the mice

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.

@DrHemlock FWIW,  I was looking at various 2026 itineraries, including the one we booked.  If you see a cruise you are interested in, open the itinerary and click on the port name, or on the link for Ports& Excursions above the itinerary list.  You may see descriptions for excursions- maybe if the port was ever used before.  Of course, no prices and these excursions could change by the time booking for any opens at 365 days, but some helpful info to glean some insight about the ports.   

For our Japan itinerary, a couple of ports only said "information coming soon" or some such thing.  But there were ports that I have not seen on an O itinerary for Japan (maybe on Regent?) that had excursions listed.  

Just booked Legendary Japan 24 days on Regatta.  Has northern ports in addition to the southern ports Oceania usually visits.   Only 2 ports are those we visited on our recent Riviera cruise from Bangkok to Seoul.

We were on Riviera for 5 weeks February into March in Asia.  We prefer Pellegrino to Perrier.  Both were available upon request in dining venues.  When the server comes to ask if you prefer still or sparkling water, we politely ask for Pellegrino, but Pellegrino may have run out by the last week of our cruise as we were asked if Perrier was OK.  Our stateroom attendants, once they learned of our preferences, kept our fridge stocked with small bottles of Pellegrino and the occasional bottle of Perrier, again because Pellegrino may have been in short supply. 

Thank you for this.  Much appreciated.

As for the limited listing for European cruises,  that section is labeled "2026 Europe Preview".  This is similar to what they have done with previous versions of the Tropics & Exotics brochure. 

I found a brochure I had that is labeled "Tropics & Exotics Plus Europe and North America"  but I'm not sure when it came out in relation to the "Tropics & Exotics" brochure.

Knowing Oceania, I am sure there will be more brochures coming 🤣

We sailed on Onward in October 2022 and found the food quite average for the most part.  We were also disappointed that while the staterooms had redone, the bed area and couch, they still had the old original dark wood desk and cabinet - not in the best shape, either. (Oceania did a better job of upgrading their R ships). We had one missed port in Corsica due to weather, but we were re-routed to Genoa (this re-routing also happened on our 1st Az cruise back in 2009).  This happened to many other cruise ships which we saw in Genoa that day, including an Oceania ship.

We also sailed on Oceania 3 times in the past year - Marina in June 2023, Vista in November 2023, and most recently 26 days on Riviera in February-March.  We enjoyed all 3 cruises.  On our Vista cruise, Prior to sailing, Ensenada was changed to San Diego which was a welcome change by most, and Nicaragua was not allowing cruise ships so we had a sea day.  On our 26 day Riviera cruise, we did not encounter any missed ports and we had overnight stays in 6 ports, including 2 overnights in Hong Kong.  Food on all 3 ships was very good, especially on Vista. We also found the service to be attentive on all 3 ships.   

We took some ship excursions on both lines (but not on the Marina cruise).  Overall, the quality was comparable.  We had one mediocre excursion on Azamara, and one on Riviera, but for the most part, more or less of similar quality.   

Itinerary is generally the main factor in deciding what cruise we book.  However, we are booked on a Christmas cruise on Vista chosen for the dates and the ship, not for the itinerary.  

Re: engine.

We were on the next 2 segments (getting off tomorrow in Seoul).  No problems AFAIK.  Our only delay was when Shanghai held us up for hours due to fog.  We made every port more or less on time. 

Looking forward to reading your review. 

22 minutes ago, tosteve1 said:

Looks like it was finally accepted. Scan, change file type, re-size and finally accepted. Fingers crossed! I can’t imagine trying to do this without a little bit of computer knowledge! 

Why my husband leaves it all to me 🤣  Glad you finally got it to work!  Happy travels.

1 hour ago, tosteve1 said:

Thanks for the idea, I’ll try the laptop!

Take a screen shot of the reference code - don't just write it down.   You need this to access the visa once approved.

You will have to wait a few days and hopefully the email indicates you are approved and it provides the link to get a copy.  

The interesting thing is, after all the angst with the photos, there is no photo on the Vietnam eVisa, just a QR code.   Whereas our visas for Cambodia have the photos we uploaded.   And at least you should have current photos if required by your cruise line for online check in. (although you might have to resize them again......😁)