194 replies to this topic

[secretsea18]

I recall no one smoking on our flight but I will verify for you. As you know I try to let people use miles wherever and whenever possible. I have found that I can personally book my own trips for $200 to $300 less if I take a class of service that does NOT include miles. For me the miles are not worth the money as I can buy a ticket for that and rarely will I accrue enough miles to earn a ticket on one int'l trip. And the industry is changing...in order to get good group fares the industry charges more if the miles qualify so they remove them and pass the savings on in MOST cases...sans the example that Rosa had. However the pricing on this trip is set up to allow you to do your own air if you like for that very reason.

Will verify the smoking thing and let you know....

Calling Scubatooth...... we need to have an immediate airline frequent flyer intervention for Kamala!!!!


With all the double miles promotions going on this year, you can't afford to not earn miles this year! I got ~ 61,000 miles for my recent roundtrip to Philippines from NYC! I believe that earns several tickets.... which are worth much more than $200-300.

[Divegirl412]

Hi Kamala and group, please upgrade my membership to Premier and add me to the will be going list! It's been almost 2 years and I really want to dive the Red Sea. Can't wait

Kathy

Good gracious Kathy. It HAS been a long time. How are you???

[Divegirl412]

I recall no one smoking on our flight but I will verify for you. As you know I try to let people use miles wherever and whenever possible. I have found that I can personally book my own trips for $200 to $300 less if I take a class of service that does NOT include miles. For me the miles are not worth the money as I can buy a ticket for that and rarely will I accrue enough miles to earn a ticket on one int'l trip. And the industry is changing...in order to get good group fares the industry charges more if the miles qualify so they remove them and pass the savings on in MOST cases...sans the example that Rosa had. However the pricing on this trip is set up to allow you to do your own air if you like for that very reason.

Will verify the smoking thing and let you know....

Calling Scubatooth...... we need to have an immediate airline frequent flyer intervention for Kamala!!!!


With all the double miles promotions going on this year, you can't afford to not earn miles this year! I got ~ 61,000 miles for my recent roundtrip to Philippines from NYC! I believe that earns several tickets.... which are worth much more than $200-300.

Agree, my miles are very important to me. Not only can you get extra tickets, they are a very easy way to get elite status on the airlines and get benefits that we once took for granted. Plus I use them very frequently to upgrade. Seems like this Red Sea trip is different from the one I leave on tonight.. we have the option to do our our arrangements AND apparently we get a discount. I am particularly peeved with Cathay Pac because there was absolutely no discount, I lost any chance of getting miles AND I don't even have an assigned seat!!!!! Pure abuse LOL. I don't have a problem being abused if I got a significant discount, I object to being abused when I paid the same fare advertised online. Anyway..... it will still be fun. Will also be trying to keep an eye on developments here.

[WreckWench]

LOL!!! Guess I'm too busy doing SD things to keep up with all of that! However I'm always open to suggestions!

[deb4diving]

Kamala,
Will this be open soon to send money for trip.
Thanks, deb

[WreckWench]

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT UPDATES:

Timing of Trip Posting and Possibility of a Second Boat:

1. I know you all have been patiently waiting for this trip to be posted. And it will be posted today barring any unforeseen catastrophic events precluding me. While I am finishing out the trip posting I have inquired with the boat about the possibility of a SECOND BOAT...and there may be a chance to do that however we won't know until early next week. I expect this trip will fill out very quickly the 20 spots we currently have on the boat but if we get another boat we could have a total of 40 divers but would need a minimum of 31 to make it feasible.

How to Secure a Spot On This Trip When it is Open for Booking:

2. I will keep you posted and please be aware that to secure a spot on this trip you will need to post in the thread that you are going on the trip, WHICH package you are using aka land/air/diving or land and diving or just diving and UPON RECEIPT of your $1000 deposit the spot will be confirmed. To facilitate this we will only accept payment via our new Payment Gateway which will allow you to pay via check online aka echeck and credit card online without filling out a cc auth form. The credit card payment still requires a 3% non-cash convenience fee that you will add to the amount you are sending...in this case $1000. The echeck is free.

Note our NEW Payment Procedure from Previous SingleDivers.com Trips:

3. Since this trip will fill out quickly we will ONLY ALLOW Payments via our new payment gateway for the first 7 days. This will ensure that all payments are properly timestamped and we can properly credit those who have signed up and paid in rank order. There is a lag between your entering the payment and our ability to see it which is why we will ONLY ACCEPT DEPOSIT PAYMENTS FOR THIS TRIP VIA THE NEW PAYMENT GATEWAY. This will ensure everyone is on a level paying field. We are sorry that for the first 7 days we will NOT be able to accept paypal payments for your deposit. IN THE EVENT YOU EXPERIENCE ANY PROBLEMS MAKING YOUR PAYMENT PLEASE CONTACT ME ASAP SO I CAN MANUALLY PROCESS IT FOR YOU. It will be processed into the new system along with the automatic payments you make online yourselves.

