jetwet1

On the Breeze the TV had an HDMI input, we were able to run shows from a laptop to the TV.

We stayed at the Hilton a couple of months ago.

I wasn't impressed, we actually stayed there twice, before and after the cruise. Both bungalows were outdated, the bathrooms were, how to put this. Okay, I'm in the hotel business, it looks to me like the showers were once enclosed and in an attempt to open up the bathroom they took down the walls, put new tile in, but did not level the floors, so it ended up having a hump in the middle.

The beach is nice, the staff good and the food is pretty forgettable.

The real highlight was they have a feral cat that has taken up living in the reception area, she was having a great time with all the attention.

We were planning on booking 10 cabins on the PG to celebrate our 20th anniversary with some close friends in 2024.

There is no way we will be sailing with them, their behavior during these times has been, well the ultimate turn off for us.

Yes all companies are suffering, however, as a premium provider they really should be going above and beyond.

As an example we were due to take a family trip to Europe this week, BA cancelled our flights, we got an email offering to either refund or rebook, we decided on the refund, 48 hours later the money was back on the card.

Guess who gets my business for the four flights I have to make to London this year.

It's stopping at LAX.

Philippine Airlines is now running charter flights  MNL-MIA-MNL to repatriate crew. The flight out of MNL was non stop (16 hours), as the first flight hasn't left MIA yet I don't know where they will be stopping on the way back.

6 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Do you?

Nope, except when it comes down to it, there is only one reason to fly from New Orleans to Manila and back, the same can be said for  Jacksonville and LAX, even though PR is on that route it still went via MAD.

Now of course a 747 has no where near the capacity of a cruise liner, they seat between 455and 529 people, that works out to roughly 1000 a week.

On 5/2/2020 at 5:21 PM, jimbo5544 said:

The issue was in demanding that these be charters, pretty close to unattainable.  

Except Wamos was running charter flights from most of the major cruise ports to MNL via MAD starting about 6 weeks ago, these ran for 3 weeks straight using 5 747's. 

With Wamos formally being part of RCL I'm going to guess the charters were for them, but who knows.

1 hour ago, KroozNut said:

 

Not trying to get you started, but this is strictly a matter of opinion, right? Having spent the past 50-55 years (or so) visiting all parts of Mexico, we have never had a bad experience with the cabs/cabbies there.

 

That being said, our comfort zone for getting around in Mexican cities is with the cabs, and we are just not quite ready to jump onto the Uber platform there yet.

 

Your mileage (and opinion) clearly varies..😉

Yes it is my opinion, based on, as with you a few decades of travelling to Mexico. Most of the problems I have had were being quoted a fare, then it changing to a higher fare when reaching the destination.

Uber it's not possible to have that issue.

Of course, do what you feel comfortable doing.

On 10/10/2019 at 7:11 AM, KroozNut said:

 

Tempting.., but personally, I'm just not quite ready to trust Uber in Mexico yet.

You actually have it the wrong way around, you shouldn't trust the cabs down here, we use Uber all the time with zero problems, cabs.....Don't get me started.

Go to whale watch Cabo, they are excellent, we used them yesterday (We are staying in Cabo) and can only say good things about them.

Price was $76 pp when paying cash.

They have an office in the marina, but better to book first.

I have to say, it was amazing watching 2 adults and 1 baby breaching, highlight of the trip.

The only thing I have been able to find is that construction has started, that was back in January, I really don't expect to hear much for at least another year.

Looking at the website, all I can say is wow, I am impressed.

The whole tone seems very similar to the new areas on the Queen Elizabeth, greys and browns, but very clean looking.

The price point is also interesting, I was fully expecting something more eye watering than I am currently seeing.

 

I love the new lobby carpets but I have to agree with you about them ‘looking’ dirty. My husband noticed it straight away. (I’ve added a photo so hope it works!)

The carpets can often look grubby, but in-fact it's the shading in the pile.

It's not the shading of the pile or them being dirty, anytime you have a solid area you run the risk of what is called "carpet pooling", it happens to about 1% of solid color carpet, there is no known reason for it to happen, or any cure, to those of us in the hotel business it is a major pain in the butt.

We just laid new carpet in one of our casinos, the walkways are a solid red, in a couple of spots you can see the pooling, it looks horrible and those parts will get ripped out and fingers crossed the new new carpet will not have the pooling.

Just a bit of useless trivia, but it's the same name as Virgin Atlantic's first aircraft.

Have you seen Sean Connery wearing it on a formal occasion?

On second thought: "What would Sean wear?" is the question that answers all dress code questions.

Thank you for that, I will be using that at work.

Interested in hearing your evaluation of Norwegian air Premium class. We have booked this LAX to Fco for December cruise and the cost is great. Also, to book one way fairs can be more than return. Norwegian’s one way is half the return. Now, to see how it compares, 😐

Just to drop in on this thread....

Norwegian air Premium Class is not a business class, I just want to say that to get it out of the way, they initially tried to sell it as a business class and got a lot of heat for that, what it is is a premium economy product, but think of EU airlines, not the premium economy that US airlines try to sell....Confused yet ???? :p

Now that things are less clear, let me try to explain the product.....

If you are traveling as a couple, select 2 seats to the side, the 3 middle seats are the same seat, but it's better for couples on the side....Yeah that sounds wrong, but you get what I mean....

The seat itself is a nice recliner, very similar to a domestic US first seat, just with more legroom. The IFE is good, though honestly the selection can be a little limited, you will get a decent pillow and a nice blanket (I actually wanted to steal one to use at home on cold winter nights) and two meals...

