NJCruisers

I did the same for our upcoming Alaska cruise. I've been using Nancy at MEI and she's been super helpful.

I drink mostly rum type drinks but I did enjoy some specialty martini's as well. I had wine every night for dinner, specialty coffee for breakfast and dessert, fresh squeezed juice at dinner and took countless vitamin waters off the ship during excursions. My hubby drinks perfect Manhattans and enjoys bourbon drinks throughout the cruise.

I'm booked in an Aft balcony cabin but on the 7th floor & super excited. I'd love to see some of @twangster YouTube videos, can you provide a link?

Book through an MEI travel agent and then they will reprice for you if a lower price comes out! No extra cost to you whatsoever. 

On 10/11/2022 at 11:18 PM, Pattycruise said:

I'd love to know about booking a one way flight.  Doesn't appear to be an option on Air2Sea online. 

Nathan_O shuttle transfer is not included.  I can't answer your other questions as I've not used air2Sea in ages.

 

We have 2 one way flights booked from Air2Sea. From New Jersey to Vancouver and from Alaska to New Jersey. 

On 10/6/2022 at 1:51 PM, Shari said:

We have sailed on Radiance twice.  Once was a trans pacific.  She is probably our second favorite ship.  My hubby loves to play darts while sailing and the Radiance still has her dart board and English pub.  She has a movie theater that is good for long sailings.  She is a smaller and older ship but is well maintained.  She still has her staircase in the Centrum unlike Brilliance.  If you sail on her and want a balcony the best balcony cabins are the aft cabins.   We will be back on her in 2 weeks and have another cruise on her next August.  Hope you enjoy the Radiance as much as we do.

I'm so happy to read this, I have an aft facing balcony on her for our Alaskan cruise next summer!

I'm going in July and don't see any savings unfortunately. 

19 hours ago, Shari said:

I just called and repriced our Alaskan cruise tour for next year and saved $886 dollars and got an additional 100 in OBC.  So time to reprice your cruises!

I booked with MEI so hopefully she lets me know if our July cruise is eligible for this discount!

23 hours ago, RCIfan1912 said:

I have never flown before and honestly can't see myself every flying. It's a super duper phobia with me. We sail from NJ because we live here which is great, we have great ships and cool itineraries but of course limited. 

I really want to take an Alaskan cruise but that would be quite the flight to Seattle. I read Xanax is prescribed to nervous flyers but I think I might just be the worst nervous flyer. Will Xanax knock me the heck out completely like I had no clue what is going on and thus don't care? This would be a long flights so it would have to last 6 hours or so. 

Any advice? What do you do from experience?

Hi, I live in NJ as well and I am terrified of flying. I went over 10 years without getting on a plane. I take Xanax and it helps. I find that I need it more beforehand then actually on the plane. Definitely try out any medication before you get on a plane as you never know how it will effect you. I recently booked an Alaskan Cruise and I have to fly to Vancouver and home from Alaska. Not gonna lie, I'm low key freaking out about that part. I fly to Florida once a year to visit relatives but this will be something else.

I follow this guy on Youtube, he's a United pilot based out of Newark! I really like this video as it helps explain different things. 

18 hours ago, ChessE4 said:

There are some options almost always available while featured items change daily.  I don't know about Alaska, but sometimes on Mediterranean cruises there are some special items based on the itinerary.  

Generally, all MDR menus have a core offering with some differences based on location.  For example, cruises out of Southampton have a British-oriented menu, as does the Windjammer.  It is an adjustment for American guests!

We love trying new things, we definitely prefer the MDR to the Windjammer but honestly I enjoy not having to cook (& do the dishes!) on vacation so it's all good  

Thanks for the reply.

Do the MDR menus on Radiance change with the different ports?

I never realized I could look at the menus on the app but I know this ship will be leaving Alaska soon, if not already. 

4 hours ago, ChessE4 said:

Our TA does everything but cruise planner; air, hotel, cruise, insurance, transfers, and pre-cruise 3rd party excursions. We do pay a fee for air. Next cruise TA arranged Air2Sea reservations.

Thank you. I believe ours mentioned transfers but we haven't figured out flights yet and since we are traveling 2 days before I'm not sure if it will be an option. We booked an Airbnb in Vancouver and a hotel in Alaska on our own. 

2 hours ago, Matt said:

Your travel agent is there to manage your cruise reservation, so expect to manage everything else on your own.

Hotels, railroad/airplane, rental car is all on you and that's primarily because those companies do not pay travel agents commission. I'd also argue you're probably better suited to handle those kind of reservations since people are generally more comfortable booking hotels or flights on their own to begin with.

The TA can certainly provide a suggestion or two if you're struggling with an aspect of it, but that's about it.

