buggins0402

19 hours ago, BlueHerons said:

I just saw you'll be in Fort Lauderdale early December and you couldn't have picked a better time!

 

https://lasolasboulevard.com/

 

Christmas On Las Olas is Tuesday December 3rd and it is such a fun time!  The entire street is shut down and there are vendors, carolers, tons of holiday stuff, and they light the Las Olas tree in front of Yolo.  

 

Watch the video, it's a lot of fun! 

 

https://lasolasboulevard.com/event/57th-annual-christmas-on-las-olas/

Thank you so much for all the information.  You have made me very pleased with my choice of going downtown, instead of beach. We like to stroll them, but really never sit on them much, although we’ll do a bit of that on the cruise when breaking from snorkeling...it’s a Southern itinerary. 

Unfortunately, I screwed up the date of first Sunday in my head....it will be on the first in December...we are there on the 8th, flying in on 6th and cruising on 9th.  Oh well, the Park sounds like a nice stroll to the beach. I did look up running routes on mapmyrun and it appears it is possible to run to the beach, correct?  I am also a Peloton app addict and it appears from the pelotonbuddy website the Riverside put in a Peloton bike, although the Dalmar may also have one as many higher end Marriott properties have been adding them.  I have wanting to ride an actual bike, so I can get a feel for true resistance call outs.  It also appears from reading reviews that the Riverside recently redid it’s fitness center.  I have been doing Peloton yoga also, but an actual studio might be fun and have my poses corrected by a live instructor, so I might check out that Yoga studio you mentioned.

Restaurant choices look great!

3 hours ago, BNBR said:

You may also want to check out Hollywood Beach.  Since you aren't huge on the beach, Riverside might be the best option and still on the water (river).  But Hollywood Beach is VERY walkable, they have a big broadwalk with a ton of stuff going on - live music, Margaritaville resort, more unique and outstanding restaurants, etc.  You can hang out on the intracoastal or the beach side.  And you'll still get the beach if you want it, but tons to do besides that.  Personally, for 3 days, I'd take Hollywood Beach in a heartbeat.  What would you even do on Las Olas for 3+ days!?  You'll probably end up taking Ubers to other areas.

It will probably be about 2 1/2 days after flying in.  We spend a couple hours each day working out, so I don’t think we’ll get too bored. We will have a first Sunday of the month (cruise starts on a Monday) there and there appears to be a brunch jazz fest. 

That said, I might take a peek at the Hollywood offerings, I can always cancel. It would bring back fond memories...as a kid my family would do a spring break vacation in Hollywood Beach. Learned to waterski in the inter coastal there. That was about 55 years ago. Funny thing, the Riverside website has a picture of the  River Queen going by....brought a smile and memories back, did that with the family as a kid. 

Know the Hollywood area some hard times and rebounded again. 

9 hours ago, capriccio said:

Look at the hotels downtown on/near Las Olas Blvd (www.lasolasboulevard.com) especially the Riverside which is located on a block between Las Olas and the New River with a nearby water taxi (www.watertaxi.com) stop, easy walk to restaurants, galleries, boutiques, museums, etc. and on the Sun Trolley route (www.suntrolley.com) to the beach.  For lots of information on what to do during you pre-cruise stay check out www.sunny.org.

 

Added - while the 17th Street area is convenient to the Port with lots of hotels and restaurants, it is basically a 6 lane road with lots of strip malls and could be anywhere in the US (well it does have palm trees so maybe not anywhere).  With 3 days, the Las Olas area is much nicer and will give you a better feel for Fort Lauderdale.

 

Thanks...booked the Riverside.  It was between collecting points at the Dalmar or the Riverside, but, the Riverside looked nicer. Liked the old school Florida look. 

Also, thanks for the links.

We will have three nights precruise...more time away from Midwest winter.

My greatest wish would be a walkable area, with interesting area to poke around with nice restaurants and a hotel with a nice pool.  We are not beach people, but if that works for my interesting area..fine.  I don’t really care about closeness to the port...but, flying into Lauderdale  and sailing from there, so I would rather get to know the general area there rather than Miami. 

I’m getting decent prices for what looks like downtown, perhaps because it will be early December..would that be a mistake?  

Collect Bonvoy..but, that won’t be a deal breaker. Not extremely price sensitive. 

21 hours ago, Paulchili said:

This was the case for our cruise as well booked a couple of years ago.

