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Post by cymro on Jun 28, 2022 18:50:09 GMT
Let's face it, many will hide behind the moral issue for not going. In reality it's the cost and timing just before Christmas that's the key reason. I know that if I had a family now then I wouldn't be going for that very reason - hard sell justifying to your wife and kids that you're gonna drop 5 grand in November to watch football and the family is gonna have a crap Christmas because of it. Annual leave is also an issue, people don't have a lot left by November time. The UAE isn't squeaky clean either but people flock there every year without judgement because they cater to the West. I agree with most of what you’re saying but £5k to go is way wide of the mark, you can do the group games for around half of that figure. Depends on a number of factors, such as how many mates you've got to split an apartment with, etc. Either way you're looking at 3 grand at an absolute minimum including tickets and spending money, etc., which is still too much for the majority of people in November. |
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Post by londonexile on Jun 29, 2022 8:22:39 GMT
Anyone heard anything about Qatar airways reinstating the flight from Cardiff to Doha? Haven't heard anything myself but would be good if they did. Fingers crossed.
Just need flights now and FAW allocated tickets next week. Booked some accomodation in Doha (mate got tickets in the ballot) that should allow for a round of 16 match should we progress and 3 group games. Very underwhelming the accomodation and pricey for what it is, we went with the appartment option and it looks so basic! I think patience is the best option as I think better hotel options have come online since we booked the apartment. In our haste to get something secured we just went with anything.
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Post by aberbeeg on Jun 29, 2022 10:14:22 GMT
Anyone heard anything about Qatar airways reinstating the flight from Cardiff to Doha? Haven't heard anything myself but would be good if they did. Fingers crossed. Just need flights now and FAW allocated tickets next week. Booked some accomodation in Doha (mate got tickets in the ballot) that should allow for a round of 16 match should we progress and 3 group games. Very underwhelming the accomodation and pricey for what it is, we went with the appartment option and it looks so basic! I think patience is the best option as I think better hotel options have come online since we booked the apartment. In our haste to get something secured we just went with anything. A guy at Cardiff airport said that they were relaunching the Cardiff - Doha route in time for the World Cup nit sure how correct that is mind. With regards to accommodation in Doha I gave up after hours of trying to find something slightly better than the bog standard prison cell apartments. Unless your prepared to mortgage your house to get something even slightly resembling a 3 star property. This has been greed at its highest point in my opinion. Hence why I chose Dubai. |
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Post by daearegwr on Jun 29, 2022 10:20:40 GMT
Anyone heard anything about Qatar airways reinstating the flight from Cardiff to Doha? Haven't heard anything myself but would be good if they did. Fingers crossed. Just need flights now and FAW allocated tickets next week. Booked some accomodation in Doha (mate got tickets in the ballot) that should allow for a round of 16 match should we progress and 3 group games. Very underwhelming the accomodation and pricey for what it is, we went with the appartment option and it looks so basic! I think patience is the best option as I think better hotel options have come online since we booked the apartment. In our haste to get something secured we just went with anything. I was wondering the same about the Qatar flights - seems like they are missing a trick not to do it. If they leave it too long they may not fill them as lots already booked on package deals I'm still waiting on whether Wonky Sheep will do a 2 game package (I can only do those) but if they don't announce in the next week I'll go ahead and book my own flights and accom once I get a ticket next Tuesday |
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Post by londonexile on Jun 29, 2022 10:39:48 GMT
I guess Qatar airways decision will have a long term view, yes they will sell out a few flights in November this year but beyond that is it a commercially viable route for them? I dont know. I hope they put something on for us but I would expect something to have been announced by now. I think CWA tweeted after we qualified saying fly to Qatar, via Amsterdam the day after we qualified so doesn't look good!
Cards on the table time. Anyone else who is planning on going and or booked something, just not that excited about it? Cant believe I'm saying this as its Wales at a world cup and I should be buzzing but the hassle, cost, location and the group we are in so far has really sucked the life out of it for me. I'll be there, of course I will,and I'm sure I'll get excited closer to the time but it's hard work at the moment. Maybe Dubai would have been a more exciting location but just didn't fancy spending all my time getting to and from an airport.
