Organized Chaos

I just double checked my route to what you said, I'm setting it up through roadtrippers.com as you can download the app to your phone, and that's the route I took minus continuing on to Jacksonville. I like the no toll option, we don't really have toll roads here in Iowa so I may move it over to that so we avoid the toll roads. Plus I'm assuming it'll be a prettier drive going down the coast?

We cut over to I-95 last year when cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale. I wanted to avoid the tolls and thought the same thing...it'd be a nicer drive going down the coastline. Not so much. Either 95 is just too far from the coastline or there's a lot of trees lining the interstate. I don't think we saw the ocean once. Not saying it's a bad drive, just no ocean view. But that's ok, it was still worth it to us avoiding the cost and slowdown of the tolls.

 

This a great discussion. I love driving US 231. It runs from Chicago to Panama City. After the wife and my dog, I love my truck and wife's Prius. Almost before the kids so Organized Chaos' photo had me scrambling back to google. I final decided on Premier parking because it's a garage, self parking, and has security. Not a recommendation since this will be my first time using them. Plan is to drop wife/bags at terminal and Take shuttle/Uber back. This a trial run, we have a 15 day Panama Canal trip in may 2018 and spending $300 for port parking is a bit rich for me.

I was going to suggest the option to the OP as well. That he can always drop his family off at the terminal with the luggage and go park his car. That way he won't have multiple people plus luggage working their way to the terminal from the garage. We'll be going with a group of 8 for our next one and I think that's what we'll do. Haven't decided where we'll park yet, but if we use one of the lots/garages, we'll definitely drop everyone & luggage at the terminal first. Or, since we're staying the night before, we'll park at a hotel, use their shuttle service to get us to the port, then grab a taxi back to the hotel parking lot to get the van when we return while the others wait with the luggage.

Yep, no way I'm parking there with it looking that cramped! So for those that park at the pier is there a place to prepay in advance or should we just drive to the parking garage and pay there?

What I did was used Google Maps to pull up the port of Miami. Then I clicked on "Nearby" and did a search for cruise parking. It pulled up a few different lots just outside of the port plus the one inside. The off-site lots have a reservation system. In fact, I think they prefer that people reserve a spot. All of them have shuttles to the terminal, but the policies for each can be different. For instance, one shuttle doesn't start running until 11am. Some offer a free shuttle for the first 2 or 4 passengers, then a per person fee after that. The ones I looked at were around $10/day (give or take), plus taxes & fees.

 

Here's the Google Maps link. Click on each one to bring up their contact & website info. You might have to zoom in/out once to get it to show the garage inside the port: https://goo.gl/maps/T64sZN95Xrz

 

We'll be staying in Miami the night before so I haven't decided if we'll park near the port or at a hotel that offers cruiser parking. The problem with hotel parking, we'll be a group of 8 and it'll be difficult to get everyone back to the hotel, so a couple of us would more than likely have to take a taxi/uber back to get the cars while the others waited at the terminal.

I reserved some parking to what I thought was the pier, website was miamiportparking.com, but it appears this isn't at the pier and is a short shuttle ride, approximately 10 minutes away, and is located at 8300 NW 7th Avenue in Miami. Has anyone parked at this location? It looks like it's called JetPort Park and Ride Center

We'll be driving to Miami next June and I've been researching similar arrangements. Someone in another thread mentioned that JetPort place, so I had a look. They mention that you have to leave your keys with them, so I assumed that meant they park & retrieve the cars themselves. They have a Google Map embedded on their website to show their location. I discovered why they park the cars, not the owners. Switch over to satellite view on that map and you'll see this...

 

 

I don't know about anyone else, but that freaks me out. I don't see how they avoid dents & dings after cramming them in there like that. And what if your car is way in the back? I assume that means you wait until all of the other cruisers ahead of you pick their cars up first.

 

For the drive down, going through Atlanta was horrible so if you can find an alternate route, you won't regret it. It took us over 2 hours just to get through. I never want to drive through there again.

Atlanta is always a nightmare! Even if you take the I-285 bypass around the city.

