LeeW

If you are at the farther pier they run a shuttle bus to the closer one (by the port gate). Tip if you want to. Ship excursions will leave from where your ship is docked. If you booked independent you will likely need to take the shuttle bus. I've seen tours meet there and others outside the gate.

Hmm. You are going to spend a ton of time traveling on a bus between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. Usually the Miami tours include dropoff at the Miami airport. Normally in Miami they bus you to the Bayside Center, store you luggage there, let you take the HOHO and then you come back there for the trip to the airport. Surprised they would run a bus from there all the way back to FLL, but that is the most likely way they would do it. Can't imagine they would leave all your luggage on the FLL bus until you get back. Have heard of massive lines getting luggage back at Bayside.

The offer has nothing to do with gratuities - Move Up is handled by an outside firm that will charge your credit card the bid amount if you win. If you move to a new cabin with higher gratuities and have already paid gratuities (or included in a package) you get charged the extra amount onboard daily.

Bus is not number 1, it is any of the number 10 buses. Fare is $2.60 US or $5 for roundtrip. You can buy the single trip on the bus but roundtrip is sold in the booth at the bus station. See arubus.com for details. Bus runs around every 20 minutes.

They do have van-type cabs that can fit you all in.

Don't depend on the cruiseline to tell you entry requirements for any cruise. It depends on your citizenship and passport. Assuming this is an Alaska cruise, you will need to have entry into both the US and Canada. Canada entry requirements are here: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/entry-requirements-country.html US site seems to indicate UK citizens need an ESTA to enter. Info on UK site seems clearer: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/usa/entry-requirements

Travel wheelchairs that must be pushed by someone else are pretty cheap (try Walgreens). Got one when DW broke ankle. In our area you can get them for $10-15 at local thrift shops. Not a bad thing to have in the basement.

Even if spouse only had 1 point if you are Diamond he is Diamond for all cruises, including if he sails without you.

Just remember you can't check luggage in San Juan until 4 hours before your flight. Will take you a few minutes to run luggage through the agricultural xray (assuming plane stops in US) but you probably do NOT want to get there at 12:30. There used to be no seating or food in the unsecure area but at least that has now been fixed.

Interesting. Our OBC has always shown up immediately on canceling, although usually have to refresh the page to get it to happen. Normally I have the order page open and the excursion on a "open in new tab" page and have to refresh both. Have rebooked many times and have never had a delay of more than a minute. I wouldn't try it if the time was sold out - while we have always gotten the same time, it was available before we did the cancel. Credit card refunds usually take a week or so to show up (some as long as 2 weeks).

Town has fewer people than the ship (we were on old Sea Princess). Locals will dress up in furs and show you how they used to live in tents. Tiny beautiful church (top photo in post above). Locals also put on show of dance and food in their new gym. Kids hung around the tender dock laughing and practicing their language skills at the tourists - very friendly. Gift shop is tiny but has great locally made items. At the time an imported calendar was over $30 but locally handmade reindeer fur elbow length ladies gloves were $17. Also bought a carving from antler. They did NOT want cash - no way to spend it and really no banking facilities. Credit card purchases went directly into the community fund. Lines for tenders were LONG and took 2 hours for us to get off. And a bit chilly - 40 degrees and 40 knot winds in September.

We wanted a shorter cruisetour so have booked Åndalsnes – The Troll Road and Troll Wall from norwayexcursions.com for 69 euros each. Our port of Andalsnes may be closer than yours and right at the bottom of the Troll Road. We are also doing the same Olden glacier tour as you but timing wasn't good for the troll cars. Might get that on site if available and timing works. Last time we were in Bergen bought an original lost wax silver necklace from a shop to the right of the crooked stairs next to the old port and fleece jackets we still use from a booth at the docks. We were docked below the fort. Lots of ships now dock farther east so these could be quite a walk.

Wife broke elbow 3 weeks before cruise and had a movable brace rather than a cast. While I tried to cut up her steak the assistant waiter insisted on doing it for her at the table. Made a big show of process. Kind of like taking lobster out of shell. These folks are experts and are glad to do it. On Royal and Disney waiters did the same thing for 14 and 7 year old granddaughters. Doesn't bother the staff at all and girls were thrilled at the attention.

As of mid-February, none on Voyager. But the bar in the buffet was pretty quick filling our cups.

The terminal building in Nassau was gone in October and you had to walk beyond where it was to get to the street. The pier shuttles didn't run much and seemed to go to ships other than ours. And Royal seems to like docking at the farthest out pier when we are on it. Gangway was steep on Allure but folks in wheelchairs were being helped down. Crew will help there if you need it.

Wanted a small helping of risotto with my steak as a side on Voyager in February and they wouldn't bring it out until I was done with the steak. Didn't want it by then but ate a few bites.

Far fewer loungers near pool but lots of folks don't stay there for the full day - haven't seen anyone touch stuff there but suppose it could happen. Rest of island you often have your choice of 10 or more chairs in an area. Have not been there with more than one ship, though.

Breezy Bay has lots of loungers with umbrellas in the trees, so lots of shade and generally not that busy. Downside is lack of snack shack.

Biggest thing is new D+ drinks. With five each per day we don't even bring bottles of wine onboard any more. We can barely justify getting the soda package. Plus we somehow got Prime in casino, so we get unlimited drinks there if we want them.

Voyager last month B2B had around 50% locals onboard. We like sailing out of there (more/farther south islands) but getting there is much more expensive these days.

Coco Cay cabanas and water park prices tend to go up the later you book. Everything else seems to go up and down. Book and watch prices - if you see a better price cancel and rebook. Will take 7-10 days after cancelling for refund to show up on your credit card. We see few excursions fully booked in Caribbean, although for the last year the tour operators have been having problems getting staff and can't increase the number of people they can handle even when they want to. Lots of the company owners are now driving buses and boats for their company.

If you got an email back acknowleging the bid it has a link that shows you bid and there is a spot at the bottom showing more bidding options.

Soda package is gun only on Radiance. If the gun isn't working they use 2L bottles. If you have the full alcohol package or are buying or getting Diamond drinks they will give you a can.

No customs in St Thomas, just two people at the pier gate checking both cruise card and picture ID when getting back. Problem with Royal dock in St Thomas is that Crown Bay is a couple of miles from downtown so if you want to go there you need a "cab." Big open wagons with seats for 25 that charged $6pp last month.

Hmm - laser image versus sticking a picture on the back of a glass block.