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Post by cymro on Jun 29, 2022 10:51:30 GMT
I guess Qatar airways decision will have a long term view, yes they will sell out a few flights in November this year but beyond that is it a commercially viable route for them? I dont know. I hope they put something on for us but I would expect something to have been announced by now. I think CWA tweeted after we qualified saying fly to Qatar, via Amsterdam the day after we qualified so doesn't look good! Cards on the table time. Anyone else who is planning on going and or booked something, just not that excited about it? Cant believe I'm saying this as its Wales at a world cup and I should be buzzing but the hassle, cost, location and the group we are in so far has really sucked the life out of it for me. I'll be there, of course I will,and I'm sure I'll get excited closer to the time but it's hard work at the moment. Maybe Dubai would have been a more exciting location but just didn't fancy spending all my time getting to and from an airport. It is hard work indeed. Got flights booked from Manchester at the moment, until I've got tickets and accommodation secured then its hard to properly look forward to it. Excitement should ramp up a bit from next week once tickets are out. Don't want to wish the summer away but i knoe once it gets to September and the Autumn draws in, the anticipation will build. |
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Post by gwernybwch on Jun 29, 2022 11:05:33 GMT
I guess Qatar airways decision will have a long term view, yes they will sell out a few flights in November this year but beyond that is it a commercially viable route for them? I dont know. I hope they put something on for us but I would expect something to have been announced by now. I think CWA tweeted after we qualified saying fly to Qatar, via Amsterdam the day after we qualified so doesn't look good! Cards on the table time. Anyone else who is planning on going and or booked something, just not that excited about it? Cant believe I'm saying this as its Wales at a world cup and I should be buzzing but the hassle, cost, location and the group we are in so far has really sucked the life out of it for me. I'll be there, of course I will,and I'm sure I'll get excited closer to the time but it's hard work at the moment. Maybe Dubai would have been a more exciting location but just didn't fancy spending all my time getting to and from an airport. The last thing I recall seeing is that Qatar were unlikely to return to Cardiff for a while. Can't remember the reasons why; either they have given up the slots or reallocated the aircraft and staff to other flights. I don't think that they were that impressed with performance even prior to Covid and had a flight occupancy rate lower than the industry standards. I am totally underwhelmed by this World Cup as well. Stupid place to have it and a stupid time of year. Expensive and difficult to organise a trip. And that is before you think about the poor souls that built it. I have booked flights to go to the first game and then flying off to watch it elsewhere. At least I can say that I have seen little ole Wales play at a World Cup. |
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Post by erasedcitizen on Jun 29, 2022 11:44:41 GMT
I don’t see how annual leave is an issue or even the cost before Christmas? It’s not an extra tournament. If it was elsewhere it would be now. We missed out on 2020 too. A lot of people, myself included, will spend more in November and December than earlier in the year. Apologies for not being organised and saving. I do agree that as non-European world cups go, it might not cost that much. I would think USA, South Africa, Brazil, Japan/Korea would/will all cost more. You can get to 1 of the games for about £700/£800. How much is the cheapest flight to the USA? About £500 return to most areas of the US booked decently in advance. Accommodation and drinks much cheaper too. You'd be more inclined to do more in the US than that middle east shithole though. |
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Post by londonexile on Jun 29, 2022 12:49:15 GMT
Here's the link to the official accomodation site, you dont need a ticket application to browse, just to book them. You may need to set up an account to access and browse for now and start using the search box, it's not that user friendly imo. www.qatar2022.qa/book/en/searchAs you can see it ranges from the obscene (5k, 5 star a night) to the horrendously grotty looking apartments and converted shipping containers. Cruise ships look a decent bet but very very pricey. New stuff is coming online all the time so it's a moving target, the options today are better than we when we booked last week so timing is crucial. I feel like they are trying to offload the real grubby stuff first before releasing the nicer, purpose built stuff that's probably still under construction. Theres a whiff of 'artists impression' around some of the images! Pro tip....check the distance from a local metro station some look ok but are miles from a station. |
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Post by aberbeeg on Jun 29, 2022 13:00:38 GMT
Have to agree with a lot said above. I’ve never been more underwhelmed about booking a Wales away trip.
Especially searching through the God awful accommodation in Doha. Some accommodation are even close to old industrial estates miles from any metro stations. I’ll be honest I definitely wouldn’t have gone if I had to stay in Doha the price for the grotty apartment blocks are scandalous.
Even the cruise ships are so pricey compared to what you normally get on a cruise ship. I feel a fair bit happier that I’m staying in Dubai even though I’ve been there a few times before and the fact I have to do the shuttle flights each match.
The other thing that I’d be worried about staying in Doha is WHAT DO YOU DO in between match days?
