Towel Critter

We did the Atlantis excursion several years ago and really enjoyed it. I suppose it could have gone downhill since then. Things change, I guess

Never said SJ would be closed for a year. I said let's look back in 60 days and SJ will most likely be open. Toodles;)

Toodles then, until 60 days. Happy cruising! :)

3 days now. :-)

SMH, anything to try to get one up..I didn't mention key west btw and I am glad they are open..can't compare what happened in key west to the ports I mentioned. Btw carnival just announced no cruises out of SJ for several weeks, the next three have already been cancelled.

Not one bit surprised SJ will be closed for several weeks. I WOULD be surprised if they were to announce they will be closed for a year. BTW, I'm not trying to get one up, just expressing my opinion, which happens to differ from yours. It isn't personal at all. Also, BTW, I'm sorry, but I don't have a clue what "SMH" is. May all your cruises be great ones, Coop! :)

They no longer do that for sailings that have the cards in the mailboxes. You get your card with everyone else. There’s no point in doing airport check in now because you still have to show your ID at the little desk out front. Doesn’t take them any more time to finish the check in process right then and there.

Okay. Thanks for answering my question. :)

Our last cruise, back in October, we got our S&S cards at the airport while waiting for the Carnival transport bus. This is even faster than having them delivered to your mailbox. Will this become a thing of the past???

Yep, here we go. Key West reopening, the others will be coming soon...

Great news for the folks of Key West and encouragement for the other folks with so much work ahead of them. :)

Wow! We are supposed to go there the first week of October and just assumed the port would be skipped. Great news!

We were supposed to visit Key West on the 26th of this month on our upcoming cruise, but as of now - as far as I know - we still will not be visiting, per Carnival. I suppose it is possible it will be added back to our itinerary before we sail on Monday. Will be interesting to see if that happens or not. I had already assumed we would not be visiting Key West, even before Carnival notified me to make it official. I'm very surprised to hear it will be reopening on Sunday. I'm also pleased for the sake of the people of Key West, whether we get to visit or not on Wednesday. I hope many of the other ports now closed will be reopening in the coming weeks as well. Those folks need the income.

Thanks but it wasn't I who needed this info to support what I was saying. Thanks.

Please note that the Key West Port will be reopening 9/24. I'm surprised that it will be this soon... was expecting a few more weeks. St. Thomas may take a few more weeks. St. Maarten possibly a little longer. The point is though, it hasn't been months or years, nor will it be.

Please share the hurricane that was worse for St Thomas, St Maarten, Dominica? As far as PR it's still left to be seen which was worse, Maria or 1928. I can tell you that it really doesn't matter as they have to deal with the current storm of Maria.

Here is a link to hurricane history for St. Thomas and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

 

http://www.hurricanecity.com/city/saintthomas.htm

 

You can look up the others just as easily as I can.

[emoji3]. I can’t stand sitting around the airport. Last time in MIA I nearly froze to death. Plus all those obnoxious people and uncomfortable chairs. Ugh!

 

The first time I had an early flight, I was a little worried, but now that I have quite a few under my belt (more than I posted) I know how it operates and am fine. Can delays happen? Sure. But if the ship is that late coming in, even a flight around noon probably won’t be made. If I don’t get home on time, oh well. My house will be there. Now if I’m late for the ship, that’s another story!

 

If you are well prepared, you don’t have to waste time at the airport and can get cheaper flights. It’s a win-win.

You sound like my wife, as she is cold natured natured too.:) I honestly don't mind sitting around at the airport. The people watching is usually fairly entertaining. I guess the biggest thing with me on the issue of early flights is I hate feeling rushed. We did the early embarkation once and I hated it. I prefer to enjoy a leisurely breakfast and remain in vacay mode until I get home. We did almost miss a flight out once, so I suppose that enters a little bit into my feelings on this too, though the rush thing is still the biggest factor. Perhaps "almost miss" is an exaggeration. We made it by fifteen or twenty minutes, but my stress factor was high enough that it felt like a near miss. I'm sometimes a bit of a worrier in situations where a lot of things are out of my control. But yes, the savings factor is there for early flights, for sure, if one is of the temperament to not stress about it.

