Month: September 2024

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers.

For the last time this year, Delta Air Lines is offering Delta SkyMiles members another path to earn Medallion Qualification Dollars toward elite status with its Stays and Cars promotion.

Specifically, you can earn 1 MQD per base dollar spent on hotel bookings and car rental reservations booked by Sept. 30 through the Travel Extras portal for travel completed by Oct. 31.

Here are the details.

Earn Delta MQDs on hotels

During this promotion, you’ll earn 1 MQD per dollar spent on hotel stays booked through Delta’s travel portal. This is in addition to the redeemable SkyMiles (members earn a minimum of 2 miles for every $1 spent on the base hotel rate) you ordinarily earn for every dollar spent at most hotels.

The promotion’s terms state that you can only earn on the base cost of the hotel room before taxes and fees are charged at the time of booking.

For example, here’s what you could earn for a three-night stay at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas:

• 1,737 MQDs
• 3,476 SkyMiles (worth $41.71  based on TPG’s September valuations)

Earn Delta MQDs on rental cars

Additionally, you’ll earn 1 MQD per dollar spent on the base car rental rate for every completed rental booking.

You will not earn MQDs on charges like taxes, one-way rental fees, fuel services or tolls. Additionally, when booking cars through Delta’s portal, you can earn bonus SkyMiles with rental car partners and if you hold elite status with Delta.

For example, Hertz is a partner of Delta, and if you decide to book a rental car with this company through Delta, basic SkyMiles members will earn 4 miles per $1 spent on qualifying rentals. Additionally, depending on your Delta elite status, you can earn 5 to 8 miles per $1 spent on qualifying rentals.

Therefore, if you decide to book a Hertz rental car at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) through Delta’s portal, here’s how many MQDs and SkyMiles you can earn on a three-day-long rental with the current promotion:

• 136 MQDs
• 544 SkyMiles (worth about $6.53 based on TPG’s September valuations)

Related: Hitting the road on your vacation? Everything you need to know about rental car elite status

Important terms

Before you book, make sure to read the full terms and conditions of this promotion. One of the most important things to note is that you can only earn MQDs if your name appears on the credit card you pay with. Delta will not credit MQDs if the first and last names on the card do not match the information on the SkyMiles account.

After you complete your travel, it can take up to eight weeks to receive the MQDs.

Additionally, those with a Delta cobranded card can earn up to $100 or up to $250 Delta Stays statement credits annually when they use the card to purchase prepaid hotels or vacation rentals through Delta Stays. Plus, prepaid Delta Stays reservations now qualify as Delta purchases on cobranded cards.

Delta cardholders, including those with the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card or the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, will earn 3 miles per dollar spent. Cardholders of the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card will earn 2 miles per dollar spent on Delta purchases.

Bottom line

This promotion is another way to earn Delta status without flying. By earning MQDs through non-flight activities outside one of the airline’s cobranded cards, this promotion sets a new precedent for Medallion status. Delta appears to be sending emails to SkyMiles members in batches with this promotion — we hope to see more ways to earn MQDs like this one in the future.

Related reading:

• How to earn Medallion Qualification Dollars inexpensively by booking Delta partner tickets
• Is the Delta Platinum Amex worth the annual fee?
• Delta Medallion status: What it is and how to earn it
• Is the Delta Gold Amex annual fee worth it?

Editor’s note: TPG’s Gene Sloan accepted a free trip from Cunard to get an early look at Queen Anne. The opinions expressed below are entirely his and weren’t subject to review by the line.

Are you thinking of a cruise on Cunard‘s new Queen Anne? Be warned: It’s not like any Cunard ship you’ve seen before.

The storied cruise brand’s first new vessel in 14 years is notably more contemporary in its look and feel than the line’s three other ships, including the iconic Queen Mary 2.

It also offers venues that embrace the latest trends of travel and cruising in a way that Cunard ships haven’t done in the past.

As I’ve seen on two visits to Queen Anne since it debuted four months ago, including a weeklong stay in September as it sailed the Norwegian coast, the $600 million vessel offers more choice in dining and entertainment, more wellness options, and more of a focus on onboard celebrations than we’ve ever seen on a Cunard ship.

That’s no small thing, given that Cunard has fielded 149 ships in its 184-year history.

Still, even as Queen Anne ushers in a new era for Cunard, it’s a vessel that holds true to the traditional values at the core of the line — particularly a formality and elegance that harks back to the grand old days of ocean liner travel.

Overview of Queen Anne

Queen Anne is the new belle of the ball when it comes to Cunard ships. Unveiled in May, it’s far younger and more up to date than the three other ships in the Cunard fleet, which range from 14 to 20 years in age. It also has a smorgasbord of new-for-the-line dining and entertainment venues that tap into the latest trends in hospitality.

Unlike other Cunard vessels, for instance, Queen Anne features a wide array of extra-charge eateries, ranging from a Mediterranean cuisine venue where the dishes are sprinkled with African and Arabic influences to one of the first contemporary Indian restaurants on a cruise ship.

That’s on top of the four relatively formal main restaurants that have long been at the core of the Cunard dining experience (one each for each class of onboard cabins — if you’re in a Britannia-class cabin, your main eatery is the Britannia Restaurant; if you’re in a Princess Grill suite, your main eatery is the Princess Grill).

Queen Anne also has a broader array of entertainment options than past Cunard ships, including an all-new cabaret venue that is home to a murder mystery theater show for part of every cruise.

Like all Cunard ships, it’s a vessel that maintains longtime ocean liner traditions such as gala evenings where passengers wear black tie and ballgowns and nightly dancing in a grand ballroom (something you no longer find on most ships).

But alone for now in the Cunard fleet, Queen Anne aims to bridge the gap between such traditions and a more contemporary sort of cruising — not just in the venues it offers on board but in its overall look and feel.

It’s been a change that hasn’t been without controversy. Some Cunard regulars have mercilessly (and sometimes hilariously) panned the ship at online review sites, citing both the new look and what they say are obvious design flaws.

Queen Anne also clearly has suffered from teething pains in its first four months at sea, with Cunard fans reporting listless service, mediocre food in some eateries and uninspired entertainment. These are all things that I saw, too — so much so that I’m hesitant to recommend that passengers book this ship just yet. While lovely, it’s not quite ready for prime time.

That said, if Cunard can work out the kinks over the coming months, particularly in the areas of service and specialty dining, Queen Anne has the potential to be a wonderful cruise ship.

What I loved about Queen Anne

The new look

Put me down as firmly in the camp that loves the new look. Make no mistake, I have long enjoyed the ocean liners-of-old design of Cunard vessels. Sailing on the Atlantic-crossing Queen Mary 2, in particular, is like stepping onto the movie set for “Titanic,” which definitely has an appeal. Combined with Cunard’s focus on old-style tradition and elegance, it has given Cunard something unique in the world of cruising. But that doesn’t mean the brand has to be forever stuck in the past.

In my view, which admittedly isn’t shared by some Cunard fans, Cunard has artfully updated its design and onboard offerings for modern-day cruisers in a way that doesn’t lose the tradition and elegance for which its ships have long been known.

Related: This movie will give you a sense of a transatlantic Cunard voyage

The British feel

Like all ships operated by United Kingdom-based Cunard, Queen Anne has a particularly British feel. It’s a vessel where mushy peas and fish-and-chips (along with other British culinary favorites) are on the lunch buffet not just once a sailing but every day, and afternoon tea is a major event. It’s also a ship where one of the busiest drinking spots is the (very traditionally English) pub.

But beyond such Britishness in food and drink, it offers a uniquely British style of prim and properness that is perhaps Queen Anne’s most distinctive feature. It is a ship, for instance, where even on nights when the dress code is a relaxed “smart” casual, most passengers arrive for dinner in a jacket, some in full coat-and-tie. It’s a vessel where you generally don’t see people being loud or garish or otherwise inappropriate.

For American cruisers increasingly aghast at the way some passengers behave (and dress) on mass-market American vessels, where anything-goes American values rule the day, it can be wonderfully refreshing — a throwback to what cruising was across the board not all that long ago. Of course, for some Americans, it might come off as just plain stuffy.

What I didn’t love about Queen Anne

The hard-to-navigate top deck

Getting around the top deck of Queen Anne is easy — if you’re staying in a top suite. Otherwise, it’s like navigating a maze. That’s because a significant chunk of the middle of the top deck is devoted to a private sunning area for the swells in top suites. If you’re not booked in such a suite (and thus do not have the secret keycode to enter and cross this elites-only zone), you can’t easily get from the sunning and sports deck areas at the front of the ship to the pool area at the back. The only way to do it is to descend into the interior of the vessel and walk across its already congested buffet restaurant (called the Artisans’ Foodhall).

This, in turn, adds to the congestion of the buffet, which itself has design flaws (most notably, its self-serve drinks stations are inexplicably located along the crowded walkways through the eatery, such that you’ll smack right into people pouring hot coffees and teas as you work your way across the space).

The crowds

Queen Anne is more packed with people than Cunard’s three other vessels, in a way that affects the experience. Seats are hard to come by for some shows, and the crew seems more harried than usual. The cabin experience is also diminished in some cases.

The numbers tell the story: At 113,000 gross tons, Queen Anne is 24% bigger than Cunard’s last new vessel, the 14-year-old Queen Elizabeth. But Cunard has jammed 44% more cabins (and thus 44% more people) onto the vessel. Queen Anne holds 2,996 passengers at double occupancy (two passengers per cabin), up from Queen Elizabeth’s capacity of 2,081 passengers at double occupancy. Notably, this drops the ship’s “space ratio” of space (measured in hundreds of cubic feet) to passengers to just 37.8, which isn’t a great number. By comparison, Queen Elizabeth has a space ratio closer to 44. The line’s flagship Queen Mary 2 has a space ratio around 56.

The spotty service

I truly was excited to sail on Queen Anne, as I’ve long loved the elegance and refinement of Cunard vessels. I figured Cunard’s first new ship in 14 years would set a new benchmark for the brand. Alas, what I experienced on board was a vessel that wasn’t quite functioning right, mostly in the area of service.

I’ve sailed on more than 200 ships in 30 years of writing about cruising, including lots of just-out-of-the-shipyard vessels, and I’ve rarely encountered one where the crew members seemed as untrained and indifferent as they seemed on Queen Anne. It wasn’t in every space. The servers in the exclusive restaurant for Princess Grill passengers were fabulous, catering to my every need. The bartenders at the casino bar (Room 1840) were a delight. But in many other venues, I regularly encountered crew who didn’t seem to know what they were supposed to do or how to interact with passengers. Some venues also just didn’t have enough staff to function properly.

Queen Anne cabins and suites

Queen Anne has 28 cabin and suite categories — a large number. But finding the right cabin category for you isn’t as complicated as that number might make it seem. As is often the case on cruise ships, many cabin categories on Queen Anne are essentially the same, with the exception of where the rooms are located.

For instance, there are nine categories of balcony cabins, all basically the same in size and decor. The only differences among most of them are whether they are located at the front, middle or back of the ship and whether they have a clear or obstructed view.

Similarly, there are five categories of ocean-view cabins (those with a window but no balcony) and six categories of windowless inside cabins. The only difference between them is location.

There are eight categories of suites, some of which also are essentially the same except for their locations.

All that said, when booking accommodations on Queen Anne, it’s important to know that the type of cabin you book will have a significant impact on your cruise experience beyond what you’ll experience in your room.

Unlike most lines, Cunard still operates with an old-school class system, where passengers dine and lounge on ships in different places depending on their cabin category.

Most of Queen Anne’s 1,498 cabins — including all inside and ocean-view cabins and most balcony cabins — are what’s known as Britannia cabins. When you book passage in one, you’ll dine in the ship’s cavernous Britannia Restaurant at night (when not at an extra-charge specialty restaurant) and only have access to the non-elite lounge areas of the ship.

For those wanting something more exclusive (and willing to pay for it), there are three higher tiers of accommodations with ever-greater levels of pampering and perks:

• Britannia Club cabins. These 162 balcony cabins are similar to standard balcony cabins but come with access to a more intimate private restaurant for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• Princess Grill suites. A big step up from Britannia Club cabins, these 127 rooms — all suites — come with concierge service and access to an exclusive lounge area (the Grills Lounge) and a restaurant (the Princess Grill) for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In addition, you’ll get access to a spacious private outdoor sun deck called the Grills Terrace.
• Queens Grill suites. These 65 suites are the ship’s finest accommodations. Measuring 484 to 1,440 square feet, they come with butler service, concierge service, upscale touches such as fresh flowers, and access to an elegant private restaurant (the Queens Grill) for all meals. In addition, you get access to the same Grills Lounge and Grills Terrace as those staying in the Princess Grill suites. 

My room was a Princess Grill suite, and the exclusive private areas that came with it really were wonderful. I particularly loved my special access to the Grills Lounge, a stylish bar and lounge space. Filled with curvy chairs upholstered in luscious peacock blue fabric, with a striking circular chartreuse seating area as a focal point, it served as a quiet escape from the ship’s bustling public areas.

One deck up, the private Grills Terrace was a similarly serene and uncrowded oasis for decktop lounging that felt a world away from the busier public areas atop the ship.

Like all Princess Grill suites, my room measured about 300 square feet, including its balcony area. That’s quite large for a cruise ship cabin, and it was room enough to contain everything I could want in a cabin for a week at sea: a king bed that could be split into two single beds, a built-in desk area, a separate built-in cabinet hiding a miniature refrigerator, a seating area with a sofa and chair, built-in closets, and a bathroom.