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Post by daearegwr on Jun 29, 2022 13:15:13 GMT
Have to agree with a lot said above. I’ve never been more underwhelmed about booking a Wales away trip. Especially searching through the God awful accommodation in Doha. Some accommodation are even close to old industrial estates miles from any metro stations. I’ll be honest I definitely wouldn’t have gone if I had to stay in Doha the price for the grotty apartment blocks are scandalous. Even the cruise ships are so pricey compared to what you normally get on a cruise ship. I feel a fair bit happier that I’m staying in Dubai even though I’ve been there a few times before and the fact I have to do the shuttle flights each match. The other thing that I’d be worried about staying in Doha is WHAT DO YOU DO in between match days? Go to other games? That's one (perhaps the only one!) advantage of this world cup that all the matches are clustered close together rather than spread out across an entire big country But you're right that the accommodation offering in Doha is awful value for money! Some of it looks really ropey |
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Post by londonexile on Jun 29, 2022 13:19:12 GMT
For the off days we have sourced tickets for the other group games to keep us busy. But that's it, nothing to do otherwise!
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Post by cymro on Jun 29, 2022 14:25:50 GMT
Yeah planning to go to 2 or 3 other matches on top of the Wales games as they're all easy to get to and it would be nice to experience more than just 1 stadium. Will find a bar to watch other matches on days where I've got nothing planned. If I limit drinking to only a few of the days and not every day, it makes £10+ a pint more affordable!
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Post by CymruFach on Jul 1, 2022 17:50:24 GMT
Here's the link to the official accomodation site, you dont need a ticket application to browse, just to book them. You may need to set up an account to access and browse for now and start using the search box, it's not that user friendly imo. www.qatar2022.qa/book/en/searchAs you can see it ranges from the obscene (5k, 5 star a night) to the horrendously grotty looking apartments and converted shipping containers. Cruise ships look a decent bet but very very pricey. New stuff is coming online all the time so it's a moving target, the options today are better than we when we booked last week so timing is crucial. I feel like they are trying to offload the real grubby stuff first before releasing the nicer, purpose built stuff that's probably still under construction. Theres a whiff of 'artists impression' around some of the images! Pro tip....check the distance from a local metro station some look ok but are miles from a station. IF you have a ticket can you just book accommodation for yourself? I am hoping to get tickets, and my son, but my wife was thinking of coming with us but will not be going to games but will obv need accomodation |
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Post by welrus on Jul 1, 2022 18:47:45 GMT
Here's the link to the official accomodation site, you dont need a ticket application to browse, just to book them. You may need to set up an account to access and browse for now and start using the search box, it's not that user friendly imo. www.qatar2022.qa/book/en/searchAs you can see it ranges from the obscene (5k, 5 star a night) to the horrendously grotty looking apartments and converted shipping containers. Cruise ships look a decent bet but very very pricey. New stuff is coming online all the time so it's a moving target, the options today are better than we when we booked last week so timing is crucial. I feel like they are trying to offload the real grubby stuff first before releasing the nicer, purpose built stuff that's probably still under construction. Theres a whiff of 'artists impression' around some of the images! Pro tip....check the distance from a local metro station some look ok but are miles from a station. I contacted FIFA to ask about what accommodation would be released. All I got back was they expect to add accommodation but couldn’t say when or what. Not much use. |
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Post by aberbeeg on Jul 1, 2022 19:13:43 GMT
Here's the link to the official accomodation site, you dont need a ticket application to browse, just to book them. You may need to set up an account to access and browse for now and start using the search box, it's not that user friendly imo. www.qatar2022.qa/book/en/searchAs you can see it ranges from the obscene (5k, 5 star a night) to the horrendously grotty looking apartments and converted shipping containers. Cruise ships look a decent bet but very very pricey. New stuff is coming online all the time so it's a moving target, the options today are better than we when we booked last week so timing is crucial. I feel like they are trying to offload the real grubby stuff first before releasing the nicer, purpose built stuff that's probably still under construction. Theres a whiff of 'artists impression' around some of the images! Pro tip....check the distance from a local metro station some look ok but are miles from a station. IF you have a ticket can you just book accommodation for yourself? I am hoping to get tickets, and my son, but my wife was thinking of coming with us but will not be going to games but will obv need accomodation Personally if your taking your son and wife get to Dubai or Abu Dhabi and avoid Doha |
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Post by bluetone on Jul 1, 2022 19:47:29 GMT
IF you have a ticket can you just book accommodation for yourself? I am hoping to get tickets, and my son, but my wife was thinking of coming with us but will not be going to games but will obv need accomodation Personally if your taking your son and wife get to Dubai or Abu Dhabi and avoid Doha I agree with aberbeeg, there are a few of us going out and some of the wives will be staying in the All Inclusive hotel whilst we’re at the games. I bet they can’t wait for us to go to the games 🤣 IMO the extra cost of around £600 for the 3 flights to Doha and back would be more than off set with the savings to be had not having buy food and drink throughout the 10/11 days of the group stages if you stay all inclusive in Dubai or AD. I’ve been to both Dubai and Abu Dhabi nearly 20 times over the last 15 years and it’s very pricey and getting more costly due to exchange rate being virtually at it’s lowest for 5 years if not all time low. The AED exchange rate is linked to dollar which is $1.21 today 😧 Eating and drinking is very, very pricey so anyone going please budget this into your costings. |
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Post by manulike on Jul 1, 2022 21:17:00 GMT
I think that the AirArabia UAE to Qatar flights might be blocked to those outside of the UAE. I kept on getting a "forbidden" error message (tried different browsers and laptops) when trying to view flights in the UK. When I set the VPN to UAE it was fine. I'm also getting "forbidden" constantly. I've always used Nord VPN - but they dont cover UAE. Anyone know of a free way of getting a UAE IP address?