AFAIK, this is no longer true for cruises booked now. Final is due 12 months in advance - no exceptions. I suspect they need cash in hand for all those new ships being built.

There is a thread about this on Viking.

Hmmm...using future revenues to fund cap ex?

I wonder how how all this is reflected on the balance sheet? 

34 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

 

 

Then again, from your comment, it is a matter of sharing your water moreso than having it available for you only based on the package. Thus, to me, it is not the hassle as opposed showing family and friends how great you are sharing your 'premium' water with those who do not have the right package for it.

 

DH and I will have a related issue.  I will probably upgrade a classic to a premium.  He only drinks quality sparkling water so, I hate to upgrade him, if there is a “legal”, more cost effective way, to get him the only thing he drinks. What is the cost of a bottle of Pellegrino? 

Edit: We have the classic included with our booking, can we just have him changed to a premium non alcoholic?

14 hours ago, teacherman said:

We live about 20 minute drive from DTW.  That is probably where we will go when the time comes.

You can also look for appointment times for the office near the Ambassador Bridge and tie it in with something downtown. 

https://global.americanexpress.com/lounge-access/the-platinum-card?locale=en-US&extlink=va-us-CPS-LFfindalounge

DH will cost $29 in the DL lounge.   Lounge in DTW is nice and would be worth it over what you might spend in a restaurant for two.  Since you are asking about AMS, I am assuming you are flying out of McNamara terminal. 

In AMS, it looks like it will be a Priority Pass Aspire lounge...guests free.  They are crowded, capacity controlled and not great.

If Amex put a Centurion Lounge in DTW McNamara I would bite on the card as a replacement for my Starwood, but have held off for now.  That said,  I have been mulling, because the DL lounge in DTW is pretty good and with the other Platinum benefits and taking the Bonvoy mess into account, it might make sense for me. 

2 hours ago, bbtondo said:

Thanks everyone for all the valuable information.  I'll be watching the flights that I want when the schedule comes out for Spring 2020.

IF you get that price when you look for your actual flights, you will probably be closer to a regular economy price than most PE fares.  Just take a gander at what AA is charging in October for each. 

In in other words, if you get that pricing when you want to book and it’s cheaper than O air I would book it. It’s ideal for high season PE pricing...why try to ring the bell that might not be there???

You would control the flights and it’s highly unlikely they would go down by any significant amount that you would actually see to hit on. I wouldn’t scrape around for $50 pp that might not exist? If you used ITA to find a cheapest flight combo in a month that is not reality, when you look for actual flights on dates that work, it could be a whole different reality. 

51 minutes ago, bbtondo said:

Pinotlover: I've also been checking matrix per your advice and will watch.  Great tip!  

 

So, you're saying that if I catch a sale that I could get flights in PE for $1800 pp, $3600 per couple for roundtrip?  Or are you saying that $1800 is per couple roundtrip in PE?   I found flights on American for around $2500 per couple roundtrip in PE.  Am I misunderstanding?

$1250 pp would be a very good price for true PE. What months are you doing dummy bookings? I don’t know about PE specifically, but prices for economy usually jump when the weather warms up.  

10 minutes ago, golfguyhhi said:

bbtondo,

 

I just priced MIA-BCN (non-stop), multi-city FCO-MIA (connect in London) via British Airways.  The MIA-BCN leg is codeshare operated by American.  I got $1,968 for Premium Economy for the whole trip..

At $398 ($199 each way) for O's PE upgrade, unless O's air credit exceeds $1,600, I think O's deal looks like a winner.

If OP is going in a day or two early or staying a few days in Rome, they also need to add the cost of a deviation into the equation.

20 hours ago, irisbax3 said:

We are trying to decide whether to utilize Oceania's included air, pay extra for air deviation, or take the air credit and arrange our own air for our Dec. 2019 cruise - Dubai to Cape Town.  If you've used this cruise company's air, what time did you arrive in Dubai and which airline was used?  When leaving Cape Town, what time did you leave? TIA for any advice.

When you pay for a deviation, you are allowed to negotiate your flights.  Some may have an upcharge, but you do not pay the deviation fee until there is a meeting of minds.  Oceania Air and deviations can be done on a one way basis if you find a good one way fare or if you are short FF miles for a round trip.  You receive half an air credit, but the deviation fee is not halved. 

