wheezedr

Following a similar plan, except it would be a long walk to Brooklyn. LOL

Why don’t you do the math

Actually the time from BWI to New York for the Vermonter is 2:46. That gets me in at 11:30 which is lots of time to cross the river to Brooklyn. There are even a couple of later trains which would work but the 8:35 seems a fair play, given that our hotel will only be 5-10 minutes from the BWI train station

Thanks everyone for all your thoughts and wisdom. I especially want to thank those who stayed on topic, not always a Cruise Critic attribute. My plans remain fluid but I suspect we will still train in on the day of the cruise. Lots more flexibility with Penn Station to Red Hook. May be impacted by weather, time, etc. Only time we ever had an issue with getting to ship for boarding we had actually come into port 4 days early to Buenos Aires. Did lots of local sightseeing but on the day of embarkation a major storm came in and getting from downtown to the cruise port became an adventure. Ultimately made it, soaked, but then the ship missed Montevideo and sailed south without a lot of provisions. Still a fabulous cruise to Antarctica

Not an obsession. Things just work out well for this particular cruise and people we wish to visit. 3 weeks ago we flew in the night before for a cruise out of Seattle as that timing worked best. I have done cruises where I felt the need to be there 2 days early and others where day of was the most logical timing. As my original post suggested I was simply looking for the reasonableness of my timing. I have 3 months to plan and have not even booked any air between the west coast and the east. Based on recent issues the airlines are a much greater risk than the train. I am setting up Plans A, B, C, etc well in advance as this cruise is in October.

Sure I am, just using plan C or D.

Thanks GTJ. I was actually hoping you might respond as I have appreciated the fact that you get to the point and avoid lots of unnecessary tangents. I just did multiple Ubers on a cruise in Seattle as well as Bolt while I was in Portugal so I am familiar with the methods. I like the ferry as it seems to drop right next to the cruise terminal in Red Hook. I will in fact keep a Plan B at the ready

Looking for a little help from my east coast friends. Have a cruise departing Brooklyn on Monday 10/9. Would like to visit my son in Maryland for a few days pre cruise and then take Amtrak to New York. Looking at the 8:35am out of BWI train station ( he lives in Laurel) which shows an 11:21am arrival at Penn station. Then thought we could Taxi/Uber to Pier 11/Wall St. to take the 12:03 ferry across to Red Hook. Next ferry is at 1:08 so should still be safe for boarding before 3:30 if the train runs late or we hit horrendous traffic. I have no experience with the Northeast corridor trains so wondering if this timing seems reasonable. Does Amtrak cancel trains with any frequency? Would we be better off taking a Taxi/ Uber to Red Hook and skipping the ferry ride. I understand lots of Taxis do not want to make the run to Red Hook.

Your right that the tunnel is only on the northbound side, even though Dustin Hoffmann managed to go through it heading south in the Graduate. You will miss it also if you take the shorter route over the San Marcos pass on 154.

You tip a variety of service providers. In your situation that would likely include waiters in a restaurant, bartenders, cab drivers, hotel bellman who deliver your bags as well as doormen who might hail a cab for you. Likely the longshoremen at the port when you drop off your bags will be looking for a tip even though they are well compensated. Unless you are getting spiffed up pre cruise you won’t need to worry about barbers or operators in a salon. Some like a doorman might be a quick dollar or two depending on how much service you need, couple of dollars a bag for the bellman. With the others though, percentages will come into play. At a bar or restaurant the tip generally reflects the value of the drink or meal. 18-20% would be considered pretty standard in an SF restaurant . You can always round off a little if the number is a mathematical puzzle. Some may also comment on whether to tip in cash or just roll it into the charge card. The bills in many places today will offer you a set of options that the machine pre calculates. Then you do not have to do the math yourself, although you should always have the option to modify the tip. As a simple rule of thumb in a restaurant in the city expect your final bill to be around 30% above the menu price. Tax of 9.5%, fee for health coverage, I think is now 2-3% and tip-off roughly 20%. You might calculate the tip on the pre tax price as that is technically the meals cost but everyone has slightly different approaches so no one system is absolutely correct.

