Query for U.K. cruisers

[Reina del Mar]

Nothing to do with S. America, but Cardiff Airport. You probably already know, but, will mention anyway. Qatar Airways are starting daily flights to Doha from 1 May 18, so they will be a great option for the Middle, Far East and Australia instead of going to Heathrow. We're using them in November for our cruise from Sydney.

 

Thanks for the info. We have just priced up Majestic Princess from Sydney to Hong Kong for March 2019. We have flights with Emirates from LHR. ,stopping at Dubai for few days in each direction. (HK too busy for us) . We are going into Cardiff to book Thurs. We did know about Qatar airways..think I'll have a little look before we actually book. Heard they're already cutting flights to 5 days but can doubtless fit dates around that. Thanks for the suggestion. Would be delighted to know how your trip in May goes. Haven't finalised our hotels yet.

 

Not sure why we're using travel agent for this one, have done last two over phone with Princess. Have never managed to acquire the perks our friends across the pond manage to get !

[HomelessBear]

We went on the Majestic Princess for her pre-inaugural cruise. It was only 4 nights but we both absolutely loved the ship. The staff were excellent and although it was only short, it’s one of the best cruises we’ve ever had.

Would go back on the Majestic in a heartbeat. Have a great cruise.

 

 

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[Reina del Mar]

Thank you, Homeless Bear. We enjoyed sailing on Royal so thinking Majestic should be similar.

 

Looking into Newport Dave's suggestion about Qatar Airways now...excited to book later this week.

 

Thinking I will give Princess a ring and see what perks/ prices they come up with; compared with large travel agent who has booked some of our Australia/ USA trips.

 

 

Thanks again.

[madmacs]

Thanks for all the great information - we are on Star Princess from Santiago February 2019 so really useful especially vacuum packs!

 

Thank you, Homeless Bear. We enjoyed sailing on Royal so thinking Majestic should be similar.

 

Looking into Newport Dave's suggestion about Qatar Airways now...excited to book later this week.

 

Thinking I will give Princess a ring and see what perks/ prices they come up with; compared with large travel agent who has booked some of our Australia/ USA trips.

 

 

Thanks again.

[Reina del Mar]

Thanks for all the great information - we are on Star Princess from Santiago February 2019 so really useful especially vacuum packs!

 

You're welcome. Just lets me remember !!

 

Am sure you'll enjoy..was a great experience.

 

Any questions, just ask..even though I think I've covered most things.

[HomelessBear]

The Majestic was more geared to the Asian market with an outdoor type gym with fixed metal equipment (think children’s playground) which was at the back of the ship. Other differences included more Asian type food and more upmarket (and expensive) onboard shops.

Think Princess have been advertising a sale recently so hope you get a price reduction and / or perks.

Happy cruising.

 

 

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[Reina del Mar]

Not too keen on Asian food but sure to find something. Think Princess shops stock mainly rubbish or anything of decent quality is vastly overpriced already, so will be giving them a miss.

 

Not finding very good pricing . Phoning Princess gave us prices of £500 pp more than high street worldwide travel agent...only obc what was generated by future cruise credit... Disappointing, but we want to get it booked.

[HomelessBear]

Reina that is disappointing. But if it’s the cruise you really want then go for it.

We’re not keen on Asian food either and were more than happy with main dining room offerings. Service there was excellent.

 

Hope you get what you want at a fair price. That cruise looks great. Maybe we should think of this after the South America one - if we win the lottery! Lol.

Thanks again for your wonderful information. [emoji568]

 

 

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[Reina del Mar]

We're going into town to book on Thursday. As you say, you have to bite the bullet if it's what you want. Cabins seem to be selling fast.

 

Travel agent can get flight prices . We looked into Newport Dave's suggestion of Qatar airways but looks as if Emirates from LHR will suit us better this time.

 

 

Thanks for your information and enjoy your cruise when the time comes.

[HomelessBear]

Just an update for anyone interested in my original post and the loss of Princess transfer from Airport to port.

I’m very pleased to report that the 3rd person my TA spoke to at Princess had some common sense, and the transfer has now been reinstated. Said the other 2 people my TA had spoken to had “misunderstood”.

 

So I’m pleased to say we have a result and I’ve even checked the Personaliser to make sure. Have now booked the hotel at the airport (which was over half the price that Princess wanted to charge us for a one night hotel stay) and will walk back to the airport on cruise day to get the transfer.