The one exception is if you book a hotel or flight through Royal Caribbean. Then, a TA can book it for you since they can book it through the cruise line.

Thank you. We are still very confused with regards to Air2Sea. Reading through it says they have a Price Fare Guarantee but the TA had no idea about that. I pushed that off on another member of the family who travels more than I do to handle, lol.

Everyone seems to suggest using a TA to make sure everything gets taken care of, however I'm not sure what I can ask them to do for me. When I inquired on this board about booking airfare through them I was informed they don't make a commission from that so I shouldn't really be asking.

I'm getting a little overwhelmed with our cruise to Alaska and I'm not sure what I can and can't ask my TA to do. She is a really nice lady who is patient with me and I have no complaints. I'm just a little out of my element dealing with a TA. 

For instance, I want to book railroad tickets but I don't think they are out yet - is that something I can ask her to do & not worry about it or should I be checking daily myself?  

I'm a huge planner and I really do enjoy researching everything and reading these boards.

This is all new to me, but I purchased my Voom 1 device for $15.99 pd. If my ship gets this Starlink am I still able to keep that price? We are on the Radiance, a much older ship so this may not even be on their agenda anytime soon.

On 9/13/2022 at 9:15 AM, steverk said:

I notice a lot of people seem to dislike Radiance.  Personally, I enjoy her, but that's neither here nor there.

If you take a Radiance class ship, come prepared.  These ships were built to fit through the original locks of the Panama Canal.  This makes it much smaller than most other Royal ships and they simply don't have room for all of the bells and whistles.

Which leads me to another point.  If the original Panama Canal is on your bucket list, do it quick.  There's no telling how much longer Royal, or its competitors, are going to keep these aging ships!  Once they are gone, it will be very difficult to see the original canal.

I've only been on a few cruises but I'm excited for Radiance. We no longer have kids traveling with us & we are planning on busy days in Alaska. I think it's big enough for this trip for sure. We are traveling with others who have never cruised before so they won't have anything to compare it to. 

8 hours ago, Aron_Ross said:

Hi NJCruisers,

Looks like you are from the NJ area?  I actually grew up in NYC and have been living in Los Angeles for 15 years now.  I SOOO regret never experiencing the Caribbean or cruising when I lived in NY.  Traveling or cruising there from LA is a little more of a hassle.  Anyway, a few years ago my girlfriend and I sailed on Carnival to the Caribbean out of New Orleans and it was a total game changer.  We fell in love with the Caribbean!  We have sailed the Mexican Riviera out here, but it just doesn't compare.  My aunt lives in Jersey City, is retired and often sails out of Bayonne on Oasis and sometimes on Anthem I think.  I recently asked her if she gets tired of the same itinerary: Port Canaveral, Coco Cay, Nassau and she loves it every time!  I'm sure I would too...ha ha! 

Glad to hear you booked an Alaska cruise.  Wow, I wish we could do back to back hopefully one day.  I'm just so surprised at how few flights there are daily from Anchorage to LA and vice versa.  Good to hear you are also watching videos they provide so much information.  Matt's blog has been incredibly helpful too!  I'm so glad I discovered it and his YouTube channel.  Can't plan anything for Alaska yet since we have a cruise coming up in Nov on Harmony to SO Caribbean.  It will be our first time on an Oasis class, and first to Labadee, Aruba and Curacao.  We are SO excited and have been counting down since we booked that cruise in Feb of this year.  Sorry for the long response I could discuss these topics endlessly.

 

Yes, I am originally from NYC myself but made the move to NJ almost 25 years ago. Ironically I've never taken a cruise from here. I've done 1 out of Florida and 2 out of Puerto Rico. Alaska is definitely a big deal, I hate to fly and I'm already nervous about it! I love planning vacations though. 

Aruba & Curacao are both amazing, I've been to both of them twice. Curacao was so fun to just walk around town on our own and explore. We did a beach excursion through the ship in the morning, went back and had lunch on the ship then toured Curacao. We had drinks at that place by the Queen Emma Bridge and just watched it for like an hour before heading back to the ship.

We did Trikes Aruba and toured the island in the morning then spent the day at the beach & had a fabulous dinner at Barefoot Aruba.  

You will love it there!

We stayed at this hotel and it was great. Close walk to restaurants too. We used Uber to get to the ship and we were there in about 5 minutes. 

https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/sjucohh-the-condado-plaza-hilton/

18 hours ago, Aron_Ross said:

Hello all,

I posted this in a previously sailed roll call and realized it may not get read, so I figured I’d start a new one.

