Tango99

I just got my renewal and I recall the form included details of all destinations in the last 5 years. Tedious process but worth the effort.

You might want to look into trip cancellation insurance as well. I suggest that as most cruise lines shy away from cancel without penalty once you’re in the zone of 90 or 120 days payment in full due. (Some lines payment in full is either 3 or 4 months of sail date.).

You may want to browse sites with “maritime history/archives”, “passenger manifest records” (only works if you’re over 75 or someone with you who is), “ship log”, “port departure schedules”, or arrivals from/to the Bahamas. The US have national archives. Many rabbit holes to cover that you might find interesting. Last September I used GGArchives.com to find the Halifax landing records of the arrival for a 96 year old friend who’d travelled home from England to Canada at 19 years of age, on the Duchess of Bedford. And back on the Empress in the 1940’s. We even laughed about the menu, the cost of her travels, and how the dining room worked. Not much but it might help.

Edit to add “Oh. Tomorrow. So to add now I see your destinations include Honduras….your friend could be flagged to stay on board when the ship ports in Honduras. Fingers crossed” Hope you can get a renewal quickly. There may be issues with the airline (depending which one) as you won’t have a US address to supply when you check in for your flight. And If the expiry falls within the actual cruise you may have issues with the cruise physical check in. Last year my partner’s passport and the 6 month rule meant expiry 2 days before the end of our 3 week cruise (Carnival) and he was notified by email a week after e-checkin that he’d need to to provide a passport valid for the sailing or be denied boarding…even though we were going TA from Florida to Europe destinations that have a 3 month requirement. Thankful we are in Ottawa and could get passport renewed. It was close as he received the notice the day before Good Friday and Easter Monday. And Tuesday the city was shut down due to a snowstorm. We picked it up Wednesday and flew as planned the next day. On our cruise over Christmas in the S Caribbean we had to present passport at almost all of the gates to get back on the cruise ship (NCL). Fingers crossed that you get a good agent at the port check in….I’m told that person can be the key on boarding or not.

I hear you. It’s an awful situation. Porter have a bad rep for delays and converging flights, even within Canada. Passengers also feel the brunt of their pilots being poached by the big guys. Only 7 of their 12 flights have departed within half hour of the plan since Jan 25. If you want to get up at zero past dark hour the AC flight at 6am (on one or two days a week) has left on time every day during the same period. The posted rate today is ~$265. That’s far less than Porter if I remember. The later flights are all via YYZ or YUL and over $900 which is insane compared to the 180-190 pre pandemic. I feel for you. Wish there was an easy solution but it’s going to be a long time coming. Airlines are flying full. And AC sales are at an all time high….is it any wonder?

At least 90 minutes so you don’t have to panic. It’s a busy airport. It depends on the arrival gate of your aircraft from Toronto.

Thanks for the tip David. Yes Montreal is an option though not as good prices as Toronto. We used to have direct flights to/from Ottawa as well at similar point:$ cost. Since the end of the pandemic, YOW has only one international flight a week with Air France that began in July. Nothing since then. It drives me nuts.

Exactly. It’s a deal for new Aeroplan members but I’ve been collecting since 70’s when Nordik air operated! And that’s a very rare and sweet deal to England. May I ask the routing you found please? and if you booked with an agent? I’ve family and friends in England and Wales but we don’t get over there enough.

That’s a much better price than the earlier sales. And even less per point than the 4c value years ago.

Yeah. Layovers, multi city flights or completely new tickets. Gone are the days. 10 years ago I flew YOW-ORD-NRT-BKK-PDG-NRT-ORD-YOW for 120K points and 238 in fees and taxes. All first class except for AC legs. Nippon, Thai airways have first and business classes. Would have been 800 if I’d used Canadian gateways. Imagine the savings now if that routing was doable. Closing loopholes has lost advantages for consumers. And what? No points redemption on business class? That’s painful.

Too funny. That’s just a euphemism that hails from the UK. For example Q “would you ever eat crickets? A. “Eeeuw no. Id rather have a poke in the eye with a sharp stick”.

Unfortunately with just 4 international airports operating in Canada and no means to skip Toronto and Montreal as gateways overseas, options to route through Philly, Detroit and Chicago, are gone. Now any direct or indirect fares are subject to much higher taxes and fees whether using currency or points. Fuel surcharge is now buried in fare cost rather than being transparent and showing it as a separate line item. The whole point of saving is lost, though you may enjoy a couple of days in LA, or look at options if you went to BC and made your way to Seattle. Or look at Singapore Air if they still have flights to/from Texas. All things considered points are evaporating very quickly and getting a top notch airline like Singapore or Nippon air, both are great Star Alliance partners and may be worth while for the extra comforts. Hope you find something that works.

We’ve done Tortola stop twice and we take our time to disembark. That leads me to my next question….we’ve seen the area at the end of the shopping village in port where the vans and taxis can be found, but by the time we get there they’re already away! We have a 12 hour stop here on New Years Day….7am to 7pm any tips on planning something with a recommended tour company would be welcome please. And/or any resorts for a day that you’d recommend. Something laid back. Hiking, scuba and snorkelling are not in our agenda. any haelp alrea Oates.

There’s a nice shopping area, very simple, laid back, low pressure right after the wander along quite a long pier. Nice outdoor patios for coffee, drinks, and wifi. We’ve done this twice. You can make it all, slowly, a couple of hours. Now we’re ready for a tour maybe by cab. Trouble is I couldn’t find any at the end of the main drag. They must have their own spot.

Another perspective…the wheels and that seemingly innocuous side and top handle of carry-ons all add to the dimensions. Not to mention a teeny tiny bulge. I haven’t used a carry on for a long time for that reason, so I just pay for my stowed bag. But I still need to find a spot for my tiny backpack and medical bag as people cram everything they can into the overhead bins. Laser tech is very precise in capturing the slightest deviation that’s out of scope. And who am I to argue this one, when so much time is spent boarding passengers with oversize carryons. (And that isn’t the root cause of ACs current issues with just 4 of the 8 international airports out of use for that purpose).