OCVTSGIRL

I am a Royal Caribbean Diamond member who hasn't sailed a Celebrity ship in a really long time.  I was wondering if anyone has sailed on both and how they compare.  I'm pretty sure my Diamond status will be accepted on a Celebrity ship but I don't know how beneficial that is.  Looking to sail out of Cape Liberty in NJ.  Thanks...any thoughts and/or experiences are greatly appreciated.

21 hours ago, AlohaLivin said:

The points are duplicated with the two of you, you won’t be able to double them.
 

I also want to say how sorry I am for the loss of your best friend.  I was widowed when I was 34 after 13 years, and only 5 months after my father died, and it is the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life.  It is so hard figuring out who you are now without your spouse, independent in the world, and I wish for you that 1000’s of happy moments mixed with the hard parts during the first sailing.  ❤️ 

 

 

Thank you so much.  It is very hard trying to navigate my life by myself without my true love by my side as he had been for over 46 years.

I'm sure I know the answer to this question but here goes anyway.  🙂 My husband and I became Diamond members right before the shut down so we never got to take advantage of our new status.  Sadly, last February my husband passed away suddenly...possibly Covid related.  My question is will RCCL allow me to transfer his points to me?  Easter week I am cruising for the first time since Covid and since my husband's passing...I am going with a friend.  It will be different but I'm trying to get through all of my firsts with out him...we were married for over 45 years so he has always been my travel partner.

Thanks everyone!  I had a feeling we wouldn't be able to do it but thought I would check here.

In August a group of us will be sailing on the Oasis.  Is it possible to text each other on board without purchasing VOOM?  None of us need to use it but since there are 10 of us in 5 different rooms it would be nice to be able to text to set up places to meet.

• We saw the Royal Swedes twice on Anthem.  They are outstanding!  On the Allure we saw Rob Ondras who was great.  We have since been friends with him on FB.  On the Mariner last October there was a singer in the pub who was really good.  He even invited my husband up to sing with him...3 times.  

We are in the same boat...or ship...as you...we are booked out of Bayonne on August 16th, had our April cruise cancelled, and are booked on a cruise out of Florida in December (to replace our April cancelled cruise).  We live in NJ and I'm not holding out much hope for the August cruise happening but I still have my fingers crossed.  If it doesn't happen, then we will use our FCC from our April cruise and our August cruise to book one in April 2021.

11 hours ago, Bases5 said:

does this parking work for Carnival cruises also?

I don't know since we cruised Royal Caribbean.  If Carnival leaves from the same port, then I would say yes.  You just park and pay it shouldn't matter which cruise line.  

It is across the street.  It isn't a far walk but maybe you could drop your dad off to wait for you while you park the car.  It's a parking garage with an elevator.

7 hours ago, BUZZ2002 said:

That's it ive decided after reading every post on how to get from FLL to Miami hotel

I'm taking LYFT. I don't see any reason to spend my vacation trying to save a dime and have all the headaches

of finding a train or renting a car and then where to drop off said car and where to get off the train and wait for a shuttle.

So if your going from FLL to MIAMI the day before a cruise TAKE UBER OR LYFT and be done with it

Just saying

Now enjoy the journey

Tom

Wow my husband and I have been doing the same thing and I think we are doing the same as you...going with either Uber or Lyft and literally made this decision right before I read your post.  I tried to book SAS and because our plane doesn't land until 3:27 p.m. they won't pick us up at the airport.  We were told they don't pick up after 3:00!!!!!  WHAT?????  I guess they have their reasons but I was kind of shocked to learn this.

8 hours ago, SteerageJoe said:

 

Just in case you want to stay with the cheapest option (Tri-Rail) despite the exta time, here is a complete description of the whole process with photos and such. It is really quite easy if your luggage is easy to handle.

 

http://lets-see-america.com/fort-lauderdale-airport-fll-to-miami-airport-mia-tri-rail/

Thanks for this!  This makes it much easier to make our decision.  We may go with Uber or Lyft.  We tried to book SAS but since our flight arrives around 3:30 we were told they don't pick up at the airport after 3:00!!!!  Not sure why and we were disappointed to find this out.  Doesn't make much sense to me but they must have their reasons.

