America

[bishop84]

8 hours ago, edinburgher said:

Bishop84, I have looked at info on the the probable routings and Grand Turk features on many itineraries.  It is British, so these itineraries definitely won't be closed-loop.

 

I understand that all the islands mentioned in the itineraries are classed as 'adjacent islands' and count as closed loop. Hopefully nothing has changed!

 

On a previous cruise the main benefit of a closed loop cruise for non-US passengers was that there wasn't a US  Immigration inspection when we called at San Juan half way through the cruise after calling at Grand Turk and Samana;  just when we returned to the Florida at the end of the cruise after also calling in the Bahamas.  

[brian1]

Grand Turk,I dread to think what a Minor Turk would be like.1 horse island ,lol.

[edinburgher]

My apologies to anyone reading my post #23 where I wrote

 

Bishop84, I have looked at info on the probable routings and Grand Turk features on many itineraries.  It is British, so these itineraries definitely won't be closed-loop.

 

 

 

I knew about closed loop cruises and that adjacent (to the US)  islands were OK, but didn’t know that “adjacent islands” included so many NON-US islands “belonging” to a number of other countries. I do now! Interesting. I guess the non-US islands don’t want to lose the business Americans visitors bring and are happy to waive stricter policies, at least for cruise passengers, and Marella will have checked that.

 

TAPI, as you correctly pointed out, this too was wrong:

 

They cannot fly to anywhere in the US without a passport.

 

 

 

I had only intended to make the point that in some circumstances it would be inconvenient not to have one. I didn't intend it to be US Immigration advice and apologise if anyone thought it was.

 

 

You said:

 

 

To clarify, if for some reason an American cruising with just an ID and birth certificate / no passport found themselves needing to fly home from an international port, they can still do so, but it requires jumping through additional hoops of fire. The local (or nearest) US embassy needs to be contacted to issue emergency travel documents to fly them home.

 

 

 

We have the same. An emergency travel document can be issued, presumably with similar hoops to jump through, so an additional time wasting inconvenience should someone need it at a potentially already stressful time.

 

Happy to be corrected on my mistakes so that others reading don’t read incorrect info. I will be more careful and check details in future posts/threads!

Edited November 4, 2019 by edinburgher

[devonboy51]

Regarding U.S. Citizens being able to travel on marella discovery on her US cruises, in the small print in the A-Z guide it does say " If you are a US citizen, including duel citizenship you will not be allowed to sail on these itineraries".

 

Plus for those fortunate enough to be under 21 but over 18, the minimum drinking age while the ship is in US territorial waters is 21 years.

[Vitalsign]

I checked prices fir the repositioning from Montego Bay to Port Canaveral yesterday and was surprised at how expensive it was for 12 days inside deck 6 from Manchester Then I saw a 19 day repositioning from Montego Bay with the first week in the Caribbean at only £700 more However the whole cruise would cost over £3000 at approx £160 pp pd

far more than our 21 day repositioning from Dubai to Palma next April

Also this 19 day cruise only appeared to be available from Manchester cos I tried to compare costs from other airports

what do you think?

 

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[Jim The Scot]

I may well have been seeing things but when I checked TUI/Marella website the other day i,m sure  they were flying from Glasgow for the Big Apple Adventure.

 

On looking today no sign of that itinerary available from Glasgow so I may well have been seeing things or its sold out already

 

Anyone shine any light on this?

[Scot born]

1 hour ago, Jim The Scot said:

I may well have been seeing things but when I checked TUI/Marella website the other day i,m sure  they were flying from Glasgow for the Big Apple Adventure.

 

On looking today no sign of that itinerary available from Glasgow so I may well have been seeing things or its sold out already

 

Anyone shine any light on this?

Hi Jim 

just checked and is still showing for Oct 2021. Exciting if this is right

[Jim The Scot]

Hi SB

 

Thanks for that. . .Was hoping for July but will look at august school hols

 

It is exciting but on looking thats been tempered by their prices 😂

Edited November 10, 2019 by Jim The Scot

[Scot born]

My daughter is planning her wedding in Disney 2021 so I was looking at a 7 night cruise with 7 night stay and the prices are on par with just a stay at Disney so this give me the option of a nice cruise to relax after her big day. 

[Jim The Scot]

Yeah it was a cruise and stay we were looking for but at £5600( including premium seats) for two adults i,ll park it for the moment

 

Did orlando last year for £4500 for 4 adults and 1 child

[Vitalsign]

Checked for a friend who was widowed at 60 and she wants a single cabin deck 3 for the 19 day repositioning cruise from Manchester and was astonished as it was £4340  (incl cabin choice and select seats) for an outside cabin  An inside was £4224 For the 12 repositioning cruise it was £3115 for the same as above and an inside is £2994

For 2 of us in inside on deck 6 for 19 days it's £3115 each (incl cabin choice and select seats) This is a difference for an inside of £1109 unbelievable

What are other cruise lines like for singles?

Another friend sailed from Southampton to the Med flying back from Rome recently with Holland America His friends paid £1800 each and he paid just over £3000 

More and more single people are cruising or wanting to cruise and the pricing is just so off putting/prohibitive If I am widowed the number of times I'll be able to cruise will drastically reduce

 

[davecttr]

The Marella 19 day inside single price is very reasonable. It works out that the single supplement for one person occupying a double cabin is 35.6% (3115 x 1.356 = 4223.94).

