Misplaced Texan

On 10/7/2019 at 8:39 PM, BytheC said:

What's wrong with dressing in your best attire? What happened to looking your best and feeling you best when you are with the one you love. If  your suit or tux is too tight, get it tailored. You will always look better dressed in good fitting, fine clothes. Make an effort. 

I quite agree.

All of these gentlemen appearing without tailcoats and ladies in neither gowns nor gloves are really quite gauche.

One must uphold standards, after all.

On 9/26/2019 at 3:47 PM, cruisegirl1976 said:

If they stopped serving booze .. 😂

This is the correct response. Dry ships would be a definite line in the sand.

Also, if they got rid of all of the active things on the ship (flowrider, rock wall, etc.) or did away with specialty dining it would make us less likely to choose Royal.

Globally, the bigger ships aren't more crowded than the smaller ships. On just a space-per-person basis, they should be less crowded. But I think that locally, in specific venues, they can become more crowded.

On smaller ships, there are relatively few public spaces and you don't necessarily ever feel crowded, but you also don't ever feel like you have a space more-or-less to yourself.

On the Oasis ships, in my experience, things can get really crowded in a popular venue at a popular time--more than on a smaller ship  But, you can also find yourself feeling like you're on the ship with few other passengers if you're in a less popular area at a given time.

4 hours ago, leetompkins said:

Hi Cruise Critic Experts,

We live near San Antonio and Austin TX airports.  Can any of you that live near these cities that have cruised on the Freedom out of San Juan provide the best recommendations/options for flying to San Juan for this cruise?  

From either airport, you'll be making a connection.

Outside of doing something exotic, you really have five options:

- Southwest, most likely connecting in Orlando (but possibly in Tampa or Fort Lauderdale): Two free checked bags each and if you care where you sit you can pay  for the early bird check-in and most likely get an A boarding pass. 

- Jetblue connecting through either Ft Lauderdale or Orlando: Some fares have one free checked bag/some don't. Free in-flight wifi if that's important to you (though on many of their older planes you'll lose connection out over the Gulf, depending on routing, and also over the Caribbean). If you need leg room, their even more space seats do actually add some leg room.

- American connecting through DFW or Miami. Unless you're a frequent flyer with them or have their credit card, you'll pay for bags. If you need more leg room, you can pay for their Main Cabin Extra which will come with a free alcoholic beverage and snack. If you have an Amex Platinum (or Centurion) card, you can also use the Centurion Club in either DFW or Miami, which would make your layover somewhat nicer.

- Delta connecting through Atlanta. Basically the same drawbacks and benefits as American except if you do have an Amex Platinum, you could use the Skyclubs in both Austin and Atlanta. Their upgraded economy product is called Economy Comfort and also comes with a free alcoholic beverage and drink.

- United connecting through Houston (IAH). Same as American/Delta except that their economy plus product doesn't include the drink and snack.

You could book any of the latter three today. You'll have to wait couple of months for Southwest and JetBlue.

Southwest is likely to be cheapest all-in unless you have a way to get free checked bags on one of the others. Looking at last May and at the March schedule it looks like Austin will give you a lot more flight options with them than San Antonio. 

If you do book Southwest, keep an eye on the connection point. They do offer connections at BWI (Baltimore-Washington) between Austin and San Juan, which is more than a bit out of the way.

For a group with a wide range of ages, a boat tour down the intracoastal might be fun as well.

You'll probably see dolphins, sea turtles, and likely manatees. Plus, on a nice day, you'll probably see a wide variety of sail and power boats out and about.

What weather app are you using? I need to get it.:D

It’s called ***orecast.

Well that’s interesting. W-T-Forecast except without the dashes.

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I have a little different viewpoint about cruising.

 

I remember when air travel was an experience and people dressed up for the plane ride. Then the airlines started marketing to the groundlings and it has now become like an airborne New York subway ride.

 

I also remember when an ocean cruise was an experience and people dressed up for the cruise. Then the cruise lines started marketing to the groundlings and it has become like a floating county fair with the Beverly Hillbillies.

 

We now look at cruising as basic transportation to get from the US to Europe or Europe to the US. We don't expect five-star dining anymore, we expect the shows to be over-amplified, we expect to see feral children run loose, and we expect to see chair hogs.

 

But we don't expect to pay extra for food when there's plenty in the MDR and the buffet.

Interesting post.

I'm not sure what your reference year is, but given the obvious nostalgia for "the crossing" and early jet travel let's call it mid-to-late-60s.