For the most part, I was happy with my Princess Grill suite on Queen Anne. While it wasn’t inordinately high-end in its finishings, it had a clean-lined, contemporary look that felt modern and up to date. A recurring circular motif in its carpeting, lighting and mirror gave it a whiff of an art deco feel, one that was augmented by the room’s red and gold accents (a nod to Cunard history, as they are two of Cunard’s signature colors).

While surprisingly small in relationship to the overall size of the room, the bathroom in my Princess Grill suite was modern and bright, with a well-thought-out layout that made the most of its limited space. I particularly liked the relatively large walk-in shower and ample shelving space for toiletries — a sign that its designers understood what matters most to cruisers (unlike the designers of the poorly laid-out bathrooms on the new Seabourn ship that I just tested a few weeks ago).

If my Princess Grill suite had a flaw, it was in the lack of adequate storage in the room. Given the formality of Cunard ships, which requires that passengers pack elegant eveningwear (think ballgowns and tuxedos) in addition to everyday clothing, the storage needs for Cunard passengers are higher than for passengers on some other lines. Cunard ships (and Queen Anne in particular) also often make longer sailings that require more clothes.

While there was enough storage in my room to pack away everything my companion and I brought for a weeklong sailing, it would have been tight if we had been on one of the ship’s longer two-week sailings. I can’t imagine how it’ll work for passengers on the monthslong around-the-world sailings that are planned for the vessel starting in January.

One detail of the room I truly loved was the placement of large nightstands with large drawers on each side of the bed where I could hide away all my electronics and their cords, books, papers, glasses and the like. Bedside storage at this level is increasingly rare on ships. What’s more, each of the nightstands was topped with a U.S.-style 110-volt outlet, a British-style 220-volt outlet, and both USB-A and fast-charging USB-C ports. Bravo, Cunard, for knowing how to keep us charged.

Other Queen Anne cabin tidbits:

• Every cabin has a small hair dryer that works with the ship’s specific current. Leave yours at home.
• Rooms have nicely wide personal safes that can hold even a big laptop.
• There are Cunard-red “Do Not Disturb” magnets to stick to your door when you don’t want to be disturbed. Flip them over, and a steward will make up your room. It’s not a sophisticated system, but it works.
• Cabin televisions offer a wide range of movies on demand at no extra charge, a nice touch (some of Cunard’s competitors charge as much as $11.99 to watch a movie).

The Princess Grill suites seem like a sweet spot to me when it comes to the higher-end accommodations on Queen Anne. They get you the same exclusive access to private indoor and outdoor lounge areas as the higher-priced Queens Grill suites and access to a private restaurant, too, but at a significantly lower price point.

That said, if you’re looking for the ultimate in Queen Anne swankiness, you’ll find it in the Queens Grill suites.

The best suites on Queen Anne

The two largest Queens Grill suites, called Grand suites, measure an astounding 1,440 square feet — nearly five times the size of my Princess Grill suite. They boast a bedroom, a master bathroom with a separate bath and shower, a large living room, a dining room, a powder room, a private balcony, and a walk-in closet.

Also impressive are the ship’s four Queens Grill Master suites, which measure 896 square feet. They also feature a bedroom, a master bathroom with a separate bath and shower, a living room, a dining room, a powder room, a private balcony, and a walk-in closet.

The remainder of the Queens Grill suites are split between Queens Grill Penthouse suites, which measure 501 to 527 square feet, and slightly smaller Queens Grill suites, which measure 484 to 500 square feet. Each has a bedroom, a bathroom with a separate bath and shower, a living area, and a private balcony.

In addition to fresh flowers, Queens Grill suites come with personalized stationery, fresh fruit daily, predinner canapes and a complimentary minibar, including alcoholic drinks and soft drinks.

As noted above, Queen Anne’s designers have packed a lot more cabins on Queen Anne than on earlier Cunard ships, and they did it in part by shrinking the size of some cabins. While standard balcony cabins on Queen Anne are just a tad smaller than balcony cabins on the line’s past two new ships (236 square feet versus 239 square feet), the differential with Princess Grill suites is more noticeable.

Princess Grill suites measure 335 square feet on Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria — about 10% more space than my Princess Grill suite on Queen Anne. Princess Grill suites on the line’s flagship, Queen Mary 2, measure a far more generous 381 square feet.

At the Queens Grill level, there are notably no two-deck-high duplexes measuring more than 2,000 square feet on Queen Anne, as you’ll find on the Queen Mary 2, which remains Cunard’s reigning monarch for over-the-top accommodations.

Related: Cunard cabins and suites guide: Everything you want to know

Queen Anne restaurants and bars

Cunard has never been known for having ships that offered lots of dining options, but that changed notably with the debut of Queen Anne. It boasts 15 different places where you can grab a bite — more than double the number on the line’s other ships. It also offers quite a few bar options, including several new-for-the-brand venues.

Restaurants

As on all Cunard ships, the dining scene on Queen Anne revolves around four main restaurants: Britannia, Britannia Club, Princess Grill and Queens Grill — only one of which you will experience during any given cruise.

In keeping with Cunard’s old-fashioned class system of dining, you’ll be assigned a table in one of the four eateries for the duration of your cruise based on the type of cabin you book.

The vast majority of passengers — those in the least expensive windowless inside cabins, ocean-view cabins and most balcony cabins — are assigned to the least intimate of the four eateries: the expansive, two-level Britannia Restaurant. It’s packed with close-together tables that can hold 596 people at a time — a banquet hall sort of number.

Dinners on the lower level of the Britannia Restaurant take place during two fixed seatings each night, while the second level is reserved for diners on an open-seating plan (arrange this in advance). Breakfast and lunch have open seating.

Passengers who pay up for one of 162 premium balcony cabins will be assigned a table in the more intimate Britannia Club restaurant. It’s designed to hold up to 339 passengers and doesn’t turn over tables for multiple seatings. If you book this class, you have a specific table in the eatery that is available whenever you want to dine during breakfast, lunch and dinner hours.

Even more intimate and upscale are the Princess Grill and Queens Grill restaurants, which are assigned to passengers staying in suites. The Princess Grill is for passengers booked in the ship’s 127 smaller suites, known as Princess Grill suites. The Queens Grill is for passengers in the ship’s 65 biggest suites.

In the Princess Grill and Queens Grill, as with the Britannia Club restaurant, you’ll have a specific table that is available to you whenever you want it during dining hours.

Among the four main eateries, I only was able to experience the Princess Grill, as I was staying in a Princess Grill suite. Serving mostly classic Continental cuisine, it offered a refined dining experience with top-notch service, as you’d expect from an eatery reserved for passengers in top suites. Elaborate dishes such as chateaubriand and Dover sole meuniere (the latter expertly deboned and plated tableside) were available every night, as were such showy desserts as bananas Foster and cherries jubilee that were flamed tableside — a throwback to first-class travel during ocean liner days.

In addition to the four eateries above, Queen Anne also has a wide range of alternative dining options — something that isn’t the case with other Cunard ships.

These include four new-for-the-line extra-charge dining concepts: Aranya, an Indian eatery; Tramonto, serving Mediterranean dishes; Aji Wa, a Japanese restaurant; and Sir Samuel’s, a steakhouse.

I tried nearly all these new restaurants while on board and, alas, was disappointed with them all for varying reasons.

Both Aranya and Tramonto, which came with upcharges of $35 and $20, respectively, seemed like eateries added to the ship as afterthoughts. Both were in carved-out corners of the buffet area, and they had the ambience you might expect from such a location. From my table at Aranya, I looked out over a sad landscape of empty tables and a trolley cart with glasses in the buffet. Tramonto’s ambience was better, thanks to the addition of a built-in wine cabinet blocking the buffet view. But it still suffered from being aside one of the main thoroughfares into the buffet.

Foodwise, the 38-seat Aranya was the biggest disappointment. The “carefully crafted spice-led journey” that it promised was almost devoid of spice across much of its (very limited) menu. A turbot wrapped in banana leaf came out dry. The one choice of naan that was available (plain) had the consistency of cardboard. It was nothing like the fabulous Indian eateries you’ll find all over the ship’s home country (for a similar cost, my companion and I feasted on truly wonderful Indian cuisine in London just the night before boarding). 

Aranya also was plagued by servers who seemed only half awake (one server tried to fill our water glasses with tap water twice in five minutes, even though we clearly told her the first time we were drinking sparkling water).

The cuisine at the 38-seat Tramonto wasn’t quite the disaster it was at Aranya, but too many dishes at this venue arrived cold, tasteless or otherwise underwhelming, and the servers were inattentive, even absent at times.

Both Aranya and Tramonto suffered, I suspect, from not having their own kitchens on-site. It appeared that waiters at both outlets were walking out of the eateries periodically to head to the buffet kitchen to grab dishes. They also apparently had to travel long distances to get drinks, as the eateries had no bars of their own. Our charge for sparkling water at Aranya posted as coming from the Panorama Pool Club bar, suggesting that our server had to walk to the back of the ship to get it.

Aji Wa, the Japanese eatery, had a much better atmosphere and served lovely sushi and other Japanese dishes. Its main flaw was disorganized service. During one of two visits, we sat at the sushi bar, ordering small sushi plates directly from the chef (as instructed) a couple at a time. Alas, nobody cleared these dishes away as we finished them, such that dirty dishes were piling up all around us by the end of the evening. We then sat for 20 minutes waiting for someone to notice we were done and bring us a bill. We finally got one, but just for our drinks. We had to wait again for a second bill for the food portion of the meal — a separation of charges that surely makes sense to someone in the accounting department at Cunard’s U.K. headquarters but, of course, is nonsensical to the customer.

Sadly, I wasn’t able to try Sir Samuel’s, Cunard’s new signature steakhouse. The eatery was unavailable for the entire week I was on board due to a private event that was being held in the space.

Other places to dine on Queen Anne include the Golden Lion pub, a mainstay of Cunard ships. On Queen Anne, it features a tasty new pub menu designed by chef Michel Roux Jr., who owned London’s Le Gavroche restaurant, the first U.K. restaurant to receive three Michelin stars. (He also created an exclusive gala menu for the Queens Grill restaurant.) I particularly loved the steak-and-ale pie. It looked underwhelming on the plate but was fabulously rich and yummy.

You’ll pay up to $11 a plate for lunch at the Golden Lion, but it’s a worth-it upcharge. Some items, such as the quintessentially British Scotch eggs, are available at no extra cost.

In addition, Queen Anne passengers can eat in casual comfort at the Artisans’ Foodhall, the ship’s buffet. It features active food stations instead of traditional self-serve buffet lines, with a chef standing by at each station to make a dish just for you — a nice upgrade. There also are preplated dishes available to grab and go. The array of dishes is more limited than on some mass-market ships, but I never had trouble finding something to suit my taste.

That said, for something fast and casual, my favorite outlet, hands down, was the new-for-Cunard Wellness Cafe on the second level of the ship’s Pavilion pool area. Part of Cunard’s expanded focus on wellness, it offered no-extra-charge, built-to-order healthy food bowls that were not just tasty but beautifully plated. You could pick from a long list of healthful items such as edamame, kale, quinoa, roasted broccoli and charred cauliflower and top it all with grilled salmon and other proteins, as well as fresh dressings such as miso, lime and ginger. It was the one new eatery on Queen Anne that was a clear home run.

Eat there, and then blow your calorie count at the nearby Pavilion Gelateria, which serves massive extra-charge gelatos starting at a very reasonable $2.50 for one flavor. The Pavilion is also home to a grill for no-extra-charge burgers and hot dogs.

You’ll also find small bites available from morning to night at the Carinthia Lounge. Located off the Grand Lobby, it’s a European-style coffee bar by day with lovely handmade pastries and other elevated breakfast bites at no extra charge. At night, it morphs into a wine bar that serves artisanal cheese and charcuterie sourced from small producers for an extra fee (on my sailing, $6.50 for a selection of three cheeses or meats).

The Carinthia Lounge also serves oysters on the half shell at night ($6.50 for three oysters) and a few other small snacks that pair well with wines.

Room service is available day and night with several solid options including the same Michel Roux-designed burger you can get in the Golden Lion pub. That said, many of the better items come with an upcharge, which isn’t always the case with room service menus on ships. The burger will set you back $11, while the room service steak — from the ship’s Sir Samuel’s steakhouse — will cost you $25 to $29, depending on whether you order a sirloin or filet. With an added lobster tail, the plate cost jumps to $40 to $44.

Bars

If you’re heading out for a drink in the evening on Queen Anne, you’re probably heading to one of two places: the Commodore Club or the Chart Room.

Located at the top of the ship overlooking the bow, as it is on all Cunard ships, the Commodore Club is the hot spot for drinks in the evenings, and for good reason. It’s an elegant and inviting space with an impressive martini menu, friendly bartenders and lively entertainment (on my sailings, a pianist who took requests and played to the crowd).

The Commodore Club is such a popular venue on Cunard ships that the line has made it bigger than ever on Queen Anne, even bigger than its counterpart on Queen Mary 2, which is a far bigger ship.

Just off the Grand Lobby, the Chart Room is the main bar and lounge for the ship’s lower-deck interior areas. It has a creative list of specialty cocktails themed around the signs of the zodiac (I loved the Leo-themed Natural Leader cocktail, made with pisco, lemon juice, raspberries and elderflower syrup) and the stylish art deco-inspired decor.