Add-On Tours and Add'l Side Trips Will be Available:

4. There will be add'l day tours and even side trips including hot air ballooning, the light show at Cairo, a Nile River 3 day Tour, Mt Sinai tour etc. These will be posted as soon as I can finalize the details and pricing. They are ALL OPTIONAL so you can decide later but prior to air ticket booking since some will entail staying in Egypt longer.

[WreckWench]

Kamala,
Will this be open soon to send money for trip.
Thanks, deb

Yes check the updates I just posted and be watching for it to be posted today or tomorrow at the latest!

[little mermaid]

Hi Kamala and group, please upgrade my membership to Premier and add me to the will be going list! It's been almost 2 years and I really want to dive the Red Sea. Can't wait

Kathy

Good gracious Kathy. It HAS been a long time. How are you???

Hey Rosa, I know it's been a long time, between school and home improvement projects, dive time has been minimal. I have wanted to go to the Red Sea since, Baracuda Babe and I were roomies at Kamala's wedding and she was telling me about it! can't wait to see you all again.

Kathy

[WreckWench]

AIR FARE UPDATE:

Good news! The miles on our Egypt Air flight count under the Star Alliance Partnership. I think they will be partnered with USAir however Continental will be joining the Star Alliance so they may be redeemable via Continental as time goes on.

Given the discussion on this topic I thought this might be good news for our members!

[WreckWench]

Hey Rosa, I know it's been a long time, between school and home improvement projects, dive time has been minimal. I have wanted to go to the Red Sea since, Baracuda Babe and I were roomies at Kamala's wedding and she was telling me about it! can't wait to see you all again.

Kathy

Hey girl...I sure hope you can join us...its been entirely too long! This trip will be even better than the first one!

[secretsea18]

AIR FARE UPDATE:

Good news! The miles on our Egypt Air flight count under the Star Alliance Partnership. I think they will be partnered with USAir however Continental will be joining the Star Alliance so they may be redeemable via Continental as time goes on.

Given the discussion on this topic I thought this might be good news for our members!

Now that's the right way of thinking, Kamala!

[WreckWench]

AIR FARE UPDATE:

Good news! The miles on our Egypt Air flight count under the Star Alliance Partnership. I think they will be partnered with USAir however Continental will be joining the Star Alliance so they may be redeemable via Continental as time goes on.

Given the discussion on this topic I thought this might be good news for our members!

Now that's the right way of thinking, Kamala!

I'd like to take credit for it but truth is my consolidator did the hard part...she just made me look good!

[WreckWench]

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

For those of you have been patiently waiting for this trip to be posted it will happen between around approx 3:30 pm Eastern Time. Tammy aka Landlocked Dive Nut will be compiling the list of interested names so she can send the notice out to everyone on the list via pm for premier members and via email for those that are not premier members. PLEASE NOTE that until Nov 1, 2009 only premier members and above can sign up for the trip however anyone who wanted notification will get it today.

Please note that ALL Payments for this trip must use our new Secure Webpay Payment Gateway. And the trip format is different this year so PLEASE READ THE FIRST POST COMPLETELY before you submit your $1000 non-refundable deposit.

All directions for booking the trip, using the new payment gateway etc are in the first post. Please make sure you read it in its entirety.

[WreckWench]

IMPORTANT NOTICE!

To avoid confusion we are going to close the DISCUSSION THREAD for the Red Sea to prevent members from accidently posting in this thread vs the OFFICIAL TRIP THREAD HERE!!!

If the link does not work for you then check to see if you are signed up as a premier member. If not then register by clicking on MY CONTROLS and then clicking on PAID SUBSCRIPTIONS under Options on the left and following the prompts. NOTE: Paying via paypal will upgrade you immediately...paying via check will entail us getting your payment and then manually upgrading you.

p.s. all posts related to this trip will be moved to the official trip thread.

[WreckWench]

TRIP AVAILABILITY UPDATE:

WOW!!! At the 27 hour mark we have 12 of the 20 spots sold! I fully expect the trip will be completely sold out as people come back from their weekend activities and realize the trip is open!

If you really want on this trip...please register as a premier member so you can sign up before they are all gone!