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In This Issue: DG Amazing Experiences Insider Travel Briefs For Private Aviation Travelers Vol 2, No 19: New: Use Miles For Private Jet Flights; How To Do Disney World Big For The Holidays;  McLaren Ice Driving In Finland; Best Suites On The Best Caribbean Beaches Check-out Our DGAE Library featuring: Insider previews of top suites and villas at hotels and resorts across the USA, Brazil, the Caribbean, China, England, France, Greece, Hawaii, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, , Nicaragua, Oman, Portugal, Switzerland, Seychelles, Spain, Tahiti, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, and the high seas aboard Regent Seven Seas Explorer, Crystal Esprit and Norwegian Breakaway, plus more! October 2016 Vol 2, No 19 A New Twist In Private Flying   I know in many private companies, the owner uses his or her charge cards to pay for company purchases, including travel, goods and services. If you accumulate millions of miles or points through American Express Membership Miles, Starwood Preferred Guest or Delta SkyMiles, you can now redeem SkyMiles for jets cards through Delta Private Jets. The rate is 2.5 million SkyMiles convert to a $25,000 jet card. Read more in our first item. Light jets go for about $5,500 per hour, so you get just under five hours of travel. In this issue, we also look at some VIP ways to do Disney World at Four Seasons Orlando, ice driving with McLaren in Finland, and we match the best suites to the Caribbean’s five best beaches. PS — We keep all past issues on an easy to access website DG Amazing Experiences where you can find both newsletters and special reports. Thanks for reading. I hope all your trips are amazing experiences! All the best, Doug Gollan Founder/Editor-in-Chief DG Amazing Experiences   Please Note - DG Amazing Experiences is not commercially affiliated with any of the resorts we profile or travel advisors we reference .

In This Issue:

1. Redeem Miles For Private Jet Cards

2. How To Do Disney For The Holidays

3. Ice Driving In Finland

4. Best Suites On The Caribbean’s 5 Best Beaches

Our Security Reports (Links Below):

Should you drive a car in Cuba?

How to survive a terrorism attack

7 easy ways your flight crew can improve security

Recommended Reading (Links Below):

When It Comes To Writing About Private Jets, Ignorance Is Bliss

1. Redeem Miles For Private Jet Cards

If you pile up millions and millions of American Express Membership Rewards points, Starwood points or Delta SkyMiles, you can now redeem them for private jet cards with Delta Private Jets. 

You can exchange 2.5 million SkyMiles for a $25,000 jet card with DPJ. Both Starwood and Amex allow you to transfer from their program to SkyMiles. 

Delta’s pricing for reward seats is dynamic, but roundtrip DeltaOne (Business Class) tickets from the US to Europe or Asia are typically from 250,000 to 600,000 miles each. This means your 2.5 million miles are probably worth 4-10 DeltaOne tickets (Atlanta to London, Los Angeles to Sydney as examples). Purchase price for these tickets is generally between $5,000 and $10,000, so the value would be somewhere between $20,000-$100,000 in DeltaOne tickets, meaning using SkyMiles for private jet cards may not be the best value. However, if you are sitting on millions of miles, and don’t know what to do with them…

2. How To Do Disney World For The Holidays

Luxury travel advisor Michael Holtz, CEO of SmartFlyer calls the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World, “Disney done right.” He specifically recommends the Royal Suite (up to 9 bedrooms) for its views of the nightly fireworks, and it seems the holidays are a good time to visit the epic theme park, combining all things Disney with holiday cheer. You can also buy out the entire floor (see floor plan below), which provides 21 rooms for up to 53 guests and is $66,000 per night.

I visited when the resort opened a couple years back, and I liked it for five reasons: There’s the Four Seasons level of service. The hotel is a respite from the mayhem of staying in directly in the park, but is minutes away. It has a separate adult pool, but also an extensive water park that even adults will enjoy, and it has some terrific suites that can be combined for large families and extended groups. As a last point, there is Disney activation on site, so you don’t have to wait for the park to get your Disney on.

