Come Join The Valor Voyagers 6/12/05 Western Caribbean

[Cruisegirl6]

Hi Debbie,

I just saw the 11pm your right exactly the Frances tracking I say....ok now to just loose power, and I am suffering with all my fibro pains here even with meds. But in the process will think Valor, Valor, Valor lol or when its very hot think that I am out on that deck at midnight its so windy and loving every minute of it. LOL

Your cruise will be a fun one with your cruise friends, I just wish I could of made the cruise with my sister but again I spent more money for hurricane number 5....... Well, going up to bed as it may be last night with ac for the next few days. You have got to tell me everything about the Legend haven't been on her.

I do have one question, do you think its possible that I can request the 6:15 early dining, 5:45 is just a bit too early? What do you think?

Oh, I forgot to mention earlier if I were you I would wait until after the holidays to get the airfare, alot could happen....and I always found January to have nice low fares....I will keep my eye out for you what city will you be needing to go out of Philly? Let me know, Lynda

[newbie2cruise]

HI everyone, now that I got my car problem straightened out I can post! Thanks Snowball for your nice words :) I plan on waiting to see what Southwest will offer as they are usually only 69 each way to Tampa, they are all I ever Fly. I hate flying, but feel safer with them.
I sure hope everyone is ok with the hurricanes one after the other, I fell so bad for the people in Haiti it makes me want to cry. I thought about this last night as I whined about my car. At leaset I have drinking water without dead people in it.They are sure to lose a lot more life to cholera and such.
OK enough with the sadness. I plan on starting to decorate for fall today! I love Halloween, my son and I just cant wait!
SHawn travels for his job, so will be able to stay at any holiday inn owned companys \, or hiltons companys. We also get free southwest tickets about 5 times a year. I sell them on ebay for about 300.00 a piece as it cost us about half that to fly to florida, so we make a nice profit.
well I have to go take the rental car back, that I had to rent yesterday. Luckliy they had a special so I got a ford focus for 19.99, not to bad.have a great weekend everyone

[Snowball]

[quote name='lyndamr']I do have one question, do you think its possible that I can request the 6:15 early dining, 5:45 is just a bit too early? What do you think?

Oh, I forgot to mention earlier if I were you I would wait until after the holidays to get the airfare, alot could happen....and I always found January to have nice low fares....I will keep my eye out for you what city will you be needing to go out of Philly? Let me know, Lynda[/QUOTE]Yes, you can request 6:15 instead of 5:45. Just call Kevin and ask him to put that on your reservation. We also requested the 6:15 seating. I will be flying from Philly to either Miami or Fort Lauderdale. I would rather fly into Miami since it is where we are sailing from, but if the deals are better to FLL (which they often are) then I would be willing to fly there instead. If you happen to see any deals, please let me know. Thanks! :)

newbie - you posted that Southwest is $69 each way to Tampa, but we are sailing out of Miami. Just wanted to make sure you knew that so you didn't buy tickets to the wrong destination. :eek: :p

[Cruisegirl6]

I definately will keep my eye out for airfares from Philly. I will also call Keven monday about the second first seating assignment. Thank you, Lynda

[newbie2cruise]

newbie - you posted that Southwest is $69 each way to Tampa, but we are sailing out of Miami. Just wanted to make sure you knew that so you didn't buy tickets to the wrong destination.
Hi yes, i know we are sailing out of Miami, I was just using that as a average cost from Southwest, thanks for checking. I have been checking to Miami since I need to buy tic's for my upcoming cruise in 40 ish days, right now they are 79.00 each way to FFl. Not too bad, we plan on stating at a really nice resort that night.
This has been a busy weekend, we drove down home(3hrs) sat moring after DH had a 2 hr drive home, then turned arounf this am and came home. IM driving the Grandparents car we are borrowing for a few weeks, while our blown head gasket get fixed. SO im driving a Olds Bravada now. Quite different than what Im used too!!! My sis was in the path of the HUrricane this am, She lives in Sarasota, hope everyone in Fl is ok!
Well I have a ton of laundry to do, anyone want to help?????

[Snowball]

Hi everyone! I just wanted to see how everyone is doing since Jeanne passed through. She is supposed to bring lots of rain up here on Tuesday, but that's nothing compared with what others had to deal with - especially those from Haiti. :(

[Snowball]

Hi everyone! I hope those of you in Jeanne's path made it through ok. We are getting lots of rain from her right now, but I know that others have had it much, much worse this season. :o

Please don't be a stranger! :( Come out and chat with the rest of us. I would love to really get this thread hopping with activity.

