jticarruthers

The cruise terminal is in the "downtown" area of Tampa about 15-20 minutes from the airport. I would suggest heading over to downtown when you arrive and then having the short trip to the cruise terminal the next day. I dont have a specific hotel to recommend since i live locally and havent had to use any of them but there are several in the area from all of the major hotel brands if you have a preference.

IMO I don't believe it would have had an impact either way. I know for myself i have a good feel for where i am on the ship at all times, i know others that i travel with could have been to the muster station a dozen times and still have no idea how to find it especially in a "panic" situation.

I believe you should be receiving the FCC back (with an extra 25%) but with as many rule changes as there have been i could be applying the wrong logic.

Lets be honest for most people its going to be the same process as every other "legal requirement" .. scroll through the pages as fast as possible, hit "accept" and run to the muster station to get it recorded so you can get on with your day.

I would go if we could only get there and back.

I cancelled one this week, the FCC from May rolled to September but wont be available to cover the Oct cruise until next week. I asked for an extension until they issued the FCC, they said no, so i cancelled. Now they owe me back $1000 in cruise planner purchases instead of waiting a week. Somehow i think it will be available to rebook next week when the FCC is available so i guess i will be booking again soon but i'm not putting more money in the tank for now.

My thought is they know the only way to get the crowds back up is to be open and trying but yeah they had more employees on hand than guests. Admittedly this was a Wednesday so crowds are probably stronger on the weekend, etc. but still it was probably the strangest day of my life to stand there and where i would usually see thousands of people see maybe 2-3. Rode Soarin with a total of 6 people on the ride ... and nobody standing in line when we got off.

When i first tried Chops i agreed with this statement and it was definitely a go to ... 10 years later the experience feels much closer to Outback steakhouse for me and just isn' worth it. With that said one of our travel group is a Chops devotee so when she is along we usually end up going and its never been a bad experience just not what it used to be.

There's an easy fix for that though .... Passenger attempts to buy drink ... ding ... i'm sorry sir the computer says you haven't completed the EMuster so your charge privileges have been deactivated, please follow these instructions to reactivate your account.

Seems reasonable and logical (especially for repeat cruisers).

Hit EPCOT for the "food and wine lite festival" on wednesday to celebrate losing my 8th cruise. It was a fun day but was also the first time i really felt the "wow this is creepy" factor of the zombie apocalypse. If I had to guess i would say probably 500 or so total guests in EPCOT ... extremely surreal to stand and realize you literally cant see anyone in any direction.

Seven with 8 looking likely since its in October

I was very excited when it was first announced, loved Virgin Atlantic for many years and looked forward to what they would do from a cruise standpoint ... completely disinterested in Virgin Voyages once it was "revealed" though. Will probably give it a try at some point just to be fair but not excited the way i was during the build up.

Loved it, did it 4 times last year and planned to do it a couple this year. Great size, good itinerary, easy on/easy off in Canaveral. Plenty of onboard options. Perfect day at Cococay. Let us know what you like/dont like, are interested in and i could comment further but this is definitely one of my favorite options for a great weekend.

Had a panama canal booked for October (Dad's bucket list) ... cancelled. Rebooked for March ... cancelled. Really want to rebook another one but cant quite convince myself (although all the refunds finally came through this month ... so maybe)