Good morning from sunny (but chilly) Vancouver, British Columbia. I have a lot of content to share with you today, so let's jump right into it.
Here's what's on the docket:
- 🛳️ Cruise news: the "most inclusive" cruise offer of the year
- ✈️ Frontier slashes prices before the holidays
- ⏰ How early should you arrive at the airport before your flight?
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🛳️ Cruise news: the "most inclusive" cruise offer of the year
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Virgin Voyages, the new kid on the block in the cruise world, has just launched its "most inclusive offer ever."
By inclusive, they, of course, mean steep discounts and free stuff.
Until January 31st, 2023, you can book a cruise and get a huge discount for additional guests, plus a massive drink credit. Here are the full details:
- Bring a guest for 60% off when booking a cruise
- $300 of drink credits (for you and the guest to share) for 6-night cruises
- $600 of drink credits for 7-night cruises
- Available for travel between December 17, 2022, and March 15th, 2024
- Offer ends January 31st, 2023
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To be clear, all Virgin Voyages already include all meals, fitness classes, wifi, tips, and essential drinks. So with this offer, you can think about this as a full-on all-inclusive experience since there is nothing else you'd need to pay for while on board, not even tips.
Since the second guest gets a discount of 60%, you can think of this as an overall discount of 30% on a 2-person cruise.
You could book this 5-night Caribbean cruise for two people for a total of $1,449. Since it's under seven nights, you'd only get a $300 drink credit, but that's still substantial for such a short time.
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If you wanted to venture outside of North America, you could book this 7-night Mediterranean cruise for less than $2,300 and receive the full $600 drink credit.
Booking this cruise would save you almost a thousand dollars from the regular price, which is definitely substantial.
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I've never taken a Virgin Voyage, but I've heard their cruises are incredible. And that's coming from serial cruisers who have been around the block a few times.
The company only launched last year and is geared toward offering a premium experience to passengers with new ships, lots of amenities, and now, competitive prices.
Check out their website to see which ships, ports, and destinations they offer. If you find something you like and are willing to book in advance, now could be a perfect time.
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✈️ Frontier offers 75% off base fares
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Frontier has come out with a new and *interesting* offer. Interesting because it is not nearly as good as it sounds on the surface, but still worth paying attention to.
Until December 19th, you can get a big discount on base fares for international flights through mid-2023. Here are the full details:
- Valid for international flights through June 8th, 2023
- There are a number of blackout dates (see them here)
- Use promo code BEACHES to see discounted fares
- You must book your flights by December 19th, 2022
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Before you get too excited, it's important to note that this is a 75% discount on base fares, which doesn't include the additional taxes and fees of a ticket price.
Airlines sometimes do sneaky things like this where a ticket will cost $50, but only $1 is the "fare," while the other $49 are various fees that you've never heard of.
Frontier isn't quite at that level, but they are somewhere in the middle.
For example, this ticket from New York to Cancun costs $80 with a 75% discount applied. That's obviously a great price for an international flight to Mexico, but you can also see that the discount only shaved $15 off the regular price. With a ticket this cheap, $15 doesn't really make a huge difference, honestly.
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So here's the bottom line with this offer:
If you were thinking about traveling internationally in the next six months, you could at least save a few bucks with this offer. If you have very specific dates in mind and the ticket will be expensive, this discount might make a serious dent.
For example, if you live in Des Moines, Iowa, and need to travel to Punta Cana on March 13th, you could book this ticket on Frontier and save $193 from an original base fare of $257, which is undoubtedly a significant and worthwhile discount.
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However, most fares won't yield a considerable discount by any means. I wouldn't change your plans or let this offer dictate which flights you book, as the discounts are not likely worth moving mountains over.
If you do end up saving a substantial amount of money with this promo, please reach out and let me know - I'd love to hear about it!
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⏰ How early you should arrive at 50 U.S. airports
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One question I get asked a lot is, "how early do you show up at the airport?"
And the answer is always, "it depends."
It depends on several factors; the weather, whether or not I know the airport well, if I need to check bags or not, etc.
But the main factor is that every airport is different. Airports have different equipment, staffing numbers, and processes that dictate how quickly you can get from the front door to your boarding gate.
So I thought I'd share this excellent guide that was recently posted by Upgraded Points. It uses data like TSA wait times, airport size, passenger congestion, and more to give let you know how much time you'll need at 50 different airports around the U.S.
So if you want to ensure you have enough time to catch your flight but don't want to wait around for hours beforehand, check out the article.
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That's all for today! I don't know about you, but all of this cruise news makes me want to escape the harsh Canadian winter for a little while...
Would you rather take a Caribbean or Mediterranean cruise? Do you like flying budget airlines like Frontier? Or do you prefer to pay a little extra for a premium airline? Let me know by replying to this email or reaching out on the social media.
See you tomorrow!
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