Japan 2014 Discussion

[Mike808]

Joanne and I will be staying at the new Marriott pre-cruise. Boring choice but I'm building up to status for life. We'll see you on the ship. We're in the cheap seats on Deck 8. Considered 10 but Joanne hates the deep Pacific roll you get up high.

[HostDave]

We might be on Deck 8 also. All depends on what I can work out with the Milestone credit. If I end up paying full price for the whole cruise, we'll definitely be on Deck 8!

[YFlower]

I thought you were cashing in your free cruise? Don't tell me they've changed that milestone on you! They changed the PH upgrade so I cxl cruises.

[HostDave]

We are two cruises short of qualifying for a free cruise in a penthouse, so I'm planning to use the free stateroom credit toward a penthouse. This cruise is already a rock-bottom price (for Crystal), so I'm hoping it works out. The previous Crystal Society director told me she would allow us to keep accruing cruises to make up the two we're short, but she's gone so we're pretty much screwed on that. Besides, who knows how long it will take us to take two more full price penthouse cruises! Anyway, it all depends on the bottom line when all is said and done. Six weeks in Japan isn't exactly a budget trip!

[Mike808]

Just booked the pre-cruise flight on Hawaiian Airlines. First/Business Class has a strange three seat per row configuration on the A330-200. Have you guys ever seen this before? It must be something Japanese travelers like. It made seat selection a bit complicated, having never personally seen such a configuration.

[HostDave]

That is weird. I haven't seen it before in person, but I recall seeing it on a seat plan one time. But, that was on a narrow body plane, not the A330-200. The seating plan on seatguru shows six seats across on that plane.

You've reminded me that I need to make a call to Amex to see if we can use the free companion ticket deal...what I can find online about it suggests it is almost impossible to use.

[HostDave]

I confirmed that the AMEX companion ticket deal is indeed worthless. You have to book a full-fare, unrestricted, round-trip business class ticket. That ends up costing several hundred dollars more than booking through the airline and paying for two round-trip "special fare" business class tickets. Oh well, at least I tried. I'll post the details in the blog when I finalize the booking. I was nervous about booking with an agent I could barely understand and who misunderstood the date and departure airport TWICE during the conversation (she said she is in Florida.) She was very nice, but I knew more about the flights available than she did.

[HostDave]

OMG!! I am sooooooo stupid!!! Well, I WAS being stupid until something dawned on me about booking the flight. Details are posted in the blog on the Tokyo Disney Resort page.

[YFlower]

@Mike808: I flew Osaka-HNL last summer on Hawaiian and it was 2-2-2 in business, so I'm not sure what's up with the three across on your flight. I have occasion flown to Europe and once to Japan awhile ago where the center business row is 3 across...highly annoying.

BTW, presume you know that Hawaiian business class can barely be called that, but it beats coach!

[HostDave]

Here's a link to an interesting article encouraging tourists to visit the tsunami zone:

http://www.japantoday.com/category/life ... s-visitors