VitaLuna

Echoing others, Alaska Airlines is a primary carrier in the Northwest/West Coast. I fly it almost exclusively, and prefer it to other airlines. You will be pleased on your return trip, as Seattle is an Alaska hub with extra amenities/presence. 

We're headed out on RCCL Harmony in 10 days with a stop in St. Kitts. I have two kids (8 and 6) and was looking at the rainforest adventure excursion through RCCL. Has anyone done a rainforest excursion in St. Kitts? Recommendations for yes or no? Also, how terrible will the heat/humidity be? It looks like the temp will be in the 80s, but I know some places the jungle/rainforest is hotter, sometimes cooler with the tree cover. 

Thanks!

On 5/16/2022 at 6:25 AM, blue_water said:

Yes very easy, no need to use the ship excursion.

Just hop a shared safari taxi heading there, you will see several taxis lined up at the dock, and the taxi coordinator and drivers will guide you to a taxi. Guessing the fare is probably ~$5 - $6/pp. You can be dropped at the bottom and ride the tram up to Paradise Point, or taxi up and ride the tram down…

 

The tram has been closed for maintenance but is scheduled to re-open tomorrow…

I'm planning to do Paradise Point with my kids from RCCL/Crown Bay, as well (in August). Ship excursion is sold out (and looks quite a bit more expensive). Do I need to pre-purchase tickets? Or can we just get a taxi to the bottom and pay when we get there? Just want to make sure we don't miss out, since we don't have anything else planned for St. Thomas. 

Thank you!

23 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

45 days before your cruise you should have done the online checkin, gotten your Set Sail pass and selected your checkin time for the terminal.

 

Since you are sailing next month have  you not done all of this??

I thought I had online, but now that I look at it again in the app, there is a lot more to checkin on the app. I thought that it seemed too easy, haha. I will finish it in the app and go from there. Thanks!

15 hours ago, sdear said:

of course i have done all this.    My question was if you can go earlier than check in time.  Not my first cruise,, just first one since Covid.   

Thanks

She was replying to me and a question I asked, not you 🙂

Can I tag along on this question? When are check in times assigned, and do you have any choice in it (or can you show up later?). What is the earliest time? We are leaving from Port Canaveral next month, and I don't want to have an early checking because my kiddos will likely be exhausted from travel and time change and I want to take the morning slowly (if you've ever traveled alone with two young kids, you know what I mean! haha)

On 6/22/2022 at 7:03 PM, ARandomTraveler said:

What she said 

I desperately want to, but Southwest only flies out of my local airport on that day. Ugh. I considered dumping the tickets and going with an earlier flight, but it would still have to be that day (day before the cruise) due to work and my kids' visitation with their dad. I'd also have to switch to Alaska or Delta, which I feel like have had more problems than Southwest?

We have a 3hr layover in Denver, and worst case scenario I'm willing to pay for another airline/flight to get out of Denver if I have to. 

Ugh, I'm really worried about it because of how messed up air travel is right now. 

TLDR: Customer service was amazing and we're re-booked!

Thank you everyone for all your help! I expected to get the whole fare back in FCC ($2300), but I ended up randomly getting two credit card refunds for $1416 total, but still hadn't seen a FCC come through. Finally called RC and told them the situation, the CS rep was amazingly polite and helpful, and he was able to re-book the cruise (48 days from sailing) and take full payment from me, minus the remaining FCC amount that hadn't been issued. He pushed the final payment date to July 7th and told me to call back if I didn't have the FCC by then. The next day, I got another confirmation email from RC showing the cruise paid in full and FCC applied. Yippee! We are SO excited. Now... fingers crossed that our flights don't turn into a sh* show, since we're flying across country and arrive at 12:50am on the day of departure. 

Were your kids a reduced price with Grey's Excursions? It looks like his tour is $65pp, and the cruise excursion is $65 adult and $45 child. I'm traveling with 2 kids, so $40 is a decent amount difference. 

Also, did your kids enjoy it? Mine are 8 and 6 and outdoorsy, but we live in the Pacific NW and they have never been slapped in the face by heat and humidity, haha

Yiiiikes 😬 Thank you everyone for your replies. We are trying to re-book onto an August 7th cruise. I’m reassured that a couple of you have been able to use it or hold reservations in advance of receiving the final confirmation. 
 

