CruisinNole

There was a movable stand that says Retreat on it. We walked up to the man standing next to it and were guided to the check in area. The waiting area is a very nice large room. Refreshments are available. Great way to check in.

1 hour ago, carolyn22 said:

I checked the Cruise Connection website that Bottomfeeder mentioned earlier, and I think it’s going to work well for me. They pick up in Venice (only a few miles from my cousin’s house) and the round trip cost is only $120. So much cheaper than driving there and parking!

 

I’m wondering if the same service you’re thinking of?
 

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, and apologies to the OP for hijacking your thread!

That's it! I couldn't remember Cruise Connection. We live just south of your cousin in North Port.

16 hours ago, carolyn22 said:

 

I’m driving from Virginia and will first be visiting my cousin and his wife who live a little south of Sarasota. I actually thought about doing the one car way rental, but everything I was looking at was around $90 or so going to Fort Lauderdale. Coming back the one way rental was over $100. While it would save me a few hundred bucks, again, I’m not sure it’s worth the hassle. 
 

 

We too live a little south of Sarasota and there is an option that you might consider. That would be a cruise shuttle. Our experience was pre-Covid and I haven't a clue if the company is still in business but there was a bus that would pick passengers up in Port Charlotte (the nearest pickup for us) and drop them off at their ship. It's a longer trip because they picked up in Ft Myers and Naples also and then made the rounds of the cruise ships to drop off passengers. We used the bus after a transatlantic and were picked up around 10:00 and returned to Port Charlotte around 2:00pm. I believe there might have been a pick up in Venice as well. The price was reasonable too. Less than parking at the port. 

We've done HO/HO bus where we bought the tickets through Celebrity and we're picked up at the ship and brought back to the ship. We did the HO/HO (trolley) in Key West but I believe we got on with riders not on our ship. Not 100% sure. We only bought through the cruise line because it was cheaper. I would definitely check out the website. We were just in KW and although we weren't interested in doing the trolley, just for kicks, I checked the rates for both the trolley and a Fury catamaran excursion and both were cheaper on their respective websites. 

9 hours ago, Floridastorm said:

Is there a garage directly adjacent to or across from terminal 25? We have 1 piece of medium sized luggage each that rolls. Of course we're not as young as we once were. Approximately how far is it to the ship? Is it possible to drop your bags at the ship and then drive your car to the terminal garage? 🛳️

We dropped our 1 large and 1 medium bags off and then parked in the garage. On return, we paid a porter to take the bags to the garage. I'm a senior but a fairly fast walker and I would say that it took me 10 minutes to walk to the garage. A warning though -- it's hot even at 8am! The garage for terminal 25 is not directly across the street but back towards the entrance to the terminal area. If you look at the Port Everglades website, there's a picture of the terminal area and it will give you an estimate of the distance. 

54 minutes ago, Floridastorm said:

Booked on Celebrity Equinox embarking 9/17/22 for 9 days in the southern Caribbean. Since we live in northern Florida we'll drive to the port and park our car for the 9 days at the cruise terminal. Does anyone know which terminal # that Celebrity goes out of and especially for Equinox? (Terminals 2, 4,18,19, 21, 25, 26, 29). Using the Port Everglades Terminal Parking, instead of offsite parking, as the terminal parking is inside and only a little more per day than the sites that are outside and a couple of miles away requiring a shuttle.  I believe that all of the terminal parking, no matter which terminal #,  has direct access to the ship via an easy walk. However, I'm not sure.

 

Thank You folks for any info provided. 👍

We just returned from Equinox. We went out of #25. When you go through the security gate at the entrance to the port, they will tell you which terminal to go to. They also check your passports. We also parked in the terminal parking garage and it is a bit of a hike. Paying for parking is contact-less and the Port Everglades website recommends that you carry you parking ticket with you on the cruise and pay before you go to your car. There are machines near the elevator which are very simple to use. There were a couple of employees helping out because some of the machines weren't working.

46 minutes ago, Ashland said:

Thanks for the quick response. Wondering if all X ships do as I'll be on Eclipse.

I did post on their board...but !!!!

I'm sure that they all do but the process might be different on each ship. I suggest you tell the casino cashier that you want to transfer OBC. On Equinox, I was given a card with instructions and was able to set up the casino account and transfer OBC on one of the slots. On Constellation last year, the cashier transferred the OBC since the slots were not set up for it.

We were on the Equinox, cabin 1615, earlier this month. We had two loungers, one with a removable pad, a reclining chair and ottoman, a table and three chairs. If you would like some different balcony furniture, pass that information on to your retreat host.

16 hours ago, Ashland said:

Can cashing out non refundable OBC be done on a Celebrity ship also ?

Yes, I did that on my Equinox cruise a couple of weeks ago. 

2 hours ago, Rmyoung said:

Covid cough sounds like upper respiratory wet cough very distinctive 

Yep, pretty much what we heard.

