monorailmedic

Awesome advice (never hurts to ask) and neat review and pics.  Thanks for sharing.  Also, post moved :-)

The same reason my cancelled sailings still show on my list of cruises...

I'd have to really dig to see if it's any different than when they've announced in the past.  That in mind I'm not sure they have any need to "sync" the timing of announcements from the different brands - in fact, reaching different demographics, they may want to do this at different times.  Celebrity aims less for families and runs much more tonnage in Europe.  

Factors, outside of marketing, may or may not include the Edge (and Beyond) as well as Celebrity Revolution.

2 hours ago, Boston Babe said:

Just saw on Cruise Critic, Celebrity announced the Edge will be based in Barcelona and Rome in summer on 2019 and fall 2019 Western and Eastern Mediterranean cruises, no word after 2019. Just an FYI! There goes my plan for the Fall! Not going over there at this time. 

Yeah, saw this.  May write it up in a bit.  Not too shocking as they've been doing well in Europe and Edge has got some great press.  Again, 4 Edge class ships at least - so we'll have plenty of time here.  Now, to warm up a CC for Europe ;-)

1) Not that I am aware of

2) I don't have kids - not sure.

3) Are you assured you'll get something?  Nothing is a guarantee.  I've heard many people that were waitlisted or tried whe nthey first boarded were successful, but your mileage may vary.  A day bed is a large bed with sheer fabric providing shade.  A bungallow is a bit larger and more private and will likely be far more comfortable for a your group - you can read more about them here.  The beach beds and bungalows are at different locations (beds near Adreneline Beach, bungalows by Columbus Cove).  

4) Excursions desk.

5) During Matt's last Anthem sailing he didn't get there until noon, but I believe he'd arrived around 1000 on other trips.  He'll chime in.

6) I live in South Florida - what is this "fall" you speak of?

Check out Matt's live blog from Anthem in March, it may help with a few things: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/category/category/anthem-of-the-seas-live-blog

In the larger Caribbean ports they'll generally take USD.  Cuba, as mentioned does not (and you can read about that here).  Since you're Canadian, if you do visit Cuba, don't change USD there as they charge an extra 10% - change CAD.

If you end up in some of the smaller ports, or off the beaten path, then in some cases you may want to change to the local currency - again, depends where you're at.  I often carry different currencies with me and at times this makes a difference.  In Mexico for example, there is a limit to how many USD a business is allowed to change or deposit each month (I don't recall the details of this) and there is a small cost to changing, so I've been able to save a bit by paying in Pesos (this has been especially true in cabs - though know that cab prices from the port in Cozmel are fixed).  

Some places will take USD by provide change in the local currency, so you'll want to know what the rate is to ensure you're getting the right change.  Also know that if you're using a credit card, some businesses will charge your card in USD, but at the store's rate, which may be better or worse than the actual rate (if you have a card which does not have an international transaction fee).  For this reason, I often asked to be charged in the local currency if paying with a credit card.

In short: Yes, throughout most desintations you'll visit on a Caribbean cruise you'll be fine using USD, but there can be some benefit in changing to local currency depending on where you're going and how much you're spending.

1 hour ago, Boston Babe said:

I look forward to hearing about everything!! Your sailing is right before mine on Equinox, Jan 26th!!

2018 or 2019?  In the top message you'd said Equinox in 2019.  I'm sailing in a few months.

1 hour ago, Boston Babe said:

Ok, now my curiosity is peeked!!! Beyond will be another new Celebrity ship? I had not heard that one! So you're sailing this February on Equinox? Would love to hear how you like her, and you must be so excited to be on the Edge! CANT WAIT to hear about that. When are you sailing on the Edge?  I was very lucky with both sailings on Equinox, Booked Sky Suite on both, got the 4 offers they were offering, internet for 2, Gratuities, Premium Drink package $300 OBC etc, so I had to jump on it.  How exciting is that you are on the Edge!!

They've commited to 4 Edge class ships.  Edge & Beyond have been named - no word on the others yet.

When you book ahead and take advantage of the "Go Best" option (assuming you'd have purchased a beverage package and internet anyway) Celebrity offers incredible price points.

I'll be doing a daily blog of each of those sailings (as well as my HAL sailing next month).  My Edge sailing is Jan 13.  454 looong days away.

1 hour ago, Boston Babe said:

@monorailmedic, I saw the prices for the Eastern and Western cruises for beginning of 2019.  It may be too costly by the time the new deployment comes out, I agree with you,  although I looked at RC Symphony too and it's very expensive ( I have booked suites in the past, they are too expensive on that one too). I got such a great deal on the Equinox, couldn't pass it up! I also heard rumors they want to put the Edge based in Australia too so all this may be a moot point! LOL!!

