2chiefs

1 hour ago, F27TW said:

I thought Harmony was based in Port Canaveral.    

She was. I think she's being replaced by Wonder at PC. We're booked on Harmony for this December out of FLL.

Thanks to everybody.

One comment about terminal 25. We took a Celebrity cruise out of there a couple years ago. While the terminal was good and the surface parking very close, it was a madhouse trying to get out of there. They only had one attendant to process payments on the way out. It was a total mess. Not sure if that was a one-off or if it was normal for 25.

Trying to find out the terminal Harmony uses at FLL - or does it change often?

Port Everglades website doesn't seem to have any details as far as I can tell.

Thanks

10 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

MCO to Cape Canaveral.  So it was only more than appropriate to take him out for dinner. I’m not sure why this is posting updated down but here we are. 

 

 

 

 

Zero gravity of course! Afterall, you are on the Space Coast. 

1 hour ago, processingnow said:

Is T5 where you pay for parking on way in?

Yes. We just cruised out of there on Mariner in May...

1 minute ago, mjkacmom said:

It’s after final payment, I believe it’s lost, unless you have insurance and it’s an accepted reason.

You are correct which is why I edited my original post. LOL I guess you answered it prior to my edit.

12 minutes ago, redcruzer said:

Cruise is 10/30. booked it in august. if we cancel can the funds be put in some sort of travel bank or do you lose it all?

Check your contract Confirmation at the bottom of page one. Doesn't look good.

For bookings on the large ships for the shows etc., it seems that you can't book them till on board now. There's a thread started about how now it's permanent.

Of course, all the up-charge items are there to book (dining, beverage packages etc..).

For our upcoming cruises in December on the Harmony, that's all we see. There are only a few shore excursions on there as of today. The only on-board activity we can book is the "All-Access Ship Tour" (which also happens to be an upcharge activity).

16 hours ago, clskinsfan said:

My TA can deal with the "terms and conditions". I will suck down another two or three cocktails while they handle it. 

Cool!! Cheers!!

On 10/1/2022 at 2:34 PM, Tree_skier said:

Reason 427 why I use a great TA. 

I agree!!!!

On 10/1/2022 at 2:43 PM, c-leg5 said:

Wouldn’t help in this case.

Yes it would...

4 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Yep, used to be inline skating track

I forgot about that! Sallie skated while I watched safely on the sidelines....

5 hours ago, Diver2014 said:

We were on Mariner this past June.  We had a great time.  The ship was lovely.  The food was great.  The ports were good.  All in all, it was a wonderful, relaxing cruise.  Hope you have the same experience.

Agree. We were just on her in May and she's still one of our favorites.

17 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

<<<SNIP>>> I think it will have a smaller ship feel with many amenities of the larger ships. <<<SNIP>>>

•  

Seem weird for the Mariner to be referred to as a "smaller ship". I remember our first cruise on her in 2004 when she was the largest cruise ship in the world.

We have sailed her many times and really like it a lot. Still great in that, it like you, I feel it's the perfect size between the smaller and larger ships.

1 hour ago, 4774Papa said:

Our cruise is a transatlantic of 14 days and we are spending another two weeks in Italy before returning.  

We used the Courtyard by Marriott 10 years ago and they didn't charge extra for parking, of course, now they do.   Our flight back to the USA arrives in Miami a bit after midnight, so we will likely find a hotel at the Miami Airport and pickup our car the later in the morning, or catch a taxi immediately to the Marriott and stay there before we drive back to Georgia.

A hotel at the airport would certainly be ideal as long as it was fairly secure. 

I remember when they had a lot of cruises out of New Orleans, the Hampton we used to stay at had free parking for cruisers too. Probably won't see that anymore anywhere.

If the airport hotel doesn't work out for you, you might want to try the Hampton on 12th street. They are a short taxi ride to either the cruise port or the airport. The parking area isn't fenced but the area seems secure. For the taxi, I we paid $20 (including tip) from the cruise port to the hotel. (That was a couple years ago - I don't know what taxis are charging now-a-days.). Since you're going to be gone about a month, you might search for a fenced and locked parking spot even though it might cost you more.

I did a little research and found out Port Everglades has two parking garages:

1. PALM Parking Garage at Terminals 19,21,25,26 & 29 (need shuttle for 29)

2. HERON Parking Garage (brand new) at Terminals 2 & 4 (pre-pay for easy departure)

They charge $15 per day. Not too bad.

Just a little more than Park & Go charges (just check online and it was just under $14 per day and a little under $13 per day if paid online in advance).

What I don't know is which cruise ships use which terminals. The last Celebrity cruise we took out of there was Terminal 25 and it had terrible surface parking. 

We are cruising on Harmony of the Seas Dec 4 B2B through Dec 18, but we don't know which terminal they use. If anyone knows, it would be greatly appreciated.

So sorry this happened to you. What a nightmare.

Perhaps Royal's Air2Sea flight booking might be a better choice for future cruises. Their prices are reasonable and that might provide more reassurance for you.

15 minutes ago, Mapleleafforever said:

What's Covid?

How do you spell it?

14 hours ago, Ret MP said:

I'll be parking near Port Canaveral or in the Parking Garage on Port Canaveral on Oct 31, were still looking into it.  It' is going to be interesting.  When I cruised out of Canaveral last time, it was on Carnival 🤮 and we parked at the hotel and shuttled to/from the hotel, I don't remember any Garages there, a lot of construction going on though.  

