checkard

I was so excited when I got up this morning because I thought Grandeur's winter 2016 schedule would be posted today. Grabbed my phone and checked even before I had my coffee. How disappointing. Hope its not another 2 weeks.

I'm looking at Baltimore sailings for winter 2016 and they are only showing out to October 2016. Am I missing something?

My mom and I take ours and never had a problem.

What is FitBit?

We played Wii for hours on Sunday. Tried some games we had never done before. Lots of laughs and good times.

Cruise #10 on Grandeur coming up this year. Been on other ships but Grandeur is our favorite. We cruise to relax and don't need all the bells and whistles but there is still plenty for us to do if we want. The centrum is beautiful and many activities take place there. Enjoy the dining room and have been satisfied with the food but we don't dine at 5 star restaurants and expect that on a cruise. Port of Baltimore is easiest port we've ever sailed from.

New batteries in the Wii for New Years. Played a few games with the grandkids on New Years Day. The weather is rainy and the kids need to work off so energy so we will be bringing out the Wii today.

We were on this cruise also (did you see the pink boas?). Sea was calm and except for the short storm in St Thomas the weather was good.

We love the ship and the itinerary and have done it many times.

jimandtoni - I have all our compasses. Was there something specific you wanted to know? Unfortunately my scanner is not working right now so I can't post them.

Other than the musicals, what was the entertainment in the evenings. Who was the headliner?

Going on Grandeur for my 9th time shortly and yes, there are some problems but we still prefer that size ship and sailing from Baltimore. We don't need to sit right by the pool so we never have an issue finding chairs and let others deal with the chair hogs. Makes for some really good entertainment.

Yes, the scooters can be annoying but I don't know what hidden medical issues these people may have and I'm glad that I haven't had to rely on a scooter to get from place to place. Same goes for people I see parking in the handicapped spots at the shopping mall.

Someone or multiple someones on every cruise we've been on, no matter which ship, manages to flush something down the toilet and clogs up the system. Its like "what were they thinking when they did that?" but as the saying goes - you can't fix stupid. We had an issue last cruise with the shower leaking and caused part of the cabin carpet to be soaked. We called and they were there quickly. Took them 2 tries and big noisy fans but we had dry carpet in 2 days plus a nice discount on our next cruise

When you have that many people together the rude ones are the ones that stsnd out in your mind.

Ways to save:

Don't drink booze like a fish - those bar bills can really add up If you drink wine you can now take a bottle onboard with you when you embark at the home port and there is no longer a corkage fee.

Lemonade and ice tea are free. If you have to have soda, take a couple six packs onboard with you. We took 6 bottles and didn't even drink all of them since we love the lemonade.

Eat in the dining room or Windjammer instead of the specialty restaurants which are an additional charge (worth it but still additional cost)

Enjoy all the free entertainment on the ship.

Don't get caught up in the frenzy of the "sales" in the shops or on the pool deck. One day T-shirts, then watches, jewelry, Inch of Gold, etc. Find one nice thing you like if you have to have something and that's it.

Don't book a lot of excursions. Research ports before you go and find inexpensive things to do. If you belong to your sailing's roll call maybe you can hook up with other folks for private excursions.

And really important - At the ports make sure you are back onboard in plenty of time so the ship doesn't sail away without you. It's not cheap to fly to catch up with the ship or fly home if its the last port.

With a little internet searching and planning you can have a wonderful vacation and not spend a ton of money.

Where is this deal posted?

We've done a little Wii Fit over the winter but mostly we've been on the real ski slopes, sledding or playing in the snow since it's been a long time since we've actually had snow in our yard and could go sledding with the grandkids. .

I love the dance routines but I have a hard time keeping up too so I just make up my own steps to the music. Hey, as long as I'm moving it's better than nothing.

How old are the kids? We've had 3 adults in an inside room with no problem.

We love Grandeur. Been on her 8 times with #9 coming up later this year. Always the same room - inside on deck 3.

