vegasdriven

Lonedaddy, thanks for looking that up. We are looking to do 2 or 3 nights post cruise in Rio, so 21st or 22. I really wish I had jumped on it earlier. Someone on another site advised against any of the South American Airlines, but even when you book North American lines most seem to include those in the itinerary. Other than the really high priced ones. 
 

I shall just have to keep looking!

Well, just checked, and that promo seems to not be available anymore. Thought that might happen. Back to the drawing board again.

In any case I guess that made my mind up for me!

Oh yes, We would use points to fly from Miami to the West Coast if we take the Copa promo.

We will both be retired as of the beginning of the trip, so not really concerned with how much time it takes to get home.

OK, Lonedaddy, going to take you up on this. We are on the Jan 5, 24 Cape Town to Rio. We are getting Regent to handle the air to Capetown or Joburg ( as we are going early to do a short Safari), and we will deviate.

My question starts with the return from Rio. We are going to do this one on our own, originally thinking of using points for this, but looking at flights now there is a promo for business with Copa for around $1000 Can to Miami with a 2 hr stop in Panama. The plane has lir flat seats, however I do realize it could be changed.

Everything else is significantly more- 3000 for South American lines, and 5000 plus for North American lines.

I guess only we can decide if we want to take the chance on that promo, we’re not worried about level of service, as much as the comfortable seat. Another consideration is they have a 10:30 am flight, so not a red eye. Just wondering what you think- would it be something you would consider, or would you wait to see if the North American Airlines pricing comes down somewhat. 
It is a non refundable ticket, with one change allowed.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Thanks all. Very helpful. I am looking for late Jan. 2025. I am going to look again, but none of the other options look much better from what I can tell, except maybe some at 3 or 4 times the price.

Flyertalker. Are you sure the seats are not lie flat. It is shown as lie flat on the Max 9, and I have viewed some videos that were lie flat seats, as well. 

Looking for a flight from Rio to North America in Business class. There is a great deal to Miami where we would probably overnight if need be to avoid worrying about connections, and purchase a separate flight probably on Alaska to west coast.

The concern, and most likely reason for great deal, is that the Copa flight to Miami is a Boeing max 9.

I have been trying to research how things are going with that issue, but not seeing anything less than a month when I google the info.

Anyone care to chime in with their thoughts or ideas?

Thank you for the very thorough answer. Just the kind of information I was looking for.

2oldpeopleinluv,

Thank you, this is just what I was looking for. We like to have coffee and juice in the room early morning. 1 or 2 $ was just what I was thinking😊

This might not be the best place to post this question, but for those who have done a South African safari can you give me guidelines of how much and when to tip your driver for instance?

As well, if there is some kind of local entertainment during dinner- same question. 

What is an acceptable tip for having room service delivered, and do you tip per delivery or at end of cruise?

We did a Tahiti cruise in Jan. and we took the air credit (9200 can$) and booked our business class flights out of SF on United for(6200 can). A big score, and the Polaris lounge in SFO was a highlight of the trip. 
 

Flight was great as well!

Thanks for the response. Emirates might be an option for our for our trans oceanic cruise in Jan.

After spending 3 hrs in the Polaris lounge in SFO before our Tahiti cruise I have to say that was a highlight of the trip.

labonnevie- may I ask what it was that you did not care for re the emirates lounge?

We wanted to go back to bungalow and snorkel. We asked about fins and were told not today, maybe tomorrow, and advised to not go in the water. We said we would stay close to our bungalow, and got a well, just be very careful. 
However the wind has picked up so much we’ve decided to wait, though a few of our neighbours have been in for short times. 
 

So, we sit a drink our 🍾 

After breakfast we walked along the beach. 

We are sitting at the bar at the Sofitel waiting for our room to be ready. The ferry ride to Moorea was wild, they handed out plastic bags before we left Tahiti and the lady we were sitting with fought not to use it. We didn’t feel sick but it was a little scary as we felt we were taking off and then crashing back down. Quite an exciting time!

The Sofitel is absolutely beautiful. Can’t wait to get into our OWB and into that gorgeous water. 

We are sitting at the bar at the Sofitel waiting for our room to be ready. The ferry ride to Moorea was wild, they handed out plastic bags before we left Tahiti and the lady we were sitting with fought not to use it. We didn’t feel sick but it was a little scary as we felt we were taking off and then crashing back down. Quite an exciting time!

The Sofitel is absolutely beautiful. Can’t wait to get into our OWB and into that gorgeous water. 

I am just going to hop on here to add some thoughts rather than continuing with the thread I started, but have not been keeping up with of late. Hope that is ok, Rachel. 
We got to do our reef ringed lagoon tour yesterday, which despite our terrible timing with the rain was a lot of fun. Yes very uncomfortable in the open air speedboats, But as soon as in the water we were warm again, and saw lots of pretty fish. 
After the snorkel we continued to our bext stop which was off the long sandy public beach, but not on the beach. We were all so cold and the rain really stung your face when travelling between stops that I think if it had been offered to just return early we would probably been in agreement. However, our driver stopped the boat and ordered us all overboard. We all looked at him like he was nuts but he said you want to warm up- get in the water. So that is what we did and it was lovely- like bath water. After a half hour of rain soaked mango rum drinks and camaraderie we got back in the boat for the return to the tender where we encountered a huge line and had to wait for the next one. Eventually arriving back on board where the air con turned us into popsicles. 
After nice warm showers we were recuperated, and ready to enjoy our evening. I am sitting at teatime writing this and have to head to trivia so will continue later, or tomorrow. There is actually a little beak in the weather right now so hopefully that bodes well. 

Fakarava

Eels

Mata

2 days ago we did the jeep tour on Moorea. We were fortunate to have only 6 in our jeep. Mata was our tour guide and driver. Kept us entertained throughout. We went from hot and sticky to totally drenched on the ride back to the ship. Enjoyed the whole thing and the cameraderie of the other two couples. 

Yesterday we were at Fakarava. Very skinny long strip of land in a crescent shape. We rented bikes which were very retro, which was great for me, having not ridden a bike in 25 years. It was glorious peddling along a very sparsely trafficked road by the gorgeous blue water.

. Strange how we see things differently- DH thought there really wasn’t much to see , while I was in heaven. After returning the bikes I walked back to a spot where people were snorkeling and went for a dip in the sea. There were some sharks swimming around, but I didn’t see them as I wasn’t actively looking. DH did though from the beach. I would say Fakarava is a magical place. Watching the Sun go down from the ship was a very special event. I am 😃 

Sorry for the duplicate photo. Haven’t done this in awhile.