2ashevillesailors

We are on Explorer from Miami to Rome April 23, 2023

We are sailing on RCL Explorer of The Seas April 23rd to Rome.

I read that the airiport is approx. 8 KM from the port. It said nothing aat the port no public transportation there. Need to do Uber or taxi, not sure, but this is what I read. Check expedia for hotels, that should help you some.

Just call Carnival and they will let you know.

Have you googled Hotels in Brisbane? Also Expedia.com has hotels listed, seem very nice and reasonable there.

Does anyone know when Carnival will start showing tours in Japan, the Phillipines and Indonesia. By now they should have them set up, I am a little bit worried of having any? Mary

Yes, the underground tour is great many original buildings of Seattle.

Hi, this is Mary and Jim for Asheville, NC, if a private whale watching tour is started we would definitely be interested. Just let us know, my email is maryslaughter 67 at g mail dot com

In Seattle be sure to take the underground tour of original buildings. Have never seen anything like it, we really enjoyed it.

Lucyloo Lucyloo, I see that you live in Australia. Have you been to Brisbane? If so how close is the port to the airport?

Welcome Brenda and Marsha, looking forward to meeting ya'll. This is going to be a great cruise. Mary

Hello Belkin, you stated you have worked in Seattle quite a bit. We are arriving mid day the day before sailing. What is the best way to get to the ddock area? We are staying at Marriott close to where our ship will be. Thanking you in advance Mary and Jim

What we do not like with Carnival you have to let your TA speak with Carnival flight department, not you. I like to go over flight times and seat assignments and talk with the flight department myself. Can not do that with Carnival, they will only talk to the TA if you are using one. Never had this problem with many other cruise lines that we use. They wanted us to fly into Seattle at 8:50pm. We are staying at the port area and did not want to arrive that late, not knowing what it is like near Pikes Market in Seattle. So we booked air on our own. On another note, is anyone planning on organzing a cabin crawl for our cruise on a sea day? Have never been on a Costa ship, the pictures we have seen, it looks very nice. Mary

No you can do it either way. We usually use the same Cruise travel agent now. Finally found one that we really like, actually get a quick responce when we leave a message. Tired of waiting 3 to 5 days for an answer. One company said leave a message and we will try to get back to you in a week to 10 days! I do not call that service. We are very happy with the company we use now. Mary

Welcome John and Donna to this cruise, it is going to be a great experience. We (Mary and Jim) will have several sea days for relaxing, doing cabin crawl, slot pull or just reading books. We are happy about the ports in Japan, have been looking at tours by Viator, which is part of Trip Advisor (I think). Saw a couple that we like, trying to figure out how to get more information from them. One area of their site, they said if we hae more adults wanting to do the tour the price would be lower. Also have not found info for cruisers. I am thinking that they would pick us up at the cruise port, just trying to verify that is so. I will get back with more information. Mary

Have you been on the Luminosa? I heard they were re-decorating it after purchasing it from Costa? I have seen pictures, of when it was with Costa and it was very nice. Mary

We have been trying to book a flight with Carnival from Brisbane to Asheville,NC. We are able to book it ourselves which is Brisbane to Sydney, Then Sydney to Dallas Ft Worth then Dallas Ft Worth to Asheville, with no problem. They say that our travel agent Cruises Only has to place the flights with Carnival, not us doing it. We are not allowed to book the flights with them ourselves. Said their system will not take it, can not do a one way ticket. I have never heard such nonsense. We have cruised over 60 times and we haved booked with the cruise line air departments. We have taken many Transpacific and Transatlantic cruises and don one way flights. Is anyone else having this problem? We want to book with Carnival, since we are getting off of the ship and flying home in Brisbane. If there are any problems then Carnival could handle it. I don't think I want to get off of the ship 1/2 way around the world and if there are delays, etc. I would have the cruise line handling it. Mary and Jim

How is it near Pikes Market? Have always loved gong there, worried it has gone downhill? Mary

Frank and Sarah which airline are you using? Mary and Jim

I am thinking a taxi is a good way to get to the port. Maybe there is a shuttle?

We are also interested in private tours. Looking forward to sharing information. So far we have not discovered anything, will continue searching, Mary and Jim

I might look at Trip Advisor, thinking maybe there will be some tours with them in Japan. Mary and Jim

Carnival purchased it from Costa. It is going into dry dock for a re do in October for I think 2 months. We will be anxious to hear from you on private tours. Our email is maryslaughter67@gmail.com if you have any questions. Thanks Mary and Jim