Many people think that cruises are for "the rich." I know we've gotten that reaction and we only have one cruise under our belt (with another on the way). We're far from rich, just a normal family on a strict budget. I don't fault anyone for thinking that, though. A lot of people who haven't looked into it don't think about how all-inclusive cruising really is. They take vacations that include hotels, food, entertainment, travel expenses, etc. and don't realize they're spending just as much, or more, than some cruises. Technically, you can buy your tickets and not have to spend another dime once on board. Is it the cheapest vacation around? No, we've taken cheaper ones and still had a great time because we're into a lot of things that can be done for next to nothing or even free. But with a little planning and saving, a cruise is very doable for a lot of families. So don't be too hard on them for making the comments they do. If the reason behind their reaction is because they think it's too rich for their blood, educate them a little. If all else fails and they're just jealous, stop telling them about your cruises. Then you won't have to worry so much.

 

 

Or how you were strolling down the beach and tripped over a piece of wood on one of your first cruises, you dug it up and it was filled with gold doubloons and now you travel on the cruise ship trying to find the tribe this gold belongs to in order to give them back the gold and remove the curse. (This way if they ask you for some you can say I wouldn't wish this curse upon you)

 

Haha I might steal that

You might as well steal it, they stole it from a movie. ;) In case you're wondering, it's from "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl."

They blocked the link so let me send it in pieces. Put it together in your browser. www.***********/cruise-ship-webcams

 

www. cruising.me/ cruise-ship-webcams

Small correction. That should be cruisin .me/ (no "g" on cruisin).

Hi there

 

Here is an idea for all of the people that really think that almost everybody is trying to steal their valuables.

 

This is how it works. So, as someone else suggested just put the card somewhere innocuous, something like your sock drawer, or with your dirty cloths. Now to throw them off, leave about a half dozen old gift cards, library cards, anything with a magnetic strip, just lying around. This will confuse them. That's just the start, what will really get them though...because you have thought this through, don't leave anything valuable in your safe. Lock it in your suitcase. They will never figure that one out. :D

 

I just wonder who is it that you think is going to be going through your cabin like this. Just reading this site, you will see many people who leave valuables out in the open and have never had a problem. Maybe some are just overthinking this.

 

hope this helps

have a great cruise

Ah yes, because anyone who uses the safe must be foolish and paranoid, right? I get that you think you're being funny and cute, but in the end, you just come off as pompous. Using the safe doesn't mean that we think everyone is "trying to steal our valuables," as you put it. It is merely a precautionary measure. Do you have a safe in your home? If so, why, do you believe everybody is trying to steal your valuables? Do you lock your doors? Lock your car? It doesn't matter if only one valuable item had ever been stolen in the history of cruising, that's enough for anyone to want to secure their belongings, and justifiably so.

As far as people on this forum sharing their experiences with Hub chat, I've seen more negative than positive regarding reliability. That's a shame because we had high hopes for it. I'll definitely still use it for the free features, but was eager to try the chat. Last year the three of us bought the Social plan and communicated via iMessage. It worked well and, most of the time, was very reliable throughout most of the ship. Other than communicating with one another, we don't really need internet, so had hoped to save some money by using Hub chat. Regardless of the fact that it's only $5/device, I don't want to waste that money if it's not going to work well and we end up getting the Social plan anyway to communicate. We're going with another family of 5 on our next cruise and definitely want to be able to keep in touch with the group. We like to keep in mind that they have two more people than we do, so everything will be a bit more expensive for them, including internet plans. Hub chat would save them money, too.

I guess they got it fixed, but there was a pretty bad leak over the weekend. It was leaking into the hallway below it. I don't think that was the "water works" they were going for.

 

Check out this thread for pictures: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2478623

1. The WiFi prices are per device right?

2. Is there a free Internet Cafe on board for checking email?

3. I know the Hub app has private messaging for $5 (per device, entire cruise), but doesn't have a free group chat as well?

 

Thanks!

1. Be sure to check the internet plan prices on day one. You can get a discount if you purchase a plan on day one for the entire cruise.

 

3. You have to pay the $5 per device to use the chat feature at all, but it's to my understanding that once you do, you can message a single person or multiple people at the same time (as long as they purchased chat too).

Well, that is water works. Just not what they had in mind. :o

I would be shocked to learn that Hub chat went through either Apple or Google. I believe the point of the $5 per device per cruise level of service is to provide access to resources that are served from aboard the ship itself.

