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nhilding10

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Posts posted by nhilding10

  1. I'm not sure where your hotel is so this may be completely irrelevant information and if so I apologize. But for a few comparable items, I just went through the same thing. We're staying at a hotel in Cocoa Beach and needed transportation from MCO to the hotel, then after the cruise from Port Canaveral back to MCO. From hotel to Port on the morning of the cruise we're good.

    GoPort.com offered us (2 adults / 2 children) from MCO to Port Canaveral at $120. That was MCO to Port only, however, they wouldn't do anything MCO to a hotel. 

    Cortans was $30 per person each way, so $120, same as GoPort.

    Cocoa Beach Shuttle offered us MCO to our hotel for $85 flat fee, and then from Port to MCO at the end of the cruise for $89. 

    We found Cocoa Beach Shuttle to be the cheapest and easiest. They will send a van right to MCO and we may share a ride we may not, but we know we're going to get there and they offered services well past 5:30 (really late did have an upcharge to be transparent). 

    We tried to find estimates with Uber/Lyft but that can be unreliable given surge/time/etc. but found that they wouldn't necessarily beat $85 in most cases, or so we thought. 

    Hope that helps!

  2. 16 minutes ago, Cruisegirl1976 said:

    What we did was took Cocoa Beach Shuttle from the airport to the hotel in cocoa beach, and then after the cruise we rented a car for the day, we had a late flight returning , and drove back to Orlando. 

    +1 on Cocoa Beach Shuttle. We had looked into this for our recent sailing and both GoPort and CorTrans were going to cost our group of 5 $125. Cocoa Beach Shuttle was only $95. When we put it into Uber for an estimate, everything came up between $90 to $100 (this was going to be a Saturday night, too) so we didn't want to risk a surge pricing on top of that. We found Cocoa Beach Shuttle to be the easiest and cheapest, and didn't have to worry about the driving myself!

  3. On 1/24/2022 at 4:38 PM, CrimsonCruiser said:

    noooooo T_T_T_T_T

    I hope you guys aren't feeling it too bad

    Thank you, we appreciate that. Luckily, and what seems very oddly, neither of us have had a single symptom or felt sick AT ALL. So while the test showed we were positive, otherwise we would have been none-the-wiser! Very lucky, no doubt, given some of the stories we've all seen and heard. I'll thank my lucky stars that's how we feel and consider us very blessed to already be looking at a replacement booking! 

  4. 1 hour ago, S. Noble said:

    It is truly a shame that we don't have a live blog going for the cruise that goes to Labadee this week. I'll be checking their FB group though. I'm on the edge of my seat to know how it goes for our intrepid fellow cruisers! 😆

    Edit: Just noticed that @nhilding10is on the sailing so I'm sure we'll get some news!

    I wish! We got the dreaded positive cases on Friday (both my son and I) and had to cancel at the last minute before we flew out, so I'm not on this sailing 😢 

  5. On 1/20/2022 at 3:38 PM, Curtis Kari said:

    My wife just tested positive and our hopes of a Jan 22nd cruise on the Allure are dashed. Hoping to get rebooked for a future date.

    Ugh so sorry to hear this. It's the worst isn't it!? I'm supposed to be boarding Harmony right now but alas the dreaded positive has kept me and my family at home today instead too! Here's to quick recoveries for everyone and speedy rebookings!

  6. 38 minutes ago, Pooch said:

    In my opinion, and I am retired but my son and daughter are joining us,  it’s either Saturday to Saturday & you have to take Friday off.  Or Sunday to Sunday & you have to take Monday off.  6 days either way.  I like the Monday off option.

    This is how we do it, too. We take the Monday off, and use the Sunday after disembarkation as a travel/tourist day to see the Port city and surrounding area of wherever we happened to be sailing from. Then we get whatever flight works on Monday and it seems/feels like less hassle. It's obviously an extra hotel night, but the convenience to us is the payback. Plus an extra day of vacation!

  7. So interesting update; our original itinerary as I mentioned was Nassau, Falmouth, Labadee, and PDCC. I have not received any notification from Royal about any changes at all. When I login to my Cruise Planner, I still see those ports listed, and the excursions for sale are based on those. However, because my final payment is due 12/24 I went in yesterday to look and make sure our prepaid gratuities were included, and the itinerary is shown on that page as well. Here's where it gets interesting. On that screen, and that screen only, it now shows our itinerary as two sea days, Basseterre St Kitts, Charlotte Amalie St Thomas, Sea Day, and then PDCC. It's the only place it shows it, and again nothing has been confirmed by Royal, but at least now I THINK I know what we're getting as the change and honestly I like that switch! Both St Kitts and St Thomas are new ports to us, and the additional sea day I know we'll enjoy. So FWIW, if you check your payment page, you may be able to see a change! 

