Southern Waters

Some friends and I are on a cruise out of Miami on Feb 25; 3 of us are flying into FLL, the other 3 to MIA. We'd like a hotel in the north Miami/south Ft. Lauderdale area that won't break the bank. Matt's favorite in FLL (Marriott Ft. Lauderdale Airport) looks good and is definitely on the list, but I'd like to check out some a little further toward Miami as well. Any suggestions?

I have SWA flights to and from FLL next spring and I added EBC just last week with no problem. Now I'm wondering if it will be honored or be taken away between now and then.

Thanks. I've been looking at the Parking Spot and others, including some hotels in the area that provide parking. Love Field is a little steep at $13-25 per day unless you park uncovered further from the terminal. I just thought I'd see if anyone had personal experience parking in that area.

We stayed at Travelodge by the Space Needle in June, with a group discount arranged by our TA. Don't stay there! It's in a good location but is badly in need of updating. The beds in our tiny room were comfortable, and that plus the location is all it has going for it. Faucet in our bathroom sink was almost impossible to turn off, paint peeling around the windows, etc. For about $250/night including taxes, it's a ripoff. Two ladies from our group stayed at Doubletree near SeaTac for about $160 and they were pleased with it. I also have friends that stayed at Holiday Inn Express near SeaTac; it has a shuttle to the pier that I think cost them $15-20 each.

I've tried searching for this info here, but it brings up everything relating to each word. I'm flying on Southwest from Dallas for a cruise out of Miami next February, and would like any suggestions for parking where you've had a good experience.

There was no clothesline in our shower on Ovation a couple of months ago.

I sailed from Galveston in 2018 with BC; embarkation and debark took about an hour each. I sailed from there this past October with a passport. Embarkation took 15-20 mins and we barely slowed down on debarkation. I don't know how the process went for BC only, didn't notice. Granted, the whole process has been streamlined since Covid but the staff at Galveston were awesome! Speaking of passport application wait times, I have a friend that has been waiting since March 28 for her renewed passport. My first-time application in Feb 2020 only took 5 weeks. Needless to say, I'm glad I don't need to renew for 6+ years!

Thanks for the info! It takes one more thing off my checklist LOL

Our cruise on Ovation is a week from today. As of this morning, the only show available to reserve is Spectra's Cabinet. According to the May 11 cruise planner posted, other shows listed were "Live, Love, Legs", "The Beautiful Dream", and "Oh What a Night". The May 11 cruise was an 8-day with a different starting port and the itininerary was a little different, but I would expect that there will be one or more other shows on our cruise. I'll keep checking daily but we may have to wait until after we board to book any more entertainment.

ETA: Oops! You asked about Vancouver and I found info on Seattle! Guess I've got Seattle on the brain because I'll be sailing from there 2 weeks from today. I did find this one by searching "luggage storage at port of Vancouver". https://usebounce.com/city/vancouver/vancouver-cruise-port

I think RCI should increase the number of ships with solo cabins available and adjust the fare accordingly. A friend of mine was interested in going to Alaska on Ovation with us and was looking at booking a solo cabin. The ship actually has balcony solo cabins and there were still 3 or 4 available. But the price was around $2200, almost double what we each paid for our balcony cabin. The cabin is set up for one person and the passenger is being charged as though it's a double. I understand that the cruise line is looking at the bottom line and that's based on double occupancy, but IMO these are solo cabins in name only.

Well, he won't be fishing off of any Carnival balconies in the future. https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/news/a-tiktok-video-captured-carnival-cruise-passengers-fishing-from-a-balcony-they-were-banned-for-life-/articleshow/99637567.cms

We just did our check-in 4 days ago and since we were aiming for the 12:00 slot, I didn't drag myself out of bed at 2 AM (which is midnight in Seattle). I did get up at 5:30 that morning and couldn't get through to check in on the app until 6:25, but had no problem getting the slot I wanted. Guess no one is stampeding for those later slots

What was REALLY dumb was posting that video of him doing it. I don't know if that's how Carnival found out about it, but him posting it might make others decide to do the same thing. Carnival had to make an example of him to prevent that.

I frequently look at the excursions offered for my cruise, checking prices, etc. and I've never seen North Star there. For future reference, where in the app do you go to book it? Nevermind, I guess in the activities tab.

I'm on Ovation in June and want to do North Star; I don't have a preference about doing it in port or at sea. One of my friends wants to do it at sea but in the app it's showing that it's sold out. I'm wondering if it's really sold out or are we only able to book it when we're on board?

I had a similar issue for my upcoming cruise. I booked WiFi for one device during BF sales for $13.99/day. It showed that I could buy it for an additional device for $11.99/day. About 2 months later, my roommate decided she wanted to get it. This offer was still showing on my purchase history page, but when I clicked on it, the offer was for $19.99/day. I called RCL customer service and the agent had me send him a screen shot that also showed the current date and time. He called me back the next morning and told me that his manager did an override in order to give us that $11.99 price because it was clearly offered and RCL honored it.

This has been my experience on the 2 cruises I've taken. I was never asked by any staff about filling out the survey. I've been fortunate to have excellent service and tipped our wait staff and cabin attendant extra $ and made sure to mention them by name in the surveys (I take their picture, paying special attention that their name tag is readable).

I can't imagine wanting to leave a cruise early. When I get off of one, I'm already looking for another gang plank to get on another one--if only I could afford to LOL

I only have 1 cruise booked at the moment, 55 days until Ovation. But we all plan to visit Next Cruise during the cruise to book another one. Our TA is on the same cruise so she'll be a great help. I can see from reading many of your posts that I'm small potatoes; I can only afford 1 or 2 cruises/year.

The word "skinny" doesn't apply to me LOL. I just tried to eat low carb except for my once daily lava flow mocktail.

I'm going to be stuffing them into my sneakers too. Thanks for that little tip

You're right! I just looked at the dining options on Ovation and Sorrento's is there. What's funny is that now I can't find the "pizza delivery" that I swear I saw just the other day. I'm glad to see I was wrong; guess I'm losing it

If bowling was available on ships, maybe the venue would be closed on rough sea days like the pools are?

I would just be bowling for fun, so if half of my turns ended up as gutter balls, so what? If I was on the rock climbing wall, ship movement would be way more important