the mice

18 hours ago, TraderSam said:

 

📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢New PUP opportunity. 

Hope this link works for  you all. 

 

 

 

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/2447635371116238426?ecid=em_cel_gbr_13008544&rid=1210004139&emsc=UKCELNWSLOTHCAPCVALLOWHOTYESBKBKLCADFULL&empf=&emct=S&lnkid=REGISTER_NOW_CTA&utm_campaign=OTH&utm_content=&utm_source=13008544&utm_medium=email&consumer_id=121293373&rcid=121293373

Thanks so much for posting.  Just finished it.  

They are going on Sirena so no Culinary Center,  but that strategy is valid on  Marina, Riviera and Vista.  Although on our Vista cruise the 2 classes we took were full.

Haven't got any personal experience but maybe this video might help:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4HFwkpSkKw

10 hours ago, Cindy Yee said:

@the mice how did it go? We are on the NCL spirit in a few weeks and I have the exact same question as yours. Please share as I’m trying to figure out how much time we will have 

Are youasking about Ishikagi excursions or the immigration procedures?

For Ishikagi, Oceania cancelled the excursion to Iriomote.  We took the other short excursion offered since I couldn't find anything else to do and was concerned about the immigration process.

Since we were on a ship's excursion, we went to the theatre and met with the Japanese immigration officers.  It was a quick process to be cleared for our excursion.  Of course, Oceania Riviera only has about 1200 passengers. 

After Ishigaki we had Shanghai as our next port.  That was followed by Kagoshima, Japan, where we were again on a ship excursion and the immigration process was the same IIRC.

This was followed by Nagasaki, Japan where we had a private excursion, but I think it was very fast to get off the ship -  this was back in March so I don't remember this day's process as clearly.  However, when we returned to the ship, the currency machine in the port wouldn't work for me (it was not an ATM - it only converts cash which I didn't have enough of on hand).  So I needed to reboard, get cash from my stateroom and return to pay my guide.  The immigration officers let me through ASAP both getting onboard, off again and back onboard.  

Did it on Vista last November - great fun.  Was also offered on RIviera in Feb/March - would have liked to do it,  but was way too busy to try on the few free sea days we had on our B2B.  Besides, I needed some non-brain challenging R&R 😁

On 8/14/2024 at 1:48 PM, Zach1213 said:

 

I'm not sure Toronto currently has one, but New York/Boston/Chicago (and maybe others?) have daytime flights to London where you leave in the morning and arrive in the evening on the same day? Even if it requires a connection, it's worth checking out because you basically arrive in London, head to bed at a decent hour, get a good nights sleep, and wake up a brand new, well rested person ready to enjoy your trip. 

I agree.  The flight from New York to London is too short to get any quality sleep.  And if you fly business class, which is the only way I can get DH on an overnight flight, the meal service just keeps you awake for a good part of it.  

I have uploaded photos from my computer, not a mobile phone, when doing the online registration.  I prefer using my desktop (big monitor, full keyboard) for most of this stuff, rather than dealing with the small screen on my mobile phone. 

Oh, one more thing.   Where is your cruise departing from?  Southampton or elsewhere?  And I do hope you are planning to arrive a day prior to embarkation.

Are you already ticketed?   Where are you starting from?  Where are you connecting?   Same airline for both flights?  

All this info helps provide you with better advice.

Like @1985rz1we are doing this O cruise but as the 2nd part of the Grand Voyage March 22-April 15 since we have the time, and this 24 day cruise covers a lot more.  I expect we will add on a week to see Tokyo and Kyoto (but I'm not telling DH that just yet 😉). We have cruised on Azamara 3 times and on the Oceania Nautica.  

There is a ton of information out there on Japan - you can check the ports at https://www.japan.travel/en/us/

I can point you to 2 threads on Azamara's Japan Intensive with some descriptions of excursions:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2999287-japan-intensive-on-the-journey/

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3001538-japan-intensive-live-take-2/#comment-67215510

And this is a document on the ports

https://partners-pamph.jnto.go.jp/simg/pamph/2349.pdf

Hopefully you will find this of some help.  Good luck deciding.

