british betty

On our recent cruise from FLL, we arrived in Miami from the UK, they didn’t take our declaration form or stamp our passports. When we got off the cruise, the agent stopped and questioned my DP as his passport is new with no stamps at all. He said that it hadn’t been recorded that he’d even come into the US,  we had to show other documents and he wasn’t particularly friendly. He said that the agents on our arrival hadn’t done their job properly.  We just shrugged our shoulders, smiled (fairly) sweetly and the guy eventually let us through 😅

Forgive me if there are already pics on here but we took some pics of Edge whilst we were docked alongside her recently, which may be of interest to some of you.

We were originally booked on the 3 day trip on 1st December but changed to a 9 day on Silhouette then a 14 day on Holland America , greedy I know 😊, but it worked for us. 

Thanks CherryG, we’ll be on the NA in a Signature Suite which is yet to be assigned in just over 2 weeks. If you took a pic of the balcony I’d really appreciate a look please 😊

We have been on two TA crossings, both  from Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona, one on Celebrity Reflection and one on Oceania Riviera which is a smaller ship. Our crossing on the Reflection was bordering on amazing. The Captain would do his midday announcement and said that he basically had nothing to say, continuous glass-like seas, beautiful blue sky, warm temperatures. Not even a ripple to report let alone waves. The following year, at exactly the same time of year it was a completely different story. We had to skirt the storm in the Atlantic and had to miss the stop in the Azores. The ship was rocking and rolling and although only has approximately 1200 pax, handled the seas well. It certainly made for some interesting video shots. 

Anyway, I suppose the message in this is that, as others have said before, you can never be certain of what Mother Nature has in store, so be prepared to be “flexible” 

1 hour ago, catl331 said:

If anything, I think it would be the other way around. If they allocate a cabin to someone on the first 7-day, that takes the cabin out cf contention for any 14-day bookings. They could conceivably have no cabins left for 14-days after the 7's are done.

I actually thought of that after I posted.  The anticipation is bordering on the need for stronger blood pressure meds.. 🤪

It’s madness, there may well be block bookings or something that have taken up the balcony cabins. I expect there are people who will say it’s warranted, but it’s way out of my league unfortunately. 

Goodness me ! Have you seen the prices ?

I was thinking of taking my DP away for his 70th birthday, I didn’t think I’d have to sell half of my house to do it ! 

55 minutes ago, gdy0354 said:

Oosterdam

7 Day Caribbean November 24th

 

Thanks!  We have a gty on a 14 day departing 9 December . I wonder if  they’ll allocate the Gty’s for the 7 day cruises first 🤔 .  Our cruise has been sold as a 14 day and also 2x 7 day cruises 

On 11/13/2018 at 1:11 PM, boards said:

We got our assignment one week before the cruise departed, but it turned out to be worth the wait.

1 hour ago, gdy0354 said:

Just got our cabin # 10 days before our cruise

next week. 

Can I ask the length of the cruises that you are taking please ? 

On 11/13/2018 at 1:10 AM, capriccio said:

I would suggest taking the free parking shuttle to the midport garage and walking across the street to terminal 26.  The other alternative is to convince a taxi driver to take you.  I think there is a $10 minimum fare.

On 11/13/2018 at 3:13 AM, Daisyloo said:

If it were me, I would ask for the latest disembarkation off your first ship and take a taxi to the second ship.  Cab driver might be a bit annoyed so I would make sure you tip him a decent amount.  That is how we did it when we did a B2B on a HAL ship and a Princess ship. 

 

Thanks for the advice. I think we’ll try a cab as it seems to be the least amount of hassle. 

Thanks for the detail Capriccio but we are arriving on Celebrity Silhouette at terminal 29 and then getting on HAL Nieuw Amsterdam which will be at terminal 26, so there’s no parking involved. We just need to get from 29 to 26 , two adults and four suitcases , the easiest way possible.

46 minutes ago, capriccio said:

Terminal 29 is out of the way with no nearby parking so park at the midport garage and take the shuttle to/from terminal 29. You can call Port Everglades to confirm the location of the shuttle stop (954- 523-34040). Terminal 26 is across the street from the midport garage.

https://assets.simpleviewcms.com/simpleview/image/upload/v1/clients/porteverglades/Port_Everglades_Map_REVISED_November_30_2016_bae57d31-04c5-41d1-b193-a4bf242d9293.pdf

Have just found out one is terminal 29  and the other is 26. 