 

Reina - hope you book your trip on Thursday and have a wonderful trip and cruise to look forward to.

Thanks again to everyone who replied for your advice and useful info.

Happy cruising.

 

 

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[Reina del Mar]

Glad your transfer was re instated. Customer Services Dept does not seem a strong point for Princess. Enjoy your cruise.

 

We've booked ! Now I'm on the look out for information on Princess cruises from Sydney to Hong Kong. It's on Majestic. No great bargain but something to look forward to.

[HomelessBear]

That’s brilliant news you’ve booked Reina. Part of the fun is looking forward to it and planning.

Hope you’ll love Majestic as much as I did.

 

 

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[Corfe Mixture]

Hi Homeless Bear,

 

I was just about to draft a reply when I saw you were ahead of me with your post #35, but just to fill in the gaps, and reassure you, you have got a good deal.

 

As you have said that you are flying direct to Santiago de Chile, it is obvious that you will be flying with BA on a four class 787-9

(visit www.basource.com if you want to know more about the aircraft type and seating configuration.

 

BA only offer one flight per day, which arrives about 10am in SCL, but you already know that.

 

The problem, which again I think you already know, is that although Princess probably refer to the cruise starting in Santiago, it actually starts in Valparaiso which is about 70 miles from the airport.

 

So given you are arriving a day early, you basically had three choices.

a) go into Santiago and travel down the next day - NOT A GOOD IDEA as you first going in the wrong direction by going into Santiago and will then need to travel from there to Valparaiso on the day of the cruise.

b) go to Valparaiso on the day of arriving, which would have had its advantages, but you will be tired when you get there and you would have had you to make your own travel arrangements with very limited options other than taxi - which would cost around £100.

or

AS YOU ARE DOING

c) stay at an airport hotel and pick up the ship's transfer the next day. As you have discovered there is absolutely no problem in doing this as Princess don't care whether you have arrived on an inbound flight, been there a few days and dropped off a rental car or simply done as you are doing and flying in one day early - been there done that, but not at Santiago

 

By far the best option is the one you have gone for, although it does have one downside which you will have to put up with and that is that, in my experience, SCL is not the best airport in the world for facilities etc and you will probably just pass the day resting in your hotel

 

Also, the choice of hotels is rather restricted. I rather think that the Holiday Inn is the only hotel actually on the airport, although there are a few more with a couple of miles, of the airport which have a shuttle service.

So, all in all, you are really going to be confined to your hotel for the first day, as I don't think there is much else around, though as you will need the rest after a 13 hour flight in WT+, is that a real problem?

 

Disclaimer: I have only flown out of SCL - never in - and I was not impressed. Check-in absolutely chaotic - lines being started and subsequently moved with the fittest getting to the front of the new check-in line. The lounges were very bad indeed - overcrowded to the extent of people standing around with drinks in their hand whilst others were sitting on large suitcases, which I guess they had not declared at check-in and were hoping to get gate checked, thereby avoiding excess baggage charges. We left the lounge and sat on metal seats by the gate for around three hours.

 

BUT, as I say, you have got the best solution and, unlike those arriving from Europe on the day and taking the Princess shuttle, you will be rested when you make the transfer the following morning.

 

Just one last point, you need to check the tax status of your hotel booking. The rules are not complicated, but you do need to know them if you are booking your own hotel.

Quite simply there is a 19% sales tax payable at the hotel.

BUT:

Provided you are a foreigner and you are paying / have paid in a foreign currency, NOT in Chilean PESO on a UK credit card, are staying in Chile for less than 60 days and can show a passport and immigration card, for EVERYONE in the room, then you are entitled to be exempt from this tax.

 

Kindest

 

CM

Edited February 16, 2018 by Corfe Mixture
Added bit about room tax

[capriccio]

Hi Homeless Bear,

 

 

 

The problem, which again I think you already know, is that although Princess probably refer to the cruise starting in Santiago, it actually starts in Valparaiso which is about 70 miles from the airport.

