Jim_Iain Live Blog - Infinity B2B - Carribbean and East Bound TA

[out2016atsea]

Packing always a huge problem! But I feel more people are just trying to be a little more smart on chic nights rather than a full blown tux.

We enjoyed the Boston,New York ,TA in 2017 from Southampton,the Atlantic was like a mill pond.Hope we will be as lucky this time. As a something to consider,clearing immigration in Boston was a nightmare if you were not a US citizen. The authorities when you arrived at the front of the queue were delightful ,but when we were trying to disembark the ship ,people were actually returning from their tours. 

[Cruise it or lose it]

On 4/15/2019 at 6:09 PM, Jim_Iain said:

Planning for this trip was a bit more time consuming than normal as we plan on flying to Scotland for 10 days at the end of the cruise to visit's Iain's family.   I booked a flight on KLM from Barcelona to Glasgow using ChoiceAir and got a pretty good fare.    Many other's have reported that flight to and from Europe are high this year and we discovered the same for our flight home to San Francisco. Initially the best fare in Business I could get out of the UK was over $5,000 pp.   ChoiceAir again came to our rescue.  I started checking different days of the week and different departure airports and was reward by finding a United non-stop from Frankfurt to SFO for $1,300 each.   I then was able to book a BA flight from Glasgow to Frankfurt for $150 pp.

   

We were planning on staying with Iain's sister while in Scotland but later had to book an AirBnB because his niece left her husband and moved back home with her 2 kids.   We often use AirBnB so was our first choice in searching for a place.   I found a really nice 2 Bedroom cottage in Troon for $75 per night.   It really looks cute and is directly on the seafront.  Since we have an early morning flight out of Glasgow we opted to spend the last evening at the Glasgow Airport Hotel which is directly across from the terminal. 

You will need a vacation from this vacation!😎

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, maggieq said:

That is amazing as I’ve never seen that as an option when we purchase air with miles.  Are you 1k?

 

Unfortunately  not 1-K any more but am a  Million Mile lifetime flyer which gives us Gold for life without having to qualify annually.   The nice thing is they give you spouse the same status but poor Iain didn't get upgraded.

[Jim_Iain]

24 minutes ago, Cruise it or lose it said:

You will need a vacation from this vacation!😎

 

But once your retired every day is Vacation   😋

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, out2016atsea said:

Packing always a huge problem! But I feel more people are just trying to be a little more smart on chic nights rather than a full blown tux.

We enjoyed the Boston,New York ,TA in 2017 from Southampton,the Atlantic was like a mill pond.Hope we will be as lucky this time. As a something to consider,clearing immigration in Boston was a nightmare if you were not a US citizen. The authorities when you arrived at the front of the queue were delightful ,but when we were trying to disembark the ship ,people were actually returning from their tours. 

You were really lucky on your crossing.   in 2018 Southampton cruise we were dodging a hurricane and a nor-easter and had to go south of the Azores making us a day late into Boston.   It was definitely not a mill pond and we had our deck furniture lashed down on our balconies until we got to Boston. 

 

Wow... I hadn't heard of the problems with customs in Boston.   We just breezed through (but like you said we were traveling on U.S. Passports) .    We were luck and had group 1 and there were only a couple people in line when we arrived.

 

Did you also have problems in Fort Lauderdale?   The lines on non-US passengers was HUGE.

[out2016atsea]

That year we arrived into Mia and experienced no problems as we had cleared immigration in Boston ..only mentioning it as Europeans may read your  .blog..and had hoped to help them make  informed choices 

[Jim_Iain]

22 minutes ago, out2016atsea said:

That year we arrived into Mia and experienced no problems as we had cleared immigration in Boston ..only mentioning it as Europeans may read your  .blog..and had hoped to help them make  informed choices 

 

On our TA (Silhouette) we had a stop in Bermuda after Boston so we had to once again clear customs in Fort Lauderdale in addition to Boston.   

 

We of course won't be experiencing that on this cruise as it is an East Bound and we will be clearing EC I believe in Lisbon.   I am sure those that are planning a westbound will benefit from your experience.   I believe the British got even with us last year arriving in Heathrow for our Southampton departure.  Once we arrived at Heathrow it took us 2 1/2 hours to clear immigration.

[out2016atsea]

3 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

On our TA (Silhouette) we had a stop in Bermuda after Boston so we had to once again clear customs in Fort Lauderdale in addition to Boston.   

 

We of course won't be experiencing that on this cruise as it is an East Bound and we will be clearing EC I believe in Lisbon.   I am sure those that are planning a westbound will benefit from your experience.   I believe the British got even with us last year arriving in Heathrow for our Southampton departure.  Once we arrived at Heathrow it took us 2 1/2 hours to clear immigration.

Try  Orlando airport!

[h20cruzer]

Jim, Jim, Jim so glad to see your live blog. Are you taking the normal internet or the new less expensive one? You are probably already in bed, you started Sunday and have 5 pages already.

I leave a week from today for the TP on the Millie, with 2 days in Tokyo and then a BKB 7 day Alaska cruise, Vancouver BC to Seward, with a train ride to Anchorage to catch my flight back to SFO. I plan on doing a live blog as well. Very interested to see the Millie After refurbishment. We are in a C1 aft cabin 7212.

