CruiserBruce

Most likely you will be able to purchase on your ship, but I can't speak for every cruise line.

Plenty of time for a 1pm flight. 10am is definitely pushing it. The train is an option, but a bit of a hassle with luggage. Definitely doable, but probably not fun. I would just take the last cruise line transfer. This is from a couple who just spent 15 days traveling around Europe by train, but only with carry on bags.

Usually yes, but you need to get HAL's approval- in writing. You will not get any reduction in fare.

As others have mentioned, they probably won't sell you CO at this point. Believe me there are a lot of people who think they know how to tell, from public sources, how full a ship is. It isn't as easy as one thinks it is. There are a number of things, like guarantee bookings, that can mislead one trying to determine fullness.

A search would find many mentions. They are a broker...they don't provide the tour. They take your money, and contract with a low bid local provider. Yes, this can get you some great prices. But there is also a well documented history of communication problems when you have an issue. The very common recommendation here is to find the recommended local vendors here, and deal direct with them.

What is a "D2D"?

Took the cruise last summer. Yes, layers is key. Outer layer should be waterproof and wind proof.

Welcome to Cruise Critic! You are going direct to the ship from the airport on embarkation day? Not recommended! Doesn't leave any room for delay, or to recover from jetlag. And miss one of the great cities of the world? Cab is about the most expensive option. Particularly for 7 people, as no one cab will be able to handle you and all your luggage. You are a bit late getting into the private transport game. Try Rome in Limo, great company and service, huge thread just down the board. There are others mentioned here almost daily.

Come over to the West Coast Departures board, here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/315-west-coast-departures/ Where there are lots of local experts.

How do you know the ship is sold out? If you are going to buy Club Orange, I would be checking the actual status of available cabins before I ask this question.

The Culinary Arts Center is now the Club Orange dining room, so don't think that is going on. Given many of these special dinners don't happen on 7 day cruises, I wouldn't hold my breath. But a special dinner night in the Pinnacle isn't absolutely out of the question.

Very commonly mentioned here, and widely used.

Yes, definitely not accurate. Have been there 10 times. Never heard or seen anything like what you describe.

Seas can be rough any time, anywhere. You should be prepared every time you board a ship. The size of the ship doesn't really matter, it's the design. It is frequently discussed here that northbound back to California from Cabo can be rougher because you are going against the prevailing currents in the area.

Total BS, unless you aren't arriving until noon.

What port? Self disembarking is discussed here frequently. Usually the self disembarking group is either first or second off.

Some Google Maps work would be beneficial. Uber has an estimating feature on its website.

If you were looking at the website, you can't tell the availability of rooms. Why? Because you can't tell how many GTY bookings there are. You can only tell how many cabins are unassigned. For example, if the website shows 10 cabins in a category are available, but there are 9 GTY bookings in that category, literally one additional booking in the category fills and closes that category. We have two GTY bookings right now. If you look at the website, the category shows as sold out.

Sorry, but nobody can learn anything from such a tease.

Depending on the terminology of your cruise line, your Montreal-Boston-Montreal could be considered a B2B or a roundtrip out of Montreal. It can be mostly semantics...but it depends on the policies of the cruise line involved.

You will get, at minimum the GTY level you booked into, or above. So, in your case, at least SS. Have not heard anybody ever report they got downgraded, and there are LOTS of threads here about GTY bookings. You are still 13 days out. As mentioned here, 8 days seems to be about the average, but it could be at the dock.

Who are you cruising on? HAL? They dock at Pier 91, which doesn't have much of anything close, at least in terms of hotels. They used to have shuttles to rental car companies, hopefully @Ferry_Watcher can confirm they still do, and what brands. There are dozens of threads here on hotels, both downtown and airport. Pike Place Market will be very interesting to your 6 y.o. Especially the flying fish. The Space Needle and the Seattle Great Wheel may also interest the little one.

@Stickrod, another piece of info that might be reassuring is to find out the arrival time of your aircraft. Most likely the plane you are getting on in SYR will get there sometime the day before. The crew will overnight, with minimum rest rules, then fly your plane out in the morning. Given that the plane will arrive late in the day, the chance of it being late grows. If it gets in so late that the crew doesn't get its minimum rest, your flight out of SYR will be delayed. I think the minimum rest is 8 hours, but it might be 10.

On HAL they are pretty convenient. What are you mentioning?

Day 3 and Day 11 for sure. Time in port on days 6-10 will affect if those are used.