Motorman23

We (my DW and I) were on a TA in 2010. It was on the Navigator from Rome to Ft Lauderdale via the med sea. It was the last week of Oct 2010 and first week of Nov and the weather was great (70's and clear) except for one day. We were traveling from Marsailles France to Barcelona Spain and hit a surprise storm around midnight which was rated a force 12 on the Beaufort scale. If we were in the atlantic instead of the Med it would have been classified as a hurricane from the wind force. We had fifty foot waves and 80 mph winds (according to the Capt). The ship handled it fine and no one was injured because we were mostly in our rooms. But it was like being on a roller coaster for about 20 min and then things calmed down. My wife and I were in an aft facing balcony and could hear the rear of the ship slap into the water as we went up and down. We didnt roll much as the Capt had us facing the wind. The whole event from when the wind started blowing strong until it was done was perhaps two hours. Had no idea how bad it was until the next day when the Capt told us what we had been through. Very little damage to the stores because everything had been put away for the storm and the night.

Mike

Hey Carol! We live in Burlington....not too far from Sanford. Right now I teach ESL and have been doing that for 11 years. When I was in the classroom' date=' I taught all grades in elementary school, but mostly first and second grade. Forty years has been just a little too long and I am ready to leave! 38 more days![/size']

Have read through most of your review, well done!

My DD is moving to Wake County NC June 1st in hopes of finding a Social Studies Teaching job. She has a friend there who teaches. She tried to find work in western NY after she graduated from college 5 years ago but no jobs were available so she went to Kingman AZ and taught for 3 years and wants to come back east. She has no job yet but plans to apply all over the Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro area and hopes to land a job, seems like that area is growing. She is a great teacher but work seems hard to find for Social Studies Middle School/HS Teachers. Anyways good luck in your retirement, I am sure after 40 years of teaching you deserved it.

Mike

MEcruzr: Anything is possible but a lot has to go perfect to make a 10:50 flight at EWR after a cruise. First you would have to have a ship that cleared on time and you would need to be first off the ship. We were off in dec and in our car at 8:15, earliest ever. We were among the first in line. You would need to have the CBP agents primed and ready to go just waiting for you. Things have slowed down a bit since the budget issues. Taxis should be ready and waiting so you should be ok with them. Next you need to get to the airport, is there construction on I78....? Ok so with traffic on a weekday it could take 25min or 35 min after all it is only 7.5 miles ;-). Now get the bags checked, if you can do that at curbside that would be helpful but not all airlines allow that. Next its our government friends, the TSA, are they primed and waiting for you or is the line backed up for 45 min... again a risk.

Me, I work in an industry that basis decisions on risk analysis. If missing the 10:50 flight is not an issue because there are many later options with no extra cost I would go for it. If that was not the case, I would stay on the ship until 9 or 10 then head over to the airport, checkin, eat lunch, walk around, read a book, talk about my cruise and relax until I get on my 3:15 flight.

Mike

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Me? If I follow the AAA Trip-Tik, from PA on I-80 to I-287 to Rt 24 to I-78, exit 14A then the directions you provided upthread. What happens if I stay on I80 to I-280 to the Garden State Pkwy? Is that better? I'm not driving a truck.

Thanks - your info is invaluable!

 

ETA: I just reworked the Trip-Tik to include the GSP - it's estimated to be 3 minutes longer, that's why it didn't come up as the primary route (it goes by time). So considering the two routes to be the same, any suggestions?

We took that route from Rochester in March and on the weekend it was fine. We came back on a weekday and were in stop and go traffic all along I78, and RT 24. It added 20-25 min to our ride. Next time we plan to take I80 to I95 to I 78. Hopefully that will be better.

Mike

First rule is never,ever take expensive luggage on a cruise. Better yet don't buy expensive luggage as it is treated like trash on airplanes or cruises.:eek:

So true, I travel 3-4 round trips a year and have learned that I only buy cheap softside luggage that usually is good for about 10 round trips. I have gotten it replaced by airlines sometimes depending on what damage occurs but have accepted the fact that the only place good luggage belongs is in my cars trunk. :eek:

Mike

You will love this ship. The crew is wonderful. They really made the trip for us.

Everyone from the people at the port to everyone we came in contact with on the ship. I can not say enough about them. They are the main reason we wanted to do this review. Cindy and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. :D

We were getting off when you were getting on (well, within an hour or so). We also had a great time. Any spring breakers on your cruise?

Mike

To MikeB...yeah, those are all nasty routes you took. Normally heading west during rush hour is not a problem...it's the people heading East into NYC thats the problem. But 78, 24 and 287 all get ugly that early in the morning, regardless of direction. To me, 95 would've been the way to go. Not sure how long you're on 78 out of the port to get to 95. I seem to think that 95 can be jumped on right from the port...but hey, it's been awhile. :)

Thanks, yep it was just across the river to get on 95. Guess I will be doing that in September when I go home next time. I assume on the weekend it doesn't matter which way you go, is that correct?

Mike

Hey Meg, thanks for all the info on driving to a from the Port. We left this morning, we took the early departure and were at our car and leaving the port by 7:50am which was great. We were the third couple through customs and we used the express departure.

Now I have a question, we used our AAA trip ticket and GPS to go home and did fine but obviously we were traveling during rush hour. We took I78 west to NJ RT 24 to I287N to I80W. Now.... we sat in traffic on I78, NJ24 and I287 for about a total of 20-25 minutes in addition to the 40 min the ride took. Is that unusual during the morning rush hour for that trip to take an hour or is that just the way it is? I know you said that although longer, take I78w to 95n to 80w, is that any faster during the morning rush hour? Just wondering if the route AAA and the GPS sent us is bad during morning rush. There were no wrecks just lots of stop and go traffic.

