firstcruiseyeah

Hello!

We are going in July 2018 and we have a family of 5. Do we book the room for the 4 wristbands and then purchase the 5th through bahamasdaypass.com? If I bought all of them through bahamasdaypass.com the total would be $850 (OUCH!). The room at Comfort Suits for 4 is $418.52 including taxes and fees and then $170 for the one from the other site. We still have about $250. Had anyone done this before?

My husband and I are going to be on our first cruise this Sunday for 5 days. What are some tips for us? What is something we should do but wouldn't know to do on our first cruise? What am I forgetting to do or pack? We are very excited but nervous also. :)

Yay!! So glad it worked out for you.

Thank you! I'm a very happy camper :)

I made a reservation at the Hampton Inn Miami-Coconut Grove/Coral Gables for the night before our cruise leaves. Is this area safe? We are leaving our car there while we are on the cruise. I want to make sure I made the right decision. Thanks for your help!

Hello! I posted this on a thread but it went to the last of 15 pages so, I thought I would post it so people can see it. I hope this is okay :) Question? My husband and I went to get our passports. We leave December 4th and was told this is ample time to get them. We went to the post office with our applications, birth certificates with embossed stamp, check book and drivers license. We gave everything to the post office attendant. She looked at my birth certificate and said she will send it in but she thinks I will need to get another one because it did not have my parents name on it. I got it from the county I was born in and it had a raised stamp. Has anyone else gone through this same thing? If so, what did you do? This is what the county gave me and it has an official, raised stamp so...

Thanks for your help!

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UPDATE!!! My husband and I just received our passports today, using my birth certificate that didn't have my parents name on it but did have an embossed stamp. So, I guess they will take that type of birth certificate. Thank goodness we didn't have to mess with re-sending anything :)

Better to show up with that then with nothing. (And I still don't know what having parents' names on the birth certificates accomplishes, it doesn't make one more of a US citizen.)

I agree! I'm not sure what they need that information for anyway. The birth certificate I gave them had an embossed stamp so, it is a legal document with the information about me. They also have my social security number to prove it is me, and a drivers license to prove it is me. Why do they need my parents names on it??? Maybe, just to make things difficult :mad:

Fingers crossed it will be okay.:) Too excited about the cruise and I'm trying to think only about that!

Had similar happen 2 weeks ago as my hubbys was original from 43 years ago no stamps of any kind were told may get request for an updated one. All of our passports showed up yesterday!

 

 

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I'm hoping this will be what happens for us! My husband does not want to travel without a passport. We don't travel much, and when we do it is in the states so, he just doesn't feel comfortable without them. I really don't think I do either.

I will have the correct birth certificate in about 3-5 days. We will be on the Navigator, Royal Caribbean. We stop in Mexico and the Bahamas.

I have 85 days still before we leave. I would hope that would be enough even with the incorrect birth certificate? I just ordered a new an hour ago so I should have it in my hands in about 3-5 days. I'm also going to call the passport facility on Monday and find out what I should do to process it correctly since the post office sent it out incorrectly.

Thank you for your help! I'm going to look up the county I was born in and see what the process is to get the correct birth certificate. The post office employee asked me to let her know if they did accept it or not. I guess I'm helping her figure things out!

Some counties have a "short form" birth certificate (or "abstract"), as well as a "long form" one. The major difference being that, typically, the short form doesn't have all the information on it. Most notably the parent's names.

 

The short form birth certificate is not valid for passport issuance.

 

The short form is still an "official" birth certificate, just not for passport use.

 

If the clerk at the post office went ahead and sent in your application with that form, I'd suggest you go ahead and get the long form certificate, as it'll be kicked back. And contact the passport agency directly about it, as applications with "issues" can fall by the wayside until someone gets around to sending them back.

 

And I'd be really upset with that clerk, that's their job - to check the documents and tell you what's appropriate and what's not, before sending it off.

She said they need the parents information but she would send it to see if they will accept it or not. She said she hasn't seen a raised stamp birth certificate that didn't have the parents information. I call the county and get a birth certificate with ALL of the information and then call the passport facility just as you said. Do you think we need to get them sent Fed Ex? We have about 85 days until we leave.

Hello! I posted this on a thread but it went to the last of 15 pages so, I thought I would post it so people can see it. I hope this is okay :) Question? My husband and I went to get our passports. We leave December 4th and was told this is ample time to get them. We went to the post office with our applications, birth certificates with embossed stamp, check book and drivers license. We gave everything to the post office attendant. She looked at my birth certificate and said she will send it in but she thinks I will need to get another one because it did not have my parents name on it. I got it from the county I was born in and it had a raised stamp. Has anyone else gone through this same thing? If so, what did you do? This is what the county gave me and it has an official, raised stamp so...

Thanks for your help!

