bjd2

Any different feeling about Fort Lauderale port to airport??

 

We plan on doing Self-assist disembark. FTTF sold out on Conquest. 11am flight?

anythoughts? No kids just hubby and I.

 

thanks for input.

I hope everything goes in your favor. We had FTTF the last time out of Fort Lauderdale and stood in line at least an hour to clear customs, and then stood in the longest line ever for our noon flight at FLL. We were very fearful that we wouldn't get to our gate for our noon flight. We won't be doing that again, we'd rather take our time and stay an extra day or a later flight. I think there were 6 ships returning the day that we were. Everyone has a different experience.

My PVP says you can cancel it up to one week before sailing. Others may have a different answer. We shall see.

:)

Ask your Inner Harbor hotel if they have a shuttle van to take you to the cruise terminal. It's not a very far ride for them.

I called the Renaissance and the don't have a shuttle but assured me that letting them know 30 minutes before we'd like to leave, they will call a yellow taxi (van) to come and get us. They said this is never a problem.

I guess we're going to give this a whirl.

That happened to us for one day on our Pride cruise. The next day it was back and we'd all received an email that our departure time had changed from 5pm to 4:30pm.

Hopefully yours comes back and either there are no changes or only something minor.

We have stayed at both the Embassy Suites and Renaissance in Fort Lauderdale and would recommend both of them.

The Embassy has a beautiful outdoor area to enjoy beverages and scenery. The free breakfast is also very impressive.

The Renaissance is right by the Bemini Boatyard, which is a great place for food and drink and there are many types of shopping and restaurants within walking distance.

Both are great choices and we'd stay at either again.

Ok, thanks. I booked limos4less to take the 3 of us from the airport to the hotel. It's our daughter's birthday and wanted to do something special for that leg. Knowing that a nice car will be waiting for us will make arriving in Baltimore a little nicer for us.

There will be 6 of us getting from the hotel to the terminal so we'll probably take separate cabs or book something for that too.

Thanks again :)

Hello,

Coming up soon we will be flying to Baltimore a day ahead of our cruise and staying in the Inner Harbor. We will also be staying a day after the cruise.

What is the best (easiest, most pleasant) way to get from the airport to the Inner Harbor hotel, hotel to the port, port to hotel (BWI Embassy Suites)?

Thanks,

Bobbie

The smallest Carnival ship we have been on is the Spirit class (Legend). We have been on all larger classes since the first one. My husband still says the Legend was his favorite, so our next is on the Pride. Hopefully we can determine if that's his favorite class or it was because it was his first.

it still works.

 

question: I see most people opted for the shipping. has anyone been able to use an ecert for sail-and-sign?

I have used egift cards on previous Carnival cruises. Just enter the number at a kiosk or Guest Services can add it.

Could you check your paypal account. Even though I did the 20 off and it showed a purchase of 82.99 on ebay, my paypal was charged 102.99.

I logged into my paypal and it shows $80 ebay purchase. I also had no problem getting the egift card.

Good luck!

Thanks! I got one :D

The room that they do it in on the Conquest is so elegant. I'd do it again on that ship even if the menu was the same. It was an outstanding experience and possibly the highlight of our entire trip. Consider it one of the best excursions you can do for $75 per person.

Just back from our 4th cruise on the Carnival Pride. We traveled with Son and his girlfriend. We stayed on the Main Deck Aft, in the same cabin we've been in on the other 3 Pride sailings. Son and girlfriend were just down the hall. We did a Park and Cruise Package and we were at the cruise terminal by 11:30, and on the Lido Deck by 12:15. I have a scooter, and somehow after check-in, we sat inside the terminal for only 5-7 min., and they called my number and we were headed up the ramps to the ship. That was the quickest ever. We walked back to the Alchemy Bar area and took the elevator to the Main Deck and our cabin was ready. We dropped some things off and headed up to the Lido Deck. Son and girlfriend boarded about 20 minutes later.

 

Later we met the cabin steward and he asked if we wanted our cabin serviced once or twice a day. We chose twice, we requested robes and ice. The robes were delivered before dinner, and ice was in our cabin every day.

 

We had traditional late seating in MDR, and our waiters and assistants were great. We were trying the American Table menu for the first time, and we liked it. The tables without cloths were fine. the water bottles were in a holder on the table, and the table wasn't soaking wet at all. We did have a fork and knife placed on a cloth napkin when we sat down, and based on whatever you chose for dinner, the additional utensils were provided (i.e. salad fork, soup spoon, etc.). We had two bread baskets, and served ourselves. The bread was very good. We had no problem with the food choices. In fact, I ordered one or two things I had never tried before, and they weren't bad.

 

We ordered Room Service a few mornings, and most items were complimentary. I think DH ordered a banana split one day, but I don't recall if there was a charge. We did the Lido for breakfast a few days, and we also did the brunch...yum!! We paid a corkage fee for our first bottle of wine, but not for our other bottles throughout the week.

 

We never got to the sushi restaurant this time, but we really enjoyed it the last time we were on the Pride. I recommend that you give it a try if you like sushi. We all did Guy's Burgers once and son could take it or leave it.

 

We saw a comedian, and he was just okay. Didn't do the shows, or Quest because we've done them before. We went to the casino, played a little Blackjack, and for the most part we broke even. Our son's girlfriend played the Wheel of Fortune slot machine, played $3 or $5 and won $150. Spent time at Serenity when there were lounges available. That was so relaxing.

