jlawrence01

One more comment. I have only used Uber once or twice. On my last trip to Dania Beach, I booked the Uber to the cruise port 24 hours early for $24. Had I waited until the morning of the cruise, it would have been $14.

Most of what we learned about cruising has been at shared tables in the MDR. There is always someone with more experience and different experiences to guide you.

That is the best (and about the only thing) to do in Bimini. We paid a driver to take us around the island and honestly, it was a complete waste of money. In hindsight, we could have rented a golf cart for less

100% agree with this. Before booking any cruise, I head over to YouTube and watch at least two or three hours of videos regarding the ship. That gives me a good feel on what to expect, both positive and negative. It has also steered me away from cruise lines that just will not meet my needs. As for the YouTube content producers, after watching several of their videos, you can generally tell which ones are reliable and which ones are blowhards The only negative is that many of the producers are being paid well by the cruise lines and can be little more than paid shills. Of course, you can get that on message boards too.

We always stay at the Microtel by Wyndham across from the Houston Space Center on NASA Parkway in Houston for $60-70 per night. It is nothing fancy but it is clean. On the morning of the cruise, we drive south on TX-146 avoiding all of the construction on I-45. It usually takes only 35 minutes and the traffic is generally light.

We have been staying at the Wyndham Garden Ft. Lauderdale - Airport and Cruise Port located on Federal Parkway in Dania Beach. They have a small restaurant on site and several in a short walking distance. There is a casino and a Publix within a 10-15 minute walk. They offer a free shuttle to and from the airport. There is a shuttle to the cruise port that I believe is $18 per person. However, you can book an Uber for as little as $14 which is a better deal.

We are arriving into Port Miami on a Sunday on a Carnival ship at 8 am on a Sunday. We are looking to book a Princess cruise out of Port Everglades on a cruise that leaves at 4 pm the same day. We are in the very preliminary stages of planing of three consecutive cruises. We are looking at a different cruise out of Port Canaveral BUT the departure is a full day later (34 hours).

We were on the Eurodam in January and reserved a guaranteed inside cabin. About a week before the cruise, we were assigned an inside cabin on deck 7, I believe. A day before we arrived, we were upgraded to an unobstructed oceanview cabin. At first, we were not real excited as the cabin was pretty close to the main theatre. However, we really loved having the cabin. Our only problem was that we had to change the cabin numbers on the luggage tags that we originally printed out. We do not pay for upgrades as the only thing that we do in the cabins is sleep, shower and change, If I am going to spend time in a room, I will stay home.

What I liked on the Regal Princess was that they had two experts giving lectures throughout the cruise. The first was a lady familiar with all of the destinations of the cruise who talked about everything to do in port. This included 3rd party excursions as well as "off the beaten track" things. And excluded all of the usual ads that you usually hear about. The second was a retired foreign service diplomat who worked throughout Central America during four administrations. Both these speakers were available for questions afterwards. This sure beat the HAL cruise director reading through PowerPoint presentations.

They did last year on the Konigsdam. BBC World. It was fun the first couple of times

If you take the ferry from Washington State to BC, they are very particular about apples and soft fruit and do ask about it. The key part is being honest and straightforward as customs has heard every lie in the book.

When I lives in Detroit, I would go to Windsor, ON every week to shop. I would bring pack fresh meats, fruits and vegetables. The critical thing is to be honest and declare ALL foods you are bringing back. Occasionally, they will confiscate something you brought back. Generally, there is no fine if you declare it. One warning. The US and Canada are pretty easy to deal with. Australia is extremely aggressive and will fine you as much as A$400 for bringing in an apple you were served on Qantas.

Dozens of them leaving from Whittier and Vancouver. I have never booked one as the cruise that I booked traditionally was $54 pp per night for an Oceanview.

Be careful what you ask for. We stopped at a monkey reserve on Roatan at a cost of $12 pp. While my wife was removing everything from around her neck, she stepped too close to the cage and the monkeys grabbed two handsful of hair and pulled. I wish that I had a video You will also get a chance to hold a sloth. If I did this again, I would just take a cab to the preserve as it is pretty close to the port

My first day on the Epic was my worst day cruising. We made it from the check-in point to the room without talking with a human being. Then, we arrived at the muster drill just to have the staff scream at us like they were drill instructors. When we got to the top of the ship, my wife nudged me and pointed at a RCCL ship to us and asked if we could jump ship. What made it worse was we were a week removed from a cruise on the Celebrity Millennium where the service was unmatched.

That might be true in Canada but that is NOT what I have found in the US. I have not used FBC or CCL's version as it is so easy to find discounts through frequent flyer programs or discounted gift cards (via Costco or Kroger's). And Southwest Airlines 2 free bags and generous cancellation policies make the cruise line programs unattractive.

They may be filling up ships but there have been a lot of great deals out there. I booked a 14 day Alaskan cruise oceanview on the NA for $760 plus taxes and port fees which meets my under $100 pp per night including fare, taxes and fees, gratuities, less OBC. Six months out seems to be the sweet spot.

We have found that booking through flight by Celebrity, we can save as much as 20-20% over booking our own. However, that saving is easily offset by baggage and change fees. So, we are like you and prefer to fly Southwest Airlines. Generally, cruises are the second week of a four week trip so we hit the port 2-3 days early so flight cancellations are not an issue for us.

It takes all of 10 minutes. We proceed straight to the room, watch the ten minute video, head to the muster station, talk to the staff there who will explain and answer any questions, and head to lunch. I was on my first and last Norwegian cruise on the Epic when they were doing the muster drill the old way. The process took 90 minutes and I thought we were going to experience Mutiny on the Epic. Two cruises - Celebrity Millennium and Norwegian Epic - and never a more stark contrast of efficiency and professionalism.

I think that you will meet all officers if you spend the evening in the Lido.

I have been on eight cruises on seven different lines ... And my next five cruises are on four different lines. I have been on HAL twice - Konigsdam and Eurodam. At this point, it is difficult to evaluate which line I prefer as each ship is significantly different. Konigsdam had great entertainment but the service did not match up to Celebrity or Princess. Eurodam had great service but lacked the entertainment options. If I had to listen to the cruise director delivering another canned PowerPoint presentation, I was going to scream Personally, I liked the Regal Princess a lot. I thought that the entertainment was great and all of the lectures given by third parties were excellent. I thought that the food was generally fairly equivalent except for the beef entrees which were not great on Princess. I liked the buffet a lot better on the Regal. For the record, I am booked on the Nieuw Amsterdam and the Regal Princess on future cruises.

I can't wait to try although honestly, my last two bookings were cheaper to book without stand by.

OAs of June 21, some quotes on the major cruise TAs include fees on their site while others do not. For me, I have a small spreadsheet: +Cruise fare + Taxes and fees + Gratuities - OBC credits I want to know the per day price before booking.

I think that is a mistake. I have created a separate e-mail that I use for ALL promotional materials. Most of it is deleted but some of the stuff is critical. For example, I just received a nearly free deal from Carnival's casino club even though I have not cruised them since 2019. Glad I did not delete that one.

I always wait until I am on the ship and apply it at the customer service desk around 1am on the second or third night. The customer service reps are so bored that they are happy to see me.