I don't think they meant Hub chat went through Apple/Google servers. I think they were referring to Apple's proprietary messaging (aka iMessages). Those do go through Apple's servers. I think they were implying that the unreliable nature of Hub chat may have something to do with its inability to use Push Notifications.

:rolleyes: Eat a snickers bar.

Four simple words. Put them together and they become the funniest post I read today. Thank you. :D

 

I just don't understand the line of thought that goes, "Attacking Ray is a good thing! It will prevent future pollution!" In my experience as an educator, attacks do little to encourage positive behavior change.

I'm blown away by how quick people here are to judge Ray on ONE action. How many of us would want to be judged by a single action?

Welcome to the internet.

 

I guarantee all of the "holier than thou" folks attacking Ray have contributed to pollution in some form. There's a very good chance they all drive. Maybe tossed a piece of trash on the ground. If any of them are smokers, can they honestly say they've always disposed of their cigarette butts in a proper receptacle? But by all means, let's keep attacking Ray, some guy none of you know, for one small thing he did 3 years ago.

I would love to know if this works for the kids club, if they can message me through the app. Trying to figure out for our next cruise (first carnival)

I've seen a few people ask this around the forum, but haven't seen anyone answer yet. I don't think they do. But it would actually be a nice feature and, by the sounds of it, probably wouldn't be that hard to do. Each person who uses the chat gets a code to enter, so they could have parents register that code with the club for the person in charge of activities. But if receiving messages is as hit & miss as some have experienced, that could present a problem. Still a good idea, in my opinion.

Only time our steward ever touched anything left out was when he put my sunglasses on our towel critter. :D But I get it, the safe offers peace of mind. I believe the stewards to be trustworthy, but that doesn't mean we'll leave valuables out.

 

For those suggesting to just use our S&S card because we carry it around with us anyway, keep in mind that the OP's intent for this thread was to ask where people hide their cards so others in the cabin can use it when we're not around.

Wow thanks for putting that together. I will give it a go next time I book a cruise.

 

Thank you for your help. I had a few questions and you were able to answer them with your tutorial. I am willing to try new things but sometimes I get stuck along the way and have to bail and try again after research. I just couldn't find anything on this new system so I was glad to see your post.

Thank you, and you're quite welcome. I'm glad it helps. There's parts of the new format that could use some tweaking...things that aren't all that obvious when you're trying to make changes to a booking. All in all, I don't think it's terrible, just takes getting used to.

Top job, thanks for sharing. Great resource.

You're welcome, and thank you.

 

Don't necessarily like plugging my own thread like that, but I keep seeing people talk about having trouble navigating the new format, so I just want to help. When they do make it permanent, which I'm sure they will eventually, there's going to be a lot of unhappy folks, so I thought maybe something like that could ease 'em into it.

We sailed on and used the chat feature on the Valor in September. It did not work well for us. We would receive the other's texts only about a third of the time. They refunded our $5 charges on the 3rd day of the 8-day cruise and told us to continue using the feature. When it did work, it was great, but it really never got any better than that. I say pay the $5 and use it. If it doesn't work, tell GS about it.

Experiences similar to this are what I've been hearing more than those who say it worked well. We each bought the Social plan last year just to be able to communicate via iMessage (Hub app wasn't available at the time). We really don't need an internet plan for anything else, so it'd be nice to save the money and just buy the Hub chat feature. We found that using iMessage on the Social plan was pretty reliable. Wonder why Hub chat is less so? :confused: Network congestion is typically the culprit, but the bandwidth needed for messaging is minimal. So it might boil down to the quality of a particular ship's networking equipment.

Thank you I will call, I did not know if I was missing something. The site changed recently and it's hard to find some simple things now.

If you're having trouble getting the hang of the new site format, have a look at my walkthrough to see if it helps at all. :)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2476924

Also, were you able to chat individually with specific people, or only to the group?

I was told by another forum user just the other day that it gives you the option to chat with a single person or multiple people at the same time. I'm hoping that's true because it would be perfect for our group of 8 on our next cruise, but it'd also be nice to message individuals too. That's the only time I've been told it does both so I'm hoping others can corroborate.

