sparks1093

For the price I would hope so. Maybe someday we'll find out.

Maybe, but not that we've experienced in the three cruises we've taken since they started back up.

I certainly hope so.

Our experiment with Celebrity didn't last too long. We had compared a Carnival cruise and a Celebrity cruise (southern Caribbean itineraries in 2/2025) and after adding in to the Carnival fare what was included in the Celebrity fare Celebrity was less expensive overall for either sailing, so we booked them. Fast forward until last month and Celebrity cancelled our cruise due to changing the ship's home port. When I checked the prices we compared a 7 day Celebrity S. Carib with an 8 day Carnival and Carnival won that battle handily this time. So now we are going to Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao. I visited Aruba in the late '70's in the Navy and have always wanted to go back. Now I just have to two years to go back. Any must do excursions on the ABC island itinerary? Any suggestions on Horizon?

For a non-US citizen it can be interesting. My sister in law visited from Germany many years ago and we took them up to Canada. She forgot her passport at the house, so of course we were denied entry. The CBP officer on the other side understood completely and we were able to go home to get the passport. The second trip was uneventful.

And unfortunately what he was told was wrong. There are provisions in the regulations that allow the authorities to waive the passport requirement for emergencies or for humanitarian reasons, so arrangements can be made for returning by air (there will be a delay while this is done, of course).

Yes, there is certainly a fine line between the two.

And my point, which was lost in my attempt at humor, was that given the limited resources available in that particular port it was a sellers market. Cruise lines are in business and need to make money, after all. I suspect that in order for the two taxis to transport three bus loads of people to that site and back would have been beyond their ability (although I am sure that they would have loved that windfall).

Since there was that much demand for transportation, and you had already tied up half of the available options 😉, it was a sellers market. For you doing all of the research and making the arrangements is part of the fun, absolutely. But for many they don't have the time or inclination to do that kind of research and in reality only one other passenger would have been able to replicate your experience given the limited commercial transportation options (and of course that is something that is limited to specific ports such as this).

When we visited my brother in law in Warnemunde there was a small restaurant at the end of his street off of one of the main squares. The crews would congregate to this restaurant and just sit and relax. I'm sure that they used others, but this one was fairly secluded and away from the madness of the port. I would be loath to infringe on their solitude. I found it interesting to see a port of call from a resident's perspective. The town would explode with humanity when the ships came in and remain busy until they pulled out, then quiet would resume. We used to walk down to the dock just to see which ships were in port.

Just be mindful of the all aboard time/last tender time and remember what time zone the ship is in. As long as you are back before the stated time you are fine.

I would first read the requirements for your specific cruise line, they may have guidelines for how to bring the wine aboard. For instance, Carnival specifies that it must be in the carry on bag. If that is the case I would just put it in the carry on with no special precautions. If you can put it in your checked bag then I would wrap it well in bubble wrap and put it in a bag that won't leak because your checked bag might undergo some rough treatment by the baggage handlers. You would also want to familiarize yourself with your cruise line's corkage fee policy and plan accordingly. Some, such as NCL, charge a corkage fee for every bottle regardless of where it is consumed. Others only charge a corkage fee if you bring your bottle to the dining room. And finally, some lines have a limit on how much you can bring while others don't, something else to keep in mind and verify.

Wishful thinking but I'm glad to get what I do what I get.

Actually the cost of the trip would not be too relevant, what would be is the extent of the injuries and associated cost. If a tour operator were negligent and caused injury to a passenger I could see someone including the cruise line in any attempt at recovery. One of the selling points for ship excursions is the fact that the operators are vetted by the cruise line and it could be argued that act makes them at least partially responsible. Arguing is, after all, what lawyers get paid for.

I'm sure those two questions winnow out a good number of potential suits.

All true indeed, but as I said we don't travel often enough to truly benefit from having it. We are flying domestically more frequently now so TSA pre-check is something we've obtained, but I get that paid for by my employer. If I lived near busier port of entries and we went up to Canada more often than we do then that would be a factor, of course. (Canada is only 8 miles from the end of my driveway, but traveling there isn't a routine thing for us and as I said there usually isn't a line when we do cross.)

To echo ldubs, companies put a lot of language in their contracts. Some of it holds up in court, some of it doesn't. Saying "we aren't liable" is one of those phrases that might hold up, but it might not. A company cannot shield itself from liability that easily. If they could there would be many fewer lawsuits. (The language is included to scare off the nuisance suits.)

After reading through the responses it triggered a memory of something that happened on our last cruise. We had booked a tour of a plantation in Jamaica and the tour guide took the group to a retail place where it was obvious that she was getting a cutback from the owner. Thing was, this wasn't part of the tour. The party received a 50% discount from the ship as a result. On an excursion in Freeport we were delayed throughout the tour, which resulted in us returning to the ship late. The ship was talking to the bus driver frequently on our return trip. Upon reaching the port they pulled the gangway up after we crossed.

We used it on Glory in April and it worked well for the two people in our party that needed it. DW is allergic to shellfish and is lactose intolerant, which is fairly simple (other than she tries to limit her intake of iodized salt because of the shellfish allergy). Our traveling companion has a list of allergies and sensitivities as long as your arm (such as, no corn based or soy based items in her food). Menu Mate really helped the staff let both of these ladies order things that were safe. Our head waitress would bring them the next day menus (sea day brunch and dinner) and they would make their selection. The waitress would confirm the lack of allergens OR the ability of the kitchen staff to prepare the item without the offending foods. I wasn't sure that it would actually work with sea day brunch, but when they showed up they informed the server who was then able to retrieve their order slip from the system and order their food. (And they do make WCMC without gluten for those who need it.) They were both very impressed with the handling of their orders.

I was going to say exactly this, and even if she did have drugs on her person a normal alert is for the dog to sit down.

We've never applied for NEXUS so I couldn't say. The only advice that I could offer would be to allow ample time before the flight. We've looked into it but we don't enter Canada/return to the US often enough to warrant applying for it. (Our ports of entry round these parts consist of a single lane so there wouldn't be a "priority lane" and unless we are unlucky enough to arrive when a lot of other people do we are generally the only ones there anyway.)

Number 3 struck a memory. Some cruise lines sign contracts with the tour operator to the effect that the tour operator cannot independently provide an excursion to a passenger, it has to be through the cruise line. If you book with such an operator online prior to the cruise and they find out that you are a passenger you could end up with a cancelled excursion with no refund. This should be clearly outlined when you book the cruise but it might be buried on the web page. Just something to be aware of.

The mainstream lines that we sail with seem to have more reasonable prices for their excursions. A walking tour of Old San Juan is $40 for 3 hours on our upcoming cruise. Now, we could certainly walk the same path as those on the tour and see the same sights, but what we would miss out on would be the commentary provided by an experienced guide. That is a factor to take into consideration, as is exploring options to book a similar tour directly. It used to be a selling point that a ship's tour would wait for you if you were running late, and that may still be the case although it has been some time since I've seen anything in writing on it.

I have seen such policies at www.insuremytrip.com but they are generally pricier and limited in what they will pay up front. The vast majority of insurance policies are set up for you to pay the bill and then be reimbursed. You can also check your personal healthcare policy, some of them do provide some coverage overseas (my plan does but only if I am using an in-network provider). But even if you do happen to find such a plan it is possible and even likely that the hospital treating you is still going to want some sort of payment from you up front.

Actually on closed loop cruises vetting on all passengers is done during the cruise, so by the time the ship returns everyone's info has been verified through a multitude of databases. When we applied for our passports we didn't need to provide the marriage license.