cruising grandma

I sent in my renewal July 5, and received my passport August 5. Not expedited. They had told me at the PO, it would take 2-3 months.

3 hours ago, Fatfish said:

I'm booked on Jet Blue from San Juan to Tampa at 11:18 am...I'll find out..

Hi, Jeff. Noticed you had checked my profile. 

Wanted to let you and Carol know John passed away 6 months ago tomorrow from cancer. Would love to cruise with y’all again. It’s been a long time.....

I booked a gty ocean view balcony on Allure leaving Sunday, and was assigned cabin the next day. I think was booked in June. It may depend on how many cabins they have left when you book.

Over 100 cruises and always tipped porters and always received luggage.....only time I know of anyone NOT receiving cruise luggage was years ago in Barcelona. As the porters were loading a huge cart full of luggage, the entire cart, luggage and all fell into the water! Dock workers quickly”fished out” all they could, but we spoke to several cruisers who never got their luggage, others who got theirs all full of salt water! Royal Caribbean cleaned the clothes, but other items were ruined.

I personally would rather tip porters and not fool with lugging luggage, but to each their own.

21 minutes ago, CruiszBug said:

 

Did they book the drink package for that price? I thought the glitch was only for 2020 cruises? I only ask because I am on Oasis Dec 8-22 and it was not available either week in my cruise planner for that price... I checked during the hoopla. Sigh!

Not for Oasis 2019. 

18 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

So the lesson is, if you complain enough you get what you want?

I’ve heard complaints and greenbacks work magic for many cruisers.🤑😡

Yep, I heard about those. I have friends (a couple)who booked 2 solo cabins. It was cheaper doing that than getting one cabin, and they’ll receive double C& A Points. 

Then, there was the $18 a day drink package glitch for many cruises. Royal Caribbean is honoring the price.

8 hours ago, yogimax said:

How do you judge the reaction of a 13 year old?  Yes, he was glad he won.  That was more important than the reward.  Please, let's stop mixing apples and oranges.  Trivia takes 20 minutes and it's over.  This lasted from Day 2 through Day 8. 

 

By the way, this is a great event.  When we did it, the best part was the reaction of the crew who really appreciated that someone cared about them for who they were.  Many were so excited that they hunted down their friends to sign as well. 

 

See, this is part of my problem.  Because I knew the time and effort involved, I was truly disappointed with the "reward."

My husband and I did a similar “contest” on a cruise years ago. It involved even going to bars in ports for items. Like you, it was days to find all items. This was very time consuming. We won.....a coffee mug each! Learned our lesson.....

We’ve been on winning teams of Quest....took a couple hours at most....lots of laughs and we didn’t care what the prizes were. 

Like you, when you know the time and effort involved, you feel the prize should be much better.

5 hours ago, PelicanBill said:

Yup. I made a new separate post. 

Yup.  I made a new separate post.

 

 

Guess I’ll go check out the main board...so how long do those new disturbances take (generally) to get to Florida? My Allure cruise is 9/8.

I know this is all about Dorian, but has anyone noticed there’s another disturbance right off the African coast?

1 minute ago, AshleyDillo said:

 

Yes..we have met.  My mother is my +1 on this go around. 

 

It was her insistence that we fly in the night before; I would have been fine with day of.  Travel insurance always will take care of a delay or late arrival day of, but she always insists.  In this case we would have been in the Delta refund zone and been fine.  It will be good fodder for this argument in the future at least 😂

I must agree with your mom. If at all possible, I always fly in a day pre cruise.😉

Good luck to y’all!

2 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

 

Delta's offering this for Sept1-4.  My flight is Aug31..so just outside the deadline.

 

Hotel was cancellable with no penalty.  Seriously the airfare is the only out of pocket here.  Trust me I'm surveying the cruise insurance policy up and down and back and forth and have called them and they told me on the phone if I don't take my original flight there's no claim.  I have to take the original flight down and put myself up in a hotel for 4 nights until the cruise..they would cover 3 of those nights since I was originally only supposed to be staying one night.  

Do you cruise with your brother and mom? I think we’ve met.😀

3 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

The cruiseline is giving 100% credit for the cruise, so I'm made whole there. 

 

I'm just out the flight costs because if I don't take the original flight I'm the one who made the choice to incur the loss at that point.  In the eyes of the insurance company there's no reason for me not to take my original flight at this point.  If I was flying to somewhere under a hurricane warning, though, then yes that's reason enough.  If the cruise is canceled, then yes, that is reason enough.

