plane2port

Perhaps you've been to Rome umpteen times and you've hit all the main sites (and many more than once!) You'll be docked in Civitavecchia and want to do something a little different, but you're feeling a little lazy (don't want to rent a car) and cheap (don't want to spend any money on shore excursions.) May I suggest Aqueduct Park?

You can get there with your one-day BIRG ticket, you can spend as much or as little time as you want there, and you'll see three ancient aqueducts. And there's no admission charge!

I've put the directions and a couple of maps in my (personal) blog post.

http://www.plane2port.com/rome-port-day-aqueduct-park/

Great job getting a good deal. Enjoy your cruise and best of luck in the casino!

I'm finishing up this little project now. You may have seen my posts on the Sky back in the Spring and in June. I've also posted some write-ups on other lines which can be found on the other forums or in the blog. I've been looking at what it would cost to stay on the ship for the month of January 2017.

http://www.plane2port.com/living-on-the-norwegian-sky-last-minute-pricing/

Prices stayed about the same for about six months after I first looked in early spring, then they dropped quite a bit in the last month or so. We're now looking at a per diem cost of about $259/couple per day, and that includes gratuities AND the open bar.

Hi, it's the OP here. The longest cruise I've taken was 12 days and I was NOT ready to get off the ship. We were cruising in Europe, however, and it would take a really long time to get sick of many of the ports there, I think.

When I started my series about living on cruise ships, I really was more focused on the economics of it rather than as a preferable lifestyle. I was sort of wondering if you could sell your house and live on ships with the money you save not making mortgage payments, taxes, insurance and maintenance. If you live in a million dollar house in Cali or the NE, perhaps costs would be similar. If you keep the house though, the economics just don't seem to work out.

That said, there are plenty of people who own houses and also spend an extended time on cruise ships and never get sick of it. We haven't heard from many of them. Perhaps they are cruising right now?

This past fall we were on the CB for 29 days in a B2B and actually enjoyed it. It was the longest time we ever spent on a cruise ship at one time with the longest before that being 17 days. So we have spent almost one month on a single ship consecutively. I can see how some would like this.

Would you have enjoyed staying on another 30 days...or longer?

How is a period of 1 month 'living' on board?

Obviously it is not .... But since I was looking at costs across different ships and lines I needed to pick a convenient time period for cost comparison. A week is too short and longer than a month would just take too long to do research.

Some of you may remember when I posted back in March about how much it would cost to spend January 2017 on board the Regal Princess.

I've checked last minute pricing, and found that two of the four 7-day sailings are sold out. So if you waited until the last-minute to book, you would be out of luck! The price on the remaining two sailings did go down a bit however!

http://www.plane2port.com/living-regal-princess-last-minute-pricing/

If you're an airline employee, go to your company interline site or one of the mass interline sites that have to verify airline employment before they give you the rates. Perx.com is a good start.

 

Royal's Independence of the Seas on January 9th and 14th are quite cheap for interline rates right now.

 

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I have booked an interline rate before using the agency that has the "90-day-ticker." We took a 7-night med cruise for a base rate of about $380. I was not seeing those rates you quoted because they did not appear on the 90-day ticker.

But when I put in Independence on those dates I saw what you were talking about. I like the site I used, but must remember to have a broader search area next time I look.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up. I learned something today.

If you are still monitoring this thread, take a look at the interline rates now.

 

If you aren't married to Carnival, there are some great interline deals on Royal in the middle of January. Balconies for $150 and suites for $250.

 

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Hi, I'm not seeing those rates on the sites that I frequent. Would you mind pointing me in the right direction ;). Thanks!

We cruised on Fantasy in early December and very much enjoyed it. I loved Mikey the cruise director and his high/fun energy. Let me say I am a 62 yof. I am platinum on Carnival and Mikey is my favorite CD so far.

 

Pittypat

 

We were probably on the same cruise! I think that I might have been able to appreciate Mikey more if we weren't always hearing his voice at maximum volume.

 

I think we're in the minority in our perception of noise levels on the ship. You may have read my post about how we left one of the shows because it was just too loud. It didn't seem to bother anyone else in the audience and I guess if enough people complained they would turn the volume down.

We had an easy disembarkation. We had a balance on our on board account, and this was refunded to a new Carnival gift card. I'm made lists about what I liked and didn't like about our cruise.

http://www.plane2port.com/carnival-fantasy-babysitting-cruise-disembarkation-review/

That's all folks! Thanks for reading and happy cruising!

