Villageidiot

3 hours ago, Koepper said:

 We stayed at the Place d’ Armes hotel.
 

Close to everything in the historic district but in a peaceful area.

 

I highly recommend it.

https://www.placedarmes.com/

Stayed there with my family years ago. Had a really nice stay and Cafe Du Monde is a short walk. Good recommendation

I was in Northern New York visiting my son and woke up to the same snow. Reminded me why we live in Tennessee now.

Back in 1973 we (mom, dad, sister me) flew into Dubai from Iran. On arrival at the airport they had all passengers put their passports in a large cardboard box as we exited the plane. When we flew back out three days later we got to dig through that large box with all the other passengers looking for our passports. Surprisingly there were no issues. Still the most bizarre passport control I have ever encountered. 

21 hours ago, TimeRacer said:

Chichen Itza from Cozumel. The ferry got me. Yes, it is a long day, and the ruins were amazing, but I feel like it's a "Been there, done that" type of thing. That, and I still have nightmares about that ferry. I've never gotten sick on a ferry before that trip, and to then hop right into a bus was a bit much for me.

I don't regret doing it, we loved it overall, but definitely won't do again if/when we go back to the Western Caribbean. 

Same feelings about this excursion. We did this in February without the sickness on the ferry. It was very rushed as you stated. About 45 - 60 minutes at the ruins. The ruins are worth seeing but if you can do this while on  a land vacation you will have hours at the ruins to explore. Made it back to the ship right at all aboard. 

You either load the set sail pass to your apple wallet or use a bar code reader on it. This gives you a number.  The last four numbers are your cabin. Your deck should be listed on the set sail pass. Someone will chime in if I got any of this wrong.

No cruise ports here but Tennessee has no state income as well. I live in beautiful East Tennessee. Property taxes in my county are very low, less than 1K per year. Paid $5.25 to register my car this year. Utilities average around $200/mo. Weather is fairly temperate year round. We drive to cruises in Florida. Also consider Texas but the destinations from Galveston are still kind of limited IMHO.

I used weather underground to make a six year average of the temperatures and precipitation for port days on our 13 day New Zealand cruise this November. We will be about 2 weeks behind you as we leave Sydney on 11/27. I found only sparse rain and temps varying from high 50's/ low 60's in Fiordland to comfortable mid 70's by the time we hit Bay of Islands. Hope you find the info you need for a great cruise.

Maybe find a location where one or two designated adults (maybe draw straws) can sit with the luggage until cabins are open. Good luck. Maybe work in a couple of shifts.

We are on this cruise and booked a beach tour on Aruba through Viator. Travel by UTV or ATV to a couple of beaches and a cave pool. Never been to these islands but it looked like a fun trip. Enjoy your cruise.

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

For those types of services, the shutdown just means those employees wouldn't get a paycheck until the shutdown ends, but would get back pay once it's over.  They'll still work though.

They are considered "essential workers" and are not furloughed during a shutdown. They also receive no pay as you stated. Once the government is funded they get full back pay. Went through this several times in my years as a government employee. 

We were on Oasis this year for the Super Bowl and watched it in the theater. No commercials but they did run the same 3-4 ESPN promos during every break. Otherwise it was a fun experience.

We did the one on Oasis back in February. I don't feel it would be a value at $40. It was DW and myself and a large group that knew each other. I was able to team up with someone and solve several of the puzzles. My wife felt left out as the big group relied on each other and effectively "froze" her out. She was really disappointed and will not do another one at any price for fear of that happening again. If I had my whole family where we could dominate the room I might do it again at $20, never at $40. JMHO

I've cruised with Princess and have a cruise booked with them now. Sorry you had a poor experience. We enjoyed our sailings with them. What made the difference this time? I know Royal is a much more "family friendly" line but the children we encountered on Princess all seemed to be having great cruises. Hope your next cruise is a much better experience.

13 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I haven't uploaded a check-in photo since the restart.  It takes maybe 5 seconds for them to snap a picture when boarding.  It's not worth the hassle of doing it yourself.

Last two cruises they've retaken one or both of ours anyway.

1 minute ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Huh, mine always did and auto sign in thing. Now I'm just signed out completely and have to sign in each time. 

Mine doesn't even hold my login credentials. I have to use my saved ones from google each time. Maybe it's a combo of MAC OS and chrome causing this. Only a minor inconvenience though.

4 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I've always had to sign into the website every time

Same

4 minutes ago, twangster said:

I didn't find the pizza at Alfredo's to be all that.  In fact it was no better than Sorrento's IMO, but with a charge.  Doubt I'll ever go back to Alfredo's.  

Sorry you had a bad experience with them. I'll probably pay for at least one a la cart on my next cruise with them in November. 

8 hours ago, RCIfan1912 said:

I don't sail Princess but I assume their pizza is much better? I'm guessing it's good enough to charge for?

The pizza at Alfredo's on Princess is quite good IMHO. It is also a sit down dining experience and they offer appetizers and dessert. Used to be complimentary. They have a "by the slice" pizza available on the pool deck that is more equivalent to Sorrento's. You can have a whole pizza delivered anywhere on the ship. They charged $8 for one the last time I sailed with them. 

19 hours ago, abdullahblogger89 said:

Security at Seattle can be scheduled by appointment. As we found out, drawbridges can cause problems as well. Some passengers were sweating it out after the trip was extended by 20 minutes. Because our flight was after noon, we just let them off first so they could make their way home.

That was our experience last August. We could hear the people around us starting to panic as it took longer and longer for the barges to clear the bridge. We could have made it over the bridge before they stopped traffic as well. We just let them off as well, our flight was later and we had time to burn.

Bus to Orlando and then a shuttle to the ship on the day of the cruise. 

20 hours ago, Lizzy said:

Any other way to read it without a kindle? Thanks! 

You can download the Kindle app to an Apple or Android device. This will give you access to Kindle books.

Congrats, I'm going to add this to my reading for the next cruise. I'll be sure to leave a review.

22 minutes ago, Cruisingmama said:

If you have to do that, you might as well keep a proportionate share of the gratuities for you outstanding service..

I keep waiting to be employee of the month at my local Walmart. I do great work in self checkout!

You sign up when you board the ship, usually at guest services. Then they bring you the luggage tags the night before you get off the cruise. They take the bags to the airport for you and check them in. Great service

We did the TA on her in April and really enjoyed the ship. If Elvis is still the cruise director don't miss the zumba classes.