Photofinish4

Terrific - you have a car! Parking is $7 at Liberty State Park. How late will you be coming back? Liberty Landing ferry runs until 8:45 pm. If you save your SOL ticket stubs, you can take it from the World Financial Center (near World Trade) to Liberty State Park for $5 ($2 discount). It's a short walk to the parking area. http://www.libertylandingferry.com

 

Liberty State Park is open until 10:00 pm, so if you miss the ferry you can take PATH one stop to Exchange Place and get a cab at the Hyatt to take you to your car.

 

From the Ramada you get on the NJ Turnpike and follow the signs to Exit 14B, which is close to Liberty State Park. I'm sure there are signs and that it is well marked. The day we went there from the Exchange Place area we had no trouble finding it via local streets.

 

I'm so glad I mentioned this option - you are the perfect demographic - personal car and 4 people to split the cost. Driving and ferries is the cheapest and easiest way to go. No going to downtown Newark and having a public transit adventure!

Good info I will kick it around with other couple. We didn't know about the other ferry. I'm sure Ill have more question at later date

On a Wed morning you will be competing with rush hour. Trains will run more frequently, but they will be crowded. If you leave at 8, you should be at Newark Penn Station by 8:30 and at World Trade by 9. Walking to the SOL ferry shoud be 20 minutes. I'd be looking at a 10 am ferry. Don't take much stuff with you - read about the security requirements on http://www.statuecruises.com/security.aspx

You're going to have to figure out how long you want to spend at the SOL (ie are you going to the crown or the pedestal) and how long you want to spend at Ellis Island. Look at the ferry schedule and add all the times up to figure out when you would be be back in NYC. That will tell you a time frame to get 911 museum tickets.

 

Let me throw you a curve ball. If you want to spend more money on a cab, you can take a cab to Liberty State Park in Jersey City to get the SOL ferry. This ferry goes first to Ellis Island and then on to the SOL, but once you are out at the SOL you can take any ferry. This means you can go back to Ellis Island and return to Lower Manhattan. Nobody checks tickets. This option would cut out your public transit commute inbound during the rush hour. Figure $55-60 for the cab. It is much less crowded going to the SOL from NJ and you should be able to just walk up and get tickets on a Wed morning if you don't want the crown or pedestal.

Thank you, we thought of taking the other couples private car to Liberty park but axed that when the last ferry was at 3:30 and new we would not make it. The cab to Liberty and path back sounds like an option, do you know how far Ramada Plaza is to Liberty Park? You are such a wealth of info and so very helpful to people.

I'm not confused - or least not too confused. What day of the week would you be doing this? What do you consider "going early in the morning"?

It will be on a Wednesday and I would say 7 or 8 am

Wondering if we can get this all in in a day. Four of us taking taxi from Ramada Plaza in Newark to Penn station. Take path to WTC and walk down to Battery Park to catch the ferry to SOL and then Ellis Island and back over to south ferry and walk back up to see WTC and museum. Then catch the path back to Penn station Newark and call taxi to go back to hotel. Do I have you confused yet? Next question how long I should plan to get from hotel to the Ferry for SOL I'm wondering what time I should Buy my tickets in advance for the SOL tour and then over to Ellis Island? After that the ferry back and walk to WTC and museum wondering what time I should buy my tickets for that? Can you tell I have no concept of locations, distances and times when it comes to ferries and trains and subways. We plan to get going early in the morning. We are not going tell Sept.2016 but I like to get all my ducks in a row. Thank you for your help.

With 4 people a cab should be more economical and faster - between $20-25. The trip is entirely within Newark, so Newark cab fares should apply.

 

PATH and NJ Transit are both in Newark Penn Station - the trains are on one track and PATH is usually across the platform on the other track. It's an easy connection, but it is still a connection and can involve some waiting ouside of rush hour times.

thank you very much with your quick reply

If we stay at the Ramada in Newark and want to go to WTC. would it be feasible to take a cab to the path station instead of shuttle to airport, airtrain to airport station, to NJ transit to penn statiopn and walk to path station If so any Idea of cost of a cab for 4? Or other Ideas?

Before I go call RCL, can anyone define this:

 

Dining: Dynamic (classic I)

 

More specific, what is classic I?

classic 1 is early dining classic 2 is late

Thank you again for sharing your trip with everyone. I also look forward to you posting about New York. We will be aboard next Sept. and will visit NY a few days ahead. Thank you again.

Sorry this post is off topic, but promise it's the only one and normal blogging will be resumed tomorrow with pics from Wonderland tonight and the rest of the behind he scene tour.