 

All in all, we had a fabulous cruise. This was my 21st cruise, DH's 25th, son and girlfriend's 2nd. We've cruised with Celebrity, RCCL, Norwegian, Cunard. and our most recent have been with Carnival. We enjoyed mostly all of them. We love the Pride because the price is right for what we want, it's 1 1/2 hrs. from home to the Port of Baltimore, and the service has been great and consistent with all of the Carnival cruises.

 

I've only briefly described our cruise (I'm in post cruise depression)-:, but I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Thank you so much! We will be on the Pride for the first time next month. Our party has an aft on main and connecting Vista suite with another balcony a few rooms away. So very excited and love hearing positive feedback about this ship. I hope she's our new favorite. Her sister, The Legend, is our current favorite :p

We always have insurance too, and (knock on wood) have never needed to use it for a cruise. But, in September of 2014 we celebrated our 25th anniversary with a week at a resort on Cozumel.

We were delayed a day in Milwaukee due to the fire at the Chicago air traffic control center. We had to pay over $500 for a new flight on a different airline a day late, an extra night at the hotel and meals. We were reimbursed all of those receipts as well as the lost day at our resort, which we had paid for.

We will continue to have insurance since you just never know. We certainly hadn't thought someone would intentionally start a fire at O'Hare and it result in 13 flight cancellations the next morning in Milwaukee. We were very glad to be made whole financially.

Having our 8th and 9th Carnival cruises coming up, I realize how comfortable I am with Carnival and booking with them. I understand their booking, price reduction, and other policies as well as ship layout in general. I have a PVP who has helped with 8 of my 9 bookings. I enjoy her and love knowing that she's always a call or instant message away. We travel from WI so only cruise once a year and it's very important that everything is planned out well.

Pair this with the great food and drinks and fun that we have enjoyed, and I have a hard time thinking of going elsewhere.

I may try another cruise line someday, but until I have a less than enjoyable Carnival cruise, I'll probably stay put.

I agree with the Renaissance. Very nice hotel (it was a few years ago at least) and close to many things to see within walking distance. The Bemini Boatyard is right there and a great place for happy hour.:D

2 of our cruises were on February 27th. One was out of Port Canaveral in 2010 and the other out of Long Beach in 2011. Both of them were way too cool on the first day or so and the last day to spend time in pools or without a jacket on. Nassau was around 60 and very windy when we were there on our second day. Since then we have done the end of March to mid April and have had much nicer temps at the start/end.

I'm sure there have been many that had nice weather in February or earlier months, but that wasn't our experience and hubby says he's escaping Wisconsin winter so wants to spend his vacation being warm. :)

My guess it that it's not available yet. In my experience if it shows in the excursions for the home port it is either available or sold out. My next cruise shows sold out and my April 2017 cruise has no excursions showing yet. I still check every day though! :D

I'm curious too. I hope that's not the case on 4/15! :)

first off , for whatever reason luggage is insanely overpriced no matter what price point you look at. personal i have gone full spectrum on sizes, configurations, materials and cost. my experience is first shop within your budget. i've bought cheap and it gets messed up fairly quick and i've gone more expensive and better quality and guess what it still gets messed up. the only difference is how quickly it happens. last trip i bought my wife new lightweight higher middle end luggage ($300 on sale for 3 pieces)so she could stay under the 50 lbs more easily. first time we used it ,it was damaged like it got caught in a knife fight and on the return trip it didn't learn its lesson and got its ass kicked again. meanwhile my lower end ($60) wheeled duffle bag faired like a champ. so its really up in the air on what you are comfortable with spending and how heart broken you will be when it needs to be replaced. if there was an affordable bullet proof piece of luggage it could topple the billion dollar luggage sales industry

Thank you for the laugh this morning! Good thing I wasn't drinking my coffee while reading this. :D

I've had Alchemy on 3 cruises and the first 2 I fell in love with the Cucumber Sunrise. The last cruise I tried the Antioxidant and was hooked!

THE ANTIOXIDANT

Rejuvenate with Belvedere Grapefruit Vodka, Aperol, tangerine, fresh lime juice and a dash of orange juice.

I think I'll have to try the Quick Fix next :D

We have been on both ships and always have a great cruise. The Sunshine would be my pick. The decor is very nice, Serenity is wonderful, food options are excellent. We must not have been doing what others were on the Sunshine because we hardly had any crowds at all. The Havana area aft always had several tables open to sit and eat at with beautiful views and ambiance.

We had a good time on Conquest, but honestly nothing stood out that made us want to go back on her again.

Have fun whatever you decide!

Enjoy your cruise! I can't wait to experience the Pride in less than 3 months. Please report back if you can :)

We've had FTTF 3 times now. The priority embark and room ready right away are the main reasons we got it, but having the luggage arrive early so we are all unpacked before muster helps us feel like our vacation is officially started earlier.

I'm not one to normally need the Guest Services desk, but our last cruise I accidentally forgot my S&S card in a machine in the casino and was told to check GS to see if it had been turned in. When I went up to the priority window, there were at least 10 people waiting in the regular line. My card was there and they handed it to me and we were on our way again. I wouldn't have enjoyed standing in that line.

We have FTTF for our upcoming Pride cruise and I'm already watching to try and get it for our 2017 Vista cruise. After that we won't need it as we'll finally be Platinum. :D

Oh please do a review or post back here. I would love to here about the aft and vista suite and about the cabana!!! And all the other terrific stuff of course.

I sure will try!