MisterBill99

my problem was the newark bay bridge leaving the pier.....allow 30 extra minutes....you can always hit dunkin donuts in the shopping center near the pier.....

 

sent from my ellipsis..

Delays leaving I don't care about. We can be among the first off since we are in Aqua, and we may have something to go to in NJ that morning so we may not be in that much of a rush.

 

 

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So what's the current status of construction heading from the NJTP to the pier (not the Bayonne Bridge)? I'm heading there on Sunday morning. Will I need to leave early? I haven't heard anything about it on the news, but I'm in Westchester. I keep reading comments about it taking an hour to get to the pier because of construction. Is it the Pulaski Skyway that is involved? Are they closing extra lanes on Sundays?

I have also seen that there was a special deal for residents of NY and NJ to park free at the port as a promo.

Interesting.. it was apparently last April that they offered it for a 2 week period.

I doubt that will ever happen. If the business is set up legitimately, they really can't make any serious money. Parking is expensive in any area close to NYC. Four years ago I paid $20 to park in Jersey City for five hours. The daily rate was much higher. $19 to parked in a highly secured area that is covered by insurance is a good deal. I know the out of towners think it's high, but it's really not out of line for the general area.

It's much higher than off-airport parking at EWR, isn't it? Why shouldn't they be able to do it as cheap? Is it a matter of volume? Is the rent that much higher in Bayonne? I can understand parking being expensive in Jersey City, you have a lot of offices and it's right across the river from Manhattan.

 

Thanks also to greatam for your detailed analysis of the situation. I guess the answer is that it cannot be done. Disappointing.

 

BTW I just found an offer for $11.99 outdoor/$12.99 indoor in Elizabeth from Park2Go. I've never seen them mentioned before.

 

http://www.park2go.com/seaport-parking?gclid=CjkKEQjwwbCcBRCxvJn9-N6dorwBEiQAVriOii0cPVccQcJz5jgHbVRFVD7CYxvzvQAZBpnOca1PeITw_wcB

No hotels in Jersey City with any kind of free parking. Cab fare from Jersey City would be about the same as cab fare from Newark Airport.

 

You're only sailing for 7 days so the pier parking is $133. I don't think you're going to find any less expensive solution that is not without risk. This is a highly urban industrialized area and you must be selective about where you choose to ditch your car.

It is too bad that no one has opened a quality alternative to pier parking. Maybe once Quantum comes in with additional passengers and the new garage opens with (presumably) higher prices someone will do it. Premier does not appear to be a fly-by-night place, they've got off-airport/pier parking at many different airports/ports but their Bayonne operation seems to be lacking.

But you probably won't be able to get it with the promotional fares, and 123 may not apply to bookings until September.

Just wanted to mention that the new 123Go doesn't apply to cruises until October.

This is a great idea. Read the terms of the policy though. They have exclusions which might include "per-existing conditions" which may invalidate the policy for your father's situation. I don't think it would invalidate it, but I'm not a lawyer, and I generally hate insurance for the way they handle things in general.

I can't say for sure, but I thought that the pre-existing condition was for your own medical conditions.

Amazing how good the customer service is before the final payment but after you make your final payment they do not want to hear from you.

How is that different than anywhere else? You'll always get better service before they have your money.

You'd think so! But I just got off a RCCL cruise to Bermuda yesterday and booked a cruise to go back next May. I guess I should have said that!

Yes. Was that under the new deployment promotion they're running? You're supposed to be able to add any offer to it, which would include 123Go. Also, I thought they always were offering 123Go for on-board bookings, so I wonder why you weren't able to get it?

I did my first "price drop" request this past week. The face quote on the class was $250 pp less on the website. I called the rep and she stated that the face quote was for A2 (and we were booked as an A1). But she said that she could re-book us as an A2 at the lower price, then ask Captain's Club to upgrade us back to A1.

That's very nice that they offered to get you upgraded for free. Did it work out?

First, you might want to mention in your title that you're talking about Cape Liberty. Then you should have posted this in the forum that talks about that port. Now, as for your answer (which I just posted in the roll call thread for my cruise, since someone else asked about parking and I can just cut and paste it here).

 

There are only two options. Park at the pier, or Premier Parking, which is nearby and shuttles you to the pier. Unfortunately, I've read too many negative comments here about Premier to consider using them.

 

Last time we cruised out of Bayonne, we parked at a new off-airport garage near Newark Airport that was offering a free shuttle to the pier and was only $8 a day. It was a great deal, especially since it was the winter and I liked the idea of an indoor garage in case it snowed while we were away. Sadly, last I heard they were no longer offering the shuttle to the pier so that is not an option.

It doesn't look like I can combine this promotion with that one, but I also see that the OBC is $200 vs the $125 I got for my Bermuda cruise (which I think was outside the "Take 2" window anyway).

 

What is my best strategy here? This promotion is only for "new bookings" but if I cancel and re-book, that's a new booking, right?

When is your cruise? Since you say Bermuda I assume it's this summer? The new 123 promo is only for cruises starting in October.

You really don't need the e-docs. Strictly speaking, you don't even need an Xpress pass, but that does speed things up at the port. The porters there will have luggage tags for you. A small inconvenience, but you and your bags will make it on board. Enjoy your cruise in aqua class!

 

I just figured it would be easier if we already had the luggage tags on the bags and didn't have to deal having to get them written up. In any event, I got email this morning saying my e-docs were ready, and sure enough they are correct this time.

 

There are a couple of sellers on Amazon who have plastic luggage tag holders that fit the Celebrity/Royal Caribbean tags perfectly. I don't know that it's worth spending $10 for them, although we do plan to be on 2 RC cruises next year and they don't mail them to you unless you're in a suite (which we're not).