We’ve added an overnight in AMS, due to FF availability. On a return, we got into AMS early enough to take the train downtown for a walk and dinner. We stayed at the airport Sheraton, attached to the airport and caught the first flight home, the next day. Actually, got in early enough to go into work for a few hours. The AMS stay was a  Sunday night so hotel cost was cheap.  Overall, adding the AMS evening wasn’t much more than many pay for an excursion and it was nice to revisit Amsterdam.  

We also once added a night in PHL, before flying to VietNam. Again, due to FF availability.  But, it was nice to cut the long flight time down....to make the overseas flight we would have had to get up for a very early flight to PHL and then leave enough time to connect to Beijing and then onto Saigon.  It was nice to start the long flights well rested, after a hotel stay.

Taxis are not licensed in Stockholm.  

Here is a TripAdvisor post from an area expert that might help:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g189852-s304/Stockholm:Sweden:Taxis.And.Rental.Cars.html

1 hour ago, Paulchili said:

Maybe so but the best way to get the miles is the promo associated with opening a new credit card. You can get 50, 75 or even 100K miles after spending a required minimum ($2 or 3K usually). That is money you would spend anyway - say to pay for your cruise and thus you got your miles “for free”. Not only will you get the promo 100K miles but also 3X the miles for money spent - with a $20K cruise for 2 people it’s another 60K miles.

Hard to beat that 🙂

PS - just noted Dan’s note about these promo options - the way to go!

Another free mile strategy, use the airline shopping portals.  If I see something I want at a store, I can usually find that item at that store in the portal, sometimes at 10x points. 

51 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

People  should know that  tax of flying out of UK on a FF ticket   in  economy  if I remember it was $156pp   in Business  $320.

Moral"  dont fly out of UK on a FF take the Chunnel or ferry to AMS, CDG, ... and save

Your right on the buying miles    around the first of  the year they have sales  where you can buy miles for less than 2 cents@      you could buy 155,000 for $3100.      or 70,000 for $1400 !!!    its far cheaper than getting the miles from spending...

There is one additional trick.   When you get your  free FF ticket  many times UAL will let you buy  replacement miles   say from Europe to LAX   you can get 12000 miles for  2 cents@

Do not forget the special sign up deals that get you 50,000, 80,000 or even 100,000 miles for some credit cards

IT is a game......

AA has a sale right now.  265000 for around $4500 plus tax.  That is almost enough for two on AA metal, non saver. 

On the original question, about one ways...I think some of the European carriers have cheaper paid one ways from Europe, than to Europe.  Can anyone confirm.  I think I saw this anomaly with Lufthansa. Also, the theoretical question posed was a PHX to FCO in May...wouldn’t it be the reverse needed after a spring TA?

1 hour ago, pingpong1 said:

Hi Folks - This is a great thread and I've picked up tons of good info and insight from everyone's comments already.  I do have a question that I haven't quite seen discussed yet.  Perhaps I've missed it, and I apologize n advance, for any redundancy.  For now, this is a "hypothetical".

 

Let's assume that I've already booked an "O" TA that starts in Rome and ends in Miami.  I'm not (at least for now) planning on taking or upgrading O's air to Business Class.  Rather,  I'm just booking with "O" at the "no air" fare rate and arranging/paying for my own flights.  So, I go online (travelocity) and "plug in" a "dummy booking" for a B/C flight from PHX to FCO on Delta on Mar 10, 2020 and I get a one-way B/C fare of $9,196. Yes, "Totally Outrageous"! I then instead, make it a R/T Business Class booking, leaving PHX on March 10 and returning from FCO to PHX on Mar 17.  The R/T fare is now only $4,020 - less than half of the O/W fare.

 

What, if anything, would prevent me from (legally) buying that R/T ticket at less than half the O/W cost and only using the "outbound" portion of the itinerary..... flying to Rome to pick up the ship (No, this not an actual sailing/itinerary/date - so don't waste time looking for it)? With this idea/scenario I'm simply going to "throw away" (not use) the return portion of the booking (from FCO back to PHX).

 

I'm certain that on that 17th return flight, that my "unsused seat" will be filled by someone else (an upgrade, etc.).  No FF miles are being used used and I am not involving a DL FF program in any wayy.  For all Delta knows, I got violently ill and didn't feel like flying back home on the 17th....or I got wiped out in a 20-car pileup on the Autostrada!  Are there any "down-sides" to this approach of getting a relatively cheap B/C seat (O/W) to Rome?  Thanks in advance for all thoughts.  Best Regards. 

When AA or UA have mile sales,  it sometimes works to buy the miles for one ways. FF mile flights are priced as one ways. With AA try to use them on Iberia, to avoid the high taxes involving Heathrow.

