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Optifire

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  • Posts

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About Me

  • Location
    Southern New Jersey
  • Interests
    Cruising, Traveling, Making Candy
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Royal Caribbean, Celebrity
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Alaska, Europe

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Cool Cruiser

Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. We were on the Venezia last month when the playoffs were aired. We watched it on the Lido Deck. You can also watch it more comfortably on the deck above the lido, they have chairs and couches, but you will have to get there early to secure those. The best advice I can give you regarding the lido deck, if you are not a drinker or into the bars, is to bring your own large beverage tumblers, as in the evening if you are watching a movie, all drink stations on the lido are closed. You must walk all the way to the back of the ship to get water or juice, that was such a terrible inconvenience, especially for the older cruisers with difficulty walking. Also, the lido deck was cold last month, even with the roof cover closed, so bring something warm to wear. They do provide you with blankets, but warm clothes are the way to go.
  2. We were cruising on the Carnival Venezia Jan 14 to the 23rd and we left our home at 8 am to drive to East Brunswick from Galloway NJ. We arrived in EB at 9:30 am. We had two cars going with 6 passengers in all and we decided it would be a better idea for us to drive to East Brunswick and leave the cars at no cost with our friends and have NJride pick us up there. The price worked out better that way than NJride coming all the way down to South Jersey to pick us up. Our NJride.com driver met us exactly at the time he scheduled us for at our friend's location. The driver loaded all our suitcases in the van. We had 6 passengers, so he came with a 14-passenger sprinter van, which was perfect for us and the entire luggage. We all had 1 suitcase and 1 carry on each. There was plenty of room for everyone. The van was very comfortable, clean and easy to get in and out of. The cost was $140.00 round trip pp (only $70.00 each way pp) and that included the tolls, gas, driver and tip. They did not take any money until the trip was completely over and we returned home by our credit card. Our driver dropped us off directly in front of the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, pier #88. He unloaded the van and gave our entire luggage to the porters. We went right in the terminal elevator and up to registration. Upon our return, we got a porter and collected our luggage and followed him to the terminal exit. The NJride driver was waiting a few parking stalls down from the exit of the terminal. The driver loaded our entire luggage from the porter into the van and we entered the vehicle and in a matter of minutes, we were on our way back home. We arrived at our cars; the driver loaded our luggage into the cars. We were extremely happy with the flawless service that NJride provided us with. They were perfect from the moment we made the reservation with Matt, until the moment the driver left us at the completion of our trip. We felt the price was very reasonable. We had the pleasure of a relaxing, stress-free drive to and from NY. We will not hesitate to use them for our future adventures and look forward to experiencing their excellent services again. Their website is NJride.com
  3. This will be our first time on the Venezia as well. Time is flying by so quickly. It usually drags when we have a cruise booked so far out. But soon, before we know it, final payment time will be here.
  4. Hi Christa: Not to worry, you will not be solo, you will be with so many other people having a great time, you make friends in no time at all, friendships that will last a lifetime. Even though we are not solo cruisers, We have met so many solo travelers over our past cruises. We would run into them a few times a day and we would hang out and even agree to meet up at different events going on. When they left the cruise, they said they never felt like a solo cruiser. They loved it. You will have a GREAT time. They even have so many "solo cruiser functions" that go on throughout the cruise so that makes it even easier to break the ice to meet and make friends. Pack the excitement and leave the nerves behind. I know, easier said, then done. 😎
  5. We finally have confirmed transportation to and from the port at our home in Southern NJ. There are 6 of us going. We are going to drive two cars to central NJ, about an hour and half, and leave them at a parking lot with friends at no cost. Then a car service will pick the 6 of us up at that parking lot and take us to the pier in a Mercedes Sprinter and drop us right at the door of the cruise terminal. The price was so reasonable working out to $140.00 pp for roundtrip. I am so glad that part of the planning is over. We were toying with driving in ourselves, but then after watching some videos of parking on the roof top and then walking over to the ship, it was just too much for us. Best part of going on a vacation, is making it is as easy as possible.
  6. Thanks, Pami, for that information. We are hoping to meet up with some friends that live near Miami and have lunch and catch up. I am not sure, but I think we have cruised before together. You will have to check out my signature with my crusies to see if our paths have crossed. Thanks again.
  7. I was on my Carnival Account and was amazed to see that I could print out our luggage tags already. Usually on the other cruise lines we have been on, the luggage tags are the last things that we can print up. We changed our cabin about a week ago, and we were shocked that the luggage tags reflected the new cabin number as well. I was using the computer instead of the app, and it said that we could not sign in our information until Dec 13th. I thought that was kind of late to be putting in our information, such as the passport and photo info and such. I will have to check out the app, perhaps they have you signing in on there instead with that information.
  8. We are still contemplating on how we are going into the Cruise Terminal. Driving ourselves and parking or getting dropped off. On driving in ourselves, I contacted Jason Rubino with the NYC Manhattan Cruise Terminal contact info. I had asked him as to when the parking reservations would be opening for the January cruises as you can make the reservations on line to secure you have a spot when you get there. He replied back and said we should start looking for the reservations to be up and ready to book in October. Right now it only goes to December of this year. They do have handicap parking, however, you cannot reserve handicap parking online. To reserve on line is also a $9.95 service fee. But worth it to have peace of mind that you have a reserved spot waiting for you. Here is the link to the page for the parking information: Parking | NYCruise We also have a price of someone retired that lives near us that drives people with dropping us off and picking us up for $500.00 round trip. We are leaning that way more and more.
  9. We absolutely LOVE John Heald. He was our cruise director many years ago on a carnival ship. He has us laughing till the tears came down. So much fun. ' I check our cruise prices regularly and saw that there was a price reduction on our Balcony 8C cabin. So I called our booking agent and sure enough, we were able to save $300.00 plus got $250.00 OBC. She said it was under a Casino Rate. I told her we don't really gamble that much, but she said it does not matter as all the time that we gambled, and we use the card, it all adds up, not for a free cruise but enough to get us a discount when one is being offered through the casino rate. If you check this out, hope it helps you get a better price and some OBC for the ship.
  10. Hello! We booked today. . My husband, Steven and I (Sally) will be joining you as well as our dear friends, Pam, Marshall and Maria. We were last on Carnival a few years ago with the Sunshine to Canada and we had a great time. We have been watching videos on You Tube on the Venezia and it looks so beautiful with the Italian designs. We are looking forward to going to a warmer climate in January. Looking forward to meeting everyone and sharing information until then. We live in South Jersey and trying to figure out our transportation in to NY. We are thinking of renting a vehicle for all of us and sharing the cost, or going in and staying overnight the day before to NY at a hotel that will allow us to let the car there and shuttle us over. Let the homework begin.
  11. There are 7 machines overall on the Oasis There are 4 in the Windjammer, then 2 on the promenade near Sorrento’s, and then one in the arcade.
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