njhorseman

Escambron beach is the closest beach to where the cruise ships dock Old San Juan that has relatively calm waters and from what I've been told OK snorkeling, both thanks to a reef sheltering the beach. A little further away is Isla Verde beach...bigger and IMO nicer. Stay away from the Condado beach as the water can be very rough. San Juan's a city, and pretty much any city's beaches are going to have some pollution issues.

I agree 100% with @princeton123211 . Don't do what you're suggesting. Book an Uber or car service to pick him up at JFK. If you don't want a higher end car service from Blacklane or similar you can book Carmel Limo, which should cost about the same as Uber.

I'm no expert on transportation companies in Boston, but to assist those who are it would likely be helpful to know the exact number of people needing transport, not just a statement that it's a "big group". For example some companies might have vehicles for 10 or 15 people, but not 40 or 50.

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Explora Journeys are an exception for a number of reasons; (1) EJ didn't exist prior to COVID so there's no way to do a "before and after" comparison. Perhaps if EJ existed prior to COVID you'd be saying "They're as good as they always were but prices are 50% higher now". (2) It's part of the MSC group which is privately owned and is believed to not have run up the level of debt publicly traded cruise companies did during the COVID shutdown because the profitability of their cargo ship operations was sufficient to subsidize any cruise business losses. (3) As a privately owned company MSC doesn't answer to Wall St. and can take the path back to normal profitability its private owners want, not the path that investment bankers and its creditors want. The publicly traded companies are under great pressure to return to normal profitability and repay COVID debit at the rate Wall St. wants.

An EDL is perfectly acceptable for your cruise, which I assume starts and ends in Seattle. Just make sure it actually is an EDL and not a REAL ID license. Many people confuse the two. However if it is a REAL ID license she can still cruise with that plus an official birth certificate (assuming she was born in the USA). If she's a naturalized US citizen she would need her original naturalization certificate plus the drivers license. One other caveat. There are some cruise lines...typically super premium and luxury cruise lines, that require all passengers to have a valid passport even if lesser documentation is legally acceptable. One cruise line that does closed loop Alaskan cruises from Seattle that requires a passport for all passengers is Oceania. There may be others. Typically the mass market lines such as NCL, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Princess, Holland America and Celebrity do not require all passengers to have a passport. You should check your cruise line's website FAQs for their requirements.

You should post your question(s) about Africa on the Africa/Middle East Ports of Call board and you questions about the Regent Seven Seas Navigator on the Regent Seven Seas board.

Fuerte Amador is the port . The old review you read was likely written before the cruise terminal was built. Even though the cruise terminal still has work to be done before it's complete ships have been docking there for quite some time. No need to tender except in the unlikely event there are more than two ships in port that day.

Well...this is the Oceania board, not the Viking board. 😉

I agree. We enjoy good seafood and on our first Oceania cruise we couldn't wait to try the miso-glazed sea bass based on all the comments made here. It was awful. They ruin a potentially good piece of fish with a cloyingly sweet glaze. Most everything else in Red Ginger is "meh" at best.

I wasn't at all suggesting that corporate headquarters hasn't been strongly influencing what the subsidiary cruise lines are offering. That's always the case in any business. I worked as head of strategic planning at a huge company with billions in assets that was the subsidiary of an even bigger company. We didn't have a free hand in what we did. We were always controlled by the guidance of headquarters. I was merely pointing out that the senior corporate executives at NCLH were not and are not evil ogres from a corporate takeover as some mistakenly believe...they were and are Oceania executives, not NCL executives.

By the afternoon of January 1 there should be little or no evidence remaining of the New Years Eve festivities so that shouldn't be an issue. In any event despite its name your hotel isn't located in Times Square. It's on 7th Ave and 36th St (the entrance is on 36th), several blocks south of where the NYE celebration takes place, so there should be even less likelihood of a lingering problem there.

Yes, they operate the parking at the MCT: Scroll to the bottom of this page of the official port website https://cruise.nyc/MCT-directions-parking and you'll see: Contact Contact: Jason.Rubino@propark.com For inquiries regarding Manhattan Cruise Terminal parking, email Jason.Rubino@propark.com or call 646 299 4670.

You're wrong. From very early on in the consolidation NCLH was headed by FDR, the founder of Oceania. Since FDR's recent retirement NCLH has been headed by Harry Sommer, a long-time FDR disciple. The show has been and continues to be run by Oceania-bred executives, not NCL executives.

No hotels I know of in San Juan offer airport or pier shuttle service. Uber and taxi fares are quite reasonable. You haven't said when you're traveling, but since most cruises are during the winter that is peak tourist season in Puerto Rico so hotel prices are high. Since the airport isn't very far from anywhere in San Juan there's no need to limit your search to nearby hotels. We often stay at the Courtyard by Marriott Isla Verde Beach Resort, which is a mid-range priced hotel adjacent to the airport., but if you look on any hotel booking engine I'm sure you can find less expensive hotels if you stay somewhere that isn't on the beach.