skandls

      We are waitlisted for an Alaska cruise tour for 2022. We originally booked for 2021 which has been cancelled. It seems that it is the land tour that is sold out. I looked and I could still book the cruise for the date we would be boarding the ship. Will Elite cruises get bumped ahead of us on the waitlist? I would look for another date but this trip is with 3 other couples who are booked and are at the Captains Club Elite level.

      I  understand there are many cabins on a cruise ship and far fewer seats on a bus or train. If it was the cruise that was waitlisted I would not be concerned.

Just returned from a cruise on the Crystal Symphony - best cruise ever. Food, entertainment and service were all excellent. Crystal is all inclusive except for tours. Great coffee bar - with serve yourself snacks (cookies, pastries, cheese and lox in the morning). Entertainment had the usual musical shows. Magician was close-up with only 20 people per show. Lectures were excellent. Only saw 2 children onboard. Included wines and liquors were very good. The 2 specialty restaurants were free for two visits each (2 week cruise).

We do not usually cruise on the lux lines but I found a great deal on a Panama Canal cruise. We had an outside not a balcony and we were fine with that. I hope you can find a great deal (remember drinks, tips and internet are all included).

We are on the Oct 11 Symphony cruise. Coming in 2 days early and looking at transfers to the port. Crystals transfer is from downtown San Jose. Have you decided how to get to the ship? Crystal offers transfer from downtown hotel but the hotel is sold out.

We purchased the 'slow' package for 2 devices when we were on the ship. We got 30% off the total price.

I filled out the after cruise evaluations. I have one problem with one of the tours we took. There was no where to report the issue of a really bad tour guide. We did a tour in Iceland where the tour guide was not clear about where to go and where to meet. He never pointed the paths for the sites or what the sites offered. I do not expect guides to be friendly but they should be informative and point out and describe what we should do at each site.  At the first site the bus moved. He had to find a couple who did not know where to find the bus and he was not happy. My husband  and  I were lucky when we walked down to the correct parking lot. The sites were great waterfall - volcano lake - geyser - and spa. 

I am a big fan of Celebrity and Royal Caribbean BUT I agree with cangelmd. I have been on cruises to Alaska on Celebrity and Princess. Princess cruises go to Glacier Bay and that is spectacular. Also rather than spending money on a suite I would take a land tour to Denali (with the cruiseline or on your own). I am not an animal scenery person but Denali is an absolute must see if you can possibly swing the time and money. We did the Tundra Wilderness tour in Denali getting to the bus at 4:30 in the morning - and it was worth the early early morning.

For those of you considering the low cost shoe covers to keep your shoes dry, they do keep them dry but I did not find them easy to walk in. Make sure you order early and check the sizing with the shoes that will be covered. Walk around and make sure the covers are comfortable enough for your trip. I found the 'ankle' area to be irritating when walking around with the covers.

The IC is a good location. And I really like Trulucks which is walking distance. Went there for stone crabs when we wanted to avoid the cost of transportation to Joes stone crab.

You are on vacation. Deal with the differences.

Has anyone taken the bus transfer from Fort Lauderdale to Miami Airport recently? The last time I took their shuttle I sat on the bus for almost 2 hours before we left. Boarded the bus at 8:30 while we waited for the last seats to get filled. The only way we made our 12:30 flight was we had Priority Check In. The lines at MIA are always awful on the weekends.

Infinity 7195 CC

Strange noise off and on that sounded like a large clothes dryer. Motor noise plus thunk thunk.

The class system I wrote about has to do with the move to private lounges and restaurants for suite guests. When the cruise lines broke from the old class system that included the private areas they attempted to provide a really great cruising experience to everyone on the ship. Now the main dining has devolved to so so food. I do realized the value for the dollar I get on a cruise as opposed to what the costs were in the 80's is much better. I am not happy to have been booted from the concierge (suite) lounge twice. On the Oasis class D+ are back to a revised version of the D lounge since the suites are in the new Suite lounge. When it was the concierge lounge the appies and services were better (IMHO).

Just some thoughts on cruising. The mass market cruise lines are going to a class system. Thank you NCL. Suites will pay bigger bucks and get better food, drinks and amenities. have to accept that when I started cruising the experience was expensive and very service oriented.

I am one of you who is not happy with the growing movement to devalue membership perks and expand suite guests perks. I do understand why the cruise lines are going in this direction. I do think as the C&A memberships gets devalued RCI need to find ways to reward the majority of cruisers who do quantity but still want quality.

We often book flights into MIA even if the cruise leaves from Fort Lauderdale. We get in the day before and take a car service to our hotel in FLL. If you stay precruise in Miami you can get a shared shuttle to the port in the morning for about $25pp. Do plan on a car service if you are arriving MIA and staying on a Friday night. Traffic can be difficult and taxi fees can add up due to traffic.

