DontGetMeStarted
Active Member
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2005
- Posts
- 944
My very first attempt at a Trip Report MEL-HNL-SJU and return Feb/March 2013
Hi All ....How it all came about - Cheap flights came up from Jetstar travelling Melbourne to Honolulu on Feb 23[SUP]rd[/SUP]..and having just been in Honolulu in November 2012 we thought it would be good to do something different. Having been to the USA many times and completed lots of road trips, our thoughts first turned to doing the Blues Trail and cover Memphis and up to Nashville….but soon decided that we wanted to try something different. So our thoughts turned to a Caribbean cruise, a friend had been on the Oasis of the Seas the year before and loved it, so a little bit of investigation and we ended up booking the sister ship, which is slightly larger – Allure of the Seas out of Fort Lauderdale – 6000 people and 2000 staff… Now how to get to Fort Lauderdale and I was desperate to try a status run and achieve Gold Status..with lots of reading on this site and help from Serfty and Oz Beachbabe we booked our very first KUPP fare with AA – Honolulu to San Juan and then Jet Blue from San Juan to Fort Lauderdale)
(AA Flights from Honolulu via DFW and Miami into SJU were $1177.40 for two people and $1270.00 return via DFW and LAX into HNL
Total Status Credits earned = 680 Bronze to Gold !! SC’s and points from Jetstar flights not credited as yet – have put in a claim but do not expect an early resolution and have boarding passes ready to scan and send.
Enquired at JQ counter at Melbourne regarding possible upgrade to *Class but they wanted $479.00 pp, when I said that I had had previous upgrades at $250, she suggested that they maybe able to do them at $329.00 each but to come back at 2.00pm – decided against it and headed to the lounge with our Macquarie passes in hand only to be told that they were for the domestic lounge only (had not checked this as just presumed were international lounge access) but they honoured them and we spent a few hours having some lunch and a few drinks. Not having had much access to lounges before I was really impressed when they came round with a lovely rum drink in champagne glasses and served hot spring rolls and chips.
Uneventful flight to Honolulu but the larger IFE screens not working, luckily we had access to the Ipads and caught up with Argo and The Curve – Seats 44F and G on the bulk head so a bit more leg room.
Picked up our hire car and Spent 2 nights at the Waikiki Banyan in a one bedroom condo, we have stayed here many times and very happy with the location – left a spare suitcase with our friend Thomas (Stayin Waikiki.com) who arranged the accommodation for us and on Monday evening left for our long flight to San Juan. Checked in one large suitacase and took the essentials in 2 smaller bags as hand luggage just in case. The first two legs in first class were on a 767 and we had angled lie flat beds, FA’s very generous with drinks and overall found the flights not too bad..from memory no personal in flight entertainment and movies were similar to what we had seen before, I had my own ipad so caught up with a few things that I had previously downloaded. The flight from Miami to San Juan was on a 757 and a big difference to the 767 but it was only a few hours. Arrived on time and bag arrived safe and sound too.
Ten minute drive via taxi from airport to the Hilton Double Tree – think the cost was $21.00 plus a tip and was soon booked into our room 3003 with cookies in hand…quick shower as we were really tired and had a meal in their own restaurant downstairs which was pretty reasonable and good but in bed by 9.00pm as up early the next morning for our flight via jetBlue to Fort Lauderdale. Really liked Jet Blue we paid extra for up front seats and leg room, well worth the money.
Arrived in Fort Lauderdale and went straight to the Alamo counter to pick up our rental car – (booked via Travel Jigsaw) reluctantly we upgraded to a Chrysler 300 but very glad we did, the gps system in the car really assisted with the Florida turnpike and drive into Miami. Spent 4 nights at the Aqua Hotel in Fort Lauderdale (recommended) and took trips to Key West and Miami to catch up with a friend who works on a rather larger privately owned yacht, the owner was away so we were lucky enough to get on board and see how the half live and then on the way home stopped at Saw Grass Mills for a bit of shopping. Had to go back again the next day because one of the shops had left a security tag on a dress that I had bought, luckily did not have to tackle the turnpike again
March 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] we took the car back and boarded the Allure of the Seas – for our Eastern Caribbean cruise what a ship and experience, I will try next to do a cruise review, it was amazing and Royal Caribbean certainly know how to move people around – 6000 people and 2000 staff and never really felt like that there were that many people on this ship. Great entertainment and really cannot fault any aspect of this 7 day cruise.
