Advice on a cruise itinerary

[Winner]

Is that Felipe? If so say hi from Winnie.

[Chairsin]

Good catch --- yes it was lovely to sail with him again. Last time we saw him he was in charge of the Colonnade on the Quest. Hopefully there will be a spot back on the big ships when the little ones go away next spring.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Emperor Norton]

Hi there

 

Some of you may recall that we took our first Seabourn cruise last year on Sojourn over Christmas, (that couple with the 13 year old child :) ). We all had a great time and loved the whole experience - what's not to like!

 

We are tossing around the idea of another Seabourn cruise and the South African holiday 14 day trip is the most obvious. We will know a few people on board, the ports of call are much better than our last venture and Seabourn do Christmas & the New Year very well.

 

The downside is that compared to our usual Thailand trip around that time it's a lot more expensive and having just come off a family cruise aboard Royal Caribbean I quite fancy just wandering around in shorts for 3 weeks without the constrains of arrival & departure times, formal nights and so on.

 

Now for the question:

 

There is an 18 day Egyptian gems and holy land cruise departing March 31st from Mumbai. We can fly out to Mumbai upper class pretty much free of charge and the cruise is good value. My concerns centre around political instability and the fact that unlike the holiday cruise I imagine many people will be doing the trip as part of a much longer tour, so possibly we would be "outsiders" to them.

 

Could the learned collective offer some thoughts ?

 

Thanks

 

 

Henry :)

 

My snarktastic view is this: See it before its blown up.

[Able Seaman H]

An interesting viewpoint !

 

Back in the day we used to do skeet (clay pigeon) shooting off the back of Royal Caribbean ships. For some reason they have dropped it from the activities programme :)

 

 

Henry :)

[Able Seaman H]

A bit of an update....

 

 

Having confirmed suite availability we went back onto the Virgin Atlantic website only to discover they have decided to drop their London Heathrow to Mumbai flight from February 1st!!!

 

A bit miffed as this was going to be the first time we had ever managed to actually use any of our Virgin air miles and one of the big appeals of the cruise.

 

We've got around 10 Upper Class flights worth of miles but unless you want to fly to New York they are useless for people who can't travel during school term time !

 

Frustrated to say the least.

 

Henry

[Mr Luxury]

A bit of an update....

 

 

Having confirmed suite availability we went back onto the Virgin Atlantic website only to discover they have decided to drop their London Heathrow to Mumbai flight from February 1st!!!

 

A bit miffed as this was going to be the first time we had ever managed to actually use any of our Virgin air miles and one of the big appeals of the cruise.

 

We've got around 10 Upper Class flights worth of miles but unless you want to fly to New York they are useless for people who can't travel during school term time !

 

Frustrated to say the least.

 

Henry

 

 

Henry,that always seems to be the problem with Virgin.

I have friends who could fly to the moon and back with Virgin but never seem to get to use their points.

 

We flew Virgin Upper the last Christmas and it was not good,we will not be flying with them again.

You can't beat BA for first and club.

 

What now then for Christmas?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Able Seaman H]

A lot of people are saying Cape Town is very pleasant that time of year !

 

Henry ;)

[wripro]

Henry,

 

Virgin is partnered with other airlines. Have you checked to see if any of them fly to Mumbai and you could use your miles that way.

[Mr Luxury]

Henry,

 

 

 

Virgin is partnered with other airlines. Have you checked to see if any of them fly to Mumbai and you could use your miles that way.

 

 

South African airways is one of them so a trip to SA might be able to be done with miles

 

Jet Airways flies to Mumbai

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Edited September 7, 2014 by Mr Luxury

[Able Seaman H]

Our experience has been that premium redemption flights are not available through partner airlines. Several specifically exclude business / first class flights even though Virgin quote a tariff for them.

 

You have to phone up the flying club people who in turn go off and phone the airlines. They have always come back (when they actually come back to you) to say no. To be honest I can't see the appeal in giving away flights to people from another airline's air miles scheme. It's bad enough dealing with the people from your own programme.

 

Henry :)

[jenidallas]

This is where a five day free trial at ExpertFlyer.con comes in handy. Do the partner research yourself and THEN call the airline to ask for specific partner flights that have the right inventory available on your preferred dates.

