BA Westbound – Cunard Eastbound

[Alwaysbusy]

Having just earned my first Barclays Upgrade Voucher, I am keen to make maximum use of it for a holiday with my wife next late August/early September.

Initial plan is to fly CW one-way to Boston using the voucher, spend about a week exploring New England by rental car, then make our way down to New York City, drop off the car and embark on an Eastbound Cunard transatlantic cruise. 15 nights in all.

Has anyone done something similar and might have tips or advice?

[NorthernLass]

There should be no issues at all with this, it’s a great use of the Barclays voucher. I haven’t done the cruise option, but I’ve done several trips with the upgrade voucher used for the outbound, then cash or award booking either on BA or another airline on the return, e.g. MAN-LHR-DXB with the voucher, then DOH-MAN on QR for the return.

If your plan doesn’t work out, in respect of the Barclays booking, you can cancel that for £35 pp.

[NorthernLass]

With your travel dates being in peak season, just bear in mind that if you can fly on one of the off-peak days (usually Tuesdays and some Wednesdays), you will save quite a lot of avios on the PE pricing – I think 2x 42,500 instead of 2 x 60k.

[executiveclubber]

It’s a fab plan. Touring the Newport mansions is great fun and I can’t wait to be back in that part of the world myself!

[Alwaysbusy]

@NorthernLass Many thanks for your advice on using the upgrade voucher, especially finding an off-peak date. Availability in CW to BOS currently looks good for off-peak dates in late August.

@executiveclubber – Newport mansions definitely sounds interesting; will do some research. Also looking at exploring Cape Cod.

[Reeferman]

Alwaysbusy wrote:

@NorthernLass Many thanks for your advice on using the upgrade voucher, especially finding an off-peak date. Availability in CW to BOS currently looks good for off-peak dates in late August.

@executiveclubber – Newport mansions definitely sounds interesting; will do some research. Also looking at exploring Cape Cod.

Last year we did a tour through Newport Classic Car Company – which was great fun.

[NorthernLass]

I’m pretty sure @Rhys did a trip report on Rhode Island which included visits to one or two mansions! It’s also on my bucket list – plan is to fly into NYC and out of BOS, or vice versa, as they both have day flights UK-bound, which is like the Holy Grail of flying back across the Atlantic for me, lol.

A whale-watching trip out to Cape Cod is a great experience, I can’t remember how late into the summer they stay, though.

[NorthernLass]

https://www.headforpoints.com/2023/05/01/review-newport-marriott-hotel-rhode-island/

It was actually @Rob!

[Alwaysbusy]

Off-peak, one-way LHR-BOS in J booked using the Barclays Upgrade Voucher (saving 75,000 Avios). Eastbound TATL cruise NYC-Southampton booked with Cunard.

Thanks for all the suggestions for activities during our week exploring New England. Building up a nice itinerary.

Now to find the optimum one-way BOS-NYC car rental deal. Will start that discussion over on the Car Rental forum.