thinfool

Queen Mary II offers kennel service....Pricey much, but it can be done.

Not to drift too far away here, but an itinerary with Martinique included will require a valid passport. US or otherwise.

My God...do not get a passport. We did back several years ago and we are several thousand dollars poorer for it. We decided that we loved cruising and now the missus will not leave the house unless there is a rudder involved. Chipping away at our finances are trips to Europe (2), a trip to South America, Alaska, Panama Canal (2), several Caribbean sailings, and other places that I cannot remember. Tis a perilous venture that you are contemplating.

Many who live here in Florida regularly use Park n Go. It is very popular judging from how packed with cars their lot is. https://www.bookparkngo.com/ Their rates have been very attractive, tho the last time we sailed from PE we paid almost the same as the pkg garages. You should check. Park n Go has you enter their lot, checks your printout of your reservation, then directs you to pull your car ahead to a staging area where they help load your luggage onto their shuttle that is designated for your ship. Everyone boards the shuttle and they transport you to the correct boarding area for your sailing. Some object to this, but you must leave your keys while away so that they can move your car to facilitate their operation. My opinion....many lots in large cities have this same requirement. There are no media reports of problems with this procedure.

The ship is going to dock in Ephesus?

OSHA has no jurisdiction in a foreign country, which applies to a cruise ship. Even in the US, OSHA has no jurisdition unless you are an employee of the business that is involved. Hence, OSHA standards, which are truly valuable, cannot be enforced on a passenger or a volunteer. Buy travel insurance for 'falling off the chair' injuries!

Good luck getting to Miami from FLL in 25 minutes. Have you seen the latest hiway construction that is underway in downtown? Couple that with "normal" Miami traffic and you will easily exceed that estimate.

Probably you already know this...and not to be too picky....Princess never did pay a dividend. So you must cheer all of the lines in the Carnival family to fill their ships to return to the dividends of yesteryear.

We have been on ships with a long haul to the next port, and because of that the Captain waved bye, bye to any late tours whether private or ship sponsored. And of course, he did not do it without the ok from the head office with which they are in constant contact.

As alreadly mentioned, private providers rarely violate the 'on board' time for the ship. Social media being what it is, their efforts to be on time are make or break for their business. Indeed, in our 20+ years of cruising the majority of late tour arrivals have been with ship provided tours. The operators seem to know when or if they can abuse the schedule because 'the ship will wait for them'. I cannot say we never use a ship tour, but I will easily say that it is rare. And we have never been even close to sail away/all aboard time unless there was a long line waiting to board at the ship.

I will second this way of getting to MIA. I will def. be more cost effective than Uber/Lyft. The last stop on the TriRail is MIA.

I cannot comment from experience, however I can comment that paying Uber or Lyft for this transfer would be far more cost effective than using the Cruise line transfer. And this is true no matter where you are embarking. Only exception I can think of is if Uber/Lyft were not available or outlawed, neither of which applies to Ft Lauderdale.

If your friend is before final payment, then refaring is easy and has no encumbrances. If the friend has made final payment, it gets a lot more complicated, as you have noted. Anyone here familiar with the current Princess requirement for final payment days? My impression was that during the Covid thing, many cruise lines took the opportunity to fiddle with the number of days required for final payment. I know of some that went from 90 days to 120 days. What is the latest for Princess?

I had not read the shareholder benefit page at CCL for some time. The note about using email seems tailored for cautious folk. Frankly I have always used http://faxzero.com to fax my information to princess. It's free and they keep trying until it succeeds...and it has the security of a fax rather than email. Having said that, anyone using email just needs to be aware of any/all risks.

If you survive the exit from the moving train you will likely need some form of medical attention....pretty sure your ship will not allow you to board. As I remember, one way tickets from West Palm Beach to Orlando start at $79. Typically there are 'special offers' that change standard pricing.

Take uber to the FLL trirail station, then ride the trirail to the last station. The last station is MIA.

Your driver, hubby, wife, can go get the car...be sure the driver has the means to pay for the parking, then the driver can navigate the awful traffic from the parking garage or lot to the curbside where the rest of the family is waiting....patiently??

That info may allow a bad actor to cancel your cruise or up/down grade your cabin. Your TA may have never (yet) had a bad experience. Call and let him know that it should not begin now.

Yeah, I'm gonna go with Nassau, too. Boring, little to do if you're not on a paid excursion. I'll take Roatan, Costa Maya and/or Cartagena anytime.

You will not receive an aft or forward cabin with a guarantee unless there are cabins in the class you book that are located forward or aft. A guarantee will hold to the class of cabin that you book it under. Sadly there is a lot of misunderstanding among pax as to how a guarantee works. Some seem to think that they will wind up deep in the bowels of the ship with a guarantee. While this may be the case, it is only true if the booking is for the lowest class of cabins. As you have likely seen, only guarantees are available for the class of cabin that you prefer.

Still pricey but I am thinking you quoted the price in CAD. Knock off the exchange rate for a substantial change in price.

Your room steward will furnish a bottle opener or corkscrew whichever is needed.

Uber

Yep. you got it right...cannot use an FCD on a WC...they offer the 3% discount instead. It is all in the T&C for the FCD's. I think the FCDs are gone as a result. If you want or need more you likely need to buy them...and I don't know if you can do so on a WC.

You might shop around. Several rental agencies have NO drop off fees within the state of Florida. While it has been a long time since I have rented anything...Budget would be my first stop. Also, http://mousesavers.com has several coupon codes for most of the rental agencies that offer a discount...usually in the 10-15% range.