4 hours ago, MISTER 67 said:

We were on the Equinox on the August 7th cruise, what does a Covid cough sound like, so far we haven't come down with Covid and have been on 5 cruises since Thanksgiving. We heard very little coughing during our cruise, I probably coughed more than anyone because of allergies.

We were also the June 12 cruise and the Captain on the last night said they had 2 passengers come down with Covid during the cruise, of course some could have come down with it after returning home.

On both cruises the Equinox had around 2,300 passengers and we had a great cruise both times.

We were also on the August 7th cruise. Heard some coughing but that was mainly children. I didn't contact Covid but did catch a cold. Have tested twice. Negative both times. We were told 2200 on our cruise. 

duplicate

48 minutes ago, sdnich said:

I know this has been done and have read it on a thread but can not remember the process ? Can you just go to casino and get cash from the cashier to charge to your room but not gamble it ??

No, you have to actually play the slots to cash out your OBC. I can only speak to Equinox as we just returned from a cruise on her. We had a lot of nonrefundable OBC. The process on the Equinox is to set up a casino account on one of the slots, transfer OBC to the account, play the slots and cash out. I was told that I must play 10% in order to cash out my OBC. So, I transferred $100 OBC to my casino account, played the slots until, in my case, I won a fair amount (much more than 10%), cashed out and redeemed my voucher at the cashier. I'm assuming that if you transferred $100 OBC to your casino account and lost $10, you'd be able to cash out the remaining $90. You can't transfer OBC to your casino account and immediately cash out. At the cashier, there were cards explaining how to set up your account and cash out. Apparently, some ships don't have the slots with that capability so you have to have the cashier transfer the OBC.

14 hours ago, Mississippian said:

More importantly, you can run it through the slots one time and cash out; expect a six to 10 percent loss. Or spend more time and run through it on blackjack or craps. With proper play, expect a one or two percent loss.

Or you may win. We did.

13 hours ago, Cruise Gopher said:

Interesting.  So did you try just cashing it out right away, or did you end up playing 10% worth on the slot before cashing out?

No, I knew from pre-Covid experience that you could not cash out right away. I asked a casino employee for assistance and he told me that you have to play 10% before cashing out. On Equinox, we did not have to transfer from OBC through the cashier for the slots. There was a little card at the cashier with instructions. There did not appear to be a maximum. We just transferred $100 until we got to a point that we were going to leave a small amount on the books.

We just returned from an Equinox cruise. Had lots of nonrefundable OBC so we transferred $100 at a time to our casino account. My understanding is that you have to play 10% before cashing out to prevent you from transferring OBC to your account and then cashing out immediately. 

35 minutes ago, SlightDraw said:

Are you seeking a COVID-19 test because of high transmission rates and difficulty maintaining recommended social distancing?
 

if you said no to this go back and say yes

There's also a screen that asks if you have been told by a health provider that you have certain conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease, etc. If you check one of those, you should be able to make an appointment.

We just returned from a short cruise with a large OBC.  We spent some and cashed out the rest in the casino. 

5 hours ago, FionaMG said:

 

Interesting. I wonder if I should tell my tablet... 🤔

I'm not going to tell my Lenovo tablet. Might stop working. 😉

We canceled a cruise under CWC in January, 2022. We received the refund for the canceled cruise right away, correct down to the penny. About 4 months after we canceled, we received an FCC for $98. No explanation from RCL. Our TA applied the FCC to our November, 2022 cruise. She had no idea what it was for either. 

We had a problem with smoking on the balcony next to us and cigarette butts on our veranda. I talked to the cabin attendant first and it was obvious that there wasn't much he could do. I didn't expect anything but just wanted to let him know. The next day, we walked on to the veranda and the smokers were out also. I commented to my husband that someone was smoking and that I was going in to call guest relations or security. I went back in and did call guest relations. My husband told me that immediately after I went inside, the smokers went into their cabin as well. We never had another problem.

3 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

When I have to get through and know I'm in for a long wait.   I put in my ear buds and turn the volume down.   Wish you could turn off the constant -  "Your call is valuable to us.................."

I can't remember the name of the company I called recently that gave me the option of turning off the hold message/music. It was wonderful.

4 hours ago, A Sixth? said:

My internet won’t attach to any of my printers lights etc

You might try reinstalling or updating the printer driver.

1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

Interesting that you would not do it again. Thanks

 

@OurusualbeachI'm decided no.

Every venue was very crowded. We would go from bar to bar trying to find seats. D and D+ Happy Hour was at the Entertainment Place and it reminded me of the Hunger Games. If you got there at 5:05, there were no chairs available and if you left your table to get some of the really lame munchies, you might find your chair had been stolen. It was crazy. Of course, this was before the vouchers but that might make the bars even more crowded. We understand that the cruise line wants to thank its most loyal customers but we felt like second class citizens. It's just not something I'd like to experience again.

We were on a President's cruise on Allure a few years ago. Diamonds and D+ were kicked out of the Diamond lounge. Pinnacles only. Had problems getting reservations in specialty restaurants. Patti LaBelle was headliner. The cruise fare was very good but would not do it again.