I’m an ER nurse, this is the only extended time I’ve been able to get off in two years. I would cry if we couldn’t go!!

I canceled our August 22 cruise today so that we could switch ships/itinerary, but still sticking with August departure. I had to cancel because I was outside the window to simply change the reservation. 
 

My question is.. if you’ve had to cancel, how long did the FCC code take to come? I just read online that it takes up to 45 days!!! The agent I talked to didn’t mention this, so I’m really hoping that’s the worst case scenario, because I need to get re-booked 😬 

I know I can find this online, but is early saver eligible for price adjustment?

No. (I’m always curious why Americans think they don’t have the same rules/requirements?) Like someone else said.. if there’s an emergency, the embassy can help get you home. Ex: you become injured/hospitalized while in port and become stranded. 

11 minutes ago, memecakes said:

Just a note about YTD. We have never had to wait more than 5 minutes for a table.

I appreciate the info. I’m kind of leaning towards keeping it at YTD. I’m good with up to a 15 min wait, but much more than that might be difficult for one of my kiddos. 

Second question: if we are sailing with another family, how do we request a table with them for scheduled dining? Check with the maitre d’ after boarding? Or can we do that now? Can we get a table with just us (and not other people)? My kids are well behaved and I’d take them back to the room if they didn’t, but I also don’t want to subject other passengers to sitting at a table with kids at dinner time. 

Sorry for the very basic question, but I didn’t see the answer on Carnival’s site. We have never eaten in the MDR on previous cruises, but plan on eating there a few nights on our next cruise. If we choose scheduled (early) dining.. are we committed to that? Or can we skip nights to eat other places? We have two young kids, so it would be nice to not have to wait for a table with anytime dining, but I also don’t want to take someone’s spot or leave a hole if we don’t plan on eating there every night with scheduled dining. What is the “correct” way to do it?

I swear I just saw something that said they’re now checking temperatures (and maybe O2 sat?) and if you’re denied boarding at the port due to these, then you can choose a refund or FCC. I’m almost positive it was Carnival, but I can’t for the life of me remember where I saw it. I suppose it could’ve been another line? Sorry I’m not more helpful. 

We will (most likely) fly into LAX and out of LGB. Long Beach is just so much nicer to come in and out of, but we needed the extra flight options pre-cruise. 

Hmmm, I don’t have personal experience, but as was mentioned, most dishes would at least have butter (grilled veggies, mashed potatoes, etc). 
 

I’m sure they could accommodate with something like steamed veggies and rice, but it wouldn’t be worth the cost to me. 

I have been thinking about everyone all night! So happy it’s negative and you can get off, and the next group can get on! Hope you can still spend some time doing your extras in CA. 

I'm side-eyeing the thread hijack, but I know people are stressed. I was going to check in one more time before bed, but now I'm waiting for this "detailed email" that is/was supposed to be released! Sounds like you're getting a free night on the ship, @Saint Greg, and keeping my fingers crossed for you that it's not a free 2 weeks. I understand the caution, but some of this hysteria has gotten out of control. It feels like a cruise ship witch hunt. There many community acquired cases now. Where is the testing of all domestic airline passengers? (I don't mean that we should do that... I mean that at some point, we have to understand that this isn't a one-person, one-source thing). 

Hey, at least you finally got a dang seat at Alchemy! But really, you're back in your room. You have your life jacket. JUMP! 😂

What a cluster. Hoping the test comes back negative and you're able to get off soon. I feel really bad for the people waiting to board, as well. At least you guy scan get back to your room (and if you jump in line now, you might even get to have a second Guy's burger in the next 4 hours 😉)

I mean, you're an experienced cruiser, you know where the life jackets are. Jump in and swim 😉 (KIDDING, of course. Do I really even have to say that?)

Hopefully it’s just out of abundance of caution, given that they’re holding a Princess ship off shore, eek. If the people are sick with flu-like symptoms, a rapid flu swab will confirm (now, is anyone smart enough to actually do that? Who knows). Hopefully you get off soon!