  8. Hi everyone! My family is scheduled for the 1/23/22 sailing of Harmony that goes to PDCC, Nassau, Falmouth, and Labadee. I've seen reports from some people with sailings in January and even out beyond that, that have already received notification about itinerary changes for these ports. Just curious roughly how long people were getting their notifications before their sailings? We're 52 days out as of today and we're yet to hear on Labadee and Falmouth and what the replacements are. We've seen other sailings get routed to Cozumel and that area, and we can assume what we might get, but you know what that does. 🙂 Was just wondering what other people had for experiences on hearing from Royal on changes and when. It's hard to be patient and wait for the change we assume (again, I know) is coming. Thanks everyone!

  9. 9 hours ago, dswallow said:

     

    I can't fault the people there. The cruise line check-in process really does need to be cognizant of just how people arrive to sail. Except for locals, there's very little control people have over their arrival time; it'll be based on a flight arrival time or based upon a hotel checkout time. Because when you've got your luggage, and don't have your own transportation, what exactly does a cruise line expect you to do?

    Now I'm local to Cape Liberty, NJ, so technically I'm pretty flexible or could be, at least, on my check-in time. But it's also my trip, so I'm gonna pick the earliest time I can to maximize it. Now someone flying in may not have many choices but to arrive well before the first check-in time they could possibly get. And all things considered, shouldn't it be those facing no alternatives who get some level of check-in time priority?

    So while Royal Caribbean may think of this methodology as functional; it's not going to scale at full occupancy well, because too many people will have no other place to go to wait for their check-in time. There needs to be some additional work done on the flow of people through check-in and boarding that can better adapt to the real world timetables people follow on their trip.

    I can see both sides of this, and see why you say can't fault the people. My only issue with that, though, is when we sailed out of Miami on 9/20, many people tried to get into earlier lines than they had for check-in.

    If you want to show up early and wait, so be it, far from me to tell anyone else what to do, but if you have a 3:00 pm check in time, and you stand in the 12:00 line, that's a problem.

    We had a 12:00 pm check in time, and when we got there around 11:45, the 12:00 line was huge, probably over 125 to 150 people. The 1:00 line had maybe 15 to 20 people, and the 2:00 line had about the same, maybe a few more. There was no line for after that, that I could see. Thankfully for us, right around the time we got there, a Port employee came over and started giving instructions for times/lines/etc. and checking people's time's on their passes or app, and then our line "miraculously" cleared out to about 25 people, and the other 2 lines grew exponentially. 

    I can understand showing up early, getting in your line, and then if the earlier lines clear out, they would take you and check you in. I'm all for it. But those that do show up early just have to respect and understand the process in place and allow it to work. Then it will actually go quicker for all of us, I would think.

  10. 1 hour ago, PurdueFlyer said:

    1231 sailing on Freeeom this week (4-nighter) per the Diamond concierge.  Ship capacity 4500.  

    it's also the middle of the work week, in the middle of Hurricane season, but I thought it would be a leeeetle bit busier.  

    We were in the same ballpark on the 9/20 sailing of Freedom for the 4 nighter. I remember hearing somewhere that we were right around 1,100 (but I had the drink package and my memory is the single point of failure in that process! 🙂)  and the crew was actually around 1,400 I think. 

  11. On 9/23/2021 at 7:01 PM, Luv2Travel said:

    Yes, this. It was still there back in July, but not open. Most things opened at 11:00 am or later in Nassau, but we never saw the Straw Market open during our visit this year.

    We were there last week. The straw market is closed officially, but there are a lot of the vendors in the streets surrounding the market area, and they have a lot of the smaller items you might find in the market, and don't worry, if you walk even remotely close to there, they'll find you. 🙂 They were a little more aggressive in terms of coming up to you or seeking your attention, but every single one of them were still very polite and very respectful the second we said "no, thank you." As you get a block or two "up" away from that area, some more of the regular shops are open, and you can still get all the usual trinkets and souvenirs. Interestingly the one place I couldn't find was the rum cake store, which appeared closed down, and most of the shops had limited to no supply.  But if you go a little later in the day, as others have mentioned, enough will be open you can still make a few hours of wandering and shopping, if you really wanted to. 

  12. We just got off Freedom this morning and the CD is Tom Hopkins and the Activities Director was Eric but I didn't catch his last name. They did a great job and the other activities staff who helped with the events were all very fun and very good. Tom mostly stuck to the big production events and the theater but keep an eye out for Marvin during the trivia. He was hilarious and made sure everyone was having a good time. 

