Charles4515

There is the Escape Lounge. It is a new lounge at FLL. It is free for AMEX Platnium card holders but if you can pay to use tha lounge. I don't now if you can access the lounge if you leave the terminal.It is inside the departure gate. Like if you have to collect luggage. I have only used it one time before a flightbecause it is new. https://escapelounges.com/us/locations/Fort-Lauderdale/

You can but if your 89 year old mother has a medical emergency she would have to get an emergency passport to fly back to the US.

I guess you think all cruises call at US ports.

I recently went into a bank and tried to get change and they refused because I did not have an account. In any case why would you want to make crew find a bank when in a US port.

Were you there in July or August? I used to walk up a lot when I used to take the public bus and it was no problem for me in May and June. For years there was a fellow who gave rides to the top for $1and later $2. Many gladly paid and the driver was cool. He gave a different mini travelogue every ride. I would pay for the Ride to the Top in July and August. Sometime soon sfter the minibus shuttles came into existence the Ride to the Top was discontinued.

Ah. What threw me was they said they would use their birth certificates and ID. Birth certificates won't work at all.

If that is the Los Angelos to Fort Lauderdale sailing they need a passport. It is not closed loop.

There are 9 banks whithin a few blocks from my home. Three are national but 6 I never heard of before. Someone must be using those banks.

An ATM card is the best way to get foreign currency when traveling. My bank charges no fees, no foreign transaction fees and I get the best exchange rate when I am traveling abroad.

I am not assuming NCL did anything nefarious. You are assuming that I am assuming that. I never said NCL did anything wrong. I am assuming that OP posted a third hand account has lost something in the translation.

Seems like you are the one making assumptions. Like the ship could have been delayed for mechanical reasons. So what, there was plenty of time for the passengers to get to the ship and be checked in. I said the story does not sound right but I guess you want to defend NCL to the end even though it is not clear that they need any defending.

So that begs the question of why then did they hold the ship until 6:30? If they were holding the ship for late flights then they were expecting those passengers. I have been on several sailings where they held the ship for late arriving flights. It is not uncommon. From 4:00 arrival to a 6:30 departure does not seem tight. That is why the story does not sound right to me.

Leaving a minor on their own in a foreign country is a bad idea. Minors don't have the judgement of adults. The laws in foreign porta are not the same as in the US. Of course they will let him return if he has his ship card but they might contact you about it if the ship policy is that you have to be 18 to leave the ship.

Of course they can return by themself but is it really a good idea to have a minor on their own in a foreign country? I would not worry much in Bermuda but many ports are not like Bermuda. Minors make mistakes...... like for example not having an ID.....

That story doesn’t sound right. If they arrived at 4 and the ship was waiting until 6:30 why didn’t they go to the port. They didn’t have to use NCL ground transportation.

In my old neighborhood in Maryland I never had any problem. There are a bunch of other banks here in my neighborhood but I have not had another $100 so I don't know what they would do but they all have names I never heard of so since not national so maybe they would. At the Wells Fargo a nice lady behind me volunteered to change the $100. I don't know if that would have happened back east. Been thinking of opening an account at one of the local banks but back east whenever I opened an account at a local bank in a few years it got bought out by a big bank.

It stinks.

I always stick to $20's as some places don't want to take $50 or $100 denominations. Some places won't take cash at all. I only use cash at my barber who does not take credit cards. My bank closed most branches here and I don't want to drive to the bank branch open 9 miles away but has an ATM in the neighborhood at Target. There are a lot of banks in my neighborhood but the when I went to change a $100 someone gave me the Wells Fargo would not change it because I did not have an account.

It's less about the time and more about the fact that in the late morning onwards it is so beastly hot and humid in July that they might not even offer a ride for safety concerns of the horses I don’t think it would be too hot at 9:00 am but I doubt it gets too hot for horses in Bermuda in their summer. I see horseback riding here in Texas when it is hot. I recall reading they can’t ride on the beach, Warwick Long Bay is where they ride or other beaches in the summer except early because of beach use regulations. They could ride on the horse trails in South Shore Park which overlooks the beaches at any time of the day. I am sure if they email Mike Watson he will give them the actual current scoop. I believe he is the only stable that has riding currently in business. All the other stables have closed. As far as the age limit it could be insurance but it also could be a government regulation. Bermuda has lots of regulations.

I usually book my own flights but sometimes it is to my advantage to use the cruise lines booking service. For example many flights booked direct with an airline both ends of a round trip have to be on that airline. With the air booked through the line I can book different airlines if more convenient. For transatlantic cruises I have been able to book one way flights for half the price of direct with the airline. Whoever I book through I always buy insurance and I also want arrive at least a day in advance. OP says they may rethink future NCL bookings but the same thing would have happened on any cruise line booked. The lesson should be to buy insurance and to fly in a day early not don’t book with NCL.

They can’t always hold the ship for shore excursions either and don’t always. Cruise lines don’t control the docks, harbors, tides, weather conditions.

That is a concept that cruise lines want you to believe as a selling point but in reality cruise lines don’t always hold the ship for their shore excursions. There was a recent thread on Holland America where the ship left. They will get you to the next port if they can’t hold the ship and you were on a shore excursion.

Some people make a point of being unique. I see a number of people on cruises with tattoos everywhere on their body. To me yuck but to each their own. While most of the staff probably prefers not to get $2 bills, I don't think it is polite but it seems to be only somewhat unique among cruisers. A couple on Cruise Critic years ago advised everyone to use $2 bills and it sort of became viral. I am sure there is a litany of obnoxius things like $2 bill tipping that some crew rolls their eyes about but I am sure crew will find some way to use any $2 bills they recieve.

Congress made Amtrak carry the $1 coins to give as change in their cafes.

Someone thought of that. We have Five and Below stores and a lot of stuff is $1.50. Most Five and Below Prices seem to be under Dollar store prices.