[Mr Luxury]

Our experience has been that premium redemption flights are not available through partner airlines. Several specifically exclude business / first class flights even though Virgin quote a tariff for them.

 

You have to phone up the flying club people who in turn go off and phone the airlines. They have always come back (when they actually come back to you) to say no. To be honest I can't see the appeal in giving away flights to people from another airline's air miles scheme. It's bad enough dealing with the people from your own programme.

 

Henry :)

 

 

Henry,just checked doing it with BA

 

Heathrow to Jo'burg in FIRST. Two hour stopover then a two hour flight to Cape Town in Club with Comair

 

Return BA Club Cape Town to Heathrow

 

Three passengers £15,499

 

Not bad for three flying BA First and the other two flights in Club

 

Interestingly if you did BA Club both ways with a direct flight out the fare is £18898 so the Non Direct flight but in First class is not a bad deal.

 

Of course you could always get there with SAA much cheaper.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Edited September 7, 2014 by Mr Luxury

[Able Seaman H]

How much !!

 

You must have me mistaken for someone else on last year's cruise Mr L. I was the bloke with holes in his socks !

 

 

I'd be expecting to keep the plane afterwards for that :)

 

 

 

I had a look at SAA over the weekend and LHR - JNB - CPT in business class is an option. You're looking at £2,500 a head give or take which for the time of year we can live with.

 

The problem with air miles is that there are blackout windows around the times when we would want to fly. The Mid Dec outbound leg might not have been a problem a few months ago but there were only ever redemption seats from Jan 9th onwards, after schools go back and everyone goes back to work.

 

 

If I had free choice of dates there are some bargains to be had. The run out from the Med to Cape town is an absolute steal. I saw an amazing fare from Monaco to Cape town.

 

Fingers crossed, we did enjoy ourselves last year and from what everyone is telling me South Africa is a vastly more attractive place to visit.

 

Henry :)

[Mr Luxury]

How much !!

 

You must have me mistaken for someone else on last year's cruise Mr L. I was the bloke with holes in his socks !

 

 

I'd be expecting to keep the plane afterwards for that :)

 

 

 

I had a look at SAA over the weekend and LHR - JNB - CPT in business class is an option. You're looking at £2,500 a head give or take which for the time of year we can live with.

 

The problem with air miles is that there are blackout windows around the times when we would want to fly. The Mid Dec outbound leg might not have been a problem a few months ago but there were only ever redemption seats from Jan 9th onwards, after schools go back and everyone goes back to work.

 

 

If I had free choice of dates there are some bargains to be had. The run out from the Med to Cape town is an absolute steal. I saw an amazing fare from Monaco to Cape town.

 

Fingers crossed, we did enjoy ourselves last year and from what everyone is telling me South Africa is a vastly more attractive place to visit.

 

Henry :)

 

 

Henry,the SAA price is good, go for it you know it makes sense.

 

I'll buy the Louis XIII and a decent bottle of wine for you.

 

We have very nearly got the trivia team sorted

 

You must be itching to do a part two video of the Sojourn

 

Have you got the cruise price sorted with the best TA (Reading based)

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Edited September 8, 2014 by Mr Luxury

[wripro]

Henry,

 

There are several people who are professionals at booking award flights and are much more adept at it than we are. You pay them a fee, not large, but only if they succeed at getting you what you want. I don't think I can name them here on CC but if you want to PM me I'll email you a couple of options. It might be worth a try to contact one or two of them to see if they can help.

[Able Seaman H]

Thanks for the offers guys. Not sure you can pm via cruise critic.

 

The travel agent isn't Reading based (I don't think) but they are very sensible.

 

Our limitations are Seabourn, we can't book OB rates even though they are available because of the 3rd person, we have to pay V1 plus Emily of course.

 

A bit of a set back with SAA, they've popped the price up by £4k overnight.

 

Bloody hard work all this !

 

Henry :)

[Mr Luxury]

Henry,be careful when using the same computer when you search flights and prices,the Airlines have a habit of using cookies to see what you are interested in and prices often go up.

Try another iPad or PC to see if you get the lesser price again.

You can email me if you think that my source might be able to get you what you want regarding the suite category.

