lx200gps

First question is whether or not the "official" booking actually allows that connection. If the airline says it's OK, then theoretically/technically it is possible. Second question, are you sure you won't have to go back through security again? Probably not, but you are going transborder. Third question, do you have both NEXUS AND airline or credit card priority security access? Having both of these can often massively help avoid the long lines. We always seem to breeze through checkin, security and US entry here in Canada with these perqs. Our last half-dozen flights, we've gone from check-in to sitting in the lounge in as little as 15 minutes, though that is heavily dependent on time of day of course. NEXUS is tremendous. Without them, I wouldn't ever consider a short connection like that. One thing in your favor, assuming it's Air Canada, is that AC will often station staff in the security and US areas calling out the connecting flights and escorting connecting passengers to a shorter line so they can make the connection.

We found that out the hard way as well. We will be staying near PE for our Oct 19 sailing on Princess, and every one of our usual 17th St hotels (Hilton, Hyatt Place, Renaissance etc) were astronomically overpriced, worse than I've ever seen them, thanks to that concert. The sky high pricing extended out to hotels in Dania, even distant Plantation. Amazingly, the Riverside, at that point, hadn't raised their prices and we grabbed a great deal on it. We've never stayed there before, looking forward to it, even though we arrive into FLL quite late and won't get to enjoy the local area.

Assuming we're talking about Montreal airport, if you'd like to avoid even needing to take a shuttle, there is an excellent and hugely convenient Marriott physically attached to the International/Transborder terminal at YUL. The Sheraton is a great hotel and quite close (even walkable in a pinch) but the Marriott can't be beaten for convenience. You don't even go outside when walking to your check-in.

Not stupid at all, I'm a (semi) regular Uber user in the US especially and I don't know how you would voice "call" them to hail a ride, if that's what we are talking about. They do provide customer support over the phone, but AFAIK to use the service, i.e. get a ride etc, it's all done via the app. Certainly for the benefits of the system compared to taxi, like contacting the driver, monitoring his approach so you can find him, tipping etc, you need the app. For that you would need either wifi or a data connection when outside wifi coverage. Since I am always away from wifi when I need to hail a ride, I use my cell phone. Bell Roaming isn't cheap, but it works.

Brace yourselves. ;o( That was around the time we arrived at T6, and it was absolute pandemonium. A huge number of people all waiting for hotel buses, but of course the hotel buses have to work around all the other vehicles arriving and leaving, so their progress is slow. All you can do is stand there and watch the buses arrive one at a time. The drivers know what they're doing and will pull up to each terminal to load their hotel's passengers, but it will be very noisy. When we were there a few weeks ago there was a giant fire engine parked across two of the lanes blocking everyone's view of the arriving vehicles, so we didn't spot our bus until it was almost on top of us. But it all worked out in the end.

No LAX-It needed, as mentioned the hotel shuttle pickup areas are clearly marked on the upper/departure level. Hopefully your hotel shuttle service is better than the LAX Sheraton's. A few weeks ago we waited over 30 minutes in the pandemonium of the shuttle pickup area at Terminal 6 for our Sheraton bus to arrive. While we waited, FIVE LAX Hyatt buses drove by. Guess where we'll be staying next time we have to stay at LAX ;o) Note also that the shuttle buses can be VERY packed with bags and passengers. When our bus arrived, we barely fit on board.

Looks like there's an adapter after all. That model takes a "Lavazza Blue" cartridge, and Amazon sells this fancy adapter: https://www.amazon.ca/Coffee-Filter-Refillable-Stainless-Lavazza/dp/B0CFK58D4Q/ref=sr_1_8?crid=3UH883AJPGEH3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.XEq3L55DhL_nylN90dgPEI1vWRYItuTerK_y7mXhdc_7N0CccQveMS_7KkaRL05rw0nDMY2_5WCkWAfW3tT3SjET19Mp7PjAP8tNGp_BdrqG6x1aUHIZx1xb7gTNyEnRhDKyIBCyj3Ea5QPWqntedOCSwfy2KL-xLNMOquPVFFvsAP7yT8rHFz9KqJhQ5Wemr6yhFYct1f344bQmT79t0xmAn8tBmvVkKYjavoLde-5YH89ibwbA3DN1b7cqdsijx_iK_RPxARkQROgWNVYn4biM2xfYK3TgKQ40CD12DL8.toBk9AoyJYTDfKeW-VeA7BhEmzI4kvLRsRk1a-zYFOI&dib_tag=se&keywords=lavazza+blue+capsules&qid=1709757468&sprefix=lavazza+blue%2Caps%2C124&sr=8-8 Presumably there's a cheaper plastic option somewhere