Well I know if I see someone innocently asking a repeat question, I try to get on there and answer right away before they get "flamed". It's not a big deal and it takes a long time to search for things on here. It's not as easy as it sounds and sometimes you have to go through tons of answers to find the right one. I say just chill and pass over the question if you don't want to answer it.

Thank you. I agree wholeheartedly. I've been reading about everyone getting the AARP discounted cards and was finally ready to try it myself, but had a couple questions. After seeing how bent out of shape people were getting in this thread, I asked in another, smaller thread that still had current posts. No complaints over there, just helpful people who answered my questions without any of the snarky comments.

 

No, it's not because I'm too lazy to read a large thread. I've read plenty of them to get more information. It's just easier to ask instead of digging through a 100+ page thread or trying to use thread search for an answer to a question that isn't easily searchable. If you don't want to answer a repeat question, instead of attacking them for asking it, just pass it over. I think it's much worse to treat people like that than it is to ask a question that's already been answered. But such is the ways of internet forums. :rolleyes:

When you get the social package, it is per device, or per room? If I pay the $25 for the week, can both my husband and I use it to post pictures, etc? Could I use my laptop to upload things? Or do you pay $25 per device?

The fee for internet plans are per device. But you can log out of one device and log into the same plan with another. Using two at the same time means purchasing two plans.

Just wrap it up in your dirty underwear. After a long, hot day of activities, if anyone wants to dig the card out of there, they probably deserve it. ;p

 

 

I think posting your safe card hiding spots on a public forum is a GREAT idea! No one should be able to find it after reading this thread!

Because someone's going to figure out who we are from our forum username, figure out which cruise we're on, just happen to be on the same cruise or book the same cruise after they find out where we hide our cards, figure out which cabin we're staying in, then somehow get into said cabin.

 

 

Your cabin stewards are the only ones who go inside your room on a regular basis and I'm sure if they really wanted to find a hidden card, they don't need this forum to figure out all of the usual hiding spots. And if something does end up stolen, the list of probable suspects is a very short one.

I don't mind change, but I feel that if I need a tutorial to figure the site out, then it has issues.

I agree with that. I'm a pretty tech savvy guy and it took me a couple go-rounds to figure out how to make a couple of the changes. For one, the option to change the promotional deal (e.g. Early Saver, etc.) is a tiny little link that's easy to miss. It could certainly be a bit more user friendly. With that said, I feel like once you figure out where everything is, it's really not all that bad.

The Serenity-like areas along the sides of Deck 10 on Conquest might have umbrellas; they definitely have an overhang which shades part of the deck. I wish I'd taken photos of those areas back in October, since there's been some interest in it since then.

No umbrellas in that area when we were there last June. All of the nice patio furniture was underneath the overhang, then they had the usual lounge chairs in the sun.

 

I agree. I was on Conquest in the fall and found it easier to find quiet places to hang out than on usual ships with Serenity. I hope some of those spots will still be available.

I wonder if there's a bit of a psychological factor at play. As we've been talking about, the serenity-like area on Conquest was always quiet and fairly empty our entire cruise. Yet others talk about how crowded the actual Serenity decks usually are. So maybe it's the fact that Serenity is officially off-limits to kids, a "special" area if you will, so everyone subconsciously thinks they need to be there. **Disclaimer: I'm not a real psychologist...I just play one on the internet.**

Just used them last week.

Miamiportparking.com

 

The location was JetPort Park & Ride Center - Miami location.

 

Safe secure parking $9 a day (compared to $20 at port) Park and shuttle takes you directly to boarding areas. The shuttle ride was about 10 minutes in traffic away.

Driver was waiting when we arrived back in Miami.

I did a mock reservation for that one and it came out to the same price, give or take a few bucks, as a few others I found near the port. Plus we'll have a group of 8 and they charge an extra $5/person beyond 4 people.

 

 

What was your experience with them? Did you notice any new dents or dings on your car? The reason I ask is because I just looked at the satellite view of their location on the map they embedded to their own website and saw this...

 

 

Holy cow!! Now I know why they say you have to leave your car keys with them, obviously they park the cars themselves. There's no way they can avoid dents & dings parking them like this. At least on some of them. And if your vehicle is blocked in, I assume you have to wait while they clear out cars as cruisers pick theirs up.