A solution to that problem, and I accept that the problem does exist, is to leave the terminal and go about a block away . From that point it’s much easier to catch an Uber/Lyft to SFO. They are also usually less expensive

Hope you not late to arrive for embarkation as the last Ca coastal this year on the Royal leaves on April 23.

I usually suggest taxi or Uber for Transport as they are generally cheaper and more convenient than the ships shuttle for two people. For a single that may not be the “best “ option. You do not mention your level of mobility, but another option is to take BART from the airport. It originates from the international terminal. You get off at the Embarcadero station and have a Flat mile walk along the bay front to Pier 27. We come from the opposite direction but have used BART to cruise as well as to the airport on many occasions

No. You only get the next level amenities during the cruise after you have reached a new level. Better hurry as the amenities are quickly disappearing

The first Royal class ship was the Royal. See they name the class after it’s initial vessel

We did 21 days on the Med shortly after the Royal launched. People came on and off every Saturday. Those were the days for Athens, Rome and Barcelona. Some were on for 7, some for 14, others 21 but not necessarily the same 21 as us. The groups just blended. We were off on day trips when others embarked and disembarked so we never paid any attention to that. As previous posters have noted you are going to be so busy touring that meals, entertainment, etc take a secondary role on this cruise.

Thanks , I knew that. I was trying to show the OP that there are ways to do some of these little cruises but you have to still abide by the rules of the CBP. Princess always has a collection of short repositioning cruises along the west coast as they have to get those Seattle based Alaska ships up or down to SF and LA for the opening or closing of the season. Since they cannot run them directly from Seattle they run the shorties to Vancouver and then a separate cruise from Vancouver south is totally legal.

DallasGuy explained it very succinctly. You may see it as 2 separate cruises but CBP only see it as an attempt by a foriegn flagged carrier to carry you from one US port to another without a distant foreign stop and says no. My DW and I once cruised over a 3day weekend from Seattle to SF on Princess . The trick was that we were booked on one ship from Seattle to Vancouver. That cruise ended there. We got off that ship and handed our luggage over to the second ship for the Vancouver to SF trip. Note that was not a back to back but two distinct sailings Ah the beauty of west cost repositioning cruises as the Alaska cruise season opens and closes

From the wording in your original post it appears that you have not booked or tried to book your b2b. You will not be able to book that itinerary as you are essentially trying to do SF to Seattle and that violates the PVSA.

We pack our own but talk about what we need and are planning to bring

I walk through scanners all the time. Never have an issue with my pacemaker. Bigger question is whether or not I trigger the alarm. Used to be only about 20% of the time but now more frequent, suggesting that they are setting the sensitivity higher. My electrophysiologist and I have discussed this at length and as a physician myself I have reviewed much of the relevant literature. The 1-2 seconds you might take to pass through the scanner is truly of NO significance.

Speaking from personal experience, having a pacemaker for over 20 years with the last 3 being ICD’s, I have had zero problems with the Medallion. Now I must tell you that I carry it in a pants pocket, not because of the magnet issue but just because of not caring to wear a lanyard.

Back to original topic. We did a Med cruise on Princess originating in Athens with a first stop in Santorini. We met a young Canadian couple whose flight from Montreal had been delayed so they missed our departure. They caught a flight to Santorini and were able to board there. It was a challenge with the flight, the shuttle to the port, the cable car down and the tender, but they managed to do it. Not saying your cruise line will allow it but it has been done by others in the past.

I submitted my bill for a procedure that was necessary on a Princess cruise. My regular insurer covered all but $20 of a multiple hundreds dollar charge. Since I would have had a copay at home anyway I just let it rest there and did not spend the time and energy to submit the small balance to my travel plan

The Emerald would use the New Locks. Princess’s Panamax ships are the Island and the Coral.