Mike

I know some people were asking about the Port and the parking lot, I will be on Explorer in a few weeks so I was also interested. Here is a link to someone who checked into the parking situation at the Port because they are picking family up this Sunday. Interesting comments, hopefully things will begin to work out for all soon.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=35933632&postcount=33

Mike

Thank you so much for the information. I think we will make the turn from the access road and visit the Memorial first, then head back to the road and proceed to the terminal and luggage drop off. I think all the information that you and the many others offer on these boards is fantastic. I truly appreciate, as I am sure a lot of people will agree, the time you spend answering the many questions. Thanks again.

If you want a great picture of the memorial, depending on what time of year and the amount of sun light you can get a great picture just at dawn as the sun first hits it on the day your ship returns. The picture is very moving and is best taken from the ship.

Here is a picture I saw recently of it in the morning. If the person had moved just a touch to the left on the ship it would have shown the whole memorial but nonetheless still a great shot. http://www.dropshots.com/Gennee#date/2012-09-16/07:01:43

Mike

I haven't ever seen them collect money at the overflow lot entrance. I think you pay at the main lot entrance, drive through it, and cross the road to the overflow lot next to the terminal. That's what I did the several times I parked there.

Thank you, I was trying to cut some time out of the parking adventure but appreciate the update. Been a few years since I parked down there, took the bus in March so we didn't have to worry about it. :)

Re the parking can you still park in the overflow lot on the right before the terminal? In the past you could pay at that entrance (to the overflow lot) and pull in then walk with your luggage to the terminal without having to go all the way around to the main entrance to the parking lot (past the luggage drop off) and then work your way all the way through the lot and cross the street to enter the overflow.

 

Mike

Anyone got any input about this?

Mike

Tons of parking. I made a point of checking last Sunday when we docked - nowhere near full.

Re the parking can you still park in the overflow lot on the right before the terminal? In the past you could pay at that entrance (to the overflow lot) and pull in then walk with your luggage to the terminal without having to go all the way around to the main entrance to the parking lot (past the luggage drop off) and then work your way all the way through the lot and cross the street to enter the overflow.

Mike

Just got this off the meet and mingle link for the TA from Harwich to Boston. We were on it last year. Apparently the ship hit a power line as it was docking. One injury so far.

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-837937?ref=feeds%2Flatest

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/captain-greybeard/2012/09/cruise-ship-hits-overhead-cabl.html

Mike

I got my TA involved with the transportation from LGA to Cape Liberty. She had made reservations with ETS Shuttle for us weeks ago. Then I told her about Carmel Limo, and she checked them out and found some bad reviews and told us not to reserve with them. So, she told us when she and her travel agents went to NYC and needed a car service, they used Air Brook Limousine, Inc. She called them and they quoted her $73 for the both of us includes tolls, no gratuities. What a price that is...ETS was $165 with tolls. They have good reviews and vehicles. so we are good on that front. I got a notification from AirTran that they changed our flight home. It leaves SJU at 11:45. Tom is freaking out tht we won't get to the airport in time. I just called RCCL and they said we are good. The first flight allowed to leave from the ship is at 11am. so we are good there as well. I'm finally getting all my ducks in a row. Now, I'm going to hae a glass of wine and think of blue waters and palm tree.

Judy

Enjoy your cruise, We are also from Greece NY, we live near Park Ridge Hospital. We are driving to Bayonne for our Dec 3 cruise, if the weather looks bad we will go down a day early.

Mike

There is not a Chops, but the Chops filet is offered in the MDR for $15. We shared it on lobster night for surf & turf. :D

You can also get a great filet in Portofino's

Mike

My DW and I and another couple were on a RCL cruise last January (2010) and a women who was maybe late 60's early 70's was in a motorized scooter zipping around with a small lap dog in her lap. We saw them at the pool, in the theater, at the casino and eventually in the MDR. Being a medical professional I was just a bit concerned about the health implications in the MDR so I asked the maître d about it and was told it was a service dog and she had papers from her doctor and actually paid extra to bring it on board. I was more used to larger dogs as service dogs but I guess this little guy was serving his purpose.

The best event was formal night when the little guy showed up on her lap in a custom made tuxedo....

LOL, it was great.

Mike

I have been in several slot pulls and ran a few myself. Some have been almost militant with the rules but thats they way it was. When I ran the last one, we collected $15 pp and gave everyone 5 pulls. We split all the winnings evenly in dollars by rounding down to the nearest dollar and then gave all the coin left over to the person who got the highest pull as a special prize.

So.... for example if we had 20 people and the winnings were say $53 we divided that by 20 which is 2.65 pp. Since we don't like to mess with coins, we then gave everyone $2 and took the 65 cents from each of the 20 people and gave the person with the biggest single pull $13 (0.65 x 20).

We stopped the slot pull after everyone had pulled five times each. No arguments, everyone new upfront what we were doing. We collected the money at the time of the pull. We even had some others from the casino who wanted in and took their money also.

After it was all done, some decided to put their $2 in winnings together and continue on. That was done by that group.

No complaints, very laid back and no hassles because we split the money evenly into dollar bills given to us by the casino.

just got Sheraton San Diego for $82.00 on Priceline bid $80 first then put 31/2 star and $82 for Oct3-6.

Christine

Ouch..... LOL

Mike

Just got the San Diego Sheraton Downtown/Marina, 4 Star Hotel for $98 for Friday Oct 3, 2009 on Priceline.

Mike