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Post by cantonwelsh79 on Jul 1, 2022 21:54:04 GMT
I think that the AirArabia UAE to Qatar flights might be blocked to those outside of the UAE. I kept on getting a "forbidden" error message (tried different browsers and laptops) when trying to view flights in the UK. When I set the VPN to UAE it was fine. I'm also getting "forbidden" constantly. I've always used Nord VPN - but they dont cover UAE. Anyone know of a free way of getting a UAE IP address?
I've booked a flight with Air Arabia to Doha - not the shuttle flights though. I was getting the forbidden message as well, the only work around it that I could find was to download the App and do it that way. Don't know if will work for the shuttles. |
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Post by gwernybwch on Jul 2, 2022 7:07:52 GMT
manulike I use CyberGhost. I think that they offer a free trial and maybe monthly subscription. When I went to book a few days ago the AirArabia flights were more expensive than the FlyDubai flights. There were flights with Qatar, but they were even more expensive. Some of the FlyDubai shuttles - particularly the ones after the USA games - are now showing as Business class only. I'm not sure if they have sold out of economy or not. There was a travel agent that was trying to block book some FlyDubai seats, not sure they have done this and that is why they are showing up as sold out.
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Post by aberbeeg on Jul 2, 2022 11:44:38 GMT
Expedia still showing availability on most shuttle flights as of last night.
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Post by ch7 on Jul 2, 2022 14:00:53 GMT
Used Qatar airways rather than airdubai. Cheaper
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Post by daearegwr on Jul 4, 2022 10:15:59 GMT
Wonky Sheep have put their 2 game packages up for sale. Open to those on the mailing list until 8pm tonight and then general sale afterwards. I've just booked my space
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Post by gwernybwch on Jul 4, 2022 20:52:19 GMT
Expedia still showing availability on most shuttle flights as of last night. 'Scraper' websites such as Expedia, skyscanner aren't always accurate as it all depends on when they scraped or grabbed the data. If they are scraping directly from the airline website the price and availability tends to be up-to-date. The more secondary websites such as say TravelUp they use the less accurate the price and availability as that information is sometimes only updated every 24 hours. |
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Post by kingstonred on Jul 5, 2022 14:31:34 GMT
Has anyone that bought tickets today been successful booking accommodation in Qatar?
I'm getting this message:
Your Ticket Application Number may not be ready for validation yet. Please try again later
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Post by bolter on Jul 5, 2022 14:38:20 GMT
Has anyone that bought tickets today been successful booking accommodation in Qatar? I'm getting this message: Your Ticket Application Number may not be ready for validation yet. Please try again later I'm getting the same thing |
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Post by CrackityJones on Jul 5, 2022 15:57:22 GMT
Has anyone that bought tickets today been successful booking accommodation in Qatar? I'm getting this message: Your Ticket Application Number may not be ready for validation yet. Please try again later Same here. If anyone has sorted accommodation previously please can you let us know how long it takes. |
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Post by idj68 on Jul 5, 2022 17:49:52 GMT
Has anyone that bought tickets today been successful booking accommodation in Qatar? I'm getting this message: Your Ticket Application Number may not be ready for validation yet. Please try again later Same here. If anyone has sorted accommodation previously please can you let us know how long it takes. Mine was pretty instant after getting ticket no - but it wasn’t at the time of volume of release like today…… got from online ticket outlet so no doubt a number of days or even weeks since acquired ! |
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Post by CrackityJones on Jul 6, 2022 9:16:22 GMT
Validation code worked this morning, sorted accommodation then booked flights. If anyone is thinking of doing the same there are plenty of options available.
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Post by rhys on Jul 6, 2022 9:28:29 GMT
For those staying in Qatar, what accommodation have you gone for? The cheaper apartments seem to be in the middle of nowhere and I don’t care to be spending £300 a night for somewhere just to sleep. Considering the fan villages as they seem to be close to metro lines.
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