Has Anyone Booked a Holiday Yet?

[Buce]

For anyone wanting cheap flights, I recommend subscribing to 'Jack's Flight Club'. He trawls the net and comes up with some ridiculously cheap long haul bargains, often months in advance.

 

You get a certain number for free every week or so, there's a small fee for the comprehensive list.

[rachhere]

All booked for my Alaska cruise in 2022 - can't wait! Bring on the sea otters, whales, dolphins, eagles - perfect! Will be sailing out of Vancouver so it will be great to explore a new city. We end up near Anchorage, so current plan is to fly back via LA as we are going to need to change somewhere. 

Edited 25 November 2020 by rachhere

[dsr-burnley]

40 minutes ago, Christoph said:

Looking on Singapore airlines website. Flights to Thailand (Phuket)...540 return in September. Do I roll the dice lads?? Surely it will be ok to fly then right....SURELY??!?!?!?! 

Depends on the airline conditions.  Mine is with Aer Lingus and I can change the flight and put the money towards a different one, any time up to May 31st (or the day before I fly, since that's sooner).  And my accommodation is on free cancellation with airbnb until april as well.

 

If you can't fly in September, you'll be able to go somewhere sometime.  Even if none of the vaccines work, they'll eventually have to decide that life must go on.

[Christoph]

1 minute ago, dsr-burnley said:

Depends on the airline conditions.  Mine is with Aer Lingus and I can change the flight and put the money towards a different one, any time up to May 31st (or the day before I fly, since that's sooner).  And my accommodation is on free cancellation with airbnb until april as well.

 

If you can't fly in September, you'll be able to go somewhere sometime.  Even if none of the vaccines work, they'll eventually have to decide that life must go on.

 

Flights are with Singapore Airlines which in my opinion are one of the better airlines to use. Think I am entitled to full refund or exchange if its cancelled etc. I want to try and beat the rush as once this vaccine starts rolling out the holiday prices are going to shoot straight back up too. 

[Soup]

Picked up a couple of ' Right to Fly' covid tests at £149 each. Robbing bastards.

 

With the way this year has gone one of us is nailed on to be positive 

[Clever Fox]

On 25/11/2020 at 10:22, rachhere said:

All booked for my Alaska cruise in 2022 - can't wait! Bring on the sea otters, whales, dolphins, eagles - perfect! Will be sailing out of Vancouver so it will be great to explore a new city. We end up near Anchorage, so current plan is to fly back via LA as we are going to need to change somewhere. 

We done it a few years back for our 40th. I can't wait to do it again.

Vancouver is a beautiful city but surprisingly small. Spent 3 days their before the cruise.

The port is right beside the main street, like 5 to 10 minute walk to port A nice monorail ride from Airport into city center. 

the scenery on the Cruise is amazing as are the ports visited. We seen whales off but the best were the baby Seals hitching a ride on a piece of ice with the flow for about a mile. Then swimming back up and jumping on another piece.

A truly memorable trip and the only thing you can possibly take from this life is memories.

Enjoy your trip.

[rachhere]

1 hour ago, Clever Fox said:

We done it a few years back for our 40th. I can't wait to do it again.

Vancouver is a beautiful city but surprisingly small. Spent 3 days their before the cruise.

The port is right beside the main street, like 5 to 10 minute walk to port A nice monorail ride from Airport into city center. 

the scenery on the Cruise is amazing as are the ports visited. We seen whales off but the best were the baby Seals hitching a ride on a piece of ice with the flow for about a mile. Then swimming back up and jumping on another piece.

A truly memorable trip and the only thing you can possibly take from this life is memories.

Enjoy your trip.

I am doing exactly the same - 40th birthday trip! Just can’t wait, although it’s not for ages yet! I was undecided between this or a trip to Hawaii (primarily to see the volcano national park), but the sea otters won in the end over the lava and pina coladas! 

[Clever Fox]

 

On 11/12/2020 at 23:55, rachhere said:

I am doing exactly the same - 40th birthday trip! Just can’t wait, although it’s not for ages yet! I was undecided between this or a trip to Hawaii (primarily to see the volcano national park), but the sea otters won in the end over the lava and pina coladas! 

I'm sure you can't but it will be well worth it. I love natural scenery and the scenery is just spectacular. We done a 27 night cruise starting in Vancouver and finishing in Florida. We had a Week in Alaska then a day back in Vancouver, then oregan, San francisco, Caba san lucas, Mexico, Costa rico, Columbia, Panama city, Panama canal, A private island and Jamaica then Florida.

Truly amazing trip from start to finish. I'm going to try and do it again for our 50th but she wants to go back to Australia to see her sisters next year. So We'll see. Have you cruised before, I just love it.

