Airmiles Armchair Chatter

[pigletto]

So this was my first trip to Mexico but I did a TON of research...as I usually do because it passes for entertainment for me. In general Mexico is not a great beach place. There are resorts with decent beaches but often the water is very rough and not good for swimming. In terms of food it's always going to be better in Mexico over the DR or Cuba. The more southern Caribbean islands will also have good food and beaches but the prices are going to be very high....ie:$2500+ pp. A co-worker of DH has just left for two weeks in Playa Del Carmen and he has rented a condo there for only $600/week. DH said it looks really nice. We went into Playa Del Carmen for an afternoon and I saw a huge grocery store just outside of the main tourist area. Playa is now pretty 'American-ized'...they have Walmart, Home Depot, Sam's Club, Costco etc etc. It's only about 40-45 minutes away from Cancun airport and you can get private airport transfers for about $90CAD RT. If this sort of thing interests you get on the TripAdvisor forums and start reading. There is a large community on there of people that like to do the rental thing. Lots of info there on things to do, places to go, dining and so on.

I don't know specifically about that Iberostar but generally that chain is good. Others big chains to look at are RIU, Ocean, Princess, and Barceló. My other options for this trip were the Grand Sirenis and the Barceló. I would also go to the Valentin Imperial....it gets VERY high praise as being a lot of bang for the buck. Anything in the Barceló complex might tick off a lot of your boxes.

“Passes as entertainment”... YEP! Same here. I really appreciate the help. AI’s are all new to me and it’s great to have a jumping off point. Thank you .

 

[Donald - my hero]

This doesn't appeal to me AT ALL, we only go to see movies in theatres that allow us to pre-select seats (preferably VIP so there is no one under 19, been there, done that, want to have a quiet theatre ) BUT if anyone wants to go to the Saturday Family Favourite movie showings you can go for FREE by using your AM number. Go to this page and read all about it -- simply put, you find a theatre & movie you want to see, fill in your AM number and get a code you can use to "buy" your tickets on-line. 6 tickets per week per card number, no miles needed!

Free tickets to Family Favourite movies

 

[ottawamom]

It's a great offer with March break coming up. The theaters near us are showing 4 of the Family movies each day during March Break. Now if only parents can get their kids in and out with minimal concession stand purchases.

Sobeys flyer. The Sunripe juice which is on for 10AM when you buy 2 is $1.99ea. There was no mention of the price in the flyer. There were a number of other in-store specials but they were for 5 or 10AM wub 2. Great if you neede the items but it wouldn't entice me to spend for the pantry shelf.

 

[pigletto]

Thank you!! I’m with you.. that would not be my idea of a fun time. However, my dd babysits every weeekend and this a great activity for her to take the little girl too for free!! She’s really happy with it!

 

[elaine amj]

FYI: I only got 1000 miles from the Shop the Block promo (instead of 2000). I kept putting off going on the chat to ask for the extra 1000 miles. Logged on today to finally take care of it. Yesterday (Feb 15), they had added the missing 1000 miles. Sounds like the figured out the problem and took steps to fix it without everyone having to ask for it.

So if there any other procrastinators out there, check your account

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

And this time around they didn't make you jump through hoops to get the missing miles added!

 

[elaine amj]

It's called The Hotel Xcaret Mexico....yes, all inclusive but it's also calling itself an all fun inclusive because you get unlimited access to all the Xperience Xcaret properties and excursions. There are 9 in total. There are 3 parks...Xcaret park, Xplor (and Xplor Fuego) and Xsenses. There is a hotel bus that runs all day long between the parks and hotel about every 20-30 minutes. The other excursions take you to Xel-ha, Tulum, Coba, Xcitzen Itza.

We paid $1600/person incl tax from Toronto. This place will probably become a lot more expensive though. It only opened Dec 1st so opening prices are low. I just looked and you can book it for October for $1750. Anything under $2300 is a HUGE bargain.

Sounds amazing. Plus this really helps me figure out costs and what is reasonable. I would like to do an AI sometime but have never found the right price at the right time. A few weeks ago, I took a look at Sun Wing for March Break for kicks and giggles and ouch - the prices made my eyes water.

