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Far East Cruises 2019?


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Hi all,

Does anyone know if they will be going out to the Far East in 2019.I would love to do the cruise on the Discovery this year, but unfortunately can't because of work. But would love to do it next year when I retire.

SWEBY

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Hi all,

Does anyone know if they will be going out to the Far East in 2019.I would love to do the cruise on the Discovery this year, but unfortunately can't because of work. But would love to do it next year when I retire.

SWEBY

 

The Asia itineraries are in the Winter programme and are currently available up to the end of April 2019. The Winter 2019/2020 itineraries won't be released until around November.

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Hi all

I've set up a Board for Asia 2019.

We're going from Gatwick on 6 March, booked it last November and even then the aft cabins were not available so went for 8524.

I will be posting info at least when we get back. I understand that there is an 'Executive Lounge' for us lucky few but can't get confirmation that it exists or what facilities it offers. I contacted a TUI shop and even they don't know. Maybe it's something new for the Adults only cruises. Any info on this would be welcome.

Happy sailing

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Hi all,

Does anyone know if they will be going out to the Far East in 2019.I would love to do the cruise on the Discovery this year, but unfortunately can't because of work. But would love to do it next year when I retire.

SWEBY

 

I am going in Jan 2019 & looking forward to it :D

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Excellent Kanes I hope you have a great time, looking forward to review, pics etc.

Are you going from Gatwick too?

So far I haven't found anyone going in March but I'm sure somebody must be!

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Excellent Kanes I hope you have a great time, looking forward to review, pics etc.

Are you going from Gatwick too?

So far I haven't found anyone going in March but I'm sure somebody must be!

 

 

No, we are travelling from Birmingham, it’s our local airport so we always travel from there

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:confused::confused::(clear.png?emoji-frown-1741Oh well.....back to the drawing board, have a good time and looking forward to the review.

I'm sure that SOMEONE must be going from Gatwick cos the Premium Class on the plane is nearly full as I'm sure the rest of the plane is too. There's also a flight going from Birmingham earlier that day (your flight in January is the same I think).

I'll just have to be patient I suppose as it is early days yet - at least it's less than a year now so doesn't seem so far away.

Happy cruising.:D

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Excellent Kanes I hope you have a great time, looking forward to review, pics etc.

Are you going from Gatwick too?

So far I haven't found anyone going in March but I'm sure somebody must be!

 

I'm going from Gatwick 13th March!!! Looking forward to it :D

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Hello Tracy

Glad to hear you will be there although a week after us. Good to know someone else will be there too perhaps we'll meet up on the boat. I presume you will be going from Gatwick like us but the next week. We start and end in Bangkok and really looking forward to it too but it does seem a long time to go.

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Hello Tracy

Glad to hear you will be there although a week after us. Good to know someone else will be there too perhaps we'll meet up on the boat. I presume you will be going from Gatwick like us but the next week. We start and end in Bangkok and really looking forward to it too but it does seem a long time to go.

 

Hi and yes we are flying from Gatwick and have booked Premium Economy. We were surprised how booked the plane was when we booked ours, there weren't many Premium Economy seat left!! We start and end in Langkawi.

The time will go really quickly i'm sure.

Can't wait for the cruises to start so that we can pick up some tips from other travellers and see some photos!!

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Well done getting Premium Economy Tracy.

They seem to go very quickly, we booked last November and were the first to book P Econ. so got the seats we wanted 6A & 6 C. I check the seating from time to time and all window seats went fairly quickly, now most of the centre seats have gone too.

I wanted to book a stern Junior Suite but either they were already booked or were not yet for sale at the time, so we settled for 8524, we try and get in the middle of the boats because less noise and no pitching in rough weather.

Like you I'm hoping for some tips and pics from those going before us which will be really lovely.

Take care and happy hols :D

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We have booked a Grand Suite....going all out ;p. These cruises seem very popular don't they. We did look at other cruise companies for the Far East, but having been on a P & O cruise before and knowing how much we spent on drinks and excursions, the all inclusive and price of drinks and the price of excursions look really good.

We are hoping to do a lot of trips by ourselves but some places seem a little further away and maybe best to take the ships excursions. Again we are looking forward to seeing other peoples reports when these cruises begin to get some ideas :D

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There's always someone with a bigger one isn't there?:rolleyes:clear.png?emoji-roll-eyes-1744

Sounds like we're on the same deck level too. We've only been on Thomson boats (Ocean Village [3] and Destiny. I have often asked Thomson (TUI) why they didn't go to Asia so as soon as I found out they were going there in 2019 I booked. The only difference this time is that they've gone all inclusive which is a big bonus for us. We are planning to book a number of trips eventually.

May see you on the boat then? It's nice to know that someone else is going from the South Coast (we're from near Eastbourne).clear.png?emoji-bottle-pop-616

Happy cruising:bottle-pop:

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Far East Cruises, unfortunately not for me, I live in Scotland and as for as Marella are concerned we don't exist as there are no flights from Scotland, and there is no way I'm going to travel to mid England to get a flight. I will book with another company which flies from Scotland.

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Hi all

I've set up a Board for Asia 2019.

We're going from Gatwick on 6 March, booked it last November and even then the aft cabins were not available so went for 8524.

I will be posting info at least when we get back. I understand that there is an 'Executive Lounge' for us lucky few but can't get confirmation that it exists or what facilities it offers. I contacted a TUI shop and even they don't know. Maybe it's something new for the Adults only cruises. Any info on this would be welcome.

Happy sailing

I believe 8524 is a JS, in which case it doesn't qualify for the Suite Concierge lounge. If you are on Discovery 1 however I believe the Suite Concierge is no longer, it's been converted into cabins.