A third major drinking spot in the interior of the ship is the Golden Lion pub, which is just down the hall from the Chart Room past the Queens Room — the ship’s ballroom. It’s definitely the place to go for a pint of beer and a chat or a full-blown pub meal. Just be warned that it sometimes morphs into a karaoke club at night and is often taken over by trivia and bingo sessions, which sort of wrecks the cozy British pub ambience. In my view, it’s a space that suffers from mission creep, though people who love karaoke, trivia and bingo with a side of John Smith’s bitter ale surely will disagree.

Another option for a drink in the afternoon or evening is the Carinthia Lounge. As mentioned in the dining section above, it’s a coffee bar by day but morphs into a wine bar as the day goes on. It has a wonderfully diverse wine list that includes things like Hungarian furmint, a wine you don’t normally find at cruise ship bars.

Alas, as an evening drinking spot, the Carinthia Lounge suffers a bit from a ho-hum setting along a sometimes busy corridor through a shopping area — the reason, I suspect, for why it wasn’t drawing much of a crowd at night when I was on board. It also closes down early. It’s much more popular during the day when it functions as a coffee bar.

Note that the Carinthia Lounge is one of the venues on Queen Anne where the servers seem particularly out to lunch. You apparently get to order just one coffee here, after which your server will disappear, never to be seen again.

Yet one more bar option, one that is something of an unexpected gem, is the bar attached to the ship’s casino, Room 1840. Most casino bars on ships are dreary places you don’t want to visit unless you’re in the casino to gamble. But the Room 1840 bar is both striking in its design and home to a fabulous cocktail menu focused on Negronis (in addition to a classic gin Negroni, you’ll find creative variations on the Campari-infused elixir made with everything from double-oaked whiskey to tequila).

The Room 1840 bar is also one of the few bars on the ship where you’ll find proper oversize ice cubes for cocktails such as Negronis — something that is standard at any semidecent cocktail bar on land but sorely missing from most Queen Anne bars (to be fair, this is a flaw not just with Queen Anne bars but bars on most cruise ships).

And, no, Room 1840 isn’t smoky. Unlike on most ships, you can’t smoke in the casino on Queen Anne.

In addition to the above, there are small interior bars attached to the Queens Room, the Bright Lights Society cabaret theater, the Artisans’ Foodhall and the Sir Samuel’s steakhouse. But none of them are venues you’d necessarily visit specifically for drinking. They are more bases for the waiters serving these various areas.

On the outside decks of the ship, you’ll find bars at all the main sunning and pool areas, including at the front-of-the-ship sports deck (known as the Observation Deck) and at the back-of-the-ship Panorama Pool Club. One of the outdoor venues, Cabana, is a new-for-the-line rum-focused venue touting 50 different brands of the drink.

Queen Anne activities

As is typical for Cunard ships, the top decks of Queen Anne are mostly devoted to relaxing pool and sunning areas. This isn’t a ship where you’ll find lots of family-friendly decktop amusements such as waterslides and kiddie splash zones.

This is in keeping with the clientele of the brand, which is mostly older adults. Cunard has never been known as a family line.

Queen Anne is also one of the relatively few cruise ships with a top deck designed specifically for operating in a wide range of climate zones.

At the heart of Queen Anne’s top deck is The Pavilion, an enormous central pool area that — unlike the main pool areas on the last two new Cunard ships — is topped with a retractable glass roof designed to keep poolgoers warm and dry on cold and rainy days.

It’s a retractable glass roof that is not only functional but beautiful — a showpiece for the ship. Soaring higher and feeling airier than the typical magrodome (as such retractable glass roofs on ships are called), the giant structure above the pool was created by Martin Francis, the U.K.-based design wizard who figured out how to make the glass pyramid at the Louvre Museum stay up.

The Pavilion, moreover, is much more than just a covered pool area. Underneath the dome — in addition to a pool, three whirlpools and lounge chairs — is a bar, a grill for poolside food, a gelateria and a stage for entertainment.

Just forward of The Pavilion is an open-air sun deck that is the closest thing the ship has to an amusement zone. Called the Observation Deck, it has a paddle tennis court that doubles as a pickleball court, a putting green, a golf net for practicing your drives, a table tennis table (or, as most Americans would call it, a pingpong table) and — this being a British ship — deck quoits. If you’re an American, you’ll have to Google that last one.

There’s also shuffleboard, here and elsewhere along the outdoor decks. It’s that sort of deck-top vibe.

One other top-deck amusement, located toward the middle of the ship, is an archery range — something you won’t find on most cruise ships. Indeed, while Royal Caribbean has offered a watered-down version of archery on its ships with toylike bows and arrows, Queen Anne is the first ship where you can shoot real (and very sharp) arrows with a real bow. You do it during formal reservations-only sessions with an instructor, and you have to sign your life away with a waiver form before you start.

In addition to the public areas above, there is an open-air deck area toward the middle of the ship that is exclusive to the swanky set staying in the ship’s Princess Grill and Queens Grill suites. The center-of-the-ship placement of this exclusive area, alas, blocks regular passengers from moving across the top of the ship — a major design flaw.

The top of the ship is also home to a new-for-the-line, glass-enclosed Wellness Studio. Just past The Pavilion Pool (under the same glorious glass dome that covers that venue), it offers yoga, Pilates, Zumba and line-dancing classes during the day for an extra charge.

The Wellness Studio is part of the major expansion of wellness offerings at Cunard mentioned above. It was added to the ship in part to get all the fitness classes that the line normally offers in interior fitness areas up to the top deck, where participants can enjoy natural light and views of the sea all around.

That said, Queen Anne still has a good-size fitness center and a spa with a thermal pool complex in a lower part of the vessel. The latter venue is a wow with heated loungers, experiential showers, a reflexology footpath with textured stones, a cold room (a first for Cunard), a large steam room, a Himalayan salt sauna, and a traditional sauna. There’s also a relaxation room and a wellness suite.

Two-hour passes to the thermal complex are available for $59 per person.

If you’re looking for activities in the interior of the ship, there are two main places to go: the Queens Room and the Golden Lion pub.

The Queens Room — a staple of Cunard ships — is the ship’s grand ballroom and the place to dance the night away to big-band music. But it’s also the spot for afternoon tea at times — a big thing for the ship’s heavily British crowd — and occasionally other activities such as low-impact chair yoga.

The Golden Lion pub is home to frequent trivia contests (often several times a day), darts competitions, bingo and karaoke nights — so many such activities, in fact, that passengers looking for a traditional pub experience may be disappointed.

Other activity areas in the ship’s interior include the small casino area called Room 1840 mentioned above. It’s just forward of the Queens Room. There’s also a small Games Room for card playing just off the Grand Lobby.

At the very top of the ship, off the Commodore Club, is a library with one of the best views of any library at sea. Just beyond it is a very small children’s area called The Zone (as noted, Cunard isn’t a line that draws many children).

Other interior areas include dedicated space for weddings and wedding receptions, part of a bigger focus on celebrations at Cunard, and a large number of shops.

Queen Anne shows

Cunard has beefed up its entertainment offerings with the debut of Queen Anne.

In addition to an 835-seat main theater (the Royal Court Theater) offering Broadway-style shows, it’s home to a new-for-the-brand, 132-seat cabaret-style theater called the Bright Lights Society.

The former is home to a wide variety of entertainment during any given cruise, from full-blown musicals to comedy shows and vocalist performances. (It’s also used for lectures by a rotating list of guest speakers and occasional screenings of feature-length films.) The latter offers a murder mystery theater-type experience on some days and a lively cabaret-style musical show on others.

On my sailing, the two big main theater productions were a smoke-, strobe light- and laser-infused musical production called “Imagination” and a shortened version of the West End musical “Pride and Prejudice (sort of)” — the latter a comedic retelling of the Jane Austen love story. Both were entertaining, if not the sort of wow productions you’ll find on the ships of cruise entertainment leaders Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line.

The Bright Lights Society (the name is an oblique reference to the fact that Cunard was the first ocean liner operator to use electric lights on its ships) was a fun and lively venue — when I was able to get into it. Alas, all six performances of what some passengers said was the best show in the venue, the interactive murder mystery “Noir,” booked up seemingly instantly on the first day of my cruise, so I never was able to get a reservation to see it.

With Queen Anne’s passenger count significantly higher than Cunard’s other vessels, there just isn’t room in the Brights Light Society venue to accommodate the demand for its shows.

The “Noir” show was the only show in the venue for three of the first four nights of the cruise. For the last three nights of the sailing, the space was home to “Fizz,” a cabaret-style show with musical and burlesque elements and a loose storyline of romance for which I did manage to snag a reservation. It was energetic and amusing, with the cast of five pulling in the audience to become part of the show.

Additional entertainment, including the occasional comedy show, vocalists and silent discos, takes place in the Queens Room, the ship’s ballroom. On Queen Anne, it’s a space that has gotten a makeover compared to the ballrooms on other Cunard ships to make it more multipurpose, and it often hosts some of the same acts that play on different nights in the Royal Court Theater.

With clusters of modern ball lamps hanging from its ceiling, evoking planets floating in the sky, and a stunning, multicolored marquetry wood floor as a counterpoint, the Queens Room has a dreamy, make-believe quality unlike anything seen before on a Cunard ship.

A large digital screen behind its semicircular stage and high-tech lighting add to its more modern feel.

The Queens Room is also rounder in its design and more open to its surroundings. Its top level, in particular, is open to an area of boutique stores and the passing traffic of passengers moving between the front and back of the ship.

Queen Anne itineraries and pricing

Of Cunard’s four ships, Queen Anne is the one that spends the most time sailing out of Southampton, England — Cunard’s traditional home. Nearly all its sailings during the year begin and end in the port.

Still, that doesn’t mean Queen Anne only sails in the vicinity of the British Isles.

For all but the first few months of the year, Queen Anne operates an unusually wide array of Europe itineraries out of Southampton that can get you to just about every corner of the continent, from the far reaches of the Baltic Sea to the full expanse of the Mediterranean.

Some of Queen Anne’s Europe sailings out of Southampton go all the way to the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa.

Queen Anne’s trips from Southampton are diverse not only in where they go but in length, as the ship operates everything from quickie two-nighters to Hamburg, Germany (a good way to test the vessel to see if you like it), and seven-night sailings to Northern Europe to far lengthier voyages of 14 to 19 nights to the Mediterranean and Canary Islands.

During the first few months of every year, Queen Anne sets off from Southampton on an even more ambitious voyage around the world. Since the ship’s debut in early 2024, it has become one of Cunard’s main ships for such lengthy voyages.

The around-the-world voyages (two of which currently are on Queen Anne’s schedule for 2025 and 2026) typically last nearly four months and include stops in North America, Australia, Asia, Africa and Europe. In addition to selling passage for the entire cruise, Cunard also sells shorter segments of the voyage that focus on particular regions along the way.

Prices for Queen Anne sailings start around $400 per person, based on double occupancy, for a two-night sailing from Southampton to Hamburg. More typical seven-night sailings out of Southampton start at $1,159 per person, based on double occupancy. The ship’s first world cruise, a 107-night trip kicking off in January 2025, starts at $17,536 per person.

The above rates include all taxes and fees.

Note that you’ll pay a significant premium to stay in Queen Anne’s Britannia Club, Princess Grill and Queens Grill accommodations as compared to standard Britannia cabins. A voyage where a balcony cabin in Britannia class starts around $3,000 per person might cost closer to $5,000 per person if you book the same balcony cabin in Britannia Club class or $7,000 per person if you book a Princess Grill suite. A Queens Grill room on the same voyage might set you back more than $9,000 per person.

What to know before you go

Required documents

A passport is required for all itineraries, and passports must be valid for at least six months. The name on your reservation must match that on your passport. Double-check if you’ve recently gotten married or use a different version of your name.

Gratuities

Queen Anne guests will find an automatic service charge of $16 to $18 per person, per day, depending on cabin category, added to their onboard account and final bill. You are allowed to adjust this amount at the Purser’s Office desk before disembarking.

In addition, a 15% gratuity is added to bar bills. You should not feel pressured to add an additional tip.

Related: Everything you need to know about tipping on cruise ships 

Wi-Fi

In recent years, Cunard has upgraded the Wi-Fi service on its ships and now offers a relatively fast connection through Starlink satellites. As is often the case with cruise ships, the service isn’t free, nor is it inexpensive. Passengers can choose an Essential plan that allows web browsing and access to emails and social media sites for $18 per day if bought for the entire voyage (24-hour access is available for $24). A Premium plan allowing for streaming costs $24 per day if bought for the entire voyage (24-hour access is available for $36) is also available.

The above rates allow you to log in on a single device. Multidevice plans are also available. They’ll cost you more in absolute terms but are a much better value if you are buying Wi-Fi for several people. On my voyage, a multidevice plan for four devices was the same cost as buying two single-device plans.

Note that top-tier members of the line’s Cunard World Club loyalty program get credit toward buying internet plans.

Carry-on drinks policy

Cunard allows every passenger of drinking age to bring one bottle of wine or Champagne onto ships at boarding. The line charges a corkage fee if you bring the wine or Champagne to an onboard restaurant or other public areas to drink.