I am very close to booking an 8 night round trip Vancouver to Alaska on Radiance for May 2023.  I was wondering if anyone has sailed that itinerary and what the weather, ship and excursions were like?  What were the pros and cons overall?  I watched a walk-through of Radiance on YouTube, and was quite impressed by how nice it is for a 20+ year old ship.  I toyed with idea of sailing southbound flying to Anchorage, but the flights are too pricey and there is only one direct flight a day to Los Angeles.  

I recently booked this cruise, but it's not round trip. You can either go Northbound Vancouver to Seward or Southbound Seward to Vancouver, unless of course you are lucky enough to do a back to back cruise and do both!

I have been watching a bunch of videos too and I'm so excited. Lots of planning to do! 

17 minutes ago, baltodave said:

That's crazy.  I don't understand why your cruise is not supported by Air2Sea.  We had our MEI TA do the Air2Sea reservations for us on our recent Rhapsody cruise in Greece but we did Air2Sea ourselves for the Alaska cruise.  It was very nice of her (to handle the Greece flights) since I don't think the MEI TA's make any commission off of the Air2Sea reservations. 

I thought so too, I triple checked that my information was correct too. I tried the I'm browsing option and it only offered round trip which obviously doesn't work for this cruise.

37 minutes ago, baltodave said:

Yes!  It's a Friday-Friday cruise.  We are arriving the day before in Vancouver (Saturday) and leaving the Monday night afterwards. Here's the Air2Sea link:  https://www.royalcaribbean.com/flights/bookFlights.  After entering your booking number (and other info) , you can change the dates.  One thing to keep in mind:  AA allowed us to select seats (even though the flights aren't paid for yet).  However, Air Canada did not.  We plan on paying for the flights in a couple weeks.  I also looked at Alaska Air but the return flights all leave Anchorage after midnight!    Since we are working with a TA (MEI), after I reserved the flights, she got notified and I'll handle the payment through her.  

I don't know if Air2Sea works with JetBlue but if you are near NY, you have choices (JFK, LGA and Newark).  And if you're in South Jersey, there's always PHL.

FWIW, since we live near BWI, for cruises leaving Florida or Galveston I book flights (on SWA) on my own.  However, for our recent European cruise and this one, it was better to use Air2Sea.

I put in my cruise information and got an error message that they don't support my cruise.  I too am working with an MEI TA so I'm sure I can have her look as well. 

I need to medicate to fly (I've also never flown this far), as much as my husband would love to have me sit with someone else unfortunately we need seats together, lol. 

Jet Blue only flies to Vancouver from JFK. I have a spreadsheet of flights for United & Air Canada out of Newark, I have to add Philly. We are only about 45 minutes from Newark and 1 hour and 45 from Philly so we definitely prefer Newark and flights will have to be a good amount less for us to adjust for that. Plus we would have to leave our car in Philly as opposed to getting a friend who drives for Uber to take us to Newark. I've been watching them on Hopper as well. Hoping for them to all go down a bit.

Will definitely check those out. I have a ton of reading to do this weekend. My daughter keeps telling me to stop printing the internet, lol. I just need time away from a computer screen so sometimes that helps.

Do you know if Air2Sea allows you to arrive 2 days before? 4 of us are traveling from NJ/NY and 2 from PA. Air2Sea is on my list to research. We normally fly Jet Blue but they only have 1 flight per day to Vancouver, at night & only from JFK which is a hike for us so I need to figure out what to do.

I like having the ankle support, I'm kind of a klutz! I'll definitely have to wear them on the plane.

We're also on Radiance, but the July 14th sailing - Vancouver to Seward. It's the 3rd cruise for hubby & I (first non Caribbean) but we are traveling with family that has never cruised before.

We are so overwhelmed with planning. Too early for flights but we have an Airbnb booked in Vancouver.  Now to figure out what to do and where to stay in Alaska for a few days. Group of 6 all in our early to late 50's.

We are very excited, I'll be watching this board like crazy till we cruise!

Although I live much further south, there's always traffic in Jersey, especially on the Turnpike. Luckily you will be traveling south, it's football season and that means either the Jets or Giants are probably in town playing that Sunday but that will be northbound. 

Personally that's a little too close for me, I'd rather take a later flight and not worry.

I am going to Alaska next summer as well. I'm not much of a hiker but I love to walk & my regular sneakers are definitely not waterproof. 

I ordered these from Amazon, they were on sale & had lots of good reviews. I'm also able to return them if they don't work out. Figured I'd break them in this fall/winter.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HEH30LM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

13 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said:

Travel agents make nothing from booking flights, so it's kind of like asking them to work for free.

Thank you for clarifying that, I had no idea. Just from researching (not only this board) I've seen people say that TA's take care of everything so I just thought that meant the entire vacation.

I love researching trips and learning all I can but I'm not so great with figuring out flights for different couples from different states. Luckily I have a daughter that travels much more than I do to help me with the process