[rachhere]

1 minute ago, Clever Fox said:

 

I'm sure you can't but it will be well worth it. I love natural scenery and the scenery is just spectacular. We done a 27 night cruise starting in Vancouver and finishing in Florida. We had a Week in Alaska then a day back in Vancouver, then oregan, San francisco, Caba san lucas, Mexico, Costa rico, Columbia, Panama city, Panama canal, A private island and Jamaica then Florida.

Truly amazing trip from start to finish. I'm going to try and do it again for our 50th but she wants to go back to Australia to see her sisters next year. So We'll see. Have you cruised before, I just love it.

Wow! That's insane! I always joke that the lump sum that I get when I retire (obviously quite a few years off yet!) will be used to pay for a round the world cruise. 

 

Only the one cruise before but to Norway, so obviously a lot of similarity in terms of landscape, but in Alaska there will (hopefully!) be a lot more wildlife. That was for my FILs 60th birthday and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. 

[Clever Fox]

2 minutes ago, rachhere said:

Wow! That's insane! I always joke that the lump sum that I get when I retire (obviously quite a few years off yet!) will be used to pay for a round the world cruise. 

 

Only the one cruise before but to Norway, so obviously a lot of similarity in terms of landscape, but in Alaska there will (hopefully!) be a lot more wildlife. That was for my FILs 60th birthday and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Funnily we went to Norway for our Honeymoon, also for the scenery and we have great memories. I even brought our car with us and toured all over from Bergen up the West coast towards the midnight sun then back down the center and into Oslo and back to Bergen 3 weeks in total.

i had similar plans of a world Cruise with my pension but the crash took care of that. I took early retirement just before the crash and thought I had all bases covered. Then the Crash wrecked my pension losing 60 %. But that's life, nothing is guaranteed except Death.

You can go on tours and trips from the Ship which takes you inland to various places. If you intend doing that I'd suggest booking them before you go as they tend to sell out fast. The good ones were sold out when I tried to book some onboard.

I've done lots of Cruises over the years and the two bits of advice I'd give you are Book a Cabin in the middle of the Ship and opt for an early Dinner seating. ( there's usually two sittings 6 pm and 8 pm. ) By choosing early you get the best seats for the shows plus you can see them twice if you wish. Not that there's any bad seats, but you can get good seats in the center and near the front. You'll have a great time.

[SemperEadem]

Looking at Normandy possibly at the end of next summer.

[rachhere]

16 hours ago, Clever Fox said:

Funnily we went to Norway for our Honeymoon, also for the scenery and we have great memories. I even brought our car with us and toured all over from Bergen up the West coast towards the midnight sun then back down the center and into Oslo and back to Bergen 3 weeks in total.

i had similar plans of a world Cruise with my pension but the crash took care of that. I took early retirement just before the crash and thought I had all bases covered. Then the Crash wrecked my pension losing 60 %. But that's life, nothing is guaranteed except Death.

You can go on tours and trips from the Ship which takes you inland to various places. If you intend doing that I'd suggest booking them before you go as they tend to sell out fast. The good ones were sold out when I tried to book some onboard.

I've done lots of Cruises over the years and the two bits of advice I'd give you are Book a Cabin in the middle of the Ship and opt for an early Dinner seating. ( there's usually two sittings 6 pm and 8 pm. ) By choosing early you get the best seats for the shows plus you can see them twice if you wish. Not that there's any bad seats, but you can get good seats in the center and near the front. You'll have a great time.

We seem to have the same idea of what makes a good holiday! That's devastating about your pension scheme, I can't imagine how upsetting that would be, but you seem to have come to peace with it which is the main thing. 

 

On the advice of a friend of mine who is a specialist cruise agent, we actually booked the back of the ship for this one. Apparently it's great for seeing dolphins jumping in the wake, plus is more sheltered for sitting out on the balcony. We have automatically been assigned flexible dining - not sure whether to change that, but it might work better for us as my husband hates feeling tied down by certain times! We got a few freebies thrown into the package as well, including their signature dining, so we have I think its three meals at signature restaurants and we will be allocated times for those when we arrive. 

 

Will definitely book some tours in. We get a really decent amount of time in each port so it looks like there will be time for one excursion plus a bit of independent sightseeing in each town we visit. I can be a bit of a worrier though (!) and always get paranoid we will get lost somewhere and the cruise ship go without us... 

[Clever Fox]

8 hours ago, rachhere said:

We seem to have the same idea of what makes a good holiday! That's devastating about your pension scheme, I can't imagine how upsetting that would be, but you seem to have come to peace with it which is the main thing. 

