Reost

Yes, we have rented cars in Australia, the UK, Namibia, Malta, Cyprus and some other left-hand-drive countries.

My cruise is coming soon.

I plan to spend most of my time sightseeing. I'll visit St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Sint Maarten.

We are 4 people, so I am thinking about renting a car in the ports.

While I am used to renting cars, I've never done it for just a single day (or 7 hours, for that matter).

So, what is your opinion about renting a car in these ports, namely, should I:

a)Reserve the car online through some website rental car comparison website.

b)Seek for the car locally.

Are there any other issues / problems I might encounter? Or perhaps in some particular island the transport is so good/cheap that a day's sightseeing for 4 people would not be the easiest using a rented car?

My cruise is Carnival Fascination, stopping at Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Marten, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts.

As it's the first time in the Caribbean, I will spend most of shore time for sightseeing and local experiences. I plan to visit several locations on each island.

I see, however, some locations / experiences have counterparts on multiple islands. Not willing to do a similar thing on each of the islands, I'd rather pick an experience/sight of a particular type on the island where it is the best.

So, which are the best, in your opinion:

a)Jungles.

b)Forts.

c)Authentic historic houses (plantations, etc.) to visit the interiors.

d)Authentic towns.

e)Beaches.

Also, maybe you'll add some more must-do Caribbean experiences / sights and tell which of these 6 islands have it the best.

Thank you,

Online check-in requires me to chose time. Do I understand correctly that I could board later than the time I choose, but not earlier?

I am now thinking about boarding at 6PM (for 10PM departure, 8PM latest boarding time) but I could not tell exactly right now as it may depend on traffic, etc. So should I chose e.g. 4PM then and arriving 5PM, 6PM or 7PM would be ok, or could there be any drawbacks?

Also, are these boarding times good in terms of queues? Is it so that queues only take place in the first few hours after boarding opening, or also later?

Thank your for your answers.

The cruise is Carnival Fascination and it leaves San Juan at 22:00 (10PM), and the online check-in lets me choose check-in time until 20:00 (8PM) so I assume then this is the final time as it is also the 2 hours before leaving the port.

As I have never been to Puerto Rico (and living far away, maybe I will never come back again), I want to spend more time there (renting a car and venturing further out) and instead explore the ship during the sea day.

Likewise, as every island I'll visit will be new to me (I never been to the Caribbean), I plan to mainly spend my time on sights and other experiences particular to that island. We are planning to rent a car where possible (for 4 people it is likely economical) although in some cases excursions also seem an interesting alternative, e.g. the 6 hour St. Lucia excursion which covers the entire island.

So, as I understand, if 30 min. is the latest time to be at ship at non-tendered ports (i.e. all of the ports during my cruise), I should aim at 45-60 min. to be on the safe side.

Likewise, in the mornings I'd plan leaving the ship as early as possible, which I assume means eating breakfast at the time dining hall opens and then going to disembark.

I'll use OBC and cash then for my on-board account then rather than credit card (those are much less popular in our country than in the USA).

We don't share a cabin but both are on a single booking already.

If you think something on my ideas seems not to work out for some reason, please tell.

I have never been to Puerto Rico but I'll be cruising from there.

Carnival line allows some drinks, e.g. 12 cans of cola per person. Could you recommend a good place / shop close to the port to buy such drinks at non-inflated prices?

Hello,

I'll have my first cruise with Carnival (and, in fact, first cruise in 20 years) after a month. I have some "newbie questions". If you don't know the answer to every one of them, please answer just the ones you know.

1.There is "on-line check in" on Carnival website. Is it required, and if not, what advantages does it give?

2.Through "Early Savers" (and subsequent repricing) I have received relatively significant on-board credit. I wonder, if I pre-book my tours (though the Carnival website), could that use on-board credit, or is on-board credit only for the tours booked while on-board?

3.I plan to arrive to the ship late. How many things are actually sold-out by the time (i.e. if the answer to the 2nd question is that I need to spend on-board credit while on-board, is it likely that I'd still find the tours available)?

4.As I am not an American and my country doesn't use dollars, can there be any trouble, e.g. additional charges or bad conversion rates? Should I e.g. try to get a dollar credit card or know any other alternatives?

5.Is a credit card needed at all, since the cruise is pre-paid and I have enough on-board credit for my cruise (i.e. I likely won't spend more than the on-board credit)?

6.What are the actual times before leaving each port that you must come back to the port / ship (the embarkation day and the remaining days, if different)? Not that I am planning to come at the last minute, but for a better time planning, I am interested in the true "final time" beyond which the person would not be allowed in (rather than a recommended time).

7.What are the seating arrangements in the main dining hall? If we are a group of 4, would we sit at a separate table, or are all the tables larger than 4 people?

Hello.

I am thinking about buying my first cruise. Not technically first, but the only time I cruised was when I was 9 years old with my parents on a converted ocean liner for 3 days; things seems to be lightyears from there now.

I've been doing research into what to choose, but I still have many questions as for some reason the full info seems to be hard to find (maybe because I have no experience here).

1.Is there any place online I could find detailed information about amenities in particular ship? What I find usually consists just of a few highlights, but I'd want to know what exactly is offered to make my choice (i.e. lists of restaurants, theaters, spas, pools, information on what is price-included and what is not and, if not included, how much does it cost additionally - in the same way you would get info about hotels, for example).

2.Is there any place online I could find a good comparison between cruise lines, that is, a kind of table of the differences in their typical offers (e.g. what is included in price where and what is not in each line; what is permitted to be taken on board (e.g. soft drinks) and what is not in each line (and is that enforced); how seriously is the dress code enforced in each line; and other key differences)?

3.How long is the typical embarkation/disembarkation procedure at ports of call? That is, if a cruise ship stays 10 hours in the port, how much of that time I can expect to "usefully" spend ashore (excluding time for embarkation, disembarkation, security cheks if there are any, passport checks, etc.)? Does this vary among cruise lines / ports of call?

4.My friend had a first cruise last year and was somewhat disappointed that the ship was late to arrive to Puerto Rico and he had just 2 hours there instead of 6. A question for regular cruisers: how often do such things happen? Does this vary among cruise lines / ports of call?

5.Cruise Critic article for cruisers gives a suggestion to rent a car at ports of call. How feasible is that, given the short times of staying ashore? I would assume things like taking a car and returning would be additional time-consuming hassle (as everybody would want to hire and return cars at the same time), or am I wrong here?

6.Cruise Critic article on "secret fares" claims that in addition to gratuity and paid things, additionally there are various taxes, port charges, etc. that could almost double the cruise price. How could one know what fees are these?

P.S. My traditional travelling style is rather intensive and independent. I have visited 86 countries, so I am quite used to general things about travelling and being in a foreign country, however cruising is a new world to me. Generally I am looking into port-heavy Caribbean cruises for my first journey in a big good ship with many activities.

I love to experience new things (rather than repeating same things) so I'd like to spend my time ashore in exploring (and experiencing) the countries and spend my time in ship trying out various things and activities the ship has to offer.