So those fine ladies and gentlemen dressing for their flights were paying the equivalent of $3k to $5k in todays' dollars (more earlier in time) each for a coach seat across the pond. Today I can get two lie-flat seats in business for that price, nap instead of sitting upright, and still have a bit in my pocket on a good day.

On a mid-century liner crossing, even third class would be a couple of thousand dollars in today's money. And whether pax wore a tie or not, the food and entertainment weren't particularly nice.

If you were once, for whatever reason, able to book first class crossings then that's wonderful. You might still relive that experience on a luxury brand (though caution, most have gone "country club casual" these days and might offend you).

You also always have the option of Cunard where the Queen's Grill class still requires appropriate dress and will serve you in the style you obviously recall from earlier grand crossings. At ~$6k per person it is cost competitive in today's dollars with what a first class crossing would have cost in those earlier, vanished times.

Finally, I must complement you on your experience with five-star dining. I have eaten at a number of one-star restaurants, a few two-stars, and on two memorable occasions a three-star. But your experience must be extraordinary.

We love Southern.

If we’re going to Mexico we prefer land vacations in interesting places the whole Cozumel/Costa Maya scene.

The typical Eastern ports are too much like mostly-identical Potemkin villages of shopping and bars to capture cruise dollars for my tastes.

The further south you get, the more each island retains a unique character and experience.

I haven’t done it in years, but my first cruise was Boston to Bermuda, and Bermuda is still an interesting and fun island if you want something different.

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Hi - Can you expand on this a little ?? We are driving from Orlando to Port Everglades for our April cruise and did not know about tolls that cannot be paid for by cash ? How do you have to pay them ? Credit card or other ??

You don’t need to worry so long as you rent from a highway toll administration member (https://www.htallc.com/en/coverage#ourpartners). They cover all the majors (Avis, hertz, national) plus several discount rental companies.

You just go through like you had a sunpass and they bill the card you rented with. There’s like a $3 one-time fee for any day you incur a toll.

The days of dealing with expensive transponders from the rental companies or other complexities are, at least in much of the country, a thing of the past.

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We're both working.

Last year we took one cruise, the first for either of us in more than a decade.

We liked it so much that we had three planned for this year. But then some friends floated the idea of renting a place in Italy for a while this summer, so now we're down to two cruises plus that. If it falls through, we'll be back to three.

In the near future I see us taking two a year. One with my parents and in-laws, which we're doing for the second year in a row this year, and one just for us.

We have the opportunity to move to the Royal Loft Suite for an extra 2k from a 2 ATS, room 8730. Its a family of four with an 8 and 4 y/o. Should we do it? Money isn't the issue at this point, but we don't get out often on family vacations so just making the most of it. I know the RLS is close to CK and the lounge, but ATS has a few of the shows for the kids.

 

Thoughts?

We have an almost-3 y.o. and I wouldn't want the stairs and loft with her. Would require too much watching versus a single-floor suite.

Maybe your 4 y.o. is fully competent with stairs, but if not I don't think I'd pay more money just to have to be more alert about where the little one was at all times.

We drive to the ports so do not need to rush to catch a flight. First, we ask our steward to try to get us low luggage tag numbers, so we're not sitting around the ship waiting for our number to be called. On disembarkation day, we get up around 7am, get dressed, and head to the MDR for a nice leisurely breakfast, avoiding the masses in the WJ.;) We return to our room, grab our carry-ons, and can either head on out or maybe wait for just a very few minutes for our number to be called, and leave the ship. This normally works well for us!:D

 

We stuck around on board one time waiting for number 40 something to be called and hated it! The last day atmosphere totally sucks! Nobody smiles and lots (not all) of the staff totally ignore and sometimes avoid you, looking afraid that you might ask them something! Kind of like the movie where Harrison Ford says, "Get off my plane!":mad: Nope! We're not sticking around anymore!:*

This is basically what we do.

I just can't imagine getting up as the crack of dawn to be the first person off the boat, but also can't imagine hanging around after breakfast.

If we're returning to FL, it's just a situation of hopping off after breakfast and driving home. If somewhere else, we'll take a latish flight or even spend the day in the return city and fly home the next day.

The key for us is not feeling rushed on the last day of vacation...

How much time should we anticipate once we get off the plane in Orlando to get our bags and get reserved car rental and on the road to Port Canaveral?

 

We are staying in Cocoa beach area couple of days prior to cruise and also saw to plan for about 1 hr drive from Orlando to there.

Already answered the rental car question.

My experience (and I arrive at MCO probably 10-15 times a year) is the following:

1) It takes 10-15 minutes gate-to-terminal between walking and the tram. If one of the trams is out (and they're doing maintenance on a number of them right now) then add another 5 or so. If you walk slowly or know you/your partner will need a bathroom break, add a few minutes on.