Highlights for the holiday include “a decadent gingerbread display in the lobby,” poolside family movies, a 12-foot-tall Christmas tree, wreaths and columns wrapped with garland, holiday-inspired floral arrangements, and more. The holiday décor will be in place from December 1, 2016 through January 3, 2017.  

The specific programs include Kids For All Seasons, a complimentary kids camp, open daily for ages 4-12 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, with activities from candy cane scavenger hunts to animal visits, make-your-own reindeer food, design-your-own sleigh, timed races in the Lazy River (water park), snowman sack races, face painting, etc. Classes such as pizza making and cookie decorating are also available. 

The Resort offers a Good Morning Breakfast with Goofy and His Pals every Thursday and Saturday morning at its restaurant, Ravello, and select Tuesdays during the festive season: December 20 and 27, 2016 and January 3, 2017.

In addition to the character breakfast, you have the option of hosting a private event at the hotel, in one of the event spaces, and character visits can be arranged for entertainment. According to the hotel, “Four Seasons Resort Orlando has a special relationship with the creative teams at Disney to offer incredible on-property events with added Disney touches.”

Specifically on suites, Holtz’s favorite, the Royal Suite is 3,300 sq. ft. (above), including a vaulted great room, a master bedroom, a media room, a private office and a pantry kitchen. Connecting up to as many as nine bedrooms, it has a wrap-around terrace featuring views of the nightly Magic Kingdom Park fireworks. The Presidential Suite replicates a Mediterranean villa at 2,750 sq. ft. and includes a great room, master bedroom, master bathroom, private office and pantry kitchen.  Two additional bedroom units and one guest room suite enable the Presidential Suite (below) to expand to a four bedroom residence.

Guests in Royal and Presidential Suites get eight hours of butler service per day. Additional hours, including round-the-clock service, are available for an added fee. Guests can use the butler's assistance to gift wrap presents, decorate the suite, create a memorable in-suite holiday dinner party, arrange for a holiday movie with cookies and cocoa, etc. 

For more information about taking over the entire top floor, contact Kevin Stracke, reservations manager at +1.407.313.6918.

3. McLaren Launches Ice Driving Experience

From January 15 to February 3, 2017, McLaren is launching its first ice driving experience, offering groups of up to 14 guests a three-night stay with lots of action.

The event is open for drivers and non-drivers, McLaren owners and non-owners. Set 200 miles into the Finland’s Arctic Circle in one of the most expansive winter testing facilities in the world, it is the only winter driving experience to feature the McLaren Sports Series

The program is designed to give guests experience on snow-covered roads and ice track. Like all Pure McLaren events, the agenda is tailored to your needs to help you achieve your goals. Working with winter testing facility Test World, a leading proving ground based in Ivalo, Finland, the experience provides a variety of ice driving scenarios available.

Guests will experience the multi-award winning McLaren 570S Coupé, tackling a variety of track configurations, encompassing both ice and snow surfaces. The exhilaration continues away from the track with Pure McLaren teaming up with local travel provider Luxury Action to offer an exciting program of winter activities, including a husky safari and snowmobile expedition.

Accommodations will be provided in Jávri Lodge (below), the former home of the President of Finland. Built by Urho Kekkonen, the longest serving President of Finland, it is set amid vast lakes and forests and is in an ideal position for viewing the Northern Lights.  

The Pure McLaren Arctic Experience will take place from January 15 to February 3, 2017, and takes groups of up to 14 guests. Prices start from GBP 12,500. Contact: www.cars.mclaren.com/experiences.

4. The Caribbean’s Best Beaches Matched To Best Hotel Suites

Recently Caribbean Journal put together its list of the top 50 beaches in the Caribbean. But what good is a list of great beaches without information on where to stay? And wouldn’t it be more useful if you knew the best suites at those resorts? Below we added places to stay and some recommendations for best rooms in the house for the five best beaches. More best suites on best beaches in future issues.

