laurieb

What are your thoughts on business on BA 388?  I haven't read anything positive on seatguru, figured you all would have more experience 🙂

There will be 2 of us flying together

It's not been that long; I'd give them time to get it done...

10 hours ago, John Bull said:

"Overlord" is by far the best-known & a highly-regarded operator, but books-out early.

I've not heard of Neptune but their website is excellent and they get very good reviews.

 

But Neptune appear to only offer tours from Bayeux or Carentan (Carentan is the closer to Cherbourg, a 30 minute direct train ride) but the train service - in both directions - is only every two hours.

Train info on Neptune's website is geared to folk travelling from Paris, so I'm guessing that the timing of their tours is geared to the time of trains from / back to Paris - that's an added limitation.

So I'd be very very wary of timings.

(BTW some ships are in Cherbourg for only a half-day)

 

But Neptune's prices are per van (and very much in line with Overlord's prices) so it's well worth asking whether they can offer a tour from / back to the ship in Cherbourg. Their American sector tours include Ste-Mere-Eglise - Cherbourg port is only 35 minutes beyond.

Booking a van would involve your finding (reliable) sharers via your cruise roll-call, which can be problematic.

 

A visit to D-Day sights is well-worthwhile, so do persevere to fix something up.

If Neptune is too problematic, consider booking a car (with English-speaking driver) from a Cherbourg taxi service.

Or even rent a car - navigation is pretty simple, roads are uncrowded & there's ample free parking at the various sites.

For either of those options you can halve the cost by finding sharers, and they would in any case be cheaper than Neptune or Overlord.

You'd have to forgo a guide, but a little boning-up in advance plus on-site staff and signage would be adequate, and if you quote your date and times in port we can suggest an itinerary.

Or bite the bullet & book one of your ship's over-priced tours.

 

Happy hunting

 

JB 🙂

 

He will pick up and drop off at the port.  We're in port 8am-10pm

Has anyone done the American DDay tour with this company?  Looking for a tour from Cherbourg Port.   I'd appreciate any feedback, and suggestions; thank you!

It sounds like you've made an excellent new plan!  

It sounds like your children are well traveled, and I would guess are used to not having to be entertained all the time.  If that's the case, why not give it a try?  Especially if the itinerary your looking at is port intensive.  There are board games available onboard for some family fun time, and there will often be movies aired that they could go watch.  

They all look fabulous!  I personally like the idea of daytime events along with the evenings.  

The last available Quest cruise I'm seeing is in August

I wonder if she is also on her way to Explora

10 hours ago, uktog said:

I’m glad the US is getting a better deal. The worst is what other countries are used to 😀

On our very first cruise with Azamara in 2012, we had air included; the worst flights we've ever had getting to the ship!  Portland to Seattle to Frankfurt to Nice and then a bus to Monte Carlo.  We had to run in Frankfurt to get the next flight as the distance between gates was so far.

2 hours ago, AnnaNicole said:

Would you mind sharing the cost and flight route from US?

LAXLHRBCN 26May  return AMSLHRLAX 22June all flights Business class 4660.00.  AA international flights and BA within Europe

1 hour ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Hmmm. What I liked about ChoiceAir was the ability to see the flights/airlines/days options myself. Maybe I’ll stick with looking at Google flights for now 

Find flights you like, then give Azamara a call to see what kind of price you get.

34 minutes ago, uktog said:

Sounds very like what we’ve had all along in the UK where we have no control on airline or flight times 

not at all. 

I found flights I liked on another website; those are the flights I've booked using Azamara's air program.  Total control

9 minutes ago, uktog said:

Wish they’d offer decent fares for us 

Hopefully they will!

13 minutes ago, uktog said:

And will it apply in 🇬🇧 

No, just US and Canada at this time

14 minutes ago, roberts2005 said:

How do you book the air?  Through your TA or is there a website?   I have August 2024 to do.

Your TA has access, and you can also call if you don't use a TA

I am really, really happy with the new Air program!  Consolidator pricing for business class seats for our May 2024 cruises, and easy to pick our own flights and times.  Since the flights are flexible, no need to pay for them until final payment on the cruises, and they can easily be changed.  

On 11/29/2023 at 8:11 AM, 6rugrats said:

I would never advise booking through a third party.  Airlines are flying full and they are not selling hugely discounted tickets to any agent such as Cheapoair, Opodo, Kiwi, cheapflights, ovago, Bravofly, Hopper, budgetair, Skylux, flightnetwork, and on and on.  I would especially avoid sites that guarantee to book you business class seats at "deep discounts" because of their "special relationship" with airlines.  These sites, without exception that I've ever seen, are purchasing frequent flier miles from passengers, using them to book seats which they sell to you.  Airlines constantly monitor for this practice, which is against the rules of every frequent flyer program.  When they find them, the tickets are canceled, the FF account closed, and you are stuck with buying your own ticket.  

 

And, if there's a problem with these tickets, best of luck getting the third party to help you.

 

I'm in the business.  My consolidator of choice is not a business like those you mention, only sells to agents

1 hour ago, hallasm said:

SAS booking Class J is Business Class from LAX to CPH and Economy Plus ( Premium) within Europe (VCE and AMS).

SAS does not have Business Class on European flights.
I myself mainly use SAS when I fly.

Thank you!  Just what I needed to know.

LAX (USA) to CPH (22 hour layover here) to NCE; AMS to CPH to LAX .

I book through an air consolidator if it makes a difference.  Prem Econ, Business/Lhaul 

Looking at flights LAXNCE AMSLAX next May/June on SAS, business class; all flights are Class J.  Website I'm looking at says Prem Economy, Bus long haul.  Anyone have experience with SAS?  

On 11/26/2023 at 7:45 AM, Riocca said:

We have always had to complete the form and apply online but we recently booked a b2b onboard and the bookings were linked under one booking reference and the OBC applied immediately to both legs of the booking and was showing on the confirmation we were given.

Yes, it's a relatively new change to the system.  Makes perfect sense to me

B to B OBC has never been automatic; a form would need to be completed online.  The other option was calling and having the Azamara agent link the voyages and add the OBC.  

17 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

I believe there is only the ability to book the packages themselves, not the actual dates. 

This is correct.  

20 hours ago, KevintheIrishDJ said:

We were supposed to get $300 each from Azamara

not for the essentials package, total of 300.00, not each.  If your TA hasn't called for months, you need a new TA.