Marese

Latest news is they are awaiting confirmation of infrastructure in Havana prior to making a decision:

Has it left yet? I'm on the 9/18 sailing and so far RC says everything is on schedule but I see they are using it for humanitarian purposes now in the Keys but also that there is still a lot of lingering flooding and electrical outages in Havana. Not to mention clean up from the flooding. Port Tampa Bay says it is now due in Monday morning. I'm concerned as we are supposed to fly to Tampa on Friday and I'd rather not get to Tampa and have something change and then have to try and get back or find a place to stay.

To me, airline check-in is not security.

Actually, it is. Given that this was an international flight it is the airlines responsibility (US carrier or otherwise) to determine that you have the proper authorization to enter the country. Failure to do so on their part can result in the airline being fined and sometimes more. DHS is the only body that determines what requirements the airline must fulfill. Any techniques used in this process must be DHS approved.

Whenever the airlines release flights, which is typically 330 days in advance.

It should also be noted that when booking that far out the schedules are still subject to change and do frequently, so don't be surprised if it does.

There's a good chance Air2Sea has access to fare classes (most cabins have multiple fare classes) that you might not on the airline's site directly. Many fare classes you can access directly with the airline require round-trip fares to be purchased so by purchasing only a one-way fare you are limiting the number of fares available to you. (Source: I'm an airline employee)

I believe generally a 16.9 Oz. (500 mL) <insert name of cheapest brand they can buy in bulk from their suppliers> bottle of water.

Ho well hope to meet you in the future. I think the cruise has to be 7 nights to have an official meet n mingle.

 

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Ah, good to know! This was only my second cruise and the first one was 17 years ago on Rhapsody out of Vancouver. Hope to see you onboard soon!

We were on the same cruise. Did you attend the meet n mingle? Met a bunch of nice peoplr and the beat part was some of us stayed to chat afterwards. Joe made it very enjoyable and almost everyone that attended won a prize!

 

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Unfortunately I didn't, my partner and I were with their parents and they had a group of 12 friends along so we had a lot going on and when we didn't hid in our room. :)

Hopefully there is one on Empress in September I can get to.

To the poster regarding mdr meals, it was fine last week in the mdr. Actually got the best creme brulee i have ever had on a rci ship in mdr. Was not slushy like and it was standard and not banana creme brulee. Don't know if this matters to anyone. It did to me as i have never had an acceptable creme brulee in mdr till last week. Had that dessert 5 days out of 7.

 

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We were on the June 23rd sailing, the food in the MDR during the late dinner on embarkation day was not very good for us, but we found the rest of the week to be great. We just assumed it was an off day and all of the extra activity during the turn around didn't help.

Thank you all!

Excellent!

Thanks for the replies. Is WJ only open during meal times or most of the day? Not that I would sit there and hog a table if it was even 1/2 busy. VCL definitely sounds like the place, hopefully it isn't super busy all the time.

So my partner and I and a large group of in-laws are going on a 7 night Alaska cruise on Explorer in June. It'll only be my second cruise, the first was a 7 night from Vancouver on Rhapsody all the way back in July, 2000.

One of the things I like about Rhapsody (keeping in mind I was only 13 at the time) was that you could find lots of places to hang out indoors and still watch the scenery. I used to sit in the library which at the time was on the side of the ship. I believe it has since been replaced with staterooms.

We have a promenade room so I'm trying to figure out the best places to hang out and be able to watch outside on Explorer. While it looks like a nice ship it appears the design doesn't lend a lot of space for this as much of the public space has been moved to the center of the ship as the promenade.

I was thinking Windjammer and Viking Crown Lounge, but they may have limited hours or seating availability. Does anyone else have any suggestions?

For a November cruise you have plenty of time to renew your passport. Why not just renewed now?

 

 

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This. You have plenty of time, you should just renew and then you don't have to worry about it at all.

This is great the hear as I'll be on Explorer next month for my first cruise in 17 years.

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