twangster

The West Palm to Orlando section would likely be a lot farther along if it wasn't for lawsuits that delayed construction. The West Palm to Fort Lauderdale section also endured legal action causing delays. The Central Florida Expressway Authority is already throwing a wrench in the Orlando to Tampa section: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/transportation/os-ne-brightline-universal-cfx-route-20210720-3d7p4xnxyfenflzkvqa7qvj3dm-story.html The Central Florida Expressway Authority agreed unanimously Tuesday to delay indefinitely a decision over whether to allow Brightline Trains to build passenger rail beside the agency’s State Road 417 on the way from Orlando’s airport to Walt Disney World and Tampa. It seems competing interests want the track in another corridor and are invoking "wetlands" to support their cause. Revising my previous estimate from 2040 to 2050.

Umm.

ABC often have late departures due to the proximity of a neighboring ABC destination. What's unique about this is the ability to get off the ship and enjoy a sunset from a beach. If you think about it, most cruises will have you back on board for sunset. Having said that, consider the port times for both itineraries. Is a sunset sailboat cruise or sunset beach experience something you would enjoy? Do both itinerary offer this opportunity? The DR is a somewhat new destination for Royal. So that may be an opportunity to try a new destination or one less frequented.

Now, now. If stars align it could be partially completed in 2030. Oh wait. Here come the environmental groups. Make that 2040.

I'm betting there's a huge stockpile of lobster in the supply chain. We might see it on cruises we otherwise would not in the near term.

That's at least 4 Kraken and Diet for @Big Dawg Ron, maybe more.

Brightline board approves Orlando to Tampa. https://www.wesh.com/article/brightline-board-approval/37081637 If it is ever built that puts all the major Florida cruise ports a train ride away.

As a scuba diver I've used reef safe sunscreen for several years now. It goes on like tar and doesn't smell like a Pina Colada but it's what I use when I'm going in the water.

Make sure you are checking when the hamster is not on the spin phase.

$312 price drop on one, $91 price drop on another, both after final payment this morning. Took a while, but OBC is in the works. Only fear now is if they cancel it. Keeping detailed notes to aid in future FCC or refund calculations.

Have you checked the price of Amtrak lately?

If I had that kind of access it would be $18 DX for everyone!

Somewhere in the application flow on a middleware server NTP isn't configured right. ?

Wrong cruise line. Did you mean to post this in the luxury yacht charter forum?

One word. USPS. Be thankful you get any mail beyond junk mail these days.

I suspect that South Florida test cruises will have a long list of volunteer HQ employees willing to be testers. For other ports such as Oasis in Bayonne, Galveston, Seattle, Baltimore, San Juan potentially, etc. they may rely more on non-employee volunteers. For anyone who volunteered in the latest recruitment offer I'm betting you'll have better odds if you don't have a FL zip code but are close to another port, even if they aren't ready to schedule test cruises there yet.

Not a fan either but I know some people love it so... to each their own.

Lobster night, if there is one, is one night per cruise. For most cruises it's the 2nd formal night if there are two formal nights. I guess they don't want to have lobster on the 1st formal night menu and set an expectation there will be lobster on the other formal night menu.

It's pretty obvious to me that Canada/NE is not going to happen this year but Royal hasn't made that announcement.

There are ways to save as a solo but you have to be quick to find the rare solo deal. The studio cabins are the easy answer. The list of ships with studio cabins can be found in this post: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/11/03/guide-royal-caribbeans-single-and-studio-staterooms Beyond studio cabins there are reduced single supplement cruises for double occupancy cabins but they can be harder to find. The best way to score a reduced single supplement fare is to book very early soon after a ship is first released for a new season, when a ship is redeployed on short notice and/or booking off peak. During peak summer season it's harder to find reduced single fares but once in a while they are available. Going back a few years when Cuba travel was banned the cruise lines suddenly had ships they had to redeploy on short notice. To fill the ships on short notice they offered zero single supplement on some sail dates. A single person paid the same per person rate compared to a double occupancy guest. When Oasis was amplified in 2019 it came back into service right around Thanksgiving. The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are often slow in the cruise industry. Oasis was offered with no single supplement for solo cruisers. Many solo cruisers flocked to these sailings. Reduced single supplement fares tend to be capacity controlled. There may be a few slots available in a particular cabin type and once they are sold they are gone. When you find one you shouldn't spend a lot of time thinking about it. Single fares beyond studio cabins are not all equal. Sometime reduced single supplements are available. Instead of 2x the per person rate it's 1.25x or 1.5x. Having a good travel agent is a good relationship to build. Often they'll hear whispers of a reduced single fare circulating around their coworkers and if you have that relationship established they'll let you know. More solo cruising blog posts: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/05/28/solo-cruises-royal-caribbean https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2015/02/16/what-you-need-know-about-taking-solo-royal-caribbean-cruise https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2018/01/12/top-10-tips-going-royal-caribbean-cruise-solo The bottom line though is that the cruise industry is built around the business model of double occupancy and they don't always make it easy to find the solo cruise deals. It's takes work and time constantly searching cruises to spot the rare single deal.

Now that they are out of quarantine and working with guests boarding soon they may no longer get free Voom. That wasn't normally a crew included benefit pre-pandemic.

Transfer only is typically not found in the cruise planner. The cruise planner might have an excursion with airport drop off but the cruise only transfers are like prepaid gratuity - you have to call. They are an option for a fall 2022 Harmony cruise I see. $34.95 per guest ship to MCO. Contact your travel agent or Royal if booked directly.

I was watching those webcams too. Roxy was on the bow live on TikTok. Great time to cruise with so few guests on board.

About 700 "guests" on board, no kids. Richard Fain is on board and sailing. Thought is it that Michael Bayley was on board earlier today but is not sailing.

If you don't return to the ship and have your seapass card scanned with the excursion group you'll be spending more than the rest of that day on the island. That will be the end of your cruise.