RENDEZVOUS BAY, ANGUILLA

Caribbean Journal writes, “Our number one beach in the Caribbean is the perfect Caribbean beach: It’s a wide stretch of soft, sugar-white sand with relaxing turquoise waves, one of the region’s best beach bars (Garvey’s SunShine Shack), all the privacy you need and spectacular views of neighboring St Martin. That’s what makes Rendezvous the best beach in the Caribbean – and it’s fitting, as Anguilla is the region’s beach capital.”

Cuisinart offers a 5-star way to experience the best beach with its three Beachfront Three Bedroom Villas. The “beach houses” feature a large living room/dining area opening directly onto a private pool area and the beach beyond, with an expansive Master Suite with sea and pool views, plus a private solarium. There is also a full kitchen with private access, interior and exterior powder rooms and two additional bedroom suites with courtyard entries.

GRACE BAY, PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS

Caribbean Journal says, “Providenciales’ claim to fame is this 12-mile-long north-coast beach and once you sink your toes into its sugar-fine white sands and swim in the bathtub-warm waters, you’ll understand why.”

Tiffany Dowd, a travel blogger and advisor, who operates a website LuxeTiffany, likes the 3-bedroom Penthouse at The Palms (formerly The Regent), which she says has stunning views of Grace Bay Beach. There are one, two and three-bedroom configurations, ranging in size from 3,422 to 3,791 sq. ft. Master bedrooms feature a king-sized bed, private outdoor Sun Suite with a spa tub and outdoor shower. Second and third bedrooms come with a king-size bed and full-size sleeper sofa, and the gourmet kitchen has a range of professional modern appliances.

At Grace Bay Club she points to The Estate and its 6,898 sq. ft. Penthouse, (floor plan above) which she describes “as the most exclusive part of the resort.”

Gansevoort, Dowd says, “is the most contemporary of the three hotels.” It has four 3-bedroom, 3.5-bath Penthouses (floor plan above), each with 2,647 sq. ft. of interior space and 1,055 sq. ft. of terrace area.

MAHO BAY, ST. JOHN, US VIRGIN ISLANDS

“White sand; coconut palms calm waters and voluptuous green hills. No wonder this beach is a St John favorite,” reports Caribbean Journal. There are campsites nearby, but Caneel Bay is the nearest hotel about four miles away.

SEVEN MILE BEACH, GRAND CAYMAN

Caribbean Journal writes, “This sugary strand on the west coast of Grand Cayman is a must for beach lovers. Because here, it’s all about some of the most incredible clearest water (and warmest sand) anywhere around.”

The 3-bedroom Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman Penthouse (above) pairs Seven Mile Beach with the largest suite in the Caribbean at 8,000 sq. ft. of indoor/outdoor living space. On the resort’s top floor, you can expand it with adjoining rooms into a 20,000 sq. ft. compound. There is an expansive wraparound terrace with dining table, lounge, fire pit and private outdoor shower.

EAGLE BEACH, ARUBA

“There’s white sand, and there’s the sand here. And its low-scale development makes this a wide, magnificent beach,” writes Caribbean Journal about Eable Beach in Aruba. 

Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort is ranked #1 of 24 hotels in the area by Trip Advisor and was the review site’s #1 hotel in the world for romance. It also beat out Ritz-Carlton and Hyatt to win US News & World Report’s pick as the island’s best hotel last year, and in 2013 was ranked in Conde Nast Traveler’s 25 best hotels in the Caribbean.

The 850-sq. ft. Tara Penthouse Suites on the top floor of the same named wing offer panoramic views of Eagle Beach and the ocean. A large, private terrace features a daybed and lounge furnishings. The great room features a full living area with a large flat-panel TV and dining room, next to the full-size and fully equipped kitchen with stainless-steel appliances and dining table. Adjacent is a bedroom with a king-sized four-poster bed. The bathroom features double sinks, granite counters, a modern claw foot style tub and a separate shower. The Penthouse gets you a reserved cabana on the beach. 

 

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