kchobbs

Well I thought I would give an update. I did go to the passport office in Edmonton. Brought in all necessary documents and new photos and explained we were flying out in third week of December. I was told that they are not as backlogged as they were a few months back and that I should receive my passport in the mail by early December. They also gave me a reference number and a phone number to call in the event it does not arrive after the first week in December.

other than waiting in various lines for about 2 hours, I am glad I proceeded to get this done rather than risking my daughter being refused entry at some port.

I have booked a 10 day Princess cruise over Xmas. The rate for a balcony was $2500 CDN per person. I asked if I qualified for a casino rate from my last cruise 3 years ago (14 day cruise), to my surprise I qualified. Rate came down to $1240 CDN pp. for a balcony.

My wife does not gamble and on my previous 14 day cruise I have no idea how many points I acquired but I know for a fact I did not lose more than $300 US over the 14 days. I played penny slots and $6to $10 bets on blackjack. I play basic strategy and although bj only pays 6to5 instead of 3 to 2, the house edge is approx 4 to 5%. The savings on this cruise ( approx.$2500 CDN) are significant for the amount I play.

The only problem is that we have teenage kids and they are getting too big to stay in the same room as us. The cost for an inside room across the hall from our balcony is basically the same price as our balcony.$1170 CDN pp. 

If my wife had qualified for the casino rate it would have been approx $770 CDN per person for the inside room for the kids by us each booking a room with one child in each room. ( In name only)

I think if you limit the amount you bet, play smart, you can definitely take advantage of special casino discounts on cruises.

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

I think you have to check each Port for the rules

 

Can you go to a passport office in your area & get  the new passport  application started ?

 

I have started filling out the application, will get the photos done, but once I take it in, you hand over the old passport. The web site indicates 20 business days plus mailing time to process the application. Knowing this, it will not be returned to us until first week of December and we plan on flying out Dec 18. If there are any complications or delays I would almost rather keep her existing passport and hope there are no issues using it than risk not having the passport arrive in the mail before our flight.

Our family has a cruise booked out of Fort Lauderdale on Princess for a 10 day Caribbean cruise. Looking at our passports we discovered that our 15 year old daughters' passport expires at the end of Feb 2023 which will be within the 6 month rule. Our cruise departs Dec 19 and I am a bit worried that if I go in to apply for a new passport, handing in her old one, that there may be some delays of getting her a new passport before we leave.

In searching the requirements for passports for Canadians entering the US, I see a note for those under 16; " 

Canadian citizens aged 15 years and under entering the United States by land or water require one of the following documents:

• a passport
• an original or a copy of a birth certificate
• an original Canadian citizenship certificate
•  

From my interpretation of this, if they question us about the 6 month rule for her passport  then as long as we have an original copy of her birth certificate we should be fine.

Next question is in regards to all of the ports that we enter if we risk the chance of using her existing passport.  Will I have to look up the rules for each of the countries we enter to see if they have the 6 month rule in effect or if they are like the US and have different rules for those under 16? I have no problem getting a new passport for her but don't need the stress of it somehow getting bogged down in the system.

FYI, we are located in Edmonton, Alberta.

On 11/29/2019 at 2:23 AM, caribill said:

 

Right. Remember that Princess gets all of their alcohol tax free but sells it to passengers at prices similar to many land establishments that have purchased their alcohol at prices that include those taxes.

 I can attest to that, on our first Princess Cruise, back in about 2006, while docked in Barbados, I walked into a port duty free liquor store to see Mount Gay Rum ( locally made in Barbados), being sold for about $7 US for a 1 litre bottle ( approx. 33 ounces). Obviously I could not purchase any to enjoy back on the ship, but while walking towards the Sun Princess, what do I see? The ship is being loaded with supplies and amongst these supplies I see literally pallets of Mount Gay rum being loaded on to the Sun Princess! 

I do believe at the time a drink on the ship was about $5 US. Not taking into account the labor cost or cost of mix, which are both minimal, that one bottle of rum is paid back in probably two drinks, even at a generous 1.5 ounces per drink,  the remaining 30 ounces of that 33 ounce bottle is pure profit. Nice margins. Reminds me of popcorn at a movie theatre. 

Just arrived home from a 10 day Emerald Princess cruise (3/8 through 3/18) one of our islands we visited was Dominica. I cannot express in words the BEAUTY of this island. It was breathtaking in my opinion and the people we met have me wanting to go right back.

 

I had booked "off the beaten path" with Woody about a year ago and have to rave about this tour. He met us as our ship was cleared and we went on a small walk to his Land Rover :) while we walked he explained downtown Dominica and some history - great start.

 

There were a total of 4 of us on this tour and Woody. As we drove around (over 125 miles we covered!!) Woody gave us a history of the island and the people as we drove through each of the small communities on the East and West side of Dominica. Woody is VERY well known in Dominica and that bodes well for the people touring with him - we were greated at many stops with Big smiles and genuine happiness.

 

As we toured Woody showed us many places where Pirates of the Carribean was filled. That was exciting to me as POC is one of my favorites.

 

Our Land Rover tour brought us to many places the tour buses cannot - which was so exciting - Woody brought us to a remote beach where we sunned ourselves / played in the waves / had an amazing lunch and just became wonderful friends.

 

If anyone is looking for more information please feel free to email me with questions - and also read some of the information on Woody's site -

 

My rating is a 10 out of 10 for this tour......I WILL be back - and I will take this tour again! no question about it!!!!

 

Woody if you do get the chance to read this - You are an amazing man - and thank you for being YOU!!!

 

http://woodydominica.shutterfly.com/

Great to hear, we have him booked on our cruise starting next week on the Star. Of all the reviews of excursions with Woody, his keeps on coming back with nothing but rave reviews. We can't wait.