LOL Kathy.

Any add ons or subtractions for this trip???

Is anybody going in early. Has anybody thought aoout a hotel if going in early.

guessing we'll go in 2 days early to see Montreal but no idea about hotel hope to use points do no have air either - easy for us to get SW back from Lauderdale not sure about one way to Montreal

Unfortunately, I don't have many Starwood points! Guess I'd better get busy with that card!

I have priority points too...have to turn it over to my TA, Marcie, for instructions ;) ;) ;)

We and the two couples with us plan to go in one day early. Flights from DC area aren't that great, coming back from FLL is easy. Need to get on that soon. Don't know which hotel yet, looking for something near the "old port" area. Montreal is such a beautiful city.

Back in October we booked the Intercontinental Hotel using priority points for 2 nights, Oct. 11 and 12th. It was 30,000 points per night but they have other combinations using points plus cash.

I always do this kind of thing early, knowing we can cancel with no penalty if the "group" opts for a different hotel. This hotel does seem to be in an excellent location and recently had full renovation. This is info:
Intercontinental Hotel Montreal
We're always open to other suggestions....

Valerie and I will be leaving Oct 8th and staying at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth. This is Canadian Thanksgiving time and a very large festival in Montreal the same week. It's not to early to firm up your reservations
Chuck

Marcie, I stayed at this hotel in October and I loved the location and the room was very nice and updated.

Nancy

I tried to book using pts and cash 20 thou pts and $60 cash per night but the $120 for 2 nights would hit my card now and is non refundable - can I tranfer pts into my Priority acct from another source???

Marcie - this looks like it right where we want to be, the old port area, am I seeing that right?

Aloha
We are looking forward to see all on this cruise.
For transportation we decided to take count Florida's advice and take the train from NYC to Montreal. Sounds like fun to us since we do not live on the east coast.DUH !For lodging we picked the Embassy Suites @ 127. CAD/ 148CAD w/tax.
It includes breakfast and is close to the cruise port.

J&C

Larry & I have booked the W Hotel in Montreal for 10,000 Starwood pts. per night. It looks like a great location.

I have booked the Intercontinental for the nights of 10/11and 10/12. Seemed like a good location to me. Walking around the old town area is what I want to do on 10/12 after sleeping in from a late flight in.

We have booked there as well Ralph for the night of the 12th. Not too bad of a flight for us East Coasters and we have the same idea to wander around Old Town and find a cute little place for dinner. We have two other couples with us as well, but don't know what their plans are as yet for the night before.

Ralph and JoAnn, are you using points?

Who is getting in when and airline????

Olivia - no we don't have enough SPG points, so are just paying with money! LOL.

Joanna - our flight arrives around 2:30 I think on the 12th, United.

We arrive on Delta at 2:43pm on the 13th so we are going straight to the ship. If there are issues with our flight, I imagine we will be staying in Quebec City. ;)

Olivia, No I am not using points. Have never been a hotel points collector but am thinking I need to start. I am on top of the air line miles stuff but not hotels.

Joanna,
I ended up on Air Canada which is a non stop from LAX. Arrive at Monteal airport around 8pm so am guessing a late arrival at hotel. Collect bag and transport to hotel will take a while.

Marc -you can remove our friends John and Glenda, as they have cancelled.

Done. Any more updates? A little bird told me that we have over 20% of the ship. Maybe we can have a dedicated pooch/hearts/scrabble room with dedicated bartender. ;)

Ralph,
Tom and I are on the same AC non-stop flight from LAX on Oct. 11, and also staying at Intercontinental.

We get in around 7pm on the 11th on a direct flight on AA from DFW. We're staying at the Intercontinental with points. I did have to transfer a few points from Amex Membership Rewards to my priority club account--but they have a 20% off deal on points transfers right now (which will end today if anyone is interested) so I got 10,000 Priority Club points for 8000 membership rewards points.

We used priority club points we already had....FUN points still haven't posted !! How long ago did we make final payment on FUN...yikes!

For anyone interested, there is a current promotion for a Chase Priority Club Visa that gives 60K points after first charge is posted on the card. Fine print is a little vague, using Holiday Inn as example for up to 4 free nights, but I assume the points may be used for any of the hotels within Priority Club.

Olivia, I just got a new Chase Priority Visa last month and received 80,000 pts after my first purchase. Not sure why but am very thankful. I was able to secure reservations at a Crowne Plaza in London for August at 25,000 per night. You get a free night voucher on your first year anniversary.

WOW Beth that is nice! I got the card but it arrived while we were on last trip so just activated it - I am expecting 30 thou points - sure do love your 80 thou :D :D

I applied for the card the other day but haven't received it yet. Maybe we will get lucky and get Beth's amount of points, too :)

Beth, how long did it take after first purchase for your bonus points to post? I applied today and since I have chase cards, approval was instantaneous, but I won't hold my breath for 80K points!

Olivia they told me the points would post same day as my closing statement - for me April 14 -

Olivia, The points showed up on my Chase statement, but I had issues with the Priority Rewards people. Priority had the points from my purchases and told me the extra rewards wouldn't show up for one or two months. Had to call them five times as I don't think they were going to reward me due to fine print. I needed to make my reservations for London and the points mysteriously appears online two days later.

Thanks for the heads up, Beth. If need be, I can be persistent, and can put on my B*%ch cap for a few phone calls. Really want to stay at the Intercontinental with my travel buddies! Nice perk as well for the free night every anniversary. There's always another cruise in the future! Let's see, wonder if there's a nice one at my next embarkation port in June 2012!

Well so far -- arrive Montreal the 11th on AA at 4:30 PM via Miami - booking SW for return but sitting on return date until we decide if we want to stay few nights and visit grands in FL - have one night at Intercontinental and waiting for points to post so get second night

Not sure if this will be true this year, but

Many years ago Carol joined me in Montreal in connection with a business visit I had to make there. It was about the same time of year. One day Carol went shopping and found some terrific sales. It was stuff that was summer kind of stuff that would never sell in the Montreal winter but was perfect anytime in So Cal. Needless to say Carol was thrilled.

Just thought there might be a couple of you that might want to schedule some shopping time the day before we board the ship.

Shopping, Ralph, you hit a nerve.......I'm there!!! Maybe I will mention it to Larry, maybe not! ;)

I think we need a girls shopping trip! But Ralph remember that many years ago, the CD was more favorable to the American Dollar, I think?

You're absolutely correct Olivia. I remember when I, too, found some incredible "deals," in Montreal on clothes, and the Canadian dollar was about 75 cents! It was even around 80 cents in 2009. I just checked and was surprised to learn that it is over $1 right now -- about $1.03.

--------------

Eugene