March 10[SUP]th[/SUP] saw us depart again for San Juan and our 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] stay at the Doubletree – in hindsight we should have stayed in Old Town San Juan but time was limited. The check in process at the hotel was not so good and rooms still not ready at 3.10pm – despite being HH Gold members others were being allocated rooms before us (they may have had higher status) but we were tired and a bit over the waiting. At about 3.30pm room allocated and we dumped the bags and took ourselves off for a walk down to the beach and then walked through some parts of Condado – loads of people and police around being a Sunday it was really busy. Its pretty grotty around the hotel and lots of beggars on the street, glad to get back and have some dinner in the restaurant downstairs and into bed. I found this hotel to be just OK but it was certainly convenient to the airport. Monday we were up early at caught a cab into Old Town – it was fabulous and visited both San Cristobel Fort and El Morro and really enjoyed our time there- had a lovely walk through the Old Town and was recommended to have lunch at Raices
Restaurante Races lunch was a traditional mof_ngos – (think that was what it was called,) I had the beef version and Alan had the Prawn version, unfortunately to come back and haunt him a few hours later, he was so sick throughout the night that I did not think we could make the 17 hour trip back to Hawaii…and had visions of scenes similar to the movie a Weekend at Bernies !! He was certainly wiped out but we caught the flight from SJU to DFW and he slept all the way and then onto LAX and Hawaii – we were glad to reach Honolulu in one piece and settle back into our condo for the next 7 nights. Forgot to mention that there is a supermarket opposite the Doubletree with a pharmac_ too so managed to pick up some immodium there.
I have to say though that all flights with AA were great, no issues whatsoever and I took the advice of all on here and made sure we were at all gates on time and travelling first class assisted with getting on and storing our hand luggage, could not get over what other passengers were bringing on for hand luggage – quite amazing. We checked one suitcase on the way over and three coming back !! but ensured that our hand luggage held everything we needed for the Cruise.
Loved our last week in Waikiki, we have been going there for the past 17 years and always enjoy our time, we generally get out and about around the island and visit all our favourite haunts and even though the Caribbean islands are lovely, we seem to have a bit of special affinity for beaches and mountains on Oahu and the other islands too.
So we left Honolulu on the 19[SUP]th[/SUP] for our Jetstar flight back to Melbourne, it’s a 7.30am departure so got the car back at 4.30am and made our way to the airport, check in really efficient, asked again about an upgrade and was told it was $479.00 ….as we had exit row seats could not see the point and happily settled into them for the long journey home, very uneventful flight and again the main IFE in the cabin not working but we had access to the Ipads so that helped a little.
All in all a fantastic holiday, made Gold status which is great and while we were away received the Silver package from Qantas and yesterday the Gold package …and now to work out all the benefits of being a Gold FF and to make the best use, might have loads of questions around that.
I had every intention of posting photos with this report but not quite sure if this will even post in one article or whether I need to split it. Thank you again to all that helped and for this great forum. Forgive any anomalies contained and any questions would be happy to answer.
Hi All ....How it all came about - Cheap flights came up from Jetstar travelling Melbourne to Honolulu on Feb 23[SUP]rd[/SUP]..and having just been in Honolulu in November 2012 we thought it would be good to do something different. Having been to the USA many times and completed lots of road trips, our thoughts first turned to doing the Blues Trail and cover Memphis and up to Nashville….but soon decided that we wanted to try something different. So our thoughts turned to a Caribbean cruise, a friend had been on the Oasis of the Seas the year before and loved it, so a little bit of investigation and we ended up booking the sister ship, which is slightly larger – Allure of the Seas out of Fort Lauderdale – 6000 people and 2000 staff… Now how to get to Fort Lauderdale and I was desperate to try a status run and achieve Gold Status..with lots of reading on this site and help from Serfty and Oz Beachbabe we booked our very first KUPP fare with AA – Honolulu to San Juan and then Jet Blue from San Juan to Fort Lauderdale)
(AA Flights from Honolulu via DFW and Miami into SJU were $1177.40 for two people and $1270.00 return via DFW and LAX into HNL
Total Status Credits earned = 680 Bronze to Gold !! SC’s and points from Jetstar flights not credited as yet – have put in a claim but do not expect an early resolution and have boarding passes ready to scan and send.
Enquired at JQ counter at Melbourne regarding possible upgrade to *Class but they wanted $479.00 pp, when I said that I had had previous upgrades at $250, she suggested that they maybe able to do them at $329.00 each but to come back at 2.00pm – decided against it and headed to the lounge with our Macquarie passes in hand only to be told that they were for the domestic lounge only (had not checked this as just presumed were international lounge access) but they honoured them and we spent a few hours having some lunch and a few drinks. Not having had much access to lounges before I was really impressed when they came round with a lovely rum drink in champagne glasses and served hot spring rolls and chips.
Uneventful flight to Honolulu but the larger IFE screens not working, luckily we had access to the Ipads and caught up with Argo and The Curve – Seats 44F and G on the bulk head so a bit more leg room.