I am used to prices for Disney and cruising. Probably more in the range of $3-5k for a family of 4 for 7-10 days. My comparison was an 8 night cruise on the Anthem of the Seas for $5+k for 5 adults (I have teens now so no kids discounts). I can’t remember how much the AIs I looked at were, but all well over $1.5-2k per person I think.

I don’t know if I could justify $1600-2000 per person. For 5 people, that would be nearly $10k for just 1 week! Last summer, I was able to swing a 2 week trip to Disney staying at SSR for 7 people for under US$10k including free DDP, tips and everything.

Looks like AIs are out of the picture for us for now.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

I am used to prices for Disney and cruising. Probably more in the range of $3-5k for a family of 4 for 7-10 days. My comparison was an 8 night cruise on the Anthem of the Seas for $5+k for 5 adults (I have teens now so no kids discounts). I can’t remember how much the AIs I looked at were, but all well over $1.5-2k per person I think.

How did you like the Anthem? We typically sail NCL, but are looking to branch out.

 

[dancin Disney style]

“Passes as entertainment”... YEP! Same here. I really appreciate the help. AI’s are all new to me and it’s great to have a jumping off point. Thank you .

PM me any time

 

[dancin Disney style]

Sounds amazing. Plus this really helps me figure out costs and what is reasonable. I would like to do an AI sometime but have never found the right price at the right time. A few weeks ago, I took a look at Sun Wing for March Break for kicks and giggles and ouch - the prices made my eyes water.

I am used to prices for Disney and cruising. Probably more in the range of $3-5k for a family of 4 for 7-10 days. My comparison was an 8 night cruise on the Anthem of the Seas for $5+k for 5 adults (I have teens now so no kids discounts). I can’t remember how much the AIs I looked at were, but all well over $1.5-2k per person I think.

I don’t know if I could justify $1600-2000 per person. For 5 people, that would be nearly $10k for just 1 week! Last summer, I was able to swing a 2 week trip to Disney staying at SSR for 7 people for under US$10k including free DDP, tips and everything.

Looks like AIs are out of the picture for us for now.

You can easily get an AI for around $5000 for a family of 4. March Break is even possible but not at this stage of the game. Last summer I paid $2200CAD for 3 adults at a new 4.5* in Cuba.

 

[kitntrip]

I received the offer for Cineplex and have already booked tickets to go see wonder with my youngest next Saturday. I'll keep it a surprise for him as he's been desperate to see it.

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

I too received the Cineplex offer....was surprised to see Wonder was playing at the theatre near us....just booked my free tickets for next Saturday...

 

[Silvermist999]

Does everyone know that the Cineplex Family Favourite movies are actually $2.99 every Saturday morning? We've never been because my children have sports/music lessons at that time. But I have heard they are very popular so get there early as there are huge lineups, especially since they are now free!

 

[ottawamom]

Me too, but we're taking DH's parents. MIL wanted to go and see it a while back but she didn't make it to the theater in time.

 

[elaine amj]

How did you like the Anthem? We typically sail NCL, but are looking to branch out.

I didn’t end up booking it. I hemmed and hawed due to a variety of factors and it got sold out. Every single room - I think just two suites were left about a month before sailing! My friends are sailing on her though - they’re pretty excited. They got a killer deal with a kids sail free promo (their kids are 12 and 9). Wouldn’t have worked for me with teens though.

You can easily get an AI for around $5000 for a family of 4. March Break is even possible but not at this stage of the game. Last summer I paid $2200CAD for 3 adults at a new 4.5* in Cuba.

How far out would be the best deals for an AI usually? $2200 for 3 is not out of the realm of possibility. Although I still think for that kind of money I’d prefer to cruise or go to Disney.

Not all that long ago when we first discovered WDW, $2200 was enough to get me a 10-day free DDP trip to WDW for 4! Those were the days. Now, the same vacay is about $5k!

