A Mediterranean Cruise and Four Days in Ireland – Planning the Flights
A Mediterranean Cruise and Four Days in Ireland
Introduction
Planning
US Airways Business Class (Envoy) Philadelphia to Venice
Two Magical Days in Venice
Boscolo Venezia Hotel in Venice
Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam: Introduction, Itinerary, and the Pinnacle Suite
Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam: Katakolon and Athens
Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam: Istanbul, Mitilini, and Kusadasi
Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam: Santorini and Argostoli
Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam: Sailing into Venice
Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam: Cruise Review
Ryanair Economy Class Venice-Treviso to Dublin
Two Days in Dublin
The Aran Islands and Galway, Ireland
Driving the West Coast of County Clare, the Cliffs of Moher, and Bunratty Meadows B&B
Aer Lingus 757 Business Class Shannon to Boston
When the Aunt and Uncle invited us on the cruise, it didn’t take too long to accept their invitation. The good thing about this vacation is that the cruise itinerary is set… so right there, I didn’t need to worry about planning the bulk of the vacation. The variables that I had to contend with were now arriving and departing Venice (VCE) around the cruise dates, vacation time, and finding air deals and/or redeeming miles.
Planning the flight USA to Italy
As soon as we accepted the invitation to take the cruise, I assessed my mileage balances on various airlines. At that time, my United balance was pretty much zero-ed out since I’d just burned a whopping 320,000 miles for a trip to Australia over Christmas and New Years. However, I had just enough American miles for two, one-way flights from the USA to Europe in economy class for the girlfriend and me. As luck would have it, there was availability flying economy on American for the dates that we wanted DCA-LGA/JFK-MXP. This would put us into Milan(MXP) the day before our cruise. We then planned to take a train Venice in time for our cruise.
Fast forward to two weeks ago. As the months dragged on, I began to dread the long flight in economy on American. My last two experiences on American in the back were not too pleasant, so I had reason to be concerned. At 6’4″, I’m uncomfortable in pretty much any economy seat, but the B767-300s on American seem to be extra brutal and cramped. Around that same time, my mileage bonus from the Citi AAdvantage Executive card posted, increasing my balance to a cool 120,000 miles.
Out of sheer curiosity, I checked the American website for business class availability — just in case. Sure enough, there was availability on a flight directly into Venice, AND it arrived a day earlier, allowing us an extra day in Venice. Upon further review, this entire flight was on US Airways from DCA-PHL-VCE in their Envoy Suites business class cabin. This is the same basic hard business product that I enjoyed on Cathay Pacific last summer (here and here). For an extra 30,000 miles per person, this seemed like a no-brainer. The ability to stretch out and get some sleep on our flight, an extra day in Venice, and the fact that I prefer to burn my miles instead of hoarding them made it an easy move — we were going business class to Venice!
Getting Home After the Cruise
At the time I initially planned the cruise, I didn’t have a big point balance to work with, since I tend to burn my miles pretty soon after earning them, simply because airlines tend to devalue their programs as time goes by. Knowing my point limitations, I knew that a sweet spot in the British Airways Avios award chart was Ireland to Boston on BA’s partner, Aer Lingus for only12,500 Avios per person in economy, or 25,000 per persons in business, each way. This is an incredible value, and may be the single most valuable use of points in any program. The existence of this award made it apparent that we needed to transit Ireland on the way home, so we decided to spend a few days in the Emerald Isle en route. My girlfriend and I are both Irish, after all!
We decided that we wanted to spend a couple days in Dublin before driving across the country to Galway and the Aran Islands. After a trip to the Inis Mor on Aer Aran Islands, we plan to visit Doolin and the Cliffs of Moher before ending our trip in Shannon. After checking for availability and spending an hour on the phone with British Airways, we were able to book our return tickets at the aforementioned price point of only 12,500 per person in economy from Shannon to Boston. At the end of the day, 25,000 total for TWO people to fly Transatlantic is a STEAL. So return trip home, booked.
First, I needed to get to Ireland from Venice.
After a brief Internet search, it was immediately clear that European discount carrier, Ryanair was the way to go. They offered a perfectly timed flight from Venice-Treviso Airport (TSF) to Dublin for under 50euros per person. Even after we selected seats and paid for checked bags, this option was still about 100euro per person cheaper than the next cheapest option. No brainer.
The last piece of the puzzle was getting from Boston to Washington at the end of the trip. After monitoring for cheap rates via various methods, I noticed a cheap ($90 one-way) fare between Boston and Washington-National airport with perfect timings, so I pulled the trigger on that, and viola! We had ourselves an itinerary!
