navybankerteacher

Being “near the port” is good - but it seems a shame , if you are going to get to Baltimore fairly early, to not see some of what make Baltimore worth visiting - and not just hunker down “near the port” — you are likely to need some sort of transport on embarkation day anyway.

The point is: people who complain about having to make a significant deposit (perhaps because they like to make faux bookings to keep options option) just make things difficult for others- by holding cabins off the market or falsely creating demand which is not there - tending to force prices up. I have little sympathy.

You are discussing transportation of someone coming from Rhode Island —which means at least half of his trip will have to be on Amtrak — while coming into NYC on MetroNorth May be preferable, you have to crank in the hassle/ time involved in changing, either in New Haven or Stamford.

Same here - we visit family in England at least every other year and coming back on QM2 (which drops us off less than an hour from home) is not only a good way to spend a week, it is less expensive than all but the most dismal of air flights.

Oh, I don’t know — if that “any day on land” was in Rome in September, Paris in May, or St. Barth’s in February - and that “any day at sea” was on an NCL 3 day Spring break trip to the Bahamas, I think a lot of us might differ.

Agree - “cancel for any reason” coverage is expensive. So we have to try to make an informed guess: do we really want to go on a particular sailing , and do we think prices are likely to go up in coming months? We essentially see ourselves as doing one of two types of cruise: one we specifically want - which we will likely book well in advance, paying whatever is necessary to secure the cabin we want, or a last minute sailing which catches our eye - fares are acceptable, other travel arrangements are workable - and we hit the “go” button all within a week or so of sailing.

The real cost to you of a $900 deposit for a cruise a year in the future is perhaps $45 (assuming 5% lost interest income) — not that much for securing a sure thing. Of course if you are not serious, you are looking at a potential $900 cost—- but that is an offer the line only makes to serious bookers.

While you might save a little on the train fare, changing from Amtrak to MetroNorth at Stamford strikes me as more hassle than it could possibly be worth. Taxi fare (probably the best option in Manhattan) to MCT from either train station is likely to be pretty similar.

Is there really that much difference in the Caribbean between May and August - or any other two months? The weather is hardly my primary reason for not wanting to cruise in the Caribbean - any time of year.

If she won’t fit under the seat, she certainly won’t fit in the overhead — so just where, other than cargo (think crate), do you see as an option? I think you will find it difficult to identify a cruise line going from mainland US to Hawaii which welcomes dogs (unless, perhaps, you identify her as a service animal) — and in any event it is tough to find one way passage on ships between U S ports.

Then there are people who will cut short a day ashore to go back to the ship for lunch - because they “…had already paid for it…”.

In order: Istanbul, Quebec, St. George (since it afforded opportunity for dinner at Tom Moore’s Tavern).

Disney does not strike me as the line which put others in the shade - the size and the toon characters are not that endearing - now, Azamara and Oceania do then to spoil things for the run of the mill mega-ships of the mass market lines.

Our calmest T/A was on the small Prinsendam (about 650 pax) and the roughest patch was in the Med - just south of the mouth of the Rhône - where the Mistral can really kick things up, and we bounced a fair amount. Size of ship matters a bit - but sea conditions (which really vary) are what matters — a QM2 crossing from Southampton to New York was like glass all the way)

I suppose reducing Lido seating (relative to passenger load) is just one more way the mass market lines “shave” the product to hold down fares. I do not recall the problem in cruises between 1990 and, perhaps, 2005 - when the popularity of cruising really started to take off - and 2,000+/- passenger ships were redesignated from “large” to “small”.

Typical New York non-committal answer. But if you get there by mid-morning (11:00 AM or so) there will be ample space as debarking passengers will be leaving with their cars and people boarding with you will be coming in until mid-afternoon. I do not think anyone can give you an iron clad guarantee, but I have never heard of them running out of space and have seen plenty of space there on several occasions as ships I was on were sailing.

Hilton Garden Inn, 6 Water Street and Holiday Inn Express 120 Water Street are both short walks from pier 11 for the ferry across to right next to Brooklyn Cruise Terminal --- near interesting sites in Wall Street area, plenty of good restaurants.

Of course if there is a shortage of empty tables, it is essential to secure a table BEFORE selecting your food -- otherwise you can be standing around holding a tray full of food waiting for an opening. It used to work to leave a book on the table and tip the chair to reserve it while you select your food, but recently others have just taken the table -- so if you are with someone, one of you needs to guard the table while the other picks food.

Of course a Filipino crew member is not very likely to want to spend much of his tip income in Barcelona. He is on the ship primarily to be able to bring as much usable cash as possible back to Cebu, Mindanao or wherever — and the US$ still outranks the euro in Manila.

Logically, the currency you paid for your cruise— likely US $, in use on the ship (most likely US$ or euro). If you want to get fancy, that of the home countries of the bulk of the crew - perhaps Indonesian Rupiah or Philippine Peso - so they might be able to bring it home without exchange costs/complications.

That’s very close to what we are paying for our concierge balcony Sept. sailing to Bermuda on Oceania - stopping at St. George and Hamilton rather than that overcrowded, out-of-the-way tourist trap at Dockyard

Good idea - get them BEFORE you need them, and make sure they will be available WHEN you need them?

Nassau ??????????"🤮

Requesting permission of the line (who might be aware of serious obstacles) to change the terms of passage is hardly comparable to ”…errant school children asking teacher if they can go pee.” It is, rather, a reasonable approach to what might be a complicated situation created by last minute change of plans. And it is important to recognize the fact that: “There may be an extra cost and in some limited circumstances the cruise line may not be able to facilitate the request”. That is why it is recommended that passengers give the line as much notice as possible of wishes to change debarkation port.

It does, however, possibly depend upon certain variables: your citizenship, the country(s) in which the final port and the “one port early” are located, whether there is the necessary immigration facility in the port, etc. Yes, you usually can - but not always - and just what is wrong with asking permission? You are, in fact, changing the terms of your agreement with the cruise line, and there just might be some conditions whose implications fall outside of your realm of expertise.