15 minutes ago, SelectSys said:

I think you are correct that there is definitely more competition for premium award seats.  I am not so sure as it relates to the economy seats.  While my experience is just anecdotal, I tend to see lots of economy award seats available at what are "reasonable" redemption rates

Yes, I do see lots of economy awards at more reasonable rates but business class awards are definitely harder to come by.  Unfortunately, DH won't fly an overnight in anything but a lie-flat anymore.  Since that is usually the start of a trip, I need to get it off to a good start since he's not the best traveler.

I also think there is a lot more "competition" for award seats.   Back around 2010 or so, a lot of people did not know about accruing and using airline miles.  Enter The Points Guy and a number of other blogs all promoting how to travel for "free" (which it isn't) and pumping credit card sign ups.  Now every newspaper and magazine runs articles on doing this.  Banks are constantly promoting miles and points and many more people are looking to cash in.   So lots more demand.  Add in dynamic pricing, and it can be a real challenge.   I'm quite literally ecstatic whenever I manage to get really good award seats in J at a great redemption rate.  And I've also resigned myself to the fact that in the future I might have to pay actual $$ for our flights.   

Awards seats can fluctuate in terms of both availability and number of miles required.  Keep watching.  Finding seats you want at the mileage you can "afford" doesn't always happen when the seats are first released.  I have often taken weeks to find an award that I wanted.  Sometimes it was often a few months after seats first opened for booking.   

And I second looking at partner awards. 

Points posted from the Platinum 40th anniversary bonus for DH and me.

We have now applied multiple AMEX offers to use on our O cruises.

Sept '22 we deposited a Sirena Baltic cruise for Sept. 2024 and earned  $250 credit on DH's AU Platinum.  This January we moved that deposit to a Vista cruise for Dec. 2024 so did not forfeit that credit.

In Nov. '23 we paid the FP on 1st leg of our Riviera Asia B2B cruise on DH's AU Platinum earning an extra 5 MR points (54,204 total).   I paid $1K on 2nd leg and got $200 credit as part of signup bonus on AMEX Green (which earns 3x MR on cruises so well worth the $150 fee).

In April '24 I paid $1K toward Vista Dec cruise on my Platinum and got $200 credit.  Paid $1K on DH's AU Green card and got extra 20,000 MR points (23K total).  (my mistake for not checking offers on my Green card before activating offer on the Platinum since 20K MR points are worth more than $200 to me.  But once I activated the Plat offer, I'll never know if it was offered on my Green card.).

Now DH and I just used the AMEX Plat 40th deal.  I made $4K toward FP on Vista Dec cruise, and DH paid the $1198 balance.  Then he paid the remainder of his $4K toward our Regatta '26 Japan cruise.   So we earned 88,000 MR points (1 point + 10 additional for the $8K spend).

So you can apply multiple offers from multiple people if you get the offers.  Feel like we've hit the O / AMEX jackpot. (or as DH says, "the mice" got the cheese!).  Now just waiting for more offers.  😉

3 hours ago, pinotlover said:

 why many merchants won’t accept AMEX cards. 🙄

Interchange fees are higher for Amex than Visa or MC. 

You should both be able to make the payments.   I don't even think you have to wait a couple of days. 

My husband is an authorized user on my Platinum and my Green.  We have charged on both cards and each gotten the $ credit or points, depending on the offer.  If it's a points offer, it all goes to my main account since AU earned points credit there.  

7 hours ago, firefly333 said:

I booked 3 days at the hotel. Hopefully I can add more hotel days after flights come out. I keep thinking it's a mistake. One of those you are blue color so its 34% off prices you are saving $127. Thinking it must be a mistake. That's a pretty huge discount. I am confused but want to see its either the coleseum or pantheon.. 1 or both is in rome? I can walk and have breakfast tivoli or spanish steps area. The hotels they tell me might have a excursion to one or the other if I cant book ahead. 

 

Thanks. Fingers crossed I can get a reasonable flight with it being a jubilee event for grandparents and families. 

