jcl410

FYI - Here's the link to the City of Norfolk's page describing the upcoming cruises.... As of 3/29, not all the details are in place for the Vision cruises. (e.g.; shuttles from the parking garage) https://www.norfolk.gov/6030/Cruises Aloha, John

The Real is the only legal currency accepted in Brazil. We bought 200USD worth of Reals from Bank of America before we flew down there. (Wed overnighted in Santos, and couple of stops in Brazil as well.) Credit cards ARE widely accepted, but some of the smaller vendors on the beach didn't take them. Aloha, John

In March, I was on an MSC ship one way from Brazil to Portugal. There was no passport checks in either the Canary Islands, or Madeira. Even though it took 4 hours to disembark in Lisbon, there was no passport check at all. That surprised me. Luckily, there was no issue that afternoon when going through passport control at the airport to fly back to the USA. (nor an exit stamp) Aloha, John

I think it would be best to take care of this now. There should be a method to contact US Customs Border Protection(CBP). Be proactive and send them a copy of your cruise itinerary that shows your last stop in the US. Good luck, John

What day of the week are you leaving? Traffic can be pretty bad any day, but worse during the week. What's the earliest arrival time you can get? That'll probably be the best option. If the plane is late, what's plan "b"? Aloha, John

After you were born, your parents most likely obtained a a "Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) " from the US State Department. That would have been required to get your passport needed to get home when you were a baby. Try and locate your CRBA. That can be used as your birth certificate along with your drivers license. Otherwise, here's the link to request a replacement: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/records-and-authentications/requesting-a-vital-record-as-a-u-s--citizen/replace-amend-CRBA.html Aloha, John

I just had the behind the scenes tour on the Jewel. Deck 2 is primarily crew working areas, including provision stores, the Engine Control. room, the Medical facility, and other offices. I'm on Deck 3 just forward of the forward elevators, and we haven't had any problem with noise at all. Even the bow thruster isn't too bad. There's a little noise, but no vibration. (It does not wake my wife up.) Aloha, John

What was the horrible experience on your last guarantee cabin? Would the money saved make it acceptable this time? If you book a guarantee, you really *have to * be OK with what ever you consider the worst cabin in the category you've selected or better.... If you'ed have a bad time in a bad location, it's not worth the money. Aloha, John

The first question is "are you a US citizen?" If so, then I am unaware of any Caribbean destination that requires a Visa (or electronic substitute). The EU has announced the US Citizens (along with 29 other countries) will be required to obtain an electronic visa waiver starting in 2024; I don't know if that will have any bearing for cruises. A good place for information for visa requirements is the US State Department's web site: travel.state.gov Aloha, John

Rizkeeper - The Florida port forum will be the best place to repost your question; as cruisers from all lines, as well as locals frequent that board. (The admins may end up moving this thread.) Aloha, John

Amtrak uses the newly renovated Moynihan Train Hall. (In the old Post office building across the street from the rest of Penn station.) It's very nice, and safe. Easy access to ride share and taxis. Aloha, John

I did 10 days on The Royal Clipper from The Canary Islands to Barbados. The down wind sailing was great! The only "downside" was that the prize for winning daily trivia. The winner had to come up with the questions for the next day! (preferably in three languages!) 🙂 Aloha, John

I had to write them down first; my total is 9 -well the first one wasn't labeled a cruise, but it sure did pique my interest. Starting in 1969 (at 8 years old) The French Line (only once on SS France from NYC to Le Havre; we flew back) Skip forward to 1995 American Hawaii Cruises(x 6-7 - I lived in Hawaii in the 90's a VERY low price one Christmas got me on board, and I haven't stopped cruising.) Royal Caribbean (x a lot -my go to default line .. first was 2 weeks out of Singapore on the Sun Viking.) Norwegian Cruise Line (2 x, but one was SS Norway.. It was interesting to see how much of the ship looked sort of familiar from my first time - although the children's dining room was gone. .) Windjammer Barefoot Cruise Line(MV Amazing Grace x 2) Cunard (QE2 - San Diego to Honolulu, NYC to Southampton; QM2 UK - NYC x3) Premier (SS Rembrandt x1) Star Clippers (Royal Clipper x 3) MSC (x 1 MSC Fantasia Brail - Portugal.) Aloha, John

Did they ever explain what the problem was with the Azipod? Aloha, John

Hummm ... I've been Diamond Plus now for a couple of cruises, and have yet to receive a D+ pin.... Guess I'll have to ask about it in 46 days on the Jewel. Aloha, John

