Moonlitherial

We're spending a few days in Florida in advance of our cruise and my husband wants to visit a citrus farm.  I suspect he's going to want to buy and eat large quantities of grapefruit but I don't think he'll make it through a case before it's time to board.  I can't find any rules against it but it seems like there would (should?) be.

Anyone have any experience with this?

I deal with RBC and they have a US bank - RBC bank. I got a US$ credit card from them as well as a savings account. When the $ is good I put money in there and use it for cruises and other related expenses.

I think most Canadian banks have a US affiliate now so this should work for almost everyone.

We also book our cruises in Cdn. Lately it's worked out in our favour more often than not and it's got the added benefit of being budgetable. When you add currency fluctuation to a bill it makes it harder to plan for.

POM is fairly similar from a taxi perspective whether you're in downtown or South Beach so tons of hotel opportunities.

If you've got an early enough flight and want some boardwalk time (it's wheelchair/scooter accessible from many hotels and public access points) I recommend the South Beach option. We stayed at the https://theconfidantemiamibeach.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html, and loved it. Great service and lovely hotel and grounds, and enough restaurants and activity nearby to get the Miami beach flavour without being completely deafened (it's actually mid beach rather than South Beach)

I've also posted this to the roll call but since not everyone keeps up with that after boarding here's an extra bit.

A lady from the Celebrity group on Facebook asked for this to be cross posted here. Hopefully we'll get one or two (or hey, mention it at the Connections party and get everyone involved in the find Jill's Mom game)

Hello fellow cruisers! Is there anyone currently on Celebrity Solstice to Alaska?

My mother and her SO are on that sailing, and I want to have a little fun with her to help her enjoy the cruise a little more. Here's why: 2 weeks ago, she fell and broke one ankle and sprained the other. They decided to still go on the cruise, but she will be in a wheelchair a good chunk of the time.

We made her a sign that says "In case you were wondering....I do my own stunts". HAHA!

Here's the fun part: If you see my mom, will you kindly walk up to her (look for the sign on the wheelchair), introduce yourself, and tell her that her daughter, Jill, told you to say hi?

Please post on here if you get to meet her and have access to FB! It will really make her's and my day! :) — feeling amused.

If you post here I'll copy them back to Jill's facebook post. Or join the Celebrity Captains club group on facebook for another dose of Celebrity.

Booked our drinks package at 20% off. Rare to see a deal on those available for a transatlantic so I jumped on it!

I would love to do inside as I prefer to sleep in absolute darkness and I'm fine with my outside time being on public decks. Unfortunately my husband is claustrophobic and so we do balconies. Apparently even ocean view is not enough, the door must open. I'd rather cruise inside and more often but even more I'd rather cruise with him so we make do.

You're going to have a fabulous trip and other than the conversations here where people help each other find the cabin that has the features they want it's not an issue at all.

On the islands an ability to negotiate is key to getting any kind of deal. I cannot btw, that's my husbands skill.

I picked up an opal and sterling ring in Cozumel on our last cruise that started off at $500 US and we ended up walking away with it for $240. We probably paid pretty close to a reasonable value for it, but I'd have definitely overpaid if I'd been on my own.

I think it is great that you are letting your daughter experience "better" dining at her age. If more parents did this, there wouldn't be those children that don't know how to act when dining out. Props to you.

Exactly. My kids started going to a variety of restaurants right from the start. The key is the willingness to leave if it's necessary, either to pace the sidewalk (hallway in this case) outside for a while or to just give up and call it a night. Kids learn pretty quickly if you're consistent and they learn faster when they're younger. If you wait til they're at the defiant years to start teaching basic life skills like how to behave in a restaurant you're making your life a lot harder than it has to be.

I sympathize with the anti child crowd because at the root of it they're not really anti-child. They're anti bad parenting and anti pandering to bad parenting and banning children is the easy route to get what they really do want - a quiet dining experience. The problem is, it's like giving in to a tantrum. It's easy now, but every time you take the easy route it's harder to fix the root problem and it leaves us with horribly behaved people who are legally adults and now we all have to deal with them because the same pandering to bad customers problem exists no matter what age the badly behaved customer is.

I got off Equinox a week earlier than that review and the only new immigration procedure was that we didn't need to fill out the customs form. Things were so fast that my husband who was a couple of steps behind me almost didn't stop walking.

I've certainly had much longer waits in the past and there have been cruises where immigration was backed up enough that we spent an hour winding our way slowly through the line to get there. I don't know where or how anyone could provide seating to alleviate that since they'd need to move along with the line, but the wait is entirely dependant upon customs staffing and how much time they spend with each person.

We were also on this sailing and I concur with most of your review, it was a fabulous trip. We did luggage valet for the first time on this trip and we'll be doing it every trip going forward. Totally worth the $25. With that disembarkation was the easiest we've ever had. Embarkation was a bit rough but again, it was the first time in the Port of Miami and the staff worked very hard at smoothing every bump that appeared. I'm sure it will get better every trip.

We bought rum in both New Orleans and Cancun and in neither location was the alcohol confiscated, so it sat in our closet until it was time to pack. First time ever on a cruise that's happened.

We did JazzFest on Saturday and were very happy we had chosen that day. Sunday was horrible but it wasn't anything the organizers could have fixed - it was quite simply the most rain I've ever seen. Saturday there was great, we spent a fair amount of time in the Blues and Jazz tents, both had seating and misters to reduce the temperature. Food was amazing there and by event standards it was cheap.