12 hours ago, JohninDC said:

Are you flying into MIA or FLL?  If MIA, and you are arriving late and just want a room look at hotels in the Blue Lagoon neighborhood (Homewood Suites, Hampton Inn, etc.) Or the various Marriott properties near the airport.  La Quinta East is a budget option popular with cruisers and includes a shuttle to the port.

We arrive at FLL around 3:30 and have a hotel booked in Miami.  I read that the Tri-Rail is very inexpensive and there would be no worry about traffic for obvious reasons.  We will only have 2 suitcases so that isn't a problem.

21 hours ago, familyoutdoors said:

what hotel do you have booked?

We are at the Comfort Inn In Miami so we would be close to the port.

On 9/5/2019 at 8:08 PM, BNBR said:

Should we just copy and paste all the answers from the thread you started yesterday with the same question? 

I didn't see any replies so I asked this question on the Royal Caribbean board and it was moved here.

My husband and I are sailing on Symphony September 14th.  We fly into Ft. Lauderdale and sail out of Miami.  We have a hotel booked in Miami so we will be closer to the POM in the morning.  I have been reading about the Tri-Rail from FLL to Miami Airport and it sounds like this might work for us.  Our hotel has free shuttle service from the airport in Miami and a free shuttle to the POM.  I'm wondering if anybody else has done the Tri-Rail and can give me pros and cons.

In 10 days we cruise on Symphony of the Seas out of Miami.  We are flying into FLL and have a hotel booked in Miami.  The hotel has a free shuttle from the Miami Airport and also in the morning to the POM.  We are seriously thinking of taking the Tri Rail from FLL to the Miami Airport.  It is just my husband and I and we will only have 1 suitcase each.  I would love to hear the pros and cons to doing this from anybody who has done it.

On 6/18/2019 at 11:26 AM, Mr305 said:

If you are staying in Miami, you can take the Tri-Rail Shuttle to the Tri-Rail Airport Station then take the train South to the MIC (Miami Inter-modal Center).  This is Miami Airport's transportation hub, from there you can catch Metro-Rail to Downtown Miami if you are staying there to catch the ship the following morning.  Another option is to take Uber from the MIC to Downtown Miami, 10-15 minute ride at most with traffic.  Tri-Rail will be cheap, $2-$3pp one way and Metrorail will be along the same lines to Downtown.  If you need to move around Downtown, you can Uber or take the people mover or a taxi.  You can even rent electric scooters to get around, only issue with this is the rain.

This confuses me a bit.  We are flying into FLL the night before our cruise in two weeks.  We are thinking of taking the Tri-Rail from FLL to the Miami Airport because our Miami hotel has a free shuttle from the airport to their hotel.  We are wondering how to get back to FLL from POM at the end of the cruise.  Any suggestions?

On 7/21/2019 at 1:53 PM, 37645 said:

 

Thanks for the review. Blue Hawaiians are  one of my favorites 🙂 

What is a Blue Hawaiian?  It looks really good!

On 7/21/2019 at 11:04 AM, zdad59 said:

IT's CRUISE DAY !!    A great day 1...once we got there !

 

We got up early, eager to leave the Motel 6 section of the Bahia Mar.   We met my niece and her hubby for an UBER XL ride to Terminal A in Miami.    The UBER XL fare was $87....~$22ea for door to door service.   Our ride was an Infiniti QX60, a very comfortable ride for the 4 of us and all our luggage.   The ride down was uneventful.   We did hit heavy traffic as we neared Miami but our driver got off 95 early and went thru downtown and actually got us there before others that left at the same time.    As we got to the terminal around 10:30 though, the one design flaw of Terminal A reared its head.   The loop to get into the terminal is a driving nightmare.   Many people disembarking that are trying to get transportation,  crew trying to get out for the day, and people trying to get to the ship all meet at one choke point.   Took our driver a good 15 minutes to go a short distance to get us to a place we could get us and our luggage out.  

