robmtx

Check your travel insurance. Certain policies cover "missed ports" and some do/do not cover things like insurrections. We missed a port once and got $100 from our insurance company by sending them the letter from Royal that we were missing the port. Wasn't much but hey $100 was $100!

11 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Because that is the only route to the eastern shore of Maryland. Adding a new bridge doesn't alleviate that bottleneck. Other proposals had a completely different location providing an alternate route. But it got NIMBY'd.

Yep we were hoping for a location that didn't go thru Kent Island.. So then we'd have multiple options for crossing the bay.

I'm grumpy this morning...

Good for NCL, sticking to policy. The moment one domino falls and exceptions are made, the moment we are all sitting around for hours waiting on the scheduley-challenged. 

Am I the only who was trying to figure out what this has to do with Virgin Voyages?

That's what I get for reading before I've had my coffee.. ugh

Since we have some knowledgeable people here today let me ask.

What is the likelihood they could quickly move enough debris from the main channel to permit ship traffic? There must be enough heavy lifting equipment on the East Coast that could at least help get the lane open? Vision isn't due for 9 days? Could they get the channel open by then?

2 minutes ago, Scottdalfonso said:

Why is Philly out of play? We had the smaller cruise ships sail out of here in the 90's, the Navy Yard COULD handle it, and its a straight shot back down 95. I think Wilmington or Norfolk are more likely, but don't think Philly would be completely out of the picture for any reason- no low bridges, in fact we just had the biggest and highest container ship to ever sail on the East coast come through 2 weeks ago. 

Actually I think Wilmington and Philly have the same prob: The Del Memorial bridge has a 166ft clearance below.. That's fine for massive cargo ships but not so much for tall cruise ships like the ones in Baltimore 😞

8 minutes ago, happyshelly said:

Another possibilty would be the Port of Wilmington.

We have deep water... We don't have a bridge to clear. 

All we'd need is a shoreside setup with tents or something to help accommodate the operations. If Royal and Carnival teamed up, I think they could have this ready by the weekend when Carnival is due back.

10 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

No, it's the 695 bridge. 95 is a tunnel under the harbor.

They referred to the bridge as I95 bypass around Baltimore.. Not 95 itself. Lots of people bypass the tunnels when transiting the Baltimore area and use this bridge instead.

10 minutes ago, DRGrammy said:

Has anyone brought on a folding footstool?  I’ve seen recommendations for inflatable ones, but that won’t work for me and I need to be able to elevate my feet.  They come in a range of heights and I’m not sure what works best for a balcony chair.

Oops deleted

you said foot stool - my bad

Although you know what, you could possibly use this is a foot stool so I'll repost it lol

https://www.amazon.com/Retractable-Folding-Portable-Camping-Activities/dp/B08C2D57ZW

1 hour ago, Neosophy said:

More concerning is CoCoCay.  Anyone been there with two large ships before? 

Who,ever gets in first gets the head start on best locations at the beach and pool. So you're right in planning a ShoreEx so that you have plans and aren't just one of the minions trying to find the best place to hang out. The island can accommodate 11k people, but the "first come first serve" advantage lies solely with the first ship to open their gangway.

16 minutes ago, wampuscat7 said:

I have a couple of questions about our upcoming Oasis cruise related to the specialty restaurants. My daughter is 9, and our cruise is over Spring Break, so I assume we will see kids everywhere. However, are there any venues that are more upscale and kids might feel uncomfortable (150 Central Park perhaps)? Our most recent cruise was in NCL’s Haven and we ate at the Haven restaurant most evenings but no specialty restaurants. 

 

Also, I know there is a kids menu, but my daughter is an adventurous eater. She loves steak, venison, lamb, seafood, etc. Can we pay the adult price for her and/or could she order the kids food but also share some of my food? Would this also be possible with the dining packages? 

Hard to say. If she likes to adventure with her dinner, I'd say any of the restaurants would be appropriate. 

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

Use a site like cruisemapper, which uses sat positioning info in addition to AIS.

I did. 46 mins ago it showed EoS far off the coast but it has since updated. 

Explorer is there today, but seems to have turned off AIS Tracking?

6 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

At Labadee right now. No issues so far, but it’s early. 😎

Do you have a squirt gun with you... just in case ??

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

 

Well good luck on that. What is more vulger and less vulger mean? Also how do you find out who is performing? There are two comedians at each comedy club show and the shows are for adults. OP should probably skip the comedy club if they are easily offended. The headliner shows might be tamer but there might be some jokes offensive some. Audiences expect jokes.....

That's why I recommended checking out the acts online ahead of time. If you start to hear something you find offensive, it's easy to shut it down right there rather than walking out of a club during the skit (although those usually produce very funny moments from the comedian).

To see who is performing, about 1-2 weeks before the cruise, your cruise compass will start to populate. I knew the comedians on our last two Oasis cruises prior to sail date. 

And yeah, I agree, OP will probably need to sit that one out...but still wanted to share how we do our intel on talent prior to boarding. We don't do it to get a temperature for vulgarity, but rather to see if we know them from other cruises or on tv somewhere.

Also for good clean comedy, check out Dry Bar Comedy online!

Also - once you know which comedians are performing, it might be worthwhile to Google them, possibly check out Youtube or wherever, to get a feel for their level of vulgarity.  You may have someone who is more vulgar, or less vulgar, on your sailing. 

14 minutes ago, knbcruisers said:

Hi we have a San Juan stop, itinerary says 11:30 arrival, anyone have experience as to earliest time get off ship to meet your guide?   Working on reservations for private van and ziplining plus other stops.  11:30 ? Closer to noon -1 pm?

It's just really hard to predict with many factors that can change the scope. But, typically you're looking at a gangway opening 60 minutes after arrival. We got into San Juan like 2 hours early the last time we went, and so we were off the ship an hour before the original arrival time.

5 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

So does that mean that if you "cashed in" at 12:00 noon, you could have internet for that afternoon ... and the next morning?  

Precisely.

So like order it around 2pm...have it for that day and evening and then morning and lunch. Then wait a day and do it again, and you end up having internet for like 4 "half days" 🙂

Also, if anyone knows his full name, you can probably follow him on Social. They tend to announce when/where they're going or post updates from their trips.

My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw that Vision is best ship in the fleet. I guess it's pretty serious.

1 minute ago, fac429 said:

It's definitely confusing, and I'm not sure that the information in the article is correct.  Another article I was reading said that cruise lines already collect the VAT for "on-island" purchases (like drinks) but that this would be a tax for shore excursions purchased in advance.  But that also doesn't sound right as shown by your own invoice showing that they collected the VAT on that as well.  I'm not sure if anyone- including the Bahamas, based on their own quotes in the article- actually know what will be taxed that wasn't taxed already...

Yeah I even looked at another receipt for a Cabana in 2023. and same thing.

9 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Whatever included there is not part of the VAT they want to add now.

Ok if you say so. I'm no tax expert, and even less knowledgeable about Bahamian law. But I've been consistently charged 10% VAT for my pre-purchased ShoreEx items at PDCC. 

If anyone can explain how this impacts the current 10% tax on pre-purchases, let me know! Will it be 10% two times? Like a local island tax plus a national tax maybe?

1 minute ago, smokeybandit said:

Taxes, yes. But not the Bahamas VAT tax.

Then what did I pay here in 2022? (email from Concierge)

I think Royal should start having more enrichment lectures at sea. Starting with Economics. They could offer it for free at first, but then start charging $5 once it becomes popular.

17 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

this would seek to expand that VAT to pre-purchased excursions

Pre-purchased excursions have been taxed dating back even before the pandemic. It would appear in your planner as you're making the purchase.