We did exactly that a few weeks ago at SP. The Uber from our LAX hotel was a lot faster than I expected and we arrived at Pier 92 around 8:30 as well. We waited in a small "holding" tent with the 100 or so who had arrived even earlier than us until check-in started around 9:30AM and check-in was very fast. We sat in the Elite lounge until boarding started around 10:30 and for the first time ever, we were actually the very first to reach the Sanctuary. We, too, love to maximize our time on board.

Are these Lavazza refills the usual standard K cup format, IOW can we bring other refills if we prefer to bring our own? They do appear to be the same size...

I guess that's what I meant to say. He advised do not use Arrivecan when using NEXUS to enter Canada.

I had a related conversation once with a Canadian border agent when we returned off a cruise from the US, flying home into YUL. We are long time NEXUS holders, but I casually mentioned to him that we had also filled out Arrivecan. He was very clear and adamant that we are NOT supposed to use Arrivecan if we are also NEXUS card holders.

There's quite a bit of bizarre behavior going right now for sure. In addition to not being able to see pricing, as soon as the the "We apologize..." banner appears, I'm instantly logged out at the same time. Also, When viewing our three existing bookings, and when I click on the huge "Upgrade Now" button, it no longer shows the available upgrade with the option to select the Plus-to-Premier upgrade at $20/pp, instead it simply shows me what we have booked but does not allow the upgrade as it used to. Looks like they're doing some re-works to the site but using us customers as beta testers in the live environment instead of making these changes off line.

You should be perfectly fine, as they seem to have a LOT of built-in leeway on the use of the old card while your application is processed. Even though my latest card only expires in August 2025, I was looking at the USCBP website on renewals, (to confirm the one year rule for renewals) and regarding the use of the old card, they say: If you submit a renewal application before your membership expires, you will be able to continue to use benefits up to 24 months after your membership expiration date

The PE schedule now confirms that the Enchanted Princess, as expected, will be at Terminal 2 on that date. Have a great cruise.....

As soon as you board the ship there will be employees standing by to do the processing and upgrade you. They will be very hard to miss, no need to go to guest services. The upgrade goes in to effect immediately and you're on your way. Have a great cruise ;o)

If you can't find anything drinkable in the Plus package listings, you can always choose from the higher priced offerings in the Premier package and pay the few dollars upcharge. On the Discovery a few weeks ago we drank the Flowers Chardonnay regularly. Hardly award winning but a LONG way above the rotgut Canyon Road stuff.

As Scott says, early or late is best. When we disembarked a few weeks ago (as we did in October as well), we were among the first off and there were a lot of taxis picking up and dropping off. If you imagine that there are upwards of 3000+ people getting off a ship over the course of only a few hours all crammed in to such a tight area and mixing with an equal number embarking, logic would dictate that trying to find a taxi right in the middle of the disembarkation period could be more of a challenge. As to Uber availability, we took one from our hotel to the port both times, and each time the driver dropping us off also picked up his next fare right at the same spot, so Uber availability early in the process should be pretty good as well..

That's pretty accurate actually. Manhattan to Philly is about 90 miles +/- and comes to $US200. Extrapolating to 350 miles and doing a US to Canadian dollar exchange does come out to the grand he said she paid him for the 7 hour drive.

We once had an Uber driver tell us he had driven a lady from Montreal to Toronto, a distance of 350 miles, after she couldn't get a flight in time. Cost her over a thousand dollars.

I realize that you have eliminated taking the ferry across the Hudson from Weehawken, but given your criteria, there is some merit in considering it at least parking there. Our preferred mode of transport is to drive down and park at one of the two huge parking garages right at the ferry terminal, one of which is co-located with two large Marriott hotels. We drive down the day before. In our case, we do take the ferry across and do the 15 minute walk up the road to the ship, but I realize that is not an option for you. Still, getting Ubers from the Weehawken ferry terminal in NJ to the ship, either via the GW Bridge or the Lincoln Tunnel, would be pretty easy, as the ferry terminal and garages are almost right across the Hudson from the MCT. In our case, staying in NJ and ferrying across the Hudson has two massive advantages for us Canadians with our horrible exchange rate. The parking cost for 7 or 8 days is a bit more than half the cost of parking at the MCT, the garages are big and open and the cost of hotels in NJ are about half of what a comparable Manhattan hotel would cost.