Let me know.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Edited September 8, 2014 by Mr Luxury

[Able Seaman H]

Henry,be careful when using the same computer when you search flights and prices,the Airlines have a habit of using cookies to see what you are interested in and prices often go up.

Try another iPad or PC to see if you get the lesser price again.

You can email me if you think that my source might be able to get you what you want regarding the suite category.

Let me know.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Thanks for that.

 

We were checking the flights on another computer and I could actually tell you which leg of the flight it is that's the problem. We can get 1 flight at the original price but when you want 3 the price rises. 2 people have booked tickets since we last looked !!

 

We are quite relaxed on the Suite category, not chasing a particular cabin. It's just that Seabourn won't do OB grade unallocated cabins for 3 passengers, only 2 passengers. Ultimately SB make the rules and whether or not I agree with them they are what they are. Our TA says they have come across it quite a few times and the answer is always the same.

 

I'm going to work on the flights and see what I can come up with creatively.

 

You were right with BA's First Class LHR - JNB leg. Very sensibly priced indeed. Heard a lovely story from a mate of mine who was flying BA first recently. Chap in the front row had bought both seats so that he could have the bed made up ready for when he fancied a nap. There's doing it in style and doing it in style :)

 

 

Henry :)

[Mr Luxury]

Even I wouldn't do that Henry

 

Good luck with the flights I am sure that it will all work out.

 

Hope the family are all ok

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Emperor Norton]

Our experience has been that premium redemption flights are not available through partner airlines. Several specifically exclude business / first class flights even though Virgin quote a tariff for them.

 

You have to phone up the flying club people who in turn go off and phone the airlines. They have always come back (when they actually come back to you) to say no. To be honest I can't see the appeal in giving away flights to people from another airline's air miles scheme. It's bad enough dealing with the people from your own programme.

 

Henry :)

 

This was years ago however I had no problem using partner miles (AmEx) to fly Virgin Atlantic's upper class. I did feel however it was a waste of miles.

 

Sent via squirrels and a rotary phone

[Able Seaman H]

In the end we went with South African Airways which means it will be lunch at the Patio Grill overlooking Cape Town.

 

Looking forward to it.

 

 

Henry :)

[Mr Luxury]

In the end we went with South African Airways which means it will be lunch at the Patio Grill overlooking Cape Town.

 

Looking forward to it.

 

 

Henry :)

 

 

Good news Henry,I knew that it would work out.

 

Do you go to Jo'burg first?

 

See you on board,as you know I don't drink so no use you offering to buy me one.

 

We are going to dinner on the Legend tonight which arrives at 15.00 in London and will be moored next to The Belfast.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Edited September 10, 2014 by Mr Luxury

[Able Seaman H]

Good news Henry,I knew that it would work out.

 

Do you go to Jo'burg first?

 

See you on board,as you know I don't drink so no use you offering to buy me one.

 

We are going to dinner on the Legend tonight which arrives at 15.00 in London and will be moored next to The Belfast.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

We are just changing planes in Jo'burg on the way out, we have 2 nights there on the way back.

 

I remember you constantly saying alcohol ruins your performance in the Gym. Other guests couldn't get a look in - they though you were the fitness instructor !

 

Enjoy dinner tonight.

 

Henry :)

 

edited to say

 

It looks like she will be passing Canary Wharf shortly, currently rounding the Isle of Dogs.

Edited September 10, 2014 by Able Seaman H

[Mr Luxury]

We are just changing planes in Jo'burg on the way out, we have 2 nights there on the way back.

 

I remember you constantly saying alcohol ruins your performance in the Gym. Other guests couldn't get a look in - they though you were the fitness instructor !

 

Enjoy dinner tonight.

 

Henry :)

 

edited to say

 

It looks like she will be passing Canary Wharf shortly, currently rounding the Isle of Dogs.

 

 

Funny you should mention the Gym as I have lost three stone since you last saw me and I work out every day.i have changed my diet and sometimes do not drink for a month or two.

 

What web cam are you looking at for the Legend?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Able Seaman H]

I was looking at the AIS signal which tells you position, speed, course, type of vessel, destination etc.

 

All commercial ships use AIS. You can overlay the information on your chart plotter / radar screen.

 

You can also check positions via the internet on one of several sites.

 

Henry :)