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sj25

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    HOTELSFOREVERYONE. .COM

    in Saving Money on Your Cruise - Tips & Advice

    Posted · Edited by sj25
    Missed words

    Do not book with them ...so upset had used trivago and they sent me to that for good rate

    Well to find my paid reservation was canceled May 15 for my next year pre cruise hotel today was just reviewing things and found out business closed up May 1, I don't see how they are still making reservations online

    Hotelsforeveryone. Com

     

    Now fighting to try and get money back from credit card. 

    Private tour guides

    in San Juan, PR

    Posted

    I was looking on Trip Advisor and saw a tour company "De Tour Con Ali" 

    I didn't know if anyone else here has used her.

    Looks like a very nice tour Let me show you My Island, it's 5- 6hrs  we are going in Feb of next year and didn't know.

    we are there 1pm - 10 pm

    Time for Cave Tubing AND Snorkeling?

    in Belize

    Posted

    10 hours ago, aknguyen said:

    It's hard to recommend, to be honest. The cave tubing itself was very enjoyable and I would love to do something like that again. Getting there, however, wasn't.

     

    Our bus was advertised as air conditioned. In reality there was a fan that circulated the hot air that was on board. And the windows didn't open. Once you get close to the cave area, the terrain turns very steep and you have to get off the highway bus and get onto an old school bus to up up and over a VERY steep hill. When I say a steep hill, I mean that the bus was in the lowest gear and was very obviously struggling to make progress. I can't believe that POS bus goes over that thing multiple times a day. Truly amazing.

     

    You don't see much of the beauty of the country because you're driving down a highway and there's only a few homes along the way once you're out of the city. The ride is very long. The time in the cave is short. Again, I'm not sure it's worth it.

     

    Once we got back to the port, we were so hot and tired that we didn't want to do anything but go back to the ship. We did purchase 1 single souvenir and a round of bottled waters as we walked to the tender pier. That was all we could muster. 

     

    I know there are private cave tubing tours and maybe they offer a better experience. If the bus hadn't been so hot it would have made all the difference. Everyone on board looked a little pale and nauseous. Edit: And we're from Houston so we're pretty experienced at the heat and humidity. This was even more intense.

    Thank you for the honest view that is what I was wondering that the drive you at least got to see the country side.  I am not sure what we are going to end up doing.

     

    Time for Cave Tubing AND Snorkeling?

    in Belize

    Posted

    On 6/16/2019 at 12:53 PM, aknguyen said:

    I agree that you'll have to choose. We just did the cave tubing through Carnival and only had time for a few minutes of shopping at port before we had to catch a water shuttle. It is truly an all day excursion.

    Did you have a good time did you enjoy the tour and feel it was worth the money.  Traveling to the tour did you feel you got to see some of the area to see what Belize was like also?

    Hotel close to San Diego cruise ship terminal

    in West Coast Departures

    Posted

    On ‎5‎/‎30‎/‎2019 at 8:32 AM, DaveOKC said:

    Very nice hotel, co-located with Springhill Suites - they share all the ammenities, like the free breakfast, pool, and even the same check-in desk.  It is about 2 years old and is just across from the pier (we walked our luggage to the ship in about 5 minutes).

     

    I really liked the plae (we stated on the Springhill side) - great staff - and would stay again.  $154 is a good price IMO.  Only negative is no airport shuttle.

    Thank you very much for letting me know! 

    Hawaii fall 2020

    in Princess Cruises

    Posted

    19 hours ago, Clancy14 said:

     

    Hi,

    You are about 4 1/2 hours west of us. We are outside of Wilkes-Barre.  When we went to Seattle on Amtrak, for our Alaska cruise, we got on in Harpers Ferry, WV.  That train went straight to Chicago, where we changed trains to Seattle.  The whole trip was 2 1/2 days both ways but it was wonderful! Our own bedroom with a huge picture window, individual lamps for reading, electrical outlets for charging our "gadgets", storage for our carry-ons, a fold-down table for meals or card playing, etc., all the meals included, comfortable beds to sleep in, domed viewing cars if we wanted to stroll and see another view, unlimited free luggage!! 

    We take them to Florida, too.  No more hassle with traffic, construction, looking for exits, and all that.  We were going to get on for Alaska in Chicago originally but when we found out that parking for our time frame would be $ 450.00 !!!!!, we looked at alternative stations.  Harpers Ferry was 3 hours away from our home and the parking was free, so adding that fare, and saving all that driving (10 hours) was a no-brainer!

     

    My husband will retire this year and that will allow us to take longer trips.  I really enjoy the sea days, so this will be a wonderful vacation!  I just hope they hurry up and load those itineraries!  Hope to chat with everyone again! - Clancy

    wow guess I have never really thought about Amtrak for trips....I think it would be a neat experience to try....might have to look into that.   The train sound so much nicer than I would of ever imagined.

    Price drop

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    21 hours ago, cruisinfanatic said:

    you're over thinking this. There is a refundable deposit cruise cost and a non refundable deposit cruise cost. There is no "fee"

    Thanks,

    I figured I was....lol but didn't know if they just consider it just cost more or was a fee of some type.  I have always liked that you just booked and could change, cancel and didn't have to worry about all the changes..( I now don't book way out like I use to as soon as it came available....with most part didn't change but have ....but I know it is business and make more money any way they can.