 

 

Yup..I know what prompts the watches to be initiated.  Just wanted some armchair amateur meteorologists to chime in with opinions and speculation to make me feel better 😁 

 

All in all I'm not out a substantial amount of money for the flights but I feel like dangit I did the right thing and purchased travel insurance; I set it up to arrive the day before my cruise to account for delays -- and it's all biting me in the butt now! 😂

Have you checked with your airline? Many are allowing a flight change free if you were flying to Florida.is your hotel non refundable? Check your travel insurance policy and determine what they should cover. Mine even covered a non refundable, non changeable  three nights hotel in Waikiki I had booked on Priceline

Concerning travel insurance, read the policy. Different insurance covers differently. I purchase yearly travel insurance through Allianz and have had to submit a claim for full cruise refund on Celebrity from Honolulu to Vancouver and three nights hotel refund in Waikiki. Keep all your receipts and your trip itinerary. Delta returned my sky miles to my account and credited back the fees to my credit card.

43 minutes ago, murfturf said:

 

PS I had a Future cruise credit for several years from buying it on board, and it didn't expire. I kept forgetting to use it and finally did about 6 years later! 

 

 

Those future cruise credits bought onboard did not have expiration dates. I just used one I bought in 2013 for my next Allure cruise. However, the future cruise credit I received from a hurricane affected cruise did expire in a year. 

2 minutes ago, PelicanBill said:

I expect Port Canaveral to close sometime Sunday, be closed Monday, Tuesday and probably Wednesday.  Based on current forecast.

Royal Caribbean has on their website the changes for cruises. They are showing several ships leaving Wednesday. Of course, I know these changes can be updated, depending on port conditions and closures. I recall Miami having a sailboat in the port area they had to get removed before reopening that port a couple years ago.

We have many cruise friends living all over Florida, including Port St Lucie. Hopefully, your dad won’t be in his winter trailer home next week. 

3 hours ago, Traciewatson said:

Sorry for the late response. I had to take a break from Dorian cause I was beyond upset, but then I put it into perspective that this is just a cruise that I can and will go on again, but there are those that do not even know if they will have a home in a few days. Dorian won this time, but she won’t ruin my families vacation! We are all booked and leave for Seattle in the early morning for the rest of the week. For everyone going to or in Florida please be safe. 

 

Last question, does anyone know how the

credits work? 

The future cruise credit will have a number, and $ amount and can be used toward a cruise, probably within a year. 

I’m happy for you and your family making other plans, and hope you all enjoy Seattle. My daughter’s family were there pre Alaskan cruise in June and really had a great time.

58 minutes ago, 3redheads said:

We are flying in to Fort Lauderdale next Friday and sailing out of Miami next Saturday, the 7th.  I have no idea what to expect!  

My plans(right now) are to fly into Ft Lauderdale a week from tomorrow and cruise on Allure Sunday. However, plans can change, depending on the damage in south Florida and power outages, hotels closed and airport closures etc. 

I've been through these scenarios before dealing with a hurricane cruise.(3 on Allure).

 Prayers for all in the hurricane path. Life and safety is much more important than a cruise.

7 hours ago, txfeinbergs said:

This is the "port" of Labadee. It isn't even a port at all. It is basically a sand island with literally nothing on it owned by Royal Caribbean. 

 

I personally really enjoy a port day at Labadee. You can use it as a totally free beach day, with buffet lunch included. Or you can do excursions on the world’s longest overwater zip line, or the coaster, or rent wave runners, or hike all around, or shop in the local Haitian market, or relax in a shaded hammock....there are clean restrooms, several bars for labdoozies or your favorite beverage. Music, fire dance show, hair braiding..... it can be a very relaxing day or a very busy day, whatever you decide.

41 minutes ago, niksmom630 said:

 

You’ll be boarding on my birthday, so I’ll be sending good vibes your way

Glad you like the pictures but it’s just iPhone X photos thus far. I have my Sony a6000 but haven’t uploaded anything (maybe tomorrow)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

My first hurricane Allure cruise(2012), we didn’t learn of anything until we arrived at the pre cruise hotel the Saturday afternoon in Ft Lauderdale for a Sunday cruise. We stayed there until ship came in on Tuesday. Then, two years ago I was scheduled on b2b Allure and ....flights and  hotel cancelled and first week’s cruise delayed until Wednesday....The coast guard or port authority closed port Everglades to any ships going or coming both times. FLL closed several days and hotels evacuated. 

