cuterlmt

Great information - thank you! I knew folks would have experience with this.

It is 

UA 212 from ABQ to Denver

UA 5791 Denver to Toronto

UA 8681 Toronto to Athens (via Air Canada)

DL 203 Athens to JFK

AA 2979 JFK to DFW

AA 2564  DFW to ABQ

Should I be concerned about short times at terminals? I'm pretty much go with the flow kind of person, but I do like to plan to make sure I can get it done.....

Thank you again for your great help.

We are flying soon from our home city Albuquerque to Athens, with stops in Denver, Toronto and then on to Athens. On the way back, It's Athens to JFK to Dallas to ABQ. We got these flights through NCL and they are actually quite reasonable as far as time and layovers and such.

So some questions:

1) how do I figure out if we are landing in one terminal and have to get to a different terminal? Do I have to wait until I get to the airport to figure this out?

2) At any point in between start and finish, are we going to have to manage our checked bags? or do they get checked from the beginning all the way through?

3) Do we go through customs/immigration at some point in the middle? or at the beginning or end?

Thank you!

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

I'm not exactly a doctor, so take this for what it is - a random thought from a random person on the internet. 🙂

 

I had the same thing! My doctor took me off Lisinopril and put me on Losartan. After a month, the cough went away!!! It's so much better than experiencing that dry, hacking cough that is absolutely ridiculous. 

10 minutes ago, uneamie said:

Thank you for that tip. I never heard of Losartan. I will ask my doctor if they can switch me. I don't take if for blood pressure. I take it to protect my kidneys from diabetes and metformin so I guess I have to ask if Losartan will do the same. Thanks again! 

I'm in the same boat as you uneamie. I got off Lisonopril, not because of the coughing, although I had that, but because of an allergic reaction I had to it. So dr. put me on Losartan. I also have diabetes and take metformin. I like the Losartan much better. 

We actually have a day in between the two cruises. I actually like the idea of flying. I'm sure we will have a ton of luggage - my husband does not pack light. But maybe the train - we would probably not be able to get off the ship quite that early (8:06) to take the train. Are the trains pretty regular between the two towns so we could take a later train and get to Rome later in the day, and spend the night before the cruise in Rome?

Thank you for answering. I've done some research, but am just not a savvy enough traveler to figure it out myself.

We have a cruise booked with NCL which ends in Trieste. We are thinking about booking a cruise leaving the day after we disembark Trieste. The cruise leaves from Rome with RCCL. Can we do this? We don't want to rent a car. But also don't want to be incredibly stressed out trying to get to Rome for the cruise the next day. This will be in April 2023. These are CAS cruises, and are fairly flexible, but we also want to use our time well, and not just go to Europe for one week - and want to do two cruises while we're there. If we could spend another extra week there, I'd love to do that, but I don't think I can manage that much time off from work.

I got a great casino offer from MGM rewards, with a ton of options. I'm thinking Europe since I already have a NCL CAS cruise scheduled for April 2023 from Rome to Trieste, maybe do a side by side (not really, I'd have to get from one port to another). We have been on a ton of NCL CAS cruises, but never RCCL, so we are looking forward to trying something new.

But here are the questions:

1) Does RCCL ever do deals like NCL? Free at Sea kind of stuff, with free specialty dining, free excursion ticket, wifi, etc. How often do those deals come out? Are they available on the Casino cruises?

2) Do I get a casino drink card for my cruise since it's a Casino cruise?

3) I love NCL for lots of reasons - particularly the freestyle cruising, any time dining, lots of options. I also like both kinds of ships, small and large. We choose cruises primarily for itinerary. Any great recommendations? 

4) I watch a lot of cruise vloggers on youtube. Do you recommend any ones who do a lot of RCCL cruises?

I would appreciate any and all input, unless it's not kind. 

Thank you!!!

On 7/14/2022 at 5:07 PM, Warm-Water Diver said:

Haven't really paid attention to the current testing requirement for NCL but just booked our next 7 day cruise for this coming January.

 

I ordered the free covid tests provided by the US government this week. Are those tests valid to board?

They are actually valid, but you have to pay for a proctor. I know others said they are not valid. We have used them very successfully before, and will use them again for our September cruise and our October/November cruises. I have NEVER paid for a COVID test, only a proctor to watch, and send me an email of the result. The last proctor we paid for was $20 per person. But we'll try onpoint for our next cruise. 