    Hawaii fall 2020

    in Princess Cruises

    Posted

    On 4/8/2019 at 1:34 PM, Clancy14 said:

     

    Hi!

    This is exactly what my DH and I want to do in 2020 as well II  We are also from Pennsylvania and wonder if we are "neighbors"! LOL!  The only difference for us, is that we will be taking Amtrak cross country in a bedroom sleeper to whatever is the port/best port they are offering. That will be our 26th cruise but only the 2nd on Celebrity. We are usually "Loyal to Royal"  Hope to hear back from you!

    We are 2 hrs north of Pittsburgh!  I never thought about Amtrak would have to take that out of Erie Pa if I ever did that how long would that take you on the train?  I know we are very loyal to Royal but for this cruise we will not be...

    The Grand Hawaiian Adventure. A trip report with Patters, Menus, Elvis, and ...

    in Princess Cruises

    Posted · Edited by sj25

    On ‎11‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 11:16 AM, h20skibum said:

     

    There is something to be said about earning loyalty points with specific cruise lines, but I think everyone should try other cruise lines so they can compare them.   We have sailed on five different cruise lines now (Royal, Princess, Celebrity, Carnival, and NCL).  There are two others, (MSC and Oceania) on our radar to give a try.

     

    We pick our cruises based on the itinerary, or the ship, depending on what we are looking for in a particular cruise.  When I finally talk my wife into sailing Alaska, I know I will be back on Princess, because I believe they provide the best options for that destination.

     

    Lately, we have been sailing Royal Caribbean’s Oasis Class ships, because my wife has fallen in love with them.  Our next sailing is in 11 days on the Harmony of the Seas, and we have the Independence booked for a short trip in January, and a longer 14 day Italian Mediterranean Cruise in July.

     

    So now for my comparisons.  Without knowing if you have young kids, your ages, your activity likes, or other things, I will keep this basic based on what we have experienced.

     

    First, Princess and Celebrity are very similar.  If you like your experience on Princess, you would be comfortable on a Celebrity Cruise.  On Princess, we have sailed the smaller, older ships like the Coral and Grand, so you can’t really compare them to the newer ships on any of the lines.  Now, on the the Royal and Princess comparison.

     

    Overall, I think the food in the MDR is better on Princess than it is on Royal Caribbean.  This is my opinion based on offerings on both the larger and smaller ships in Royal’s fleet.  Pizza on Princess is better, but Royal has recently tried to improve their pizza, so we will find out soon if there has been an improvement.

     

    Royal Caribbean’s entertainment on the Oasis Class ships is simply extraordinary.   Entertainment on Royal’s smaller ships is probably on par with Princess.

     

    Drinks are less expensive on Princess than on Royal.  Royal’s Internet is far better than Princess and is much less expensive.

     

    As far as activities, Royal has much more to offer for kids and adults.  Although we are both in our 60’s, we still do ice skating, rock climbing walls, flow rider, zip line, and we are looking forward to trying out the slides on Harmony.  Kids would love these larger ships.  The one drawback to the Oasis Class ships is the amount of planning you must do to book your shows.  The smaller ships follow the traditional early and late shows based on your dining times.

     

    I am not sure if my signature still has a link to any past trip reports I have done, since I have not updated it to the new cruisecritic format.  If you want a sense of what some of the sailings are like, you can look as some of those past reviews.  Some may be a few years old, and things change, but here they are:

     

    Panama Canal Cruise on Coral Princess

     

    https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/1960696-coral-princess-

    panama-canal-review-with-photos/

     

    Oasis of the Seas Cruise

     

    https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2196287-oasis-117-trip-report-periscope-and-12203-photos/

     

    Celebrity Summit Cruise short 5 day cruise

     

    https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2363253-the-view-from-the-summit-a-5-day-bahamas-review/

     

    Serenade of the Seas Cruise short 3 day cruise

     

    https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2491232-three-day-serenade-escape-from-the-deep-freeze/

     

    Allure of the Seas Cruise March, 2018

     

    https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2531424-surviving-2000-kids-on-allure-western-spring-break/

     

    Follow a few live reviews and ask questions, and keep researching to see how different ships may fit your style.  If you have any other questions, I would be happy to answer them.

     

    Mark

     

    I also really enjoyed the review of your Hawaiian cruise.  We want to do one within the next 5 years was going to do it next year but debating now, our minds thinking should we  try out different cruise lines before we jump in and take the cruise with a line we have never done to Hawaii!!  We have done 1 cruise with Carnival and 29 with RCI ....so I also liked this review that you did on  compare the lines.  We also had debated to fly into Hawaii and take cruise or one we want to try I think is from California.  We was to Oahu and flew in 34 years ago for 2 weeks.  So we want to do a cruise of the other islands...we just didn't ever look to that long air flight.  I also noticed you fly out of Pittsburgh we do also!  :-)    Thanks again now just waiting to see when Princess will bring out fall of 2020!

    Uber Fort Lauderdale

    in Florida Departures

    Posted

    On ‎3‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 4:08 PM, Charles4515 said:

     

    I used it in Fort Lauderdale to get from the airport to my hotel on Las Olas. And to get from the hotel to the port. Both experiences were very good. I did not use it from the port back to the airport. 

    How much did it cost you ?

     

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