- Introduction: Four Seasons Yacht Via Turkmenistan & Saudi Arabia
- Review: Lufthansa Allegris Business Class Boeing 787 (AUS-FRA)
- Review: Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt Airport (FRA)
- Review: Priority Lounge Frankfurt Airport Terminal 3 (FRA)
- Review: Turkmenistan Airlines Business Class Boeing 777 (FRA-ASB)
- Review: Business Lounge Ashgabat Airport, Turkmenistan (ASB)
- Review: Turkmenistan Airlines Business Class Boeing 737 (ASB-DEL)
- Review: Encalm Xenia Lounge Delhi Airport (DEL)
- Review: Air India Maharaja Business Lounge Delhi Airport (DEL)
- Review: Air India Maharaja First Lounge Delhi Airport (DEL)
- Review: Air India First Class Boeing 777 (DEL-FRA)
- Review: Airelles Palladio Venice, Italy (What A Gorgeous City Resort!)
Welcome to my next trip report series, covering a trip that I just wrapped up, which will include reviews of flights, hotels, and even a cruise.
There’s a lot to cover here, as you can expect reviews of business class on Lufthansa, Turkmenistan Airlines, Saudia, and Riyadh Air, reviews of first class on Air India and SWISS, and several lounge reviews. Then there are also some hotels in the mix, ranging from the new Airelles Venice, to Bab Samhan Diriyah, Marriott Luxury Collection. Lastly, you can expect a review of our experience on the Four Seasons Yacht.
In this post, I’d like to share a basic outline of this trip, and then I’ll have the individual review installments coming in the near future.
In this post:
This trip was motivated by taking a cruise
It’s an interesting time for the luxury cruising industry, given the increasing number of cruise lines that are popping up, especially those affiliated with major hotel groups. I’m making it a goal to review the various luxury cruise lines, so I’m trying to work them off my list, one by one.
Earlier this year I reviewed Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, which was surprisingly lovely. Going upmarket even more, we had booked a Four Seasons Yachts itinerary. Initially we were supposed to travel this spring, but the debut of the cruise line was delayed, so we rebooked for a cruise in July (for the initial cancellation, they offered us a discount on a future sailing equal to 30% of what we spent, plus an additional shipboard credit).
So we ended up booking a seven-night cruise from Venice to Dubrovnik, with stops in Croatia and Montenegro. I’ll of course be publishing a full review of the experience. For what it’s worth, I also have plans to sail with Orient Express Sailing Yachts, Aman at Sea, and Explora, so I look forward to being able to review all of them.
The airlines I flew on this trip
While Ford and I took the Four Seasons Yachts journey together, we flew there and back separately. Ford flew directly to Venice and right back from Dubrovnik, to be away from home for as little time as possible (I managed to find saver level business class award seats for him on Air France on the way out, and KLM on the way back).
Meanwhile I got a bit of a travel hall pass, and took a roundabout journey to get to and from Europe. On the outbound, I routed through Turkmenistan and India, while on the return journey I routed through Saudi Arabia… as one does. 😉 Of course my goal was to review as many new airline products as possible.
With that out of the way, let me outline the exact itinerary that I booked, including sharing how much I paid. I’ll be sharing it in the chronological order in which I traveled, which roughly lines up with the order in which I booked things.
To kick off the trip, I flew flew Lufthansa’s Boeing 787-9 Allegris business class from Austin (AUS) to Frankfurt (FRA), which required positioning from Miami to Austin (which I did same day, on American). The reason I flew Lufthansa out of Austin is because this route is operated by the new Dreamliner with Allegris cabins, and I wanted to check that out. I booked the following for 75,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points plus $58 in taxes & fees:
7/14 LH469 Austin to Frankfurt departing 4:05PM arriving 8:55AM (+1 day)
Next, I had the chance to finally try an airline that has interested me for years. I flew Turkmenistan Airlines’ Boeing 777-300ER business class from Frankfurt to Ashgabat (ASB), and then Turkmenistan Airlines’ Boeing 737-800 business class from Ashgabat to Delhi (DEL), with a fascinating layover in Ashgabat. Turkmenistan Airlines has no partnerships, so I booked the following in business class for $1,010:
7/15 T5462 Frankfurt to Ashgabat departing 7:00PM arriving 4:00AM (+1 day)
7/16 T5533 Ashgabat to Delhi departing 6:30AM arriving 10:50AM
Next up, it was time to head back to Europe, and I booked Air India’s Boeing 777-300ER first class from Delhi to Frankfurt (FRA). My primary motivation here was to check out Air India’s new lounges at Delhi Airport, since I knew the Air India onboard experience wouldn’t be anything great. I booked this ticket for 75,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points plus $53 in taxes & fees:
7/17 AI2025 Delhi to Frankfurt departing 3:55AM arriving 10:40AM
