FlyerTalker

FWIW, Viking does a similar thing, but with "free air". The idea is that they get to maintain some degree of price integrity for the cruise pricing, but provide a discount with the inclusion of "free air". Just another way to market a slow-moving product.

Care to look at the date of fgbd's post? (You can thank the fellow who dredged up an almost 8 year old thread rather than start a new one)

And using language like that merely conflates the issue.

I'm on the other side of the coin. I have had nothing but excellent experiences with TK in business class. As a disclaimer, I have also not had any kind of ticketing or operational issue, so I have zero experience with how they handle problems. 6Rugrats would have more knowledge on that than I do. Then again, I tend to book long connections and never fly into a cruise the same day as sailing. So I try to insulate myself against issues. YMMV.

And sometimes there's more to an airline trip than just the price.

Comfort Plus, or Main Cabin Extra, or Economy Plus (for DL, AA and UA respectively) are NOT the same as Premium Economy. Take some time to do research.

Condor had a mediocre business class product in the past. They are now operating A333NEOs, with lie-flat seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. My only concern is that Condor is independent and not a part of any alliance, so you may have some issues with rerouting under irops. But if you have time built into your itinerary, I would have no qualms about flying with them.

And be very sure you understand what is being discussed/offered with "premium economy".

As noted above, you are not going to find actual flight information and pricing loaded into the GDS until late this year. Consequently, you are way too early to be on this decision. One thing you might want to start to consider is using one of the many "free stopover" programs that are available. Since you will be connecting along the way anyhow, why not add in some additional vacation locations. Depending on the airline, you can get everything from a stopover at no increase in airfare, through tours and discounts, to free hotel nights. This gives you some excellent opportunities to leverage one round-trip into additional places to enjoy. European/MEA cities where stopovers are being offered include Istanbul, Lisbon, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Reykjavik, Helsinki, Zurich, Muscat, Dublin, Madrid, Amsterdam and Paris. Personally, I'd be looking at the Istanbul program from Turkish. TK offers some very attractive pricing for their TATL flights, along with hotel and tour benefits. Plus, they offer non-stops from DTW to IST, which means you would be on one-stop itineraries for both Athens and Venice. But in all cases, just do some preliminary considerations -- you are way to far out for anything else.

Which is the nub of the issue. If "The Lounge" is going to remain, let's ask the folks who are "being cheated": Just where are you going to put a casino on Symphony? And what's the tradeoff in that decision?

The current "Jade" on Symphony was the "high roller" room under Genting, and was a disco prior to that. Has had a bar in both incarnations. It was the starboard side entrance into the casino, going from the shops area. There was no public bar next to the Serenity casino. Wonder if the DJ booth could be used as the casino "cage"? It's big enough for a table game or two and a couple of slots. Looking back at the high roller room on Symphony, that only had two tables IIRC and not slots. Way too constrained for anything more. That makes some sense, and points to both a) the Lounge remains for both ships, and b) Pulse gets the reborn casino.

And that happens here as well. But that applies AFTER the priority distributions, which are a flat amount. With the priority distributions, everyone gets the maximum of XXX per person, regardless of the total amount claimed. When it comes time for the general distribution, after all priority claims are settled, it's done on a flat percentage basis for everyone. Or at least that is my understanding. Please don't conflate the priority distributions, which you DID receive, with general distributions that are a completely different animal.

Because blaming an airline is the true national sport of America?

IMO - there's been much more to this than many suspected. Lots of suspected cases of fraudulent claims that need to be tracked down.

Just to note....all of those offers on your Amex account are funded by the merchants, NOT by Amex. So it could very easily be that you cannot combine various discounts and rebates. And before someone talks about getting MR points vs cash, the vendor is buying those points from Amex and giving them to the customer.

Remember, there is more to a purchase than just the price.

You haven't been to Dubai airport, I assume. IMO, it's right up there with Singapore, Hong Kong, Doha and Istanbul as airports where I would gladly want to be "stuck". Lots of day rooms available -- the main question is determining where you want to spend your time.

It's like what they say on the mutual fund commercials. “Past Performance is Not Indicative of Future Results”. Even for the same cruise, what another person gets has no bearing on your tickets. Is it better if you arrange your own flights? Only you can make that determination, along with whatever is YOUR definition of "better". Suffice to say, you won't get a pig in a poke and will have full control over your travel details. Perhaps at a lower price, perhaps at a higher. All cases are different, so there is no singular blanket answer.

Seems that you missed this post from earlier in this thread: That poster is in Germany. So much for "European clients not a cent yet."

Two questions: Just how do you know that "the money" is there, and how much? Next: Do you know where in the LEGAL pecking order customers sit? Especially in relation to vendors and agents, who also have valid legal claims. Without those two facts, complaining is just that. Absolutely true. Think about it....a company goes into bankruptcy because their debts are greater than their assets. It is impossible to then be able to satisfy every one of those debts at a 1:1 ratio because there aren't enough assets to go around. It is precisely because everyone thinks that THEY should be made whole that bankruptcy has specific procedures to fairly distribute the balance of assets per the relevant law. Vis a vis all creditors.

Ask your favorite in-house counsel.

The sticking point, IMO, is a question of real estate. It starts with a question about "The Lounge". Is that space to be returned to casino use, yes or no? If yes, that ends the issue. But I highly suspect that The Lounge is here to stay. Especially on Serenity, it provides an area for folks to relax, read, play games, do puzzles and more. Now, if The Lounge is not going back to being a casino, just where are you going to put a casino? Tear out the Bistro? The Hollywood? Elsewhere? Whatever the choice, it's going to have negative blowback. IMO, Crystal is trying to determine if reintroducing a casino is worth the corresponding downside. Because there will be some.

Absolutely. Bankruptcy is a highly specialized area of the law, with unique procedures. I know just enough to know that I am out of my league when it comes to those special factors. But I do have some general experience to rely on. Everyone needs to remember: The corporation that was "old Crystal" is gone. Kaput. Strewn to the dustbin of history. There is no "old Crystal" holding on to funds and assets. Where a court could issue a judgment for payment. What there is is a bankruptcy trustee (however that is phrased under the applicable law) who is charged by the court to resolve the various claims against any realized assets of the FORMER corporation. That trustee has to operate under the applicable bankruptcy laws and under the supervision/order of the relevant judge/court. No one is deliberately seeking to screw foreign creditors. That's an invitation for judicial sanctions.

I'm going to second Zach. This sounds very fishy. Southwest doesn't care what your return flight is like. You probably have different locators for the two airlines, as WN doesn't interline. FWIW, I've taken a number of trips where I used WN in one direction and another carrier on the other. Never did either care what my other flights might be. And back to the original question from me....do you have an actual WN locator? Not an NCL reference, but from WN. I think that "unable to provide" comment is a HUGE red flag.

Did NCL give you a six-character locator, or something else? If the six-character code is valid, you should be able to retrieve it from the app or website. And, of course, there is always picking up the telephone and calling Southwest directly.