It's still on D2 though.

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Muttly surely if you take into account the cost of a return journey to and from Scotland to Manchester plus accommodation, you'll find that any other line with no all inclusive will work out more expensive. Also as other line cruisers have said the excursions are very reasonably priced and Marella have a much more intensive itineries and less sea days All told I believe it's worth travelling to Manchester for the Dreamliner and a Marella cruise

PS why not start a petition at your airport to get them to extend the runway to facilitate the Dreamliner as this could be the problem as many Scots cruise with Marella and it could mean one less flight from Manchester

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Far East Cruises, unfortunately not for me, I live in Scotland and as for as Marella are concerned we don't exist as there are no flights from Scotland, and there is no way I'm going to travel to mid England to get a flight. I will book with another company which flies from Scotland.

 

I think that Thomson (sorry TUI!) are missing a trick if they don't link up their Asia cruises with Dreamliner flights from Scotland. I'm sure that there is a ready market for such cruises from north of the border (and even just south of the border too). It may be that, as this is their first venture into Asia cruises they are looking at it as a trial run. In which case they may extend their service to your area. Worth having go at them anyway, I did a long time ago in respect of cruises to Asia.......and here we are (nothing I have done though I suspect).

All power to the people so have a go!

 

Happy cruising wherever you end up.

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I believe 8524 is a JS, in which case it doesn't qualify for the Suite Concierge lounge. If you are on Discovery 1 however I believe the Suite Concierge is no longer, it's been converted into cabins.

It's still on D2 though.

 

Thanks for the info Jake.

When I booked it was advertised as a Junior Suite with Premier Service. It is also supposed to include access to the Executive Lounge (if it still exists) as part of the Premier Service package and I can only find a brief reference to it in the blurb but without any detail. There was a good one on Ocean Village (a blast from the past).:confused: Perhaps they are re-configuring Discovery for the Asia cruises as they are adult only so the childrens' bits will not be needed?

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Thanks for the info Jake.

When I booked it was advertised as a Junior Suite with Premier Service. It is also supposed to include access to the Executive Lounge (if it still exists) as part of the Premier Service package and I can only find a brief reference to it in the blurb but without any detail. There was a good one on Ocean Village (a blast from the past).:confused: Perhaps they are re-configuring Discovery for the Asia cruises as they are adult only so the childrens' bits will not be needed?

Hi cuisign

We've had Junior Suites on both Discoveries but there is no Executive Lounge, and I've never seen it advertised.

There is a Suite Concierge lounge on D2 adjacent to the Glass House on deck 9.

This lounge on D1 was midships on Deck 8 but I believe it's now cabins (de luxe no balcony). The Suite Concierge is only for Grand Suites and above within their Premier Service. It's nothing special but offers free WiFi coffee and nibbles in a quiet setting.

There is no evidence that the ship is being reconfigured for the far east, particularly as the children's facilities do not take up a lot of space, and Discovery returns to normal service in Corfu upon her return in early May 2019.

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Muttly surely if you take into account the cost of a return journey to and from Scotland to Manchester plus accommodation, you'll find that any other line with no all inclusive will work out more expensive. Also as other line cruisers have said the excursions are very reasonably priced and Marella have a much more intensive itineries and less sea days All told I believe it's worth travelling to Manchester for the Dreamliner and a Marella cruise

PS why not start a petition at your airport to get them to extend the runway to facilitate the Dreamliner as this could be the problem as many Scots cruise with Marella and it could mean one less flight from Manchester

Vitalsign as only one of us drink the additional for all inclusive is not cost effective for us, (Marella was approx. £200.00 cheaper per person per cruise before being all inclusive as standard) but it is not just the cost, it's everything included with the additional travel required, ie additional air fares, or two rail journeys each way, or car travel + additional parking, regardless of which mode of travel used you also have two additional hotel stays at each end of your cruise.

I don't think cruisers from the Manchester area would be very happy if they could only fly from the London area.

Also the Dreamliner does fly from Scotland on Marella long haul flights, but not for the Far East itineries.

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Cool Cruiser you are right about having a go at them, but it is not as easy as it used to be. They used to send you an email How Did We Do, you then had a chance to have your say. It was the same with repositioning cruises from the Caribbean until we kept at them, we now have an option to book now on some but not all.

Thanks for your offer for happy cruising, but we have already had one this year from the Caribbean to Malaga on Marella Celebration, it was one of the best Marella (Thomson) cruises we have had, doing it again next year, so will keep looking for another suitable cruise to fill the space between now and then.

 

Happy Cruising

Muttly.

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Far East Cruises, unfortunately not for me, I live in Scotland and as for as Marella are concerned we don't exist as there are no flights from Scotland, and there is no way I'm going to travel to mid England to get a flight. I will book with another company which flies from Scotland.

 

 

We feel exactly the same Muttly. Have cruised with Thomson for years and done almost all the itineraries on all the ships. Was really looking forward to the Far East cruises. So disappointed to find that there are no flights from any Scottish airports. Not only the Far East cruises but also the re-positioning cruises to the Middle East and other destinations have no Scottish flights.

 

Tui Have also reduced the number of regional flights to the Caribbean.

 

It's like Scotland no longer exists. Like you we refuse to go to all the extra expense of travelling to Manchester , Birmingham or Gatwick. Stay overnight in hotels on outward and return journeys. Long trip home after a lengthy flight from the Far East.

 

Several other cruise lines are doing the Far East with flights from Scotland at similar prices to Tui with drinks packages available. ( not that we are big drinkers, in fact we object to all the ships becoming AI as we will be subsidising the booze cruise brigade ).

 

Thomson - " You can jet off from your doorstep " Tui Marella - " Not any more "

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