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Easier to cruise in the United States


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I feel like it's much easier cruising on Royal Caribbean in the United States than say somewhere like Australia. You guys have most of the fleet there, and I feel like it's much easier to make travel plans there 😛 (since you guys have many more ports there) Whereas in Australia, we only get two of the 23 ships at any given time (3 if we're lucky, lol) and the closest port that isn't Brisbane or Perth is like Singapore....which flying to cost almost as much as the cruise fare itself 😛 

Alas, I guess that's one of the downsides of living down under! 

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Please don't forget, United States is big and when you live near center of the US but not near a big city (think airports, or other kinds of transportation), then it also is not easy getting to ports.  Depending on the port it takes about over 7 hours.

About an hour drive to the nearest airport, then flying a day or more early, hotel transportation and also food, and even getting the Covid test is not easy where we live.  Costs add up fast, so I do understand your comments about Australia.  We always make the best of it, after all it is cruising and for now this is where all our vacation funds are for!! 

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Yes, but having visited Australia and NZ, I marvel at all of the beautiful locations that can be visited multiple times.  I am hoping to return to visit the ports we missed or couldn't fully explore.  Additionally, I found the people we met there to be the friendliest!

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55 minutes ago, not easy being green said:

Please don't forget, United States is big and when you live near center of the US but not near a big city (think airports, or other kinds of transportation), then it also is not easy getting to ports.  Depending on the port it takes about over 7 hours.

About an hour drive to the nearest airport, then flying a day or more early, hotel transportation and also food, and even getting the Covid test is not easy where we live.  Costs add up fast, so I do understand your comments about Australia.  We always make the best of it, after all it is cruising and for now this is where all our vacation funds are for!! 

Even on the West Coast, Royal Caribbean cruise ships and destinations are scarce.  So, we nearly always have to travel to the East Coast to get on a boat.  As said, a day or two to get situated to an Eastern cruise port, and having to arrange covid proof as you're traveling, makes me appreciate very much the scarcity of cruises Down Under.  I also understand this is what we do, to do what we love.😍

I'm envious of the folks who can drive to a port in short order.  I would be on a ship far more regularly than I am now.

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8 hours ago, not easy being green said:

Please don't forget, United States is big and when you live near center of the US but not near a big city (think airports, or other kinds of transportation), then it also is not easy getting to ports.  Depending on the port it takes about over 7 hours.

About an hour drive to the nearest airport, then flying a day or more early, hotel transportation and also food, and even getting the Covid test is not easy where we live.  Costs add up fast, so I do understand your comments about Australia.  We always make the best of it, after all it is cruising and for now this is where all our vacation funds are for!! 

As you say, very few people have a short trip. You would think in Georgia, a bordering state, that we could drive to the port. And I guess that we could, but Miami is about a 12-hour drive for us if we stop only briefly (or Orlando/ Tampa is about 8 hours). But on the positive side it is possible to drive to the port if needed (very difficult to do from Indiana, Montana, or Illinois however) and it doesn’t require going through customs, etc.

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It is easier, but not without complications. We have a lot of airport delays, blizzards, hurricanes, etc., that can make it dicey for a lot of people. I live about an hour's drive from a port and while that is nice, the itineraries are highly repetitive. I tend to fly to other ports as much as I cruise from my home port just to go to new places.

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5 hours ago, not easy being green said:

Please don't forget, United States is big and when you live near center of the US but not near a big city (think airports, or other kinds of transportation), then it also is not easy getting to ports.  Depending on the port it takes about over 7 hours.

About an hour drive to the nearest airport, then flying a day or more early, hotel transportation and also food, and even getting the Covid test is not easy where we live.  Costs add up fast, so I do understand your comments about Australia.  We always make the best of it, after all it is cruising and for now this is where all our vacation funds are for!! 

The closest port to me in Sydney is still 30-35 minutes by train.... 🤣 but yes... time and money does add up quickly, between having to drive to the train station; or get dropped off, waiting for the train, walking another 15 minutes to the port and then waiting in line.... outside the terminal.

You're right about the United States being very big though, I forget that the middle of the US is far away from everything else and anyone that lives there needs to travel further 😛 

5 hours ago, WAYNO said:

Even on the West Coast, Royal Caribbean cruise ships and destinations are scarce.  So, we nearly always have to travel to the East Coast to get on a boat.  As said, a day or two to get situated to an Eastern cruise port, and having to arrange covid proof as you're traveling, makes me appreciate very much the scarcity of cruises Down Under.  I also understand this is what we do, to do what we love.😍

I'm envious of the folks who can drive to a port in short order.  I would be on a ship far more regularly than I am now.

Likewise I am also envious of folks who can drive to their ports. I guess that's one of the downsides of cruising... if only we all lived near the cruise terminals.... 😛

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