It sounds like you had more issues than I did.... If I read this correctly, you booked your return flights back yourself. What day did you fly out? Did you end up flying out on Monday? I had Royal Caribbean book out flight back to Baltimore for Sunday. We spent Friday and Sat. night on the ship. We got off at 0830 Sunday with no line, and the bus got to the airport in plenty of time for the 1400 Alaska airlines flight. I received the FCC emails on Sept. 8th. I received the first credit back to my card from RCI on the 13th. It's not the cruise cost, so I assume it's the Shore Excursions refund.... And slow refunds to credit cards are hardly only an RCI problem..... I'm still waiting for my refund from American Airlines for my cancelled Vancouver to Baltimore flight! As far as not booking a Radiance class ship; don't forget that Alure of the Seas had to do a couple of unscheduled drydocks (cancelling a cruise) to fix an azipod issue. Stuff happens Aloha, John

That's good news.... But it was not required...... I went straight to the Canadian immigration web site, and there is no mention of a 6 months requirement for passports.(Nor do US citizens require visas.) Note, however, that they do take a close look at minors crossing the border. It would not hurt to have their birth certificates with you to prove you and your husband, are in fact, the parents. Aloha, John

Jet engines on the Radiance of the Seas is more true than some realize... The main source of electricity comes from two General Electric LM2500 gas turbine generator sets. Each one can produce up to 25 megawatts of power. They are based around the CF6 turbofan engines used in widebody planes such as the Boeing 767. The waste heat from the LM2500s is sent to a boiler to produce steam for more power. Sometime in the mid-2000s the added a 11MW Wärtsilä 38 engine to provide hotel power while in port.... The gas turbine engines are NOT fuel efficient when running a partial load. Aloha, John

I prefer to use marinetraffic dot com.... It shows all vessels in an area that broadcast (Automatic Identification System) AIS data. Most all commercial, and many pleasure craft use AIS to keep track of other traffic around them. Aloha, John

Do you think that ABB makes their own blades? While I was on board, the Hotel Director specifically said that the techs. were coming from ABB. (I know that engineering isn't his responsibility, but he should be in a position to know that factoid.... ) He gave the impression that the engineers could not tell what was going on with the Azipod, hence why they were flying folks in... Aloha, John

Saturday afternoon - Monday report: Sunday after lunch my wife and I went into Seward to look around. The weather was great! RCI had charted two full sized buses to shuttle people into town. They made just two stops; at the Sealife Center, and the small boat harbor. Unfortunately, these stopped running around 3pm.... At 4pm, the small, free shuttle was running completely full, with folks from the ship, and the train, etc... A bunch of us trying to get to the ship when an unaffiliated bus from a Lodge took pity n us and ran us back to the ship. The final bus to the airport had been scheduled for 3pm. Around 5pm, they made an announcment that one mode bus was leaving for extra late plane departures.... At the evening production the cruise director mentioned that some people would still be on after noon on Sunday. I have no clue how many, but I did meet a few folks that said they were still waiting to hear when/how they were getting home. After breakfast Sunday morning, we made our way down to the gangway at 0830. There was no line at all. I asked, and was told there were still about 1000 people onboard... There were dock workers onboard who rolled our luggage down the gangway for us to the bus. (I had been worried about that; there was a 15 foot tide swing, and at high tide the gangway was quite steep. As luck would have it it was close to low tide when we left.) The lucked out on the timing... The bus was almost full. We left after about 5 minutes as they stated loading the next bus. We got to the airport around 1115. The tour company operating the bus helped folks get their luggage to check-in... After that, we had a normal flight experience getting back to Maryland Monday morning. I have to give pretty high marks to the ship's crew. Everything onboard went smoothly. For the most part, the passengers also hndled things well. No shouting mobs, etc... I only saw one dust up between two passengers who started arguing about line jumping. Aloha, John

Sat. Am update on my personal experience... After dinner last night, I went to the conference center to sign up for flights... There was confusion by some as to who needed to be there. There were a number of air2sea clients in line,and the staff had to explain that they would be rebooked automatically. I'm the end, that got figured out. They shut the theater door after I got there at 2115 and I was done at 2220. I received the confirmation email less than an hour later.... We're flying back on Alaska airlines, leaving ANC at 1400 Sunday This morning, there was still no word on busses to the airport. Going to guest services I was told that buses would run continuously starting at 0630 Right now Im watching the line of folks leaving from the warmth of cafe+latitudes on deck 5. Aloha, John

1930 Seward time: they have set up tables in the conference center for setting up return travel. I stopped by, but it was very crowded. I skipped that, and am now at dinner... The Hotel Director was at Guest Services chatting with folks in line. One of the Azipods is bad... Two techs from ABB are flying out to the ship to assess the situation. Aloha, John

Update! Current cruise has been cancelled.. no details on nature of problem. Passenger can remain onboard until until noon Sunday. Compensation includes 100% refund plus 100 FCC. They will also arrange our flight back to Baltimore (even though we did not use Air2Sea); No details yet about signing up for the transportation yet. All activities are going on about the ship. Some drinks are free, and the Internet is free. More as I learn it. Aloha, John

Please replace the word trash with train. Auto correct doesn't always work . 🙂 Aloha, John