can you add an offer to more than one Amex? They changed the ability to do that a couple of years ago. 

9 minutes ago, fdnycruiser said:

You might want to hold the horses on that. I got the same offer on my Amex Platinum. However, under terms and conditions it says for NEW reservations booked between May 8 th and July 7th. I was all set to pay off my current booking too.

Well, I will pay the $1198 on my AU card in June and see if bonus points post.  If they do I will pay the other $4K on my main card.   I am hoping that those dates are just the time frame of the offer and don't really mean NEW bookings.  And I wonder how Amex would know it was a new booking or not. IIRC this language has been in previous offers that worked. 

BTW, I currently see AMEX offers for other travel - Norwegian, Seabourn, Regent, Carnival,  Cunard, Hertz, Delta, Resort Pass, Viator, Frontier, IHG Hotels, Hilton, and lots more.   A few are only the Platinum 40th anniversary offers, but others not.

Realize these are not Oceania related, but passing it along if you have other travel plans or friends who might.

1 minute ago, ORV said:

Over the years I have had multiple Oceania offers on the no annual fee Everyday card. The most current one about 2 months ago. Although we have no Platinum card the other 4 Amex cards we have frequently have good offers. For example, my Dell laptop that I got $200 back on when spending $800 or more. I did notice they currently have one for Dell & Microsoft. 

 

Free money is good, I'm amazed at the people that don't take advantage of it. It's there for the taking. 

Totally agree.   Had that previous Oceania offer on both the Platinum and the Green and used both.   Probably giving up the Platinum when fee comes due because I am closing my Morgan Stanley account which pays the fee for me.  So hopefully some good offers continue on the Green card. 

10 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

Will be doing the same! We also were able to use the prior offer..

Same for us!   Actually, our FP is almost $5200, so will also put $1200  on my AU's card.   And am thinking about paying the other $2800 toward our Japan cruise, but not sure since that one is almost 2 years away.   Looking at some O cruises for 2025.....but that requires some skillful "negotiating" with my AU 🤣  (who sometimes gets nuts over my miles and points "obsession" - until he flies in Biz!).

35 minutes ago, ORV said:

What I do notice is that some of these offers disappear quickly. 

I have read that these offers can have a limited number as to availability.  So if it's a popular offer, that can happen.   

I find that on the Platinum card, the offers tend to be for more high end shopping.  Also, I think they become somewhat attuned to your use of the card.   When I first got the card a couple of years ago, I did not see any travel related offers.  Since I have used it for some airfare, and a cruise deposit, I now see more travel related offers. 

22 minutes ago, ORV said:

My no annual fee Amex Everyday card didn't have this offer,

As I noted, this is an offer on the Platinum card celebrating the 40th anniversary of the card as shown in the offer.

AMEX Platinum is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a bunch of new offers, including several travel related.  Just announced this one for Oceania:

Get 10 additional Membership Rewards® points for each dollar spent on qualifying cruise reservations made using your enrolled eligible Card online at oceaniacruises.com by calling 855-623-2642, via Amex Travel or through an Oceania Cruises travel advisor by 7/8/2024. Limit of 40,000 Membership Rewards points.

So it maxes out at $4000 spend.  Be sure to read the terms regarding what doesn't count.   If you have an AU on your card, they might have it as well (mine did).

Certainly a nice additional bonus to the one AMEX offered in March.  

Like @LuAnn we were on her in 2004, her maiden year.  Ours was a 12 night Caribbean cruise sailing out of NY when she was still docking on the West Side - with a third of the ship extending past the pier out into the Hudson.   I joke that this cruise is why I will never win the lottery as we had our run of luck here -  I booked a hull balcony, but our boarding passes were for a regular balcony.  But our key card didn't work there, so suddenly we were upgraded to Princess Grill (like 3x what we had paid!!). We even had our own personal stationery! Good thing we drove down to the ship so we had the fancy clothes (no longer), the good jewelry, etc. so we fit in OK, although we wore shorts to breakfast and lunch and our British table neighbors were very friendly.  We had a great time, and loved the fitness center and Canyon Ranch spa pool and the planetarium.  Truly a gorgeous liner. 

We took her again over Labor Day weekend 2009 for a 3 day cruise to St. Johns in Canada - booked an inside and there we stayed.  Still had fun back then.  So @WildWanderers I hope you will enjoy your 2nd cruise.  And @Jim_Iain I am sure you will enjoy Queen's Grill very much!

Now we enjoy Oceania which is much more our style.  (and the suits and fancy dresses are a bit tight around the midsection these days anyway 😁)

Thank you for posting these links.   Not going until March 2026, but have bookmarked these.

And if your first flight is delayed, what are your options then? Are you flying during a peak travel time? How early or late in the day? Assuming you are flying in for a cruise, are you flying day before or day of?  All things you need to factor in to your decision. 

19 minutes ago, SelectSys said:

@the mice, Thanks - it looks like nothing has changed as the date of the article is very recent. 
 

It’s interesting that none of the major transatlantic carriers based in Europe offer them and the Big 3 US carriers do.

I think it is based on how long the flight is.  Never got pj's on a UA flight to Europe.  We fly Emirates at end of September and flight time is 7:55.  According to article, only given on flights 9 hours+.  YMMV. 

Useful reference - BA not listed:

https://onemileatatime.com/guides/airlines-pajamas-business-class/

We did this many years ago in November on another cruise line, but I think it is doable given your time in port. 

Check the ferry schedule online.  That should give you some idea of what's feasible. I am sure you can probably buy tickets online these days. 

We did not go to the Blue Grotto because we were advised that the seas were too rough that day for the boats, so you will need to check on that.  And know what your transportation options are for getting there and back on Capri. 

The Church of San Michele in Capri has an incredible majolica floor which is worth seeing if it is open.   

We did a lovely coastal walk on Capri - beautiful place. 

Others can probably give you more up to date info. 

Hope it works out for you.  Enjoy your cruise. 

3 minutes ago, MVPinBoynton said:

Our Bali to Sydney business class is ridiculously high, but I will do better when it gets closer on my own. 

Airfare seems to be up everywhere, and so are the miles required for award seats, assuming you can find those to line up with your dates, especially now that every mainstream publication is writing about credit card points for "free" travel.

1 minute ago, MVPinBoynton said:

I found that all ports in Japan are amazing. 

Well, I will be sure to check your blog for great information.  Your photos are amazing as are your descriptions.  Sorry I didn't get to meet you on Riviera, but I think you disembarked as we were getting on in Bangkok.   Maybe one day our paths will cross.