51 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

They may not expire but are they worth anything? 😀

 

See this quote from from post #31 (Dan quoting Woody Allen):

I am reminded of Woody Allen in sleeper  asks his broker after a 80 year sleep what his  stock is worth........

The agent says ",your  ATT  is worth 20, million   Your GE  is worth  5 million   your GM is 13 million...."   Woody gasps,  then the telephone operator comes on and says "  Your 3 min are up...please deposit 1 million dollars"

LOL in chart form

https://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=ARS&to=USD&view=10Y

I couldn’t find a good 10 year on Zimbabwe dollar to USD Circa 2008 that worked.

1 hour ago, PaulMCO said:

 

Next challenge is for my May 2020 cruise from HKG.  Have lots of Amex 5x points so could use Delta or go via London on Virgin. I still have 300k points in Delta from Pan Am  🙂

Well they may be considered Sky Pesos, but you are proof positive that DL miles never expire. 😀

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

For those who are/were United-holics, remember that you have options.  Your flights on UA can be credited to any of the other Star Alliance carriers.  And you can use other credit cards for earning points, preferably transferable points that have greater value.

 

Now, the trade-off is that by crediting to other programs, it won't count toward UA elite status.  Are those benefits "worth it" compared to earning status in a parter carrier?  Only your particular situation can answer that question, but no one is totally captive to any program.  Both Asiana and ANA have some attractive redemption options for their miles.

 

Same with those who fly DL - you can credit to AirFrance, AeroMexico, or other SkyTeam programs.  Ditto with AA flights crediting to Cathay or JAL or Finnair.

 

Crunch your individual numbers, compare to your aspirational goals and see what may be a better deal.

FlyerTalk, a while back you recommended a subscription website for searching FF flight availability.  Do you still recommend and could you refresh my memory on the name of it?

17 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

It’s all became rather silly. I was just looking at routing options to Paris on UA. For a BC ticket, with good connections, UA pricing was $2950 round trip. Using FF miles, with poorer routing, was 350K miles. If ff miles are valued at $0.02 each, that’s $7000 for that ticket. Even if one can amass cheaper miles with a value of $0.0125 ( which if near impossible), that’s still $5250 for a ticket that costs $2950. 

 

My days of chasing ff miles is about finished. We are in a game where only the credit card companies and airlines can win, so playing the game becomes futile. Unlike Dan, and his torturous “free” flight of nearly two days to get to Australia, I’m not in to the type of routings as mentioned above anymore just to get “ free”!

Given that Sapphire points have a $.0125 value on redemption, this is one case where using those miles for a purchase rather than a transfer into a program would be better.  But, I agree I don’t know if it’s worth chasing points at these redemption rates. I think I am going to have to switch to a cash back card that has decent points on everyday purchases.

Nice to see you finally have a decent AMS connection option.  The extra hour for the BCN departure over your previous choice back a few months ago (10:00 am to CDG) provides a decent cushion.   Agree with the others, near two hours in AMS is fine. 

5 hours ago, Hawaiidan said:

I have also noticed that non stops have dis appeared for miles... for the most part    The more crummy the connection and longer  the cheaper it is.

This is a crappy development to say the least. 

For now, it might give you a hint where the saver miles are available....at least on UA.  When I was looking for one way business class back from EZE to DTW on UA,  I was overjoyed when I found some on dates that worked with our cruise.  The problem was the routing was EZE to EWR, LGA to ORD, ORD to DTW.  Solved the problem by just ending the flight in EWR (same saver fare came up) and buying the cheap ticket in Economy to DTW.  UA mixes class for the domestic portion on saver flights anyway. Also, we were fortunate that the EZE gate agent took the time to check us and our bags through to DTW. This took some time and the help of a supervisor, because we booked the EZE EWR portion out separate FF accounts, but the flights two DTW were combined on one locator. 

4 minutes ago, jelayne said:

When you say you want to register your personal information are you referring to completing the On-line Check-in?

If that is what you are trying to do Check-in isn’t available until 90 pre cruise.  Prior to 90 days you can purchase shore  excursions,  beverage packages, etc and make dining reservations.

 

 

OK...that answers the question!!! Thanks.

Thanks, I sounds like the problem isn’t on my end. I’ll give a call.  

Most cruise line websites are wacky (Oceania’s frequently gives me cruise dates in Portuguese in my cruise searches🤔)  but this one is down there with the worst.