It's all about striking when hot.  My Feb Equinox sailing was similar in cost to my Edge sailing (in an Edge Verandah Room!)...but only on the first day :-)

Many lines will continue to move new tonnage to AU and Asia, that market is blowing up, so while I've not hear anything, it wouldn't be surprising.  For a few reasons I'd imagine them keeping Edge in N America and then moving her to AU when Beyond comes out (or sending Beyond there).  

1 hour ago, Boston Babe said:

Very Interesting.  I'm on the Equinox in January 2019 and April 2019, so I'm hoping she isn't one of them starting first! (although I would like a refreshed ship!) Am hoping to get on the Edge later that year, but she's brand new so I should be good. Thank you for the update!!

 

Get that Edge sailing booked, the prices keep climbing.  You may want to put in your travel-agent's ear the idea of putting a deposit down the moment new Edge itineraries drop.  To give you an idea prices have already doubled on the first Edge sailings.

33 minutes ago, mickjacket said:

Thanks Matt. Those are great choices. Our flight is at 12:15 was just wondering would it be a problem getting one?

9 hours ago, melski94 said:

I could be wrong but that doesn't sound right. Depending on where you go the international charges come using the cell tower at the location present. Once again, texts are cheaper than phone calls. 

The packages or features are their specific international calling plans. If you click on the below link, you'll see that they charge $2.50 a minute for a phone call on a cruise ship, $3.00 a minute in many places of the world. Also each phone would be charged (incoming and outgoing calls). Data charges can also a huge surprise that people aren't aware of so its highly recommended to turn off cellular data when overseas.

Here is what I found on ATT's site:

0. Note: If you call, text or use data on your device while outside of the U.S. and you don’t have an AT&T package or feature, you will be charged pay-per-use rates. International pay-per-use rates can be found at att.com/intlppurates.

Here is the ATT FAQ  https://www.att.com/offers/international-plans/faq.html

We were talking about WiFi calling.  In this case, as it's a US ATT device calling a US ATT device, if they're both on a WiFi network all should be good - no international rates there.

50 minutes ago, jce2 said:

Pretty sure the answer is yes, but when using voom with wi-fi for phone calls, this will allow me to make calls to people back in the states, not just people on the boat right?

If you're talking about using WiFi calling, then yes.  This is a carrier feature and your phone will work as it does on land. 

15 hours ago, miotti said:

I have a question also about transport we will be on IOS TA on 29th October and when we reach Port  FLL we are going to stay in Miami on Ocean Drive for a few  days before we fly back to the UK. So we were looking for advice about transport as we are not sure 1/ How long it takes to get through Customs  2/ what the cost would be or would we just be able do get a taxi outside the Terminal . I would book a car but not sure how long it will take us to get through passport control. 

Thanks in advance for any help

Customs times vary quite a bit, and can be a bit longer on TA repositionings.

As far as the cost of a taxi, this article breaks down the costs via taxi, uber, and cruise line transfers, and goes over options for getting between several South Florida destinations.  http://www.cruisehabit.com/uber-lyft-cabs-shuttles-how-get-and-your-cruise-easily-cheaply

47 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

We asked where the GE kiosk was and the gentleman herding the cats told us that they have a kiosk but that they didn't have it open.  It was a mess

To be clear, PEFL nor PortMiami have ever had kiosks.  What they do is provide a seperate line (which has far fewer people), and they don't require a declaration form.

Interesting.  I wonder if it's across the board or based on volume.  I'd be surprised if this dind't come back at least by the time PortMiami sees Oasis class ships, but who knows.  I know at PortMiami in the past it was sometimes hard to identify the GE area, whereas at Port Everglades they now have much better signage for the GE/MPC lines (at least they did a week and a half ago when we got off Harmony).

This is peculiar indeed.  I'd put it under the "call back and ask someone else" category, but perhaps your TA already has.  Do let us know if anything changes.

It's an unfortunate situation, and if I was booked on this cruise I too would likely be frustrated by much of the uncertainty.  

Subjectively, I'd suspect that there'd be less of a negative feeling about this post if the subject didn't insinuate that uncertainty around a cruise vacation is in some way a humanitarian crisis analogous to over 3 million people being uncertain of when they might get clean water, medical supplies, etc. 