On 10/21/2018 at 6:32 PM, Daisyloo said:

Possibly.  It will depend on what pier the ships are at.

On 10/21/2018 at 6:09 PM, british betty said:

We’ll be  getting  off of Celebrity Silhouette and getting straight on the HA Nieuw Amsterdam in December. Does anyone have any idea if that might be walkable ?

1 hour ago, Essiesmom said:

You can actually loiter onboard until around 1000.  When they are calling 'last call'.  Getting off and collecting your luggage will occupy enough time, plus doing the transfer, that you will be able to check in when you get to the terminal.  EM

We’ve always had a flight to catch so have never loitered before, so the “last call “ sounds good , thank you !

23 minutes ago, Pia1913 said:

Since you mentioned no date, I'll assume you might mean Nov. 11th.  Thus far Celebrity ship is not showing, but Nieuw Amsterdam will be at #19.  Koningsdam will be at #26.

It’s December 9th

We will be getting off a Celebrity ship as late as possible, which will probably be about 9am in FLL, hopefully at Pier 25 and getting on to Nieuw Amsterdam which hopefully will be at Pier 26.

Does anyone know how early we might be able to check in or will we have to loiter in the shadows for a while?

10 hours ago, kazu said:

 

HAL allocates rooms to the different segments and can move some around depending on how different segments are selling pre-cruise.

 

This is not unusual at all and something that HAL (or their computer) knows how to do.

 

If you are booked on the 14 day, then you will be assigned the same cabin for the entire cruise. 😄

 

 

Thanks, that’s what I was thinking/ hoping 🤞 

9 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

For a real answer, go to the port schedule:

 

https://pevvesseltraffic.broward.org/webx/#

 

Docks are usually posted a week in advance.  If you get a Port Everglades app I think berth assignments come about 30 days in advance.

Rou

Excellent! I’ve just downloaded the app and you’re right, it lists all of the ships in port on each date and terminal assignments are available from 30 days.

Thank you ! 

3 minutes ago, Happily@Sea said:

 

 

Most times #26, at times 21, 19 or 4 - in that order.

Thank you 👍🏻

Just stepping in here briefly, can anyone advise which terminal NA uses in FLL please ?

We are booked from 9th to 23rd on a 14 day cruise. It’s actually 2 seven day cruises that they sell as a 14 day. There’s a 14day from 2-16 there’s a seven day from 9-16, there’s a 7 day from 16-23 which means that the 4 cruises are all taken into consideration when they allocate the gty staterooms. ( I think ); 🤔

We’ll be  getting  off of Celebrity Silhouette and getting straight on the HA Nieuw Amsterdam in December. Does anyone have any idea if that might be walkable ?

I’ve just realised that to get our 14 night reservation for an SY GTY,  HA has to consider the bookings on 4 cruises.

Isn’t that creating an awful lot of work or am I missing something?  ( apart from knowing my stateroom  number yet on my up and coming cruise) 😂

What might be the chance of an upgrade to Neptune if we’ve booked an SS GTY on a 14 day cruise ? 🤔🤔

We have been watching the prices on a Silhouette cruise and they are now offering “guarantee “ cabins at a higher price than the highest category in each grade. There are still lots of cabins available in each category so why would anyone pay more for celebrity to choose their cabin rather than choose their own ? I’m confused 🤷*

We are planning to purchase skip the line timed entrance tickets to The Sagrada Familia...will getting a taxi from the port be a problem with 4 ships in at the same time? When would be the best time to go?

No idea on best time for you but we have been to Barcelona quite a few times in recent years and there is always a regular stream of taxis going backwards and forwards at the port. They are plentiful and reasonably priced.

Thank you so much for the detailed responses.

I think we might be jumping ship from Oosterdam to Niew Amsterdam but we’ll certainly stick with the Signature Suite guarantee. We’ve been on ships that have fully stocked free mini bar and left the cruise without touching any of it so unfortunately they won’t be making any money from us on that score !

We do spend time in our room so I love the extra space and a larger balcony if at all possible to watch the sea from.

Thanks again