Flatbush Flyer

Unnecessary keystrokes for the obvious.

Ever been to Miami (in its modern guise)? Of course, old Florida had a rich colonial history. Kind of buried now in the mish/mosh of high rise condos and certain contemporary behaviors not discussable here on CC.

Want to escape mid-America winter? Head in the other direction to California and Hawaii.

Other than US ports that are loci or gateways to desirable touristic US destinations (concentrated regions combining historical, cultural and geographical uniqueness/beauty - e.g., (Northeastern seaboard states, California, Hawaii and perhaps Alaska), foreigners from other continents may be better off staying closer to home for beaches (particularly super humid southern mainland locations).

Not really. Actual price difference to O’s own Aquamar spa is minimal.

O does have an emergency number. Of course, it is focused on embarkation. But, there’s also the cruise’s port agent at the other end of the cruise and that’s always an option to explore for assistance that may surprise some cruisers. In any case, what is very clear (particularly due to the current issues) is that air arrangements are almost always best done DIY - especially if you have higher end FF status with a particular airline (and its consortium). Adding a TA (or cruise air dept) to the mix most often delays necessary reticketing.

here’s just a few of our “long” distance embarks: SFO-SYD SFO-CPT SFO-ARN SFO-FCO SFO-LIS SFO-GIG

FWIW: It’s important to remember that O’s air department acts primarily as a Travel Agent selling air tix. And once you book through O, it takes on responsible for necessary tix changes. What lot’s of folks don’t realize is that any fare differences/penalties for those changes depends on whose issue is the change required: Disembarkation port change - O issue. Airline cancel/bump/etc - airline issue. Your change (e.g., late airport arrival) - your problem. In all cases, O as your air TA will assist w/ re-ticketing. But, O will only pay for their own problems. Note, however, that this often also includes necessary tix change fee reimbursement for DIY O passengers when O changes start/stop ports. We were on Nautica’s final pre-Covid cruise in early 2020 ending in Dubai instead of Singapore. For us DIY air folks, O provided no cost satellite phone service to make air changes and provided up to $250 pp for associated air tix changes. In another different cruise situation, exec concierge assisted with language translation related to our DIY air concerns when Max 8 planes were grounded. Nonetheless, we still always DIY air -particularly for Bizclass (which even O’s Air Dept will tell you not to use O air since you receive no credit for the economy tix paid for in the original cruise fare [still required to get the Bizclass quote from them])