 

So given you are arriving a day early, you basically had three choices.

a) go into Santiago and travel down the next day - NOT A GOOD IDEA as you first going in the wrong direction by going into Santiago and will then need to travel from there to Valparaiso on the day of the cruise.

b) go to Valparaiso on the day of arriving, which would have had its advantages, but you will be tired when you get there and you would have had you to make your own travel arrangements with very limited options other than taxi - which would cost around £100.

or

AS YOU ARE DOING

c) stay at an airport hotel and pick up the ship's transfer the next day. As you have discovered there is absolutely no problem in doing this as Princess don't care whether you have arrived on an inbound flight, been there a few days and dropped off a rental car or simply done as you are doing and flying in one day early - been there done that, but not at Santiago

 

 

I'm sure Homeless Bear knows this recent change, but for those contemplating a similar cruise in the future: effective this season Princess (and most other cruise lines) has changed the embarkation/disembarkation port for Santiago to San Antonio reportedly due to continuing issues with the Valparaiso port authority and workers. In my opinion that is a shame because Valparaiso (and its environs) is a wonderful and interesting city.

[Corfe Mixture]

I'm sure Homeless Bear knows this recent change, but for those contemplating a similar cruise in the future: effective this season Princess (and most other cruise lines) has changed the embarkation/disembarkation port for Santiago to San Antonio reportedly due to continuing issues with the Valparaiso port authority and workers. In my opinion that is a shame because Valparaiso (and its environs) is a wonderful and interesting city.

 

 

 

Thanks for correcting me. You are right. I hadn’t realised that Princess et al had moved from Valparaiso to San Antonio.

 

Don’t think that change invalidates my comments on SCL and transport.

 

What idiots the folks in Valparaiso must be. Similar thing happened a few years back in La Rochelle when the port workers decided to make a political protest against the election of Sarkozy by threatening to go on strike on day’s just before a cruise ship was due in, only to call it off once the cruise line had made a last minute change to the itinerary and brag, in the bars, about the fact that they had punished the government without losing any pay. dam. A few days later they threatened to do it and just before the cruise lines produced their next year’s brochure. Result was that the whole of Carnival Corp pulled out and removed La Rochelle from the new brochures.

 

The town lost a lot of tourist income and it took them FIVE years and a lot of marketing bucks to get them to put the port back in the schedule. I was there when the first ship returned and the town spent an awful lot of money putting on special events, just for that one day, with banners everywhere proclaiming La Rochelle to be the ‘Most Welcoming Cruise Port in Europe’.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Corfe Mixture

[HomelessBear]

Thank you Corfe Mixture for your very useful info. Thanks also to Capriccio - yes we are aware of the change to the embarkation port but this is useful for others to know.

 

Corfe Mixture - We’ve booked the Holiday Inn at the airport and pay when we get there. I’ve read up about the taxes they add for Chilean residents and was wondering how we make sure we aren’t charged for this. It will be pay on credit card when we get there, so do I need to ask them to charge it in $US or £GB? How does this work so we don’t pay the taxes? (I’d also read about the passport and immigration form but thank you.)

The other option would be to book through eg. Booking.com and pay now in sterling. Any views on what’s best? I was just a bit concerned if I booked not direct with the hotel, if there’s any problem when we get there, then they’ll refer me to who we booked with and are less inclined to sort out any issues. Anyone who had experience of this type of situation would be useful to hear from.

 

We’ve paid for the flights already as we wanted to book seats, and have paid to upgrade to premium. I get stressed on flights especially if I’m in a row of 3, so wanted to make sure we got just two seats on the side. Premium is a smaller cabin so that should help too as the flight is almost 15 hours and overnight as you pointed out. I doubt we’ll sleep much anyway, so plan on just taking it easy at the hotel the day we arrive. We want to catch up on sleep so that we can feel a bit more together when we board, and actually enjoy the cruise and the ports we came all that way for. We know we won’t be able to get into our hotel room until afternoon, but we’re happy to have a walk around just to get some fresh air and relax in the hotel until our room is ready. Then I guess we’ll sleep until the next morning - hopefully.

Then we’ll walk over to the airport to get the transfer. The TA told us to arrive there around 9am but the Personaliser says 8am. Whatever is fine and we know we’ll have to wait for other flights to come in before we get transferred to the ship.

 

I’ve found CC invaluable in getting information and am so grateful that people are kind enough to take the time and trouble to share their experiences and give great advice.

So thank you once again to you all and know how much I appreciate your replies.

 

 

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[Corfe Mixture]

Hi HomelessBear,

 

All the booking agencies seem to me to be fine and reliable.