Smoking policy

Smoking (including e-cigarette smoking) is allowed only in designated outdoor areas. It’s forbidden in cabins, on cabin balconies and — with one exception — in all other indoor areas of the ship. The exception is that passengers can smoke cigars and pipes only (no cigarettes) in Churchill’s Cigar Lounge, the ship’s dedicated space for cigar smokers.

Unlike on some cruise ships, smoking is not allowed in Queen Anne’s casino.

Laundry

Queen Anne has self-serve launderettes on cabin decks where passengers will find washers, dryers and ironing boards for use at no extra charge. Even the detergent is free. The ship also offers extra-charge laundry, pressing and dry cleaning services.

Related: Everything you need to know about cruise ship laundry services

Electrical outlets

You’ll find North American-style 110-volt outlets and European-style 220-volt outlets in cabins, along with USB ports.

Currency

The onboard currency is the U.S. dollar. But you won’t need cash while on board. Queen Anne operates on a “cashless system,” with any onboard purchases you make posting automatically to your onboard account. You’ll receive a keycard that you can use to make charges, and Cunard will charge your credit card at the end of the sailing to settle the balance.

While on board, you can check your balance at the Purser’s Office or via your in-cabin television.

Drinking age

You must be 18 to consume alcohol on Queen Anne in most parts of the world. When the ship is sailing in U.S. waters, Cunard enforces the U.S. drinking age limit of 21.

Dress code

During the day, there is no specific dress code, and people dress casually. If it’s a sea day, and you’re bound for the pool deck, that means looking like you’re going to the beach — T-shirts, shorts and bathing suits are just fine. Just note that swimwear is not permitted in indoor dining areas, so you’ll want to change from that bathing suit before heading to lunch inside the vessel.

During the evenings, there is an official dress code, and it’s more formal than at many lines. Cunard has always been known as a line where passengers dress up — and its dress code reflects that (though it’s not nearly as formal as it was just a few years ago).

On most nights, the Queen Anne dress code is “smart” attire, which Cunard defines as a dress shirt and trousers, skirt and a top, or a cocktail dress. Jackets are optional, but many men do wear them. Some men even wear coats and ties on casual nights. This is a ship where passengers get very dressed up, and you might feel out of place if you don’t.

Unlike on some lines, jeans are not allowed in restaurants in the evening, and the line is strict about it. You will likely be turned away if you show up in them, and you’ll definitely get dirty looks from Cunard’s formality-loving regulars.

Every few nights, the dress level on the ship becomes much more formal as the ship holds “gala evenings.” These are shipwide events where passengers are encouraged to dress to the nines, and they generally do.

There are typically two gala evenings on every seven-night cruise and more on longer sailings. Cunard asks men to wear black tie or dark suits. For women, Cunard suggests floor-length dresses, ballgowns or off-the-shoulder cocktail dresses.

Cunard typically designates a theme for each gala evening, set in advance so you can plan your wardrobe. Examples include Black and White Gala Evening, when passengers are encouraged to wear black and white, and Red and Gold Gala Evening, when red and gold are the go-to colors. Some sailings also have a Masquerade Ball, where the line suggests passengers spice up their attire with masks.

Note that if you really, really hate the idea of getting all dolled up for a gala evening, you’ll find that there are a few designated places on the ship (such as the pub) where you still can drink and dine without the formality. That said, the dress-up nights are a big part of the Cunard formula. If it doesn’t sound appealing to you, maybe you’re picking the wrong ship.

Related: What to pack for your first cruise

Bottom line

Queen Anne is a lovely ship that, alas, isn’t yet running like it should. The design of the vessel, which is more contemporary in its look and feel than what we’ve seen from Cunard in recent years, is meant to usher in a new era for the brand, and it does. In my opinion, it’s the most beautiful new Cunard ship to debut since Queen Mary 2 arrived more than 20 years ago.

But four months after opening, some of Queen Anne’s venues still are struggling to deliver the sort of friendly and intuitive service that they should, given Queen Anne’s positioning as a “premium” product that is a step above mass-market cruising (in some of its messaging to consumers, the line even refers to itself as offering a “luxury” experience).

In addition, several new-for-the-line dining concepts on the ship are struggling to hit their stride and may need rethinking.

Cunard, no doubt, will tweak all the above and eventually get it right, maybe by the time you are on board. And there’s a lot already to love about Queen Anne — particularly the higher-end experience available in the ship’s already smoothly-running Princess Grill and Queens Grill areas. If Cunard can work out the kinks with the rest of the ship, particularly in the areas of service and specialty dining, Queen Anne has the potential to be a wonderful cruise ship.

Planning a cruise? Start with these stories:

• The 5 most desirable cabin locations on any cruise ship
• A beginners guide to picking a cruise line
• The 8 worst cabin locations on any cruise ship
• The ultimate guide to what to pack for a cruise
• A quick guide to the most popular cruise lines
• 21 tips and tricks that will make your cruise go smoothly
• 15 ways cruisers waste money
• The ultimate guide to choosing a cruise ship cabin

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During a recent return to Rome, one of my favorite cities, I was determined not to pay through the teeth for a few nights in luxury. The Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel had been on my Roman bucket list for some time, and during my summer stay, I was able to get a pretty great deal by using points and award certificates despite really high cash prices.

Related: The best hotels in Rome

While the service was a bit spotty, a large room and incredible amenities more than made up for a few service hiccups (and a disappointing view). It’s an ideal hotel if you are traveling with family or want a resort-style escape that still gets you access to a major European capital city.

Here’s what to expect at the Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

What is Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel?

The Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel is a 370-room urban resort on a hill high above the city. In 1963, Conrad Hilton himself opened the hotel in a modular architectural style, which has been preserved in its exteriors. The hotel has seen some pretty high-profile guests over the years, including Fred Astaire, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Michelle Obama.

Rome Cavalieri is more of a resort than a classic city hotel. It has four swimming pools, an incredible spa featuring a Turkish bath and the only three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Rome. It sits on 15 well-manicured acres with walking paths weaving among the pools and plenty of green spaces.

Aside from the A-list clientele, the hotel is perhaps best known for its world-class art collection, which includes works by Pietro Liberi, Giovanni Giambattista Tiepelo and Antonio Tantardini, among many others.

How to book Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel

As you’d expect, this Waldorf isn’t cheap. Still, it can be a great deal if you book using Hilton Honors points. For the week I stayed in July, my large room with a balcony was going for around $625 or 83,000 Hilton Honors points a night.

While room rates rarely dip below $600, I found award availability fairly widespread for next year, even in the peak summer season. Room rates for a deluxe king room like I had start around $673 or 80,000 Hilton Honors points per night.

I ended up using a free night certificate from one of my Hilton cobranded cards for one night, spending 80,000 Hilton Honors points for a second night, and paying $637 cash for a third night.

Despite holding top-tier Diamond status with Hilton, I did not get upgraded at check-in. While understandable, considering the hotel was sold out during my stay, it would have been nice to at least have gotten a room with a nice view of Rome.

I also used two Hilton cards to maximize hotel credits.

I used my Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card for one day’s extra charges of $100. This card earns 12 points per dollar spent on eligible purchases made directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio, so I earned 1,200 Hilton Honors points. However, I also received a $50 statement credit, as you get $50 each quarter for purchases made directly with a property in the Hilton portfolio, up to $200 a year, when you use the Surpass card.

I also used my Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card for charges for the other two days. I earned a total of 4,886 Hilton Honors points on just under $350 in extra spending. I also was able to use my $200 statement credit for holding the Aspire card. You get a $200 credit twice a year when staying at select Hilton resorts. The Aspire card also comes with an annual free night award that I was able to use on this stay. That’s a pretty valuable perk for holding the card.

When booking the Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel, you’ll want to use one of the credit cards that earn the most points for Hilton stays, or possibly one that offers automatic Hilton Honors elite status for value-added benefits. These include the ones I mentioned above:

• Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card: Earn 12 points per dollar spent on eligible purchases at Hilton hotels, automatic Gold elite status and the ability to upgrade to Diamond status by spending $40,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar year.
• Hilton Honors American Express Business Card: Earn 12 points per dollar spent on eligible purchases at Hilton hotels, automatic Gold elite status and the ability to upgrade to Diamond status through the end of the next calendar year by spending $40,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar year.
• Hilton Honors American Express Card: Earn 7 points per dollar spent on eligible purchases at Hilton hotels and automatic Hilton Honors Silver status (with an upgrade to Gold when you spend $20,000 in a calendar year).
• Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card: Earn 14 points per dollar spent on eligible purchases at Hilton hotels and automatic Diamond elite status.

The information for the Hilton Aspire Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

All in all, I earned a total of 24,461 Hilton Honors points for the cash bookings and the charges I made to the room during my stay — worth $146.77, according to TPG’s September 2024 valuations. That’s a pretty decent return on spending since I only paid cash for one night of my three-night stay.

Once you’ve booked, keep an eye out for upgrade offers from Hilton.

I didn’t find any of the offers compelling, but if you have your heart set on a view of Rome from your room, you might want to lock in an upgrade ahead of time. I didn’t get the feeling the hotel prioritized Diamond Hilton Honors members for upgrades, so take that under advisement. I wouldn’t count on a free upgrade. For what it’s worth, I also wasn’t offered access to the hotel’s executive lounge, which is another perk that is supposed to be automatic with Diamond status.

Rome Cavalieri is in a fine area but not central to the best Roman sites

The Rome Cavalieri sits on top of the highest hill in Rome, Monte Mario, in an otherwise urban residential area. It offers sweeping views of the city’s iconic sites, including the nearby Vatican. The hotel is far enough away from high-traffic tourist areas to feel quiet, yet not too far from the attractions of Rome like the Trevi Fountain, Castel Sant’Angelo and the Colosseum — at least via car.

The hotel offers a shuttle that runs to central Rome hourly from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., but note that it only runs April through October, doesn’t run on Sundays or holidays, and takes a three-hour break during its running times. In other words, it’s not the most convenient way to get into town.

I did walk a few times from the hotel to the Vatican City area and back. If you are into long hikes, it’s about an hour each way. Just make sure it’s not over 100 degrees like it was during my stay.

Essentially, if you’re looking for a hotel where you can walk out the door and be in Rome’s historic center, you might consider staying elsewhere.

Related: A review of American Airlines business class on the 777 from Rome to New York

The hotel is about a 30-minute taxi ride from the main airport, Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport (FCO), and taxi rates start around $65.

Rooms are well appointed but a bit fusty

As I mentioned, I wasn’t upgraded at check-in despite my top-tier Hilton Honors Diamond status, but my deluxe king room was large and well appointed.

The room came in at more than 500 square feet with a balcony and a living area.

The terrace had two chairs, and views of the residential area across the road as well as a large telecommunications tower. Below, you could see an expansive lawn with some of the hotel’s sculptures.

The royal blue carpeting was broken up with gold-trimmed patterns that evoked more of a Las Vegas casino feel than Roman elegance, but I could see what they were going for. Light wood furniture and room dividers were well-cared for and lightened the vibe of the otherwise heavy designs.

There was a king-size bed with luxurious white linens, along with plenty of other living and working space. There was even a “pillow menu” to order various types of pillow filling, such as a buckwheat husk pillow, a down bolster and more.

I snapped a few photos of the room across the hall while the housekeepers were cleaning, and you can see the difference the view makes in the gallery below.

The room was filled with Roman artwork and other heavy and dated design touches.

I was greeted with a box of chocolates along with three bottles of sparkling and still water. They also had Champagne waiting for me, but I asked them to exchange it for Coke Zero on ice, which they happily did. Housekeeping regularly kept bottles of Bolle mineral water stocked in the room.

The room also had a Nespresso coffee machine, a tea kettle, Villeroy & Boch dishware, and constantly replenished coffee pods and creamers.

A minifridge underneath held miniature liquors plus beer, Acqua Panna Italian sparkling water, Red Bull, Coke products and a few small bottles of wine.

There was plenty of storage with several cabinets and a somewhat large closet. Inside, there were wooden hangers, a safe and some extra bedding.

The elegant cherry wood desk had plenty of space to work during my stay. Wi-Fi was fast enough to stream Netflix.

There were outlets above the desk framed in gold. Indeed, there were plentiful outlets throughout the room. Some of the plugs work with American prongs, but you may need to ask the front desk for adapters if you forget to bring some universal adapters of your own.

A nice-size bathroom contained a single sink, a shower and bathtub combo, a bidet, and a little seating area. It was all made from Roman travertine marble. The inlaid flooring design was a nice touch.

The amenities by Acqua di Parma were nice, though they were heavily scented with a citrusy, floral fragrance that got a bit tired by the time I left. There were also extra dental kits, mouthwash, lotion and cotton swabs in the bathroom.

I’m not a huge fan of the shower-tub combo in hotel rooms. The half-glass-walled shower also made for a messy bathroom floor during showers, but the water pressure was excellent.

The plush Pedersoli Milano’s LaSpugna bathrobes were a nice touch.

The room was large, especially by European standards. I think my room — among the smallest in the hotel — would be large enough for a couple or small family to be perfectly comfortable for an extended stay.

Restaurants at Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel

There are plenty of dining options on-site, including poolside dining at Uliveto and La Pergola, Rome’s only three-Michelin-starred restaurant.

Uliveto

Uliveto is the hotel’s main restaurant next door to the pool with indoor and outdoor seating. It features Mediterranean and international cuisine with regional Italian dishes, and is open for both breakfast and dinner. I loved the alfresco dining experience; the hosts and waiters were friendly, and service was prompt and efficient.

