Zacharius

12 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Yes there is! We just had one on our cruise last July. Missed the ship in Miami due to flight delays. He posted photos to the FB roll call of him watching the ship sail away.

I was part of a group of friends in NYC who decided to meet up for a booze cruise at sunset, and one guy accidentally took a cab to the secondary departure port of the cruise company and then tried to rush over to the primary departure port but literally got there as we were pulling away. We have great video from us on the boat looking back at him, but also him looking at us churning away. A year later and we still give him a hard time about it constantly.

13 minutes ago, tiny260 said:

This is important because depending on the itinerary you could have a sea day or 2 right up front before ever getting to the first actual port, so by that time you have already missed a large portion of the cruise.

Fly in the day before, sometime this can really be trouble some, if the cruise leaves on a Saturday you have to take a Friday off work, not always easy for everyone, cost of a hotel night, etc.. But in the long run it is worth it.

Also worth pointing out that they're not going to push anyone off of a flight to get you on, so if you're going to a popular location during a popular time (let's say, for example, Caribbean during spring or winter break), there may not be the right number of open seats to get you there on that specific date. This of course becomes more difficult as your group becomes larger (requiring more seats), and your destination becomes smaller (thus having fewer flights or smaller aircraft).

On 4/20/2019 at 12:30 AM, twangster said:

By Air2Sea's owns words they offer "Assured Arrival"...at the next port of call.  

• When your vacation comes around, you don't want to miss the ship because of flight delays or cancellations. Book airfare through us and we guarantee, should an issue arise, our Emergency Travel Team will work with our airline partners to get you to the first available port of call.

 

Also important to note the word order in that they don't even guarantee to get you to the first available port, but they guarantee they will work with their airline partners...if they can't get you there, they can't get you there, and they offer absolutely no guarantees that they will. Many, many people mistakenly think there are guarantees when there aren't.

On 6/13/2018 at 10:48 PM, Jerry C said:

Just want to remind everyone that when I was in Naples, I wanted to bring pizza onboard, but stopped by Custom, I don't undersand why.

I saw many people did it , so don't bring it onboard. 

 

It's pretty much a worldwide norm for customs and/or agriculture to not allow food like that to enter or leave the country. It's one thing to bring packaged foods; it's another thing entirely to bring fresh foods.

Delicious pork

I forgot the brand of "regular" bottled water that was on Freedom two weeks ago, but they had both still and sparkling varieties. If you like sparkling water, don't bother...it was awful. The still was fine. I had no problem asking for a bottle of either when I ordered an alcoholic drink or coffee with the deluxe package - i.e. "I'll take a gin and tonic, and a bottle of water too".

They also have Pellegrino (my personal favorite), but that was treated as a stand alone drink - i.e. I couldn't get a gin and tonic and a pellegrino, it had to be two separate trips.

Was in St John last Friday. It was my first time there and fell in love. Definitely going to do a land vacation back there and spend 5-7 days later this year.

We took the ferry from Red Hook to Cruz Bay. Cruz Bay looked "normal" to me (I didn't see much/any obvious damage). Caneel Bay looked absolutely destroyed. We ended up at Trunk Bay and it was spectacular. You can see tree damage, and people who had been there before said you could tell a difference, but to me it was still wonderful.

10 minutes ago, Ray said:

Saw the Naked Coyboy while in NYC, must say Times Sq  IS a strange place, going back in Nov after cruise but Times Sq will be avoided, i just didnt like it

I've never met one person who really, truly likes Times Square.

On 4/26/2018 at 10:49 AM, PAUL rOGER said:

Anyway I am old school and if people want to dress casual and sloppy, that's up to them.

Casual and sloppy are not always the same thing. I can dress in brand new $60 shorts and a $50 polo and I assure you I am not sloppy, but I am casual. On the flip side, I see plenty of people around (even at work) with messy slacks and dress shirts, and while they're not dressed casual, they're sloppy as hell.

8 hours ago, antarec said:

I second this question for my next cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale. I didn't plan ahead and waited at FLL for 7hrs after my recent cruise hoping there would be a good amount of food/drink options to keep us company  ---  quickly learned FLL before the the security checkpoint has slim food/drink options. 

Next time I will make sure to get an earlier flight or use the RCCL Luggage Valet service--there is a small fee $20-$25, but WELL worth it. That enables you to get off the ship and take a cab/Uber/Lyft to any place to kill time and not worry about your luggages. 

I was on the Harmony OTS, you'll get this Luggage Valet info on Day 3 or 4...its only a select amount of airlines, however.

Often, for $20-$25 + the price of a couple of Uber rides, you can rent a car for the day and keep your luggage in it, then go anywhere you like.

Hey thanks for this. Will be doing the excursion in early May, and this sneak preview is nice to read.

4 hours ago, Chris_Wallace said:

I'd say for 3 to 5 nights cruise, you are more likely to break-even.

Anything more than 5 nights, not worth it, financial-wise and health-wise.

You really have to consume a ton of alcohol to break even. Even if we don't consider the alcohol, if you just consume soda, that's a lot of sugary beverage to feed our body.

Worse if you order cocktails everytime.... It's both alcohol AND sugary stuff.

It is bad for your health if you are going to drink that much every day for 7 days. After maybe 4 nights, you will find yourself drinking and ordering for the sake of drinking because you have to break the package even, otherwise you will waste your money.