 

Personally I use hotels.com as I have registered with their 'Rewards' system which basically rewards me with a retrospective 10% discount after I have stayed 10 nights (what happens is that I get a voucher to the value of 1/10th on my pre-tax expenditure on the 10 nights I have stayed).

 

Scheme / rewards entitlement remains valid provided I book a stay within one year of my most recent night.

 

I have used them for something like 30-40 nights of bookings in the UK, France, Florida, California, Hong Kong and Australia and never had a problem. I will shortly make bookings with them for Singapore and Tokyo.

 

One can pay now in Sterling or at the hotel in the local currency (when the amount you pay in sterling will be a function of the then exchange rate). I always pay up front when I book, in Sterling, and then keep an eye on the latest price and make use of the 'Price Guarantee'.

 

The price guarantee which works as follows:

a) if you have booked on a cancellable basis, then you simply cancel and re-book. Done this many times, paying on my BA Amex Premium Plus card (in order to get credits towards the £10,000 I need to earn my next 2-4-1 Avios voucher).

 

NOTE: I have a premium plus card for which I pay £195 per annum because the spend is half that needed if I had the basic card AND the voucher remains valid for two years rather than 12 months - but that is another story.

 

However, FWIW, and something to think of for the future, I have just paid £1,080 taxes plus 200,000 Avios, instead off 400,000 for TWO of us to fly FIRST class to Tokyo and return FIRST class from Shanghai (I already had the Avios, but cost to purchase from Executive club with the current bonus of would have been £2,415 meaning that, if I had to purchase the Avios, I could have booked our first class round trip tickets, for a total outlay of £1,750 each. Business class seats would have been a little cheaper, in terms of Avios used - but not in terms of the taxes, but I would then have had to pay around £250 to select our seats).

 

Returning to the main subject:

b) if you book on non-refundable basis, and the price goes down, then you simply phone the customer service number and they will issue you with credit vouchers (valid for 12 months) for the difference - plus a couple of quid - which can be used on your next booking.

 

Done this virtually every time that I have booked early and never a problem. Last December, when I saw the price of as five night stay in Key West drop by over £300, I phoned and was offered two vouchers, one for £250 and another for the balance. When I asked if I could use some of the potential credit to upgrade my non-refundable booking to an ocean facing balcony, they could not change the non-refundable booking. However, what they did was to phone the hotel, explain the situation and the hotel agreed to cancel my non-refundable booking so that I could book the ocean facing balcony. So, in order not to lose my booking, with the hotels.com rep on the phone, and him also on the phone to Hyatt, I booked the new room and Hyatt then cancelled the old room

 

Having said all that, what I do not know, with absolute certainty, is whether or not a booking made through an agency and paid for in advance in Sterling would avoid the 19% tax in SCL, but I would expect that to be the case. The hotels,com website mentions the tax, but then they have to as one of the options they offer on cancellable bookings, for those who don't like to pay up front, is to pay on arrival by credit card when you will be billed in local currency.

 

Just phone your chosen hotel booking agency's customer services and ask then to confirm that the hotel is being pre-paid in something other than Chilean Pesos.

 

Note also that some overseas establishments will offer to bill you in Sterling, but they do this using a feature known as Dynamic Currency Conversion. DCC is generally regarded as a rip-off as, whilst it is convenient, the retailer sets the exchange rate which is never as good a rate as your credit card company and may even be punitive. FWIW - I use Nationwide Select Credit card for purchases and a Natiowide Select Debit card for ATM withdrawals and have never paid commission charges in countries as varied as the Colombia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Vanuatu, though I have paid local charges for using my debit card in an ATM in the US. Whether or not the Chilean authorites will regard a payment made using DCC as a foreign currency transaction is something, on which, I am unable to advise.

 

 

Hope you find that useful.

 

LATE COMMENT:

First, all these booking agencies have tremendous clout with the hotels.

Last December I had a minor problem with my room grade at the Hilton Marina in Fort Lauderdale. I had booked very early and got a great price. When I arrived, they insisted that I had booked a pool view room. However, all I had to do was to show them my confirmation from hotels.com and all was fixed. Next morning they said breakfast was not included in my deal. again all I had to do was to show thenm my conformation and the problem went away.

 

Also I have no doubt in my mind that it was only because of the clout of hotels.com who were looking at giving me a shed load of vouchers, that I was able to negotiate the cancellation of the non-refundable booking. I do not believe that I would have been able to negotiate that myself even though was planning to re-book a higher grade room - albeit at a lower price than my non-refundable booking.