The breakfast buffet came free as one of the best benefits of top-tier Hilton Honors Diamond status, saving me $52 per day. There was an impressive spread, including a juice station, a large selection of fruit, and a wide variety of breads and pastries in one room.

The room next door was filled with multiple tables full of food, including fried eggs, omelets, hard-boiled eggs and various meats.

You can also have eggs made to order and other items from a small a la carte menu, as well as vegan and gluten-free options.

Uliveto is open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day, and I also got to try dinner there. It was exceptional, if a bit pricey.

I started with broccoli ripassati as an appetizer for $13 and paired it with a delicious pasta called pici all’arrabbiata for $25. Both dishes were among the best I enjoyed during my stay in Italy.

Note there is a cover charge of $5.50 per person for dinner, which seems silly to me.

La Pergola

Speaking of silly, Rome Cavalieri’s fancy rooftop restaurant is La Pergola, where I was treated pretty shabbily. It was partially my fault because I didn’t make reservations prior to my visit, but the host was downright rude when I showed up to ask about being added to the waitlist. Despite the fact the restaurant wasn’t even open for the evening yet, she insisted I put on a blazer before I could even take a look inside the empty restaurant.

I was happy to dress up, but when I returned I was told I wouldn’t be allowed to photograph even the main restaurant seating area. She also noted that while I was on the waitlist for dinner, they were fully booked. I was able to take some photos of the impressive views from the terrace and the bar area of the restaurant before she shooed me away. It left a pretty bad taste in my mouth.

That said, if you are able to get reservations, the restaurant gets good recommendations for the food. The water list alone has 45 options, and there are some 70,000 bottles of wine to choose from. The chef here is Heinz Beck and the restaurant recently got a major renovation and overhaul. La Pergola is open for dinner only Tuesdays through Saturdays. Reservations open four months in advance. To give you an idea of prices, a seven-course meal is $325, and an a la carte three-course meal will cost you $253.

Tiepelo Lounge & Terrace

On the other side of the decadent lobby, you’ll find Tiepelo Lounge & Terrace, which is open all day and into the night and named for the artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Three of his rococo-style paintings adorn the hotel’s walls.

The bar features live jazz or piano music in the evenings. The menu is full of comfort food, and I had a delicious pizza one evening. The bar serves everything from morning espresso to evening nightcaps with prompt and friendly service.

The Pool Bar

Adjacent to the pool is The Pool Bar, offering a covered area to sit and dine. They also deliver drinks and light bites to people enjoying time in the sun by the pool. Service was excellent, though prices are high. I paid $31 for a tasty Caesar salad with grilled chicken and a whopping $11 for a soft drink.

Room service is also available with offerings mirroring Uliveto exactly. One evening, I ordered a small pizza and chicken breast with french fries, which totaled out to $84.

Amenities are where the Rome Cavalieri really shines

When I think of the Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel, what I really remember is the amenities. Not only does it have Roman baths, clay tennis courts, walking paths and several large terraces, but the resort also has no fewer than four swimming pools, including an indoor pool.

That interior pool is the perfect spot to hang out in the winter when the rest of the swimming pools are closed for the season.

There was never a shortage of pool chairs or places to sit or lie down, even during peak sunbathing hours.

The swimming pool was one of the most popular spots in the hotel, filled with guests from all over. I loved the pool because, unlike many modern pools, it had a deep end; it was nice to dive down in the perfectly cooled water.

The hotel has two small pools ideal for children, plus a kids club in the summer with activities like pizza making.

Pets are also welcome, and I saw several adorable dogs, including a little dachshund who seemed to be a bit of a mascot, creating a stir wherever he went.

The spa at Rome Cavalieri channels Roman baths

You can hit up the Cavalieri Grand Spa Club for a massage, facial, hair treatment or other service. I enjoyed a wonderful massage at the spa on my first day at the hotel; that $200 resort credit from my Hilton card came in handy here. I paid $149 for a 50-minute treatment they call the Diamond Well-Living Experience massage.

There are separate men’s and women’s locker rooms (and saunas), and the friendly spa staff gives you a locker, a robe and slippers if you are enjoying a treatment.

I spent at least an hour a day during my visit using the spa facilities. There is a huge co-ed hot tub and a steam room, a relaxation room, and separate sauna and locker rooms divided by gender.

There’s also a separate seating area with a Nespresso machine, ice water and a few snacks available for spa guests.

Thanks to my Hilton Honors status, I didn’t pay to use the facilities, but guests who don’t book treatments and without status will have to pay $42 a day to use the spa.

Fitness fanatics will love the large, well-appointed gym

The Rome Cavalieri has a massive and recently updated gym. It offers a giant selection of cardio equipment like treadmills, stationary bikes and elliptical machines, and dozens of machines and free weights of all kinds. Even when the gym was crowded, it never felt full, and there were machines available.

Reasons Rome Cavalieri may not be for you

The Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel has many pluses, but it also has some drawbacks.

• As previously mentioned, service was spotty, and they didn’t do a great job of rewarding this Hilton Honors Diamond member.
• The location is not ideal for seeing the major sights of Rome.
• Rooms are also a bit old-fashioned, and the 1960s-era design of the resort can feel dated.
• Rooms without the sweeping views of Rome are a bit of a letdown since you overlook a residential neighborhood.
• The shuttles to take visitors to the main areas of the Roman capital don’t run frequently enough to be as useful as they could be.
• You’ll need to make reservations at La Pergola well in advance. Don’t expect to get help scoring a reservation from the concierge at the hotel.

Accessibility at Rome Cavalieri

The Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel is fully wheelchair accessible. It has accessible rooms, wide doors and hallways, accessible elevators, and a whole list of other amenities. I found space to be one of the best parts of the hotel, and lots of large areas felt especially accommodating. Buttons are lowered in the wider-than-average elevators and there are grab bars as well.

As always, TPG recommends calling the hotel to confirm any accessible room types prior to booking to make sure specific needs can be accommodated.

Checking out

The Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel has a lot going for it. It’s a fabulous option for those with Hilton free night certificates or Hilton Honors points burning a hole in their pocket, assuming you can book for 100,000 points a night or less. I loved being able to use the swimming pools, the incredible spa and baths, and the various lounging areas. The food was delicious, and the rooms, though dated, are still luxurious.

Related: The best Waldorf Astoria hotels in the world

However, there are several things to be aware of if you are staying here. Don’t expect to get a ton of Hilton Honors perks, even with top-tier status, and the service didn’t quite live up to a true luxury hotel experience. If you want reservations at the famed three-Michelin-star restaurant, reserve far in advance and don’t depend on any magic from the concierge.

Also be aware the location is outside of Rome’s historic center.

Despite all of that, the Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel is a bright spot in the very expensive Roman hotel landscape. I would go back if the price were right, especially if I had more free night certificates to use.

Related reading:

• The award travelers guide to Hilton Honors
• How to choose the best Hilton credit card for you
• Hilton Honors elite status: What it is and how to earn it
• The best hotel rewards programs in the world

“The gangway is located aft on the starboard side.”

It’s entirely reasonable for a crew member to say this to you — and for you to not understand a word of all those nautical terms. It’s easy to learn that “aft” refers to the back of the ship and “starboard” is the sailor’s term for the right side, but what exactly is a cruise ship gangway — and what do you need to know about this common cruise structure?

“Gangway” is the name given to any walkway, staircase or platform that allows you to board or disembark from a ship. The location and style of gangway you’ll use during your cruise might be different from one day to the next. The characteristics of the gangway are dependent on the port, the sea conditions and the ship itself. Even where you find your cruise ship’s gangway can be confusing as the ship moves from port to port.

Let’s clarify some jargon and examine all the possibilities for entering and exiting your cruise ship via a gangway.

How do you use a cruise ship gangway?

At major cruise terminals, like those at your embarkation or departure port, the gangway is often like an airplane jetway. It’s an enclosed walkway from the terminal building to a midlevel deck of the ship. You’ll enter the gangway from a hallway at the terminal and exit onto a welcoming deck where crew members greet you and point you in the direction of your cabin.

Small ships might require you to walk across the pier and then up a flight of stairs or a ramp to board, even at major port facilities. It’s similar to how boarding regional jets varies from entering full-size jets, even at large airports.

To depart the ship once it docks or anchors and is cleared by local authorities in a port of call, you’ll pass through a line to check out from the ship, usually by scanning your cruise ship keycard.

At ports where the ship is tied at a dock, the gangway might consist of nothing more than a metal ramp with handrails bridging the small gap between the ship and the concrete pier. If the ship is anchored away from the port, tender boats will take passengers to shore; the gangway will be a platform attached to the side of the ship from which you access the boats. Crew members are always on hand to help you safely into the tender.

Upon return to the ship after a day in port, you’ll likely be greeted by crew members on the pier, sometimes with cool drinks or towels and a spot to rest in the shade. They will point you toward the gangway or tender dock, which might have changed a bit while you were gone.

Fluctuating sea conditions and tides can increase or decrease the steepness of ramps and staircases throughout the day. Occasionally, crew members even swap to different gangway equipment to improve accessibility.

Once back on the ship, you’ll scan back in with your keycard and pass through a security checkpoint.

Related: The biggest mistakes cruise ship passengers make on port days

Where do you find the cruise ship’s gangway?

Signs, announcements and crew members will point you toward the location of the gangway, which can change from day to day based on sea conditions and docking facilities at each port. You might board the ship initially on Deck 5, leave in the first port of call from the forward port side on Deck 2 and disembark to a tender boat from a midship gangway on the starboard side in the next port.

I’ve even been on a river ship with a bow that opened to reveal a long gangway bridge that was deployed directly to shore in a spot where the river was too shallow to allow normal parallel docking at a pier.

What is the meaning of ‘gangway up’ on a cruise?

“Gangway up” refers to the time at which a cruise ship takes the last steps to leave a port of call. Passengers are usually expected to return to the ship a half-hour or even a full hour before departure time. Gangway up is the time at which the captain essentially considers all passengers not on board as not coming aboard. The gangway is hauled in through the opening in the hull, or if a port gangway is in use, it is pulled away from the ship by port personnel.

Captains hold the cruise ship gangway for various reasons, such as when ship-sponsored tours or transportation methods are delayed, or when passengers are involved in medical emergencies.

It’s far better to be back on board your ship watching the gangway-up process than to be left behind.

Related: 12 ways to speed up the cruise embarkation process

Can a cruise ship gangway collapse?

Cruise lines place a high priority on passenger safety, making the collapse of a gangway unlikely but not impossible. In 2022, a port authority-owned gangway in Panama City collapsed, injuring 11 passengers of Norwegian Encore as they were reboarding the ship after a day in port. Reports indicated that the changing tides had increased the steepness of the gangway, possibly contributing to the collapse.

Are cruise ship gangways accessible if I use a wheelchair, scooter or other mobility aid?

If you have mobility limitations, it is important to choose your cruise line, ship and itinerary carefully. Don’t assume that every gangway will be wheelchair-friendly or that crew members will be there to assist with lifting scooters or wheelchairs in all situations.

Ports that require tendering pose one possible scenario where the gangway might be inaccessible: on days when the seas are particularly rough. I have seen tender crews help passengers using mobility aids on calm days but decline on choppy days.

Related: 6 tips for going on a cruise as a wheelchair user

Some small cruise lines use stairs for gangways in all ports, making them inaccessible for wheeled devices. Even if the port of departure has accessible gangways, checking the accessibility of a line’s port gangways is critical for those who rely on assistive devices and wish to leave the ship in ports of call.

Bottom line

Cruise ship gangways come in various configurations and can be deployed in various ways to allow passengers to enter and leave the ship. At some ports, the gangway might be a simple ramp; at others, there might be steps or even platforms for docking tender boats. All the above are considered “the gangway” when they are in use and can be easily found using signage, listening to announcements or following crew instructions.

Planning a cruise? Start with these stories:

• The 5 most desirable cabin locations on any cruise ship
• A beginners guide to picking a cruise line
• The 8 worst cabin locations on any cruise ship
• The ultimate guide to what to pack for a cruise
• A quick guide to the most popular cruise lines
• 21 tips and tricks that will make your cruise go smoothly
• 15 ways cruisers waste money
• The ultimate guide to choosing a cruise ship cabin

Finding business-class award availability at good prices is often the toughest part of the points and miles game. There are a number of tools that can help you find award availability easier than in the past. However, the pickings remain slim with many airlines and routes when it comes to getting well-priced international business-class awards.

If you are struggling to find the business-class award that you want on United Airlines or another Star Alliance airline, know that some routes are much more generous with award availability than others.

If you can’t find what you want to your desired European destination, it may be worth it to check award flights from some United hubs like Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), Dulles International Airport (IAD) and O’Hare International Airport (ORD). They have flights to many European destinations like Amsterdam, Munich and Frankfurt. Saver business-class availability can be significantly better to and from those destinations.

If you can fly through or from Newark on your way to London, there are many date options; business-class award flights are readily available from 80,000 to 88,000 MileagePlus miles one-way on many dates.

Pro tip: Here are some of our favorite tools for finding award availability on your own.

Below are some routes to search if you want to find lots of Star Alliance business-class availability (sourced with data backed by Awayz) that you can book with United MileagePlus miles — or sometimes via even better-priced Star Alliance programs such as Air Canada’s Aeroplan.