My advice is:

For sailings less than 5 nights: Yes, get the Deluxe Beverage Package. It is convenient (you don't have to sign the check every time you order your drink) and you most probably can break even or even make package worth-while.

For sailings more than 5 nights: Just pay for each drink. You will realize paying for each drink makes more financial sense after 4 or 5 nights because after 5 nights, you will lessen your drink intake due to fatigue. You won't be able to drink that much every single day. Just pay for each drink and your body will thank you after that.

 

This is a wee bit of a generalization. First, as I mentioned in mine, the number of drinks you have to consume really depends on the price you pay. In my case, I only need to get three to four cocktails to break even, which is easy. And, "cocktails" doesn't always mean sugary tropical drinks...to me a "cocktail" could be a vodka soda which is far from sugary. Also, I can have endless bottles of water as well, which is anything but unhealthy.

It also kind of depends on the price paid, doesn't it? For example, in my cruise in a couple weeks, I combined a sail and onboard credit and now all I need to spend is about $35/day worth of drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) to come out even. $35 is nothin'.

1 hour ago, Ray said:

Couldn’t agree more!!!

For any new cruiser like myself seeing what can only be classed as constant abuse or criticism directed at any cd or any other member of crew on forums like this may make new cruisers think twice about booking a particular ship because of what is written, therefore potentially missing out on a great ship and ports of call just because they read constantly that the CD or AM was no good. 

Dont get me wrong it’s ok to have an opinion but not to go on and on constantly about it. 

Way I see it if you have a problem learn from it, if asked to express your opinion do so in a manner that is respectful to those that ask and those you are talking about then leave it at that! Don’t repeat yourself over and over trying to be a voice that is heard when no one is really interested 

 

 

I imagine the vast majority of cruisers never create an account on a cruise-related website to voice opinions or get involved. Just like the vast majority of flyers don't get active on FlyerTalk. What you really have is the top 1% who are going to have strong opinions because of so many cruises.

I'm a pretty new cruiser (just about to go on my second one), and I personally don't care who the cruise director or anyone else is, because they don't have any impact on my trip as I don't participate in anything that they might have an influence on (shows, competitions, etc.) To me, they're just the loud annoying person shouting over the speaker when I'm trying to relax.

9 minutes ago, Boston Babe said:

I'm wondering what will happen to the other cruise ships that are supposed to be going there. suspect change of itinerary till the pier is fixed. I'm just glad for those passengers that they can continue on their cruise. what a nightmare trying to get out of Honduras back to the States with 1600 people!

The easiest (and cheapest) way would be to charter a larger aircraft and do a few trips to the arrival port. No way you could get them all out reasonably on scheduled flights, even out of Tegucigalpa.

1 hour ago, Boston Babe said:

Does anyone know if they took the passengers off? How many hotels would there be in Honduras? I haven't seen an update.

Honduras has plenty of hotels.

Roatan...I mean, they have a decent number of accommodations, but that's a LOT of people to house on top of the normal number of tourists in Roatan at any given time. Good thing it appears that this wasn't necessary.

On 3/29/2018 at 12:03 PM, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I would think that it takes a while to get to the title of CD.  Most women would have to juggle that and family which I can't even imagine (as a mom and wife myself).  They have to be away from their families for months at a time.  Perhaps a lot of women put their family first and drop out of climbing that CD ladder?  I'm just guessing here.

Do many of the male cruise directors have families (not just a spouse, but children)? I ask because it doesn't seem like a job that lends itself to people with kids, so that wouldn't be a hindrance to either gender, but perhaps I am making assumptions.

1 minute ago, carlosalonsor said:

I guess that as you state, they wouldn't be thrilled. 

I suppose that as long as you don't fly right above the ship and directly over people you should be out of trouble. 

Yes, but it's clear some of those pictures were above the ship.

Not trying to be Negative Nancy, just pointing out some realities.

24 minutes ago, carlosalonsor said:

You're right.

Checking the map seems that you are just outside of the restricted zone. Be careful. 

Great shots!

 

I'd still be curious of Royal's reaction...I can't imagine they're terribly thrilled about a random UAV flying around their ship and the people on it. Just a guess.

On 2/27/2018 at 4:24 PM, cruiselife said:

We recently cruised to Montego Bay on another cruise line. Initially we were really worried about it and planned to stay onboard but decided when we docked that we weren't gonna let it ruin our time in Jamaica. We took a shuttle from the cruise port to Doctor's Cave Beach. Tons of passengers got off the ship and nobody had any issues that we heard about. My sister and her husband also recently went to a Montego Bay resort for a week and they didn't have any issues either. You should certainly heed the warnings and exercise caution, but I think you'll be fine. Just don't venture off alone and stick with guided tours. Excursions through Royal Caribbean would be a great option here because they definitely don't want anything to happen to you either.

If you have never been there before it is still worth getting off for a short while and exploring the port area that is completely fenced off and guarded. There are lots of good souvenirs and some food and drink options. If you don't feel safe getting off the ship at all there is nothing wrong with that, just stay on and enjoy having the place all to yourself. Perhaps book a discounted massage or something along those lines because they often run spa specials on port days.

I end up in Kingston once or twice a year for business and that's where it gets really sketchy. I haven't personally had any issues (lets just say...I blend in well), but have seen some sketchy things going on. I like Kingston, but wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wants to enjoy Jamaica from a tourist's perspective!

Margaritaville - heck no, I can't stand that kind of music.

The Joint is fantastic, but I'm a reggae fan. It has been around for years, definitely not a new station.