  13. I applaud the effort! My wife and I are both keto and our upcoming sailing on Freedom on 9/20 is the first cruise I told myself "I'll try to stick to it as best I can once onboard" knowing full well I'm (probably) lying to myself. 🙂 Have you been noticing the selection of seltzers or other alcoholic drinks at all? I'm wondering if it goes beyond the usual one selection of Truly? Not that they would branch out into a huge variety, I get that, but was hoping for maybe the Bud Light versions at least? And I totally will be giving into Sorrento's too, I feel it already! 

  14. 2 hours ago, twangster said:

    A recent sail away party on Mardi Gras was very much Royal like in terms of energy and spirit.  My Mardi Gras sailing was 60% capacity. 

    Someone who stayed on for the B2B reported the next sailing had a completely different vibe to the sail away party.  It was much more of a party crowd.  He also reported a number of fights and drunken guests "moments" which we didn't see on the first sailing (including vomit more than once).

    Royal at the moment is operating with around 30%-40% capacity. 

    Right now the lower capacity can impact the vibe and spirit of the ship for events like sail away parties.  Take away the drunken buffoonery that was always less common on Royal and that too can change the guest experience.  That's a change for the better for me and why I started sailing Royal more in the first place but for a younger crowd there may be an appeal for some of that....  that's personal like food and entertainment.  

    For Mardi Gras it goes to show that the guests themselves create the vibe felt on the ship.  At my age I'm totally over the college frat party drink till you puke approach to cruising.   That's not "fun" to me or required to have "fun".

    I sailed Mardi Gras when I did because of reduced capacity.  I can't imagine what that ship will be like at capacity.  It has nearly identical maximum capacity to Oasis class but is 2/3 the size.  I met several frequent cruisers who were sampling Mardi Gras while their primary cruise line was someone else.  Everyone of them had the same conclusion.  Beautiful ship, can't imagine what it will be like at full capacity.  

    Thanks for the insight. I should have clarified a little more, we're definitely not in the frat-style, buffoon-ery stage of partying and what we're looking for. I'll admit though, the sailaway parties we've had on Royal definitely seemed to have a lot less of the dancing and high-energy feeling of the crowd, and that aspect I believe is what she's more looking for. I'll enjoy the drinks package, don't get me wrong, but it's far from the main point. I think it's more of the vibes, and set of activities around the Lido deck and other areas that don't feel like the atmosphere of "what it used to" if that makes sense. 

  15. 3 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

    Honestly no, not if that's what she is looking for. Carnival exceeds at that sort of thing and is largely where their "party" boat reputation comes from.  Royal tends to be a little more subdued when it comes to that, but overall is a more well-rounded and a little more something for everyone type of experience.

    Ashley thanks, that's what I was afraid of/thinking. We've been on Anthem in 2019 and Harmony in 2020 (with Bing Bong) and she still wants to lean that way, and I'm doing everything I can to keep her Loyal. I totally see your point and had hoped for the right situation on this one haha. Thanks for the info and we shall see. Perhaps I have to suck it up that one other sailing and we'll see you back on RC after that!

  16. Thank you in advance for this one, but I've been scouring the cruise compasses and everything posted on YouTube since cruises restarted, but I can't seem to find who the current CD on Freedom is? I know @Matt and some others have sailed Freedom in the last month, can you confirm who the CD is and what we can expect? Normally I'd be 100% go with the flow and wouldn't necessarily mind, but my wife seems to think that the other "C" line has better sailaway parties and pooldeck games, and fun, and themes, and etc!, and is considering a switch that I very much want to avoid. Will the current CD and lineup on Freedom be enough to keep us Loyal? 😀 (I also know this is 100% opinion, and perspective, but asking to know the parameters in which I can steer her!)

  17. 1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

    Ridiculous the judge gave them that long of an extension to respond to a 5-page rebuttal.

    This case will still be going on when cruising out of Florida starts.

    That kind of feels like the point. It would seem like a good tactic to drag it past the start dates, and then it would all become kind of moot, because you're already sailling.  Or would there still be the issue of damages, beyond the start?

  18. 7 minutes ago, redraider629 said:

    With the test cruise pushed out that far, and no telling how long it will take to get approval after test cruise, I am losing more and more hope that we will get to go on our Liberty sailing in September.  

    I'm unfortunately starting to lose my positive outlook that I had regained over the last 3 to 4 weeks, and am starting to really feel the squeeze on our Navigator sailing out of Miami in September. With her moving to LA even earlier, it's a double whammy for us. Florida works much better for us being from Maine, and we have a friend who works on Navigator, so this one would sting!

     

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