Scene in Fortaleza?

[ShivRoy]

10 hours ago, Xclay said:

And TAP flies nonstop (less than 8 hours) from Lisbon to 6 destinations in northeastern Brazil (north of Salvador), even to Jericoacoara. I've flown TAP from Lisbon to Recife and to Fortaleza. TAP is one of the more mediocre airlines in Star Alliance, but it sure beats Azul, Gol, and LATAM.

Yeah, I thought about TAP when I wrote it, but as Marc said they are only just decent - and Lisbon is difficult to connect from elsewhere in Europe. I try not to fly TAP, with all their delays and missed connections. Plus, I'm usually on Skyteam so AF works better for me. However, TAP indeed is a good option to fly to NE Brazil - but one should allow ample time in LIS for connections as TAP flights are routinely late by at least an hour. 

[scott456]

3 hours ago, Marc in Calif said:

Even the TAP business class can be hit or miss. With me, it was just barely worth the extra money to fly SFO - LIS - SFO. 

But TAP is usually cheaper than competitors on the same route.

[Marc in Calif]

4 hours ago, scott456 said:

But TAP is usually cheaper than competitors on the same route.

Did I say it wasn't cheaper than its competitors? Of course it can be cheaper. 

By "extra money" I meant compared to TAP's steerage classes. 

[scott456]

On 1/12/2024 at 6:45 PM, Marc in Calif said:

Did I say it wasn't cheaper than its competitors? Of course it can be cheaper. 

By "extra money" I meant compared to TAP's steerage classes. 

So you paid the cheapest business class airline but expect a five star experience?  TP know they are cheap, they know you are cheap, you know they are cheap.  But you don't know you are cheap.

[endlessdream]

On 1/10/2024 at 3:58 PM, ShivRoy said:

that's all very true - however I keep reminding myself it always takes just one guy in the sauna to be happy (or, if you are in the mood, three guys - and this is where Fortaleza/Recife/Sao Luis may fall behind)

with regard to the flights - for those of us in Europe, Air France has direct flights between Paris and Fortaleza, it's just an 8-hr flight, and there's no need to go first all the way down south to SP or Rio, and then all the way up north to NE. And Air France's Fortaleza flights schedules are quite good - almost doable as a long weekend from Europe)

I’ll be flying the AF416 in Juin and they will be using the new A350-900. Still no doors but definitely an upgrade from the A332 that they are using now. Can’t wait. 

[endlessdream]

On 1/12/2024 at 4:38 PM, ShivRoy said:

Yeah, I thought about TAP when I wrote it, but as Marc said they are only just decent - and Lisbon is difficult to connect from elsewhere in Europe. I try not to fly TAP, with all their delays and missed connections. Plus, I'm usually on Skyteam so AF works better for me. However, TAP indeed is a good option to fly to NE Brazil - but one should allow ample time in LIS for connections as TAP flights are routinely late by at least an hour. 

Suit up for EU261/2004

[Marc in Calif]

2 hours ago, scott456 said:

So you paid the cheapest business class airline but expect a five star experience? 

And where exactly did I say that's what I expected?

Your reading skills continue to deteriorate! 😆

[scott456]

1 hour ago, Marc in Calif said:

And where exactly did I say that's what I expected?

Your reading skills continue to deteriorate! 😆

You paid the well known cheapest business class airline, you should have just expected the lowest quality business class experience.  They know they are cheap, you know they are cheap, they know you are cheap.

[Keithambrose]

6 hours ago, scott456 said:

You paid the well known cheapest business class airline, you should have just expected the lowest quality business class experience.  They know they are cheap, you know they are cheap, they know you are cheap.

This sort of pointless backbiting does not help the forum 

[Marc in Calif]

11 hours ago, scott456 said:

You paid the well known cheapest business class airline, you should have just expected the lowest quality business class experience.  They know they are cheap, you know they are cheap, they know you are cheap.

So you lied when you claimed that I "expected a five-star experience." As usual! If I had said that, you would have quoted me. 

And, FYI,  it was not the cheapest round-trip business-class fare from SFO to BCN that was available to me. But you probably knew that, too. It's how you operate.

You know that you frequently lie, members here know that you frequently lie, and I know that you frequently lie. 😘

You just don't like to be called on it. 🎯🎯🎯

[Latbear4blk]

[scott456]

2 hours ago, Marc in Calif said:

So you lied when you claimed that I "expected a five-star experience." As usual! If I had said that, you would have quoted me. 

And, FYI,  it was not the cheapest round-trip business-class fare from SFO to BCN that was available to me. But you probably knew that, too. It's how you operate.

You know that you frequently lie, members here know that you frequently lie, and I know that you frequently lie. 😘

You just don't like to be called on it. 🎯🎯🎯

You are correct, I don't know if you expected a 5 star experience or 6 star or 4 star.  But you knew you were paying a cheap business class with an airline known for cheap fare across Atlantic, and low quality service (if you didn't know this, it's your own fault too).  But you expected something more than what you paid for.  

