SKSMIKE5

Has anyone been here lately that can let me know the best way to get there from the cruise port. A post stated taxi fare about 18 mths ago was about $60 one way. I assume that is for the cab and not per person. Snorkel tours our limited for our time in port (0700-1600) nd I've read that Cas Abou has great snorkeling, turtles, and facilities. Appreciate any information anyone has. Thanks!

On 12/27/2023 at 7:04 PM, cruiserbrianj said:

My vote would be Baby Beach....not crowded, nobody selling stuff to you constantly. Couldn't have asked for a more chill day. Wasn't impressed with Palm Beach the times I've been there for what it's worth. We're going to give Eagle Beach a go here in a few days...fingers crossed

We'll be in Aruba in August and are considering going to Eagle Beach. Love to hear how your visit there this trip was.

Did you notice anyone snorkeling from beach? 

We will be doing the ABC next August and I was just commenting how the forums on these islands is pretty sparse! Appreciate any nuggets! We were in Bonaire a few years ago and loved the Landsailing! Booked direct with them and it was great!

We booked direct and it was half the cost of going through Celebrity.  For $10 they pick you up at the dock. We’ve been before and had a blast, going back with our adult children!

What taxi company did you reserve? I called Ready Set Go Taxi and get a weird answering machine. I left a message and am waiting to hear back. 

3 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

 

We prebooked an old fashioned taxi and it worked out really well. We stayed at the Best Western Plus Suites, the one further down the Seawall, so it was a good 20 minutes away from the port. There are some taxis on the island that may not want to make the big trip to one of the airports but would rather just run a few small trips from hotels to the port. The rideshares sometimes do seem to have problems - really long wait times or cancelling. Maybe that will get better on May 1 when Uber is allowed in. (Prebooking a rideshare doesn't mean anything; they can still cancel at will.) Our taxi driver (minivan) was hailed many, many times by people who wanted to go to the airport, but she was on her way back to another hotel to drive another group to the port. 

Thank you. How early can you prebook a taxi? Did you do it online? Sounds like that might be a good option. There will be 6 of us in our VRBO about 5 miles from port.

We leave 28 May, will be following! There are 4 families, 18 total staying in VRBOs ahead of cruise. Have read mixed reviews regarding getting to the port the morning of the cruise. Some say they couldn't find transportation to take them so we'll be interested in your experience. 

I think I read it opens up 45 days in advance of cruise.

Thanks everyone. Great information!

Can you actually make a standing ATD reservation for every night on the cruise in advance of boarding or do you have to make a reservation once on the ship?

I'm interested in any recent experience with ATD on the Allure. We booked early traditional seating (5:30) but heard it was being moved back to 5PM on some ships. We aren't thrilled with a dining time that early and thought of changing our May 28th 2023 to ATD. However, last summer on our Alaska Cruise on Quantum of the Seas, the ATD lines were horrible. They were out the dining room and up the stairwells! Curious if anyone has current experience on the Allure. There are 12 of us signed up for early traditional right now and 6 signed up for traditional late. Thanks! 

Need some help distinguishing pros and cons of these two. We have a large group of us on Allure in June. Adults and adult children. Love the beach and snorkeling and just enjoying the sun. Pez is $85 (all inclusive food and drink, lounger), and Maya Chan is $65 (transportation to and from port, food, drink, lounges, shaded area, kayaks, snorkel gear). Both have great reviews on Tripadvisor. It looks like Pez Quatro may have a prettier beach but i'm not for sure. 

If you've been to one or the other i'd love to hear your views.  Thanks!

21 hours ago, jp2746 said:

I wish we could afford to fly to Barcelona.  We usually use Southwest miles to make our vacation money go a little farther.   Maybe I need to look into airline credit cards that fly more flights that are international.  

Check out TAP Airlines to fly to Barcelona. We have flown with them twice for Transatlantic Cruises. We've left out of Newark both times but they also leave from JFK. Very nice flight, even had an option to "bid" for an upgrade to first class which we did our last time and won! Had the lay down seats which was great for some rest on the flight over.

