Mikamarii

Ive been tracking internet prices for two upcoming cruises (did it as well for 2 previous ones last year) what I found is that regardless of the sale the price was within about 5-10$. We have a 12 nighter coming up this summer that I’ve been tracking since we booked in October. Plenty of sales in the last 6 months. Lowest I’ve seen for 1 person/2 devices is $506 cdn…highest has been $513 Cdn.

oops you are correct....not sure what I was thinking there

We recently did a back to back on Quantum this past December in Ft Lauderdale. Met and waited in 270, got our new sea pass cards and waited until the ship was empty. They then escorted us off where we scanned out of the first cruise. Waited in a small waiting area off the ship (I think they were waiting for the remaining passengers to clear out of the port area as to not confuse us with any stragglers). They then walked us all to a customs agent who did their thing then they walked us back up to the waiting area. Waited about 5 minutes or so then they took our group and let us scan and get back on the ship. From the time they started walking us off the ship to the time we got back on was about 45 minutes tops.

Empathy and sympathy are two very different things. I empathize with their situation, but I most certainly do not feel sorry for someone missing a ship.

You can ask your stateroom attendant as soon as you see him/her. We usually book a separate room for our kids. Last year on a b2b we had the beds together on the first leg but they wanted them separated on the second leg. Asked our stateroom attendant and when he was cleaning the room that day he split the beds for us.

Ya that is what I figured....There are 4 of us that will hit diamond for the 2nd cruise.....4 drinks a day x 4 people x 16 days is a lot to the point I would feel awful if they got nothing from those drinks haha.

awesome thanks! Just wanted to make sure we didn't walk away assuming they got something

I apologize if I start a tipping thread here....not my intention We will hit diamond on the first leg of a b2b this summer (already plan on going to the loyalty desk to have it set up for the second leg) When we order a drink does it include a gratuity for the bartender/server or is that charged separately?

We use the scotiabank passport infinite visa. I love it. We used to have an RBC Usbank visa but traded that one in for this one since we can use it world wide. Like previously said it also has insurance benefits and includes 6 lounge passes per year which we love using. Not all airports have a lounge available but we've generally been able to find one. For the most part, its the plaza premium network. The point system is through scene+. It works out to 1PT=$0.01 if redeeming for travel or groceries. The redemption valhe isnt that great if redeeming for straight statement credit. We primarily shop at Sobeys which is on the Scene program so lots of opportunites for bonus pts. We usually redeem for travel. Can be done right on the app and shows up as a credit within a couple days of requesting. Im very happy with this card.

We use a the scotiabank infinite passport visa. There is an annual fee but the six free lounge passes are awesome in addition to the no fx. We used to have a us visa but this one can be used worldwide.

Since you've already done the 1st interview the second needs to be done at the airport and can no longer be done at a land border crossing. As previous poster said you will have to do it in Quebec after going through US customs as you will not clear US customs in Edmonton. It is no guarantee you will be able to get it done. You need to make sure you have a long enough layover to allow the interview of your entire party. You'll have no idea how many others are waiting and how fast they will move. We ended up biting the bullet and driving 8+hrs to the border for our interview rather than trying to do it at the airport. We had originally planned to do both interviews on the same trip with a layover and booked a flight with a 3+hr layover. A few months after we booked, our flights were changed and we had a 60 minute layover so we are glad we had already went the land border route. If it doesn't work out this time the best bet is a direct flight to the US as it eliminates the layover issue as you can arrive early to your flight and get it done. Book the cheapest round trip flight you can find and eat the cost. Going somewhere like Seattle from Edmonton you could probably do it all in one day. Or since it is a sunk cost anyway just no show, or book flex tickets and get a travel credit. Its an expense and there is still risk with that but trying to schedule around layovers could be a lot more difficult.

We had laser tag on odyssey on a recent cruise. It was free and reserved on the app once onboard. Just find the time slot you want and select reserve for the people in your party who want to attend.

We did the two odyssey cruises prior to yours. We throroughly enjoyed our time on the ship and quantam class is probably our favourite as weve also been on ovation. The food was fantastic and enjoyed every meal we had other than the UK night. Prior to the two odyssey cruise we did 4 nights on liberty. On liberty windjammer opened at 6 for dinner and was always packed. It was surprisngly difficult to find a table. On odyssey it opened at 530 for dinner and it always seemed so quiet in there. We are generally early eaters so probably why we can avoid the rushes but liberty was an anomaly for us.

Our train car seemed quite full. We were at the one end and appeared every seat was full when we left west palm beach. When we got off there was a lot of people getting off and the Orlando station seemed quite busy. When we originally checked in we got there much quicker than i expected. I mentioned to the employee that we were quite early and he said he couldnt move us to another train beczuse everyone that morning was sold out.

Sorry i should clarify we took a taxi from Port Everglades post cruise not FLL.

