Essiesmom

The thing is, the original cabins connected. The new cabins also connect, but not with each other. EM

Windstar is small enough to dock in Marittima. You can walk to the People mover which takes you to Piazzale Roma. Walk across it to the train station. Pack light. EM

Visit the Florida Departures board here. EM

My bet is that just being plat. Dia. Will no longer get you priority walk up checkin. It will get you the two day priority in choosing you your checkin time. Because too many p/d were not checking in or not choosing an early time, because they didn’t need to. So non p/d got those early times, and when they showed up, and the p/d showed up at the same time, there was double the number for those time slots. So now the priority will be the ability to choose two days earlier than the others. EM

I just tried a dummy booking for April 2025 and after I selected basic fare, all I was offered in every category was Fantastica until I got to balcony, and I was offered Aurea, too. And YC. This was Grandiosa. No Bella offered. EM

Congratulations! You have some great ports on that itinerary. Suggest you explore the ports of call boards here for the Caribbean. Also, if you don’t already have a passport, suggest you start the process soon, as it has been taking months. EM

You might also check to see if there is a ROLL CALL for your cruise, and see what others sailing with you have done. ROLL CALLS are where you can connect with other CC members sailing with you. To find your ROLL CALL, go back to the main boards page, scroll down to ROLL CALLS, click on your. Raise line, then your ship, and look for a thread with the dates for your cruise. EM

Go ahead and bid, nothing to lose. It’s one tiny way I gamble, and this time I won with a minimum bid. EM

If you are BElla or Fantastica your time and table will be assigned and be on your cruise card when you check in. If you wish to be seated together you need to go to the dining room at the announced time and request it. If you are Aurea you have anytime dining either in a section of the MDR or a separate dining room. There is a regulation that groups seated together must have the same beverage packages, but replies are mixed as to whether that is being enforced. EM

It doesn’t hurt, you won’t lose anything if not accepted. What do the offers look like? I am on that sailing and the one after it. I booked Fantastica inside gty for each, was assigned Fantastica balconies, bid on upgrades and won Aurea balconies for both. And I just bid a little above the minimum. When I made the bids on the 13th cruise, I did an experimental booking and it looked like sold out. After I won my bid, I went back again and everything but YIN was available. EM

Only one funnel? EM

Go back a number of pages and look for Live From threads…there is one by @JamieLogical. Actually any menus from someone NOT in Yacht Club should be the same. EM

At the Pan Pacific the bellmen will pick up your checked bags at your room and you will next see them on the ship. Then you go down and check out and they will direct you to the elevators down to the check in area. It’s all right in the building. EM

Where are you arriving that you would need a transfer? EM

They will want you out of your cabin probably by 0800-0830. Food venues probably closing by then. You can probably hang around in a lounge until they call the laggards to debark. I am assuming you will be in Southampton? EM

You don’t have to limit yourself to the UK. You could take Eurostar or a ferry to France, etc. and train all over Europe. There is a cruiser on the Carnival board, IntrepidfromDC who did a trip through France (he’s a gourmand, lots of food pics) and then a cruise back home. Last fall he did a cruise and then 10 or so days via train in Italy. EM

Don’t recall how long I’ve been a member. 15, 20 years…. One year we did the Southwest Chief from Chicago to LA, then the Surfliner down to San Diego for a cruise. Northeast Regional PHL to Wash. DC and Capitol Limited to connect with the Chief. Great trip, bedroom all the way. EM

Would that be Amtrak Unlimited? EM

As long as you can find your birth certificate, and it is a closed loop cruise from the US, you can travel without the passport. I was prepared to do that this past March, but my renewed passport arrived the day I left to drive to the port. EM

There are a lot of ‘ports’ on those itineraries that have been created by the cruise lines as getaways for their guests. Coco Cay, private island/beach day. Amber cove: pool and zip line. Roatan: Coxen Hole is the port, it there is nothing there but a straw market unless you do an excursion. Labadee, Puerto Plata, created for cruisers. Grand Turk: Amber Cove but older. The only itineraries that go to ‘real’ places are #1 for Aruba and Curaçao, #5 for San Juan and St. Thomas, and #6 for San Juan, St Thomas and St. Maarten. Those are the only itineraries to see a real port and enjoy exploring without taking an excursion. Because of the number of ports, I would choose #6. EM

I think maybe the pickled onions. EM

I have not been on either ship, although I have been on Seaside, and will be again this month. I think you should take two things into consideration: 1. Ease of travel to the port; 2. Although you said you will be booking Bella (which seems to always to be a gty), if you are more than a couple, on Magnifica the inside and OV cabins for more than two have the bunks on the side walls. And there seem to be a lot of quad OV cabins. On Seashore the insides have the bunks in the ceiling but the OV cabins seem to have a sleeper sofa. This observation is from pictures on cruisedeckplans. One other comment…both times I booked Seaside I booked gty. The first time I saw that there were 40 Fantastica OV cabins, and 1300 balconies. Gambled I would get a balcony, and I did. This time I am sailing solo and do not care about cabin type. I booked Fantastica inside gty, and again got a balcony. Your choice. EM

Go to cruisetimetables.com and choose ‘cruises to’. I chose both Colon and Panama City. As well as the ships mentioned above, I also found Explora l (MSC) and Silver Nova (Silversea). But there are also many, many cruises that call at Colon, either as a port call, or to retrieve guests who took excursions from a partial transit. It might be possible to debark from one of those, but it would take a lot of negotiating/persuading for the cruise line to allow it, as it messes up the whole closed loop cruise for everyone onboard, more paperwork, closer scrutiny by CBP when the ship returns, there are also quite a few full transits that spend a day in Panama City. I think it more likely you could arrange to leave from that itinerary, as they are not closed loop cruises. EM

It would be interesting to find out if other European based lines have/do not have art auctions. Anyone with experience on AIDA, TUI/Mein Schiff, Costa, Hapag-Lloyd, Phoenix Reisen? If they don’t, maybe it’s because perhaps Europeans are too savvy about art to be taken in…. EM

Go to cruisedeckplans.com. Clicking on each cruise line, you will see an alphabetical list of that lines ships with size, year in service, passenger count…along the top of the page you can choose to look at them by class within the line. Such as Oasis class on Royal, Edge class on Celebrity…. EM