We've only cruised Royal out of Canaveral. They were out of Terminal 1 and Terminal 6. Both have covered garages right next to the terminal and with easy walking to the terminal. The parking lot elevator dumps you out right where the porters are to take your luggage. The parking fee is high at $17 per day, (and they charge for both arrival and departure days). Since you prepay on the way in at multiple automated and manned stations, it's a breeze for departure with no backup of traffic. The low stress of leaving without having to wait for shuttle or sitting in long lines is worth the cost in our opinion. I have heard that there are very reasonable parking at most close hotels that also provide shuttles.

14 hours ago, 4774Papa said:

No one mentioned what these parking places charge per day.

We always drive down from Georgia and stay in a hotel that provides inexpensive parking for our cruise.

Hi 4774Papa

For Ft Lauderdale we use the Hampton Inn Parking on 12th street. We arrive a day early and stay there overnight. They charge a minimum of $60 for up to 10 days. Then it's $7.50 per day after the first 10 days. They charge $15 per person for the shuttle but it's so close that we find a taxi or uber is much more convenient, so we don't use the shuttle.

For Port Canaveral, we used a Hampton Inn once and it was $10 per day (several years ago) but we don't use it anymore. We priced the Homewood Suites nearby and they were reasonable as well but we opt for the cruise terminal parking even though they charge a whopping $17 per day because of how easy, convenient and fast you can get in and out.

18 hours ago, coaster said:

Same cluster leaving Allure. This was an issue also last month. One or two cashiers and cars from different directions cutting into the main queue of cars. We paid at a machine before we got in the car to exit, but others apparently paid at the gates going out. Should of least have a Sunpass lane like Tampa airport has. Made me think back on how good Tampa and Port Canaveral handles parking.

We haven't cruised out of Tampa yet. We love parking at the cruise terminal at Port Canaveral. Even though it's expensive, it's very convenient and you pre-pay so leaving is a breeze as well.

41 minutes ago, jagsfan said:

We’ve used Park N Go for years. 
Never have  to wait for a shuttle. 
Enroll  in their frequent parkers  program and earn credits. Even when only cruising once a year, we earned four free days to use on our last cruise. 
It’s a surface lot, but fenced. On returning, they drop you at your car. And when driving out, you get bottles of cold water. 
For us, it’s a win win!

Thanks. It's the waiting for the shuttle on some of the off-site lots that can be the bottleneck, so Park N Go sounds good. When we park at the hotel, they have a shuttle and sometimes there's a wait. But the hotel is so close that we've found it to be faster and not too much more expensive to simply take a taxi or an uber to the hotel. Sounds like we will use Park N Go or use the hotel again. We've never had a problem at the hotel.

1 hour ago, Ret MP said:

I'm a former General Manager of the Parking Facilities at the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport and Port Everglades.  I will say three things:

1.  Keep in mind that a parking garage is not intended to protect a vehicle.  In fact, there are many situations that a parking garage is much worse than a surface parking lot.  Just as one example:  The vehicle that is parked on the level above you springs a leak of anti-freeze or oil or gas, it flows between the expansion joints and drips down on your car.  The parking company will not take care of it for you, you park at your our own risk and that kind of damage is between you, your car, and your insurance company.  There are many other examples I could give but I hope you get my point.  A garage is nothing more than a vertical parking lot.

 

2.  The closest parking lot to the Royal Caribbean terminal is a surface lot.  The closest parking garage is a little bit of a walk to the terminal.

 

3.  Now that I'm retired from there, I use Park N Go (I have no financial or other interest in Park N Go), always great service at a great price, especially if you reserve in advance.  It's actually located at the entrance to the port just off of I-595.  

 

The circle on the left is the Park n Go lot

 

The circle top right is the Royal Caribbean Terminal

 

The circle immediately to the left of the Terminal is the surface lot

 

The arrow middle right is pointing to the garage.

 

 

Thanks for the tips. We did use the cruise parking lot once for a Celebrity cruise. Even though the parking was very close to the ship, it was a nightmare leaving because you had to pay on the way out and they only had one cashier. What a cluster. Never again. Perhaps the RCL cruise lot is different?

Over the years we have always parked at the local Hampton Inn near the Ft Lauderdale port and used their parking deal. Very nice but the parking is outside.

We are cruising this December and we have a brand-new car, so we were thinking about using a parking facility with covered parking. Are there any good parking garages for cruisers that anyone can recommend? We are booked on a B2B on the Harmony starting Dec 4th.

Thanks

50 minutes ago, robmtx said:

It's really just 2 pts per $ spend on Royal with no annual fee. I wouldn't consider "switching" to the card, but I do have one. But if you have any double pts card (like Citi Double Cash), you can opt for cash checks that are same as OBC, so there's no difference to me. Also, other cards may have additional perks.

 

I went to an event onboard that was for card holders only...that's been about the only perk I couldn't get with another credit card and haven't seen that event since 2019.

 

So in my opinion - NO - the Royal credit card is not worth being your daily usage card at all. If you don't mind the acct being open in your name, grab it for the one time $250 bonus then store it away somewhere?

Agree. It's not as rewarding as many other cards. We don't use ours except for paying off a cruise and using it while on board. I used to use a Delta card when I was employed and travelling, now I use a hotel reward card.