Next up, I needed to finally get to my intended destination in Italy, so I booked a Lufthansa Airbus A321 business class ticket from Frankfurt to Venice (VCE). I should mention that I booked this separately from the Air India ticket because it required materially fewer points to book the tickets separately rather than as one (due to how the award chart distance bands work). So I booked the following for 12,500 Air Canada Aeroplan points plus $98.16 in taxes & fees:
7/17 LH328 Frankfurt to Venice departing 4:40PM arriving 6:00PM
That concluded the outbound portion of the trip, and then the return picked up out of Croatia, after the Four Seasons Yachts cruise. This first required positioning to Amsterdam (AMS), so I flew KLM’s Boeing 737-700 economy. I booked the following for $152:
7/28 KL1976 Dubrovnik to Amsterdam departing 6:30AM arriving 9:00AM
Then to continue the journey, I flew Saudia’s Boeing 787-10 business class from Amsterdam to Jeddah (JED), and then Saudia’s Airbus A330-300 business class from Jeddah to Riyadh (RUH). I booked the following for 85,000 Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles plus $301 in taxes & fees:
7/28 SV214 Amsterdam to Jeddah departing 3:55PM arriving 10:45PM
7/29 SV1056 Jeddah to Riyadh departing 1:00AM arriving 2:45AM
From Saudi Arabia, I was excited to fly Riyadh Air’s Boeing 787-9 business class from Riyadh to Madrid (MAD). Riyadh Air doesn’t yet have any frequent flyer partnerships, so I had to pay cash for the ticket, and this was the cheapest medium haul ticket I could find on the airline. So I booked the following for $1,602:
7/31 RX531 Riyadh to Madrid departing 2:00AM arriving 7:55AM
I then needed to position to Switzerland (since I found last minute award availability in SWISS first class), so I had to book something at the last minute. Honestly, options were really crappy at that point, and the best I could come up with was TAP Air Portugal’s A319 and A321 business class, from Madrid to Lisbon (LIS) to Zurich (ZRH). I booked the following for $326:
7/31 TP1011 Madrid to Lisbon departing 11:05AM arriving 11:30AM
7/31 TP932 Lisbon to Zurich departing 1:25PM arriving 5:15PM
Lastly, I was able to fly SWISS’ Airbus A350-900 Senses first class from Zurich to Boston (BOS). This is SWISS’ brand new first class product, and I booked this at the last minute. You do need Miles & More Senator status or above to redeem miles for SWISS first class, so a friend helped me out there. I booked the following for 110,000 Lufthansa Miles & More miles plus $1,128 in taxes & fees:
8/01 LX54 Zurich to Boston departing 1:00PM arriving 3:10PM
In addition to flights, you can expect reviews of the following lounges:
- Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt (FRA)
- Priority Lounge Frankfurt (FRA)
- Business Lounge Ashgabat (ASB)
- Air India Maharaja First Lounge Delhi (DEL)
- Air India Maharaja Business Lounge Delhi (DEL)
- Encalm Xenia Lounge Delhi (DEL)
- Riyadh Air Hafwa Lounge Riyadh (RUH)
- SWISS First Class Lounge Zurich Concourse A (ZRH)
- SWISS First Class Lounge Zurich Concourse E (ZRH)
The hotels I stayed at on this trip
Despite the length of this trip, I spent very few actual nights in hotels, and my plan is to review three different properties in this series.
For our night in Venice before the cruise, we decided to stay at the newly opened Airelles Venice. This place is super expensive, but I’m a massive fan of the Airelles brand, and couldn’t turn down the opportunity to check out the brand’s newest property, and first hotel outside of France. This hotel did not disappoint!
Then we had a short stay in Dubrovnik at the tail end of our trip. It’s not exactly the most exciting hotel market, but we decided on Villa Dubrovnik, an independent property that’s well regarded, and which was absolutely lovely.
Then in Riyadh I had one night, and decided to book Bab Samhan Diriyah, Marriott Luxury Collection. Diriyah is Riyadh’s “historic” district that’s redeveloped at the moment, and it’ll eventually have dozens of hotels, and I had heard great things about this property. I was really impressed.
Bottom line
It’s time to kick off my latest trip report series. While the primary “destination” on this trip was a Four Seasons Yachts journey, I decided to have some fun with the outbound and return, to make it a full-on review trip.
On the way out I flew Lufthansa and Turkmenistan Airlines in business class, as well as Air India in first class, while on the return I flew Saudia and Riyadh Air in business class, and SWISS in first class. Beyond that, you can expect several lounge reviews, as well as a few hotel reviews.
Stay tuned and thanks for reading, as I’ll be publishing this trip report over the coming weeks!
How much did you pay for the cruise and with what points?
How much did you pay for the Four Seasons Yacht??
Very excited for all of these. I didn't realize you stayed at Villa Dubrovnik as well. I know it was only one night, but excited to hear your thoughts about it. I was there just before it reopened and did a hard hat tour and it looked beautiful.
Is Aman at sea licensed or they are operated by Aman?
Last thing any customer wants is after 2hours drive to the port just to get gaslight, kicked out of the port and called the cops on. And a week of silence afterwards.
Looking forward to the details in future posts. I'm fairly comfortable, but I can't justify Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons cruises.
You mentioned how much you paid for flights, but not the hotels. Why not??