__________________

Question? My husband and I went to get our passports. We leave December 4th and was told this is ample time to get them. We went to the post office with our applications, birth certificates with embossed stamp, check book and drivers license. We gave everything to the post office attendant. She looked at my birth certificate and said she will send it in but she thinks I will need to get another one because it did not have my parents name on it. I got it from the county I was born in and it had a raised stamp. Has anyone else gone through this same thing? If so, what did you do? This is what the county gave me and it has an official, raised stamp so...

Thanks for your help!

Thank you to both of you. It looks like Hilton Garden Inn West is the choice!

Have a great night.:)

Hello! I know everyone asks this question but I've been looking through all the threads and I'm still wondering where we should book. My husband and I are driving from Wisconsin. We are leaving on Friday night and hoping to get to Miami around 5:00-6:00 Saturday night. Obviously, we don't need anything fancy or with a lot of bells and whistles since we are driving straight through and will only be looking for something to eat and a comfy, clean place to sleep (and dream of our cruise the next day). We would love to have a breakfast included if possible. So, what do you guys think? Thanks in advance! :)

I see you are on Royal's Navigator. All passengers are given numbered tags for their luggage, depending on when they need to disembark for travel arrangements. If you are flying out early, it stands to reason you will be in one of the first groups off the ship. The ship may arrive into port anytime after, say, 5 or 6 am but that doesn't mean you get off right then. The ship is cleared by the local authorities and then anyone who is carrying their own luggage can start disembarking when the announcement is made, usually within 30 minutes of scheduled arrival time. If you do not need to rush off the ship for a flight home, you can take it a little slower, but they still endeavor to have all passengers off the ship by 9:30, 10 at the latest.

 

Breakfast is not all that leisurely; the buffet is open until 8:30 am or so, and the dining room until about 9 am (times are approximate). Yes, they have to turn the ship around so you can't be lingering. They ask you to vacate your cabin by 8 am.

 

Suitcases taken from the hall are kept in a holding area until the morning, at which time they are moved to the terminal a:)nd sorted according to tag number or color (depends on the port). As soon as the ship docks they start unloading the luggage but as I said, passengers don't get to go at that time.

 

Don't worry about this. I see it is your first cruise, but there will be copious amounts of printed information for you to read, telling you exactly what to do on the last morning. :)

 

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Thank you for the advise. I'm over-achiever when it comes to worrying and planning so I like to know all the facts :). I'm sure I will be well informed when I get there!

Yep.

 

And if everyone takes their bags of it really slows disembarkation up, as people push and pull and struggle.

 

I don't do self embark often, but once was a real nightmare, seemed everyone had chosen this option but half of them weren't capable of manhandling everything down the ramp, an obsolete traffic jam.

 

Our preference is a leisurely breakfast, just our carry ons to deal with, wait till the crowds thin a leisurely walk off, grab our bags and off we go.

 

Now sometimes we may need to get off early, but now we try to avoid that.

If our cruise says 7:00am arrival do they kick you off right away. You say you do a leisurely breakfast with a carry on (sounds good to us) but when do you have to actually get off the ship? I know they have to get the ship ready for the next cruise but how early do you leave? We will put our suit cases outside the door (no problems there) I was just wondering where they go! Thanks again! :)

Quick question about putting bags outside door. My husband and I are driving. Once they take the bags where do they go? Wouldn't it be easier just to grab them and go. We've never cruised before so, I'm trying to figure things out. Thanks!:)

We will be on this sailing with you. From our past experience last year the decorations will be up for our sailing. We have found this is our favorite time of year to vacation and are really looking forward to it.

 

Unfortunately I am pretty sure that there are no DreamWorks characters on this ship. They do not have them fleet wide and this ship is one of the few larger ones without them. Maybe they will do something else special for the holidays but I have not seen anything yet.

 

Only a few more months to go before we are on board:)

I called my travel agent and she said yes it will be all "decked" out! I don't really care about the DreamWorks characters. It is just my husband and I celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary but, all the Christmas decorations are a plus. We are so excited. First vacation with out our boys and my oldest is 19 years old!!! See you there :)

At the very bottom of the page from the link given it says "Holiday themed DreamWorks experience and characters will be available on select ships during the month of December". Hopefully it's mine. I guess I'll have to call my travel agent :)

Thanks for the quick response. Sounds great! Not only our first cruise but a Christmas cruise. WAHOOO!!! Have a great day!

Great! Thank you!:)

Fantastic! Thank you :)

My husband and I will be on the Navigator from December 4th to December 9th. Will the ship have Christmas decorations? I watched a video of a ship tour and noticed a Christmas tree and it dawned on me it may be decorated. This would be wonderful since it is my absolute favorite time of year! I'm one of those who starts watching Christmas shows once Halloween is over. Please don't judge :)!

1 formal night on 5 night cruises and it should be Day 2 or on the night of a Sea Day. Hardly anybody dresses up for them anymore. It seems only those who are going to have their picture taken dress up. On some RCI ships, they don't even have formal nights anymore.

I actually don't mind this at all. My husband isn't a dress-up type guy so, a collared shirt and khaki pants/shorts should be fine for him and a summer dress for me? That is what we would feel most comfortable in.

Thanks for your quick response :)