 

The HAL single supplement is 66.6% and my P&O cruises have attracted single supplements of up to 70%. the lowest single supplement I had was on a Marella Explorer transatlantic where the single supplement was 13%

 

some cruise lines charge 100% single supplement just like booking a hotel room for one in a double room.

 

Why do they do it? because there is less revenue generated from a solo cruiser, especially potential onboard spend. It is all down to revenue generated per square metre of cabin space.

[Vitalsign]

Thanks Dave that answer was very concise and thanks for the calculations I will let my friend know and I'm sure now she'll see it's not such a bad deal after all compared to other lines However as it's AI this reduces the amount of spend for all passengers  and unfortunately she drinks very little - a few soft drinks and a couple of glasses of wine per day.

[nancyneptune]

On 11/16/2019 at 8:31 AM, davecttr said:

The Marella 19 day inside single price is very reasonable. It works out that the single supplement for one person occupying a double cabin is 35.6% (3115 x 1.356 = 4223.94).

 

The HAL single supplement is 66.6% and my P&O cruises have attracted single supplements of up to 70%. the lowest single supplement I had was on a Marella Explorer transatlantic where the single supplement was 13%

 

some cruise lines charge 100% single supplement just like booking a hotel room for one in a double room.

 

Why do they do it? because there is less revenue generated from a solo cruiser, especially potential onboard spend. It is all down to revenue generated per square metre of cabin space.

 

You can't possibly compare Marella with HAL Dave. Night and day.

 

Transatlantic cruises are generally cheaper as they have more sea days. Also fewer people are able to do the longer itinerary. 

 

I think you tend to book a single cabin early and are comparing prices for twin cabins with the brochure prices at time you book. 

Most cruises drop in price after a few weeks and nearer to departure can be considerably cheaper.  Meaning a solo passenger  who books early can sometimes pay as much or more for their single cabin than a couple sharing a twin or double.

 

We found that travelling with our daughter it was best to wait till the price drops then book a twin cabin for sole occupancy rather than a single cabin. Not only can it work out cheaper but she gets a better cabin.

We have even known people to book for two passengers when the price drops then only one turn up. 

 

Now that all the Marella ships are AI most people will spend less on board.  As for excursions I think solo passengers are more likely to spend on excursions than couples simply because they feel safer booking a ship tour than exploring on their own, whereas couples are more likely to do there own thing in port. 

[davecttr]

1 hour ago, nancyneptune said:

 

You can't possibly compare Marella with HAL Dave. Night and day.

 

Transatlantic cruises are generally cheaper as they have more sea days. Also fewer people are able to do the longer itinerary. 

 

I think you tend to book a single cabin early and are comparing prices for twin cabins with the brochure prices at time you book. 

Most cruises drop in price after a few weeks and nearer to departure can be considerably cheaper.  Meaning a solo passenger  who books early can sometimes pay as much or more for their single cabin than a couple sharing a twin or double.

 

We found that travelling with our daughter it was best to wait till the price drops then book a twin cabin for sole occupancy rather than a single cabin. Not only can it work out cheaper but she gets a better cabin.

We have even known people to book for two passengers when the price drops then only one turn up. 

 

Now that all the Marella ships are AI most people will spend less on board.  As for excursions I think solo passengers are more likely to spend on excursions than couples simply because they feel safer booking a ship tour than exploring on their own, whereas couples are more likely to do there own thing in port. 

Yes I can, the single supplement on HAL was nearly double the one on Marella and I was comparing single supplements, not the 'quality' of the cruise line. Vitalsign was interested in the apparent high cost of single supplements on Marella and I pointed out that they are not high compared with other cruise lines. As for type of cabins, almost all Marella single cabins are actually doubles designated for single occupancy.

 

Cruise lines have different ways of handling solo bookings. Marella restrict the number of designated cabins to about 30, after that you can get another cabin, even a balcony, but only if the cruise is not selling well and you will pay a higher supplement. I believe P&O, my other cruise line, have a maximum percentage of cabins they will sell to solos and I doubt that they will tell you what that percentage is. There must be a way of restricting the number of solo bookings otherwise they might end up with a ship with much lower numbers of passengers and that would be bad news for the revenue stream.

[nancyneptune]

On 11/19/2019 at 5:47 PM, davecttr said:

Yes I can, the single supplement on HAL was nearly double the one on Marella and I was comparing single supplements, not the 'quality' of the cruise line. Vitalsign was interested in the apparent high cost of single supplements on Marella and I pointed out that they are not high compared with other cruise lines. As for type of cabins, almost all Marella single cabins are actually doubles designated for single occupancy.

 

Cruise lines have different ways of handling solo bookings. Marella restrict the number of designated cabins to about 30, after that you can get another cabin, even a balcony, but only if the cruise is not selling well and you will pay a higher supplement. I believe P&O, my other cruise line, have a maximum percentage of cabins they will sell to solos and I doubt that they will tell you what that percentage is. There must be a way of restricting the number of solo bookings otherwise they might end up with a ship with much lower numbers of passengers and that would be bad news for the revenue stream.

 

 

There is a company that specialises in solo bookings and has fantastic offers with several cruise lines including HAL. P & O, NCL, & Fred to destinations all over the world from many regional airports.  It may be worth looking into Dave. 

Edited November 21, 2019 by nancyneptune