 

As we ended up talking about dogs tonight we realised how much we are missing our little man Stanley.

 

Although he's being looked after well and with his doggy mates it will be good to get him back

 

If you want to follow Stanley The Schnauzer you can do so at http://www.Facebook.com/StanleyTheSchnauzer

 

 

He is a cutie. That's what I hate about cruising leaving my dogs behind

Jamie's is $30 on an evening and $20 at lunch time. The lunch menu is slightly different and here it is

 

You obviously enjoy writing these very informative and detailed blogs but for a first time cruiser you are turning this into a job. Enjoy the cruise. I know some ff these people along with my DW will suffer withdrawals if you miss an entry two. We enjoy reading your updates but hope you will not miss the enjoyment of cruising.This is a great way to journal your trip and it is nice of you to share

We were on Anthem a few weeks ago. The 4 free restaurants switch menus every 4 days so days 1-4, menu A, days 5-8, menu B, days 9-12 menu A etc. So on class dining each time you visit a certain restaurant the menu alternates. No free lobster on our ex UK sailing but Quantum sailings ex US appeared to have lobster so perhaps it will make an appearance when Anthem reaches the states.

 

 

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Thank you for answering. Being we are sailing New England and Canadian ports maybe they will sub lobster for the shrimp.

My DW would like to know if the weigh in for the North Star is visible to the other passengers or is it private and just tabulated for gross weight limit..

Also do they have a weight limitation on ifly

Thank you for posting this great review. I have a couple of questions. Does the menu change in the free restaurants each night or is it the same in that particular restaurant? We have classic dining next Sept. 2016 rotating between 4 restaurants. Also do they serve lobster without a fee at all anymore? I hope your seas will settle down soon and look forward to reading the rest of your sailing. We did a ta out of Florida to England in May of 2014 and never even had a white cap. I should be thankful. Thank you again and safe sailing.

I booked it on line as it was a lot less expensive than the ship excursion.

thank you for the info

There are a lot of very negative and positive opinions on cruiseline air (Choice Air/Easy Air/Flight Ease/etc). The purpose of this thread is obtain anecdotal information on what has actually been done for passengers who have experienced a delay that caused them to miss the boat. This anecdotal information won't be a guarantee for others choosing to use cruiseline air, but hopefully some actual details will help fellow cruisers feel more comfortable with their decision to use cruiseline air or to perhaps avoid it.

 

The delay may have been weather/equipment related or perhaps a connection that was just too tight.

 

This is not a thread to argue for/against cruiseline air, nor is it a thread to discuss the benefits of flying in early, it's a thread to hear from actual passengers who missed the boat to see what assistance (if any) was given by the cruiseline providing the air (and not what was given by travel insurance).

 

Please let us know which cruiseline you booked with and what happened. Was this free of charge to you or were you charged change fees/etc to finally reach the ship?

 

I've used Choice Air a number of times and only had one issue with a connection in Frankfurt. Even though I was on a Choice Air ticket I was offered a number of different flight/route options to get me to the ship. This was done by the airline (Lufthansa) so really didn't involve Choice Air. It was interesting to note that I was offered flights on Lufthansa and other airlines that are not part of the Star Alliance. I had no issues reaching the ship although it was a little tight for my liking. I did touch base with Choice Air to advise what them that I missed my connection and had been rebooked on a later flight and the rep advised me "Not to worry, we'll get you caught up with the ship if you wind up being late". While I can't say what would have happened if I had, I was treated well by Lufthansa and Choice Air.

