Rewind

We have received a couple notices saying traffic will be bad and give yourself extra time. Our Uber driver even said walking would be the better option. Here is a photo from our room at Hyatt Place where you can see traffic backing up between the trees.

We were flying from Columbus, OH to San Juan, PR with a layover I'm Baltimore. In Baltimore we were next in line to depart, pulled onto the runway and got diverted. We couldn't fly through the direct airspace that the military were using and by changing the route, we needed more fuel. Then due to the route change, our flight crew were going to be scheduled over 8 hours so we had to switch flight crews. We got delayed for two+ hours and our flight time was extended by 30+ minutes.

If taking the train, fly in a day early. You don't want to get stuck on the tracks for hours due to a "trespassing incident". Yes I know that probably barely (if ever) happens, but of course it happened to us. We were heading up a day early and had planned to explore Vancouver, but the three extra hours on the train took all our energy out of us.

We might cheat a bit. We are staying the night before in the Hyatt Place that is just at the entrance to the port. While I don't like the idea of walking down the road between the airport and the bay, if the traffic is backed up, it might be easier for us to just hoof it down to the terminal.

We will be boarding Voyager in SJU this Sunday - I'll try to grab pics of what I can.

I only know of one reason - Ben and Jerry's Sweet. We received Cowcierge lounge access at an inside stateroom rate. I don't know if they still do that for "Sweet" lounge access.

While in Houston, check out Goode Company BBQ and Pappas BBQ. Goode Company had the best pecan pie, but in our opinion Pappas had the better meats.

Miami - you have the choice of two airports, Miami or Fort Lauderdale. We normally fly Southwest which has a much larger presence in FLL so we transfer often. Only about 30 minutes between the two cities. The drive from Orlando to Port Canaveral is a bit over an hour - but it is a VERY easy drive. Just bring a roll of quarters for the tolls. Houston to Galveston - again flying Southwest, they go into Houston Hobby airport. Again a bit over an hour between HOU and Galveston BUT do the research on how you are getting there. There is only Enterprise rental cars in Galveston and for a while they were not open on Sundays (then for a while they were when more ships were in, then they were closed on Sundays again... check the current status). Also dropping off / picking up a car in Galveston is expensive. There is a spot in Texas City, but then you need a Uber/Lyft to get to the port. Also - traffic between Houston and Galveston can be a pain. Expect possible delays. (maybe it was an accident when we were there, but traffic was really backed up).

At 2:00am this morning we finally got the email the we did NOT get the upgrade. We board in 2 hours.

Mine still says pending this morning and we leave tomorrow. I'm guessing that means No.

My bid is in "Pending" status - whatever that means. Maybe I'll find out tomorrow.

My first guess would be if you bid on a YC interior and someone in a YC interior bid on a YC balcony, they get the balcony, you get the interior, and MSC gets all the money. Granted I am actually hoping for the same thing as I have a bid in for our Seashore cruise this Saturday and all the interior YCs are booked. Guess I will find out on Thursday what happens.

I think it is one show. There is one member of the Ice Cast on Voyager that has a YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/JordanBauth97 You should be able to get some more info there.

We did both a drop off and pickup from the Port Canaveral location. For drop off, you pull around back (to the left side of the building), they scan your car, and hand you a receipt. Then you just walk through the building and there is a small waiting area right up front with a couple restrooms where you can wait for the shuttle. For pickup, we had a good experience but that might have been because we did self disembarkation as we were going over to Kennedy for the day and wanted to get out early. While we were not the first off the ship, we were still some of the early ones. When we got to the rental car location, we were one of two couples (us at Enterprise, the other at Alamo). They don't have any of the automated kiosks like airports, but the agent was fairly quick. I will say though just after we got the keys, another shuttle pulled up and offloaded a good handful of groups. So really, I think it is all about timing.

Leaving on Seashore in just over a week.... Let me write this down. 😄

We did Enterprise but they are in the same location as National and Alamo. They are just barely outside of the port area but run a couple shuttles going to the various terminals. From the location, it is about a 5 minute shuttle ride. They will drop you off right next to the porters to take your luggage and will pick you up in designated shuttle pickup locations. Years ago we rented from Avis which also does a shuttle. At least at that time it was more of a 15-20 minute shuttle but don't know if that has changed.

So this is if you want to see what it's like being a drink made by the robotic bartenders on Royal?