NovaCath

It's a charter cruise departing on Oct. 25th. The Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise is doing their October 2020 cruise on the Eurodam this year as well as their January 2021 cruise.   They have been doing their October cruise from the West Coast for several years but are changing it up this year.

On our cruise, only one of the post-cruise excursions ran.  We had booked one that got cancelled and then signed up for the one that ran. It for flights after 2:30 pm from Fort Lauderdale. (The bus went to the Miami airport after Fort Lauderdale airport.) The tour was a trip to a park in the Everglades. We took an air boat ride and they had a very small zoo and they had some alligators in a caged area.  We got luggage tags with the  tour tickets to put on our bags that we wanted collected. We had to meet in one of the bar areas by 8:30 am and check in with a Celebrity staff person.  Shortly after 8:30 am, the Celebrity staff person took us down as a group to collect our bags. We went down a different way to get our bags then everyone else.  After our group got their bags, the staff person then had us get in line for customs/immigration, which wasn't that long and moved quickly.   We met that same staff person outside and then walked as a group to the bus. It was a short walk.  People from the tour company then took over. We had to tell them which airport and which airline as we handed in our bags to be stored in the bottom of the bus. Our bus was fairly full.  Only 2 people were going to the Miami airport and the rest of us were going to the Fort Lauderdale airport after the tour.  There were people from two different cruises on the tour.  It took a bit before we left the port. We got to the park at around 10:15 am.  We could leave items on the bus as the driver stayed with the bus.    After the boat ride and the other two parts of the tour, we had to be back at the bus by 11:50 am and we left the park for the airport before noon.  We got to Fort Lauderdale airport about 12:30 pm. The bus made three stops at the airport.  The tour guide announced which stops were for which airlines.  Our stop wasn't right in front of any of the airline entrances but it wasn't that far of a walk.  Our flight was scheduled for 5:00 pm so we were at the airport, checked in, and through security with hours to spare.  We thought the tour was OK, but we were glad to have done it so we did not have to sit at the airport for even more hours.

I am on the 2019 Blue Note at Sea cruise on the Infinity, which is run by the same company as the Smooth Jazz cruise.  A recent email from ECP said that the 2020 Blue Note at Sea cruise will be Jan. 25-Feb. 1, 2020 and the 2020 Jazz Cruise will be Feb. 1-8, 2020.  The email did not give the name of the ship that those cruises will be on, but ECP has used the same ship for the two Smooth Jazz and these two cruises this year and in 2019.   I agree that prices are higher but great entertainment. We are only going because ECP had  a July 4th promo rate that was substantial cheaper.

We were also booked on the Gem Canada/New England. Had chosen it because it was round trip New York, left out of Manhattan so would be convenient to take Amtrak, and it went further into Canada. We decided to not take one of the rescheduled Gem cruises as getting back from Quebec City would be more expensive and no direct flights to where we live. Was not thrilled that the hours to call for rebooking did not include the weekend so I had to call while at work. Was put on hold for a bit before could talk to a rep. We are going to take one of the Canada/New England cruises on the Escape. Have not been on a ship that big so hope it goes OK as I have read many reviews of the good/bad of the Escape before deciding to rebook, (Had researched other cruise lines but either more expensive, were also one way, or left out of Brooklyn.) I had looked at the Escape deck plans before calling which was a good thing as the rep picked the room based upon the general requirements that I gave to her about category and general location. I was also able to look online at the deck plan while talking to her so was OK with the room location after she picked it. While we got a $25 onboard credit for the rebooking, we lost the promos that we had for the Gem and had to go with the current promos for the Escape. We rebooked Amtrak. There was no rebooking fee but the it was more expensive because of the change in the dates and Amtrak changed its senior rate policy since we had booked so I was no longer eligible for the senior rate. We also changed the hotel for the night before. My husband used points for the original booking so we hope they get restored. Lesson learned to not book travel/hotel to closer in time to departure date.