Maybe you mean Trevi (the fountain), not Tivoli which is outside of Rome and is a day trip from the city. Fabulous, but better for those who have seen the main attractions in Rome itself.  You need to pre-book the Colosseum and now the Pantheon, otherwise you need a tour that includes entrance.  You can get a lot of information on the TripAdvisor forum for Rome where there is lots of information on tickets to both attractions.  Also check the Ports of Call forum here on CruiseCritic.

Read a lot.  Perhaps get Rick Steve's guidebook (borrow from your local library if you don't want to buy it).  He has lots of useful, easy to follow advice for novice travelers to Europe.

Good luck and enjoy your trip.  

5 hours ago, firefly333 said:

As I said there is 1 solo room and I dont know how many nights to book. What if I booked 4 nights and then 6 was better price to fly home.

 

So why not book 4 nights on one reservation and 2 nights on another?  When I book hotels (usually using points), I often book nights separately (either because of rate changes or because I am using points from my account and my husband's, or because I decided to add on another day at a later time).  Sometimes I have had 3 separate reservations to cover the days of our stay.  If you end up keeping both, you can just email the hotel and ask them to link the 2 reservations.  I have never had an issue doing this.  This way you can put the hotel issue to bed, so to speak, and just focus on the flights.

Others have explained the TAP- Star Alliance relationship.

The hotel should have a cancellation policy that would surely allow for a cancellation this far in advance so I'd book that if its a concern. Unless you are choosing a non-refundable rate, which we never do.  

TAP also has a stopover program so you could stop over in Lisbon for a bit if you wanted.  

2 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

We were planning on 3, but my friend told me two will be plenty. 

In the overall scheme of things for your entire trip, is it really worth the risk just to spend 1 less hour in the airport at the start of your trip?   If anything goes wrong (traffic problem, etc.) you will be in knots - no way to start off IMHO. Once, years ago, despite best laid plans, there were 2 major traffic issues and we just made the check in cutoff for our flight.  Been there, done that - but didn't want to do it.  Better to be safe than sorry.  

On 6/17/2024 at 4:51 AM, Vallesan said:

Maybe the next generation of cruisers are not looking for ‘fine dining’ experiences preferring the familiar ‘fast foods’? Maybe there is no stomach for ‘adventure’ and people are happier to have ‘organised’ trips? I don’t know I’m just surmising.

 

Another thought.  I have read a lot about the age groups sailing on O, with many comments mentioning 70 and up, as well as comments about passenger mobility or lack thereof.  And more comments on the number of repeat cruisers.   So perhaps right now SM suits this demographic well.  
I don't know either and I'm just surmising as well.  

I typed Gol airlines in my Chrome browser and was taken to the website in English, no problem. 

I noticed that the end of the URL  was /en-us/ so maybe try that.   Obviously my browser recognized my location. 

Or just search for the airline in your browser and go from there. 

Hi.  Not on your cruise, but I follow the Oceania boards so got notified of this post.   I remembered someone on the Azamara boards (follow them, too) doing a blog on West Africa.  So I did a quick search, found the post, then the roll call.   She arranged a tour with this company:

https://www.cabomundo.com/

(Roll call was March 7, 2023 - Pursuit - Rio to Lisbon  post 84.).  You can also search the Azamara board for Mindelo and find the write up she did of the excursion.

Perhaps this will help you.

1 hour ago, janecambridge said:

We were in an Oceania  suite Xmas 2022.we had this broken old gingerbread house delivered as you see it! 
 

Construction mishap 😁!

And OMG - what did you do with it?  Seems like a nice thought but a little sweet to actually eat. (and I have a sweet tooth... well, actually a full set). 

Haven't flown it but lots of reviews online - not necessarily your intended route but the first 2 reviews are MIA-LAX:

https://onemileatatime.com/insights/jetblue-mint-business-class/

https://onemileatatime.com/reviews/jetblue-mint-business-class-a321/

https://liveandletsfly.com/review-jetblue-a321-mint-business-class-redeye/

https://johnnyjet.com/i-just-flew-in-jetblues-new-mint-seats-and-it-was/