We disembarked at San Pedro both in October and two weeks ago, once at Pier 92 and once from Pier 93. We are early disembarkers, preferring to walk off and get to the taxi line early to avoid the huge crowds. Both times, there were plenty of taxis standing in line right in front of the ship. I was happy to see the taxis, because the last time we had been in San Pedro, pre-pandemic, there were absolutely no taxis to be found that early in the morning, and we had to use a shuttle service van. In October, we used a taxi, but two weeks ago, we decided to try Uber from the port for the first time. We usually don't try Uber when leaving any port (particularly Port Everglades; we also find it a horrible experience), but this time it worked very well. There is a dedicated ride share pickup area, and our Uber driver and I found each other easily. The wait for him to arrive was less than 5 minutes, the biggest delay with Uber drivers is that last few hundred feet while they snake through all the arriving and departing traffic right in front of the terminals. If you disembark a bit later, the crowds will have swelled, but I suspect finding your driver in the ride share area still won't be a problem

Unfortunately, the LAX-It site is still in operation as of two weeks ago. The Uber driver bringing us back to LAX from San Pedro told us it's not going away and is actually being expanded, so it may very well be permanent. As to the taxi stands at the terminals, yes they are there. We used the one at the far end of T7 last October. Unfortunately, the stands do not have a line of taxis waiting for passengers, there is a sign that lists a phone number to call to have a taxi come and pick you up. When we arrived at the stand there were already a half-dozen people waiting ahead of us, who told us they had called the number but the dispatcher didn't know anything about that taxi stand. We finally did have a taxi pick us up, after a 30 minute wait. Next time, we'll just suck it up and take the green bus to the LAX-It lot. If you want to spend the $$$s, the Black Ubers are allowed to pick up at the terminals, as are limo services.

Walking from the port to the Expo site would be arduous for sure, and the big Jacques Cartier bridge would be a huge challenge and a long walk. Taxi or Uber would be the fastest way to get to the island. Keep in mind that many areas on the two Expo islands are pretty "remote" and getting a taxi back to the ship could be challenging, calling an Uber would be easier. There would almost certainly be plenty of taxis waiting for fares at the Casino on Ile Notre Dame, and also at the La Ronde amusement park on Ile St Helene in season when it's open. If you are particularly mobile, the subway would be a 10 minute walk from the ship to the Champ De Mars subway station, then 2 or three stops with a transfer to the Parc Jean Drapeau station on Ile St Helene. The subway station is right next to the Biosphere

Good point. Sadly, this is a known issue at FLL as well as at Port Everglades, and is discussed frequently here on CC. Some taxi drivers are known to not turn on the meter then charge a flat rate. We fly in and out of Fort Lauderdale regularly, but it has only happened to us once. The charge when we arrived at FLL from the ship was about what the charge would have been PRE-TIP on a meter, so I just handed him the exact cash and didn't give him a tip. The solution, of course, is to confirm before getting in to the cab that he must use the meter, and don't get in if he refuses. Aside from that known problem, taxis between FLL and the port are easy, plentiful, and cheap.

There are only two decent hotels in San Pedro, it's a bit of a wasteland. The aforementioned Crowne Plaza is by far the closest, a short walk to the piers, or they have a shuttle. The other one is the Hilton Doubletree in the marina south of the cruise port, also a nice hotel but farther out. If those are not available or are too $$$, look at nearby Long Beach for a lot more hotel options. Also, if it's high season, the whole SP/LB area can be expensive, so consider an intermediate area like Torrance. We always stay there now, hotels are almost always much cheaper than near the port. Transportation from LAX is problematic, as there is almost no taxi or Uber service from the terminals. Google "LAX-It" to see how it's done. The only Ubers allowed to pick up at the terminals at LAX are the very expensive Uber Blacks. There are two very well hidden taxi stands still at the terminals, one near T3 and one near T7, but based on our experience, I wouldn't try them. Either take the bus to the LAX-It lot and taxi/Uber from there, or possibly limo services are allowed to pick up at the terminals, though I can't confirm.