Related: These are the best rewards card welcome offers of the month

Great business-class availability to Amsterdam through April 2025

Chicago to Amsterdam

We are seeing many award flights available from 80,000 miles plus fees and taxes from ORD to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) in early 2025. This January round-trip nonstop itinerary is one example. It costs 160,000 miles plus $101.60 in taxes.

Houston to Amsterdam

There is also good one-stop availability in February 2025 from Houston to Amsterdam. You can fly round-trip (with a layover each way) from George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) to AMS for 160,000 MileagePlus miles, plus $107.20 in taxes.

If you have a good stash of points with Star Alliance member Air Canada’s Aeroplan program, you can book business-class seats from Houston to Amsterdam via Munich or Frankfurt in November. They start at 70,000 miles, plus tax.

Washington, D.C., to Amsterdam

You can also book round-trip business class travel from IAD to AMS on United in March for 160,000 miles plus $101.60 in fees. Again, some of these are nonstop, and some are connecting (often through the aforementioned cities like Frankfurt and Munich).

Related: Best ways to travel to Europe using points and miles

Great business-class availability to Munich and Frankfurt through April 2025

Los Angeles to Munich

In the spring, you can find good availability for business-class awards from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Munich International Airport (MUC). Flights cost as few as 88,000 miles each way.

Chicago and Detroit to Frankfurt

There’s some good award space in February for flights from ORD to FRA for that same award price.

Through April 2025, there are business-class seats in the 80,000-to-88,000-mile range from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) to FRA on Lufthansa-operated flights. These same flights are often bookable for 70,000 Air Canada Aeroplan miles. (Remember, many types of credit card points transfer to Air Canada’s Aeroplan.)

Related: Best websites for searching Star Alliance award availability

Good business-class availability from Newark to London

It can be harder to find great business-class award availability on United flights to London from some of the carrier’s hub cities. Flying from (or through) Newark can make things much easier. We saw good availability into April 2025 on this route.

Sometimes the flight with the best availability is one of our favorites: the very late-night departure. It’s pretty much ideal if you have that lie-flat seat and can go straight to sleep.

Another thing you may notice is the price for United cardholders is sometimes much lower than for non-cardholders. This is a good reason to be sure you have a United credit card in your wallet.

Related: These are the best hotels in London

Bottom line

While these availability trends are commonly true, they can, of course, fluctuate. If a deal catches your eye, it’s always a good idea to go ahead and lock it in. This is especially true if you are booking with a program like United that makes it easy to change or redeposit award flights.

Earning points and miles is fun, but successfully turning them into a dream business-class award flight is even better. With this list of routes as a good starting point, you’ll be wheels-up to Europe (in comfort) in no time.

Related reading:

• The best credit cards for airport lounge access
• The ultimate guide to United Club access
• The 7 do’s and don’ts in an airport lounge
• The best credit cards to reach elite status
• 7 domestic lounges that are worth going out of your way for
• The best credit cards for United Airlines flyers

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers.

Looking to celebrate Halloween in a truly spooky fashion? Why not try and brave a night at one of the most haunted hotels in the world?

From glamorous Hollywood high-rises to Dublin’s stately “Grand Dame,” there’s no shortage of haunted hotels you can book — in some cases, with points — to get into the All Hallows’ Eve spirit. 

We’ve selected our favorites — a mix of urban towers, historic mansions and more — that are rumored to have some supernatural guests. Here are 10 of the best, most haunted hotels in the world.

The Stanley Hotel

• Location: 333 East Wonderview Ave., Estes Park, Colorado
• How to book: Cash rates start at $229 a night. But for $25, you can embark on a day tour of the hotel without needing to check in. 

The Stanley Hotel is the iconic, sinister property that inspired Stephen King’s “The Shining.”

Located in Estes Park, Colorado (which is an hour and 30 minutes northwest of Denver), the hotel opened in 1909 and was intended to be a posh getaway for America’s upper crust that could rival the grand hotels found on the East Coast — and it reigned supreme in Colorado for quite a few decades. However, by the 1970s, The Stanley Hotel had fallen into a state of disrepair. It might have even been demolished had King not stumbled in during a winter storm in 1974.  

There’s a grand total of 140 rooms at The Stanley Hotel, though rooms 217 and 413 — as well as the entire fourth floor — are considered the most haunted. And the Stanley isn’t home to just one ghost, but several. There’s Elizabeth Wilson, the head chambermaid who survived a large gas explosion at the hotel and would work at the property until the ‘50s. An unknown child can sometimes be spotted playing with guests’ hair, while the ghost of a pastry chef is said to walk the staff tunnels beneath the hotel, filling the space with the scent of freshly baked treats wherever he goes. The property is also believed to be haunted by Freelan Oscar Stanley himself, as well as his wife Flora, who can sometimes be heard tinkling the keys of the lobby piano. 

The Stanley’s public areas often see the most paranormal action — especially the concert hall, where Harry Houdini once performed. The ghost of Mrs. Smith, another former housekeeper, is more of a friendly apparition — she tidies up rooms and organizes guests’ suitcases. However, ladies should beware of the spirit of the schmoozing businessman Lord Dunraven, who allegedly steals jewelry, hides it in the closet and likes to breathe down the back of guests’ necks.

Related: 6 things I saw during my stay at the ‘haunted’ Stanley Hotel

The Equinox Golf Resort & Spa

• Location: 3567 Main St., Manchester, Vermont
• How to book: Cash rates start at $149 per night.

The Equinox Golf Resort & Spa dates back to 1769, and over the years, it has welcomed a variety of high-wattage guests such as former presidents William Howard Taft, Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt. It also has more than a few phantoms in residence, including a celebrity phantom. The ghost of Abraham Lincoln’s melancholy wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, has been spotted wandering the property with one of her sons — and occasionally, she’s been known to move rocking chairs and household items.

Bourbon Orleans Hotel

• Location: 717 Orleans St., New Orleans 
• How to book: Cash rates start at $150 per night.

New Orleans is considered one of the most haunted cities in America, so it’s not surprising that uninvited guests can be found in many of the city’s hotels.

One of the most notorious hotels for ghost sightings is the Bourbon Orleans Hotel. The building that now houses the hotel was built in 1815 and was initially intended to be a ballroom and theater. After being devastated by fires in 1816 and 1866, it was purchased by the Sisters of the Holy Family (the first Black American religious order in the United States) in 1866, who converted the property into a school for Black American girls, an orphanage and a convent. Just before the Sisters purchased it, it also briefly operated as a hospital during the Civil War. 

Ghosts from the hotel’s many eras have been spotted throughout the property. Some of the most common sightings are the young children who died from yellow fever when the property was an orphanage, a Confederate soldier who paces the hallways and a phantom who hides behind the drapes in the ballroom.

The Hollywood Roosevelt

• Location: 7000 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles
• How to book: Cash rates start at $249 a night.

Constructed in 1926 and located off of LA’s famed Hollywood Boulevard, The Hollywood Roosevelt has long been a favorite destination among the stars. Marilyn Monroe lived in a room above the Tropicana Pool for two years; Shirley Temple took her first tap-dancing lessons with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson here; and Clark Gable and Carole Lombard used to meet in the penthouse of the hotel while they were having an affair (Gable was married to actress and socialite Maria Langham at the time).

Rumor has it that a few of the hotel’s most illustrious clients are simply uninterested in checking out, and celebrity spirits are regularly spotted around the hotel. Marilyn Monroe’s spirit, for example, has appeared in the mirror of many guest rooms. Some visitors also report seeing a little girl in a blue dress playing around the hotel — could it be Shirley Temple?

The Marshall House

• Location: 123 East Broughton St., Savannah, Georgia
• How to book: Cash rates start at around $182 a night.

With a history of piracy, a legacy as a hub for the trade of enslaved African people and a site of yellow fever epidemics, it’s no wonder that Savannah, Georgia, is regularly ranked as one of the most paranormally active cities in America — and The Marshall House is one of the city’s most well-known haunts. Built in 1851, the hotel was twice used as a hospital, once during a yellow fever epidemic and again as a Union hospital toward the end of the Civil War.

The hotel is said to be inhabited by several ghosts, including soldiers with missing limbs, children who play marbles in the hallways and the spirit of Joel Chandler Harris, a Southern journalist and folklorist who lived at The Marshall House for a short period — his typewriter keys can sometimes be heard clacking away in his favorite room. Guests have even complained of hearing and seeing a phantom cat and smelling a terrible odor on haunted floors.

Fairmont Banff Springs

• Location: 405 Spray Ave., Banff, Alberta 
• How to book: Rates at this Fairmont property vary wildly throughout the year depending on the season but can be found as low as $330 per night. You can also redeem Accor Live Limitless points here. Points are worth a fixed value, and you can redeem them in increments of 2,000 points for about $40 off your stay.
  

It’s only natural that a hotel over 130 years old would surely have a few ghostly visitors, right? The Fairmont Banff Springs is home to several frightening (but benevolent) specters. 

One of them is a bride who died falling down the Fairmont’s marble staircase before she could say “I do” — guests have reported seeing a veiled woman swaying in the grand ballroom and around the hotel. The spirit of the hotel’s former head bellman has also been known to wander the hotel’s halls, ensuring everything runs as it should.

Certain rooms at the Fairmont Banff Springs are said to have particularly strange activity. Complaints include pillows being pulled out from beneath guests’ heads, bloody handprints appearing on the bathroom mirror and even sleeping patrons getting shoved out of bed.

Related: Why you should absolutely visit the Fairmont Banff Springs — but maybe not spend the night

The Shelbourne

• Location: 27 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin
• How to book: Cash rates start at around $389 a night.

In 2013, actor Lily Collins told Jimmy Fallon the ghost of a young girl haunted her during her stay at The Shelbourne, an Autograph Collection property in Dublin — and she’s not alone.

Many visitors have reported mysterious occurrences, like the taps turning on, strange giggling, doors slamming and a shadow of a girl roaming aimlessly through the building, especially on the sixth floor.

In fact, so many guests complained about paranormal activity that the hotel eventually insisted a staff member stay in the supposedly haunted room. The “lucky” employee reportedly ran out of the room terrified after the rumors proved true. The ghost at fault is thought to be Mary Masters, a 7-year-old girl who died of cholera in the building hundreds of years ago.

The Langham, London

• Location: 1C Portland Place, London
• How to book: Cash rates start at $586 a night.

Dating back to 1865, The Langham, London is known for having several shadowy residents — England’s cricket team even reported being spooked at the luxury hotel. One of the ghosts was a doctor who murdered his wife before dying by suicide during their honeymoon. Now, he’s most frequently spotted during the month of October, walking through the hotel still dressed in Victorian-era clothing. 

Napoleon III has also reportedly been spotted roaming around the basement, which was one of his favorite hangouts when he was alive. There was also a German prince who died by suicide before World War I by jumping out a window — he’s said to be the most active ghost at the hotel. He’s often seen in the mornings and appears and disappears while wearing a military jacket. And one particularly mischievous ghost likes to toss guests in Room 333 (the most haunted of all the rooms at The Langham) out of bed.

The Emily Morgan Hotel

• Location: 705 East Houston St., San Antonio
• How to book: Rates start at $236 or 50,000 Hilton Honors points a night.

San Antonio is perhaps best known for the Alamo, but just across the street from the historic mission, visitors can find one of the most haunted locales in the Lone Star State: The Emily Morgan Hotel. Fun fact: the hotel is named after Emily Morgan, the Yellow Rose of Texas.

The building that now holds The Emily Morgan initially operated as the city’s Medical Arts Building from 1924 to 1976 and housed multiple doctor’s and dentist’s offices, all while also serving as a hospital. It stands an ominous 13 stories tall and features distinct, slightly severe Gothic Revival architecture — it’s embellished with things like cast iron ornamentation, intricately carved motifs and a series of gargoyles, each of which represents a different illness. 

The basement, seventh and 14th floors (which is really the 13th floor — it’s common for older buildings to “skip” the 13th floor) are said to be the hotel’s most haunted areas. The 13th floor previously served as an operating theater, the seventh was the hospital’s psychiatric unit, and the basement was used as the building’s morgue and crematorium. Guests at The Emily Morgan have reported smelling the faint scent of disinfectant on the 14th floor and ghoulish shrieks and screams on the seventh. Perhaps most terrifyingly, the elevator has even been known to drop down to the basement even when it wasn’t selected. 

The Emily Morgan Hotel became a DoubleTree property in 2012 and is one of the official hotels of the Alamo. Plus, if you’re feeling brave enough, you could book a seasonal “Room With a Boo” package, which gets you a standard guest room, a complimentary cocktail and breakfast for two with “boo-berry” pancakes.

Lizzie Borden House

• Location: 230 Second St., Fall River, Massachusetts
• How to book: Cash rates start at $258 per night. Day tours start at $30 per person.

This inconspicuous home in Fall River’s historic district was the site of one of America’s most infamous crimes. On the morning of Aug. 4, 1892, wealthy local investor Andrew Borden and his wife Abby were found dead of multiple hatchet wounds to their face and head. 

And though she was acquitted at trial, the prime suspect in the case was one of Andrew’s daughters from his first marriage, Lizzie. There are numerous theories as to why Lizzie may have wanted to murder her father and her stepmother. Andrew was notoriously shrewd with money whereas Lizzie wanted to live more extravagantly. There were also more salacious rumors, such as Lizzie having an affair with her maid, Bridget Sullivan, or that Lizzie was being abused by her father. No one was ever held responsible for the murders, but shortly after Lizzie was acquitted, she moved to a large, modern house in a more fashionable part of town. 