Just thought id throw this out there for anyone considering using the train as i believe the Orlando connection is fairly new. Our preferred airline has few options to fll and fewer to Miami. Usually expensive with long layovers so our best option is usually MCO. For this we have generally avoided cruises from FLL or MIA as I dont like the hassle of renting a car for a day to make that drive. We just returned from Florida and took brightline from FLL and experience was awesome. It was about $22 cab ride (20ish minutes) to the train station. Check in was a breeze. Upstairs lounge was very clean, free wifi lots of comfy chairs, small market place and bar for drinks and small eats. Train was super efficient. Ride was smooth. Train was clean and chairs comfy. Also free wifi. We booked the 4 seater which had a table in the middle so we mostly played card games during the ride. Ride was about 3 hrs and goes right to the airport Terminal C. Collect luggage and Take the tram to the other terminals to check in. Overall the train saved us close to $1000 and shortened our overall travel day so totally worth it. We will still try to find deals flying in and out of the southern airports but brightline gives us a lot more options now and would definitely use again.

We stayed at Embassy Suites on 17th street last week between 2 cruises and really enjoyed it. Would definitely stay there again. Cab driver tried to scam us to the hotel from port but it was only a 12$ lyft ride back to port. About a 10 min ride to the port. They do offer a shuttle servixe for 12$ person. Hotel was clean and in good shape. They were renovating a lot of rooms while we were there. Free Breakfast was quite good. Evening reception with snacks and 2 free drinks. Lots of places to shop and eat around there and had no issues walking around with our 2 kids.

Ya we do have a wifi package on board. I tried turning on the wifi calling and it says "if setting up for first time need to be in an area of with cell phone coverage" so ill have to set it up when we get home then hopefully can use it next time we are out of the country. Thanks for the tip!

We did the a trans pacific last year. Our stateroom attendant was very nice but it felt like it was an insult to him asking for only once a day. Maybe it was just a language barrier.

Thanks! I find when the kids are with us we experience more people trying to push fpr extra money vs just me or me and wife. Oh well. Such is life. It was a great trip. Travelling from western canada to Flordia I cant just do 1 week trips anymore haha. Flights are the same either way so whats one more cruise!

Interesting. Ive never used that option before so didnt even know it existed. We had always just used whats app to call family back home and never really needed to call anyone else. I just tried turning it on amd didnt work. Maybe because we are at sea. Ill try when back in port! Thanks!