If you do self assist, you will make it to the airport before the mad rush of people so security lines will be minimal. Here is what I wrote in my Vista review:

Debarkation was quick and painless. Platinums met in the dining room at 6:45am and we were off the ship shortly thereafter. 2 min wait at customs, summoned an Uber, and were at the airport at about 7:15am. 5 min wait through TSA Precheck and here we are.

 

And my Glory Cruise last October:

We were given a letter to meet in the Golden Dining Room at 7:15 AM for Platinum self assist. I figured I would wait until around then before heading there as every other time there had been a wait. Well at 6:45 AM Saffie announced that they were doing self assist for Decks 1 and 2. Guess D/P/FTTF had already gone by then. Luckily I was already packed and headed out. About 4-5 people in front of me to get off the ship. 2 lines were open Deck 3 forward. It went very fast, no line at Customs.

 

Checked one bag at the airport since there wasn't really a line outside (except I got delayed by a family that had to rearrange clothes in their overweight bag). Breezed through TSA PreCheck and here I sit. From stepping off the ship to sitting at the gate in under an hour.

 

Most recently last month from Conquest:

Let’s go to the end of the cruise [/font]:(. I did self assist and was given instructions to meet in the Renoir (Midship) dining room at 6:15. I got a little bit of a late start because I was trying to fit my makeup and stuff into my tote bag along with all these shot glasses I had accumulated and things weren’t fitting as well as I was anticipating. Finally got situated and as I was walking out the door I’d say about 6:20, they started calling for Decks 10 and 11 self assist. Missed the Priority stuff once again. Hey at least I’m consistent! Start the cruise late, end the cruise late! Took the glass elevator down to deck 3 and walked right off. Straight through Customs. No more forms, and no need for the Mobile Passport App (which I couldn’t do anyway because mine expires in less than 6 months). Summoned an Uber to FLL. He got a little lost coming into the port so that took a little longer than it should have but I wasn’t stressing. I had PLENTY of time. Tried to get an earlier flight as mine wasn’t until 10:45 AM, but couldn’t since I flew on points. No problem, I would just hang in the Delta Sky Lounge for a few hours. I was through security after checking my carry on sized bag (just becauseI can for free thanks to my Platinum Delta Skymiles credit card) at 7:19AM. If I ever go on another cruise out of PE and fly out of FLL, I wouldn’t hesitate to book the 8:45 AM flight.

 

Notice a pattern?

You support your position on this well. Me, I still wouldn't do it. I guess I'm more of a pessimist than you. :)

I was wondering what people thought of a departing flight at 9:45 leavin Miami .

I always do self assist and I'm pretty sure I can make that flight. I understand sometimes the boat could arrive late. But I cruised a dozen times and I seem to be off the boat within an hour. What are your thoughts??

 

 

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That would be too early for me to risk. It may be possible to do, but everything will have to go perfectly. One traffic delay and you miss your flight. What if the security lines at the airport or backed up that day? I can think of a half dozen things that could easily cause you to miss that flight. JMHO.

Pretty irresponsible to make comments like yours. St Maarten, Dominica, SAN Juan, St Thomas, St Croix have never been hit by hurricanes before like this. There countries and people are dealing with things they never imagined. It's much more than the port that is needed to cruise there. You must consider the safety of the passengers. There will be many that will want to go to places farther away from the port. At times like this it will not be safe as there will be people who try to take advantage of tourists as they have valuables. Please sit down and think this thru realistically as it may be months and years before cruise ships return to some of these ports. It sounds easy to say when the port opens we can cruise again but in reality is it isn't.