Despite being the scene of one of American history’s grisliest and most shocking murders, the Lizzie Borden House has operated as a bed-and-breakfast since 1996. (It was initially operated by Martha McGinn and Ronald Evans, who inherited the property and then sold it in 2021 to ghost tour mogul Lance Zaal.) During their stay at the hotel, guests can enjoy original furnishings and period-correct details. However, if you don’t want to commit to staying in the house overnight, the property does offer 90-minute day tours as well. 

Among major cruise lines, Cunard has one of the more modest loyalty programs.

The Cunard World Club loyalty program doesn’t offer its top-tier members such truly epic loyalty perks as the free cruises that come with top status in the Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor Society loyalty program.

The program only has four tiers, fewer than the programs offered by many of its competitors.

That said, compared to what’s required to reach the upper echelons of most other brands’ reward schemes, it’s not all that difficult to claim top-level bragging rights in the Cunard World Club loyalty program — not that the typical Cunard passenger would stoop to bragging, of course.

Here, read all about the tiers, what they offer and how to reach each one.

Ways to earn points

Cunard’s easy-to-navigate loyalty system elevates you to one of four tiers based on either the number of sailings you’ve completed with Cunard or the number of days you’ve cruised with the line.

Your status will be determined by whichever of those milestones you reach first. For example, if you mainly book shorter sailings, your status will be determined by the number of voyages you’ve taken. Conversely, you could reach a high tier by going on a smaller number of sailings if each is of considerable length.

Related: Cunard cabins and suites guide: Everything you need to know

Program tiers and benefits

The Cunard World Club loyalty program has four tiers:

• Silver: One voyage
• Gold: Two voyages or 20 nights
• Platinum: Seven voyages or 70 nights
• Diamond: 15 voyages or 150 nights

All status changes occur after the sailing on which they are reached. No midsailing status or benefit changes are allowed.

After just a single sailing, regardless of length, cruisers are automatically enrolled in the Cunard World Club program and receive at least Silver status.

Aside from occasional discounts — the same ones to which just about every other Cunard passenger has access — this level doesn’t offer much value, unfortunately.

Perks at the Silver level include:

• Member savings and special offers
• Cunard World Club desk in all international offices
• An onboard loyalty representative
• The Cunarder magazine

Thankfully, the longest Cunard cruisers will spend at the Silver level in the Cunard World Club program is one sailing, as they’re bumped up to Gold status after their second voyage.

Since travelers can attain Gold status after 20 nights, it is possible for them to skip right past Silver and start at Gold if their very first sailing was longer than that. (In some cases, if a passenger’s first voyage is extremely long, such as a world cruise, it’s also possible for them to skip straight to Platinum or Diamond level by their second sailing.)

Related: The 5 best destinations you can visit on a Cunard Line cruise ship

In addition to all the perks awarded at the Silver level of the World Club loyalty program, reaching Gold status brings members:

• A Gold membership pin
• A $45 credit toward an onboard Wi-Fi plan
• An invitation to the Cunard World Club cocktail party (on sailings of six nights or longer)

Next is the Platinum tier, which is reached after seven sailings or 70 total cruise nights.

In addition to the perks available to Silver- and Gold-level members, Platinum-level members of the Cunard World Club loyalty program get:

• A Platinum membership pin
• An increased $80 credit toward an onboard Wi-Fi package
• A 20% discount on onboard laundry and dry-cleaning services
• Priority check-in at the terminals in New York and Southampton, England
• A complimentary wine tasting (on sailings of six nights or longer)
• A 10% discount on White Star luggage service
• An invitation to the senior officers’ party (on sailings of six nights or longer)

The Cunard World Club loyalty program’s fourth tier, the Diamond level, is the pinnacle of Cunard loyalty, and it’s reached after 15 cruises or 150 nights onboard. That’s impressive, as some other lines require several hundred nights and dozens more sailings to reach top-level status.

Diamond rewards include all the perks afforded to Silver, Gold and Platinum members of the World Club program, as well as:

• A Diamond membership pin
• An increased $135 credit toward the purchase of an onboard Wi-Fi package
• One complimentary meal in an extra-fee dining venue (on sailings of six nights or more; choose from lunch at The Verandah or dinner at Kings Court or The Lido)
• A dedicated Diamond member contact at the World Club desk in international offices

The elite level that makes a difference

Gold is when passengers will start to see perks that represent tangible value (a lapel pin) and monetary value (free Wi-Fi and gratis drinks at the cocktail party).

The biggest jump in overall value is from Gold to Platinum, where cruisers can take advantage of discounts on laundry and luggage services — assuming they actually use them. Of course, more value is added at the Diamond level in the form of free meals and additional complimentary Wi-Fi. However, the number of sailings needed to reach that tier and the cost associated with taking those sailings make the rewards less valuable.

The perks of the Cunard World Club program aren’t much to write home about in the grand scheme of things, but there are still a few nice incentives. The best one for you is subjective and depends on what you value, how you prefer to spend your time and how long your voyage is.

For example, if you’re on a cruise that’s more than a couple of weeks long, 20% off of laundry services could be something you’d use quite a bit. If you’re techy, you might appreciate the value provided by discounted Wi-Fi when you sail. Or, perhaps there’s nothing you enjoy more than a leisurely meal at a fancy restaurant where you can order an expensive steak and not have to pay for it. For some, less quantitative time-saving gestures — like priority embarkation and disembarkation — are the most sought after.

Related: Epic around-the-world cruises that will check off all your bucket list travel destinations

Bottom line

Compared with other cruise lines’ loyalty programs — some of which offer free cruises for reaching the highest levels — the Cunard World Club loyalty program isn’t as much of a draw. It’s easier to achieve higher status quickly with Cunard than with many other brands, but the perks aren’t as lucrative when passengers finally make it there.

That said, the Cunard demographic is generally composed of wealthy, sophisticated individuals who cruise because they enjoy it — not because they want to be recognized for doing so. That means they’re less likely to be concerned with their Cunard status level and what it brings them.

For more information, visit the Cunard World Club page on Cunard Line’s website.

Planning a cruise? Start with these stories:

• The 5 most desirable cabin locations on any cruise ship
• A beginners guide to picking a cruise line
• The 8 worst cabin locations on any cruise ship
• The ultimate guide to what to pack for a cruise
• A quick guide to the most popular cruise lines
• 21 tips and tricks that will make your cruise go smoothly
• Top ways cruisers waste money
• The ultimate guide to choosing a cruise ship cabin

If you’re reading this article, booking a round-the-world ticket with points and miles likely sounds alluring. A round-the-world award ticket often lets you fly many segments for about the same points or miles as a few long-haul award flights. However, in most cases, you’ll need to fly around the world and return to the region, country or city you departed from at the end of your trip.

You may also experience frustrations as you book and travel on a complex round-the-world award ticket. You’ll usually have to call in to book your award; any changes may be difficult or impossible. And if you want to fly in premium cabins, booking a round-the-world ticket with points and miles usually requires skill and luck in finding award availability.

This being said, the value and experience of a round-the-world ticket can be worth the effort. So here’s a look at some of the best programs for booking a round-the-world ticket with points and miles that you can earn via transferable rewards.

Air Canada Aeroplan

Air Canada Aeroplan doesn’t offer a true round-the-world award, but you can effectively travel around the world and visit three destinations on a round-trip Aeroplan itinerary with two stopovers. Best of all, you can search and book these awards on Air Canada’s website.

For example, I searched for a multicity itinerary from New York to Singapore with a seven-day stopover in Frankfurt on the outbound and a seven-day stopover in Seoul, South Korea, on the return.

The total cost of this four-segment economy round-the-world itinerary is 130,000 Aeroplan points and 408 Canadian dollars (about $300). You can earn Aeroplan points by spending on the Aeroplan® Credit Card. But suppose you need to acquire points quickly. In that case, you can also transfer American Express Membership Rewards points, Bilt Rewards Points, Capital One miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Marriott Bonvoy points to Aeroplan.

Related: How to redeem Aeroplan points for maximum value

ANA Mileage Club

ANA Mileage Club offers a Star Alliance Round-the-World award ticket to its members. With this ticket, you can fly on Star Alliance airlines around the world as long as your itinerary meets the following requirements:

• Fly across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans one time each
• Fly west to east or east to west without backtracking
• No more than eight stopovers (not including your origin and destination; up to three stopovers within Europe and up to four stopovers within Japan)
• No more than 12 flights and four ground segments (including airport changes in the same city)

You must call ANA Mileage Club to book, but you can expect to pay the following award rates based on the total distance of your flight segments:

Itinerary mileage	Economy	Business	First
4,001 to 7,000	38,000	63,000	90,000
7,001 to 9,000	43,000	68,000	100,000
9,001 to 11,000	55,000	85,000	120,000
11,001 to 14,000	60,000	90,000	140,000
14,001 to 18,000	65,000	105,000	160,000
18,001 to 20,000	75,000	115,000	180,000
20,001 to 22,000	85,000	125,000	200,000
22,001 to 25,000	100,000	145,000	220,000
25,001 to 29,000	120,000	170,000	260,000
29,001 to 34,000	140,000	200,000	300,000
34,001 to 39,000	160,000	220,000	340,000
39,001 to 44,000	180,000	270,000	390,000
44,001 to 50,000	200,000	300,000	450,000

Many travelers believe the award rates for ANA’s Star Alliance Round-the-World tickets are the best you’ll find. If you need more miles to book your round-the-world ANA award, you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points and Marriott Bonvoy points to ANA Mileage Club.

Related: The best programs for maximizing stopovers and open jaws on award tickets

British Airways Executive Club

British Airways Executive Club doesn’t officially offer a round-the-world award ticket. But you can book an award ticket for travel on two or more Oneworld carriers — including on a round-the-world itinerary — using the following multicarrier reward flights award chart:

Total distance of your journey	Economy	Premium Economy	Business	First Class	Taxes, fees and carrier charges for an economy award
Up to 1,500 miles	30,000 Avios	45,000 Avios	60,000 Avios	90,000 Avios	Up to $109.79
1,501 to 4,000 miles	35,000 Avios	52,500 Avios	70,000 Avios	105,000 Avios	Up to $356.44
4,001 to 9,000 miles	60,000 Avios	90,000 Avios	120,000 Avios	180,000 Avios	Up to $1,534.64
9,001 to 10,000 miles	70,000 Avios	105,000 Avios	140,000 Avios	210,000 Avios	Up to $3,605.40
10,001 to 14,000 miles	90,000 Avios	135,000 Avios	180,000 Avios	270,000 Avios	Up to $1,910.25
14,001 to 20,000 miles	100,000 Avios	150,000 Avios	200,000 Avios	300,000 Avios	Up to $1,963.43
20,001 to 25,000 miles	120,000 Avios	180,000 Avios	240,000 Avios	360,000 Avios	Up to $940.83

The Avios cost is based on the total distance of your journey, although the taxes, fees and carrier charges will vary depending on your travel dates and the route you fly. Taxes, fees and carrier charges will be higher for premium cabin awards than for economy awards shown above.

You’ll need to call Executive Club to book multicarrier reward flights. Although Executive Club doesn’t publish any rules for these awards, you must typically return to or near your origin; make sure you avoid backtracking; and plan a logical route. You don’t need to have the Avios in your account when you initially call to price out your award, as the agent will need to send your itinerary off to another department to calculate the taxes and fees (you’ll get an email to call back and book once the other department finishes calculating your taxes and fees).

You have lots of options for earning Avios, including Avios-earning credit cards. However, if you need some Avios in a hurry, you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points, Bilt Rewards points, Capital One miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards points, Marriott Bonvoy points and Wells Fargo Rewards points to British Airways Executive Club.

Related: How to transfer your Avios between British Airways, Qatar Airways, Finnair, Iberia and Aer Lingus accounts

Cathay Asia Miles

Similar to British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Asia Miles doesn’t offer a round-the-world award ticket but does offer a Oneworld multicarrier award chart. You can book a Oneworld multicarrier award at the following rates if your itinerary includes flights operated by at least two Oneworld airlines that aren’t Cathay Pacific or at least three Oneworld airlines including Cathay Pacific.

Total itinerary distance	Economy	Business	First
0 to 1,000 miles	30,000 Asia Miles	60,000 Asia Miles	75,000 Asia Miles
1,001 to 1,500 miles	35,000 Asia Miles	65,000 Asia Miles	85,000 Asia Miles
1,501 to 2,000 miles	40,000 Asia Miles	70,000 Asia Miles	95,000 Asia Miles
2,001 to 4,000 miles	45,000 Asia Miles	80,000 Asia Miles	110,000 Asia Miles
4,001 to 7,500 miles	63,000 Asia Miles	100,000 Asia Miles	150,000 Asia Miles
7,501 to 9,000 miles	68,000 Asia Miles	120,000 Asia Miles	165,000 Asia Miles
9,001 to 10,000 miles	77,000 Asia Miles	135,000 Asia Miles	175,000 Asia Miles
10,001 to 14,000 miles	95,000 Asia Miles	170,000 Asia Miles	250,000 Asia Miles
14,001 to 18,000 miles	105,000 Asia Miles	210,000 Asia Miles	310,000 Asia Miles
18,001 to 20,000 miles	115,000 Asia Miles	230,000 Asia Miles	330,000 Asia Miles
20,001 to 25,000 miles	126,000 Asia Miles	250,000 Asia Miles	350,000 Asia Miles
25,001 to 35,000 miles	140,000 Asia Miles	265,000 Asia Miles	365,000 Asia Miles
35,001 to 50,000 miles	160,000 Asia Miles	280,000 Asia Miles	380,000 Asia Miles

When booking a round-trip Oneworld multicarrier award with Cathay, you can have up to five stopovers, two transfers and two open jaws. However, you must fly round-trip and can’t have an open jaw at your origin or destination. You must call Cathay customer service to book a Oneworld multicarrier award.