[Marc in Calif]

1 hour ago, scott456 said:

You are correct, I don't know if you expected a 5 star experience or 6 star or 4 star.  But you expected something more than what you paid for.  

Once again, I ask you to point to a specific statement I made about what I expected. You cannot. You simply make your own petty assumptions. 

You also don't seem to realize that there are many reasons to choose a particular flight, class, and fare: schedule, duration, stopover options, promotions, upgrade opportunities, and price.

So which of those affected my specific choice to fly TAP's business class? I eagerly await your latest guess and misunderstanding. 😆

[scott456]

16 minutes ago, Marc in Calif said:

Once again, I ask you to point to a specific statement I made about what I expected. You cannot. You simply make your own petty assumptions. 

You also don't seem to realize that there are many reasons to choose a particular flight, class, and fare: schedule, duration, stopover options, promotions, upgrade opportunities, and price.

So which of those affected my specific choice to fly TAP's business class? I eagerly await your latest guess and misunderstanding. 😆

You stated "it can be cheaper".  You can spin your words anyway you want, but your word is "cheap", "cheaper".  You associated yourself with "cheap".

[Marc in Calif]

24 minutes ago, scott456 said:

You stated "it can be cheaper".  

So what? You tried to make that point already. And it's still irrelevant. 

You're a sad little 🤡 who tries and tries and tries to be relevant. Yet it always backfires. 😁

 

[pauleiro]

On 1/9/2024 at 12:18 PM, ShivRoy said:

Sao Luis where they actually have quite an agreeable, busy and sexy GP sauna that I really liked in my two visits to Sao Luis which is actually a lively city).

I did not know there was a GP sauna in Sao Luis. Good to.know. thks for info

[floridarob]

6 hours ago, pauleiro said:

I did not know there was a GP sauna in Sao Luis. Good to.know. thks for info

Will be waiting for your posts from there 😉

[buttercawan]

On my next trip, I wanted to try other cities' GP saunas. Sao Luis, Recife and Vitoria. I was in Rio for more than 3 weeks on my last trip, felt too long.

[pauleiro]

7 hours ago, floridarob said:

Will be waiting for your posts from there 😉

Next trip to Nordeste will take me to Porto de galinhas, Recife/Olinda and praia da Pipa south of Natal. Not to Sao Luis ... 

 

[pauleiro]

26 minutes ago, buttercawan said:

On my next trip, I wanted to try other cities' GP saunas. Sao Luis, Recife and Vitoria. I was in Rio for more than 3 weeks on my last trip, felt too long.

Is there a GP sauna in Vitoria ? 

[Xclay]

3 hours ago, pauleiro said:

Is there a GP sauna in Vitoria ? 

I could not find one when I was there long ago (circa 2010).  But now I see a complaint about "prostitutes" at Sauna Tempu's across the river from Vitória in Vila Veha.

[Xclay]

On 1/9/2024 at 5:18 PM, ShivRoy said:

...Sao Luis where they actually have quite an agreeable, busy and sexy GP sauna that I really liked in my two visits to Sao Luis which is actually a lively city.

This is good news. I want to visit Lençóis Maranhenses and see other places like São Luis while I'm in the neighborhood.

Can you please start a thread with a report on your experiences in São Luis?  Those who prefer to stick to Rio and/or SP (not that there is anything wrong with that!) can skip it.

[floridarob]

13 hours ago, pauleiro said:

Not to Sao Luis ... 

hmmmmm 🧐

[ShivRoy]

On 1/15/2024 at 2:42 AM, pauleiro said:

I did not know there was a GP sauna in Sao Luis. Good to.know. thks for info

And it was actually not bad at all - I visited in 2018, 2019 and 2020, but I looked at their Instagram and other socials now, seems like nothing changed and they are going strong.

The name is Go.61 - some socials have it as Sauna Go - it's in the historic center. Similar to Fortaleza, the strongest nights are Thursday and Sunday. They had shows, caipirinhas for some spare change, free cabins, nice suites, swimming pool and even bingo where all guys come to the promise of some money. (I actually won at bingo and gave my winning slip to the garoto I was spending the night with at the sauna - he was over the moon). 

[ShivRoy]

On 1/15/2024 at 8:45 PM, Xclay said:

This is good news. I want to visit Lençóis Maranhenses and see other places like São Luis while I'm in the neighborhood.

Can you please start a thread with a report on your experiences in São Luis?  Those who prefer to stick to Rio and/or SP (not that there is anything wrong with that!) can skip it.

Yeah, I need to write about Recife too - I was pleasantly surprised at the saunas last week.

Lencois Maranhenses are soooo beautiful - but they are very much season-depending. You need to visit between July and October after the rainy season. I went in November I believe - and lakes were already very much waning. I caught the beauty of this, but not that majestic view we all know - sorta semi-majestic lol. I was told, by December no lakes would remain.