Did i get that right? We're currently docked in Jamaica leaving in abt an hour. 1 more sea day then home time. Our trip was all out of FLL and consisted of 4nights on liberty, 1night in FLL then back to back on Odyssey for a total of 18 nights on board. 4 of us. Myself wife and two children (9 and 11) Not a full review just random musings. Im sure i'll touch on 'hot topics'...this is just our experience and opinion and not disparaging anyone elses. Getting in to FLL was easy. Airport pretty straight forward. We generally turn off our phones once we leave home. I dont care to pay the daily roaming package rate as we dont need our phones that much and can get by just fine with wifi. We stayed pre cruise at Tru by Hilton Dania Beach. Lovely hotel. Shady area. Not a whole lot of places to eat in walking diatance and felt on edge walking around. We had to walk about 10-15 min to find an ihop so kids could eat. Hotel itself was nice, clean, and had a surprisingly good free breakfast. It had a hotel shuttle but we needed to call on arrival. Figure a cab ride would be cheaper than turning on our phone so caught a cab. At hotel, i saw the meter was 12$ but he quickly turned it off. Guy said i owed 20$ and cash only...asked to see the meter and refused to show me. I gave him 15$ and he got mad i wouldnt give him a tip even though never helped with bags and texted while i loaded and unloaded them then lied about the fare. Had he told me the actual price i would have given him 20$ but dont like to be scammed. Tried using lyft app the following day but could only get a text confirmation to verify account and continue. Reluctantly turned on my phone. Lyft was awesome. I think 22$ total and driver was super friendly. Liberty 4 nights. Stopped at Nassau and coco cay. Liberty was a nice ship. No complaints but cant really remember anything of it haha. Didnt mind Nassau. We just walked around. Felt fairly safe. Wanted conch fritters. Decided to go to senior frogs as didnt trust side cart vendor. It was super busy. There was a 'surcharge' of about 5$ on the bill but never got an explination and barely saw the waitress. Ended up leaving $40 for a fritters and a beer. Wouldnt do that again. C'est la vie. Did coco cay waterpark. Had a lovely time. Paid 55$ cdn per person on black friday. Dont know if we'd do it again especially at reg price but did enjoy it and everyone had fun. Ship seemed quite busy. Windjammer was always packed. Age of cruisers felt quite young. Families and couples. Leaving port took a cab again to Embyssey suites by the port. I had used an app to determine cab rate. Apps showed 4$. Inside cab it said min 13$ from port so figured maybe 15$ tops. 10 min ride and when we got there guy said 30$, cash only, wouldnt show me the meter. Not a chance im paying that. After arguing Left him 20$. Again if given the honest price we always leave more. Just hate being lied to. Hotel itself was awesome. Clean room, good breakfast, friendly staff. Evening reception with small eats and 2 free drinks. Lots to do within walking distance. Walked to restaurants in the area for lunch and dinner. Easy peasy. Would definitely stay again. Lyft app worked on wifi so took a lyft to port. 17$ total. Driver again was super friendly. 1st Odyssey. 8 nights. Ports: curacao, aruba, coca cay Loved curacao. Probably our favourite port of the trip. Walked around and later got some drinks by the waterfront. Aruba. Went scuba diving. Awewome experience. Coca cay was swapped with Labadee because of the massive storm. Sad to miss it but greatful they secured an alternative. Some people were quite upset but im not sure what they expected. Cant control the weather and from what i heard weather was real bad. Had never been to Labadee and we really enjoyed it. We did the coaster then sat at the beach. Food is way better on coco cay though. Overall cruise didnt seem overly packed. Lots of families. 2nd odyssey. 6 nights, Coco cay, grand caymen, jamaica Coco cay. Beach day. Had a great time. South beach was lovely and love the food. Grand Caymen. Went scuba diving. Some of the clearest water we've ever seen. Amazing Jamaica - did the discovery bay excursion. Not thrilled with it. The aqua park was ok but it wasnt come and go as you please. They'd take groups at a time so our kids only got out there twice the whole time and each time i felt the 'guide' pressured for tips. Beach was ok and food was ok. It got pretty busy there. It wasnt horrible but dont think we'd do again. 2nd time to Jamaica and not our favourite port. Back in the port merchant area wanted to get some coffee for my parents. Went to the blue mountain coffee store. 32$ for an 8oz bag. Hope its good! Im not a coffee drinker so dont know anything about buying coffee. Little peeved that we went next door after and the exact same bag was 5$ cheaper. Oh well haha. Great cruise. This one seemed very busy. Lots of college aged people and a mix of families with teens or really young kids. Food - overall we loved it. Thought the food was very good at both mdr and windjammer. No complaints on quality or taste. Over the 18 days we spent about 5 or so nights in mdr. We enjoyed the mdr but we really enjoy the pace of windjammer. I also tend to eat way less in windjammer and like being able to try different things. I did like the quicken paced of mdr though. I remember spending 2+ hrs a night there and hated it. These 3 cruises i dont think went over an hour each time. Thought lobster was good and decent size. He brought me out the lobster and steak at the same time. I actually originally only ordered the lobster and he insisted on bringing it out with the steak. Had some great meals in windjammer. Staterooms - we had 2 balcony rooms on odyssey and jr suite on liberty. We really preferred the once a day cleaning on Odyssey. We chose evening. We are in and out of our room so much during the day. Always hated the game of trying to time our daily activites with room cleaning. Disembarking on the b2b. Super easy. I want to say less than an hour from the time they moved us out of two70 to back on the ship. There was a lengthy delay in docking due to the storm. I think we were delayed about 2 hrs but we were still back on the ship by 1130. We're taking the brightline to Orlando for a direct flight home. For us it saved about $1000 total and a shorter overall travel day then flying out of FLL. Weather looks ok come saturday so hopefully no major delays. Flight leaves Orlando at 530pm. Hopeful for a smooth travel day. Next up for us is a b2b on jewel for the Arctic circle and transatlantic. Arctic circle is my bucket list cruise. Any questions let me know.

Currently on Odyssey 6 night out if FLL. There is lobster on night 5. I thought menus were the same across the fleet.....

Thanks for all the info here. We are booked on Jewel for Aug 2024. Had planned for 2025 but moved it up a year because of the pending changes. While in Flåm we want to take the train/zipline/bike tour. We're in port from 1030am to 8pm so looks lije we should have time if we book an ~1130-1230 train time. Its unclear on the website but does anyone know if 'steep hairpin turns' for the bike path are before or after the end of the zipline. I watched a video and looks like you go over that section of the bike path. Is the rest fairly straightforward and smooth? Do they supply bike helmets? Website didnt say. Can you bring a backpack/waterbottle with you? Long bike ride back with no fluids! Thanks to this page we will also take the Loen Skylift while in Olden but will wait until in port to book that.

Has anyone done the zipline/bikeride back? We are in Flåm in August from 1030am to 830pm as part of our arctic circle cruise. Timeline looks very doable if we book a train ticket for about 1130-1230. Does the bike ride include a helmet? Website doesnt say. Do they allow you to bring a small backpack with a waterbottle or something. 18km is a long time without proper hydration! Thanks!