Toady

On 12/19/2022 at 11:26 AM, Beachlover1989 said:

Thank you again for all of your helpful information!  But what is "patter"?

On 12/15/2022 at 12:30 PM, Beachlover1989 said:

Hi Scottishclover! We will be in Greenock via the Celebrity Apex in August, 2023 and are having a terrible time finding an appropriate tour.  We would love a driving tour of Glasgow with commentary, would like to eat in a classic local pub, and visit and local market.  If time allows, a visit to a distillery and/or brewery would be lovely as well.  Any recommendations you can give me would be wholeheartedly appreciated!

Hi Beachlover,

I think we might be on the same cruise as you (Apex - Aug 9-21/23). We are looking for transportation from Greenock to Glasgow and a tour in Glasgow as well.  We've been to Loch Lomond on a previous cruise that docked here.

Not sure. Shared shuttles from the port to the airport are $20/pp and can be arranged through the taxi dispatcher.

 

Why don't you call the hotel and ask? You want to find out exactly where you get dropped off. Hotel shuttles are supposed to drop off at the P4 Airtrain station where you have to take your luggage on the Airtrain to your terminal. Private shuttles will possibly drop off at a terminal.

So...if we do walk-off as early as possible (the ship docks at 8 am) we go to the taxi dispatcher and ask for a shared shuttle to the airport?

Several people have mentioned that they're staying at the Country Inn & Suites prior to their cruise and that there is a shuttle for $17.50 pp from the hotel to the pier. We are staying there too.

A couple posters mentioned that this hotel also offers a shuttle from the port to the airport after the cruise. Can anyone tell me what time that return shuttle picks up and if it goes directly to the airport or does it stop at the hotel first?

Thanks, Jenn, for sharing your review! We are taking this cruise July 19th of this year. It is always so helpful for planning when someone shares their experiences. I've printed off your review so I can read it more diligently and and apply some ideas to our trip. I'm glad you were so positive!

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

 

One more "go to sleep"...

 

Einstein said (though there is a great deal of evidence that this quote may be mis-attributed), and I paraphrase liberally, that the operational definition of insanity is to repeat the same mistake and expect different results.

 

Thus begins the tale of my latest cruise.

 

This is actually the third in a series of un-sailed cruises with my mother. The first was a 12 day Mediterranean on the NCL Spirit. We were to fly to Barcelona on Halloween night to board the ship on November 2, 2013. While on my way home from work, my mother fell on her hip in her garage. I rushed to her house to do a quick assessment. I asked her to stand and she could not. Her solution was to take some a little medicine and press onward. I refused to go until we could get an x-ray. I drove to our local Urgent Care, explained the urgency of our situation (... yea, a flight that departed in 5 hours) and asked them to x-ray my mom's hip. All the while, she kept insisting, "I can go. I can make it. This is no big deal". The verdict? A fractured hip requiring surgical intervention. So, no cruise for us. We did, however, get to spend Halloween night in a very large and crowded emergency room (did I mention it was a full moon AND a Friday night????) Oh! the horror!

 

Score: Tracie= 0 Vacation Gremlins= 1

 

Our next cruise was to commence on January 13, 2015 on the Sapphire Princess. We booked this cruise almost a year ago. The itinerary was Singapore to Jakarta/ Bali/ Komodo/ Lombok to Singapore. We were to leave Charlotte on Friday night, January 9. Truth be told, I was really worried about my mom on a 23 hour flight to Singapore. Now, I have to say, she is a real trouper and had all sorts of pharmaceutical solutions to survive the trip, but I was still really worried. On the Thursday night before we were to leave, our TA called and shared with us what I shall refer to as the "mother of all move-over offers". I discussed with my mom, and we decided to take the deal. While I was a bit disappointed, I also was equally relieved.

 

Cumulative Score: Tracie= 0 Vacation Gremlins= 2 (though, I was not quite as disappointed about this one)

 

Which leads me to my present circumstances: We are scheduled to board the Royal Princess tomorrow, January 28. We booked this cruise on the same day we took the move-over offer, as we just needed a little hope. Because I had to take so much time off work with my mom and the hip situation, we opted to do the really, really, really stupid thing... fly in the morning of the cruise. On most days, this would probably not be problematic; Charlotte to Fort Lauderdale is pretty darn routine, right???? Nope. Not for us. Now we have SNOWPOCALYPSE*** SNOWMAGEDDON*** A veritable SNOW-TASTROPHE!

 

The good news? Our flight is still on. Nothing at Charlotte-Douglas has been canceled- so we may actually make it to Florida... (provided no one falls, the weather behaves, the airlines cooperate).

 

I guess I am posting this here, as I am trying to change my negative cruising mojo. So I would appreciate a collective outpouring of crossed-fingers, lucky rabbit's feet (was that really a lucky rabbit????), four leaf clovers, and any other superstitious voodoo you feel like committing to turning our cruising fortune around.

 

In turn, I will post a "live from". I will attempt to make it somewhat interesting. Also, I promise to answer any questions you might have. I would love to insert pictures, but I just can't seem to get it figured out. I am hoping for a little assistance on ship.

 

Thank you to anyone who had enough time (or no chores) and made it to the end of this diatribe. I will post more tomorrow!

Tracie-Lynn:):)

Hi Tracie, it is now Jan.31 so hopefully you arrived safely! I am interested in hearing about your "move over" offer.

We were to fly last night (Jan.30) to Buenos Aires, but on Jan. 27 we were given a move over offer from Princess. We accepted it, but I was none too happy at the time. I was excited about going to South America, and suddenly we weren't going! I had excursions planned, private transfer etc. We ended up switching to an Australian cruise in September on which we had only a deposit paid and an inside cabin booked. Now we have a mini suite. The difference in the cost of the air fare was covered too. Now I'm excited about that, but I did want to see penguins.

I've enjoyed reading your report - but I'm waiting for more! Is it somewhere else or have you not had time to write any more?