 

Once out of the UBER good things started.     A porter met us immediately and took our luggage.   We were able to walk straight into the terminal and up the escalator.   Took less than 2 minutes to get thru check in and security screening.   Terminal A (excluding the drive in loop) is perfectly designed for these big ships.   Been thru twice now and its been easy peasy both times.   We did have about a 15 minute wait until the ship was ready to board, but once open we were right on and headed to the Solarium Bar.

 

At the Solarium Bar we met my new best friend for the week...Samuel the Bartender.     He was a more senior bartender, wearing a white shite and epaulets.    He made our traditional first drink, a Blue Hawaiian, exactly how we like it.  YUMMY.    Once we had our first drink, we went into the Solarium Bistro for a very nice lunch.   Quiet, tasty, and not the Windjammer.    After lunch we took a stroll until our rooms were ready at 1.

 

Ours was an ocean view balcony room on deck 14 aft.   14672.    A nice room, bed near the balcony.    We felt there wasn't as much storage as on Allure and Harmony, but it was fine.   We would find later that the cabin location wasn't the best.    Deck 14 is just below the pool deck and out room was right under the ice cream machine just outside El Loco Fresh.   Late at night it was mostly quiet but until the kids on board settled down you could hear feet running around.

 

Dinner was in the Main Dining Room.    We met our waiter Raj, and Assistant Waiter Janita.    In the end, they were probably the best serving team we've ever had.   Attentive, they worked very well together, and they were quite pleasant.   Later in the thread, I'll give a run down of hits and misses in the food category.    Mostly hits, with a miss or two.   Overall, we were pleased with the food quality and service.

 

After dinner, we made our way to the theater for our first show.....Hairspray.   Mama and I love Hairspray, having seen it on Broadway and watching it frequently on DVD at home.   Lets just say...…..THIS WAS THE BEST LIVE VERSION OF HAIRSPRAY WE HAVE EVER SEEN.     The musicality, the staging, the dancing...everything was just top notch.   There was even a mid show standing ovation after one epic song (if you know the show, you know which song).    Just not enough words to say how good this show was.  Later I'll discuss an impromptu backstage tour we got because of my nieces connections.

 

After a nightcap, we called it a night.   Great first day.

 

NEXT:   A couple of relaxing days at sea.

 

The Promenade all dressed up to welcome us

 

Samuel, the bartender.   A great mate.

 

Our customary 1st drink !

 

Sailing away

 

Mama enjoying the view from the fly bridge.

 

Hairspray Main Stage

 

A close up from our behind the scenes tour.

 

Anybody have information about parking offsite?  We did that at the port of Tampa and had a great experience.  It was a parking deck and half the cost of parking at the port.  I have heard of parking somewhere other than at Port Everglades but I can't remember the name.  Anybody have experience doing this?  Do you know what it cost compared to onsite parking?

Two days after we booked a cruise to Cuba on the Majesty the president made the announcement that we can no longer go to Cuba.  RCCL changed our itinerary from Cuba to Nassau and refunded some of our money.  I'm fine with this change because we just enjoy cruising.  Disappointed we won't get to experience Cuba but decided to keep our cruise.  After looking at the availability on the ship it seems there is a lot so I'm guessing a lot of people decided to cancel.  We are booked in an inside cabin and wondering what the changes of us getting upgraded to an ocean view since there appears to be a lot of availability.  We leave August 24th so its only a little over 2 months away.  

We have a cruise in August for 4 nights.  Is there an alternative for parking besides at the port?  Anybody have experience parking somewhere other than the port?

On 6/11/2019 at 11:05 PM, mattR said:

Can anyone report on how the shuttle was from this hotel to the POM?  What time does it leave?

I would like to know this too.  We have this hotel booked in September because we got a good price and the free shuttle to the port.

On 5/26/2019 at 7:06 AM, Wideross said:

We had a tour with Havanacar and it was absolutely fantastic!

Their website is www.havanacar.net

I suggest to contact directly their manager Stefano at havanacarcuba@gmail.com rather than using the form on the website.

He is based in Usa and will reply you almost immediately with all tbe info you may need.

You won't be disappointed 😉

 

Is the price listed on their website per person or per car?  There are 4 of us traveling.

Can you use American dollars in Cuba or do you have to exchange to Cuban currency?