Picked up our hire car and Spent 2 nights at the Waikiki Banyan in a one bedroom condo, we have stayed here many times and very happy with the location – left a spare suitcase with our friend Thomas (Stayin Waikiki.com) who arranged the accommodation for us and on Monday evening left for our long flight to San Juan. Checked in one large suitacase and took the essentials in 2 smaller bags as hand luggage just in case. The first two legs in first class were on a 767 and we had angled lie flat beds, FA’s very generous with drinks and overall found the flights not too bad..from memory no personal in flight entertainment and movies were similar to what we had seen before, I had my own ipad so caught up with a few things that I had previously downloaded. The flight from Miami to San Juan was on a 757 and a big difference to the 767 but it was only a few hours. Arrived on time and bag arrived safe and sound too.
Ten minute drive via taxi from airport to the Hilton Double Tree – think the cost was $21.00 plus a tip and was soon booked into our room 3003 with cookies in hand…quick shower as we were really tired and had a meal in their own restaurant downstairs which was pretty reasonable and good but in bed by 9.00pm as up early the next morning for our flight via jetBlue to Fort Lauderdale. Really liked Jet Blue we paid extra for up front seats and leg room, well worth the money.
Arrived in Fort Lauderdale and went straight to the Alamo counter to pick up our rental car – (booked via Travel Jigsaw) reluctantly we upgraded to a Chrysler 300 but very glad we did, the gps system in the car really assisted with the Florida turnpike and drive into Miami. Spent 4 nights at the Aqua Hotel in Fort Lauderdale (recommended) and took trips to Key West and Miami to catch up with a friend who works on a rather larger privately owned yacht, the owner was away so we were lucky enough to get on board and see how the half live and then on the way home stopped at Saw Grass Mills for a bit of shopping. Had to go back again the next day because one of the shops had left a security tag on a dress that I had bought, luckily did not have to tackle the turnpike again
March 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] we took the car back and boarded the Allure of the Seas – for our Eastern Caribbean cruise what a ship and experience, I will try next to do a cruise review, it was amazing and Royal Caribbean certainly know how to move people around – 6000 people and 2000 staff and never really felt like that there were that many people on this ship. Great entertainment and really cannot fault any aspect of this 7 day cruise.
March 10[SUP]th[/SUP] saw us depart again for San Juan and our 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] stay at the Doubletree – in hindsight we should have stayed in Old Town San Juan but time was limited. The check in process at the hotel was not so good and rooms still not ready at 3.10pm – despite being HH Gold members others were being allocated rooms before us (they may have had higher status) but we were tired and a bit over the waiting. At about 3.30pm room allocated and we dumped the bags and took ourselves off for a walk down to the beach and then walked through some parts of Condado – loads of people and police around being a Sunday it was really busy. Its pretty grotty around the hotel and lots of beggars on the street, glad to get back and have some dinner in the restaurant downstairs and into bed. I found this hotel to be just OK but it was certainly convenient to the airport. Monday we were up early at caught a cab into Old Town – it was fabulous and visited both San Cristobel Fort and El Morro and really enjoyed our time there- had a lovely walk through the Old Town and was recommended to have lunch at Raices
Restaurante Races lunch was a traditional mof_ngos – (think that was what it was called,) I had the beef version and Alan had the Prawn version, unfortunately to come back and haunt him a few hours later, he was so sick throughout the night that I did not think we could make the 17 hour trip back to Hawaii…and had visions of scenes similar to the movie a Weekend at Bernies !! He was certainly wiped out but we caught the flight from SJU to DFW and he slept all the way and then onto LAX and Hawaii – we were glad to reach Honolulu in one piece and settle back into our condo for the next 7 nights. Forgot to mention that there is a supermarket opposite the Doubletree with a pharmac_ too so managed to pick up some immodium there.
I have to say though that all flights with AA were great, no issues whatsoever and I took the advice of all on here and made sure we were at all gates on time and travelling first class assisted with getting on and storing our hand luggage, could not get over what other passengers were bringing on for hand luggage – quite amazing. We checked one suitcase on the way over and three coming back !! but ensured that our hand luggage held everything we needed for the Cruise.
Loved our last week in Waikiki, we have been going there for the past 17 years and always enjoy our time, we generally get out and about around the island and visit all our favourite haunts and even though the Caribbean islands are lovely, we seem to have a bit of special affinity for beaches and mountains on Oahu and the other islands too.
So we left Honolulu on the 19[SUP]th[/SUP] for our Jetstar flight back to Melbourne, it’s a 7.30am departure so got the car back at 4.30am and made our way to the airport, check in really efficient, asked again about an upgrade and was told it was $479.00 ….as we had exit row seats could not see the point and happily settled into them for the long journey home, very uneventful flight and again the main IFE in the cabin not working but we had access to the Ipads so that helped a little.
All in all a fantastic holiday, made Gold status which is great and while we were away received the Silver package from Qantas and yesterday the Gold package …and now to work out all the benefits of being a Gold FF and to make the best use, might have loads of questions around that.
I had every intention of posting photos with this report but not quite sure if this will even post in one article or whether I need to split it. Thank you again to all that helped and for this great forum. Forgive any anomalies contained and any questions would be happy to answer.
