MaxGlycine

There is a 'ships in port' site called CruiseCal.com. It is a pay site to use all of the features but you can use the Itinerary lookup on the menu bar without being a member. Generally, you can see the itinerary for several months back. If you choose to join, you can go back years for a ship or port. The fees are really nominal. EM

Hey that's a really great site, thanks so much!

This is an ongoing question. I've yet to find a site where I can easily locate the itinerary of a particular cruise even just two days after it sails. Even the roll call tool here on cruise critic won't list a cruise that sailed yesterday. (Though the roll call can be found by searching.)

Moving forward, it sure would be nice if cruisecritic.com would insert the scheduled itinerary in each roll call when it is formed, or at the conclusion of the cruise, so people can look back at it. I realize that takes hosting space on a large site such as this, but honestly... it would be one post per roll call.

And if anyone knows a site which logs ships as they arrive at ports of calls, and keeps that data in a searchable database, it would be great. I looked at cruisett.com, but they often seem to have incomplete data as well. For example, certain charter voyages are omitted, even when by Carnival.

cruiseco wrote:

Actually, for every insurer I'm aware of the final payment date is the date YOU make the final payment.

I enquired with Nationwide about my Cruise insurance this afternoon, and was told specifically that the "final payment date" for the purpose of Preexisting waiver is the date of my LARGEST payment, be it cruise-fare or related airfare, and that if my cruise deposit was $400, with the balance of $350 due later, that the final payment date is the date I made the $400 deposit. This is the second time Nationwide has told me this, and I have heard a similar definition from others. Bizarrely this means that for them, at least, I would need to buy my insurance the SAME DAY I place my deposit on the cruise, in order to receive waiver of pre-existing conditions.

"Your mileage may vary."

cruiselady, thanks for this tip! The itinerary looks great and the price is certainly good for a solo cruiser. Wish I could get the time off work! Hope you folks have a great time!

There are two issues here to think about when declaring the PVSA should be repealed. If it was, then every dinner cruise, casino boat, ferry, and charter fishing boat currently operating in the US would be eligible to reflag to a foreign flag, and then not be subject to US labor laws, US taxes, or have the USCG apply their more stringent safety standards than the IMO requires of foreign flag ships. US jobs would be lost, tax revenue would be lost, the port economies would suffer since the crews would be foreign and not living and spending in the country, and maritime accidents would increase.

Thanks, chengkp75, I've been waiting for someone to look at it this way, considering the many smaller vessels also impacted. Not everything is about the big cruise lines!

I sailed NCL Pride of Hawaii with an American crew and it was a fabulous cruise. Great service.

That's great to hear, stomper. My cruise on NCL was on their foreign-flagged SKY, with a foreign crew, and I was not impressed. Carnival did much better, IMO. So it's possible to get great service, regardless of the nationality of the crew. :)

My guess is that it is the same two groups that drove the "Jones Act" many, many years ago - U.S Ship builders, and the longshore unions.

You mean the ones protecting American jobs? I sure won't argue against their cause.

And now that I understand (perhaps) the reasoning behind the CTN ban, having to do with the crew effectively working in the USA without a work permit, rather than just "visiting" the USA as part of their job on outward-bound cruises, I don't have a problem with it at all.

The solutions are simple: If you want to run cruises between US cities without going to a foreign distant port, or if you want to offer "cruises to nowhere" from US cities, all you have to do is be a US-flagged vessel, and be subject to US labor (and other) laws. Just like the ships running cruises around the Hawaiian Islands. If you're a foreign-flagged vessel, and want to run CTNs, then your crew must be legally allowed to work in the USA.

Yes, there were LGBT socials listed every night during my recent sailing on Norwegian Sky. Alas, they were held at the same time other events were occurring in the lobby bar, and so it was a potentially mixed crowd--when there was anyone at all. A couple times I was the lone person sitting at the bar. Oh well, maybe the wrong time of year!

I also tried to attend the Cruising Solo M&G, and there were several present, but the overzealous Cruise Director came swooping in with a loud voice, calling all the solo cruisers over to a secluded corner, out of sight, and effectively killing the night for those of us who prefer a less-structured event.

I could see a similar behavior driving people away from a FoD gathering, but did not witness it firsthand.

"FOD status"? They keep records of FOD meetings? "And Carnival would comply"? Yes, a bit paranoid.

Then why put it in their privacy policy?

From Carnival's passenger ticket contract -

 

...Guests may also provide Carnival or others certain sensitive data such as health, medical, dietary, religious, gender or sexual orientation information....

 

(d) All Guests agree that Carnival may disclose personal or sensitive data to... comply with law, applicable regulations, governmental and quasi-governmental requests, orders or legal process....

I guess this part is what bothers me the most, given the apparent homophobia in some of the Caribbean islands, i.e., Jamaica. And other countries, where there are regulations against gays. The local administrators could demand that Carnival hand-over their manifest, with the FOD status. And potentially arrest or harass those guests. Unlikely (I don't want to sound paranoid), however, possible. And Carnival would comply.

If you were coming in say the next few months I would say fly. Our Marine Transportation Authority is in crisis mode right now. Only 4 of our 10 ferries are operating and when they do they are consistently 1-4 hours late which wreaks havoc to the residents and tourists.

Oh goodness, I'm glad I saw your post, Playa Cofi. I'll be traveling to Vieques in a month, and had been planning to take la launcha from Fajardo. However, it sounds like that may not be such a good idea, based upon what you write. I also have no idea yet how to get to Fajardo from SJU--had hoped to figure that out upon arrival.

Are there not taxis in Vieques, for getting around? Why do you say that a car rental is a necessity?

We're booked at Amistad, and are looking forward to it!

Hey GTVCRUISER, thanks for that nice montage of images! Seeing you and yours on the gangplank of the SS Azure Seas makes me wish we'd bought the photographer's pictures back in 1981 when we sailed her. I was a teen then, and it was my first cruise. Now that I am cruising more often, it sure would be nice to have a family photo from that cruise, which would also include my dearly departed. I wonder if some cruise line or photographer somewhere actually has the negatives they took from all the passengers back in those days? What a treasure trove it would be!