marco

Amerrican Cruise Line hs smaller ships that sail NewEngland, the Mississippi,  Intercostal, Puget Sound.  THey are not considered "Luxury" but 7-8 day cruises run approx 5K a person.  

I'd go with Celebrity or HAL, but if you're contemplating anytime that's school vacation time, there will be children on just about every line, of course...some more than others.

Glad to hear it!

817 on The "Divina" on Jan 9th

We were just advised that our stop at Grand Cayman next month has been replaceed with a day at sea

Actually, on some lines 100%.  We were on HAL and everyone, crew and pax had to be vaccinated and also have a negative Covid test within 48 hrs prior to departure. Probably safer then going to the mall.

If your cruise was out of FLL, I'd say "not a problem" but if your cruise is out of MIA, and your flight is out of MIA, and you return on a week day.... the ride from the port to the airport sometimes can take considerably longer then "normal".  As other posted have said, "have a back-up" plan...just in case.

Check with the hotel.  Our experience has been that if  we needed a shuttle beyond their "posted hours" with advanced notice, they provided  the service.

Depends where.  We took a European cruise once.  Not nearly enough time in any one place to explore, no evenings/nights ashore, only coastal ports (obviously).  We do enjoy the European river cruises and choosing a couple of major  cities and spending  a week or so on our own in each and traveling by train to cities within a hr or two to explore for the day on our own. We do really enjoy cruises to Bermuda, we've been on over 20 and a 7 day cruise to Bermuda gives you 3-4 days there, which is long enough to explore and enjoy and WAY less $$$ than if you flew and stayed there for a week.  And of course,  an Alaska cruise is the perfect way to enjoy it.

We also have always wanted to try Crystal, but it seemed a bit pricy.  They had a good deal on a recent sailing (Sept out of NY) to Bermuda, so we went.  Yes, the price was a bit more competitive, yes, it was very nice, but  we were not as impressed as we expected to be.  I thought it quite on par with Celebrity and HAL.

Marella Cruises.  They are primarily a UK line, but they are going to start in 2023 sailing out of Pt Canaveral  I've seen a few U-tube posts and they appear to be complimentary. 

No....a couple of years ago we were on a cruise with friends.  One lives in Fla and drove and parked at the pier in FLL , one flew.  They did the walk off, the one who drove, drove the other to the FLL airport the got to the airport at 8'oclock. It was about 8:30 when he got to his gate.  Obviously, getting to your gate around 8:30 for an 8:30 flight.....you won't be on it.

22 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

Horizon and Zenith were nice smaller ships at the time. Wish we had more of those types around these days. 

And even prior to that, Flagship cruises had the "Sea Venture" sailing to Bermuda on Saturdays and it docked in St Georges and Hamilton.  It's sister was the "Island Venture" and they became "Island Princess and "Pacific Princes" for Princess cruises.

If you are taking a 7 day cruise to Bermuda from say, NY, NJ or MA and you're in Bermuda for 3 &1/2 or 4 days and you're docked the entire time at Kings Wharf, there should be no problem seeing quite a lot, between buses, ferries and taxis.  We've cruised to Bermuda over 20 times in the past 40 or so years and we've probably still not seen "everything". 

On 9/15/2021 at 3:54 PM, rkacruiser said:

I will try regarding your MSC ship.  Is it MSC Monterey?  If so, she is now razor blades, etc.  

I'm not sure MSC had ship named "Monterey", but long ago, the only MSC cruise ship I'm aware of was the "Melody" which was the former Home Lines "Atlantic". Perhaps that's the ship you're thinking of.  We took a cruise on her in 1999 or 2000.  And yes...she has since been broken up.

Sad to say that many of the lines are no longer sailing

Italian Line

French Line

Greek Line

Sitmar

HAL

Princess

Celebrity

Crystal

Celebrity

Chandris

Louis

Cunard

NCL

MSC

Dolphin

Regency

Hawaiian 

Eporitiki

Home

Carnival

Costa

American Export

Viking

How about just lowering the cost of the cruise?

If you want to do it on the cheap, take the "Sunrail" (train) from MIA to FLL and take an uber or lyft from there to your hotel.

I find that the biggest disadvantage booking directly with the line is that if you need to contact them for any reason by phone, plan to be on hold for at least 15 minutes (and that's on a good day!)

I was watching Youtube yesterday, about NCL acquiring the "France" and before they did, they approached the Italian Line considering purchasing  the Michelangelo or Raffaello. If they did, they would have put portholes on the passenger decks that had cabins that didn't have them.  It went on to say the reason those decks didn't have portholes is the Italian Line wanted the ships to have a sleeker look.  (wrong idea, I think)  Don't recall who it was but either the Italian Govt or the Italian line said "nope".  And once upon a time, Home Lines looked at them, as well.

As the ship is pulling out, "Bye Bye Baby" from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes always comes to mind.

Most memorable...actually two.  1) Ephesus  in Turkey  2) Abu Simbel  temple in Egypt

On an other note....I don't know if they had early and late dining seatings for dinner.  We chose "any time" anyway, but in the daily program  for the main dining room for the dinner hour, it just said "5:30 to 9" it did not indicate something like  "fist sitting  6PM Late sitting 8PM. At any rate, we never had to wait and some nights we dined at table for 6, some nights just the two of us.  Some nights they asked if we wanted a large table or a table for two, some nights they didn't.  When the didn't ask, we were always seated at a table for two.  I suppose upon entry, we could have said, 'we'd like a larger table with other guests, if we so chose.  We dined one night in Pinnacle .......nice experience!!!

No...did not take a Covid test prior to or during the cruise.  Were never asked to.

Do you know when SW will open up booking later than Jan 5, 2022?