Quilting Queen

We will be sailing on the Star from NOLA in April. What inquiring minds want to know is more about the ship.

 

Norine

I have not found a cruise line that carries my favorite wine and bubbly. It is usually about $10 in BevMo and Total Wine. I hope I can find it in NOLA and FLL for our 2 cruises next year.

I know I will have to pay the $15 fee on NCL but the N/C to consume in room is great on RCL now. We are used to Princess 2 bottle limit and N/C for room consumption.

I did find a good wine on Seabourn last year but it was included in cruise price so didn't worry about finding favorite in Istanbul. I could have asked for it in the room at no extra charge but their wine list was great.

Too bad none of them will update the beer policy. DH likes a specific brand of porter with dinner and none of the ships carry it.

Norine

Also did more research on car rentals. I think it might even be a bit cheaper just to rent from Orlando, park the car during the cruise, and then return it to Orlando since we're spending a few days at Disney after the cruise. If that's the case, Does the Hampton Inn offer cruise parking? I checked the website, but it wasn't clear whether it does or provide rates.

 

I did see a previous post about hotels with cruise parking packages, but most of them only provide shuttle TO the port, but not back. If I pick one of those (let's say, the Hilton Garden), how do I get back to the port after my cruise?

 

Usually the hotels charge extra for parking. If that is the case there is parking at the port. Just check the Home Port page with Ft Lauderdale.

 

Norine

Great information. I want to thank all those that contributed.

 

We will be on the Star from NOLA next April. I think it is the last West.Carib of the year.

 

There will be 3 oldler adults in the Aft-facing Penthouse Suite. We have never been in a suite before so will be very spoiled at the end of this cruise.

 

We started our cruising vacations on NCL and I know they have changed over the years. We hope to have a wonderful week.

 

Thanks again to all the contributors.

 

Norine

Scuba Girl what is the difference between the boats entry and exit access from the water. O have difficulty getting in and out of the water onto a boat due to arthritis. If it is the front step loading it is OK, But if it is a ladder I can't make it.

 

Thanks,

Norine

Thank you very much Twotall for the great review.

 

We will be doing the NCL cruise next April and will be spending 7 days in NOLA before the cruise. We were there for 3 days in May 2004 before Katrina. That cruise was a Mississippi Paddle Wheel River boat upstream to Memphis.

 

Thank you again for all the information.

 

Norine

Thank you Janetz. I let my husband know so he can make a reservation.

 

Norine

Does anyone have the web site for the Park N Go for FLL port.

 

Thanks,

Norine

Thanks Putterdude for the luggage drop off suggestion. I will mention that to the others I will be with.

 

Norine

We will be arriving in Vancouver on Saturday, May 19 by cruise ship. We have reservations for Amtrak at about 5:00 pm. Do you know of a tour we can do that will pick us up at the pier and drop us at Amtrak between 3:00 to 4:00. It does not have to be a private tour, but we will have our luggage with us. I foudn one but it is for $74.00 and we are looking for something that costs less than that.

 

Thanks,

Norine

We will be arriving by ship on Saturday. Taking Amtrak to Seattle for over night, leaving Vancouver at 5:45 pm, arrive Seattle about 10 pm. We do not even have to think about Sunday Amtrak in Vancouver.

 

If we take any organized or other tour we will decide on dinner sometime during the day.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Norine

Aohkay thank you for the Amtrak info. I never found that on the web site before. They have baggage storage and lockers.

 

Now to just figure out where to get dinner to go so we can be at the Amtrak by 4:30 pm.

 

Norine

Wonderful information but I did not find anything about our problem.

 

We will be getting off the Sapphire on Saturday May 19, 2012. We will be taking the Amtrak to Seattle in the evening. There will be at least 3 of us doing this. We plan to take a tour and end at the Amtrak or a restaurant where we can get dinner to go.

 

My question - is there any place to store our luggage at the dock or Amtrak?

 

Thank you,

Norine

I picked up the phone and called hotels. I was told that There is a holiday on Monday May 21 so some could be already booked.

 

I tried the Pan Pacific first and they had no rooms for Saturday, May 19.

 

If I know I am cruising in a year I usually start looking at hotels about 10-11 months before.

 

Norine

I was hunting for a Hotel near the Robson for May 2012 and found Hampton Inn & Suites Downtown Vancouver at 111 Robson St. I made a reservation there but since we will be taking Amtrak the next day with our group from Arizona I was thinking of changing to the Comfort Inn & suites Downtown Vancouver. Ginny was able to book there.

 

I think we will be doing the Hop on-Hop off bus tour to see what is in Vancouver to visit on our July, 2012 Alaska cruise . We do not need to take an all day bus tour since we will back.

 

Since I have some walking difficulty I would like to be on or near one of the bus lines. I know we will have to take a taxi to the Amtrak bus depot no mater where we stay.

 

Thanks,

Norine

There is group of us going from LA to Vancouver repositionion cruise on Sapphire in May 2012.

 

Some of the group will be taking the Amtrak from Vancouver to LA for the return instead of flying. I know we will have to take the Amtrak bus from Vancouver to Seattle. The bus leaves at 5:30 am so we will need transportation from the various hotels we will be booking.

 

What might be the best way to get to the Amtrak bus at 4:30-5:00 am.

 

Thanks,

Norine

This is a great posting site. Thanks to Sheila I got 2 coupons so I will send one to my brother.

 

Thanks again for all the information.

Norine

Sovereigncruiser thank you.

 

If anyone has another one for my brother and his wife it would be appreciated.

 

Norine

norinesquilts at aol dot com

Since this was a short term booking we will be paying in full tomorrow. How can we get a coupon?

 

Thanks,

Norine

What are these Referal Coupons?

 

We just booked our first Seabourn cruise April 11, 2011, Istanbul to Athens. We go to T/A tomorrow to pay in full. We were canceled from Egypt so this is replacement.

 

Thanks,

Norine

I have 2 dates, March 31 and April 4, 2008 and have bid from $60 to $90 for 3 star and have been declined.

 

Can anyone out there help me get a bid accepted on Priceline for either of these dates.

 

Thank you,

Norine