2) Once in the terminal you're probably 5 minutes from baggage. You walk through the milling hordes and go down an escalator.

3) Baggage is all based on airlines. Delta and Alaska (if you're coming from the PNW) have a 20 minute baggage guarantee and in my experience hit that reliably. At MCO that means your bags will most likely be on the carousel when you get there.

Southwest is slower but reasonably efficient. If you're flying United or American, you might as well grab a coffee on your way.

4) From baggage you're quite close to rental cars, the counters are one level down and the cars are in the parking garage across the way.

BTW, once you're in a car and through the gate at the rental car place, Cocoa Beach is really just 45 minutes. The speed limit on the b-line is mostly a suggestion.

Also note that with National/Enterprise/Alamo (I don't know about the other companies) you can just drive under the toll sensors at full speed on the b-line (and other FL toll roads) and it will bill your card the toll. You pay like $4 one-time on top of that, but it's far more convenient/faster than pulling off to the toll booth and dealing with cash.

Also, if your GPS tells you to do something silly, ignore it and take the b-line (528) all the way to A1A then go South. That's both the more scenic route (you pass the Port and can look at the boats) and the fastest.

If you're flying DL or AS and can skip the rental car counter, I'd guesstimate 1.5 hours from gate to Cocoa Beach and you'll probably beat it. If you're flying an airline with crappy bag service and waiting at the rental counter, you could be up to 3 hours in getting to Cocoa Beach.

We're renting car from Enterprise...how close is rental car lines from baggage claim? Could have wife watch for bags but not sure how comfortable she'll be watching alone for 2 pieces of luggage and keeping eye on 2 carry-ons. Guessing if we do this, I'd take both carryons with me to car rental then she'd only have to watch for luggage coming off belt

Car rental is one level down from baggage claim.

I haven't rented from Enterprise in more than a decade, so have no idea what the current procedure is.

I will say that if National is close on price, signing up for their Emerald Club (free) and renting a mid-size is about the simplest process in the world. You just walk over to the "Emerald Aisle," pick any car on it (usually includes sedans and small SUVs) and they do the paperwork at the exit gate.

If you do that, you'll go down two levels from baggage, cross the moving walkway, and go back up a level and just pick a car.

Thanks for all the great ideas! Can I use it for ice cream at B & J's or at Johnny Rockets? Either one worth it?

I saw several people mention specialty dining. I was thinking about doing FNDR, but that would eat up $40 of the $100 right off the bat. Is it worth it?

If you only have $100, probably best to consider it just gone and a partial-payment on gratuities and then budget other spending however you would normally budget.

But yes, you could use it for Johnny Rockets or for for paid ice cream (Ben and Jerry's) or coffee (Starbucks).

Basically the OBC just becomes a pre-payment on your shipboard accounts as soon as you get onboard. So anything you could pay for and sign to your account on the ship, your OBC will cover up to the point where you run out of OBC.

But since your gratuities are definitely hitting your account (unless your TA pre-pays them as an incentive or you pre-pay them), you might as well just consider your OBC as a partial payment toward those.

As the title indicates, I was in prep meetings yesterday and it was mentioned by one of our Coast Guard counterparts that Grandeur will be in port until 9pm tomorrow night. For those of you onboard, we have a SpaceX Falcon launch scheduled for tomorrow evening at 8pm. The window is technically from 8-10pm, but they're trying for 8. It will also include a landing at Cape Canaveral approximately 8 minutes after liftoff. Highly recommend you get outside to one of the upper decks for a few minutes and check it out if you haven't before as it's a certainly a sight.

 

Check out spaceflightnow.com for countdown updates if you're interested.

Sounds like you're an expert and I'm just a guy who likes to stand in my backyard and watch.

But both spaceflightnow.com and the SpaceX twitter are saying 1/7 (Sunday).

Is that wrong?

I thought I would do some research for our 2019 cruise. I have been on the computer since 7am looking at cruises...all ships and itineraries. NOTHING appeals to me. I know we need to fan out with our itineraries, but my greatest fear is "airfare". We have been to just about every Caribbean Island, Bermuda and Hawaii.....so time to move on.

 

That leaves Alaska, which we do not want to do until we retire. (two or three years). That leaves a possible transatlantic, which we are highly interested in...BUT.....I am afraid of the cost of airfare going or coming back. Can't even check prices, because it would be for next year. Is there a "secret" that I don't know about for this? Any advice?