I have ave an iPhone XR, but never thought my photos were that great! Guess I’ll have to play around with it more. My husband was the photographer of the family, but he passed away May 14. 

I’ll have a birthday toast to you 9/8! My birthday is the day after I disembark(9/16).

Do you know when Dexter is coming back? Do you know if Nancy will still be onboard 9/8?

Good luck with the remainder of your cruise and possible flight changes.

Enjoy Cozumel.

Best of luck the rest of your cruise, and hoping your flight arrangements are easily changed. I’m sure it’s stressful for anyone onboard or those expecting to get on Allure Sunday. 

I’ve been affected by three hurricane Allure cruises, and hoping to have no problems for my 9/8 cruise.

Also wondering..... what kind of camera are you using? Your photography is fantastic!

8 minutes ago, discru said:

Sorry. Apparently the Diamond Lounge itself has not moved yet. Not until drydock. But, the nightly happy hour event has been moved down to Blaze. I so enjoyed having happy hour in the actual lounge. It’s the prettiest lounge with the best view. Was looking forward to spending lots of time there next week. I guess now they are still serving breakfast in the lounge, and you can still hang out in there, but when happy hour rolls around you will have to go down to the Blaze for drinks and snacks. 

Although Blaze is a beautiful lounge, I hope they don’t move nightly happy hour there on my 9/8 cruise.😟 I purposefully booked a cabin on deck 11; right around the corner from the Diamond Lounge. At least if they do move happy hour, I can still get my coffee and a pastry in the mornings. 

1 hour ago, david_sobe said:

Not trying to scare you or rain on your parade but Cocoa Beach area has not had a hurricane for a long time.  The central east coast of Florida has been spared over the last few decades of a major hurricane.  A Cat 3 storm leaves devastating damage to those in its direct path.  No one should be in a beach hotel and there would be mandatory evacuations. However its too early to tell where this thing is going.

Also the latest states the hurricane will hover over Florida for well over a day which causes more damage. No, Disney will not be open for days.

If your cruise leaves before Sunday there should not be any problems. But if it leaves later, you are subject to getting stuck with no power, no hot water, food rations, etc.

I live in the cone and I am not trying to scare you but it was a foolish statement to tell you "its just a bad storm."  I've been through Cat 1 and 2 and I don't want to see a 3 or 4.  Look what Michael did to the panhandle last year as a 4.  Would you want to stay at those ocean hotels?  I think not.  They lost roofs, etc.

If a hurricane warning is issued for the coast of east Florida (which is expected), no tourists will be allowed to go to barrier reef beach hotels.  So not sure if the woman who told you "its just a bad storm" is trying to get you to not cancel your business.  But its still too early to make any calls.  Not for another 48 hours.

I totally agree that the lady from LaQunita should not have told them “just a bad storm”, because if the predictions are correct, the hotel WILL be evacuated. I’d keep informed from Royal Caribbean, and I’d reserve a hotel by MCO, or like someone suggested by the hospital. (Never thought about their power grid being better)

John and LaLa witnessed first hand a very bad hurricane a couple of years ago (not decades) from their condo ON Cocoa Beach. There was major damage to the port restaurants and the hotels and condos had mandatory evacuations. LaLa will never stay again in her condo during a hurricane. It was a very frightening experience. 

I've experienced several “hurricane” cruises, and Royal Caribbean fully compensated everyone. We always buy travel insurance, but never had to submit a claim because of a Royal Caribbean hurricane cruise.

I'm booked on Allure from Ft Lauderdale 9/8, and a little concerned about my flights on Saturday 9/7, depending on where Dorian goes after coming into Florida. 

Stay informed. Stay safe.

Fantastic review!!! Amazing Photos! Thanks so much! 

4 hours ago, mortician510 said:

3 hurricanes, Cruising Grandma? we just returned last week from our second cruise on Allure - Remind me not to book the same cruise as you are sailing 😉 Just kidding - I love your attitude. Have a good time!

Oh, I’ve been affected by hurricanes many more times, years ago from NJ or NY to Bermuda and others from Florida !😃 My husband and I began cruising in 1995, and both us loved it! Sadly, my husband passed away May 14, 2019. We did go on our last cruise together a month before he died. I’m so blessed to have many, many great cruise friends, several who will be on Allure with me. With all the stress from the last three months, I am just ready for a cruise with friends. It really doesn’t matter where the ship goes, or if we have to hole up in the hotel a few days.....we are staying in the same hotel I’ve been in pre cruise all my other Allure cruises. It will be a welcome relief from what I’ve been doing here at home.