 

So, all in all I would not worry about being abandoned or let down by the booking agency. They have much more clout than you with the hotels.

Edited February 17, 2018 by Corfe Mixture
Added late comment

[Reina del Mar]

Have used both booking.com..in UK, America and hotels.com in USA and Australia but our favourite is IHG.com...Intercontinental hotel group which includes Holiday Inns, Holiday Inn Express, Indigo Hotels, Crown Plaza hotels, Intercontinental hotels, Staybridge Suites.

 

You sign up for Priority Club ( does what it says..you get greeted as member, given water, snacks and sometimes free upgrades) to start to collect points that are redeemable against further bookings.They guarantee to be the cheapest booking rate for their brands of hotels. Different rates you can choose include 'Best Flexible' and 'Senior' which you can re rate if price goes down and cancel until one or two days (Staybridge) before scheduled stay.

 

Payment is on departure..usually by credit card in local currency, but if you have card that has no overseas transaction fee..no worries.

[Corfe Mixture]

Have used both booking.com..in UK, America and hotels.com in USA and Australia but our favourite is IHG.com...Intercontinental hotel group which includes Holiday Inns, Holiday Inn Express, Indigo Hotels, Crown Plaza hotels, Intercontinental hotels, Staybridge Suites.

 

You sign up for Priority Club ( does what it says..you get greeted as member, given water, snacks and sometimes free upgrades) to start to collect points that are redeemable against further bookings.They guarantee to be the cheapest booking rate for their brands of hotels. Different rates you can choose include 'Best Flexible' and 'Senior' which you can re rate if price goes down and cancel until one or two days (Staybridge) before scheduled stay.

 

Payment is on departure..usually by credit card in local currency, but if you have card that has no overseas transaction fee..no worries. [/quote]

 

However, the point is that paying by credit card on departure in local currency, might have a cost issue in Chile, in that doing so almost certainly will attract a 19% tax which could otherwise be avoided and that the premiums for using DCC which MIGHT enable one to avoid the tax can be as high as 18%.

 

I think what HomelessBear is looking at are the risks associated with using a booking agency, and particularly the risks related to dispute resolution on arrival, which will allow him/her to pay in Sterling before he/she leaves and thereby hopefully get the benefits of the tourist exemption from this tax.

 

Changing subject

 

Homelessbear,

 

Forgot to say, that, concerning you fear of using an agency - most, if not all, of the problems people report about bookings made through agencies not being there when they arrive can be traced back to the same issue.

 

The issue arises because they have made a booking, using a credit card, and with a commitment to pay on arrival.

Then for whatever reason there is a problem with the card (stolen / lost are the normal problems which trigger the problem) and a new card is issued.

Quite naturally it never occurs to this person that the booking is guaranteed against a credit card which has been cancelled.

What then happens is that 24 hours before arrival, the hotel does a test hold, of a small amount, on the card which gets rejected. If you have booked direct with the hotel, they will have your e-mail address and may or may not contact you.

BUT

If you have booked through an agency, the hotel has no easy method of contacting you and simply cancels the booking.

 

This problem should not arise if you have paid a major agency in advance and all the stories I have heard about hotel bookings being cancelled (mostly in Fort Lauderdale and Miami) are on bookings which have not been pre-paid.

 

I have never heard a story of a pre-paid booking being cancelled. Remember if you book and pay in the UK for a hotel room, you have a contract with the agency whereby they have.

a) made an offer to supply a room in a hotel at a price (THE OFFER)

b) you have accepted that offer (THE ACCEPTANCE)

and

c) the bit folks often forget, by paying for the room, you have made what is known as THE CONSIDERATION.

 

All those three aspects need to be there to make an enforceable contract.

The hotel agency customer support lines run 24/24 and they will know that they have this legal obligation - (OK, if the hotel burns down the contract is subject to something called FORCE MAJEURE and becomes FRUSTATED but that would be a problem however you booked)

 

What is missing in the cases where folks have promised to pay the hotel on arrival is THE CONSDERATION. There is an argument that consideration can be promissory (in other words a promise to pay - when you arrive) but when the hotel discovers that the credit card is not valid, they are perfectly entitled to consider the promise to have been broken and as a result they cancel the contract.

