Same port for two days, anyone stayed in a hotel overnight?

Hi everyone, bit of an unusual question here and please I am ONLY looking for responses from those who have PERSONAL experience in this. (Either you have done it or, you considered doing it, but found out it wasn't permitted.)

For cruises which stay in the same port for TWO days (or more), have you ever stayed in a hotel overnight instead of returning to the ship?

More specifically, have you ever done this on a Royal Caribbean cruise? (More relevant for me than if you did so with another cruise, but still useful information!)

I completely understand that I have somewhere to stay, I'm not crazy in that respect, but I really need a good internet connection for catching up with some course work and I wondered if this might be a solution to my problem -- we are on a Transpacific cruise on Explorer, which hasn't been upgraded with the faster wifi, so when I need to download lectures etc it will be better to have a good connection. And instead of sitting in a Starbucks or internet cafe for hours trying to download stuff, I could do it overnight while staying in a hotel.

Thanks!

Hi everyone, bit of an unusual question here and please I am ONLY looking for responses from those who have PERSONAL experience in this. (Either you have done it or, you considered doing it, but found out it wasn't permitted.)

 

For cruises which stay in the same port for TWO days (or more), have you ever stayed in a hotel overnight instead of returning to the ship?

 

More specifically, have you ever done this on a Royal Caribbean cruise? (More relevant for me than if you did so with another cruise, but still useful information!)

 

I completely understand that I have somewhere to stay, I'm not crazy in that respect, but I really need a good internet connection for catching up with some course work and I wondered if this might be a solution to my problem -- we are on a Transpacific cruise on Explorer, which hasn't been upgraded with the faster wifi, so when I need to download lectures etc it will be better to have a good connection. And instead of sitting in a Starbucks or internet cafe for hours trying to download stuff, I could do it overnight while staying in a hotel.

 

Thanks!

Well I have not done it, but as I think your question is if you can stay off the ship overnight, the answer is yes.

It doesn´t matter if it´s a 9am to 5 pm port stop or an overnight one. You can come and go as you please. The only Thing to Keep in mind is you have to return to the ship at the time when they ask for everybody to be back onboard, which is usually half an hour Prior to sailaway.

One Thing to Keep in mind, while it might have been unusual, but I´ve been on a cruise with an overnight stop where we had to tender and the Tenders were not operating all night. So if you didn´t want to spend the night ashore you had to tender back by a certain time or wait for the morning. Shouldn´t be an issue for you though, as you plan to stay away the entire night anyway.

As for my experience with the onboard Internet, I have to say even on ships that did not have the upgrade I was able to get some decent Connections, including the ability to make skype phone calls (didn´t try Video, as the one I called had no Video anyway).

Another Option is to look for a cell phone Provider offering data packages for your Destination. Some Provider offer even global data Access for reasonable Prices. As you want to download stuff you probably know how much data you Need, so you could have a good idea about how big a data packet you would Need and the cost for it.

It might be a cheaper Option than the Hotel room, just as an idea.

Yes you can.

Never done.

Known people who have.

Not sure why anyone would want to other than the reason the person I knew did, he met someone in Port who he couldn't take back to the ship.

I have! Twice!

I went off and did a two day tour away from the ship (to The Dead Sea- amazing!) On this occasion the ship was moving to another port (close by).

It was very easy to do. We just had to notify Guest Service giving them a few days notice and that was all.

In your case - with the ship not going anywhere you wouldn't have to do anything - as the ship doesn't need to count you back on until they sail away on day two. You can come and go as you please.

I've done the Transpacific twice - great trip. Second time I stayed off the ship was in Papettee - due to an injury to DD involving MRI etc at the hospital. Ship was coming from Moreea to Pappette.

When checking out hotels to book at....be careful to check the internet availability. We stayed at a very nice hotel - not resort type but not cheap, in town. After booking in we realised that the internet was only available IN THE LOBBY! Very inconvenient.

Don't know if its common in the Pacific but check that when booking.

Have a great trip

Raina

Hi everyone, bit of an unusual question here and please I am ONLY looking for responses from those who have PERSONAL experience in this. (Either you have done it or, you considered doing it, but found out it wasn't permitted.)

 

For cruises which stay in the same port for TWO days (or more), have you ever stayed in a hotel overnight instead of returning to the ship?

 

More specifically, have you ever done this on a Royal Caribbean cruise? (More relevant for me than if you did so with another cruise, but still useful information!)

 

 

 

Thanks!

yes people do it. rather common in Bermuda. but not even for school would I ever waste the money. I just did the work ahead of time or got permission to make it up later.

Mr spook just did it a couple of months ago while deployed, but at Liberty ports 90% of the ship does that.

yes people do it. rather common in Bermuda. but not even for school would I ever waste the money. I just did the work ahead of time or got permission to make it up later.

 

Mr spook just did it a couple of months ago while deployed, but at Liberty ports 90% of the ship does that.

Not sure how common it is in Bermuda, although that would be the US based itinerary RCI opportunity to do so and I'm sure it is done by some.

IMO a big difference between service deployment with hotels in Liberty ports and those staying in one off ship on a pleasure cruise. ;) But thank him for his service regardless!

Thanks all, I really appreciate everyone's feedback and input.

I can stay in Suva, Fiji, for free, as I have a free nights' stay at an IHG hotel so that won't cost me a penny. I've checked and they have wireless internet (for free) in all rooms as well as a 'premium' service with higher bandwidth at a small cost.

I haven't made a decision about Hawaii yet as I could just book something very inexpensive, or we could go all out and have a brief but proper full-out Hawaiian experience, which is something I've dreamed of for a very LONG time.

I appreciate people's thoughts about the value of their education -- for me, as my work is paying for my degree, I am not actually putting that much into the cost of my education so paying for one night's hotel stay is really not a big deal. I also will be away for FOUR weeks in the middle of term time, so I can't exactly 'catch up' with the work. It is a MONTH of classes I am missing. Fortunately, since it is already distance-learning, it is designed for me to catch up from wherever I am, but I still need to have decent internet to do so. The lectures involve video and is between 1-2 hours in length per session, so the amount of data required is very high.

In Fiji, the need for access to good internet is greater than in Hawaii, where I can get unlimited internet in the US during my stay. But I still want to make sure I am prepared for all eventualities.

Many thanks everyone for their input. I was under the impression it would be fine as long as I was there for sail away, but a few people on my Roll Call suggested otherwise, but since they had never had specific experience in it, I wasn't sure their guesses were correct.