Transatlantic is going to be the worst for airfare. You'll be stuck using the cruise line's air because most international ticketing still uses the old rules where you basically pay the full changeable/refundable fare for one-ways with discounted fares requiring round trip (note, this may be changing with more carriers like Icelandair, Norwegian, etc. entering the market).

I don't know that I would be afraid of airfares to Europe. If you shop around, you can now find economy fares round-trip US to Europe for $500 or less per person fairly regularly and as low as $300 and change round trip between specific cities when there's a sale.

I'm not sure the propriety of recommending certain sites, but if you google "airfare tracker" or something similar a number of sites will pop up that allow you to enter an origin and destination and will send you an e-mail when fares are cheap.

Anyway would love to hear from those who have sailed on the bottom!

The barnacles will cut the heck out of you. Also, the lack of oxygen becomes an issue after a while.

Watching as well - taking a long time to get her to the pier. The winds appear to be rather strong. Interesting.

We’re getting 30 knot winds with gusts into the mid-30s and have been since around 2pm.

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^ You know post whoring is really bad when Biker posts about it.

Why is this thread active?

Why for the post whoring and drinking, of course!

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One other thought here...and this is kind of complex so skip it if you don't want to jump through hoops.

You're flying UA, so you have a same day change option available to you.

What I would do in your shoes is the following:

1) Call in and have them split up your PNR so you're not trying to find four seats. If you're four adults, I'd put everyone on their own PNR. Otherwise do 1 adults/1 kid per.

2) If it looks like things are going sideways on the morning you're trying to fly, you can use the app to try to change to other flights and just pay the $75/SDC fee per person.

This probably gives you the best fallback option in terms of being able to see how that morning is going and then changing as cheaply as possible to something else if it becomes clear you won't make it.

Your ability to find seats without paying a fare difference is going to depend on your fare class. I would be willing to bet that on a W or V (or higher) you'd have a fair chance of finding options. On a cheap fare, you're a lot less likely to find something that works.

Hi,

I think I might have made a mistake when booking the flight and the cancellation charges are ridiculous.

With roughly 1hr drive from PC to MCO.... I should be able to make the flight as long as i get off Oasis right away.

 

I will need to order a private shuttle and tell them to book it!

 

anyone else ever make this mistake?

I'm less negative on this idea than some posters, but it really depends.

I would feel comfortable about making your flight if you:

1) Have pre-check (pre-check + clear would be even better) and

2) Either are carry-on only or have airline elite status/paid premium cabin that will make checking a bag fast.

If you don't have pre-check I'd forget about this and just go ahead and re-book. If you are going to have to wait in a line to check bags, same thing.

You'll need transportation from Orlando to the port. We used GoCapeCanaveral.com and were very pleased with it: prompt, pleasant driver, clean bus--much less expensive than Royal's transfer. If you book with them, you can also book the hotel and do it as a package; we found it less expensive to book hotel and transportation separately.

The OP's profile say they're from FL, so they may be driving/being driven to Port Canaveral.

If not, I would encourage anyone and especially someone who needs assistance to look at flights into MLB.

It's the same time from the Port, but about 2/3 the distance, and has the advantage of being a one-fligth-at-a-time airport and being all on one level. It's also, for what it's worth, a much more scenic drive.

Every flight where I arrive (30+/year) has wheelchair assistance folks already on the jet bridge and ready, which seems to be problem in MCO from the number of pages I hear on the occasions I fly to/from there. Also it's a short trip from gate to transport, no trains, and no elevators so far simpler to maneuver than MCO.

It may not work for everyone, but it's a simpler experience and it seems from my observation a less stressful one for someone in a wheelchair. So probably worth taking a look at Delta though ATL (AA through CLT too but those are small regional jets and may pose a different set of challenges).

Yes, if you do the first night right it could result in kids.

Oh, wait, that wasn’t the question?

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This seems like an evergreen topic.

My thought on it is simple, "do you drink?"

That's not "do you drink at all?" but it's also not "are you going to get drunk all the time?" It's "do you drink?" Because between a few alcoholic beverages over the course of a day, plus non-alcoholic beverages, you can easily exceed the package price without ever being drunk.

Let's say you have two drinks over the course of day. Then two glasses of wine with dinner. Add to that a few bottles of water, club sodas, or cokes during the day. In that case, get the package. And if you're adding an aperitif to that or a night-cap, it's even more clear-cut.

If "drink" to you is having a glass, maybe two, of wine at dinner and that's really it (and be honest with yourself), plus you don't want to grab bottled water, espresso drinks, and cokes during the day, then you're probably best served not doing the package.

If you don't drink at all for religious, medical, or addiction reasons, then obviously don't buy it. And do the math yourself on the refreshment package.