We book Concierge class or Aqua class. I really like the C2 cabins on deck 12 of the S-class ships. the location alone is with the money. Walk right out to the pool or up one floor to the food. Aqua class has a nicer shower.

I guess you're a heavy sleeper (or early riser) or have never had a cabin underneath the buffet where carts come rolling out.

Just off the Solstice. No brunch offered on embarkation day for Aqua class. They did, however, offered a 3-dinner specialty dining package for $85 for Aqua guests only. I think the regular price was $99 for non-Aqua. They must be looking to lower the amount of people coming to eat in BLU for dinner.

Don't they already offer half price specialty dining the first night for AQ?

We're sailing a week from Sunday and still do not have our e-Docs. We originally received them in mid-April (and ordered and received our luggage tags), but then two weeks ago I upgraded to Aqua when the price dropped. Naturally the e-Docs went away on the website but they never got reissued. I've spoken to my TA, and she has spoken to Celebrity but nothing. I asked her again this week, and she logged into the Celebrity system and sent the link to me, but when I opened them they were still the old cabin. She's supposed to talk to Celebrity (again) to get this corrected, but I still don't have them. I have no reason to believe that she hasn't called since she's always been very responsive.

 

At this point I'm obviously not going to be able to get new luggage tags in the mail, which is unfortunate. I'm wondering if this sort of screw-up by Celebrity is common when switching cabins after the e-Docs have already been issued, or am I just lucky?

[quote name='wpgcycler']My duck in Blu on Reflection was cooked perfectly both times - pecan crusted and pomegranate glazed - and was tender with the fat layer perfectly rendered down to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch. Even though it was as tender as it should be, I would also prefer it carved into slices prior to plating.[/QUOTE]
Did they do it properly medium rare? I never managed to have the MDR serve my duck breast at the correct temp on Constellation last summer. Went thru 3 of them at dinner one night. And if you make the mistake of ordering it when it's on the lunch menu they'll tell you that it can't be cooked to order, even though the F&B Manager and Executive Chef will tell you otherwise (and I had one of them ask me for the name of the server when I told him about it; sadly I didn't remember it).

I agree that pre-sliced at dinner would be nice (and certainly the norm in restaurants) but if it's cooked properly, I can cut it myself.

We've done CC twice and would not do it again. The first time was because it seemed interesting and the cruise price had dropped (it was not past final payment). I didn't think the room perks were all that useful but we did have one of the bump balconies so that was nice. The second time was this past February and I decided to spend the extra $150pp because I wanted the extra points to get to Elite for our next cruise. Once again, not really worth it (at least the first time they brought afternoon snacks even if you forgot to fill out the form, not now), and even worse, our cabin on Silhouette was right underneath the buffet and I was woken up every morning by carts rolling around overhead. Oh, and neither time have we seen the alleged pillow menu.

 

On our cruise next week we're in Aqua because I was able to upgrade for only $80pp and I've wanted to eat at Blu for a long time.

Hope you get to see California Chrome win triple crown at Preakness !!

I think you meant Belmont.

I believe that on M-class ships, there is a grill area all the way at the back of the buffet (where waffles are at breakfast) where they will grill items to order. When we ate there on Constellation last summer, they had very thinly sliced rib steak, salmon and some other stuff. I'm not sure if they do this on S-class as well, hopefully someone can report.

 

I've always been a big fan of Celebrity sushi (we usually go before dinner) but the last couple of cruises the quality of the fresh fish (tuna/salmon) has not been as good as it had been in the past.

Although it says 6pm for blu, we found that it was open at 530 most nights. Check with the maitre'd once you're on board

Thanks, that is good to know. I thought it opened at 5:30 so I was surprised that it said 6 for the Bermuda nights.

Very interesting. May I ask are the games going to be shown just because it is for the Stanley Cup or is it because NY and whoever wins the next round to be able to play as well. It would be fantastic if you could show all the NHL games on your ships in the winter months I know my husband and a lot of other Canadian as well as American fans would be very happy with that.

I'm sure it's because it is the championship round. I don't think you can compare that to regular season games and expect those to be shown as well. Do they show regular season American football games on the ships? Those would come ahead of hockey.

 

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When we were on the Summit to Bermuda last May there were no hockey games on the TV. They did publish the results in the daily news for Canada and US. I doubt that even if NY is in the finals for the Stanly Cup they will have it on TV. My husband who is a avid hockey fan will not cruise when the Cup is being played. I have never seen them show hockey games on TV on any of our Caribbean cruises. My husband would love it if they did.

Well, I did see at least one game listed on the daily schedule in that other thread. So obviously they are able to do it this year.

 

I agree with gi_pam, we should let them know that we are interested when we board. Maybe we'll ask during the Cruise Critic Connections party so other people can voice their support.

I have to say, I'm disappointed in the offerings though. There's 2 movies, each shown once only (and while the ship is docked in Bermuda). And it seems like every second "event" is a sale on art, jewlery, spa, etc. The other "events" are mostly bands/duos playing with only a few other activites thrown in.

 

Our June 1st cruise is obviously set in stone but I think maybe I'll look around to see what works for our November cruise. If I can get something on another cruiseline I may be switching.

What else are you looking for? Are you going to tell us that the other cruise lines don't have similar sales? I don't really care about movies. I can watch those at home. If they were shown outside on a screen like Princess does, then it might be different.

Sorry, did not eat in the MDR as we were aqua... the food in BLU was super !!

 

Steve

 

 

Do you have Blu menus to post? :)