navybankerteacher

Or, if there is a likelihood of your getting to Florence (which deserves several days) on land travel, save it for such a time when you won’t be frustrated by the long travel which leaves too little time - and go to Luca, which is worth the time and can be fairly done on a cruise stop.

A short (2 to 4 day) cruise might make sense if you need to discover if you might have a seasickness problem. Otherwise, it will not give a first-timer any sense of what cruising is. A large part of your time will be spent unpacking, finding your way around, and re-packing to get off - while hitting one (perhaps a second) uninspiring nearby port (all while being among a substantial number of booze cruisers). 7 days is the logical minimum, and if you really want to get the feel, go for ten days or more. And while hitting multiple short ones might be a way to “…bump up your loyalty/reward level…”, picking itineraries based upon using such points seems a dreary way of using vacation time and dollars.

Agree. The silly thing about equating beef with fine dining is the fact that beef is very easy to cook at home: oven, gas grill, or charcoal. I prefer to spend my dining out dollars on dishes I cannot produce as well as a professional. Then, too, another cruise passenger favorite is lobster - which again is so easy to prepare at home (and not too pricy if you live near the New England coast).

Drinks packages make sense for people who are heavy drinkers - and possibly encourage some people to become heavy drinkers (at least while on vacation) so as to get their money’s worth.

The real “sour attitude” in this context strikes me as that of people who only want to dine with the one or two people with whom they boarded the ship.

Even if there are not a lot of single people at your table, there will still be a number you will dine and converse with every night - so in stead of being on your own at meals you will be with people to share discussions of the days activities , etc.

While Brooklyn has some points of interest, it is simply does not compare with Manhattan (“…the tourist circuit…” whatever that is meant to mean) in offering points of interest: cultural, entertainment, gastronomic, historic — you name it.

Sign up for a large table, fixed dining. Since those people who are unhappy (or unable) to dine with others will request anytime, you have a good chance of having a compatible group to meet with every evening - if you get a bunch of turkeys, you can request a change, but having a regular group every evening can make dinners enjoyable and give you people to hang with.

I would assume that comparable cutbacks are taking place on all lines. So, given NCL's focus on low fares and their many, many alternative (meaning extra fee) options I am inclined to think that NCL will retain its wide lead in the bad food category.

This is why it makes sense to not plan timing too closely -- while there may be convenient later trains if you miss your first choice, the cost can be really significant.

I would imagine that itinerary and dates would play a much larger role in fixing cost than the age of a ship.

It’s about two miles. Walkable in good weather if you travel very light, but a New York yellow taxi is likely best option.

Not necessarily. Two of the better lines (verging on premium): Azamera and Oceania offer superior cruises on ships about 20 years old. The real “bargains” (if by that term you mean “cheap”) are to be found on the more recently launched Walmarts of the Sea - the 4,000+/- pax mass market vessels of NCL, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, MSC, etc.

Have you considered your garage? You are not that far from an Amtrak station.

Look up “value” in a dictionary — it does not mean “cheap”.

If you lose something of value to you, does it really matter if you originally paid for it or if you got it as a gift? Someone who was given a car for his birthday experiences the same loss as someone who bought his car if his car gets stolen.

But why not establish the shelter in a facility which will be available for more than 2 1/2 months -- unless you really believe the migrant issue will go away that quickly.

This is a no-brainer: take the night flight the day before - which gives you a chance to recover if your flight is cancelled. If you go for the Southwest flight day of and it is even seriously delayed, you are done. Sure: you may have gotten a "free" cruise -- but once you have it, it still has value to you which is worth protecting. Finally that "statstical" "1% chance of being a problem" is simply optimistic BS. Anywhere much north of Aruba in February has a fair chance of a substanial weather delay on any one of the 100 days between December 26 and April 5. Surely more than one of those days in any given winter will see a delay.

Of course, port side for New York arrival means sunny side for crossing.

While you probably can make that 5:30 train, the possibility of a slightly delayed arrival or C & I hang-ups would make me want to allow just a bit more time - especially as there is such a convenient alternative.

Check your math: L3K per person for 7 days equates to L857 per night for a couple. Then, of course, while you may not always get all of what you pay for, you surely will not get more than you are willing to pay for. Accomodations, meals, transportation and entertainment on a top of the line luxury provider does not get less expensive in periods of inflation. Price out other luxury options.

Likely not; but if one had a balcony and preferred it to a more public area for sailaway, the starboard side would offer a better view.

That's just silly. First, why not take in a bit of London while you're there; then, of course, if you like a bit of sun, you sail port side westbound and starboard eastbound. If you hate sun - try vice versa. If you insist on the same cabin both ways, you are likely to be disappointed half the time. Also, on starboard side eastbound you get a good view of the Statue of Liberty shortly after leaving the pier. Port side coming west would mean you'd have to be up at an obscenely early hour to see it.

NEWS FLASH! : All things change, continually -- as Heraclitus (noted pre-Socratic thinker) commented about 2,500 years ago: "A man cannot enter the same river twice."

Well, ships from those three piers all sail under the Verazanno Narrows Bridge and enter the Atlantic from New York Harbor, and much of what happens in those three locations is governed by "The Port of New York Authority". They may sail from and return to different piers -- but in the same port.