We booked a Baltic cruise using choice air through RCCL 2 years ago With connection from LA to San Francisco and SF to London boarding ship in Harwich. The problem started in LA when OBAMA flew in for a golf game and froze the entire LAX up for an hour and a half. We did not know what the problem at the time but the flight desk attendant assured us that we would make our connection. When we boarded the flight attendant advise us that the gates were to far apart and there is no way we will make the connection. Our first mistake was not notifying choice air immediately. Instead the passenger sitting behind us handed me her phone and advised the she over heard our dilemma and had dialed up the airline tickect desk and they will help me with the solution. I explained and they were looking in to it for me while I was in flight. In the middle of the flight the attendant came back and handed me a new flight connection. This connection rerouted me to Frankfurt then to London. As we were passing our original flight connection we saw that our original flight had not left yet so we tried to get back on that one but they said our luggage was already directed to other flight so they would not allow us to board. The Frankfurt connection arrives an hour after our original flight so I called the choice air contact # that was on our choice air tickets, They advised that that delay would not allow enough time to make it to the ship. They told us to get on an eirlier flight which was boarding at the far end of the airport. I forgot to mention I was traveling with my wife and 3 Octagenarians for our church that like to travel with us because we can help them if there is a problem. WELL after running through the airport like an OJ Simpson commercial and flagging down a shuttle to go back and give the others a ride I made it to the Gate by the time I got to the checkin counter the shuttle arrived and dropped off the others. Everything looking good until they found out that we had luggage on the other plane and would not let us board. We had just enough time to make it bake to the connecting flight that our luggage was on. Mistake #2 We should have recontacted choice air and they would have flown us directly to Copenhagen to wait for the shipv In stead we boarded and went to London thinking we could catch a private cab for a speedy trip to Harwich before the ship sailed. That did not happen. The over seas number that they have you call suggested that we stay in London over night and they would fly us to Copenhagen in the am the wait for the ship. they also suggested we pay for this out of pocket and get reimbursed later as we did have travel insurance also. PAY ATTENTION TO THIS. I did not like this plan so I called the Miami Air choice desk. I advised them that the reason I used choice air was so they would be responsible for getting us to where we were supposed to be. without added expense. They took care of our hotel in London the flight to Copenhagen and Hotel to airport transfer and transfer to the ship.

Your travel insurance has a ceiling of reimbursement based on 1 and 1/2 times your original airfare at time of purchase. Berkeley Care which is who allot of the cruiselins use will only reimburse up to that limit. Had I used oui of pocket money to make those arrangement as suggested by the overseas contact # I would have been way over that limit in the hotel bills not to mention meals and transfers

I forgot to mention that I had advised my CC company of my Itinaery and Germany was not included so when CC charges started coming from Germany they put a block on my card. So among all this turmoil I had to deal with getting the card unblocked so I could use the phones. Note Frankfurt has no public phones in the secured arrival area and the airlines don't have outside lines at the counters. You have to go out into the public areas to use phone and then come back through security. Try that with out any boarding passes and see what problems that causes.

All worked out as we got to tour Copenhagen a whole day before the ship arrived and was reimbursed for missing 2 days of the cruise.

LESSON in all of this. Your 1st call should be to Miami Choice air desk and skip everyone else. The number that they have you contact in London is a catch all # for travel problems and most of the cruise lines use them it is not line specific thats why they suggest you pay out of pocket and get reimbursed.

Bar Harbor

 

We were in Bar Harbor many years ago and love it still. We took the Oli's Trolley tour to Acadia National Park. It was very nice and the tour guide quite informative. It was overcast so we unfortunately missed the view from Cadillac Mountain. I do recommend this tour.

 

We walked around town until time for our tour

 

 

 

 

we will be here next Sept on the Anthem. Did you book the trolley tour off the ship or on your own?

probably no free food

It doesn't stop people... I've seen smokers on balconies on every cruise since the ban went into affect. I've also enjoyed an occasional late night cigar on my balcony (shhh.... don't tell!).

cigar smell would be the worse

I hope not!

I hope not also. At least you can't smoke on balconies anymore

if you have picked to have the wine for your added gift you might want to check it , my pick was no longer there and it would not let me pick. I called c&a and they said the computer crashed and she would have to enter in my wine.

How close do they inspect the bottles to make sure they are Wine? I am an avid craft beer lover, I can think of nothing better than drinking a Sour Beer on my balcony. These beer are packaged with corks in wine bottles. Would they notice? This rule seems really random. Why can't I bring 2 bottles of beer but wine is OK.

I know someone who took a case of water and filled the center bottles with vodka and resealed the case. They shook the case and the vodka had bubbles so they took those bottles. She said they did miss a few.

If you click on the right side of her blog under "View my complete profile"

it takes you to a page that has her e-mail link on it.

 

Or type out pescadoamarillo@gmail.com

Thank you for the quick response I have sent them and e-mail

It is so exciting they have extended their cruises now through January.

That is about the time we will be going to Tahiti and getting on the sister

ship, the Ocean Princes.

I've been following the Amarillo Pescado blog you suggested and was wondering if there was an E-mail address to contact them. We will be arriving in Papeete on Jan. 5 and taking the Jan. 7 cruise on the Pacific Princess that they will be on. I have a few questions I would like to ask them and I understand you are friends with them. Thank you for your help

The shampoo is a shampoo/conditioner combination, not separate. They, along with the body wash, are in big dispensers on the wall in the shower. Tacky! I now bring my own shampoo and conditioner and use the small soap bar that's by the sink.

I read that they provide body lotion. Does anyone know if that is true?

I wouldn't take a private tour any where in mexico.