We had a hiccup at the beginning when an AC issue had our room smelling terribly but the crew worked extremely hard to fix the issue and when it wasn't able to be repaired they moved us to another cabin. Although the fact that the issue existed wasn't great we were very happy with the efforts they put forth, particularly our cabin attendant Peter who, despite the fact that we were fairly certain it wasn't a cleanliness problem did extra cleaning a couple times a day until they moved us.

I travel with a friend who has a significant vision problem and we do a similar scope when traveling to find a table with enough light so he can at least see what he's eating. I've always found that when we explain why they're happy to help out as much as possible.

We booked tickets directly but they were still $75/pp so the Celebrity markup is relatively small. We decided to go for just one day and were just a little disappointed when the weekend by weekend schedule was released as some of the acts we were most excited about are playing the second weekend. Not a huge deal as the lineup was only released at all at the end of January.

I am not 100% sure but I believe your nexus goes on hold if your passport expires. Last time we renewed ours I forgot to update the Nexus information and spent a scary 45 mins in the customs office thinking they would keep us off our flight. Since we had our passports with us we were allowed to proceed but were unable to use Nexus lines until I updated the information.

I think the big win of the magic carpet will be at tendered ports. Looks like a much more civilized way to get on a tender. We'll see how it works out though.

I love the infinite balcony idea and I think that if you're paying the prices they're asking for a suite I have no problem at all if you get a retreat area and private dining room included. What some people are missing is that when they venture into the common areas the level of service will need to remain and that will benefit everyone.

I'm not surprised the prices are higher - the one recently that surprised me was the new Oasis class ship that wasn't more expensive on release, probably because it was the 4th ship in the class though. There is an extra benefit to some to being the first and I'm totally okay with them charging more for that. I'll wait a bit to try it out although I think the next cruise I book I'll lean towards Edge class if possible. Will be the next release of dates though since I'm already booked for 2 in 2018 and not enough vacation time or budget for a third :)

Trust pockets? Heck half my clothes don't have pockets.

I'll never understand why women's clothing designers hate pockets but it's like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow when I find a dress I like that has pockets!

West Jet only has one flight a week into and out of San Juan. In on Saturday and home on Sunday.

We wanted a couple of days in San Juan so we flew through Miami to get in and flew home on the direct flight.

I don't remember what we paid for those but I used Airfare watchdog to track the price for a few weeks before I booked.

YAY a new Norris review!

I love Borrow Lenses. Great service and willing to work through any issues with planned delivery times. I used them for a selection of potential lense purchases in my full frame Canon days. I hope you're loving the 6D and it works out for you. I miss being able to weild a camera of that weight.

Thank you for the Miami intro, we're taking our first cruise that departs from there in April so I was looking for things to do on our safety day (I know end of April snowstorms are wildly unlikely but hey, Northern habits are hard to break :D)

Can't wait to see the rest!

I just booked an alcove for our June 9th sailing. I'm looking forward to the experience but have a question....are some locations better than others? Does Celebrity just assign you one or do you get to choose? Thanks for any input on these alcoves.

If you want a specific one, head up to the lawn and talk to the attendants the day before. They're happy to adjust assignments if they can (ie, no one else has asked before you for that alcove).

We were also able to book ours online but I was checking every couple of days to see them open up because it wasn't on any specific schedule.

We loved the experience and would definitely do it again. I'm a little sad Equinox doesn't have them although my husband is excited by the Hot Glass show alternative :)

We're on the same cruise. What is the Taste of the Caribbean Package and where did you find it? I do not see this on our cruise planner. Thanks, Nancy

It comes and goes Nancy, but it's in the dining section when it shows up.

On the Equinox for the April 24th Jazz Fest sailing. Calculations are complicated by the fact that I'm sure we'll be eating on shore at least for the 2 overnights in New Orleans.

So I've looking over the Taste of the Caribbean package (basically Unlimited dining plus a few additions) and I'm trying to figure out if it's worth it to us based on numbers first and then I'll factor in convenience, but to do that I need to know if anything other than Sushi on 5 is open for lunch.

I love the Alcoves. I'm on Equinox for our next trip and I'm a little sad they don't have them there.

The fact that I never feel crowded. I've been on very full ships and yet they do an excellent job of spreading the crowds around.

Thank you!

 

Do they still have the photographers stationed around the ship on those nights?

 

Dan

 

 

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Every night. Definitely more for formal nights but they are out and available every night in multiple locations.

The problem with one off examples like both of those above is that they can lead you in either direction.

I could find cruises today and tomorrow that both suggest prices are rising and that they are falling just due to the volatility of cruise pricing. It would take a pretty in depth study to see the true results.

My instinctive thought however is that they're not going up as much as inflation is.

My cruise costs are but that's because each time I go I want more. More days, more excursions, more perks... just more! :D

If this is a test to see if they should make the change long term I really really hope they're paying attention because I'm a strong no.

If the choice is, cabins ready earlier on boarding depart at 7am or cabins ready later on boarding and depart at 8am (or later even!) I'm choosing option B.

On boarding, sure it's nice to be able to drop your hand luggage but you're on the ship, enjoying a snack or a drink and sitting in a comfy chair. An extra hour then is much less of a big deal than setting an early alarm and rushing around trying to remember everything before getting off the ship.

Same thing for the earlier luggage in the hall time. Late diners shouldn't need to rush back as soon as they've eaten their last bite to get their clothes into the suitcase and into the hall. Start the pickups at 10pm and keep doing them til midnight. As it is they need to do multiple runs because one luggage cart can't clear a hallway so it's the same amount of work with less hassle for the passengers. It would actually make walking down the passageways the last night a lot less like an obstacle course.