Hi everyone. OP here. First of all, thanks for all the helpful replies. So I just took the flight this past Sunday. I DID, however, wind up switching to the 15:20 flight and here's my brief summary:
the GOOD: THRILLED that flight came w/ lounge access. Lounge was comfy and food was decently good.
Neither GOOD nor BAD: why in the heck did we have to take a shuttle bus from the terminal to board the plane? In fact, an A-340 had departed from the gate before our 340 arrived so, clearly, there was a gate avail and one that could accommodate the 340. Still don't see the logic in that. No pre-boarding of any kind. PDB's were offered. Crew was very nice. In terms of meals: they offered a prepackaged snack as others had said: few slices of deli turkey, few slices of cheese, and some seasoned olives (I think) with some sliced fruit and a very unattractive dessert. This may sound harsh but, actually, I wasn't all that disappointed b/c in the US they wouldn't even offer this AND I knew enough from this site to fill up a bit more in the lounge so I can't say I was all that hungry. If this needed to constitute my afternoon, "meal" though, I probably would have been a bit more disappointed.
BAD: come on SAA, no pillow or blanket available? I know it's only a 95 minute flight but geez?
VERDICT: If the price I paid was just a tad less expensive in the future, I MAY take the J product again. The lounge access, though, was very worthwhile especially considering I arrived at CPT 2+ hrs early (thanks, car service. LOL)