More objectively, with regard to the amount of time the ship would need to be cleaned - these ships have same day turnarounds every cruise.  They're cleaned, sanitized, etc.  The ships also generate their own supply of fresh potable water, so in a sense, the cleanest, safest place in Puerto Rico is likely Adventure of the Seas while she is in port, and there hasn't been a reason that the ship isn't able to maintain that type of operation at any point.

With regard to the scheduling and uncertainty, I'm sure that Royal Caribbean and everyone else wishes things were different.  If they cancel a sailing and it turns out they didn't need to be because the port re-opened and sailing was a safe and practical option then people get upset.  If they wait until the last minute to cancel that makes planning very difficult.  If they don't cancel there will be some who are glad their vacation is on, and others who don't feel they should be sailing for any number of reasons.  In a sense they're damned if they do and damned if they don't.

In terms of reviews - whether for cruising or anything else, you can almost always find multiple reviews to back up any opinion.  This is great/this is terrible.  It's clean/it's dirty.  Service was fast/service was slow.  I try and look for the specific complaints or praises within a review, especially those points which are measurable and objective, and decide what those mean to me.  I also avoid giving much merit to reviews that give extreme praise or disapproval.  

For the record, I sail many cruise lines and haven't a reason to defend or knock RCI.  I've got no skin in the game of reviews.

Ultimately, I hope that if you want to sail, then you are able to without a hitch, and that if you don't RCI will work with you.  I can appreciate that at this point you just want to know where you'll be and what you'll be doing in a few weeks.  I hope you let us know how it all goes.

Special request: Please drag hilltop cabana closer to the beach. 

4 minutes ago, rjac said:

I have been using this website for many, many years for serious weather updates, maps and discussions: https://www.wunderground.com/. Right now, the five day forecast is showing Jose heading in a north easterly direction. Hopefully it stays that way!

Yup, they come up with their own forecast based on a number of things - but even if you look at all of the models (many of which tend to disagree with each other by large margins), they all show Jose heading N.  

13 hours ago, guittech said:

Yeah,  As I said earlier, for us Canucks, going to the USA can sometimes be a bit of a hassle!   I remember when crossing the border was just "Hi What are you crossing for today?"  "Lunch!"  "Great, Have an awesome day!"  far more time consuming nowadays 

 

I've heard this.  Funny enough we were in Vancouver (finished an AK sailing there and spent a few days) and a friend of ours from Seatle drove in to hang out.  He has US, IT, and AR passports.  He had also been a permanent resident of Canada (though I think that expired).  He was questioned at the border for 3 hours going into Canada, and since they had his phone, we had no idea where he went.  Was weird.  Coming back in he went straight through.  Luck of the draw.

On 8/28/2017 at 0:34 PM, DocLC said:

You'll be fine. I've done many cruises with multiple U.S. port stops. There only time you are bothered with immigration, whether a U.S. citizen or not is if the ship has visited a foreign port prior to the U.S. port. Since you're going from one U.S. port to another, there won't be any issues. 

Bingo.

This is why *most* Key West calls on Caribbean sailings out of the US are first rather than last.  If they happen before visiting a foreign port all is well.  Sometimes scheduling doesn't allows and then you have to clear local authorities one by one.

If Canaverl is your first stop you should be totally fine.  That in mind, if it wasn't your first stop, it would really be no different whether you're traveling on a Canadian or a US passport (the only potential different being that some terminals at some ports sometimes have different lines for non-US citizens, but I don't see this as much as I used to).

Should you watch it?  Sure.  Be concerned?  Not in the sense of safety concerns or anything like that.  It's far too early to know where the storm will go that far out, but on it's current trajectory it would be somewhere vaguely close to Puerto Rico in the middle to second part of next week.  Being so far out anything could happen - the storm could fizzle out, it could veer out to sea, etc.  Generally ships just move around storms.  As we saw this past week things can be a bit more tricky when there is significant impact to the port of embarkation - but this type of occurance, of this severity, is very rare.  You can find additional information in the links and graphic below.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/category/category/hurricane

http://www.CruiseHabit.com/hurricanes

It's going to be about $38 via Uber X or Lyft or about $84 via one of their fancier/larger cars.  For a regular cab you're looking at about $75.  With little traffic it's about a 30 minute drive, but if you're coming in on a weekday it's likelt to be nearly twice that.  I've got information on South FL transportation options here: http://www.cruisehabit.com/uber-lyft-cabs-shuttles-how-get-and-your-cruise-easily-cheaply 

Check out my live blog from our Empress sailing in May.  We found a couple good places in Key West.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2017/05/22/empress-of-the-seas-live-blog-day-2-key-west