We were just on the Quantum in June and they were out of various wines. From day one my niece wanted Moscato and they said "they'd have it tomorrow". Needless to say, tomorrow never came!  😂

We've been on both, prefer everything about RCCL. We picked the NCL because of the Mediterranean Itinerary but the service was awful and we were not impressed with the food in the main dining room. Sometimes it wasn't even edible. The other NCL was with a group of friends celebrating a retirement. We had a great time (Feb 2020) but had the same experience with service and food - bad. We also find the entertainment options on the Oasis Class ships better than NCL.

We did Brenda and Franko and had a good time. Very reliable and personable. There were 8 of us and everyone had a great time.

On 6/28/2022 at 9:17 AM, fsufancc said:

We are doing the Quantum this very same week but in 2023 (actually June 12-19, 2023).  So glad to hear the weather was cooperative - warm and sunny.  We are going with our 3 grown kids and their spouses.  My daughter and her husband are the only ones without a passport and or TSA-Pre.  I am pestering them to get the Passport and Global Entry (just $25 more than TSA-Pre). 

 

Can't wait and fingers crossed for BIG sales of add-ons like DBP, The Key and other services.

 

Thanks for posting the pics and trip updates. 

Just so you know, they can use a Passport Card on this itinerary, that's what my dad used, but he's 93 and he figured he wouldn't be traveling internationally and need a passport. Sound like your kids are young and should probably just pay the extra and get passports! 

5 hours ago, ldubenion said:

I’ve got a few questions, hope you don’t mind! Didn’t plan on possibility of renting a scooter, but knee started acting up.
 

Did you get the Ins with your rental?

Did you have an accessible room (I don’t) - not sure if it’ll fit through doors of other rooms?

Did anyone have them parked outside the room?

 

Thanks.

I did not get the insurance with the scooter. My parents had a handicap room and it fit nicely in there. I do not think they are allowed to be parked outside the rooms and I didn't see any outside the rooms. Depending on when you are sailing you could check to see if they have any handicap rooms available. I saw several people with those roller type walkers that may help with your knee and fit into your room. 

6 hours ago, tallgirl97 said:

Hi there, I'm curious who you did the van tour with in Skagway?

We used Chilkoot Charters. They were very nice. Even offered to go get their personal van to pick up my dad at the end of the pier so he didn't have to walk to the tour van! Mike was our driver, he's married to the lady who's name I forget that met us on the dock to direct us to the van. Nice couple! 

1 minute ago, gloriason said:

Thanks for your review.  How was the food in the MDR?  Did you do any specialty restaurants?  Did you see any of the shows, were any especially interesting?  

The food in the MDR was very good with the exception of the Chicken Cordon Bleu one night, it was dry. We didn't do any specialty restaurants and when some tried to book on the ship there were no times available. We did most of the shows, they had a juggler and a ventriloquist that we enjoyed. One of the crew, Andy, did a tribute to Elton John and that was well done. There was a comedian the last night and he was funny. I have no idea whether those shows are on every sailing or not, but everyone in our group liked them. I will say none of us liked the Starwater Show (I think that's what it was called, it's in the 270 Degree theatre). It's the only show you need a reservation for. If you go, either sit in the balcony or sit down front. 

I should have mentioned that the Canadian laws meant the Casino tables were not open at all the last day/night of the cruise and the slot machines were only open from 0800 - 11 am the day we were sailing into Victoria. While in port they're only allowed to have one bar per floor open. Wasn't too bad until people started returning from shore, then Bolero's got really crowded!! 

After Juneau we had a day at Sea which was relaxing. Our last stop was at Victoria BC and we were there from 4-10 per the itinerary, but in reality gangway went down at 4:45 and all aboard was 9:30 so we decided to stay on the ship. Our son and daughter in law just walked off and rented some bikes that were right outside the pier and then road around town and had a great time on their own.

