teddy

When we sailed on Voyager out of Boston last fall, taxis were all over the place on both embarkation and disembarkation days. I'm assuming ships dock stop at the same place they embark/disembark from when they are ported in Boston (Black Falcon Cruise Terminal)? If so, it's about a mile and a half walk to South Station where you can access the subway, but it can be miserable if it's cold/rainy/windy. When we finished our cruise last fall, we dragged our luggage to South Station because we were too cheap to pay a taxi and the Silver Line bus never showed up. It was a beautiful day, so the walk was pleasant other than having our bags with us. The cruise terminal is stop #16. There are directions to get to it from the terminal in the link below. Click on stop #16, then on "More Info" in the pop up window. https://www.trolleytours.com/boston/map#

When we were on Anthem 2/4-2/12, this was the only show that required actual reservations. We never had any difficulties getting seats at any show we wanted to see. We even caught the end of a different showing of Spectra's Cabaret when we got to 270 early for an event.

I did the course on Adventure but bought my mask/snorkel at a local dive shop. I spent quite a bit of time talking with the owner and asked her how she felt about cruise ship programs. Her response was that the instructor would be a PADI instructor and I would get the same course she would give....with the exception of doing it in the bright Caribbean rather than the dark Atlantic off the coast of Maine. She said it would be an easy decision for her.

Here’s what a Lyft would cost right now. I put in Delta as the airline because it was the first choice, but I imagine the other airlines would be the same.

Were you in the Diamond Lounge on Anthem in early February questioning whether my wife and I were in there legitimately?

We are sailing out of Ravenna in October of this year. Our flight gets in to Venice at 1830 as well. We have a room booked at the Courtyard Venice Airport for that night. The next day we will unhurriedly make our way to Ravenna via the train. We have two nights booked at a B&B in Ravenna. The owner of the B&B has already been in contact with us, and we’ve reserved a ride to the port through him. We chose the Courtyard because we know we’ll be exhausted after our first ever transatlantic flight, it’s close to the airport, and we had Marriott points we could use.

Being from an isolated border logging town, I remember the resentment that the Canadian truckers could come into the States with a DUI conviction but American truckers couldn’t go into Canada. ….of course now that I’m an “adult”, I realize the solution is to not drink and drive….

Keep an eye on any local events happening that may increase travel time.

Going back to the cabin type. We’ve never done this itinerary, but it’s on our bucket list of cruises. We will book a balcony when we eventually book it. Our “rule” for cruising has evolved to this: If we’re on a “bucket list” cruise, we’re getting a balcony. If we’re on a “get out of New England in the middle winter” cruise, we do an inside (or even a GTY).

Good for him and his parents. I think it’s neat.

You can have your pick of chairs between 4 and 430 am. Coffee is hit or miss that early though

My wife and I are very early risers. We like to get coffee and go sit in the Solarium to watch the sun rise. We will sit there for a few hours in the early mornings, reading, relaxing, and chatting with each other. When we were on Anthem at the beginning of February, we watched people get there early (5-530 am), put towels on loungers that were in “prime” spots (by the windows), then leave. We wouldn’t see them again, even after 3+ hours. That is the behavior of “chair hogs”.

I suspect laws have changed since I went through my process. Here's a place to start reading: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/inadmissibility/overcome-criminal-convictions.html

I use Proton VPN and sometimes have to try a few different connections and settings before I find one that will work.

I just like that CocoCay/CocoKey/Little Stirrup Cay is located in Slaughter Harbor. The first time I saw that on my phone's weather app, I had to look it up.

Us too.

I'm going to make an educated guess that it's because you don't have an actual cabin assigned, so theoretically you could be assigned a cabin with a view. Please don't count on anything other than an Inside Cabin though.

Kinda the same here We booked an obstructed balcony for son and his family in 2024. When we checked out the cabin location earlier this month, it was right above the smoking area. A quick email to our travel agent got them moved to the port side.

So we thought it was always the port side that was smoking based in our experiences with voyager and freedom classes, but when we were just on anthem, deck 5, starboard side had a smoking area.

Our stateroom attendant on Anthem earlier this month told us they were going to once a day service in April. He said special requests would be honored.

As I recall, there is a surcharge on Lyft and Uber to go between NY/NJ. I realize you are flying into LaGuardia, so it's not apple to apples, but here's our one experience with cruising out of Cape Liberty: We stayed at the Element Harrison-Newark. It was what you'd expect for a sub $200 hotel. Very clean and comfortable, and there was a Five Guys right across from the entrance. Breakfast buffet included at the hotel. A Lyft to the port cost us $22.99 before tip. We chose it because we took Amtrak down from Boston and the hotel was one stop from Newark's Penn Station on the PATH train. Easy walk from the station to the hotel....plus I had more than enough Marriott points to pay for the room.

We use the simple TSA approved cable locks to keep our bags from being targets of opportunity.

Yea, on Explorer. I was thinking of popping down to Boston to meet for a drink or something if the dates worked out, but it would be hard to do from over there.

Bummer. We are flying out of Boston for our Italy cruise on the 18th.