 

[Tinkershelly]

Well, I was putting off chasing down my missing STB miles, but I couldn't let that many miles go unclaimed. It only took about 15 minutes in chat and I now have my missing 150 for the airmilesshop bonus, 20 from Shell, 5 from something miscellaneous, and 1700 because I should have gotten 2000 instead of the 300 they credited me with. For a grand total of 1875 missing miles! Annoying that I had to chase them down, but having all the receipts handy made it less painful for sure. Thanks for the tips, ladies and gentlemen. That promotion with its 2000 miles plus assorted bonuses is about a half a 7-day WDW pass

 

[purple hippo]

DH and I are considering our first all inclusive trip this year with some friends and are considering Bahamas since one of our friends has a lot of dietary issues and reading this thread it looks like Bahamas is a good choice. Is there anywhere that you like most? How do you normally book your trips...online or through an agent? we are hoping to spend around $1000 pp but that seems to be hard to find or unrealistic. Which would you say? Anywhere in particular you find good deals for Bahamas ? We're not really picky on where in the Bahamas. We are looking April/May time frame.

 

[dancin Disney style]

How far out would be the best deals for an AI usually? $2200 for 3 is not out of the realm of possibility. Although I still think for that kind of money I’d prefer to cruise or go to Disney.

Not all that long ago when we first discovered WDW, $2200 was enough to get me a 10-day free DDP trip to WDW for 4! Those were the days. Now, the same vacay is about $5k!

The prices far in advance are higher. You would be booking closer to departure. Don't know if there is an actual sweet spot but in my experience it seems to be 6-12 weeks out. Also, travel at off peak times.

Last year I was looking at Cuba for March Break and I started looking mid December. I could have booked the same resort I had previously been too (which was fantastic) and it was half the price of going to WDW. We ended up going to WDW because it was just my DD and I and it was her birthday. To make WDW some what affordable we had to travel on the Tuesday night (she missed 2 days of school) and we returned the following Wed. The Cuba trip was on the actual Sat/Sat of the break.

Oh yes...I well recall the early days of FD when we would go for 2 weeks(all 4 of us then) and the entire trip would cost about $2800. Now if I pull out every trick in my bag it's about $3000 for 2 people for a week. Last March Break came in at about $4200 for the 2 of us. I'm hoping FD comes out again this year. I would like to go with DD again and for my work schedule I think I could swing 11 days by going the week that leads in to Labour day weekend. DD doesn't start school until the Thursday after Labour day so we could fly home on the Tuesday which would only have me away from work for one week plus one day.

 

[dancin Disney style]

DH and I are considering our first all inclusive trip this year with some friends and are considering Bahamas since one of our friends has a lot of dietary issues and reading this thread it looks like Bahamas is a good choice. Is there anywhere that you like most? How do you normally book your trips...online or through an agent? we are hoping to spend around $1000 pp but that seems to be hard to find or unrealistic. Which would you say? Anywhere in particular you find good deals for Bahamas ? We're not really picky on where in the Bahamas. We are looking April/May time frame.

At best you would get a 3 day AI for $1000 pp in the Bahamas. There are not a lot of choices in the Bahamas. It's more of a timeshare place. There are a couple of AI's but you would be paying $1900+pp for 7 days. There are several really nice hotel properties but not AI. Atlantis is the main place that people stay but low end you would probably be $275/night room only.

The only reason I book with is an agent is to go to Marlin Travel and get the additional AM. If it weren't for that I would book myself online. I use itravel2000 just to compare prices. When I figure out what I'm booking I go in to Marlin and have the agent do it. You will need passports to make the booking.

 

[bababear_50]

O/T
DVC (Disney vacation club) related
Talk me down OR UP
Soooooo addontiis has hit me hard (DVC member for over 10 years).
I have enough points to stay at my home resort for a week. But I have always wanted to buy more points at AKV and I have the funds to do it now but I only buy small point contracts and the resale wait for 2 30-35 point contracts is horrible.
I am thinking of going direct buy from Disney. I know I could save a few thousand resale but the resale contracts for small points are far and few between--long wait and usually stripped of points for current year.
You know if this was something for my kids I'd be all over it but have a bit of a hard time when it is just really for me.
This could be considered part of my retirement plan as I do plan to stay at Disney for 2-3 weeks every year when I retire.
So Yah or Nay?