Just think, in less than 3 months the Valor will be making her debut, then we'll be able to see interior pictures and read reviews! :D

[Cruisegirl6]

Debbie and those who are traveling from Pittsburgh,

The airline I am speaking about that I now see advertised in the paper is USA 3000. They have flights from Philadelphia to Ft. Lauderdale. They have been in business for awhile.....check them out at 1-877-USA-3000 They advertise $59.00 one way fares. Do not book Delta they are filing Chapter 11, I would not trust them for an airfare all the way in June they won't make it I believe. I believe that one day soon only the small airlines will last...anyway, just figured you want this info, but I will continue to keep my eyes open for you.

Lynda

[Snowball]

Thank you so much Lynda!!! I just went to their website, but their June prices aren't listed yet. I saved them to my favorites, so I won't forget to keep checking their prices. How did you make out with Hurricane Jeanne? I bet you are so in need of a cruise right now. I feel so bad for everyone that has had to deal with this extremely busy hurricane season.

[joleda]

hello everyone, we will be joining you on June 12th. We just booked last night. We are a familty of four, Me (Dave) Wife (Joanne) Son (Darrin-14) Daughter (Leah-10). As you can see, we have cruised a bit. We always do the cruise critic meet and chat thing before every cruise. We are looking forward to talking to everyone. We have 51 days left until our Princess cruise and are on that board quite a bit. I will check back in often.

Take care,

Dave

PS- Debbie, where are you in Philly? I have many relatives in the northeast area.

[Snowball]

Welcome aboard Dave & family!!! :D Did you book with our cc group or on your own? Just wondering since I am trying to keep track of everyone in our group. My daughter will be so happy to hear that another teenager is booked - she will be 14 when we sail and can't wait to meet other teens onboard. You should check out our group board - we have info listed there for the ports, hotels, and airfare. Feel free to contribute any info that you think may be helpful.

I live in Port Richmond, which is between the Northeast and Center City. Only takes me about 20 minutes to get to work in the morning, and that's during rush hour. :cool:

[joleda]

Thanks for the welcome. I will check out the boards. We booked on our own last night with Cruise value, I didn't even know about this. We needed to hurry and decide to get the upgrade specials last night. So we did. Kids have their own room for the first time!! Yipee!! I have many relatives all over the area. basically we use Roosevelt Blvd. to get to everyone , if that helps. I will keep in touch now I have it marked.

Later,

Dave

[Snowball]

Dave - what airport will you be flying out of? I have been checking the rates out of Philly, but they are still kind of high. I am hoping the prices drop in January, after Southwest and the other discount carriers release their prices.

[Cruisegirl6]

Debbie and Joleda,

I will keep my eye out for you on airfares as I live in Florida, Debbie go back to that airline in January. Jeanne gave us more wind but since we had Frances two weeks prior, all the weak trees and limbs of the trees fell during Frances, so Jeanne didn't cause much work afterwards. I still have half my hurricane shutters up, don't trust things until at least the end of this month. I heard that this hurricane trend will go on for the next few years, its a good thing that we are all going in June as that is a very safe month.

Joleda, Welcome aboard!! :) My son will turn 16 on June 7th and my daughter is 13, our kids are around the same age, and mine also have their own rooms this time. We are getting a great deal and have great people on our sailing date. I just wish that it were May already. LOL

Lynda

[joleda]

Deb, we usually try and get a decent price out of Wilkes Barre/Scranton (AVP) Because it is 15 min. away. But, they are usually higher than any others in the area. We are flying from Binghamton NY for the Nov. one. We got a pretty good rate (196) and it's only 45 min. drive. We have never flown from there before, so we will see. It is a smaller airport like AVP. We also have used Allentown aka Lehigh Valley (I think its ABE). That is 1 hr. drive. We also have Newark and JFK, but we try and stay away from there. 2-3 hr. drive depending on traffic. Phila. is about a 2 1/2 hour drive. If it isn't too much more, we just go with AVP. Prices are definetly cheaper to FLL then Miami. We have stayed at the Amerisuites in FLL before and took their shuttle (or Limo'd) to Miami Pier. Right now I am getting around $250 + from AVP to FLL. It's just a hassle trying to get the price and the right times. We will fly down on the Sat. before. and return the Sunday we get back. With the airlines changing and bankruptcy rumors and things like that, they could change at any time. That definetly is not a stable industry at the moment. We booked our Nov. tickets about 6 mo. ago for the $196. Right now the same tickets are around 500-600 each!!! We made a good move there.