Now the meals are very hit or miss, I advise trying to get seats in the 2nd row if you can, there are 3 choices for the food, but by the 3rd row the obvious good meal is gone, the food itself is a step up from a regular economy meal, but only just, you will get a breakfast meal as well, but it will be something like cold cuts with some sliced fruit, nothing like a true business class meal......BTW, the first row is right by the toilets which can be a little aggravating. You also do not want row 5, this row does not have a window.

The service has been good on our flights, nothing amazing but consistently good.

At LAX you will have access to the One World Lounge which is very nice, get to the airport a little early and enjoy dinner there.

The one thing that did sort off suck with them is they tend to use the remote gates at LAX for boarding (LAX is going through a lot of construction right now) and the bus gates are a hike from the lounge and even when you get one the bus, they will wait until the thing is crammed, not Norwegians fault, LAX control the buses.

Anyways, in brief, good seat, good to blah food, but the price is hard to beat, if I can't get flights using miles on other airlines Norwegian would be my first choice.

Sadly, there are people for whom their money or sense of personal status renders them numb to the humanity and worth of others. It is unfortunate, but folks in service jobs are obliged to “grin and bear it”

I run a casino for a living, I deal with the general public all day long, what I have noticed over the years is the more companies try and provide great customer service, a section of the population sees that as the employees are there to be abused, it's not something I stand for at my place, but sadly I see it all to often.

On the roll call for our voyage, one member let he be known that he had decided to cancel the his trip because he felt Cunard had lowered the standards of the dress code during the day......I couldn't help but think what a joy this person must be to be around and how much I was going to miss him..........:')

Just a little bit of information....

MIA and FLL are training ports, new agents go there to be put through their paces, the simple reason is because they will see everything that people will try to do to gain access to the US. Of course the downside to that is it takes longer for the new agents, even when they have someone shadowing them to process each person.

In general, the US is a pain in the butt to enter, even as a US citizen, nowhere is set up for international transfers (well actually there are a couple of airports, Anchorage for example) so everyone has to clear ICE no matter what.

Yes, the process is tedious to say the least, however, a good friend of mine is one of the high ups with immigration at LAX, I spent a couple of hours up in the secondary screening area saying hello, the things I saw there were, well amazing, the thoughts that kept going through my head were how stupid do these people think immigration agents are and how desperate are these people to get out of their country and into the US to try this.

We are heading back on the Regal Princess British Isles/TA cruise after a few days in London and Copenhagen and actually have a mini-suite as we wanted the extra space for the 14 days. So, we'll experience how useful the balcony is or isn't. I'm really more interested in getting some daylight and the love seat on the QM2. Now, for my original question regarding upsells?

From what I have been reading on here and other places, as mentioned upsells are rare.

You will enjoy the Regal, Princess really knocked it out of the park with her, it's the only Princess ship where we will eat at the Sterling Grill, fantastic meal.

Just got back a month ago from the 11 day Tahiti cruise. This was our third trip to cruising in Tahiti. Air Tahiti Nui was ok on the way there, but on the way back the plane was smaller, older, and a lot of the "stuff" on it didn't work and was broken. Not sure what kind of planes they were, but we will never fly on Air Tahiti Nui again. The way home was a bad experience. Even my wife, who is small was crunched in the seat. A real ordeal for us.

TN has a fleet of 5 long haul aircraft, all Airbus 340-300's so all the same size.

4 were refurbished a while back, 1 was not, normally that one is put out on charters, but if there are none she slips back into the rotation.

Welcome to the Cunard family

 

If your choice is limited to these three, then go for Chewton. However, we have a soft spot for Lime Wood, being smaller and more in the forest, ideal for a short relaxing break. Great food and service, with a cozy roof terrace for drinks.

Take a look round, and see what you think.

https://www.limewoodhotel.co.uk/

The Lime Wood is good (actually all their hotels are good), however for me it is a little to far away from everything, take a look at the Montagu Arms.

https://www.montaguarmshotel.co.uk/

I grew up near Beaulieu and it is a nice place to visit and a good place to unwind after a trans Atlantic flight.

The same group have a couple of places called The Pig, it's just outside of Brockenhurst, very nice place, they also have one in Southampton itself, it's located maybe 5 minutes from the Western Docks.

We would actually be staying there before our trip in December, however I have to cross something off my bucket list and we will be staying at the Holiday Inn across Mayflower Park....It was The Post House when I was growing up, the wife isn't happy but oh well lol

Also just to add, and again not in the Cunard field of topics, in case you didn't book it, check the prices for the premium cabin on Norwegian, well worth the extra $$$.

It's become our airline of choice if only because you can get into the premium cabin for the same amount as an economy seat on VS or BA.

Interesting this subject came up, we are traveling back to the UK next year for a family/friends get together, I decided to look at the QM2 crossings as we have a little spare time and to cross something off the bucket list.

What amazed me is this year for the sailings around the date we are looking, we can get a Princess grill suite for the same price as a sheltered balcony room on next years crossing. Of course we run the risk of the ship selling out, but I am now firmly of mind to hold off booking for a while to see what type of deals come up.

Title fixed. And I agree about how nice this forum is. Looking forward to our first Viking Ocean cruise next summer!

Thank you.

I have to say, I have been a member of CC for over 12 years, I had pretty much given up on the forums as they have generally become so negative, go to any lines page and it's people complaining about stuff, then others jumping to the lines defense claiming stuff can never happen on those ships etc

This forum (meaning you the people posting) is so different, it is so refreshing, so a big thank you to you all.

EDIT : bugger, bad typing on my part....the title should read " Not really Viking RELATED but....."

I'm going to bed, night all.