 

This basis for the law of contract is pretty much the same anywhere in the world (and it is sequential which is why, if you buy an item from a UK company using your credit card and they fail to deliver you have a claim against you credit card company as your consideration is payable to them - when the credit card bill arrives - meaning that your contract is with them - they in turn will have a contract with the supplier, but that is their problem not yours. However if you use your debit card, it is the same a cash or cheque and your consideration will have been paid direct to the supplier, meaning that your only redress is against the supplier).

 

In all cases, the law that will be applied will relate to the place where the contract was made UNLESS the terms of the contract specifically state that the contract will be subject to a certain jurisdiction.

 

In the case of the agency I use, their terms and conditions include the paragraph.

 

'If you have any questions about these terms and conditions or your rights and obligations, these will be governed, and construed in accordance with, the laws of England and Wales.'

Edited February 17, 2018 by Corfe Mixture

[HomelessBear]

Thank you both so much for your thoughts and suggestions and Corfe for your very detailed reply. I feel like I’m also learning a lot here too.

 

I’ll give it some thought and will probably go with booking and paying for it here in UK I’m £, as it seems this will be the only way that I will not have to pay the taxes and of course any conversion charge my cc company adds on. I’ve used a few booking companies for hotels in uk and not had an issue, but it was the hotel in Santiago being so far from home that I was getting a bit twitched about if anything went wrong. I’m reassured though by your wide international hotel experiences. I also didn’t know they did a price guarantee, and as I’m all for saving a bit of money then I’ll be keeping an eye out regularly!

 

Thanks again and I’m sure this info will also be useful to others. I’m still a bit blown away about how relative strangers (though fellow cruise friends) spend their valuable time helping others. I try to do the same with cruise reviews, but am truly thankful that my daft queries get such great information. I’m not saying this very well but I do appreciate you taking this time to reply.

 

 

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[Corfe Mixture]

You are welcome.

 

Just a bit of additional information relating to the fact that you say you will be tired when you arrive in SCL.

 

Yes you will be a little washed out, but it actually won't be too bad at all for jet lag. As I said I have not flown into SCL, but I have flown into other South American cities after a long overnight and it really was not a big problem.

 

The reason is that jet lag is a function of both lack of sleep and more importantly confusion of your body's expectation in terms of sunrise/sunset, day and night and the body doesn't have too much of a problem coping time shifts of just three hours, particularly if the shift occurs over a long night flight. In this respect what you will find is the following.

 

You will be getting on the aircraft in the late evening when it is dark and your body is expecting you to go to sleep.

 

Although you will not have a flat bed in WT+, your seat is reasonably comfortable and basically what you will find happens is that you will quite easily get at least 8 hours of, perhaps disturbed, sleep during your 15 hour flight.

 

When you get off the plane, it will feel like morning. You will only have to deal with a time change of 3 hours, you will be reasonably rested, the sun will be up and the multiple snoozes over a long night will help deal with the poor quality of your sleep. In short it will just seem that you have had a long disturbed night's sleep.

 

Though we are all different, this schedule is generally regarded as one of the best timing for minimising the effects of jet lag, even better than the late departure / overnight flights from Hong Kong, which cross more time zones and arrive in the UK a little too early to make one really feel you have had a good night's sleep, even if you have had nine or ten hours.

 

Certainly when we have flown to South America, we have had no problem whatsoever in going out for dinner in the evening of our arrival.

 

One thing I would suggest which tends to go against what one normally does is DO NOT to change one's watch when you first get on the aircraft, unless you are going to have the meal. (FWIW, whenever we have a late night departure, irrespective of where we fly from, we always eat in the airport in the early evening rather than having a meal when our local body clocks are saying that it is 11pm - actually whilst I eschew the meal, I do take a bread roll and a small bottle of wine as that seems to help me to get off to sleep!!).

 

The reasoning for this is that, when you depart, it will be 10.30ish, you will be tired and you do not need to be reminded that it is only 7.30pm in Santiago. Do what feels best for you, but do it whilst still thinking in UK time and commence you sleep pattern in UK time. Then change your watch when they come around to serve breakfast. That way everything, sleep, breakfast, sunrise etc., all seem to be happening at the correct time.

 

Whatever you do, you can look forward to the flight. The 787-9 is a very nice aircraft, with larger windows and excellent 'mood lighting' to help your body deal with the time changes.