Dave

[Snowball]

Good morning and TGIF Valor Voyagers!!! We're now down to 36 weeks until our cruise. :cool:

What is everyone doing this weekend? My daughter is staying at a friend's house for the weekend, so my hubby and I might go out to dinner and a movie. I want to see either Ladder 49 or The Forgotten - they both look pretty good. Then watch the football game on Sunday - GO EAGLES!!!! :D

Dave - I am almost definitely going to fly out of Philly, and our biggest carrier here is US Airways, although we have other smaller airlines too (USA 3000, Southwest, Airtran). I am very nervous about buying tickets through US Airways or Delta because of all the financial problems going on. We are flying down the day before the cruise too, and flying back on the 19th after the cruise. Where are you planning on staying that Saturday night? I am going to try my hand at Priceline this time - for the Miami Beach or South Beach areas. I need to look around for a back-up hotel that isn't too expensive in case Priceline doesn't work out for me. How much was it for you to stay at AmeriSuites, and did the price include the shuttle to the Miami port?

I hope everyone has a great weekend, and STOP LURKING - START POSTING!!! :p

[SAYHEYRENEE]

[quote name='Snowball']Thank you so much Lynda!!! I just went to their website, but their June prices aren't listed yet. I saved them to my favorites, so I won't forget to keep checking their prices. How did you make out with Hurricane Jeanne? I bet you are so in need of a cruise right now. I feel so bad for everyone that has had to deal with this extremely busy hurricane season.[/QUOTE]
Debbie, wanted to give you a heads up about USA3000.
I was looking at them say to leave on Sunday and return on Friday. They had no flights on Sunday but I could leave the Tuesday or Wednesday before and Friday I couldnt leave FLL till 10pm at night????. Which wouldnt work. I thought I was doing something wrong so I called them.
They are owned by apple vacations and they have various charter trips. If they dont sell out the trip the airplane has to go anyway so they open seats for sale. The flights are scattered and the times are all over the place. That is how she explained it and I understood it.

[joleda]

Deb, we stay at the Amerisuites because we have these certificates we bought last year from where my wife works. We can't get any more so we want to use them. I think the regular rate is 119 and they do have a shuttle to Miami. We just have a little snafuu though. I have to call them back tonight. For our Nov. cruise they were saying they don't honor them. So we booked the Comfort Suites. But I was persistent and talked to the manager today and they do except them. So, I have to work on cancelling the other one. I booked it through hotels.com so I have to see what the penalty is. If we fly from Philly, and we leave early, I may stay at a Philly hotel and leave the car. Any suggestions?

Dave

[Cruisegirl6]

I don't think you should book up flights at this time, Right now airlines are concentrating on the holiday times, which brings the prices up. As a former Long Islander and traveled a few times a year down here to Florida (I now live down here for 13 years) I suggest to wait until after the holidays as January is a great month to book up airfares. Deals will come out, even right after Presidents day in February they go down again. The airline industry is very rocky now and I would not chance purchasing tickets this soon....delta and us air are in trouble. I don't think Delta will last much longer....I also suggest for those who have delta skymiles to cash them in now.

[Snowball]

Renee - thanks for the info on USA3000 - I was wondering what their deal was. I'll be seeing you in 20 days for our CTN!!! :D

Dave - I've lived in Philly all my life, but I really don't know too much about any of the hotels here. I know there are several down by the airport, and you can probably get a good deal through Priceline - just pick the airport area and you'll be ok. :)

Lynda - I agree that the real airfare deals will probably start popping up in January. I am a "planner" and like to book stuff as early as possible so that I know its done, but it looks like I'm gonna have to wait a few more months to book our airfare. I'm still going to check the prices in the meantime, of course. ;)

[Cruisegirl6]

Debbie,

I totally understand as I am a planner also, I will keep my ears and eyes open for you. :)

[Snowball]

Hi everyone! I just noticed that my clock for this cruise is now down to 250 days. :cool: Is it still too early to start packing??? :rolleyes: :p

[lhall85917]

Maybe a little too early to pack, but perhaps we can get out the suitcases and dust them off! :p

[Snowball]

Hi everyone! Just bringing this back up to the top. How are you all doing? Did anyone book their airfare, hotel or excursions yet? If so, please fill us in on the details. :)

[joleda]

No air yet. I think I am going to wait. Now United is cutting back! We are booked for Nov. 19th from Pa. I hope nothing changes.

Dave