On our last two cruises, we heard 2-3 days before sailing. 

5 hours ago, skeeter195 said:

Can I test on Friday at 6am and then board the ship at 10am on Sunday?  Or does the 48 hour window stop at 6am on Sunday.  When it was a PCR test in October there was a 96 hour time but you could test earlier on the 1st day and check in after that time on the 4th day.  

So everyone seems to say it's two days, Friday to Sunday. When I posted about that on facebook, someone came on and said he was forced to test at the port because he did his test at 10am two days before and he wasn't checking in until after 1030 or so, so more than 48 hours. We had ours scheduled first thing Friday because I had to work and changed them to Friday afternoon to make sure we didn't have to test at the port. So probably YMMV. And there was only ONE person I've seen posted that, so who knows. But better safe than sorry for us.

We used ihealth proctored, set up the appointments, did them, they stayed on with us until we got the email. The only odd thing was having to lower my laptop screen to have the camera watch the test. My computer (not a great one) kept shutting down so I would have to refresh. Very easy though, and only $20 per person. This was for the Encore on 4/3.

We are doing this trip back to back on the Jade at the end of October. Looking forward to your review.

They did pull some staff from the Escape to the Encore, but I agree, they were overwhelmed by all the extra passengers.

i agree with you that it's always mentioned. In my many cruises, I have always done it when I board, and haven't had any problems. But I heard such complaining about it from folks from the Escape, I thought i would post how easy it is. I even told the folks complaining to schedule on board. I know they did get in because they talked about their specialty dinners later. 

One other thing I meant to mention is for those of you who can't get dinner reservations at the specialty restaurants or show reservations, we did those when we boarded without any trouble. I have never been able to do them online successfully. But have always had good luck doing them on the ship, even later on in the week. And given how crowded it was, I was surprised how easy it was. 

A couple of other thoughts about embarkation and disembarkation - both were pretty good.

When the van dropped us off at embarkation, we got through the line within about 10 minutes, maybe less, to show our vaccination card and test, and then check in for the cruise. We just had to wait to get on, which seemed like forever. But we were on before noon. 

Disembarkation, we had a shore excursion to leave the ship. I wish they had given us a little bit of instruction on that - there was some confusion about where to go, what bus to go on, and getting our luggage, but it all worked out fine. 

Also, one other thought - the $50 off shore excursions is really great. We paid for a ride up to the top in St. Thomas (I think that's where it was), and it normally costs $25 per person; we paid $35 for both of us with the $50 off the shore excursion. The food at the top was not great though, so I would not spend too much there - the bushwacker was good, and the staff was great, but very overwhelmed by all the people. 

We were on the same cruise, no kids though. It was a wonderful trip. It was quite crowded though, so we would sneak away to the observation lounge or our balcony for some peace. I'm sure the crowds were there because of the Escape cancellation. We met many of those folks who complained incessantly about not getting the cabins they had booked on the Escape or their specialty dining or shows, etc., etc.

A few takeaways:

1) The Ihealth test given to us by the government was valid for the cruse. We had it proctored (paid $20 and had to make an appointment for each of us), and it was pretty easy to do. I read on facebook before the cruise that some passenger had to re-test after having done the test at 10am two days before the cruise, because he couldn't get on the ship until long after 10, so we scheduled our tests for after 5pm two days before. A lot of people balked at what he said, but I didn't want to take a chance.

2) We stayed at Miami Hilton Downtown through Hotwire for $260, one night. My husband wanted to be close to the port. It was ok. The bathroom was small, and had a tub. We did have floor to ceiling windows that faced the city, which was very nice. The restaurant was fine - we only had breakfast as we got in very late from our flight. I would probably choose next time to stay closer to the airport. We had hoped to have a nice dinner close by but as you'll see in my next point, we got in very late. they did have a shuttle to the cruise port every hour starting at 10am for $7 per person. Quite convenient. Very quick and easy drive, and nice driver.

3) The Miami airport was a nightmare! Anyone going in to Miami might think about flying into Ft. Lauderdale instead. A lot of people were in line to collect their luggage because of cancelled flights. It took over two hours for our luggage to come out on the carousel. There was very little seating anywhere and it was hot in the airport. This was quite late in the evening on 4/2, 

4) We flew out of Fort Lauderdale airport and it was great, small terminal, easy to navigate, etc., etc.

