dabear

I didn't ask that question. They quoted me $18/day for parking. Our terminal parking lot at the port is $22/day, so I guess we will park there for the convenience & pay a little more.

I hope for your sake but I just called & the they told me they no longer have a shuttle to the port. We plan to drive over from Naples but now probably will park in the port.

Intercontinental art Doral hotel no longer has park & cruise package.

Do they ever upgrade to a higher category ?

Same with us. Agree with Jazzbeau re itinerary (Med cruise caught our interest) & food. We'll stick with O, A & X with an occasional Regent for now.

As previously stated, booking with a cruise line has advantages (usually lower fares) but also disadvantages, often many when flights change. Not only can rearranged flights may have tight connections, new connections or even overcharges. We experienced that when we booked business class with X to Hong Kong. Subsequently the airline dropped fares by over $800 but X would not reduce our fare. Thus we overpaid. Unless the savings are substantial, we prefer booking directly with the airline. We get to choose seats & have no problem communicating with the airline & if fares drop we get a credit or even miles back on reward fees.

Having cruised on both lines a number of times, IMHO Blu is more like a specialty restaurant on A and Discovery is more like the main dining rooms on X. Service usually is better on A since it's a smaller venue.

We stayed at Claridges a few years ago & it was fine. it was by the shopping area (i think Florida street) .

I do agree that if the casino was not doing well economically, then it either must be improved or closed. Since A has alot of late night or overnight ports it was harder to run the casino. We will give the den another try. I haven't found on any of our A cruises, alot of late night activity in any event. Our cruises tend to be more culturally intensive rather than "Caribbean" type.

Apology accepted. People can & often do disagree on opinions. I also found the Travel Guide Library to be a plus. At this time of the year ( & always) let's all enjoy peace & each other.

Wow, I am surprised that some of these posters are suggesting that I try another line with a casino if it's a deal breaker. Where did I ever say that !. We happen to like small ships with good itineraries & have taken a number of cruises with A, Oceania, Regent, etc. All I said was that we would prefer a casino as opposed to the replacement den. On our last A cruise to SE Asia in November, 2019 the den was quiet & almost empty. In other words boring. There are other places on the ship for piano bar music or just a quiet space. Again, imho we prefer a casino, Okay!.

We agree to disagree. How come evening entertainment shows and later dancing have good crowds. On the other very tight slot machines, one to one odds in craps & 6 to5 for black jack will make any player not be too interested in playing in the casino. We've been on A ships before & after the casinos have been removed and the replacement bar wasn't very busy & somewhat boring.

if the casinos offered reasonable odds & payouts they would have been successful. We miss the casinos & found another piano bar to be boring.

But after February 1, your status will remain. Future points will only be earned on Azamara or Celebrity respectively.

I'm 6'2" so I also prefer extra legroom & nonstop flights if available (less stress, baggage risks, connection times & quicker). We're also going to Barcelona this spring & your price for premium economy is reasonable. We've also flown Iberia & it's fine. In general, imho many foreign airlines are better than the US ones

We're staying at the Westbury. It's rated #1 by Travel & Leisure.

I guess the French know how to build big statues (statue of liberty). Thanks for all the info.

Same here!

We're on the Pursuit & in June will b docking in Bordeaux for 2 nights. We've signed up for a 5 hour tour of medoc wineries & chateau tour that starts from a statue by Place de Quinconces. If we dock downtown about how far is it from the ship to the departure point ?

We just checked today and annual policies do not cover trip cancellation costs, only medical & evacuation costs, etc.. We've used a few times Travel Guard and have been satisfied. We had to file a claim for dw's illness and visit to a hospital in Israel and everything we paid for was reimbursed except for the taxi which I failed to get a receipt for.

Thanks for all the replies as it helps in planning shore excursions. Yes, it is Milford Haven & the site was helpful. Cheers.

When the port is away from town doe A provide shuttle service to town? Specifically, our cruise docks at the ports for Bordeaux, France which is 3km from town & Milford, Wales. Is there a shuttle or do we need to arrange for transportation ?

Thanks for all your comments. I have to agree with Ka Honu's ratings (except we haven't tried Seabourn) as well as his comments about Regent pricing. Frankly, I am surprised that except for sea days , breakfast & lunch are primarily buffet style. We've also cruised on larger ships & found Celebrity suited us best. Itinerary is most important to us followed by cruise line quality, ship size, service, food, etc.

We are considering a cruise on the Sojourn and are concerned about the formalness (vs country club casual) & food as compared to Regent, Oceania & Azamara which we've cruised on multiple times. From some cc posts there appears to be a trend to be more casual but a lot of objections to it from other posters. I mean nice collared shirt & pants & possibly a sport coat but no tie (worn one most of my life).Can you comment ? We don't want to feel uncomfortable. Also don't want only buffets for breakfast.

We found best quality & price in Cook Islands