gbolton

Does anyone know if NYC has recovered from the floods a couple of days ago?

We've decided to "bite the bullet" (I wonder where that saying came from!) and come into NYC on Amtrak a day before sailing, and get a very expensive hotel room, Grrrr, because I just heard this week that they do close down access to the ship about two hours before sailing; i.e. Customs and support staff in the terminal have gone home by then.  I would be a nervous wreck the whole time if there were delays on the train, and we are expecting traffic to be horrendous for the taxis due to the marathon happening that weekend. 

Better to be safe than sorry, but it still grates on me, the room is almost as much I paid for one person for the whole 11 day cruise! I need to "Let it go, let it go!"

(Our transportation issues are also complicated by the fact I travel with a mobility device, and we can't just hop on and hop off buses, subways etc. Thank you though for any recommendations that were made here.)

7 hours ago, Nitemare said:

There is a good chance your Canada cellphone company can enable US calling for you for a small fee.  I'd check there because even if you don't use it for a car service, it's a comfort to have it available "just in case" you need it in NYC or elsewhere in your travels

We need to look into that - thank you for the suggestion.

Thank you to both of the responses to my question about the taxi situation.

All of your answers have been duly noted and I appreciate the time that you took to explain the issues that could/will arise.

One of you will be happy (?) to know that we are not taking the train across the border for the reason you mentioned (delays), but also because everyone has to get out of the train and go through customs, and stand around and wait for the train to be cleared.  Seeing as that I cannot stand for more than a minute, that would be challenging for me, and I don't know where they will be stowing my wheelchair.

Fortunately we have a son who will drop us off at the Niagara Falls station in NY, and take our vehicle home with him. Its always difficult when the ship leaves from one port and arrives at another.  When I was more mobile just a few years ago we left our van in Montreal and our final port was Boston, we took a Greyhound bus to Montreal and that was an event in itself!

Sadly, during Covid, the Greyhound bus company pulled out of Canada and is no longer operating there.  

Hotel rates are sky high that weekend because it is the NYC Marathon weekend.

We didn't know that when we originally booked the same cruise.

We are coming in by train from Canada and are hoping that there will be taxis available at the Moynihan train station. Please advise if we should wait for a taxi at 8th street or 31st street to go to Brooklyn Cruise Port.

We have been stung before with pre-booking a car service, paying ahead, and they did not wait for us, (we were a long time going through customs, this was in Galveston) and they would not give us a refund.  We do not have a telephone to use in the U.S. so we were unable to advise them we were trying to get through.

As for Uber and Lyft, we are in our seventies and haven't ever used them, plus we have the added difficulty of needed to transport a folding wheelchair. Yes, one of us uses a mobility device, much to the chagrin of all those able bodied folks, sorry but I love cruising too!

Any advice about the taxi from the train station to the port will be much appreciated.

Yes, sorry, my apologies, at 70 years old I still get confused with computers.

I meant to post it to the thread of the cruise we are on, namely Nov 4, 2023

NYC to FLL.

I should leave posting alone! Thanks for the update.

Now I feel silly!  I just found this in another thread.

"The migrant housing facility at the cruise terminal was dismantled in early April. It was always planned to discontinue using the cruise terminal for housing migrants before the cruise season started."

Thank you, much appreciated.

Does anyone know why "MrFunintheSun" hasn't continued this review?  We were following because we plan to be on this ship later in the year and we were curious how things went but the author seems to have stopped on March 29th. 

2 minutes ago, cal56girl said:

This information is quite interesting. Thank you for sharing. 

Yes, please continue to give us very valid and useful information, even though some of us seem to be deliberately cantankerous. And its annoying.

But there must be others like ourselves who love, love, love cruising, miss it so very much, but are scared to death, as I am, of being tested.  Yes, we are twice vaccinated, and boosted, but that doesn't seem to stop this virus.  It would be nightmare for me to have been in your situation, so I sincerely thank you for this very information posting. Please don't stop!

20 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

But of course.

Thanks for playing!

Norris

Your travel details, pics and stories always make my day!  Thank you!

I have lived in Canada for the past 45 years but I am originally from Bournemouth, England!

Proud Mary

Creedance Clearwater Revival

I just recently found your blog and I am still on page 5 but I am extremely curious - how do you take pictures of yourselves (as a couple) without using a selfie stick?

12 hours ago, skynight said:

Tiki Dave & Leialoha.

They disembarked when we did and are not on board this current Hawaii cruise.

They mentioned they are on the Star next season

They are going to be the Hawaii Ambassadors on our cruise March 24th, 2019.  So excited!

16 minutes ago, Kenosha Cruiser said:

Hi Bob, thanks for the names of the ship's officers. Looks like we will have the new Commodore Giorgio Pomata who took over from Commodore Giuseppe Romano last fall. Gary Golding is a new Cruise director to us. You will have to let us know towards the end of your cruise what you think of him. Have a great meal at the Crown grill tonight!  