Just saw this on trinity reservations:

"We were finally sucessful in contracting a hotel near Port Liberty in Bayonne NJ that will include free roundtrip cruise port shuttle with our usual overnight stay and a generous 21 days of free parking! This has taken us 2 years to accomplish so this is no small accomplishment! The Ramada Plaza Hotel at Newark Airport is one of our best selling park sleep fly hotels, having just finished a multi million dollar renovation, we now expect this hotel to be our best selling Park and Cruise hotel for Port Liberty in Bayonne NJ. This hotel has the ability to offer Trinity Reservations affordable Park & Cruise pricing with cruise port shuttle for up to 4 people per room. The hotels in Jersey City and sourrounding areas cannot."

Didn't check prices since I'm not sailing from Bayonne but wanted to post it for others who may be looking for a hotel with a shuttle.

There is a bus to Red Stripe Beach right in the port area. $28 pp round trip. There was a restaurant/bar, gift shop, restrooms, lounge chairs for rent and you could sit in the shade or sun. The people there were very friendly and not pushy. Music going and even did some dance lessons. Would definitely go there again if we get back to Jamaica.

Still thinking of using Amtrak for our Nov cruise. 138east suggested Newark Penn Station is better for going directly to the port. Now we might be arriving on the evening before the cruise so we would need to find a decent hotel that is easy to get to. Need suggestions for hotels near Penn Station or would it be better to do Amtrak at the airport to get a decent hotel?

BWI - Best Western - Elkridge MD

6755 Dorsey Road

Elkridge, MD 21075

We stayed at this location before our last cruise. Nice hotel but not a lot around it. We used the free shuttle to go to a restaurant for dinner and then to the port the next day with no problems. Breakfast was good and the front desk folks were very friendly and helpful.

We booked the Elkridge hotel through trinityreservations for $95 total.

Won't have a need for the auto train. We are doing a repo from Cape Liberty that comes back to Port Canaveral so we won't have a car. Just need to get to the Amtrak station from the port.

I'll check into the Cocoa Beach shuttle and Travelynx or possibly a car rental.

Carol, yes we are on the repo sailing with you.

We would be taking the train from Harrisburg PA. Leaves at 7:20 am and arrives in Newark around 10:30. There are 2 Newark stations, the airport and another just listed as Newark NJ. Is that the Penn Station one? Train is direct from Harrisburg to Newark, no transfers.

There will be 3 of us, DH and I plus my 82 yr old mother.

Thanks everyone.

I thought the Orlando station was right at the airport. Glad I asked. Need to check about Sanford, I thought the Amtrak website said that was for auto train folks only.

Now the next question is - what is the best way to get from Port Canaveral to either Sanford or Orlando Amtrak stations and approximate costs.

Can someone tell me what the closest Amtrak station is to Port Canaveral? I know there is one at the Orlando airport but not sure if there is one closer to the port since I'm not familiar with the towns around there.

What is the closest Amtrak station to the port? And what would be the approximate travel time and cost of cab to the port from that station?

Thanks Carol, I guess I could have asked this on the thread since you are on the same cruise but I thought it might help someone else out.

What is the easiest and most ecnomical way to get from the Amtrak station at the airport to the pier? We are looking at possibility of coming the day before sailing and staying at a hotel or taking the train the morning of the cruise. Train should arrive at the airport around 10:20 on cruise day but if we come the day before it would be later in the afternoon so we would need a shuttle to a hotel. It is a repo cruise so we would be flying back to Harrisburg and not Newark.

Just starting to look at options so I'm open to any suggestions to make this work.

Jo - I was following Radio's posts. I met him on one of our Grandeur cruises, really nice guy.

We love Grandeur and going out of Baltimore. Great crew and we don't need all the bells and whistles of the larger ships.

I keep finding good recipes on Facebook and try a lot of them. Some of them are not so healthy either. But I try to eat those in moderation.

Hi Fellow Wii folks,

Did a little Wii over the summer but mostly we were catching up on projects around the house. Got lots of exercise rebuilding a pool deck (stretching, bending, weight training from carrying around lots of boards), lots of stooping and squats while painting the other two decks on our house and now we are painting the house itself so I'm up and down a ladder, more stretching and stooping and plenty of arm exercise while using the roller or brush.

And lots of swimming and chasing grandkids.

Have a cruise coming up in a few months and I was hoping to have lost a bit of weight before we sail but I'm only maintaining my weight and not losing any.