We had early flights back to Ohio (Son was at 0930 and we were at 1030) so we decided to walk off the boat on our own. I was able to get a wheelchair to self push my dad off since we had to leave the scooter in the room. We went down to deck 5 at about 6:25 and the ship was cleared at 6:45. We had already arranged the Towncar Service to pick us up at 6:30 and they had texted me they were there and ready. Once you leave the ship you have to go down an escalator or an elevator (single elevator!). They won't let you take the escalator if you can't hold on to the rail with one hand. So if you are pulling to bags they make you take the elevator. We had to take the elevator since dad was in a wheelchair, but stay left if you don't need it. Even with that we were through customs and in the Towncar by 7:00 and at the airport by 7:30. We were flying Alaska Air and checked our bags at the curb because it was a ZOO inside! My daughter in law wasn't TSA prechecked but she used the Spot Saver I read about on CC and got to skip the long line. 

Also if you are going to use the Port Valet sign up early because they only take so many and some in our group missed out on it. It's not available if your flight is before 11 am.

Sorry it is over, we had a great time!

In Juneau we went on a whale watching tour with Juneau Tours. They were great. Pick up was right downtown at the tramway that has lifts up the mountain. We docked right in downtown so that made it a very short walk. Again, the day was beautiful, sunny and warm. They had a lot of people going on their Whale watching tour and took us to the marina on three buses. Once there they had a small boat that held about 24 and another bigger boat held about 40. We were on the smaller boat but it didn't really matter as they all talk and had to wherever the whales are. We were lucky and saw a momma with her baby playing. The baby kept breaching and tail slapping. It was magnificent! 

When we went to Skagway we took a van tour and it pretty much followed the train route. It was a nice excursion with my parents and we made several stops to take pictures and our driver Mike was awesome. He would make sure we weren't stopped at a location with a big tour bus so we would move on and catch it on the way back. 

I thought I would provide a quick summary of our trip. We had 21 people from our family on the cruise from age 17-93! I rented a scooter for my dad from Disabilities at Sea and it was waiting for him in his room when we got on the ship. We went out a day early and stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites on 28th (thank you to all the cruise critic recommendations!). They provide a nice hot buffet for breakfast and is within walking distance to some restaurants. We used their shuttle service in the morning to get to the Pier and it was $15/pp. They were right on time and had plenty of room for everyone and their bags. We even arranged a pickup at the pier for our return. They were the National Towncar Service and you can reach them at 1-206-261-4806 as I believe they service more than just the Hampton.

We had a 12:00-12:30 report time for the pier and we arrived around 1145 after leaving the hotel at 11:15. I was able to quickly get a pier employee with a wheelchair for my dad and we were on our way. 3 of us went with my dad through the handicap lanes and the other 10 went through the normal line, which looked long but only took about 15 minutes longer! We had to show our passports, vax cards and our negative covid tests. They asked if we had our arrive Canada forms but didn't have to show them. We did have to provide the information from the arrive Canada form a couple days later on a form they put in our room. We were on board by 1230.

We had AWESOME weather all week. It was sunny and no rain. People were in the pools having a great time. I will say all the iFly reservations were gone really fast! By the time I tried to get one, even the one you pay for, they were all gone. And that was around 2 on the day we boarded. You can't reserve until you're connected to the ship wiFi so I couldn't due it when I was still in the terminal, so if you want to do that suggest you register it as soon as you can.

At Icy Straight we just paid to go up the "mountain" on the Gondola. The day was beautiful! Sunny and clear with no clouds! We docked at the Cannery dock so we had to take the free gondola over to the Wilderness Dock where we picked up the Gondola that wen to the top. We just bought our tickets for the Gondola at the visitors area at the Cannery Dock. They were $49/pp and you could use them multiple times over the day. We took dads scooter ashore and that worked well and it went right on the Gondola's. Stay on the areas with little rock or you may get stuck. The views were awesome! I planned to upload some pictures but they kept failing so you'll just have to take my word for it!