JCrewz

We stayed at the Red Lion Inn in Long island City last September for our cruise on the Venezia. $30.00 cab ride from LaGuardia and 150 yards from the subway. Watch the prices on Priceline. We got a clean room in an older hotel for $135.00. Subway was easy to catch and took us into Times Square in 10 minutes. Enter a lottery for a Broadway show and life is good. We've always gotten tickets that way. Lots of people on here mean well, but will tell you how to spend as much money as possible. New York can be conquered easily on a budget. Trade offs? Sure, but well worth it IMO.

Thank you Matymill. I'm doing a B2B in February as a solo cruiser. I'm from Texas so I'm used to the rowdy Galveston port cruises. I've been to NYC a number of times and hoping for the best. I enjoyed your thoughts. We've all experienced some really entitled chair hogs on cruises. No matter how unreasonable their chair saving expectations are, my wife and I don't confront them since so many of them can be very aggressive and confrontational. I know more management by Carnival is the ultimate answer, but implied rules of etiquette have really disappeared. And, yes, I know that implied rules of behavior involves a subjective standard. Still, it sounds like some lines were clearly crossed on your cruise. But, I hope you and your family keep cruising with some line. You seem like a wonderful cruisemate.

I'm with you, Jean. Heavy winds meant a lot of folks were not comfortable on the beaches for long and the shopping is horrible. The three souvenir shops were owned by the same person and the prices were sky high. Nobody seemed to be buying anything. After riding the tram, we were happy to be back on the ship.

Snorkler, we were just on Bimini and they did have plenty of taxis and taxi tours. There is a free set of trams that take you down the main street all the way to Bimini Beach with stops at the marina, the Hilton and the casino. We saw lots of people renting the golf carts at the marina. There are tons of them. Lots of solicitors offering them for varying prices. Most consistently, the offers were $40.00 per hour or $120.00 for the day. I heard people negotiating prices but didn't stay in one place long enough to hear the outcome. We were the only ship in port. Prices may vary when there is more demand. I hope you find more things to enjoy than we did. It is a pretty island with a private owner for the three main souvenir shops and prices higher than anything on the cruise ship. $54.00 for the cheap tshirt/cap combos....yikes.

We were in Bimini on the Holland Zuiderdam on Tuesday. The dock is in very shallow water and the captain tried to back in, but the heavy winds meant he had to go in bow first. In other words, he pulled in with the front of the ship facing the island. We disembarked on the starboard side of the ship. The waves were hitting the port side, but weren't very high. The bigger issue was the 25-30 mph winds that caused some movement in the docked ship. I don't think it will matter too much which side of the ship you are on. Some unsolicited advice....while an OV is nicer than interior in most people's minds, the interior may be better for your DIL. The less she sees the water when the ship is moving, the better off she will be.

0106...I'm glad some people get this. It's not a matter of being rude or uppity to want a degree of privacy. I'm more fortunate than most after a stroke. I can still walk and talk...mostly. I might make it through a meal fine with stuttering or stammering, but it's humiliating when it happens. With just my wife at the table I can relax more and not have to explain to some lovely cruise mates why I don't want to engage in small talk. HAL is great about this most of the time, but sometimes they put you in time out because you don't want to share a table. I was told on one occasion I'd have to wait 45 minutes for a table for two at afternoon tea. Turned out to be 5 minutes. Glad your husband still gets out. I've found over and over again that, as a whole, the most patient and respectful cruisers are on HAL ships.

I can't stand the smug and entitled Platinum guests cheerfully walking by us at embarkation and priority debarkation. I can't wait to be one of them in February!

I've tried a lot of them on Carnival, but my favorite is still the Spicy Bloody Mary. Served in a big glass with plenty of olives and simply delicious. Lots of great choices. Enjoy your cruise.

What an energetic and fun thread this is! Almost makes me wish I was going. I'm not, but my wife and her best friend are checking in for their flight in a couple of hours. Flying into LaGuardia tomorrow morning. Like everyone, we have been hoping that Lee does not drop off the key in the NYC area. Thankfully, it looks like the hurricane is going to have a minimal impact on Manhattan....though us Texas folks know that anything can happen with these storms. My wife is not one of the flexible, happy people that will just be glad to take a cruise wherever it goes. She has been really looking forward to the New England/Canadian views and stops. It is starting to look possible. If the hurricane continues to weaken and goes into Halifax as a tropical storm on Saturday evening, the surf may be subsided in NY by late Saturday afternoon and the Canadian ports may not take too much damage. She is packing for Canada and hoping the best-case scenario plays out. I hope it does for all of her cruise mates as well. Safe travels to all.

Ecstasy. Honeymoon cruise with my sparkling wife back in 2005. Won in the casino. Found out my wife would only order from the everyday menu. Caesar's salad and flat iron steak chased with chocolate melting cake every night. We won the newlywed game. Still have the little trophy. Great memories. 21 cruises later and lots of fancier ships...but wish we could sail on her again.

We have used the Port Parking about 6 times. My wife and I always choose the cheaper parking at Lot B. It is about 4 blocks away from the Carnival ships and on the other side of the street. There is no easy way to walk from the lot because of the lack of sidewalks. However, they have a very efficient shuttle system with lots of buses running. They pick you up quickly and, more importantly, they will have a line of buses waiting when you debark....and close to where you exit. They have an easy to navigate website that will ask for your ship and date of sailing. If you look for a coupon or promo code, they almost always have a $5 or $10 discount. If I recall, they will ask for your arrival time and only offer 12 noon as an option. I called when we first parked there and the agent said that's on all parking reservations but you can show up anytime you want. We showed up at 10 am and it was no problem. Lastly, I've never seen the more economy lot sell out and we've booked last minute a couple of times. I think you're good whenever you want to reserve. Hope you have a great time.

Hey Skywalker....us too. Flying to LaGuardia on Friday and embarking on Saturday. I know some of the good folks on CC are pretty relaxed about the major hurricane, but we are worried. I know that a lot of smart people are saying now is not the time to panic, but my wife disagrees. She says now is the perfect time to panic. Even if the storm tracks east of the U.S. coast, the Canadian coast may still take a pretty good shot. The seas will probably be pretty rough either way. We are really debating whether we are going or staying home. We are seasoned cruisers and live on the Texas coast. We have been through many hurricanes. Lots of concern for Cat 4s and 5s. I like reading the comments that everything is going to be okay. They are reassuring. But I'm thinking it's not okay....it's not even remotely okay. I'm hoping to hear more about alternative ports and how and when that decision gets made. Hoping that Lee makes a big right turn.

On the Vista sailing on July 29th, our guarantee was assigned on Friday the 28th. Officially the latest a guarantee has ever been assigned to me, although Carnival says you can go to the ship without a room assignment.

Unnecessarily snippy.

I was horrified by all the poor reviews of the Luminosa before our June Alaskan cruise. I was prepared for a bad experience. Fortunately, the Luminosa was just fine and I was pleasantly surprised. I sailed the Vista back in November. The big stateroom advantage is the menu of complimentary movies to select...over 100. The regular television channel offering (Dream, Breeze and Luminosa) is shockingly limited. Not much elbow room in the MDR. The food was good, but the tables are often three inches apart. If you are a couple, hard to have a private conversation. Like others have mentioned, the entertainment venues are packed. Get there plenty early. The crew was friendly with wonderful service. We had a female room attendant for the first time and she was busier than Lucille Ball in a chocolate factory. I think she said she had 36 rooms to service each day...but always smiling. I don't get how some passengers label the food as horrible, but it's a big treat to my taste buds for a week. You should have a great time and enjoy the beautiful ship.