@Ben, where'd you stay in Zurich (if I'm reading this right you had a night there before a leisurely early afternoon departure)?
That flight map looks insane!! Also, hope your FS Yacht experience was better than Ryan Walker's (I hope I didn't open a can of worms). Excited to read the reviews!
All that to-and-fro makes me anxious, and there are far too many transits at Frankfurt for my liking. Zero transfers at Frankfurt is my preference.
At least the author has a German passport and has been to FRA many times. The combination of both makes it manageable but not necessarily enjoyable. Plus there is a brand new terminal 3 to review!
@Ben Schlappig It's interesting that as to future cruises you include Explora in addition to other luxury/ultra luxury cruise lines as it definitely doesn't fit in that category. Indeed while offering a just below luxury experience at a lower price point, Explora, particularly when at capacity, would generally be considered a step below Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Seabourn and Silversea.
My God you must have been exhausted!
Sad to not get a review of the United Club in Austin from your Lufty trip !
Could you share thoughts on Riyadh? I went there in 2019 and was utterly disappointed and underwhelmed, but at the time it was basically one big constructions site with a few malls spread around. I stayed at the Hyatt Regency.
I'd be curious to see if things are changing. It seems that KSA wants it to be a place people actually want to go.
@ Jerry -- There was definitely still a ton of construction going on, so I imagine it hasn't changed that much. To be honest, my time was fairly limited, as I spent much of the first day with a local friend, and then on the second day I enjoyed the hotel and the Diriyah area.
I will say what pleasantly surprised me the most was the people. Here in the west, we have a certain...
@ Jerry -- There was definitely still a ton of construction going on, so I imagine it hasn't changed that much. To be honest, my time was fairly limited, as I spent much of the first day with a local friend, and then on the second day I enjoyed the hotel and the Diriyah area.
I will say what pleasantly surprised me the most was the people. Here in the west, we have a certain impression of what Saudi Arabians are like, and everyone was much more hospitable and open that I was expecting. I'm not here to do PR for the country, I found a warmth that shocked me, in a positive way. Maybe it's a good topic for another post...
insane routing- youre the GOAT for a reason.
curious how the mechanics work when your friend spent 110k LH miles for you on the return- did you pay him back in cash? was there an expectation that you'll book a different trip for him in the future? just a freebie?
I'm super curious about how people handle the topic of booking points trips for friends because there's so many different ways to handle...
insane routing- youre the GOAT for a reason.
curious how the mechanics work when your friend spent 110k LH miles for you on the return- did you pay him back in cash? was there an expectation that you'll book a different trip for him in the future? just a freebie?
I'm super curious about how people handle the topic of booking points trips for friends because there's so many different ways to handle it. Personally I've paid for some friends tickets and I purely position it as a freebie with zero expectation of payback because its too complicated trying to figure out a joint value for the points that everyone agrees upon
That map really is *insane* and Ben very much is the GOAT for his itineraries and reviews. (Matthew at LALF comes pretty close with his itineraries, too.)
@ Funkyflapjak -- Thanks, and that's a great question! :-) If you'd like to send me an email I'm happy to talk more about it, but I'd rather not talk too much about it publicly. I will say (truthfully) there was zero bartering, or buying of selling of miles, involved, and we completely followed the rules. But still, I'm not sure it makes sense to publicly draw attention to these things. :-)
I’m really looking forward to the reviews of the Airelles, the Four Seasons Yacht and the hotel in Diriyah. I think Diriyah is one of the coolest and most interesting projects around at the moment. The pipeline of hotels there is breathtaking.
@ Tim600 -- It's indeed quite the project. I couldn't believe that the Marriott Luxury Collection was the first to open, and that there are literally dozens of additional hotels on the way.
Once you are done with the high end cruise lines you should explore the other end of the spectrum and fly on Allegient and take a Carnival Cruise and compare with Ryanair or Easyjet and Aida or Costa.
I once took a Carnival cruise myself and survived.
More seriously, I am not fancy enough for those type of cruises but you do you.
A Balcony on NCL is close enough and if I...
Once you are done with the high end cruise lines you should explore the other end of the spectrum and fly on Allegient and take a Carnival Cruise and compare with Ryanair or Easyjet and Aida or Costa.
I once took a Carnival cruise myself and survived.
More seriously, I am not fancy enough for those type of cruises but you do you.
A Balcony on NCL is close enough and if I was feeling snooty, a Haven suite. Fancy enough, but can still go to the regular buffet and get mass quantities of American, Philippine, Chinese or Indian food if I want and not have to dress up or anything.
@ u600213 -- Hey, I've been enjoying cruises, and my plan is to eventually try a wide variety of them, so I appreciate the idea. :-)
Cruise ships do not go to Turkmenistan .
Are you going to publish the report of Malaysia Airlines' A330neo business class / Hong Kong Airlines business class anytime soon? Have been looking forward to that one :)
@ Alvin | YTHK -- You have great memory! That's the review so far this year that has slipped through the cracks. My hope is to publish this review, and then once that's complete, publish the one you're referring to, ahead of the additional travel I have planned. That should be possible if I keep a decent pace. Thanks for the interest!