 

On the advice of a friend of mine who is a specialist cruise agent, we actually booked the back of the ship for this one. Apparently it's great for seeing dolphins jumping in the wake, plus is more sheltered for sitting out on the balcony. We have automatically been assigned flexible dining - not sure whether to change that, but it might work better for us as my husband hates feeling tied down by certain times! We got a few freebies thrown into the package as well, including their signature dining, so we have I think its three meals at signature restaurants and we will be allocated times for those when we arrive. 

 

Will definitely book some tours in. We get a really decent amount of time in each port so it looks like there will be time for one excursion plus a bit of independent sightseeing in each town we visit. I can be a bit of a worrier though (!) and always get paranoid we will get lost somewhere and the cruise ship go without us... 

Yes we do seem to have the same likes. Yes the pension was a real shock we could have bought a new Mahrez or near enough for what I lost. A Solicitor friend told me to forget about it and move on which I've done. It's just the amount of work I put in to earn it and have it taken from me outside my control. That's life for you.

 If you know somebody in the cruise industry then they should be able to well advise you. The Ships are so big and they travel so slow that it's hardly a problem. But if you suffer from sea sickness the middle of the ship rocks the least as its the pivot point. Flexible dining means you can go when you like but you could always do that on all the cruises I've done. Generally it's 2 silver service dining where you have to dress up or flexible on the pool deck where you can dress as you like.

If you go on a Tour from the Ship won't leave without you, But if you booked an independent Tour then you would be left behind.

My favorite line is Holland America, mainly because they cater fro the mature traveler. The last one we done had 3600 passengers and only 12 Children which was great.

The pampering in the Signature Restaurants is a great experience and well worth doing.

I'm sure you are going to have a wonderful time and memories that last forever.

[jonthefox]

Prague- Feb 18th 

[Costock_Fox]

16 minutes ago, jonthefox said:

Prague- Feb 18th 

Don’t even joke

[Dr Marco]

11 hours ago, SemperEadem said:

Looking at Normandy possibly at the end of next summer.

if you go you must visit the World War II memorial in Caen

[Soup]

So I got my negative covid test to fly earlier this evening, got the email at 19.30. Just a shame that my flight left Stansted at 18.55. I'll laugh about it one day. 

[Leicester_Loyal]

2 hours ago, Soup said:

So I got my negative covid test to fly earlier this evening, got the email at 19.30. Just a shame that my flight left Stansted at 18.55. I'll laugh about it one day. 

What happens with the money then, refund or you’ve lost it?

 

Proper crap that btw. 

[Soup]

9 hours ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

What happens with the money then, refund or you’ve lost it?

 

Proper crap that btw. 

Well they claimed that if you missed your flight due to a late test result they'd give a full refund. Ours were 20 hours late so I hope they will.

 

Apparently this has happened to hundreds of people in the last few days.

Edited 19 December 2020 by Soup

[Nalis]

On the flip side, the Spanish guy in my team went back to Spain this week after getting a test. He says they didnt even check it. Obv not worth the risk in not getting a test but just an interesting observation.

[Soup]

18 minutes ago, Nalis said:

On the flip side, the Spanish guy in my team went back to Spain this week after getting a test. He says they didnt even check it. Obv not worth the risk in not getting a test but just an interesting observation.

That doesn't suprise me at all. We thought about winging it but decided not too. Obviously wish we had now 😅

[Paninistickers]

4 hours ago, Nalis said:

On the flip side, the Spanish guy in my team went back to Spain this week after getting a test. He says they didnt even check it. Obv not worth the risk in not getting a test but just an interesting observation.

Yep, can confirm this. 

 

Though they zap you with a temperature radar gun as you got thro passport control.and if you flag up as being 'on heat', they check your docs then. So it seemed. 

[Soup]

16 hours ago, Paninistickers said:

Yep, can confirm this. 

 

Though they zap you with a temperature radar gun as you got thro passport control.and if you flag up as being 'on heat', they check your docs then. So it seemed. 

This only applies to the Canary Islands. You need a negative PCR to enter mainland Spain

[Countryfox]

Yep, all booked and paid for ...   flying on Monday !!   

 

 

Edit ...   now cancelled.   

 

 

(P.S.  Flight and holiday still available but unfortunately we don't live in Rutland).

[FoxesDeb]

Just booked 10 days in Lake Garda for late September, hopefully things will be better by then. Has anyone been and got any recommendations? We were thinking of a day trip to Venice, a day in Milan, and possibly a day trip over the Swiss border? And the rest of the time round the lakes, eating lots of pizza, pasta and ice cream. Oh and drinking wine, obviously 😉