Months? Perhaps two or three, in some cases. Most though will have their cruise ports up and running before then. The islands may not be as attractive as before, but they depend on that money.. Years? No way. You can bet that the ports and cruise facilities will be a priority during clean up and repair. The interiors of these islands will take longer, but that will not stop them from receiving cruise ships, cruise passengers, and cruise money. And yes, these islands HAVE seen storms of the magnitude of Irma and Marie, just not in our lifetimes. In the case of Puerto Rico, It was hit with a storm of equal or greater strength in the 1920s. Monster hurricanes have been around since long before CNN, Fox News, and the Weather Channel, since the dawn of time in fact.

6 days.

What are all the Michaels doing?

I think you meant, Michaelds.;)

Honestly what would Carnival do if someone guy shows up in womens clothing? Now a days it's a distinct possibility. Are they going to discriminate against them? That's a lawsuit waiting to happen, want riots on the ships, I can see the protests now :rolleyes:

 

On a cruise about two years ago -don't remember the ship-there was a man dressed in women's clothes the entire cruise. At least I assume he was dressed that way for the duration, since he was every time I saw him... about four or five times.

Carnival has not bothered with their promised 630pm website update re: port re-opening.

The Carnival update is up now. Just saw it.

I've only ordered more than one entrée once ( two lobsters, since they are small) and I felt uncomfortable doing it, so I probably won't in the future. That said, Carnival allows it, so technically it is not wrong to do so. I think ordering more than merely a second entrée is taking it too far though. Carnival may not care if someone orders six lobsters and two steaks, but doing so would be embarrassing for me. But that's just me.

I guess we will be seeing many of the Eastern scheduled cruises here in Cozumel. We are friendly people, come enjoy our island hospitality.

Headed there in three weeks. Cozumel remains one of my favorite stops. It's been a couple of years, so I'm looking forward to it.

 

They didn't substitute another port, so we only got three of our promised four ports on that cruise.

 

Ports are never "promised," merely scheduled. Ports are often missed even outside hurricane season. HMC is an excellent example of this. If the wind is up and the water rough, no go. Ports of call that require tendering are always at risk any time of year.

21 days until B2B on the Victory, with mother nature's permission. :-)

No, we do not plan ahead of time for each port. Typically, we'll only pre-purchase a tour for one port-of-call, occasionally two. We tend to explore on our own on islands we've never visited (though at this point those are becoming fewer). If it's a port we've been to three or four times, THEN we pre-plan an excursion to see sights we've not been able to see on our own before, just to keep the visit from being boring. There have been exceptions. We pre-planned the scenic railway on St. Kitts, even though it was a new port for us, because we both felt it was a worth while excursion, whereas many are not in our experience. What I mean by "many are not" is for example, purchasing a beach excursion. When going to a beach, we prefer to simply grab a taxi. Same content, much less money, same thing with SOME of the island and city tours. note* Unfortunately, we ended up having to cancel the cruise and the railway excursion at St. Kitts. But next time, we will likely pre-purchase the same excursion again for the same reason as before.

$200 is indeed a nice amount. I'm sorry you thought my post meant it was insignificant

 

I only meant to stress how fast it could be spent, and listed some possibilities. I probably should have included the Dteakhouse as well.

I didn't mention gratuities since the OP stated they were already prepaid.

 

 

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Fair enough. I thought I detected some cynicism in your post. Perhaps not. Happy cruising! :)

$200 doesn't last long on a cruise ship - drinks, excursions, photos, casino - any one of these can use up all that OBC in no time at all.

That's somewhat true, depending on the spending habits of the cruiser, but the OP's question wasn't "how far will my OBC go?" It was more about suggestions for how to use the OBC. $200 will very nearly pay for gratuities for the cruise in question and a budget excursion for two, say fifty bucks per person for a tour or beach day. That's a worthwhile gain in my book. To me, 200 bucks is nothing to sneeze at. Excluding gratuities, our S&S bill is rarely more than $200-$300 for a seven night cruise, largely because we don't drink much. We are budget conscious and not everyone is, or has to be. I would be excited about that OBC. I think many would, including the OP. I don't mean to be contentious, but I doubt the OP started this thread to hear how insignificant their OBC is. For some, perhaps it would be insignificant - and good for them, I guess... but for most of us, $200 OBC is something to be excited about.