5) The ship was beautiful - we had been on her before. We were impressed with the staff, as always, and the food was always pretty good. The casino and crew in the casino were wonderful.

6) About the casino - we spent a good amount of time there. A couple of times, the casino host approached me and asked if there was anything he could do for us. I didn't need anything so I said no. On the last night, he approached me at after 1040pm and said that I had a lot of on board credit to use based on my play - several hundred dollars, and encouraged me to go to the shops and spend the money. He said the shops closed in about 15 minutes. I was concerned about buying a bunch of stuff and having to declare it, and didn't really need anything. I do regret not taking him on it but just felt weird about it. It's difficult to explain. We did get all of our extras comped - our extra speciality dining charges. We prepaid all of our excursions and gratuity, otherwise that might have been covered. 

7) we had some nice excursions, all through the ship. To get to Fort Lauderdale airport, we did a bus ride and airboat ride at Gator park (I think that's what it is called) and that was fun.

😎 we originally had an oceanview cabin through CAS, but bid on an upgrade to a balcony for the minimum, $25 per person for $50, and won. We were notified about two days before the cruise. I was surprised we got the upgrade because of all the folks coming over from the Escape, but quite pleased. I will say the bathroom seemed smaller than our last balcony on the encore. The toilet is quite a tight fit next to the shower. I really prefer the Epic set up.

9) We saw Choir of Man which was fantastic - I would highly recommend it. We did not see any other shows but heard mixed reviews of the comedy and magic shows.

10) Out specialty dining was Le Bistro and Ocean Blue and American Diner. All excellent and too much food.

11) We primarily ate in the MDR, only one meal in the buffet because we had to rush to an excursion. All excellent, especially the staff. We ate once in Manhatten so we could go to the show. To me, it is too big and loud. 

I would be happy to answer any questions.

We received an upgrade from an oceanview cabin to balcony for our upcoming April 3rd sailing on the Encore. Very pleased, minimum bid of $25/per person. We also got an upgrade on our Alaska sailing last August from an inside to a balcony, again minimum bid. On both of those upgrades, we learned a few days before sailing. Prior to that, we have never won an upgrade, but I generally bid the minimum, and we normally get an inside comped by CAS, and bid on a balcony.

We are doing the IHealth tests via a proctor for our 4/3 cruise, so I will report back. From what I have seen, they will qualify, but who knows? 

We have done both a Vancouver to Seward (and back - we were lucky enough to get back to back cruises) on the Sun, and last year on the Encore from Seattle, back to Seattle. The Encore is a beautiful ship - you cannot go wrong on that ship. It is just stunning, but HUGE. We loved the Sun, a much smaller ship, and loved Vancouver and that we went all the way to Seward, which was a fun port. I think most people who sail Alaska say if you are only going once, go for the ports. So I would say make sure you're going to the ports you want to go to, and that you will like a huge ship. Whatever you do, enjoy!!

Thanks for all your help. I decided to go ahead and reserve my room since we did our online check in today  for our cruise, and  I don't have a lot of free time. We picked a 4 star, Miami downtown-port of Miami, for $209, about $260 with taxes and fees. Got the Hilton Miami Downtown. Looks decent. Considering, we were originally going to stay by the airport, I think this is a fantastic rate. Hopefully all goes smoothly. I will report back in about 4 weeks! Thanks for the idea of the google images. I will try that next time.

Thank you for helping make this an easier process! It's been a long time since I used hotwire, but I'm hopeful I'll be happy with it!

How are you figuring out  which hotel it is that you're getting? I'm trying to get something through Priceline or Hotwire and need help trying to figure out what I'm getting before I buy it.....

How can you figure out which hotel you're going to get? I found some really great deals on Hotwire for 4 star hotels, but looking at better bidding is not helping me. Any good hints?

Thank you so much for this. I couldn't find my upgrade bids. This was very helpful. 

Sometimes I've had it come in the day after cancelled, sometimes it takes a few weeks. I hope you get it soon so you can re-book!

When I have used FCC in the past, I've used to pay for cruises already booked to help pay off the balance, so I'm pretty sure you can do that. Unless the rules have changed at all with the new POM policy.