To earn Asia Miles quickly, you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points, Bilt Rewards points, Capital One miles, Citi ThankYou points or Marriott Bonvoy points to Cathay.

Related: 12 epic around-the-world cruises that will check off all your bucket list travel destinations

Qantas Frequent Flyer

Qantas Frequent Flyer doesn’t offer a round-the-world award ticket, but you can use a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward to book a round-the-world trip on at least two Oneworld member airlines other than Qantas. All your flights must be on Oneworld airlines, which means you can’t fly on Qantas flights operated by Jetstar Airlines.

Here’s a look at the Oneworld Classic Flight Reward award chart:

Round-trip itinerary distance	Economy	Premium economy	Business	First
Up to 1,200 miles	20,000 points	31,600 points	40,000 points	58,000 points
1,201 to 2,400 miles	28,000 points	47,500 points	60,000 points	87,000 points
2,401 to 4,800 miles	40,000 points	69,000 points	87,600 points	129,000 points
4,801 to 7,200 miles	49,000 points	97,000 points	122,400 points	179,600 points
7,201 to 9,600 miles	60,400 points	118,000 points	150,000 points	215,500 points
9,601 to 11,600 miles	75,600 points	141,600 points	180,000 points	258,600 points
11,601 to 14,000 miles	90,000 points	163,600 points	209,000 points	299,600 points
14,001 to 16,800 miles	100,600 points	187,000 points	238,400 points	341,600 points
16,801 to 19,200 miles	123,000 points	218,000 points	278,400 points	398,600 points
19,201 to 35,000 miles	132,400 points	249,600 points	318,000 points	455,000 points

All the award rates in the Oneworld Classic Flight Reward table are based on round-trip distances. If you don’t return to your origin at the end of your trip, the distance to return directly to your airport of origin will be added to the distance of your itinerary. Likewise, surface segments you don’t fly during an open jaw will be included when calculating the distance of your itinerary. The total distance of your itinerary must be 35,000 miles or less.

A Oneworld Classic Flight Reward can have up to 16 segments (including surface segments) and five stopovers, although you can only have one stopover in any particular city. You can also only transfer twice in any one particular city and may not return to your origin city or country until the end of your itinerary.

To earn Qantas points, you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points, Capital One miles, Citi ThankYou points or Marriott Bonvoy points to Qantas Frequent Flyer.

Related: Qantas Frequent Flyer launches a new dynamic pricing redemption option, but is it a good deal?

TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go

TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go offers a true round-the-world award redemption for travel on scheduled flights operated by Star Alliance airlines. You can redeem 300,000 miles for an economy round-the-world redemption or 400,000 miles if any of your flights are in business class. However, your round-the-world Miles&Go award itinerary must follow these rules:

• Start and end in the same country
• Cross both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans
• Have no more than 10 flights and 6 stopovers more than 24 hours
• Always travel east or west without changing direction
• Open jaws are allowed

Once you purchase your round-the-world award, you can only change your flight dates or cancel. However, you can’t cancel your ticket after the start of the journey.

You can earn more TAP miles with the TAP Miles&Go American Express® Credit Card or by transferring Capital One miles or Marriott Bonvoy points.

The information for the TAP Miles&Go American Express credit card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. 

Related: The best websites to search for Star Alliance award availability

Other programs to consider

The six programs discussed so far will be the best options for most U.S.-based travelers looking to book a round-the-world plane ticket with points and miles. However, the following three programs may be worth considering if you are able to earn enough of their rewards:

• Asiana Club Star Alliance Round-the-World Ticket: You can redeem 140,000 miles in economy or 230,000 miles in business for a round-the-world itinerary with up to seven stopovers of 24 hours or more. Asiana Club allows backtracking within the same region, but you must return to your origin country at the end of your itinerary and fly over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans once. You can transfer Marriott points to Asiana Club.
• Japan Airlines Mileage Bank Oneworld Award Tickets: You could use the JAL Mileage Bank Oneworld award chart to make your own round-the-world award ticket. These Mileage Bank Oneworld award tickets allow up to eight flight segments and seven stopovers of more than 24 hours (one of which can be a ground segment open jaw). You can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to JAL Mileage Bank.
• Lufthansa Miles & More Round-the-World Flight Award: Unlike many of the other Star Alliance programs that offer round-the-world award tickets, Miles & More lets its members fly on all its partners instead of only Star Alliance partners. You can have up to 10 flight segments, seven stopovers and must cross the Atlantic and Pacific oceans once. Miles & More charges 180,00 miles in economy, 335,000 miles in business and 500,000 miles in first for its round-the-world flight award. Unfortunately, you can’t transfer any major U.S. transferable points to Miles & More.

Finally, if you’re wondering why I haven’t discussed the Singapore KrisFlyer Star Alliance Round-the-World Awards, the carrier stopped issuing these awards in May 2024. Likewise, Aeromexico Rewards seemingly no longer offers its SkyTeam Go Round-the-World Pass award ticket.

Related: Maximize your airfare: The best credit cards for booking flights

Bottom line

If you have the time to go on a multistop round-the-world trip and the points and miles to make it a reality, one of the above loyalty programs might have the perfect award redemption for you. Especially if you maximize your stopovers and open jaws, you could book an epic trip around the world on points and miles.

Breeze Airways is launching its first-ever service from one of the major airports in the Washington D.C. area — and planning four new routes in the process.

Meanwhile, aircraft delivery delays plaguing the global aerospace industry will see the airline push back the launch of two new routes from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) planned for 2025.

New service in the nation’s capital

Starting with the good news: Breeze on Tuesday announced it will launch service from Dulles International Airport (IAD) outside Washington.

The carrier’s arrival at Dulles, located about 26 miles outside D.C., in Virginia, starts soon — just ten days from now. By November, though, the Utah-based carrier will operate four new Dulles routes.

Breeze’s first route will connect the D.C. area with Ogdensburg International Airport (OGS) in New York. The flight will link the nation’s capital region with the small community located just across the St. Lawrence River from Canada, about 60 miles from Ottawa.

The route will be subsidized by the U.S. government as part of the Essential Air Service program, a federally-funded program through the U.S. Department of Transportation that guarantees minimal service levels to small communities.

But Breeze is planning a larger footprint at Dulles.

Breeze’s 4 new IAD routes

Here’s the full rundown of Breeze’s four new routes launching from Dulles this fall:

• IAD-OGS — daily, starts Sept. 27.
• IAD to Provo Airport (PVU) in Utah — operates on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, starting Oct. 1.
• IAD to South Bend International Airport (SBN) in Indiana — operates on Mondays and Fridays, starting Nov. 8
• IAD to Vero Beach Airport (VRB) in Florida — operates on Thursdays and Sundays, starting Nov. 21

Dulles and Ogdensburg are both new airports for Breeze, giving the carrier a total of 66 communities served nationwide.

Meanwhile, this expansion will also see Breeze double down on South Bend, where it just announced its first service in August.

The carrier already has a sizable (and expanding) presence both in Provo and Vero Beach.

Related: America’s third-smallest state is home to the hottest airline turf battle

Breeze pushes back New Orleans routes

It’s not all good news. Breeze will have to delay the start of two new routes planned to launch from New Orleans starting in 2025, the carrier said Tuesday, citing aircraft delivery constraints.

It comes amid slowed delivery timelines at Airbus, which cited supply chain disruptions among factors leading to slower delivery timelines for some aircraft.

In Breeze’s case, the delays affect delivery timelines for A220 aircraft. As a result, the carrier will push back the planned launches of its MSY flights to Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) until the fall of 2025. Both were scheduled to launch in February.

Furthermore, the delivery delays will push back another Breeze goal: to shift to an all-A220 fleet. Though it had hoped to phase out its remaining Embraer jets in favor of A220s by this fall, Breeze now anticipates it will fly some Embraers through at least next summer.

Related reading:

• When is the best time to book flights for the cheapest airfare?
• The best airline credit cards
• What exactly are airline miles, anyway?
• 6 real-life strategies you can use when your flight is canceled or delayed
• Maximize your airfare: The best credit cards for booking flights
• The best credit cards to reach elite status
• What are points and miles worth? TPG’s monthly valuations

Southwest Airlines’ Companion Pass is one of the best travel perks in the industry. With the pass, a friend or family member can fly with you for free (plus taxes and fees) on Southwest flights an unlimited number of times until the pass expires. While this might seem like one of those “too good to be true” scenarios, it’s completely legit and just as good as it sounds. In fact, I’ve personally been a Companion Pass holder for almost 15 years.

Once the pass is earned, it’s valid through Dec. 31 of the following calendar year (as long as it’s earned through the traditional method and not during a special promotion). This gives you up to two years to use the pass, offering many opportunities for your designated companion to fly with you on your next trip.

Related: How to earn the Southwest Companion Pass

But did you know that you don’t have to fly with the same companion on each and every flight? Southwest lets you change your companion up to three times per calendar year — and that is in addition to the initial selection of your companion. And since your pass is typically valid over the course of two calendar years, this allows up to seven people to fly with you for free.

And while changing your designated companion has always been a slight nuisance, Southwest just made it significantly easier. Up until recently, you’d have to call Southwest and request a change. But now, changing your companion can be done all on your own, right within your Southwest account.

Changing your Southwest Companion Pass

As of September, Southwest is making it significantly easier to change your companion. Initially, when you earn the pass, you have the opportunity to designate a companion. There’s no change to this process, and identifying your initial companion can be done online through your Southwest account or over the phone with Southwest directly.

However, you can now also make changes to your pass online. Previously, the only option was to call Southwest. While the actual process only took the agent a few minutes, it would typically require a lengthy wait on hold, depending on the time of day.

To change your Southwest Companion Pass online, you’ll first want to sign in to your Southwest account either through the app or online. From there, you’ll see your Companion Pass information, with the option to change your companion. Within your account, it’ll also tell you how many more times you can change your companion this year, which is incredibly helpful.

Related: How to earn and use the Southwest Companion Pass

Once you select the option to change your companion, you’ll then have to fill out your companion’s information. Again, you’ll be notified of the number of companion changes you have left for the calendar year.

However, the big issue that you’ll notice is that there’s nowhere to enter your companion’s Southwest Rapid Rewards number. Reports indicate that Southwest will automatically create a new Rapid Rewards number for the traveler, and for most, this isn’t a problem — even if they already have a Rapid Rewards account. This is because when you fly as a companion, you don’t receive points for your flights anyway, so not having the flight tied to your account isn’t a huge issue. However, your companion won’t be able to see the flight details in their account, which could be bothersome to some.

But the main issue is that if your companion has Southwest A-List or A-List Preferred status, they won’t receive any perks during your trip.

And while you can always call Southwest to have it tie the correct Rapid Rewards number to the account, reports have shown that this method requires the agent to change your designated companion again, counting toward one of your three companion changes for the year.

If you want to ensure that the correct Rapid Rewards account is tied to your new companion, your best bet is to call Southwest directly at 800-435-9792 and avoid the online process. Hopefully, the option to add your companion’s Rapid Rewards number online will be added sooner rather than later.

Related: 15 lessons from 15 years of having the Southwest Companion Pass

Things to know when switching your Southwest companion

Despite being a true no-strings-attached pass, there are some things to know along the way to set you up for success. For starters, your designated companion can repeat themselves. So let’s say Joe is your initial companion and you are looking to fly with him in January and September, but you want your friend Sarah to fly with you in between the two flights in March. You are able to change your companion to Sarah and back to Joe again, but it’ll still count as a change.

Additionally, the individual listed must be your companion both at the time of booking and at the time of travel. So, with the example above, you won’t be able to change your companion to Sarah until after your flight with Joe is complete. And, if you already added Joe as a companion to your flight later in the year, you’ll need to cancel Joe’s flight before you change your companion to Sarah. Once your flight with Sarah is complete, you can then add Joe back on as your companion.

Just be mindful that there has to be at least one seat available for purchase when it comes to booking a companion ticket. If you’re booking during peak travel times, you’ll want to add your companion as soon as possible. To ensure your companion has a seat at a later time, while you have another designated companion, you can always book the passenger a seat with points to “save” their seat and then change it to a companion booking once that passenger is designated as a companion. And in the rare situation when the flight is sold out before a companion is added to the flight, keep on checking as there’s a very high probability that a seat will ultimately become available.

Bottom line

I’m glad to see that Southwest now allows travelers to change their passes online and avoid a potentially lengthy hold time on the phone. Being able to see how many changes you are still allowed is also huge and can allow you to prepare for the year. However, there are still some kinks in the process when it comes to not being able to add your companion’s Rapid Rewards number. Hopefully, this will be fixed in the near future, but for now, there’s still the option to call if you need the correct account tied to the ticket.