Safe travels make sure you have those passports in hand.

Norma

[Jim_Iain]

We were up at 5:00 am.  Uber was quick and we were checked in quickly. 

 

Currently at SJC and awaiting boarding. 

 

[lola2013]

Safe travels.

[orchestrapal]

1 hour ago, lola2013 said:

Safe travels.

 

Ditto, enjoy!

[Von & John]

Travel Safe...

Enjoying the anticipation…

[Chrissi3010]

15 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Unfortunately  not 1-K any more but am a  Million Mile lifetime flyer which gives us Gold for life without having to qualify annually.   The nice thing is they give you spouse the same status but poor Iain didn't get upgraded.

What is 1K? 🤔

 

Save travels. 🙂

[TFree]

Jim: I haven't actually followed any of your cruise blogs before, but you are always a source of good information, both to me personally (we corresponded about TAs a while ago) and to others, as I have noticed on the message boards.  I look forward to following your cruise.

 

Tom & Judy

[Purplsmurf]

24 minutes ago, Chrissi3010 said:

What is 1K? 🤔

 

Save travels. 🙂

It’s a Premier status on United. One has to fly 100,000 miles/year to get it. 

[maggieq]

17 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Unfortunately  not 1-K any more but am a  Million Mile lifetime flyer which gives us Gold for life without having to qualify annually.   The nice thing is they give you spouse the same status but poor Iain didn't get upgraded.

Good for you!  Perhaps united can work something out for Iain.    

[maggieq]

1 hour ago, Purplsmurf said:

It’s a Premier status on United. One has to fly 100,000 miles/year to get it. 

They changed it for 2020 - need to fly 125k.   ☹️

[Gimpy McFarlan]

Hope they made it through Houston. Flight Aware was reporting a lot of delays at IAH today. 😬

[Passrider76]

They made it in 6 minutes early and outbound is ontime.  Short walk to their connecting gate.

I work there and walked by the departure gate but did not see Jim.

 

Happy sailing.

 

[groryjm]

Jim

 

looking forward to another another vicarious cruise. 

[Jim_Iain]

18 hours ago, h20cruzer said:

Jim, Jim, Jim so glad to see your live blog. Are you taking the normal internet or the new less expensive one? You are probably already in bed, you started Sunday and have 5 pages already.

I leave a week from today for the TP on the Millie, with 2 days in Tokyo and then a BKB 7 day Alaska cruise, Vancouver BC to Seward, with a train ride to Anchorage to catch my flight back to SFO. I plan on doing a live blog as well. Very interested to see the Millie After refurbishment. We are in a C1 aft cabin 7212.

Safe travels make sure you have those passports in hand.

Norma

Hi Norma.   

We have the regular internet as a perk from Zenith.  

You will love the TP and I really look forward to your blog.   I'lll be intested to hear how you enjoy the "New" Millennium.   Everything I have seen I really like.

 

I can definetly tell you I have my Passport in hand.   I am sure many remember me missing my flight because I forgot my passport a couple years ago.     I had a note on the front door as a reminder.

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, Passrider76 said:

They made it in 6 minutes early and outbound is ontime.  Short walk to their connecting gate.

I work there and walked by the departure gate but did not see Jim.

 

Happy sailing.

 

 

Wow.. were you on the same flights   1777/606.    The connection was really close and we were aboard quickly as we had Group 1.   I found it an enjoyable flight.   We grabbed a Lyft from the Airport to Embassy Suites on 17th and cost $9.00 (we have a 10% discount on all rides in April).  

 

We are settling in and figuring out what to have for dinner.   Last time we were here we had dinner at a nice Mexican place a couple blocks from the hotel.  What I like about the hotel is there are a couple shopping centers withing a block and lots of dining options.

[Jim_Iain]

9 hours ago, lola2013 said:

Safe travels.

 

7 hours ago, orchestrapal said:

 

Ditto, enjoy!

 

7 hours ago, Von & John said:

Travel Safe...

Enjoying the anticipation…

 

7 hours ago, Chrissi3010 said:

What is 1K? 🤔

 

Save travels. 🙂

 

6 hours ago, TFree said:

Jim: I haven't actually followed any of your cruise blogs before, but you are always a source of good information, both to me personally (we corresponded about TAs a while ago) and to others, as I have noticed on the message boards.  I look forward to following your cruise.

 

Tom & Judy

 

This is going to be a fun blog.   I can see already we have some fun members following along.  

[Cruise it or lose it]

3 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Hi Norma.   

We have the regular internet as a perk from Zenith.  

You will love the TP and I really look forward to your blog.   I'lll be intested to hear how you enjoy the "New" Millennium.   Everything I have seen I really like.

 

I can definetly tell you I have my Passport in hand.   I am sure many remember me missing my flight because I forgot my passport a couple years ago.     I had a note on the front door as a reminder.

 

 

Before I travel I have nightmares about leaving without my passport . Or packing and the clothes keep going back on the hangers in the closet . Or running down the pier as the ship sails away.. Yep I one sick sailor. (But I'm getting better👽)