We have a fun but exhausting day as we try to make the last sea day fun for the boys.

http://www.plane2port.com/carnival-fantasy-babysitting-cruise-review-day-five-last-sea-day/

The port day in Progresso was just OK, although we did enjoy being in the authentic central Mercado.

I also rant a little about our cruise director, the childrens' TV programming, and what I call the "Milk Situation."

http://www.plane2port.com/carnival-fantasy-babysitting-cruise-review-day-four-progresso/

We spend a great day at the water's edge in Cozumel, I discover Guy's Burgers, and Binko won't be fooled into staying in Camp Carnival.

http://www.plane2port.com/carnival-fantasy-babysitting-cruise-review-day-three-cozumel/

Thanks for taking the time to blog about your cruise. I'm enjoying reading it, though my experience will be slightly different without any kiddos.

Thanks, and I'm glad you're enjoying it. I'm glad we took the kids, but our experience would have been totally different without them. For example, we would have have dinner every night in the main dining room, where the food is much better quality than the the buffet IMHO.

The Quality Inn near the port also has a stay and cruise package. They quoted me a price of $109 for one-night's stay, cruise parking and shuttle to the ship.

No we didn't try to hide it. We figured it was luck of the draw whether or not they confiscated it. We did notice a sign saying that any alcoholic beverages that were confiscated would have to be returned to private vehicles. We had figured that if they took it they would just return it at the end of the cruise. Maybe there is no more "naughty room?"

We just packed it in one of the suitcases which we carried on board.

The kids like the pizza and ice-cream machines, and the golf and water slides. Binko is not happy with Camp Carnival. Mikey the cruise director starts to get on my nerves.

http://www.plane2port.com/carnival-fantasy-babysitting-cruise-review-day-two-sea-day/

We just got back from doing an exhausting cruise with our two grandsons who are five and two years old. I'll be putting the review on my blog, with one post for each day of the cruise. My first installment is

http://www.plane2port.com/carnival-fantasy-babysitting-cruise-review-day-one/

In this post I talk about driving to Mobile, finding cheap parking, visiting Battleship Park, and boarding the ship and attending the muster drill with two small children.

I have always thought the cheapest way to live on cruise ships is to track last minute opportunities on *************** and have a travel allowance for airfare and Hotwire lodging to travel to ports with cheapest per cabin stats. Many hover in the $29-39 per night range for interiors. You would just need to be flexible about where you sail and on which ship and line.

 

 

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I think you are right that this is the cheapest way to go. And I may investigate this strategy on my next go 'round. You would have to be willing to spend a week or so on land occasionally if no cheap opportunities arose. I too have been intrigued by those super low rates! $30 a night per person plus gratuities would be $85/night for a couple sharing an inside cabin. At those rates many retirees could afford to do perpetual cruising. But of course you can't count on getting this rate all the time.

Is the $10/day parking garage the one right across the street from the Quality Inn?

It is. As we were pulling out of the Quality Inn parking lot I noticed it and stopped to check their price.

Vacation schedule and pricing sometimes does not match.

 

 

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I certainly am aware of this. For years all my vacations were planned around the academic calendar. I've taken many Thanksgiving and Spring Break cruises!

My original thinking when I first started this series was that there is a subset of cruisers who have the time to to stay on cruiseships for a good part of the year. I was just wondering about the economics of doing so.

Here's a recap of pricing for sailing the month of January 2017 on the Royal Princess:

http://www.plane2port.com/living-royal-princess-final-pricing/

Short version: Per diem has dropped from $295 to $266 per day, but one of the itineraries has sold out--one of the pitfalls of procrastinating!

We just got off the Fantasy in Mobile yesterday. Loath to pay the $18 charged at the port parking lot, we started to drive around the port area to see if we could find something cheaper. We found the Quality Inn near the port charges $5.00/day to park so we parked there for a total charge of $25! Not only that, but they gave us a ride right to the ship!

I asked about their park and cruise package and they offer that for $109. Not sure if that includes tax. When we disembarked, we walked from the ship with our suitcases to the hotel with no difficulty.

I noticed that people are still parking for free under the overpass right outside the port. We saw a sign with a tow truck on it when we were looking for parking, but when we walked by it when we left the ship, the sign actually said "cars will be towed that are blocking other cars." We actually saw a guy get off the ship and get in his car and drive away. So that is also an option.

There is also a public parking garage near the Quality Inn that charges $10/day. With these three options I see no need to pay the overpriced $18/day unless you absolutely must park right next to the ship.