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

 

Google "Gary Golding 777" on Instagram and you'll find several pictures etc. Also a five year award with Princess.

Its unfortunate here at this thread that we electric scooter drivers are all being "tarred with the same brush".  Most of us are responsible, cautious and are most grateful that we are still able to travel even though our legs tell us otherwise. I can assure you that given the choice, we would rather be able to vacation on our own two legs, rather than be looked down upon and sneered at for being an "inconvenience" or for driving a "montrosity". Personally, I would never leave my scooter out in the hall or a stairwell, because we book the appropriate room, and it is true that once we get to a seat in the dining room, we are at the mercy of where the wait staff park our scooter.  The staff and crew on our cruises have always been very considerate and kind, and I am thankful for that.  And I apologize in advance for getting in your way.

Holy moly!!

9 minutes ago, Grburkart said:

Just to make sure we’re not blowing smoke here I did a search and it’s fair enough. 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/3803/

The reasoning behind it is to prevent or reduce food waste, according to the article. I can buy into that because some people... I don’t need to finish the sentence. 

I’m a bigger guy and I have the potential of eating more than my share of food. From what I understand, with the several courses at each meal, there should be ample food to sustain life. If the guru’s in charge think a fee for a second entree is in order then I’ll go along with that. No complaints. 

If $10.00 is going to ruin my $26,000 cruise then I need to rethink my vacation choices. 

I’m looking through the culinary options on a cruise ship and they’re plentiful. What are we missing that’s going to stop us from not cruising or changing cruiseline loyalties?

 

Glenn

 

I am ambivalent to the whole thing, (I never order a second entree) but to your point, some would say, and I would tend to agree, that if you have paid $26,000 for a cruise its a bit insulting to ask you to pay $10.00 for a second entree.  Just saying .......

1 hour ago, BBMacLaird said:

 

A hair dryer in the face!??

Norris is a big jokester with a whacky sense of humour which makes his very extraordinary blogs and photographic genius very entertaining - I really enjoy going along with him and Carol to places I will never have an opportunity to see.

It sure beats watching TV these days!

On 1/11/2019 at 12:53 PM, Bimmer09 said:

Thanks uktog! I will be at the pool bar soon after boarding. I assume a sticker is applied to the card or my forehead (which would save me fishing for my wallet).

Norris

I am not very savvy about such things, but I thought I read that if you bought a beverage package while still in port you would pay their local taxes, but out on the open sea you would not.  You may want to check!

You say you had King beds but I have never seen anything but Queen beds. I'm in a suite on the Golden next week and only Queens were listed as an option.

They put the two twins together and call them a Queen bed but it is definitely bigger (wider) than our Queen bed at home. Very comfy!

We just got off the "Veendam" on May 19th, 2018. We parked at 12 Drydock Ave for the convenience - we were prepared to pay the $30 per day so that we could walk off the ship straight to our van. So glad we did! We ended up paying $25.00 per day which automatically came up on the machine. We arrived at the port, we were handed a ticket and asked to park on the fifth floor. We took the elevator down, and had an easy, easy, easy walk to the terminal - me driving my mobility scooter and my husband toting one large and one carry on suitcase. (Parking spots were empty from the third floor up but they must be busier during the week - this was a Saturday). When we disembarked, chaos ensued outside the terminal for those waiting for taxis and shuttles; there isn't much room on the sidewalk and the problem was compounded by an ambulance that someone must have required. We just walked around everyone, got to our vehicle - they helped us at the exit to insert our ticket and pay with our credit card - and we were on our way. The other parking close by that required a shuttle was $21.00 per day so for $4:00 a day difference, the convenience was worth every penny. Especially with a mobility scooter that may not have fit in the shuttle. We would not hesitate to park there again.

P.S. We drove from Ontario, Canada and to avoid paying the ridiculous high prices of hotels in downtown Boston we stayed in Westborough at the Westborough Inn B&B - about an hour outside of downtown Boston. We were charged $100 per night for the room, which included a very adequate continental breakfast - again we would highly recommend. So where we saved on a hotel overnight we were comfortable paying for the parking! :)

We normally follow along with great anticipation on your "other" blog site, and we are enjoying your travel journal. Thanks for sharing for those of us that travel vicariously through you, as increasing age, limited mobility and limited funds comes into play. You are doing us a great service and brighten our days, and we are grateful.

I am curious though - have your planted your window garden this season?

I went to check in online too and I thought it was my computer - thanks for posting this so that I know that there is something amiss with the HAL website and not my darn computer!

More info here:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/princess-cruises-introduces-stanley-bear-195000160.html