Babsy47

This pricing thing makes me crazy. Pick one standard price and vary discounts as much as you want. Changing both the price and the discount drives me buggy. The day before the ‘Memorial Day sale,” the UDP was about $205 per person after a discount. During the “sale,” the price increased to $265. I’m fine with variable pricing, but I really wish the base price would remain one number. It just seems silly to change both the price and the discount all of the time.

150 CP is our family favorite . . .

It is fairly easy from the main station in Venice (Santa Lucia). But to the airport, the train is a hassle because it does not go to the airport. If you are going to the city of Venice, it just requires one transfer. It was relatively simple. When I researched trying to go from Ravenna to the airport, however, I gave up because it looked like you needed trains and busses.

The UDP offers discounted prices but the corollary inconvenience of booking on board.

Im a grandparent. I am also the one who leaves dinner at about 6:50 to deliver grandchildren to kids club for the 7:00 pm opening. We have not figured out a work around.

This is one of the oddest rants I’ve read. I cannot fathom not taking a vacation because of concerns raised by others in blog posts, particularly one that I had already paid for. I enjoy cruising. I love being on the ocean. I love sleeping to the gentle rocking of the ship. I enjoy exploring the ports. I like sitting with a book while the ocean goes by. I enjoy talented musicians every evening. Once a day service is fine for me, and I have never gotten room service. To me, the cabins are small for eating. But, food is not really my thing. Even if it were, however, I think I would try the cruise for which I already paid.

My family loves Flowrider. The rules seem to be in flux. Most recently, during the self-assist, the would give three chances to load (get on the wave yourself) per session. I think the beast way to learn is in a class—that was the route for my kids and spouse. My family can all surf, but flowrider is different. The number of classes required varied by person. Once you figure out how to get on the wave by yourself, you get a wristband. I haven’t really figured out the difference between ‘self-assist’ and advanced though.

We enjoyed the Canal Grande hotel. It is just across a bridge from the main train station on the canal. Nice room, nice breakfast, super nice hosts, and not too pricey. We then took the train to Ravenna with one stop.

I have never had a problem working while docked. Out in the ocean can be a problem, particularly at peak use times.

Roatan is one of my favorite ports anywhere. My family dives and it has some of the best diving I’ve experienced. You need to cab or take a private excursion to the West End. The beaches are beautiful and I enjoy the vibe. For snorkeling and diving, it can’t be beat. Costa Maya is more of a problem now because of seaweed. Nothing anyone can do about it, sadly. You can go to ruins, which are great. Balacar lagoon is also spectacular. It helps to read each ahead for things that are of interest. To me, the planning is part of the fun!

In the US, taxes, fees, and overtime are different on tips and up charges. For example, in some states you pay room tax on the room price, but not fees. I think airline upcharges do not incur some of the ticketing fees. You pay sales tax in restaurants on the food, but not the tip. Tips are not included in overtime calculations. Thus, there are all types of odd incentives for fees and tips to be added on top of the base price. I don’t think any of this applies to cruises, but the odd culture of on-land hospitality carries over.

I’ve always perceived RCL a better value than DCL for a whole host of reasons. When my kids were about 4 to 11, I went with DCL primarily for the kid entertainment and shows. But, once they hit tweens, they preferred RCL. And RCL offered so much more for the same money in my view. For my grandkids, Icon looks great and appears to rival DCL even for smaller kids, but DCL is actually less on price for when I am looking. So, now I’m having a hard time choosing. I’m wondering if others are finding Icon pricing hard to justify?

Roatan and Cozumel are islands with West facing beaches that do not get the seaweed flow directly. We have never seen a seaweed issue at these two locations. Costa Maya, however, has only East facing beaches and the seaweed can be awful.

I sometimes enjoy the later boarding. After 1:30, there are no lines, you can go straight to the cabin, and most eating alternatives are open without so many people. Of course, if you eliminated the earlier boarding, these advantages would disappear.

I’m all for teens and I have one. On my last cruise with my teen in March, I honestly think there were almost as many teens as adults. It was seriously an overwhelming number — for the first time I found myself thinking that there were too many!

I always enjoy CATS. My own view is that if you go in knowing it is more just a song and dance review than any kind of story with a coherent narrative, it is a lot of fun. Perhaps folks get frustrated trying to find a story when it is more about vocal and dance performance in interesting costumes.

We took the train last summer. If I recall, some are much faster than others; I would check the arrival times. It was less than an hour for us. We overnighted in Rome right near the station at an NH hotel; my sister stayed at the Best Western that was perfectly fine. We bought tickets at the station from the automated kiosks without problem, but online ahead is great too. We walked with bags to the port shuttle from the train station. That was a slog because it was crazy hot. We exited the station and went left (northish) along the walk above the water and through a pedestrian gate into the port. We then continued walking to a shuttle stop where the port shuttle picked us up and took us to the ship. Next time I would cab from the station to the port shuttle if it is super hot. We used google maps for walking directions. We left our hotel around 9 am and our train was around 9:20 or so. We were on the ship before lunch.

Bread salt assortment at 150

One thought — on the app (you should download early), you can see charges almost in real time. There really is not much delay between the charge and it appearing. Thus, you should be able to keep a pretty close eye on spending.

Traffic is too much of a wild card. I live about 35 minutes from LAX with no traffic. It can take me 2 hours. For a 10:00 flight, I would not leave my house later than 7:15 or so. Sometimes I get there and wait for two hours. Other times I do not have all that much time to spare. Moreover, I travel for work quite often and am very familiar with LAX. If you can fly out of LGB, you can cut it closer.

Last summer, we stayed at the NH Roma Palazzo Cinquecento in Rome. It is right outside the main train station in Rome. It is really easy to get the train from the airport direct to the main train station. Then there are trains in the morning direct to the port. We walked from the train station to the port, but it was a bit of a slog on the heat. On the return, we took a cab to the train station. We stayed in Rome a couple of days after the cruise at the same hotel. My sister stayed across the street at a Best Western that was less expensive, but fine for an overnight. The trains in Italy are very affordable and they do not need to deal with traffic. In the heat, Rome is best in the evening. The Metro (at the train station) is cool and goes directly to the Collisseum which is beautiful at night. If you take the train, I would take a cab to the port which is only about 5 minutes or so. The cab will drop you at a shuttle that takes you to the ship. You can walk to the shuttle, but if it is hot (highly likely), the walk is kind of miserable while rolling bags.

I had no problem boarding before my assigned time last month at PC. I think, however, that they can enforce if things get too backed up.

Also, Cozumel does not have a seaweed problem. Depending on time of year, Costa Maya beaches can be unusable because of seaweed; this does not happen in Cozumel.

We just went to Baha Mar in Nassau. We bought tickets directly from Baha Mar and cabbed there and back. It has a better area for kids not able to go in the big slides than Atlantis in my opinion. And the beach is far more accessible than the beach at Atlantis. They are different, and Atlantis is great too. Atlantis had an aquarium that Baha Mar does not have. But, with little kids not tall enough for big slides, I think I might go with Baha Mar.

If you are up for a bit of exercise, take the chairlift up to the top of the island and walk the old stairs down to the port. It is an amazing walk and provides a terrific overview of the island. We spend a day, and loved it. And, no need to pay for anything other than getting there and back and the chairlift.