Leaving from the port is not a big deal - we get off the ship early (around 8am) and walk to the many busses lined up to go to the airports. We have a before 1pm flight and have not had problems. Our luggage goes with us on the bus - we fly American (the cruiseline is Royal Caribbean). The bus drops us off at a special counter where we can check luggage and check in for our flight. We get our boarding passes the day before on the ship.

Check out the Departure Boards West Coast departures. There is a lot of info about precruise hotels.

I like Oceania a lot but we use them for port intensive cruises. The open seating and refined atmosphere is a nice break when we have been out all day touring.

We have been to the Caribbean more than a few times and for us we like a lot of ship board entertainment. Most of the time for the Caribbean we choose one of the large Royal Caribbean ships. We have done Celebrity - the atmosphere is more adult and the food is better.

Look at the ships, itineraries, cabins and reviews. There are a lot of choices.

I also use small plastic zips. I don't pack anything of value in checked luggage. I do want to know if someone has been through my 'stuff'. My black generic cases are custom marked by large dots. I think this may stop some people because of security cameras being able to identify my luggage.

And as someone else said a large nail clipper (without the small nail file) works great to remove the zips.

There seem to be a lot of NCL fans. If your kids are going with you - What about a few days at Disney World and then a 7 night cruise. I am a fan of Royal Caribbean - with the rock walls and ice rink. The entertainment is good - and there is a lot to do on these ships. There is a separate adult area and there is age appropriate activities for the kids.

If your children are staying at home while you vacation there are a lot more choices. If money is not an issue a cruise in the Med would keep you busy and not on the Beach (I am not a fan). You will have a lot of choices - number of days (I would take longer because of the airfare).

If you can drive rent a car. Pickup at LAX and drop off at Long Beach. Shuttles will take longer due to multiple pickups and drop offs.

Most California coastal cruises will be repositioning to and from the Alaska cruise season. If you want a smaller ship - look at the Oceania sailings. There are limited choices but there are some websites that will do a search. An overnight in San Francisco is great if you can get it - there is a lot to see and do. Many of the CA cruises start or end in Los Angeles so you can always spend a night or two in LA to see the sights.

Is there a reason to stay at the FLL Hilton? If you can arrange to spend only one night precruise you can stay in Miami and take a shuttle (like Go) from your hotel to the port at FLL for about $25pp. It is expensive going from the MIA airport to Fort Lauderdale because of some local regulations that bar FLL shuttles from the MIA airport. We are planning on booking a private car from MIA to our hotel in Fort Lauderdale and expect to pay about $100 one way. IMHO Miami is a more interesting city to visit than Fort Lauderdale.

As to parking costs - we usually take a car service or shuttle to LAX because the cost of parking is high at the airport. You might be able to find cheaper parking in off lot parking at the airport. I know we have several airport buses from distant cities to get to the airport. I do not like taking them because of the rigid schedules.

From the ship to MIA we usually fly American - so we take the ship's transport ($30 last time). The buses are lined up and drop us off at a special check in spot at the airport where we can check luggage and get boarding passes.

Good luck on your decision. I think you are like me - I will spend the money but I want some value for the cost.

I think Dynamic Dining is in the future. So trying to get dining info for cruises is not easy. We are booked on the Oasis (Sep) and Allure (Dec). I am planning traditional dining with specialty restaurants on the Oasis. The Allure is a total unknown.

Since you have a group look at tours on tripadvisor and the internet. You probably can book an all day private tour - to take you from ship to airport.

I think it was a good move to change to the later flight. If you are like me you want that wonderful canine family member home with you that night. Is it possible to have a relative or friend pick the dog up and take to your home?

At least you will have more time for breakfast on the ship. And more time to find food to take on the plane.

What is mid tier to the OP? The 'premium' lines Celebrity Cunard? The upscale but not luxury lines - Oceania and Azamara.

We have gotten to the place where we book by price, itinerary, ship, amenities and what we want to do. If we want a not too expensive cruise we like lots of entertainment and things to do = Royal Caribbean's newer ships. If we want port intensive then we opt for open dining and accessibility to the ports (smaller ships can often get closer to the big city).

So for our 'travel' cruises not 'cruise' cruises we tend to Oceania as it is nice to come back from a day of touring to a relaxing decent meal (no flames please - we live in California and like our food). If we could afford it I would be happy to cruise on one of the lux all inclusion lines when we want tot see the ports.

We have a Celebrity cruise booked for Carnaval in Rio 2016. I would have preferred Oceania but they have group bookings for their cruises to Rio at that time of year.

If I find a bargain on a lux line where I want to go - we will be booked right away.